pristine appearance. Eddie ignored them and went to reception. ‘Hi. Any messages for Eddie Chase?’
To his disappointment, and surprise, there were none. ‘Huh. Better find out what’s up,’ he said, leading Macy to the payphones. The last of the coins he had taken from the dead soldiers at the burial pit got him through to an operator to make a reverse-charge international call, and he soon got an answer.
‘Is that you, Eddie?’ said a familiar Scottish voice.
‘Yeah, Mac, it’s me,’ said Eddie, somewhere between relieved and impatient. ‘I’m at the hotel – I thought you were going to leave me a message?’
‘I wanted to deliver it in person,’ the voice said from behind him.
Eddie spun to find Mac standing there in a light-coloured suit, holding a mobile phone to his ear. ‘Mac! Fuck me, what’s you doing here?’
Macy was equally delighted to see him. ‘Oh my God, Mr McCrimmon!’ she cried, embracing him.
‘Well, there goes my suit,’ Mac sighed. Macy hurriedly tried to brush away a dirty mark she had left on his sleeve before a wink told her that he was joking. ‘Glad to see you both. How was your trip?’
‘Thirteen hours on a bus, loved every minute,’ said Eddie. ‘How the bloody hell did you get here so fast? And what are MI6 doing about Callas and Stikes?’
‘It’s a long-ish story, so I’ll tell it in my room,’ said Mac. ‘And while we’re there, you can take advantage of the shower . . . ’
‘So MI6 aren’t going to do a fucking thing?’ Eddie exclaimed, after Mac had described his dealings with the British intelligence agency. ‘I knew you can’t trust a fucking spook. Was it Alderley? And after I invited him to my wedding do, an’ all.’
‘Funny, I seem to remember you “accidentally” dropped his invitation down a drain,’ said Mac.
‘Yeah, there was that. But I’m sure he’s not bitter.’
‘Actually, South America is outside Peter’s section, so I didn’t speak to him. I did talk to C, though.’
‘Who’s C?’ Macy asked, emerging from the bathroom in an oversized dressing gown.
‘Head of MI6,’ Eddie told her.
‘I thought that was M?’
Mac smiled. ‘James Bond isn’t real, Macy. But I discussed this with C, although he wasn’t pleased at being woken up at four in the morning.’
‘So if you talked to him, why aren’t they going to do anything?’ demanded Eddie.
‘Well,’ said Mac, leaning back in his chair, ‘the official position of Her Majesty’s Government is that the internal politics of Venezuela are the country’s own affair, and that British interests are not sufficient to justify any kind of interference. Unofficially, of course, HMG would not object to Suarez’s being replaced by someone less incendiary. They’re also rather unhappy with statements he and his predecessor made about the Queen, and Britain’s ownership of the Falklands. In short, they’d be happy to see him go.’
‘Even if it means him being replaced by Callas? The guy’s a cold-blooded murderer working with drug lords! As soon as he takes power, the country’ll be a fucking bloodbath.’
‘Same old story,’ Mac said, shaking his head ruefully. ‘In a choice between two third-world military strongmen, we always seem to support whoever’s the more unpleasant.’
‘And what about Stikes? He’s British, his company’s British - he’s ex-SAS, for Christ’s sake. Doesn’t that count as being involved if he’s helping overthrow a democratically elected leader?’
‘How? He’s a private military contractor; he can choose to work wherever and for whomever he chooses. 3S has never worked directly for our government, so there’s no conflict of interest or potential for embarrassment there. As long as he doesn’t break the law in Britain, his hands are clean.’
Eddie threw up his own hands. ‘So that’s it?’
‘I did convince them to give me something, even if it’s not much. I got the address of this Clubhouse place.’ He took out his phone and brought up the map app, a pin showing a location in Valle Arriba. ‘After that, I went straight to Heathrow and got a standby ticket on the first morning flight to Caracas. Business class, so it cost me a bloody fortune. Still, whenever I get involved with you my bank account always takes a beating, so I should be used to it by now.’
Eddie looked at the map. ‘I want to check this place out in person.’
‘I thought you might. I’ve got a hire car. Although there’s something I think you should do first.’
‘What?’
Mac glanced towards the bathroom. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way, Eddie,’ Macy said, ‘but . . .