The Female Charm by Amelia Price

just up here.” He kept the car going but slowed and
she watched her phone count down to a little over one-hundred
metres before it started to climb again. As the taxi-driver pulled
over, it fixed onto 132.
    “Great,” Amelia
said and handed him some money to cover what she owed so far. She
then put on her most charming smile. “I'm really hoping this won't
take more than a few minutes. Will you wait?”
    “Sure thing, love.
Wouldn't want to leave anyone out in these woods for long.”
    She widened the
smile and hurried out of the car. Walking as fast as her legs would
carry her, Amelia hurried back down the road until she was at the
lowest point while still being on the road. As she turned east, the
arrow on the box moved back in front of her but it still showed the
locked icon.
    Taking a deep
breath, she plunged into the woods. As she went, she kept an eye on
the road behind her, trying to keep it in sight, but she soon found
there was far too much in the way of bushes and undergrowth to see
back to it, despite the trees being stripped of their leaves and
there being little sign of spring growth yet. Thankfully, she could
still hear the road, even when she only had twenty metres to
go.
    As she went
farther along, her phone's app reached its accuracy limit and
jumped from in front of her to behind, and then to the right. She
turned it off and tucked it back into her pocket. The arrow on the
box had remained steady in the right direction so she used it to
narrow down the last few metres. Its GPS was obviously more
powerful, something she expected from Myron.
    After only a few
more steps, it beeped at her. Then a little while after that, it
beeped at her twice. Finally it beeped at her three times in quick
succession and she heard the satisfying click of the lock opening.
To match, the padlock icon switched to an open one and the arrow
disappeared.
    For a couple of
seconds she just stared at the box, not quite wanting to open it,
but she knew she had to at some point. After glancing around her to
see if anyone was nearby, and predictably finding she was alone,
she pulled open the lid. Inside was another envelope. Feeling a
little saddened that so little was in there, she frowned and pulled
it out.
    She then shut the
box again and listened for the road. As she walked away, she heard
the box lock itself again. Hoping the taxi-driver hadn't already
grown bored of waiting, she hurried back through the woods and out
to the road.
    Before she reached
a point she could be seen, she stowed everything back in her
handbag. She didn't want anyone to notice her with anything out of
the ordinary, so reading Myron's letter would have to wait until
she was home.
    As she reached the
road side, she turned and looked down the road. The taxi was still
where she'd left it and the driver was standing outside, smoking a
cigarette.
    “Where to now,
love?” he asked once she was back.
    “Home. I'm
done.”
    “Do I want to know
what you were doing out here?” he asked as they both got back into
the vehicle.
    “Nothing dodgy,
but I can't say. I promised someone I'd never tell anyone about
it.”
    “Well, we all have
our secrets.”
     
     

Chapter 10
    The buzzing
vibration of a phone disturbed Mycroft from his lunch. It could
only be Amelia, and that meant she had found her reward for
completing the lesson, and a little sooner than he expected. She
was learning quickly.
     
    Opened the box
you sent me. Very fun task and thank you for the gift inside. I'm
glad I could help you out yesterday.
     
    He nodded his
satisfaction to the empty dining room and put the phone down on the
table to continue eating. The gratitude pleased him. When he'd
first planned to use a location-based unlocking mechanism as a
teaching aid, he'd planned to have something benign inside, but he
knew she'd spent quite a lot of money to meet him in Scotland. On
top of that, she'd written him a replacement article with no credit
going to her.
    If she'd
complained or asked