I turned to her, almost whispering, 'Oh, he's crazy all right.' I slowed down so that there would be no mistake.
'I think your dad's planning a missile attack on a cruise liner, the Ocaso, tomorrow. It's going to happen once it's in the Miraflores. If he succeeds, a lot of people, thousands, are going to die.'
Her hand shot to her mouth.
'What? But you're here to stop ... No, no, no, my father wouldn't-' 'George isn't pressing any buttons.' I pointed towards the fridge.
'But he is, the one with the scar on his stomach. You know, the beach babies, your favourite picture.' They both followed my finger.
'I saw him at the Miraflores, running as soon as he saw Aaron and the Mazda. He was also at Charlie's, at his house, on Tuesday, and then here last night. He stayed in the wagon, he didn't want to be seen ... Charlie just told me that he was the one who took delivery ...'
'Oh, God. Milton...' She leant against the wall, holding her neck with her hands.
'Milton was one of the Iran-Contra procurement guys in the 'eighties.
They sold the weapons to Iran for the Lebanon hostages, then used the money to buy other -weapons for the Contr- Oh, shit.'
Her hands fell to her sides, the tears starting to well up.
'That's his job, Nick, that's what he does.'
'Well, he has just procured himself an anti-ship missile and I think he's going to use it tomorrow on the Ocaso.'
'No, he couldn't, you must be wrong,' she stammered. My father would never let that happen to Americans, for Christ's sake.'
'Yes, he would.' Aaron had something to say.
'The DeConcini Reservation. Think on it, Carrie, think on it.'
His eyes were locked on hers, and he spoke with bitter calm, trying hard to keep his voice down.
'George and those guys ... they are going to take down that ship so the US has just cause to come back. And you know what? He's made us part of it my God, we're part of it. I knew something like this would happen, I told you there was more to this ...'
Carrie slid down to the floor, maybe realizing at long last what her dad had really got up to all his life.
I turned to the rasp of bristles being slowly rubbed.
'She gets into the locks at ten tomorrow morning my God, what are we going to do?'
But the question hadn't been addressed at me. His eyes were still fixed on her.
Why'd he get you involved, uh? Maybe you wanted more than a passport. Maybe you wanted a reason for your get-back-to Boston ticket, huh?'
'I didn't ... and I didn't know, Aaron. Please believe me, I didn't know.'
He paused. I could hear breath travelling in and out of his hairy nostrils as he tried to keep calm, before flicking his eyes at me.
'You, Nick, have you been used too?' He pointed behind me.
'Just like her?'
'It's the story of my life,' I said.
'Carrie, Luz, you will have to talk to George beg him, threaten him.'
I turned, but Carrie ignored me. She just stared submissively at her husband.
Aaron's voice was still low but now laced with heavy sarcasm as he met her stare.
'Why should he stop? Hell, he thinks it's a neat idea. So neat he gave his daughter some of the action as a surprise.' His eyes became enraged as he forced his mug on to the tabletop and leaned forward.
'So that means everybody's happy Uncle Sam comes back and saves the day, the money guys, the military, the right-wingers, they all get the Zone back. And, hey, if it goes wrong, other guys take the heat.' He pointed at Carrie, his eyes burning into her once more.
'That's you, and me, and Luz. It's one fuck of a passport out.'
I opened my mouth to speak, but Aaron wasn't done.
'Our child will be getting letters from her mother on Alcatraz letterhead, and that's if we're lucky. That's if they don't execute you. It's out of control.
How will we live with ourselves after this?'
Aaron held up his left hand, displaying his wedding ring.
'We're a team, remember? I told you this was wrong. I told you he was lying, I told you he was using you.' He slumped back into the chair, wiping his eyes with straight fingers and rubbing his beard in distress as he checked out the computer-room door once more.
I turned. She was looking down, tears rolling down her cheeks too.
'I'm contacting him again tonight... It wasn't supposed to be like this.'
That was a start.
'Good. If I close down the relay board now will you still be able to make contact?'
She was opening her mouth, but if words came out I didn't hear them. From above us came an unmistakable and ponderous wap wap wap wap wap.
We all looked up. The noise was suddenly so loud it was as if the roof wasn't there at all.
Both of them rushed towards the computer-room door.
'Luz, Luz!'
I moved to the mozzie screen. I checked back to see them barge into the other room. Shit, it was still on 'The webcam, close down the camera!'
I pressed my nose against the mesh. I wanted the M-16 in the Land Cruiser, but it wasn't going to happen. The two dark blue helis were hovering above the house now, having already disgorged their payload. Pairs of jeans carrying M-16s were closing in on the veranda. Michael must have made the connection with Aaron from the meeting at the locks.
I ducked back into the room out of sight, just as the other two came running in with a frightened Luz.
The heli noise was overwhelming. One of them must have been hovering just inches from the roof; the bookshelf was shaking so much that books were tumbling on to the floor.
The scene beyond the screen was a maelstrom of flying twigs, foliage and mud as men bobbed about, cautiously approaching the veranda and pointing weapons.
Aaron's face was stone, glaring over Luz's head as they knelt either side of her, curled up in the armchair, her eyes shut tight in fear. Both of them cuddled and tried to reassure her.
From behind them came shouts in Spanish from the storeroom.
I could see bodies now on the veranda.
It was all over. I dropped to my knees and threw my arms up in surrender, yelling at Aaron and Carrie, fighting against the rotor blades to be heard, 'Just be still! Be still, it'll be all right!'
I was lying, I didn't have a clue what was going to happen. But you've got to accept that when you're in the shit you're in the shit. There is nothing you can do but take deep breaths, keep calm, and hope. I thought of my failure, and what that meant, as the pins and needles returned to my legs. This was not a good day out.
Men spilled into the room from the back of the building at the same instant as the mozzie screen burst open. There was crazed shouting between them as they tried to make sure they didn't shoot each other. I kept my head down in submission and could feel the movement in the floorboards as they stamped about.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the flicker as the image on the screen of the PC refreshed itself. Shit!
I chanced a look up and saw the expressions of relief on their faces that they hadn't encountered any resistance. Over their civilian clothes, they were all wearing black nylon chest harnesses for their spare mags. Four of them surrounded Aaron and Carrie, still crouched around the armchair comforting Luz.
She was giving out high-pitched, hysterical screams, terrified by the frantically pointed weapons just inches from her face.
I stayed on my knees, not looking at anyone in particular, just making sure I looked scared which I was. But at least there was one positive; I knew we were being kept alive for some reason, otherwise we'd have been shot on sight. All the weapons that I could see were on Automatic.
I kept still, looked down, took deep breaths, trying to keep myself calm and my head free but it wasn't
