Special Envoy 1

Priscilla J. Austin has been in training as a CIA agent since returning from her first time in Africa in the summer of 1986. Apart from continuing her public relations consultancy, "an excellent cover," her supervisor notes, she still has no notion of what the agency wants her to do. Meanwhile, her public profile as "an ordinary woman makes good" has been enhanced by her work as spokesperson for the Bernhardts of Bow Lake and her work with the Hollingsworth Presidential Election Campaign. But Priscilla does have her foibles-her tendency to be unpredictable and her phobias-which could threaten the success of any mission. Regardless, agency officials know that only someone of Priscilla''s particular personality and individual characteristics can complete the impending mission successfully. Even so, they give her a dry run.

The opening scene is of Priscilla starting her regularly scheduled meeting with the Bernhardt Foundation for Boarding Schools for Zimbabwean and