they would then live out their days at the Bank of England’s expense.
‘However, when it became clear that Himmler and his cronies would not be showing up in Argentina,’ continued Spencer, ‘Martinez found himself in possession of twenty million pounds in forged notes that he needed to dispose of. Not an easy task. To begin with, I dismissed Krüger’s story as pure fantasy, invented to save his own skin, but then, as the years passed, and more and more bogus five-pound notes appeared on the market whenever Martinez was in London or his son Luis was working the tables in Monte Carlo, I realized we had a real problem. This was proved yet again when Sebastian spent one of his two five-pound notes on a Savile Row suit and the assistant didn’t suggest that they were not genuine.’
‘As recently as two years ago,’ chipped in Sir Alan, ‘I expressed my frustration with the Bank of England’s stance to Mr Churchill. With the simplicity of genius, he gave orders that a new five-pound note should be put into circulation as quickly as possible. Of course, bringing such a note into circulation could not be done overnight, and when the Bank of England finally announced its plans to issue a new five-pound note, they gave Martinez notice that he was running out of time in which to dispose of his vast fake fortune.’
‘And then those mountebanks at the Bank of England,’ came back Mr Spencer with some feeling, ‘announced that any old five-pound notes presented to the Bank before December thirty-first, 1957, would be exchanged for new ones. So all Martinez had to do was smuggle his forged notes into Britain, when the Bank of England would happily convert them into legal tender. We estimate that over the past ten years, Martinez has been able to dispose of somewhere between five and ten million pounds, but that leaves him with another eight, perhaps nine million still secreted in Argentina. Once we realized there was nothing we could do to alter the Bank of England’s stance, we had a clause inserted into last year’s budget, with the sole purpose of making Martinez’s task more difficult. Last April, it became illegal for anyone to bring more than one thousand pounds in cash into the United Kingdom. And he’s recently discovered, to his cost, that neither he nor his associates can cross any border in Europe without customs taking their luggage apart.’
‘But that still doesn’t explain what Sebastian is doing in Buenos Aires,’ said Harry.
‘We have reason to believe, Mr Clifton, that your son has been sucked into Martinez’s net,’ said Spencer. ‘We think he is going to be used by Don Pedro to smuggle the last eight or nine million pounds into England. But we don’t know how or where.’
‘Then Sebastian must be in great danger?’ said Emma, staring directly at the cabinet secretary.
‘Yes and no,’ said Sir Alan. ‘As long as he doesn’t know the real reason Martinez wanted him to go to Argentina, not a hair on his head will be harmed. But if he were to stumble on the truth while he’s in Buenos Aires, and by all accounts he’s bright and resourceful, we wouldn’t hesitate to move him into the safety of our embassy compound at a moment’s notice.’
‘Why don’t you just do that as soon as he steps off the ship?’ asked Emma. ‘Our son is worth considerably more to us than ten million pounds of anybody’s money,’ she added, looking to Harry for support.
‘Because that would alert Martinez to the fact that we know what he’s up to,’ said Spencer.
‘But there must be a risk that Seb could be sacrificed, like a pawn on a chessboard you have no control over.’
‘That won’t happen as long as he remains oblivious to what’s going on. We’re convinced that without your son’s help, Martinez can’t hope to move that amount of money. Sebastian is our one chance of finding out how he intends to go about it.’
‘He’s seventeen,’ Emma said helplessly.
‘Not a lot younger than your husband was when he was arrested for murder, or Sir Giles when he won his MC.’
‘Those were completely different circumstances,’ insisted Emma.
‘Same enemy,’ said Sir Alan.
‘We know Seb would want to help in any way he could,’ said Harry, taking his wife’s hand, ‘but that’s not the point. The risks are far too great.’
‘You’re right, of course,’ said the cabinet secretary, ‘and if you tell us you want him taken into custody the moment he