the door to the pool. The TV at the poolside showed a view from a building’s upper floor of soldiers warily facing off against a crowd of civilians. ‘Which way?’ Nina asked.
Eddie took the lead. ‘Over that wall,’ he said, pointing the way as he ran outside – to find three soldiers pounding towards him, less than fifteen feet away.
The Venezuelans were surprised by his sudden appearance. He swept round the AK to cut them down—
The gun fired only once. A soldier tumbled into the pool, trailing blood, but the other two brought up their own Kalashnikovs when they realised his had jammed. The magazine had been jarred loose when he hit Baine, only the already chambered round firing.
Beside him, Nina saw the gunmen – and kicked the catering trolley. Plates flew as it skittered across the poolside and hit the nearer of the soldiers. The impact knocked him back against his partner. Both men toppled into the pool, arms flailing almost comedically.
Eddie wasn’t laughing, though. They still had their guns, and a Kalashnikov could fire even after being submerged. He yanked his own rifle’s charging handle. A round was wedged in the receiver, refusing to come loose. ‘Kit!’ he shouted, but Suarez had frozen in the doorway, blocking the Interpol agent inside.
The men surfaced, spluttering angrily. One shook the water from his AK, swinging it towards the group—
Eddie booted the television into the pool.
There was a bang and a sizzling crackle. The soldiers writhed and spasmed as power surged through their bodies with heart-stopping force. After a moment they fell still, bobbing in the electric-blue water.
‘Don’t say it,’ Nina warned Eddie.
‘What, shoc—’
‘I said don’t.’
‘You’re no fun.’ He finally managed to eject the stuck round, the next slotting into the chamber with a reassuring clack.
Kit shoved past Suarez. ‘Eddie, look out!’ More soldiers were running from the helipad, alerted by the gunshot.
There was no way they could reach and climb the wall before being shot. ‘Come on, round the front!’ Eddie shouted, pushing the President in the right direction. ‘Nina, give me that grenade!’
Stikes and Callas rushed into the Clubhouse’s entrance hall, finding several soldiers milling in confusion – and Maximov, barging them aside as he ran to his employer. ‘Boss, boss!’ he called over the noise of the alarm. ‘The cells – it was Eddie Chase!’
‘What?’ Stikes couldn’t conceal his shock. Chase was a resilient little bastard, but the idea that he could not only have survived a plane crash, but then found his way to Caracas and penetrated Callas’s headquarters, was almost too much to accept. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Yes, yes! I know him – he said he knew you!’
‘What about Suarez?’ Callas demanded.
‘He let him go!’ Callas’s eyes widened in dismay. ‘And the others too. He tricked me!’
‘Not exactly the hardest thing he’s done recently,’ Stikes growled. The big Russian was a recent recruit to 3S – and, it seemed, the company could have found better. ‘How long ago?’
‘Just a minute or two. And boss, they said they had to find some . . . some disc, I don’t know what.’
If Callas’s eyes had been wide before, they were now practically bugging from their sockets. ‘De Quesada’s DVD – it’s still upstairs! If they get it to a TV station . . .’
Rojas ran in through the front door, shouting urgently in Spanish. ‘Shots from the side of the house,’ the general reported to Stikes. He started to issue orders—
A piercing bang came from outside, followed by screams.
‘Get in!’ Eddie yelled, pointing at the armoured car in front of the house. A soldier had been leaning through its open rear hatch, asking others nearby what was happening – until the stun grenade tossed into the middle of the group blasted their senses into oblivion.
Eddie ran for the V-100, unleashing a burst of fire at the guards near the gate to force them into cover behind the parked Tiunas, then blew away a soldier running through the mansion’s front door. He hurdled the man who had fallen from the hatch and took up a defensive position as Nina, Suarez and finally Kit piled into the vehicle.
‘There’s a guy in here!’ Nina shouted. The V-100’s driver was still in his seat, hands clamped to his ears in agony.
Kit shoved the case containing the statues and DVD under a narrow metal bench. ‘I’ll get him.’ He and Suarez dragged the driver from his seat, then bundled him past Nina and threw him out of the back.
Eddie shot another soldier lurking in