Digging Deeper: An Adventure Novel (Sam Harris Series Book 1) (19 page)

If Sam’s mother was shocked to see how thin and wasted her daughter looked when she came out of customs with her bags, she was sensible enough to hide it well.  She did allow herself the luxury of a long hug with the daughter who had returned in one piece, albeit a very skinny version of her former self.

Sam did not fight her, knowing the effort her mother was putting in to not making a fuss.  She enjoyed the rare luxury of a maternal hug.

‘Did you have a good flight, darling?’

‘I don’t know. I was asleep.’ Sam smiled to show it was a joke.

She found her mother’s handbag in the foot well of the car and rooted around for some wine gums, which she knew would be hiding amongst all the change the Bank of England was missing. ‘Want one?’

‘No, and don’t do that without asking.  A woman’s handbag is her castle.’

For a while, it was good to be home where nothing had changed.  She had not found a flat yet.  Nobody talked about her ordeal or commented on her weight.  Sometimes Sam wanted to talk about it, but her parents studiously avoided the subject. Sam thought she knew them well enough to avoid it, too.

They hated any kind of attention-seeking behaviour.  Sam suspected that getting kidnapped came under this heading.

In reality, her parents did not want to talk about her traumatic experience in case it upset her.  So, in their own very British way, the subject never came up and life went back to normal.

Sam did not tell them the truth for years and by then, it was almost like someone else had lived through it.  She was good enough to gloss over the scenes of the trial, which she felt were too gruesome to recount.

Meanwhile, her mother had assumed that Sam had finished with that phase of her life and would now settle down and get a proper job.

Sam had almost agreed with her but she had a nagging feeling that would not go away.

‘We’re going to a wedding this Saturday,’ said her mother.  'You’d better buy something nice to wear.’

‘Mummy, you know how I hate weddings.  I would rather eat my own sick than have to sit on another odds and sods table entertaining the black-sheep uncles and cat-hair singles.  Can’t you say that I am too traumatised to leave the house?’

‘Don’t be silly, darling.  I’ve told you a million times not to exaggerate.  You love telling stories.’

Sam gave her a thunderous look. Her mother repented.  ‘Okay, but just this once.  I don’t want people thinking that you're peculiar.’

Sam was sure that particular ship had sailed long ago but felt vindicated.

That Saturday, she lay on her bed thinking about the General. Suddenly, she remembered the little black box.  Where on earth was it?  She had forgotten to open it.  With great effort, she moved all of her bags around the loft, which was as hot as a sauna, and found her travelling rucksack.  She searched all the pockets and out fell the box.  It got stuck under one of the rafters and it was very sweaty and dusty.

Sam went down the rickety stairs into the light passageway.  She sat on her bed, opened the box and cried out in amazement.  It was a large black diamond.  Totally worthless and totally wonderful.

Sam knew that instant that she could not stay at home, no matter how peculiar people thought she was.  She had heard there was work in Latin America and she had always enjoyed using her Spanish.  Surely the thought of a nice Latin man with beautiful manners would pacify her mother.  And compared to Africa, Latin America was as safe as houses.

She would go and see the recruitment agent on Monday.

Thank you for reading my book.  If you enjoyed it, please take a moment to leave me a review at your favourite retailer.  I would really appreciate your feedback and comments.

Thank you

PJ Skinner.

***

The author is a geologist who has spent thirty years roaming the planet and collecting tall tales and real life experiences.  She has worked in various countries in South America and Africa in remote, strange and often dangerous places.  She has loved every minute of it.  She is now writing fact-based adventure books from the relative safety of London but still travels all over the world collecting data for her books.

The Sam Harris series captures the adventure and danger of living in these remote locations.  The books are loosely based on many real life experiences and composite characters.

The author is working on two new books, one of which, Rebel Green, has been written with the help of a childhood spent in Ireland.

The Frog Cypher – the second book in the Sam Harris Series is also available in paperback.

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