A Dangerous Game Read Free

back on the bed again, smiling.
     
    "So you keep saying.   But wait until you meet my mother.
     
    You'll love her.   And she's determined to have you as a
    daughter-in-law."
     
    I don't need this, Jacey thought, I really don't need this.   How can I
    get out of it?"
     
    As if on cue, the phone rang.   And when she picked it up she knew that
    she might have found her answer.
     
    Major Fairhaven was exactly as Jacey remembered him.   The immaculate
    hair, the immaculate suit, the little enamel badge in his buttonhole
    that discreetly announced he had been in the Royal Marines.   She could
    never imagine him as a marine.   But then, she thought, I can't really
    imagine him as a young man.   I can't imagine him as anywhere else
    except sitting in this boring office, with its cream walls, government
    issue furniture and framed print of the Queen on the wall.
     
    The major smiled at her across his desk.
     
    "Good of you to come, Dr.   Muldaire."   He paused.
     
    "Actually, I wasn't sure you would."
     
    She shrugged.
     
    "I'm curious.   Why me?   It's two years since I worked for you.   And I
    seem to remember telling you when I left that I wanted to make a new
    life for myself.   A quiet life so that I could pursue my profession."
     
    "You did," he agreed.
     
    "And I respected your choice."   He leaned back, linked his fingers
    together and looked at her benignly.
     
    "Are you enjoying yourself as an over-worked and underpaid factotum in
    the Midland General?"
     
    "I get job satisfaction," she said.
     
    "I'm sure you do."   Another pause.
     
    "Dr.   Anton O'Rhiann is a good-looking young fellow, I'm told.   And a
    combination of Irishman and Frenchman must make for some interesting
    evenings."
     
    She knew Major Fairhaven far too well to be angry.   Instead she
    laughed.
     
    "I'm not impressed.   Any junior nurse could have told you that much.
    Just tell me why you called me, after all this time."
     
    He leaned back in his chair.
     
    "Ever heard of Techtatuan?
     
    "No."
     
    "Not many people have," he admitted.
     
    "It's in Guachtal, in central South America."   He handed her several
    sheets of paper.
     
    "Read this."
     
    She read fast, then looked up.
     
    "Lots of rain forest, a few villages, and one major town.   The original
    native people are of Inca descent, the ruling classes are Spanish,
    descended from the Conquistadors.   They field a good polo team, host
    the occasional second-rate film festival, and probably throw lavish
    parties and get riotously drunk on the local vino."   She scanned the
    second page.
     
    "And the economy is crooked.   Well, that is a surprise.   Nazi gold
    deposited when the SS generals began to lose faith in the Thousand Year
    Reich, some money-laundering and a nice line in business addresses for
    tax evaders."   She looked up at the major.
     
    "And no free elections, of course.   So who's the boss in Guachtal?"
     
    The major slid a photograph across his desk.   Jacey saw a tubby man
    wearing a bemedalled uniform and a broad smile.   He was holding both
    arms in the air in a victory salute, and was flanked by armed
    soldiers.
     
    "That's Generalissimo Hernandez," the major said.   He smiled briefly.
     
    "With his bodyguard."
     
    "A bully boy?"   Jacey guessed.
     
    "Surprisingly enough," Fairhaven said, "Hernandez is quite popular.   He
    has a good military record and the army is solidly behind him.   Some of
    those medals are genuine too, although they were won when he was a
    young man.   I gather he was the kind of soldier who was too stupid to
    recognise danger when it was staring him in the face.   But the fact
    remains, he won the gongs, and lots of people think he's some kind of
    war hero."
     
    "And a financial genius too?"   Jacey was sceptical.
     
    "No."   The major grinned faintly.
     
    "But this gentleman is."   He tapped the photograph again and Jacey
    noticed the group of civilians behind Hernandez.
     
    "Senor