Read Online Be Careful What You Wish For: The Clifton Chronicles 4 by Jeffrey Archer - Free Book Online

date.’
    ‘Martinez, his sons Diego and Luis, as well as Karl Lunsdorf, are clearly working as a team. However, since my meeting with Martinez, not one of them has been anywhere near the Princess
Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, or paid a visit to Bristol.’
    ‘That’s good to know,’ said Sir Alan as he picked up his glass. ‘But it doesn’t mean Martinez isn’t working on something else. He’s not a man to back
off quite that easily.’
    ‘I’m sure you’re right, sir. Although he may not be going to Bristol, it doesn’t mean Bristol isn’t coming to him.’
    The cabinet secretary raised an eyebrow.
    ‘Alex Fisher is now working full time for Martinez. He’s back on the board of Barrington’s, and reports directly to his new boss in London once, sometimes twice a
week.’
    The cabinet secretary sipped his double gin while he considered the implications of the colonel’s words. The first thing he would have to do was purchase a few shares in Barrington
Shipping so he could be sent a copy of the minutes following every board meeting.
    ‘Anything else?’
    ‘Yes. Martinez has made an appointment to see the governor of the Bank of England next Thursday morning at eleven.’
    ‘So we’re about to find out just how many counterfeit five-pound notes the damn man still has in his possession.’
    ‘But I thought we destroyed them all in Southampton last June?’
    ‘Only those he’d hidden in the base of the Rodin statue. But he’s been smuggling smaller amounts out of Buenos Aires for the past ten years, long before any of us realized what
he was up to.’
    ‘Why doesn’t the governor simply refuse to deal with the man, when we all know they’re counterfeits?’
    ‘Because the governor is a pompous ass, and refuses to believe that anyone is capable of reproducing a perfect copy of one of his precious five-pound notes. So Martinez is about to swap
all his old lamps for new, and there’s nothing I can do about it.’
    ‘I could always kill him, sir.’
    ‘The governor, or Martinez?’ said Sir Alan, not quite sure if Scott-Hopkins was joking.
    The colonel smiled. He wouldn’t have minded which one.
    ‘No, Brian, I can’t sanction killing Martinez until I have a lawful excuse, and when I last checked, counterfeiting was not a hanging offence.’

    Don Pedro sat at his desk, impatiently drumming his fingers on a blotting pad as he waited for the phone to ring.
    The board meeting had been scheduled for ten o’clock, and usually finished around midday. It was already 12.20 p.m., and he hadn’t heard a word from Fisher, despite giving him clear
instructions to call the moment the meeting was over. However, he recalled that Karl had recommended that Fisher shouldn’t attempt to contact the boss until he was far enough away from
Barrington House to be sure that no other board member witnessed him making the call.
    Karl had also advised the major to select a venue that none of his fellow directors would consider frequenting. Fisher had chosen the Lord Nelson, not only because it was less than a mile from
Barrington’s shipyard, but because it was situated on the lower dockside: a pub that specialized in pints of bitter, the occasional cider, and didn’t need to stock Harvey’s
Bristol Cream. Even more important, there was a phone box outside the front door.
    The phone rang on Don Pedro’s desk. He grabbed the receiver before the second ring. Karl had also advised Fisher not to identify himself when calling from a public phone box, or to waste
any time on small talk, and to make sure he delivered his message in under a minute.
    ‘Harland and Wolff, Belfast.’
    ‘There is a God in heaven,’ said Don Pedro.
    The line went dead. Clearly nothing else had been discussed at the board meeting that Fisher felt couldn’t wait until he travelled up to London the following day. Don Pedro replaced the
receiver and looked across at the three men on the other side of the desk. Each of them already