A Dangerous Game (21 page)

hidden speakers.
 
But nobody was dancing.
 
Jacey saw one woman being

manhandled by two men.
 
They were both trying to strip her, pulling

down the straps of her dress, and fumbling with her breasts.
 
Giggling,

she pretended to fight them off.
 
Finally they both hoisted her up off

the ground, one of them holding her under her arms, and the other by

her feet, and carried her up the stairs, while she shrieked with

delight.

Carmen watched in disgust.

"Look at that.
 
She's a stuck-up bitch who'd refuse to talk to someone

like me.
 
The wife of one of the Generalissimo's chief advisors."

"Where's her husband?"
 
Jacey asked.

"Probably fucking his latest boyfriend."
 
Carmen shrugged.

Jacey looked round at the guests.
 
Everyone seemed to be shedding both

their clothes and their inhibitions with equal speed.
 
The music

thumped even louder.
 
Through the open door she could see couples, and

groups, kissing and pawing each other.

"Aren't any of these people afraid of being black mailed?"
 
she

asked.

Carmen laughed briefly.

"Who by?
 
Nicolas?
 
If he wants to destroy someone he doesn't have to

bother with blackmail."

A half-naked man ran past them, pursuing a young, totally naked, Indian

boy.
 
The boy had a smooth, brown body and straight, shoulder-length,

black hair.
 
His delicate limbs reminded Jacey of a young gazelle's.

His pursuer caught up with him, pinned him against the wall, and began

to kiss him roughly, starting with his face and then quickly descending

lower.
 
The boy leant back against the wall submissively, neither

helping nor hindering, his face blank, as the man nuzzled between his

thighs.
 
As the boy gazed out into the room, for a brief moment his

eyes caught hers but they were dark and expressionless.

A group of guests, men and women, appeared suddenly and when they saw

what was going on, began to laugh and shout lewd encouragement.
 
The

boy's face remained impassive, as if they weren't there, but the man

responded.
 
He stopped his rough caresses and turned, joining in the

laughter.

"You want him?"
 
he invited.

"He's for sale.
 
Come on, make me an offer.
 
Highest bidder gets him!"

Jacey was incredulous and what was more, felt embarrassed.
 
She turned

and walked away, and Carmen followed.

"Don't blame the Indian boys," she said to Jacey.

"It's hard for them to find work in Techtatuan.
 
They have to either

whore, or steal."
 
She paused.

"They give most of their money to their families, you know?

And the families are forced to spend it on the over priced food that

the government sends out to the reservations."

"There are reservations for the Indians?"
 
Jacey asked.

"Some," Carmen nodded.

"There was a move towards resettlement, some time ago.
 
But I don't

think the Indians were given any choice.
 
Their villages were

flattened, and they had to move, because of a scheme to start logging,

which came to nothing in the end."
 
She shrugged.

"I

sometimes wonder what the Indians really think of us.
 
It's hard to

tell.
 
But I'm not surprised that they want to change things."

"By supporting Lohaquin?"
 
Jacey hinted.

"I wouldn't know," Carmen said, quickly.

"I'm not political."
 
She gave Jacey a hard stare.

"And don't start talking about Lohaquin to Nicolas.
 
It won't make you

very popular."

"I can handle Nicolas," Jacey said confidently.

"That's what all the other women have said," Car men warned her.

Maybe, Jacey thought.
 
But I think I have an advantage over most of

them.
 
In their case, Nicolas Schlemann was using them.
 
In my case,

I'm using him.
 
In more ways than one.
 
I'll use his knowledge, and

I'll use his body.
 
I'm going to enjoy every minute of it!

Chapter Four.

Jacey woke up, glanced at her clock, then turned over lazily in bed,

and stretched.
 
She wasn't on duty until eleven, and she intended to

enjoy breakfast on her balcony before sending a message to Major

Fairhaven.
 
This time, she thought, she had something interesting to

tell him.
 
