The Secret of Excalibur

embarrassed by the younger woman’s attention. ‘How do you two know each other? Did you work together?’

‘No, nothing like that,’ Mitzi answered. She squeezed Chase’s arm. ‘Eddie rescued me. And my mother, too, about four years ago.’

‘Just doing my job,’ Chase said modestly.

‘It was much more than that. You changed my life - I mean, as well as saving it! I used to be rather quiet,’ she said to Nina, ‘a stay-at-home sort of girl. Kind of a geek.’

Mitchell nudged Nina. ‘Nothing wrong with that, huh?’ She smiled.

‘But after meeting Eddie,’ Mitzi continued, ‘I realised that life is there to be lived, that there was so much out there to experience. I wanted to do everything - just like him.’

‘I haven’t done everything,’ said Chase. He looked up the slope, where the spheres were being unloaded from the trolleys. ‘I’ve never rolled down a hill inside a big plastic ball, for a start.’

‘Maybe you should,’ Nina suggested mischievously.

Mitzi’s face lit up. ‘Yes, you should! Come on, you can race me.’ She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up the pasture.

Chase stayed put. ‘Don’t be daft!’

‘It won’t take long. I’m friends with the organisers, I can get you in the next race.’ She tugged at his arm again, more insistently. Chase looked helplessly at Nina, who grinned and gave him a go-on nod. With a sigh, Chase acquiesced and allowed Mitzi to lead him up the slope.

‘So how long have you and Nina been engaged?’ she asked.

‘About a year. Not long after I last saw you, actually.’

She let out a comically exaggerated sigh. ‘So I missed my chance.’

‘Nah, you deserve better than an ugly old sod like me.’

‘I don’t know. All the men I meet who are my own age? They’re such . . . boys!’

Chase laughed. ‘I still owe you the money for that parachute, by the way.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Mitzi insisted. ‘Although Mama was not very happy when I told her about it.’ She huffed, the universal sound of exasperation with parents. ‘You should come and see her while you’re here. I know she’d love to see you again.’

‘Well, we’re in a bit of a rush, but . . . yeah, we can pop in.’

‘Where are you going next?’

‘Jordan.’

‘Jordan!’ Mitzi said excitedly. ‘I’m going there later in the year, to see the ruins at Petra. Why are you going?’

‘Can’t say much, I’m afraid - top secret. But you’ll be doing us a huge favour if you can help us out with something in Austria.’

‘Top secret? It all sounds very mysterious. Is it something like finding Atlantis?’

‘Something like that. I’ll tell you all about it after we’re done.’

She smiled. ‘I can’t wait.’

They reached the level area of pasture where the spheres were waiting. Mitzi spoke in German to one of the organisers, who agreed to let her and Chase go next, then used her smile - and low-cut top - to disarm the two young men whose places they had usurped. That done, they began their preparations.

‘A neck brace?’ said Chase as he was handed a stiff padded black collar with Velcro fastenings. ‘Most sports don’t need these until after you’ve fucked yourself up. You sure this is safe?’

‘Of course!’ Mitzi said as she fastened her own collar. ‘Don’t tell me you’re nervous.’

‘I’ve just got a thing about modes of transport with nobody in control. I’ve been in ’em a couple of times, and it usually ends with an explosion.’

Mitzi grinned, then clambered into her sphere. Grimacing, Chase entered his own, squeezing through a narrow tube into a second, smaller sphere within held in place by hundreds of taut nylon cords attached to the outer skin. Lying against the inner wall, he fastened a harness round his chest, then gripped a pair of straps above his head. Spread-eagled, he looked across at Mitzi, who smiled back at him. ‘Ready?’ she called.

‘Nope.’

‘Er ist bereit!’ she said to the organiser, who immediately began the countdown.

Chase scowled at her. ‘Buggeration and fuckaagh!’ he yelled as his sphere was shoved over the edge of the slope.

The world suddenly became nothing more than a dizzying whirl of sky and grass and sky flashing through his vision, faster and faster. Plastic creaked and nylon twanged as he hit a bump, then for a moment he was airborne before the sphere bounced back down to earth and continued its descent, now barrelling him along on his side rather than head over heels. Another noise, a squeal of plastic on plastic as he collided with the pale blur of Mitzi’s sphere, then suddenly he felt himself rising sharply into the air, only to roll back down the net at the bottom of the field. The sphere was grabbed and pulled to a standstill, but to Chase the spinning sensation showed little sign of stopping. He blearily unfastened his harness and slithered out through the tube, seeing Nina and Mitchell seeming to zigzig towards him as the world spun.

‘You lost,’ said Mitchell. ‘Tough luck.’

‘How was the ride?’ Nina asked.

Chase just about managed to stand upright, the ground still swaying under his feet. ‘Jesus, I’ve done parachute drops in thunderstorms that were smoother than that.’

‘Maybe you’re getting old,’ Mitchell suggested. Chase glared at him.

A beaming Mitzi reeled over to Chase and supported herself on his arm. ‘Woo! Didn’t I tell you it would be fun?’

Chase made a non-committal noise. ‘You know, if you want a real adrenalin rush, you should join the army. None of this extreme sports bollocks.’

‘You’re just saying that because I won,’ she said, pouting. ‘Besides, people might shoot at me!’

‘You don’t have to be in the army for that to happen,’ Nina told her ruefully.

‘So will you help us?’ Mitchell asked.

‘Of course! Just tell me what you want me to do,’ Mitzi said. ‘We can talk about it at my parents’ apartment.’

An impatient look crossed Mitchell’s face. ‘We need to get moving.’

‘It’s okay,’ said Chase. ‘It’s more or less on the way back to the airport anyway.’ He rubbed his head again and groaned. ‘And I could do with a nice long sit down . . .’

Zurich gleamed in the morning sun, the crisp light shimmering off the lake to the south of the city. A line of clean white snow capped the surrounding peaks in postcard-perfect fashion, evergreen forests sweeping down to the red-roofed urban fringes. The view was quite beautiful, Nina thought - and all the more impressive because she was seeing it from the heart of the city itself.

The penthouse’s rooftop terrace was larger than Nina and Chase’s entire New York apartment. Considering where they were, she guessed its owner was extremely high up in the financial world - which turned out to be the case.

‘I’m sorry my husband couldn’t be here,’ said Brigitte Fontana, handing her a cup of steaming cafe creme. She was practically a more toned and tanned version of her daughter, though her clothing was decidedly less revealing. ‘He’s in China at a financial conference, in Shanghai.’

‘Shanghai?’ said Chase. ‘I was there last year.’

‘On business or pleasure?’

‘Business.’

‘Ah.’ Brigitte gave him a knowing look. ‘It went well, I hope?’

Chase made a pained face. ‘It was . . . mixed.’

‘So when’s the wedding day, Eddie?’ asked Mitzi, handing two more cups to Chase and Mitchell. ‘I hope we’re all invited.’