rings up out of the blue from South America and asks you to shift some merchandise for him, no questions asked?’
Larry almost laughed. ‘As a matter of fact, the whole thing was arranged by a friend of yours.’
That caught Eddie totally off guard. ‘What’re you talking about?’
‘Your old SAS mate.’ Eddie was left even more bewildered. Mac? Relishing the fact that the balance of power had shifted somewhat back in his direction, Larry continued, ‘Alexander Stikes.’
‘Stikes?’ Eddie exploded. ‘Stikes is no fucking friend of mine! The bastard tried to kill me!’
‘Really? Well, obviously I’m glad he didn’t succeed, but I didn’t know anything about that. He actually said you’d recommended me to him.’
‘Oh, and didn’t that give away that something was wrong?’
Larry gave him an icy look. ‘I thought maybe you were attempting to apologise by putting some business my way. But I checked out his company, and everything seemed legit, so I had no reason to doubt him. He put me in touch with Callas and de Quesada, so all I did was act as middleman and ship some goods between them.’
‘Without them being checked by customs.’
A contemptuous snort. ‘You seem to be under the impression that if something crosses a border without a seventeen-point customs check, that means there’s been some great conspiracy. Do you have any idea how many items actually are checked by customs? Maybe one in twenty – and that’s in the West, where they have the technology and manpower to do even that many. Really, all they’re looking for are drugs. Down here, it’s more like one in a hundred. I just make sure that my clients’ cargoes are in the other ninety-nine per cent. A word in the ear of the right person is usually all it takes.’
‘And a bribe?’
‘I prefer to think of them as favours. You know, customs men are almost universally underpaid and under-appreciated. I just show a little gratitude for the job they’re doing.’
‘And what about you, then?’ Eddie demanded. ‘You don’t have any problems with taking money from a drug lord?’
‘As I said, his business isn’t my business. He was just another client. The only questions I ask are where, when, and how much?’
Eddie stood, voice low and harsh. ‘I’ve got a new question you should ask yourself: am I going to give every penny I got from this job to the British Legion or Help For Heroes, or am I going to jail?’
A startled pause. ‘You – you’re threatening me?’
‘That’s right.’
Anger flared in the older man’s eyes – and defiance. ‘You’ve got no proof.’
Eddie took out the business card. ‘You dealt with de Quesada.’
‘Anyone could have given him that card. Besides, he’s an alleged drug lord, not a convicted one.’
‘Well, he’s a dead drug lord now.’
Larry’s expression hovered between surprise and relief. ‘So you’ve got even less proof that I had anything to do with him.’
‘Interpol’s got his records. And why do you think I kept your card in a plastic bag? So they can get fingerprints off it. Yours and de Quesada’s.’
‘So . . . they haven’t actually fingerprinted it yet?’
‘Not yet. But I’ll give it back to them if you don’t make a very large donation to charity in the next few days.’ He returned the card to his pocket. ‘I’m giving you a chance here, Dad. You do the right thing. Or I will.’
Larry gulped down the last of his drink, fingers clenched tightly round the glass. ‘I’ll . . . think about it.’
‘Don’t think for too long.’ Eddie went to the door, looking back at his father with disdain. ‘Have a nice trip.’ With that, he left.
Larry banged the empty glass down on the table and jumped up. He paced back and forth across the room, shaking with barely contained fury, before taking a long breath, and picking up his phone. He thumbed through the contact list and dialled a number.
‘This is Larry Chase,’ he said when he got a reply. ‘I need . . . I need to speak to Mr Stikes.’
Nina had already returned to Caracas; Eddie flew back to meet her. She was understandably curious about his side trip to the Colombian capital, but he refused to tell her anything beyond its being connected to Stikes. However, they were both too tired to argue about it, flopping into the luxurious bed in their hotel suite and almost instantly falling asleep.
As soon as Eddie was woken by voices from the next room the following morning, he realised that Nina had something