Monica Brightman felt like the last American in Valle-Sierra. It was not a comforting thought. The attempted military coup six days earlier, which had been swiftly and brutally crushed by forces loyal to President Carrende, had left the stench of bloody vengeance in its wake. Whether or not the rumours that the CIA had been behind the attempt to oust the dictator were true, they had provided the regime with all the excuses it needed to act against “Imperialist aggressors and enemies of the State”. The near-deserted streets of the capital, Malnaverno, were decorated with banners bearing anti-US slogans. The walls of practically every building were daubed with crude variations on the message – DEATH TO AMERICAN SCUM!