Eddie restarted the engine and put the battered Jeep into first gear, tearing free of the tree. One of the soldier’s legs came with it, snared on twisted metal. ‘Out of the way!’ he shouted. Valero and Osterhagen dragged Becker away, Macy leaping aside as the Jeep surged forward—
Eddie dived out of the 4×4. It sailed over the edge of the pit - just as the soldier reached the top of the piled bodies and aimed his weapon. The Jeep hit like a giant hammer, pounding him back to the bottom of the hole and crushing him into the ooze of his victims.
Macy ran to Eddie and helped him up. ‘Oh my God! Eddie! Are you okay?’
‘Fucking top,’ he groaned, seeing the three men nearby. ‘Where’s Loretta?’
Macy’s tears returned. ‘They – they killed her. Right before you got here.’
‘Oh, shit,’ he breathed, sagging. If he had arrived just a few seconds sooner. . . ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry,’ he repeated, more loudly, to Osterhagen.
The German’s lips were tight as he struggled to hold his emotions in check. ‘You did all you could. Thank you.’
‘How did you find us?’ Macy asked. ‘How did you even get here?’
‘I ran,’ Eddie told her, standing. ‘Got to the base just as they were driving you away.’
‘You ran? Jesus. You’re . . . you’re amazing. Thank you.’ She embraced him, her tears now of gratitude. ‘Thank you.’
Valero, still supporting Becker, limped over. ‘We have to warn the militia about Callas.’
‘Yeah, we do,’ said Eddie, ‘but then we’ve got to find Nina and Kit. I saw Stikes and Callas put them in a chopper. Where are they taking them?’
‘Stikes said something about a clubhouse,’ Macy remembered.
‘A clubhouse?’ Eddie echoed. ‘What, like a golf club?’
Unexpectedly, Valero laughed, a bitter little bark. ‘Not a golf club – but near one. The Clubhouse. It is the joke name of a house in Caracas,’ he explained to his bewildered audience. ‘It overlooks a golf course in one of the richest parts of the city. The government confiscated it from a businessman who did not pay his taxes. It was supposed to be given to the people, but the military took it over – temporarily, so they said. But they are still there.’
‘Callas is using it?’ Macy asked. Valero nodded.
‘Then that’s where they’ve taken Nina and Kit,’ said Eddie. He frowned, thinking. ‘Is that Peruvian Hind – the gunship – part of what Callas is doing?’
‘A drug lord called Pachac got it for him,’ said Valero. ‘We heard them talking about it. I don’t know what Callas is planning, but it is why he has been selling the treasures from Paititi – he needs millions of dollars, tens of millions, to pay for it.’
‘He’s an army general doing something he doesn’t want the President to know about, he’s got a helicopter gunship, and he’s hired Stikes for some “conflict resolution”. There’s only one thing this can be about.’ Eddie looked grim. ‘Callas is planning a coup.’ He indicated the truck. ‘Sooner we get moving, the more chance we have of stopping it.’
‘What . . . what about Loretta?’ asked Osterhagen, glancing hesitantly towards the pit. ‘I don’t want to leave her there.’
‘We’ll have to,’ said Eddie. ‘Sorry, but we don’t have time to bury her properly. Once we contact the militia we can tell them how to find this place, but right now we’ve got to get out of here. We’re not far from the base, so it won’t be long before this lot are missed.’
‘I understand,’ Osterhagen said with an unhappy nod. ‘Oscar, help me with Ralf.’
‘Macy, see if there’s a first aid kit in the truck,’ Eddie said as they took Becker to the tailgate. He collected the dead soldiers’ rifles, then searched the bodies, gathering a handful of Venezuelan currency.
Even after the horrors he had witnessed, Osterhagen was still shocked. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Being practical,’ said Eddie. ‘We’ve got no money, and we might need some to make a call. Besides, these bastards don’t need it. Okay, let’s go.’
He retrieved Becker’s fedora and handed it to Osterhagen, then climbed into the driving seat, Macy beside him. The vehicle turned, then rattled away down the path, leaving the dead in silence.
16
Valverde was just beyond a small rise. Eddie stopped the truck and opened the cab’s rear window to speak to the men in the back. ‘Okay, the soldiers in town’ll be looking for us – or at least me. So what do we do?’