‘No more than that?’

‘No.’

‘Money,’ Cal said as a weary reminder.

She nodded to include Nin and Oliver and, preparatory to telling him, she first advised them as to what she was about to say, before reverting to Englsih.

‘The POUM have agreed to provide funds from their party coffers to begin the investigation in to making a purchase of arms, though apart from Andreu they have no knowledge of you. Likewise, García Oliver and Juan Luis will be the only anarchists who know of your identity and purpose.’

The use of the names had both men looking at him keenly.

‘No one else must know. Caballero dare not be found undermining his cabinet, for if he is it will fall apart, nor can he seek to apportion what is needed for purchase until matters are close to a conclusion, since he will have to sneak the payment past the communists, but he is sure it can be shipped, as and when needed, at a few days’ notice.’

‘That will not do, Florencia.’ Unfazed by her flash of anger, picked up by the two men, Cal continued, ‘The money has to be there before the deal is done. It is a transfer that has to be simultaneous. This is a business in which there is no such thing as trust.’

That was followed by a rapid burst of explanation. Nin, who responded after a brief word with Oliver, which was followed by a handshake and his departure, was thankfully more calm and measured than her.

‘Andreu says one step at a time,’ Florencia said, with none of the tone in which it had been imparted to her.

‘I gathered that.’

They were now near the main boulevard, and worried about being observed in Nin’s company, Cal had a look around. Tyler Alverson was easy to spot, mainly because he was making no attempt to disguise himself or hide; he was, after all, dressed in a near-white suit. Cheekily, the American touched the rim of his panama, then immediately spun round and departed.

Annoying as it was, there being nothing he could do to change that Cal concentrated on finalising the arrangements to transfer funds into the account that he had opened with Monty Redfern’s bank draft, which was obviously a speculative amount and he was careful to ensure there could be more if needed.

There was no way of knowing if and what Drouhin would send him and what would be required to be expended, so he was obliged to play safe and request a hefty sum of money that made Nin think hard before agreeing, with the caveat that approval for such a large amount would have to be sought from his committee.

That engendered a discussion of keeping the information secure; if infiltration was a communist tactic, Cal insisted, it would be naive to assume that spies had not penetrated both the POUM and the CNT. That was when it ceased to be a dialogue and became a row, Nin and Florencia displeased with the notion that their close comrades would betray them.

Agreement was reached eventually that the money would be earmarked for foreign propaganda purposes – no mention would be made of armaments to anyone who did not already know of the plans – and finally Cal and Florencia parted company and made their way back to the Florida Hotel as night began to fall. Tyler Alverson was in the lobby.

‘Bit early to eat, Cal,’ he boomed, ‘but just the time for the first drink of the evening.’

The American was too shrewd to enquire what Cal was up to while Florencia was present, instead he kept the conversation genial and general about the places he had been and the things he had seen – and often wished he had not – in the trouble spots of the world. A natural topic was his and Cal’s shared adventure in Abyssinia; the one subject he tried to stay off was the present civil war.

If he was aware that Cal was watching him the way a tabby cat eyes a mouse, and he had to be, Tyler Alverson ignored it, moving on to talk about President Roosevelt and the proposed Second New Deal, the ’36 election just having been decided, only referring to what was happening in Madrid in his explanation of why America would not support the Republic with weapons and credits.

‘I don’t know if Franco and his guys figured on this, but they kicked off right in the middle of an election campaign and nobody could have predicted that the Democrats would win by a landslide. Roosevelt had to promise to stay out of European affairs to get the votes he needed.’

‘But now?’ Florencia asked, her face eager. ‘Perhaps he will help now.’

‘Honey,’ Alverson intoned, that alone enough to dampen any enthusiasm, ‘I don’t think you know how bad things are in the USA. If you ain’t got your own house in order, you can’t go getting involved in saving the abode of anyone else. I think we will be sorry one day, and a lot of other folk do too, but them and I don’t run things.’ He looked at his watch. ‘Is it time for dinner yet? I can’t wait till ten, when you guys eat.’

Florencia stood. ‘I will go and change.’

‘Nice dame,’ Alverson said as she walked away, his eyes not the only ones following her. ‘And I mean as a person too.’

‘She has her moments.’

‘I bet.’

‘You know, I don’t take to being tailed.’

‘Who says me seeing you was not just a coincidence?’

‘I do.’

‘So, I followed you. I figured you were up to something and it’s my job to find out stuff like that.’

‘You could have just asked.’

Alverson produced a lazy grin. ‘And you would do what you are about to do now, tell me to mind my own business.’

‘Yes.’

‘So let’s see what my nose tells me. You are caught in Spain because you are tied up with Florencia which, I have to admit, is a damn good reason. Maybe because of her, but more likely for all the right reasons, you get involved in a couple of shoot-outs—’

‘They were a bit more than that.’

‘Battles, then – but you’re not battling now, Cal, you are visiting a discreet location in the company of a couple of guys called Andreu Nin and García Oliver, who, I hear, is being touted to join the government.’

‘You’re so sure you know their identities?’

‘Cal, it’s my job to know. I have a photograph of every serious player on both sides in my suitcase.’

‘Go on.’

‘Now, when I first met you, what were you doing?’ There was no need to answer. ‘And what does the Republic need right now?’

‘A bit tenuous, Tyler.’

‘Is it, Cal? You’re a gunrunner and they need weapons, and my guess is that they worry about depending on Stalin for everything. I know the guys I’ve met in Madrid don’t like taking orders from the Russians, just as I know how much those communist bastards like giving them out.’

‘They’re not short on arrogance.’

‘So now that I have said all that, you have a choice. You can either let me speculate in print – in short, tell the American public what I suspect is going on – or you can tell me the story and ask me to sit on it.’

‘How do I know you would be satisfied with that?’

‘You don’t, and it won’t be friendship that decides, it will be what I consider best for the papers that pay my wages and are waiting for an explanation of what is going on in this benighted part of the globe. So it’s half a story now, cobbled together out of speculation and observation, or the full shebang later on.’

Cal stood up and rubbed his chin. ‘I need to change for dinner too.’

Alverson’s look was salacious enough to explain his reply. ‘Don’t you go getting distracted up there in that bedroom, my stomach is already rumbling.’

* * *

As he scraped his chin, in a mirror steamed up by his bathwater, listening to Florencia singing softly in the bedroom as she dressed, Cal was aware that he had to open up to Alverson. Whether, come the endgame – always supposing there was one – he would tell all, was another matter. What he needed now was secrecy – any hint that an international gunrunner was seeking weapons would be fatal.

He trusted the American would not use his actual name, but nor would he just settle for the nebulous story so far. He would be on his tail, asking questions at every stage of any deal, and if he was, he would be hard to fool. There was a moment, when he dipped his face to wash off the last of the shaving foam, when he wondered whether to pack the whole thing in, but Florencia had reached a high note in her song and he knew he was committed, and why.