The lanky Wing Commander's bright blue eyes held Adam's with a steady stare, then he said in a low voice, `Look, pal. We are both Britishers so I can talk turkey to you. The job of Cultural Attaché sometimes covers a multitude of well other things. In my case, collecting info' for a certain office not far from Whitehall. We get along pretty well with the present government here and, anyway, the devil you know is better than the devil you don't. So it is up to us to help in any way we can to prevent another revolution in Mexico.'
After a moment he went on, `Not only on account of our interests here, but because we know what a revolution would lead to. Judging by the horrors that took place in the Spanish Civil War, the Spaniards have a pretty unpleasant reputation for cruelty and there is a lot of Spanish blood in this country. But the Spaniards are gentle little lambs compared to the Indians. The sort of parties that took place in the free for all that preceded 1920 are almost unbelievable. Captives had the soles of their feet sliced off and were made to run across open country until they were shot down. In one case, a sportsman who prided himself on his marksmanship had two hundred of them released just for target practice. Some were forced to dance for hours until their hearts gave out. Others were buried up to their necks then ridden over by cavalry. Others again were tied to horses' tails and dragged at a gallop until they became bleeding pulp. Scores of prisoners had their ears lopped off and plantation foremen were nailed to the doors of their homes, then left to die of thirst. We don't want that sort of thing to happen again, do we?'
`My God, no!' Adam gave a shudder. `But I don't see how I can help to prevent it.'
`Oh yes, you can,' Hunterscombe replied quietly. `You are right in with old Enriquez, and the capitalists have plenty to gain if the reactionaries came to power. What is more, you are the lucky lad who has become the Senorita Chela's latest boy friend. We are convinced that she is in this thing up to the neck, and that their contact is Alberuque. If you play it gently you are in a position to win her confidence and get the lowdown on the tie up between the Church and Bernadino and his pals. That is what I want you to do, then report to me every damn' thing you can get out of her and her family so that we can turn it in to the Mexican government.'
Into Adam's mind there flashed a vision of his beautiful Chela, arrested, being tried for treason and then condemned to spend the best years of her life in some awful prison.
Suddenly, seething with rage at the idea of being asked to betray her, he came to his feet and said icily, `Thanks for the lunch. But what is going to happen in Mexico is not my problem. As for spying on friends who have been extremely kind to me, I'll see you in hell first.'
The Wing Commander appeared mildly amused by Adam's outburst. He said, `Hold it, dear boy; hold it. Even if you haven't the undiluted patriotism of a pukka sahib, I'd be grateful if you'd refrain from making a scene in my favourite restaurant.'
Feeling rather foolish, Adam subsided and Hunterscombe went on, `I accept your decision. All the same, you are wrong about it's not being your problem. God knows there is enough trouble in the world today and each area that blows up lessens the stability of others. If you are not interested in the welfare of your own country, that is reason enough for refusing to help me protect British commercial interests in Mexico. But there is another side to it which is the problem of us all. That is to do everything we can to prevent wars and civil wars from breaking out, in which many thousands of innocent men, women and children die violent deaths or have their lives ruined by some ghastly wound. We'll leave it at that, and I'll only suggest that you think it over.'
`I see your point,' Adam agreed. `But I'm not going to involve my friends in trouble.'
Hunterscombe nodded. `That's understandable. Now I’ll revert to my official position as Cultural Attaché. It's part of my job to run the Anglo Mexican Society. We meet once a week and get some visitor to give us a talk. He may be a visiting M.P., an economist, a man who has travelled a lot or a well known sportsman. Authors, and particularly best selling authors, are especially welcome. Can I persuade you to oblige?'
Adam had soon learned that he was not one of those fortunate people who can be interesting and amusing for three quarters of an hour without first thinking out what he was going to say, making copious notes and rehearsing his speech; so it would mean a full morning's work. He had often done it when he needed the publicity. Now he didn't; but, all the same, he felt it a duty to provide an evening's entertainment for British people living abroad, so he replied:
`Right ho! When is it to be?'
`We meet on Tuesday evenings. I've got a chap for next week: an engineer who builds bridges. How about the following Tuesday?'
`Fine. That's all right by me.'
`Thanks, chum. I'll drop you a line about time and place. Now, if you will forgive me, I must get back to the Embassy. But I can give you a lift up town.'
Twenty minutes later they parted with no unfriendly feelings.
After his lunch with `our man' in Mexico, Adam pondered the situation very seriously. For the under cover agents of both America and Britain to have got on to it, there could be no doubt that real trouble was brewing. It being reasonable to suppose that the Mexican security people were not a pack of fools, it could be assumed that they had, too. Anyhow by now they would know about it as, short of abandoning his career as a diplomat, Ramon could not evade turning in his report.
Bernadino had said that he meant to warn his friends, which implied that the Enriquezes, father and son, still had time to pull out and put themselves in the clear. But Adam knew to be wrong Jeremy Hunterscombe's assumption that Chela was acting as liaison between her family and Alberuque. Both parties might be involved in the conspiracy but, for some reason he could not fathom, on different levels. Bernadino had seen the red light; but even after reading the despatch that Ramon had been carrying, Alberuque had shown no uneasiness. That meant he and Chela would continue their subversive activities and would remain liable to be caught out.
During the siesta hours Adam tossed restlessly on his bed wondering whether he ought now to come clean with Chela and
tell her that he had been a witness to her midnight meeting with he Monsignor and warn her of her danger. At length he decided that, if a suitable opportunity arose, he would; but otherwise, as it seemed that the conspiracy was still in its infancy, he would leave the matter until his return from Oaxaca.
At the party that night he was twice on the point of broaching he subject to her; but their conversation was interrupted by other good looking gentlemen eager for Chela's company, so, none to happily, he left things as they were.
Next morning he was up early, had himself driven to the airport and took the seat that had been booked for him by Bernadino in the aircraft that left at 8.15 for Oaxaca. It was a flight of only an hour and a quarter. Not long after taking off, the plane flew right over Popocatepetl and he was able to stare down into the crater of the great volcano. Then they passed out of the Anahuac valley to enjoy a vista of other mountains in the distance.
At the small, trim airport at Oaxaca he found that a car had been ordered for him. He was whisked away through the city and up a mile long slope on its far side to the Hotel Victoria.
The hotel intrigued him, as he had never before seen one like it. Instead of being rectangular, it was round. The ground floor was a circular, open space from which one could see right up to the roof. Rising from this lounge, a broad, spiral staircase led to three upper floors of bedrooms. Adam was given one facing east. It looked down on a big swimming pool framed in banana palms and a variety of trees in flower. But it was the far view that entranced him. The hotel, set high on a slope, looked straight down a seemingly endless valley between two ranges of mountains. This splendid stretch of country had once been Cortes' estate, and from it he had taken his title, `The Marquis of the Valley'.