It had taken close to eleven hours for Paula and Eva to reach Fort Augustus and, despite sharing the driving, they were both exhausted. The team had a hotel booked for them and it was a relief when they finally pulled into the car park in the fading light. It was a cheap independent hotel, but despite the shabby exterior and only three other cars parked up outside, inside it was warm and inviting.
A lady in her sixties greeted them enthusiastically, her blue eyes twinkling behind the silver rims of her glasses. With a lilting voice, she directed them to the bar and restaurant, where two men were waiting. As arranged, Paula walked past the pair and bought two glasses of wine. Upon paying, she keyed in her PIN, but the card was declined. The shorter of the two men moved forward, reached over, and entered the correct code to complete the payment. The barman smiled before shrugging and moving on to another customer.
‘Thanks.’ Paula smiled warmly, relieved the exchange had gone down smoothly. Secure that their identities had been confirmed, the four moved off to a table with a good view of the car park. The restaurant was quiet, and the group could talk freely with no eavesdroppers.
‘Call me Smudge, and he’s Andy,’ the larger of the two said.
Eva and Paula appraised the men. The table designed for four seemed a little cramped for Smudge, his large frame and full dark beard could easily have put him in a Popeye cartoon. Despite this, he looked in good shape. Andy, on the other hand, could have walked out of a clothing catalogue, with his neat blond hair, twinkling blue eyes and dazzling smile. Both men offered a crisscross of handshakes across the table and they ordered dinner.
As they waited for the food to arrive, Eva sipped a little nervously at her wine. On the journey up Paula had briefed Eva about the field work they were about to undertake but this was going to be a wild leap away from the desk duties she was used to.
‘So why should we call you Smudge?’ Paula asked as she wiggled closer to Eva in the booth.
The guy who’d introduced himself as Andy responded. ‘We did an op a couple of years ago when we were both wet behind the ears. This joker wrote some important details on his arm. A reasonable idea at the time, but when he got back to base the writing was illegible. Since then we’ve called him smudge.’
‘So, you’re not Maverick or Iceman then,’ Paula teased.
Smudge’s grin widened. ‘What can I say, we’re all human.’
With the ice broken they chatted over a hearty stew and established that they’d be remote monitoring a country estate for the next few days which was where the phone had been triangulated to.
The meal was delicious and the four chatted like old friends, but all Eva could think about was how ill-prepared she was.
By the end of the meal, both women were showing signs of exhaustion, with the men headed to the exit.
‘Aren’t you staying in the hotel tonight?’ Eva asked.
Andy smiled, hinting he’d like to stay and cosy up. Eva felt her cheeks flush. ‘Yes, we’re booked in. We’ll be back in a while, but it’s only fifteen miles to the target and were going for a little night-time snoop.’
Conspiratorially he turned and grabbed Smudge by the arm. ‘Let’s see what we can find in the dark then, shall we?’