Nina was surprised. Her husband had always been discreet about his military and mercenary past, but never mentioning that? ‘You did?’

‘Yeah, briefly. One of those “how the hell did I get into this situation?” moments. Didn’t agree with his politics, but he was a funny guy.’ He finished gathering the larger pieces and put them in the bin.

‘I’ll get the vacuum,’ said Macy, hurrying to the hall cupboard.

‘So Hugo bought me this,’ Eddie went on, crouching again to collect the spilled coins, ‘partly as a joke about meeting Fidel, and partly to say: “Hey, don’t sit around moping about the past” – I’d just got divorced – “because you never know what’s going to happen next.” And that part was certainly true. After me and Sophia split up, I had a couple of years doing all sorts of crazy stuff . . . and then I met you.’

‘And then things got really crazy,’ she said with a smile.

‘You’re not bloody kidding,’ he replied, grinning, as Macy returned with the vacuum cleaner. ‘So maybe poor old Fidel’s done everything he was meant to do. I’ve reached fifty, so that’s one chapter of my life over, but there are new ones to come.’

‘Lots and lots of them, hopefully.’

‘That’s the plan!’ He deposited the coins on a countertop, then moved so Macy could vacuum up the remaining fragments. ‘Can’t believe I didn’t duck in time.’

‘Like you said, you’ve reached fifty,’ Nina reminded him. ‘You aren’t as quick as when you were twenty.’

‘Or forty-nine, apparently. Thanks, Macy.’

Macy switched off the vacuum cleaner. ‘Dad, I’m sorry I broke it, I really am.’

‘It’s all right, love,’ he said, squeezing her. ‘It’s just a thing. Nobody got hurt. So,’ he went on, recognising an opportunity, ‘do you think you’ll be okay without us for a couple of days?’

‘I suppose so, yeah—’ Macy gave him a sidelong look, realising she had been guilt-tripped. ‘Dad.’

He grinned. ‘You’ll be fine. We’ll call Holly and Olivia in the morning.’

‘And I’ll tell Cheng we’re going with him,’ added Nina.

Eddie let out a wry chuckle. ‘Off to Germany at a moment’s notice? Hugo was right. You never do know what’s going to happen next.’

Chapter 3

3

Hamburg, Germany

Cheng looked around as he, Nina and Eddie emerged from the S-Bahn station. ‘So this is the famous Reeperbahn!’

‘Infamous is more like it,’ said Eddie. ‘It doesn’t look like much in daylight, but things’ll kick off once it gets dark. And whatever you do, keep hold of that bloody bag.’ As well as a backpack, the young Chinese carried a black nylon holdall; in it was fifty thousand euros in cash, which he had collected from a bank in central Hamburg.