Iain Kelly

Chavy watched the dusty streets of Phnom Penh gradually fade away behind him. The  brown water of the Mekong river disappeared to the east while the bus headed north.

The roads changed from tarmac to dust. The buildings from stone to wood. The beggars remained regardless.

The bus stopped.

‘Checkpoint,’ the young white man next to him said. ‘Just present your papers and stay calm. You’re on a pilgrimage to the Sambor Prei Kuk temple. You don’t know me.’

With that the man stood and pulled his own papers out. He walked forward waving them. ‘British diplomat. You see?’ The bewildered Khmer Rouge soldier shoved the man roughly off the bus.

As the bus pulled away, Chavy saw the man called Phillips arguing with four heavily armed men. Someone tapped his shoulder.

‘Don’t worry. He was the diversion. He’ll be okay. The main thing is we get you out.’

Written for ‘What Pegman Saw’, a weekly prompt based on a view from Google Maps. The idea is to write a piece of fiction of around 150 words based on the prompt. Full details can be found HERE. This week we’re off to Cambodia, the World Heritage site of the Sambor Prei Kuk temple and a glimpse of the past that still haunts the history of this country.

For more stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.

Read more stories featuring the British spy Phillips: THE PHILLIPS SPY STORIES.