The sound of the siren grew louder until they saw a police car cross the junction where they had turned off. Leavey looked anxiously at MacLean as the sound of the siren died in a long slow wail. The car had stopped on the other side of the junction. They waited for the whine of reverse gear and were not disappointed. The police car reversed back to the junction and turned slowly into their street.
Leavey indicated that MacFarlane should stay with the crowd and the little man nodded, pulling his Tammy down a bit further and sinking into his scarf.
‘In here,’ said Leavey to MacLean. It was a leather goods store, which seemed suitably dark inside. They made for the furthest corner and examined whatever they found there. It turned out to be watchstraps.
‘Si?’ said the assistant.
MacLean pointed to his wrist. ‘New strap please,’ he said.
The assistant looked at MacLean’s watch and began pointing out suitable kinds. The police car was drifting past the window.
‘Morocco?’ said the assistant. The police car had passed the window.
‘Alligator?’
Car doors slammed.
‘Plastic?’
MacLean saw peaked caps and sunglasses pass the window. ‘I think I like this one,’ he said.
‘Si Senor.’
‘Would you fit it for me?’
‘Si Senor,’ replied the assistant with less enthusiasm this time.
MacLean, aware of a commotion starting outside, fumbled at his watchstrap in order to delay as much as possible. The noise outside seemed to reach a crescendo and then fade as car doors slammed again and an engine roared into life. A car moved off and MacLean prayed that it was the police car. He paid for the watchstrap to an assistant who was clearly bemused as to why he had just replaced a perfectly good watchstrap but was too polite to question it. ‘Muchas gracias, Senor.’
Leavey and MacLean rejoined the crowd, anxious to find out what had been going on. They saw with relief that MacFarlane was still among them but now he was the centre of attention.
‘You guys missed all the fun,’ said one man.
‘Why? What happened?’ asked Leavey.
Half a dozen voices wanted to relate the story at the same time but eventually MacLean gathered that the police had identified MacFarlane as one of the three they were looking for but the others had prevented the police from taking him away.
‘Two big guys against the wee man here just wasn’t on!’
‘They’ll be back in numbers,’ warned Leavey.
‘Let them come,’ said one hero who looked as if he couldn’t run for a bus.
‘Our best bet is to get back to the square and join the others,’ said Leavey.
‘Aye, safety in numbers,’ agreed one man.
‘Plus the fact that someone in the police with brains might work out that it might be best to let the whole matter drop rather than cause a riot.
A murmur of agreement carried the motion and they all started to move quickly back to the square.
MacLean sat down on a low stone wall that circled a fountain in the square and was joined by Leavey and MacFarlane. The fountain itself was dry and the layer of dust and dirt round the base said that it had been a long time since water flowed in it but the thought was there. The numbers of blue scarves in the vicinity was comfortably back in the hundreds and the police chose not to make their presence felt in the square itself. They remained content to cover all the exits making sure that the foreigners were confined to the one area until match time.
‘What do you think?’ asked Leavey.
‘We’re trapped,’ replied MacLean.
‘Our best chance of breaking away will come later when they start herding us to the stadium,’ said Leavey. ‘They’ll be posted along the route but they’ll assume we’re all going to the match anyway.’
‘The trouble is it’ll be too late to get a car by then,’ said MacLean.
‘We could borrow one,’ suggested MacFarlane.
‘It may come to that,’ conceded MacLean. ‘But we’re in enough trouble with police assault charges if they catch us without stealing a car if we can possibly avoid it. They fell to silence again until MacLean’s gaze fell on the large hotel at the east end of the square. It gave him an idea. ‘We could rent a car through the hotel,’ he said to Leavey.
Leavey looked at the Plaza Hotel with its row of international flags along the front and said, ‘We’d have to be resident.’
‘It looks big enough for most of the residents to be anonymous anyway. We could give it a try?’
They agreed that it was their best chance and made a plan. When the moment seemed right they would get rid of all the accessories that marked them out as football supporters. Leavey would cross to the hotel and take a seat in the lobby. A few minutes later, MacLean and MacFarlane would enter to be greeted by Leavey who would appear to have been waiting for them. All three would then start walking along the lobby to the right. From the location of the front door they knew that there had to be one. They would pretend to be in conversation but actually taking in as much about their surroundings as possible. When they were safely out of sight of Reception they would stop and compare notes.
Leavey removed his hat and scarf and passed them to MacLean who stuffed them down a crack in the wall he was sitting on. He was about to start out for the hotel when MacLean stopped him. ‘Wait!’ A police jeep had appeared at the entrance to a lane running up the side of the hotel. It was too close to the main entrance for comfort. If either of the two policemen in it should turn out to be those of previous acquaintance Leavey would be recognised. Leavey swore under his breath and cursed his luck.
A few minutes later they saw the jeep turn and move off, its occupants bored with sitting. ‘I’m going,’ said Leavey and the others watched him cross to the hotel and disappear through the front doors. Six minutes later MacLean and MacFarlane joined him. The plan worked well and the three of them stopped at the end of the hotel shopping arcade to compare notes. They pretended to be intent on examining the Lladro figures in the last shop window while they spoke.
‘No one gave us a second look,’ said MacFarlane.
‘Good,’ said MacLean. ‘What did we see?’
‘The lifts and a cocktail bar were to the left as we came in,’ said Leavey.
‘Two tour operators’ desks at the start of the arcade and a Herz car rental desk,’ said MacLean.
‘But unmanned,’ added Leavey.
‘One of the tour operators’ desks was manned,’ said MacLean. ‘And it was English.’
‘Sunkist Tours,’ said MacFarlane.
‘Worth a try,’ said Leavey. ‘You or me?’
‘Me,’ said MacLean after a moment’s thought. ‘Follow me back to the desk and chat in the background.’
MacLean took a deep breath and walked purposefully back to the tour operators’ area with the other two in his wake. ‘Ah, there’s our girl,’ he announced in a loud voice as he approached the Sunkist desk.
‘Can I help you sir?’ asked the girl in the company red blazer.
MacLean noticed that she was wearing a lapel badge with her name on it. ‘Yes indeed Vera,’ he said, incorporating familiarity into his act. ‘We thought we might take a trip down to Alicante for a spot of fun at the casino. Trouble is, we need transport and the Herz desk is closed. Any chance of some help with car hire?’
‘No problem,’ replied Vera, accepting them as her own and feeling guilty about having forgotten their names but then she couldn’t remember everyone could she? ‘I can have one here for you in about half an hour.’
‘Splendid,’ said MacLean.
‘Small or large car?’
‘Something in the middle I think,’ laughed MacLean, keeping up his ‘loud businessman on holiday’ act.
‘A Seat Ibiza?’ said Vera.
‘Sounds fine.’
‘You’ll have to remind me of your room number,’ said Vera, giving MacLean a bad moment.
