Empire of Gold

His jaw tight with anger, the elder Chase returned to his seat. ‘Get to it, then,’ he growled. ‘What do you want?’

‘First off, I want you to look at those photos.’ His father picked them up. ‘The big gold face is an Inca sun disc – religious thing, their version of a cross. The other thing’s called a khipu. Not as impressive, since it’s basically a load of strings, but this one’s important ’cause Nina thinks it’s the key to finding El Dorado.’

Larry raised an eyebrow. ‘What, the El Dorado?’

‘No, Elvis’s Cadillac.’

‘You can be sarcastic or make your point, Edward. I’m not going to listen to you do both.’

‘All right. My point is that they were stolen from an archaeological site in Venezuela, and that you shipped them out of the country. And when I say shipped, I mean smuggled. ’Cause let’s not beat around the bush – that’s what you do, isn’t it?’

‘You don’t have a clue what you’re talking about,’ said Larry. ‘I don’t handle anything illegal.’

‘What about those?’ Eddie demanded, indicating the photos. ‘They’re stolen goods – I’d call that illegal right off the bat.’

‘Stolen? From who? I’ve got access to international watch lists from customs, police, insurers – neither of these things were on any of them. Due diligence; I carry it out before taking on any job.’

‘That’s a technicality and you bloody know it. It’d never stand up in court.’

‘As a matter of fact, it has, on more than one occasion. I know what I’m doing. I’m very good at it.’

‘So good that you don’t care who you work for as long as they pay well?’ Eddie said. ‘That guy you gave your business card to was a fucking drug lord!’

‘How he makes his money isn’t any of my concern. All I was doing was delivering a cargo to him – a cargo that as far as I knew was totally legitimate. If it had been drugs I wouldn’t have touched it. Do you think I’m a fucking idiot or something?’

‘You’re something, all right. Didn’t it even cross your mind that the job was a bit dodgy when Diego del Cocainio 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.’