Empire of Gold

‘We recovered the statues . . . ’ Eddie admitted.

‘And the khipu?’

He grimaced. ‘Er . . . no.’

‘What? Then where is it?’

‘Probably best to ask Nina that yourself,’ Eddie told him, seeing his wife and Macy enter. ‘Bloody hell, about time! What kept you?’

Nina shook her head in exasperation. ‘From the way the people from the State Department were carrying on, you’d think we personally expropriated the plantations of United Fruit or something. They were one step away from accusing us of being communists because we didn’t throw Suarez under a bus when we had the chance.’ She squeezed between Osterhagen and Eddie. ‘I’ve had it with debriefings.’

‘No you haven’t. You’ve got one more debriefing to come tonight.’

‘Huh?’ He waggled his eyebrows lasciviously, and after a moment she picked up on his double entendre. ‘Oh. Oh!’ She blushed a little. ‘Well, ah, it’s been kind of a long day, and I need to get some sleep, and ah . . . ’ Macy mouthed Go on! at her. ‘But we have been through an incredibly intense experience, I suppose, a lot of pent-up tension to get rid of, and, ah, somebody please stop me babbling before I make a total ass of myself?’

Everyone laughed, and Eddie put his arm round Nina and kissed her. Osterhagen gave the couple more room. ‘I suppose we can discuss the khipu tomorrow,’ he said.

‘What about the khipu?’ Nina asked.

The German saw Eddie’s glare. ‘It . . . can wait.’

‘Are you sure? I realised something about it at the Clubhouse, how it relates to the map. I think the knots are—’

The glare took on a death-ray intensity. ‘No, really, it can wait!’ said Osterhagen, throwing up his hands. ‘You know, I would like a drink.’

‘Me too,’ said Macy. ‘In fact, I’d like several drinks.’

Eddie gestured towards the bar, catching the attention of a waiter. ‘Suarez is paying for everything, so have whatever you want.’

‘Seriously?’ He nodded; she beamed. ‘Awesome! Champagne, then!’

‘You want anything?’ Eddie asked Nina.

Now it was her turn to look libidinous. ‘Yes, but I think we should put it on room service.’

He cackled, standing and pulling her up with him. ‘Well,’ he said, clapping his hands, ‘we’ll see you all in the morning!’ With that, he scooped the surprised – but excited – Nina up in his arms and carried her from the room.

Mac, amused, held up his glass to the pair as the door swung shut behind them. ‘Here’s to young love.’

Eddie tossed Nina on to their suite’s big bed, making her whoop and giggle. ‘All right, love,’ he said, a grin splitting his face. ‘Get your kit off.’

Nina started to pull off her clothes as Eddie jumped on to the bed beside her, unfastening his belt . . . until he saw her bare arm. The red lump of the scorpion’s sting was still clearly visible. From its size, he immediately knew it was more than a mere insect bite. He frowned. ‘What the hell’s that?’

‘It’s, uh . . . nothing. Don’t worry about it,’ she replied – partly because she didn’t want events redirected from where they had been heading, but mostly because she knew how Eddie would respond.

He wasn’t having it, however. ‘My arse, nothing.’ He examined it more closely. ‘That looks like a scorpion sting! Where the fuck did you get that?’

Nina sat up, half clothed. ‘The Clubhouse,’ she admitted.

‘How did you get a scorpion sting at the Clubhouse?’

‘They . . . ’ She still didn’t want to reveal the truth, now because of her unwillingness to replay what had happened in her mind. But Eddie’s increasingly outraged expression made it clear that he would guess for himself soon enough. ‘They used one to torture me, to find out about the statues and El Dorado.’

‘They tortured you?’ Eddie rolled from the bed and paced across the room, furious, before whirling to face her. ‘Who fucking tortured you?’

Her answer, when it came, was in a very small voice. ‘Stikes.’

‘Stikes? Fucking—’ He was so apoplectic that for a moment he couldn’t speak. Then his voice went unsettlingly cold. ‘Wherever he is, whatever he’s doing, I’m going to find him. And I’m going to kill him. I’m going to hunt that bastard down and put a bullet in his face.’

She knew that he meant it. ‘Eddie, Eddie, it’s okay.’ She got off the bed and went to him. ‘I’m all right.’

‘It’s not okay. That fucker.’ He almost spat the word. ‘He’s going to get what he deserves.’

‘Aren’t you the one who once said that revenge isn’t professional?’

‘Depends what it’s for. And he’s done plenty. Time it stopped.’

‘That’d just make you a vigilante. No better than Jerry Rosenthal back in New York.’

He shrugged. ‘Nothing wrong with that. He’s a sound bloke.’