Agent McGuffin

Agent McGuffin was a minor protagonist in the Anthony Horowitz Diamond Brothers story South by South East. He was an MI6 agent.

Backstory
Agent McGuffin had been tracking Charon for quite some time and knew of Charon's bomb threat. He knew Charon wanted to start World War Three and so McGuffin tracked Charon to Holland. He didn't know who Charon was, if he was a male or female, he just knew there was a mass murderer named Charon who wanted to plunge the world into chaos. Agent McGuffin met Charon's two henchmen, (nicknamed "Scarface" and "Ugly") and they tried to kill Agent McGuffin multiple times, but he survived. He met up with Hugo Rushmore, a Dutch intelligence agent, at the Amstel Ijbaan, an ice skating rink, and told Rushmore of his knowledge of Charon. Rushmore and McGuffin became friends and decided together to uncover Charon.

Things were going alright at first but then McGuffin slipped up, and he was chased by Charon's two henchmen down to England. They followed him up to London and even to Camden Town. McGuffin was heading through the neighbourhood when he saw the Diamond brothers' flat, and knew he could hire a private eye right then.

Biography
Agent McGuffin immediately entered the flat, not wasting any more time because he knew he was in danger and the killers were right on his trail. He entered the flat, and told Tim Diamond he needed to use his phone. Tim said he got disconnected. McGuffin looked like "if he had seen a phone he probably would've used the flex to strangle Tim and then made the call uninterrupted." But McGuffin said this just as a bullet fired by Charon zoomed right in through the window and smashed a milk carton open, and McGuffin knew that time was running out. Tim was so worked up in his "private eye" routine he didn't even notice the failed assassination. All Tim knew was that there a a potential client. His young brother, Nick did notice the assassination attempt and he knew things were bad. Nick was also a bit alarmed because it was the first time he'd had someone fire into his flat. However, McGuffin said he was an agent ("It doesn't matter who I work for") and Tim immediately asked who he did work for.

McGuffin then explained about Charon, that he was a mass murderer and the head of an evil organization "that's bigger than Esso." McGuffin explained that Charon's name came from the Greek myths, of the ferryman Charon from the Underworld. Agent McGuffin also said Charon wanted to kill a Russian politician named Boris Kusenov, whose death on British soil would cause war between England and Russia, which would probably involve nuclear weapons.

Tim said the most unhelpful thing that he couldn't help McGuffin, so Nick told McGuffin there was a phone box round the corner in Skin Lane. McGuffin was fearful of going outside because of Charon lying in wait. However, McGuffin asked to borrow Tim's coat and he slipped into it, covering his face, and giving Tim £50 in return for this. However, as McGuffin made it to the box in Skin Lane, and called MI6, he got to say his location, and began to say "Sotheby's - Czar's Feast" before Charon fatally shot him mid-sentence. McGuffin was just about alive when Tim and Nick caught up with him, and McGuffin managed to say "Sotheby's = Czar's Feast" before he died to Tim, but a train rushed overhead, blocking out the words, and to Tim it just sounded like "Suff be suff iss" or - "South by South East."

And so began the Diamond Brothers' insane adventure to uncover the identities of Agent McGuffin and Charon.