for the two Americans would, Eddie suspected, be more politically charged. ‘How long do you reckon they’ll keep Nina and Macy, then? Or will they just ship’em straight off to Guantanamo? They could put them in Sophia’s old cell.’
Mac smiled. ‘Maybe they’ll become the next communist icons. You might see Nina’s face on a T-shirt, like Guevara.’
‘Oh, she’d love that,’ said Eddie with a laugh. ‘Now Macy, she’d probably go for it.’
‘She might at that.’ Mac sat back, his expression turning wistful.
‘What is it?’
‘At the risk of sounding like a broken record, I wanted to say that, once again, you’ve done damn good work, Eddie. Whatever we may think of Suarez politically, he’s not a murderer like Callas. Stopping Callas from taking power will have saved God knows how many lives. Well done.’
‘I learned from the best,’ said Eddie. ‘And you helped.’
‘Well, just a tad.’ Mac waved a hand in false modesty. ‘But yes, it was reassuring to know that I’ve still got it. Getting old doesn’t mean we become useless.’
‘We? You saying I’m getting old?’ Eddie asked, grinning.
‘It happens to us all, in the end. If we’re lucky.’
‘Speak for yourself. Soon as Nina finds the Fountain of Youth, I’m going to drink out of it from a bucket!’
Kit entered the bar, accompanied, to Eddie’s surprise, by Osterhagen. ‘Kit, mate! How did it go with Interpol?’
‘As well as could be expected,’ the Indian replied. ‘I had a teleconference with my superiors – they were confused about how an investigation into artefact smuggling turned into the prevention of a coup d’état, but I think I explained everything. As far as I can comprehend how I ended up in this situation myself.’
‘You’ll get used to it. You’ve known Nina for eight months and had this kind of mad shit happen to you twice. I’ve known her for five years, so think how much I’ve been through.’ He turned his attention to Osterhagen. ‘Doc! How are you?’
‘Good, thank you,’ said the German.
‘What about Ralf? Is he okay?’
‘Yes. He is being flown back to Germany and his family.’ He sat down beside Eddie. ‘I heard you had an eventful night.’
Eddie chuckled. ‘You could say that.’
‘But you rescued Nina and Mr Jindal safely.’ He looked round. ‘Where is Nina? I heard she recovered the statues and the khipu. I have a theory about the khipu, and want to discuss it with her.’
‘We recovered the statues . . . ’ Eddie admitted.
‘And the khipu?’
He grimaced. ‘Er . . . no.’
‘What? Then where is it?’
‘Probably best to ask Nina that yourself,’ Eddie told him, seeing his wife and Macy enter. ‘Bloody hell, about time! What kept you?’
Nina shook her head in exasperation. ‘From the way the people from the State Department were carrying on, you’d think we personally expropriated the plantations of United Fruit or something. They were one step away from accusing us of being communists because we didn’t throw Suarez under a bus when we had the chance.’ She squeezed between Osterhagen and Eddie. ‘I’ve had it with debriefings.’
‘No you haven’t. You’ve got one more debriefing to come tonight.’
‘Huh?’ He waggled his eyebrows lasciviously, and after a moment she picked up on his double entendre. ‘Oh. Oh!’ She blushed a little. ‘Well, ah, it’s been kind of a long day, and I need to get some sleep, and ah . . . ’ Macy mouthed Go on! at her. ‘But we have been through an incredibly intense experience, I suppose, a lot of pent-up tension to get rid of, and, ah, somebody please stop me babbling before I make a total ass of myself?’
Everyone laughed, and Eddie put his arm round Nina and kissed her. Osterhagen gave the couple more room. ‘I suppose we can discuss the khipu tomorrow,’ he said.
‘What about the khipu?’ Nina asked.
The German saw Eddie’s glare. ‘It . . . can wait.’
‘Are you sure? I realised something about it at the Clubhouse, how it relates to the map. I think the knots are—’
The glare took on a death-ray intensity. ‘No, really, it can wait!’ said Osterhagen, throwing up his hands. ‘You know, I would like a drink.’
‘Me too,’ said Macy. ‘In fact, I’d like several drinks.’
Eddie gestured towards the bar, catching the attention of a waiter. ‘Suarez is paying for everything, so have whatever you want.’
‘Seriously?’ He nodded; she beamed. ‘Awesome! Champagne, then!’
‘You want anything?’ Eddie asked Nina.
Now it was her turn to look libidinous. ‘Yes, but I think we should put it on room service.’