Looked to emulate Mata Hari (5)
I believe the answer is:
spied
'looked' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being past participle verbs.
Maybe you can see a link between them that I can't see?
I can't explain the rest of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for spied that I've seen before include "Watched secretly" , "Caught sight of" , "Saw" , "Was a secret agent" , "Noticed" .)