Chapter 1 (pages 32-55) Summary

The narrator, still house-sitting in Gaborone, meets up with Martin Wade, a brilliant South African army deserter, sympathetic to the native people and living under an assumed name. Martin is opposed to white South African rule and involved in mysterious ways as a contra-activist one of the few white men trusted by the black revolutionaries. Despite their shared intellect and political views, Martin is far more ascetic than the narrator is and very opposed to the luxury she represents as an American. In addition, he is involved in political activities that could get him killed and about which he cannot speak. The relationship erodes and the narrator moves on to a British spy referred to only as "Z" who originally seeks her out because he has heard of her relationship with Martin someone everyone is trying to gather intelligence...