While Nicolas Schlemann might want to encourage Hernandez to

exploit Guachtal and all its resources, Lohaquin and his supporters

clearly had other ideas.

Whether they had the power to act as a serious opposition was another

matter.
 
Maybe this mysterious Lohaquin could depose Hernandez with

some outside help, but she knew that such help would come with a price

- and that would be the kind of price a political visionary might not

want to pay.

Any government willing to support Lohaquin would have to be sure that

he was a viable alternative to Hernandez and Nicolas Schlemann, not

just an impractical dreamer, or the kind of man who could encourage a

revolution, but not govern.
 
More important still, they would have to

be sure that he would keep the promises he made to them when he gained

control of Guachtal.
 
I need to know much more about Lohaquin, she

thought.
 
In fact, I need to meet him and make a first-hand

assessment.

She knew that her main point of contact was someone like Paulo.
 
He was

a native Indian, and she was sure that his involvement with Lohaquin

went further than just giving verbal support.
 
However, he was hardly

likely to trust her once he knew that she was considered to be Nicolas

Schlemann's new woman.

But she was already planning ahead.
 
Nicolas had openly admitted to her

that he was a power freak, and she remembered what Carmen had said:

that he enjoyed discarding his women when he grew tired of them.
 
It

probably made him feel powerful.
 
She had no doubt that their affair

would be interesting, but short.
 
How many weeks had Carmen given

her?

Four?
 
Six at the outside?
 
And when Nicolas dumps me, she thought,

I'll make it clear I want revenge.
 
After a public humiliation, no one

will doubt me.
 
Nicolas may have even given me a perfect excuse to win

sympathy from at least a few of Lohaquin's supporters.
 
She smiled at

her optimism.
 
There would be a certain poetic justice in that, but in

her heart of hearts she knew that it was unlikely; revolutionaries took

a dim view of the mistresses of dictators and military men.

She went into the kitchen to make coffee, and toast some slices of the

tasty, seeded bread that the hospital chef baked for the staff.

Afterwards, as she showered and washed her hair, she thought about the

message she had intended to send to Major Fair haven.
 
Perhaps I'll

wait, she thought.
 
I'll wait until I have something more than

speculation.
 
In my next report I may be able to tell him tell him I've

met the mysterious Lohaquin in person.

Jacey was dreading seeing Peter.
 
She walked past his office and

noticed that the door was half open.
 
Let's get this confrontation over

with, she thought, and went in.
 
But the office was empty, and looked

unusually tidy.
 
Surprised, she went to her own office, and prepared

for her rounds.
 
She finished them with out seeing Peter, and met Dr.

Sanchez in the corridor.

"Ah, Dr.
 
Muldaire."
 
The elderly Spaniard gave her a charming smile.

"I

was looking for you.
 
Will you be able to cope on your own?"

Jacey stared at Sanchez in surprise.

"Isn't Dr.
 
Draven here?"

Sanchez was equally surprised.

"Didn't he contact you before he left?

He had a call from England last night.
 
A death in the family; a road

accident, I believe.
 
He had to catch an early plane."

"He didn't say anything to me about it."
 
Jacey did not know whether to

be relieved or angry.

Sanchez looked concerned.

"Perhaps he didn't want to worry you.
 
And he did have to leave in a

great hurry.
 
He told me he felt sure you could carry on here without

him."

"Of course I can," Jacey said.

Sanchez patted her arm.

"It won't be for long.
 
I'm sure Dr.
 
Draven will be back soon."

Jacey couldn't help feeling that Peter's return to England had come at

a very convenient time.
 
Perhaps he's ashamed of himself, she

thought.

And maybe he ought to be, if he really intended to pass me round to his

friends like some kind of fancy treat.

After a few days she began to suspect that Peter had no intention of

returning.
 
Her suspicions were confirmed when she heard nothing as the

time passed.
 
He made no attempt to even send her an e-mail.
 
She

wondered if Dr.
 
Sanchez would ask her to take on Peter's patients on a

permanent basis.
 
She could cope easily, but longer hours at La