Danger At The Top Of The World

Sally’s lucky break had taken her to Switzerland, but secrets and undercover spies were casting a shadow over everything

- Elaine Everest

THE STORY SO FAR: Sally Douglas was a last-minute replacement tour guide for the Lakes and Mountains trip to Switzerland. She’d promised her father she would visit Hotel Victoria, where he’d been hidden after escaping from a prisoner-of-war camp in Germany during World War Two. Her boss, Mr Simpson, had advised her there was an undercover holiday inspector on the trip, but he didn’t know who it was. The trip started off badly, with Sally dropped in the deep end sorting out holidaymakers’ problems. A thorn in her side was Simon Carson, who seemed hell-bent on causing her problems. Maybe he could be the undercover inspector?

If Sally thought it would be a leisurely Channel crossing and train journey to Switzerland, she was mistaken. Queasy travellers and a misplaced suitcase had them almost miss the train in Paris. She quickly learnt to keep an eye on all the holidaymakers, reminding them not to stray from the party.

Thank goodness for her Lakes and Mountains pennant atop the long stick, she thought as she marched ahead calling loudly for everyone to keep up. What did it matter if she looked idiotic, she told herself, catching a sardonic look from Simon Carson. The man infuriated her. Ever since his superior words when he arrived late at the departure point, he’d done much to belittle her, including advising her elderly travellers when she was trying to help them from the coach. She began to wonder if he was the undercover inspector, and was trying to undermine her authority, in order to write a negative report. Undercover spy more like, she huffed to herself. Well, she wouldn’t let on that she knew who he was and what he was up to.