Robert Wilson - The Ignoranceof Blood

'Did they cut women up with a chain saw there, too?'

'Only if they were feeling kind,' she said. 'Guess what?' said Ferrera, appearing on Falcon's shoulder.

'Comisario Elvira wants to see you.'

'When?' asked Falcon.

'Probably since he got a call from the Juez Decano de Sevilla at around two o'clock this morning,' she said. 'Ramirez is about to give Sokolov his first interview.'

'Is Inspector Jefe Tirado from GRUME in the building?'

'I'll find out,' said Ferrera. 'By the way, last night Juan Valverde gave me the name and address of the puti club where they're holding Marisa Moreno's sister, Margarita, or at least where he had sex with her.'

'You'd better get out there then,' said Falcon. 'Contact the local Guardia Civil and take Sub-Inspector Perez with you.'

'OK, Detectives Serrano and Baena are going through Alejandro Spinola's apartment looking for evidence of his involvement with the Russians and sending inside information to Horizonte.'

Falcon went up to Elvira's office. The secretary sent him through. Elvira looked barricaded behind his desk and didn't even let him sit down.

'I can't believe you mounted an operation like that without getting my approval.'

'Normally I would have done, but you told me I was not to have any contact with Alejandro Spinola on pain of being suspended,' said Falcon. 'Not only did I realize that Spinola himself was in danger, but I could also see that he was potentially drawing other people into a dangerous situation in the Hotel La Berenjena. I therefore had to act without your approval of the plan.'

'The plan?'

'The improvisation,' said Falcon, correcting himself. 'There hasn't been much time for planning.'

'Do you know what the Juez Decano told me last night?' said Elvira. 'That you'd hounded his son to his death.'

'His suicide, you mean,' said Falcon. 'Remember, Detectives Serrano and Baena were present and the truck driver was emphatic.'

'We'll see.'

'Alejandro Spinola told me he was into Belenki and Revnik for gambling debts and cocaine and that he'd leaked confidential information about competitors' bids for the Isla de la Cartuja development to Antonio Ramos, Horizonte's chief construction engineer. He'd also betrayed his own cousin by introducing him to Marisa Moreno, who was being coerced by the Russians,' said Falcon. 'That was a guy I didn't hound nearly enough.'

'I can only hope that with Belenki, Revnik and Marisa Moreno dead and Antonio Ramos keeping his mouth firmly shut, we can gather enough evidence to prove you right,' said Elvira, who looked at his watch. 'As it is, Inspector Jefe Falcon, I am going to have to suspend you from duty with immediate effect, pending a full inquiry. Inspector Ramirez will run the investigation from now on. You will leave the building by eleven o'clock. That is all.'

Falcon left the Comisario's office, went down to his own, where Inspector Jefe Tirado was waiting for him, chatting to Ferrera. Falcon told him the latest intelligence about Dario being held in Morocco and that it would probably be a matter for the CNI, working with the Moroccan authorities. He also told him about his own suspension from duty and that he would ensure that the CNI contacted Comisario Elvira with news of Dario. Tirado left. Ferrera looked at Falcon, shook her head in dismay. He went into his office, closed the door and called Pablo, who'd just arrived in the Jefatura and was on his way up the stairs to his office. He took out Yacoub's letter, reread it. This was going to be a hard sell.

Ferrera let Pablo in, said she was leaving for the Costa del Sol, pulled the door shut. Pablo put his briefcase down, sat. He was angry. Falcon decided to let him start.

'We've just heard from Saudi intelligence,' said Pablo. 'They've been in touch with the British, too, confirming that no members of the Saudi royal family were on board that vessel and there will be no press release for at least twenty-four hours on the matter. How much did you know?'

'Pretty well nothing, except that there was a Saudi connection. Yacoub didn't even tell me his real name.'

'That was a very dangerous game you were playing there, Javier,' said Pablo. 'He was an assistant to the Saudi Minister of Defence.'

'Think how you and the British would have behaved if you'd known that last week,' said Falcon. 'And if the Americans had been informed?'

'I'm not sure that blowing a ship up on the high seas is what I would call a contained intelligence operation,' said Pablo.

'Did Saudi intelligence come directly to you, or higher?'

'What do you think?' said Pablo. 'I've been made to look an arsehole on my own territory. As soon as Yacoub got off the plane in Malaga I had a man on his tail. After you met him in Osuna I had two agents, front and back of the hotel. And still a GICM logistics cell can put a power boat, packed with high explosives, at the disposal of an amateur, to complete a fucking impossible mission. We were nowhere…'

'How could I have helped you?' said Falcon. 'I didn't know about the power boat or the Princess Bouchra.'

Pablo grunted, looked out the window into the hot car park.

'I've got a problem,' said Falcon, 'and I'm going to need your help.'

'I don't know why. It seems that amateurs have just as good a chance as the professionals,' said Pablo. 'Is this about Dario?'

'Partly,' said Falcon. 'But in order to get to Dario I have to kill someone first.'

Silence. Pablo's brain ticked over.

'The problem is,' said Falcon, continuing, 'this person is someone that both you and the Moroccans would very much like to interrogate, but Yacoub's last request was that, while he wants this person killed, he does not want him tortured to death.'

'This isn't what you talked about in Osuna,' said Pablo. 'It couldn't have been. He'd have had to tell you he was going to die. So, somehow you've heard from Yacoub, but not by email. Did he write you a letter?'

'You can read it in a minute.'

'In the meantime, you want me to agree to facilitating a mission in a foreign country in which you assassinate an anonymous but valuable intelligence source,' said Pablo. 'Fuck off, Javier. That's all I can say.'

'I thought that might be your attitude.'

'You're in no position,' said Pablo. 'Let me read the letter.'

Falcon handed over the letter, sat back while Pablo read it.

'I want a copy of this and I'm going to have to make a call,' said Pablo. 'Would you mind waiting in the outer office?'

Falcon left the room. Ten minutes later Pablo called him back in.

'It seems that assurances were given to the Saudis from higher up,' said Pablo. 'Ministers of Defence and those close to them are very powerful people, especially when they buy military equipment. I have been instructed to make the necessary arrangements for you. But are you, the Inspector Jefe del Grupo de Homicidios, really going to do this?'

'Not that it makes any difference, but I've been suspended from duty, pending an inquiry into the events of last night.'

'I won't ask.'

'I have to admit it's not my preferred method of meting out justice, but not only is it my friend's last request, it's also the only way to rescue Dario. With Barakat alive on the outside we wouldn't get near the boy,' said Falcon. 'And I know you used to run agents in Morocco before you were given the Madrid job and you can help me.'

'I can arrange a firearm for you, give you some men on the ground, and I can clear it with the Moroccans after the event,' said Pablo. 'Or I can get a professional to do it.'

'As you can tell from the letter, there's something personal about this. I have no idea what it is, but I don't think Yacoub would ask me to do it unless he had good reason.'

'And what about the boy?'

'First of all, you have to contact Comisario Elvira and tell him that you believe Dario is in Morocco and he will relieve Inspector Jefe Tirado from the search for him here,' said Falcon. 'As soon as I've dealt with Barakat your men have to seal off the information that he's dead until I've rescued Dario. I'm not sure how I'm going to get into the house in Fes unless Yousra, Yacoub's wife, or Abdullah maybe, could help me get in there.'