Robert Wilson: The Hidden Assassins

Alarcon nodded.

'How did he react to the information I gave you?'

'Lucrecio had reached the point in his life and business career where he no longer had to bother with detail,' said Alarcon. 'He had people who did the detail. I shouldn't think he'd seen a bill for the last twenty-five years, or read a contract, or even been aware of the tonnage of paperwork involved in a modern merger or acquisition. His desk is always clean. It doesn't even have a phone on it since he discovered that the only people he wants to talk to are on his mobile. He never learnt how to use a computer.'

'What are you telling me, Jesus?' said Falcon, impatient now. 'That the services of Tateb Hassani and his consequent murder were "details" that did not concern Lucrecio Arenas?'

'I'm telling you that he's the sort of man who will listen to the business news, with all its astonishing up-to-the-minute detail, even a channel like Bloomberg, which is right on top of its subject, and laugh,' said Alarcon. 'Then he'll tell you what's really happening, because he is talking to the people who are actually making it happen, and you realize that the so-called news is just a bit of detail that a journalist has either picked up or been given.'

'So what did you talk about?'

'We talked about power.'

'That doesn't sound as if it's going to help me.'

'No, but it has been an enormous help to me,' said Alarcon. 'I'll be resigning from the leadership of Fuerza Andalucia and returning to my business career. My statement to the media will take place at eleven o'clock this morning. There's nothing left, Javier. Fuerza Andalucia is over.'

'So, what did he tell you about power?'

'That all the things that matter to me about politics, such as people, health, education, religion…all these things are details, and none of it can happen without power.'

'I think I can grasp that.' 'There's a saying in business, that what happens in the USA takes about five years to start happening here,' said Alarcon. 'Lucrecio told me: look at the Bush administration and understand that you only achieve power in a democracy with an enormous sense of indebtedness.'

'You owe favours to all the people who've made it possible for you to reach high office,' said Falcon.

'You owe them so much that you begin to find that their needs are shaping your policies.'

Three armed police arrived as Falcon left. Falcon drove back to the Jefatura, amazed at his naivety in thinking that Jesus Alarcon would be able to get anything approaching an admission from an animal like Lucrecio Arenas.

Elvira was alone in his office, standing by the window, peering through the blinds as if he was expecting insurgents in the street. Without turning round he told Falcon that he was going to have to prepare for a major televised press conference whose time, as yet, had not been set.

'The CNI will be here in a minute,' he said. 'Did you get anything from Alarcon?'

'Nothing. He's resigning later this morning,' said Falcon. 'He had a very unappetizing lesson on the nature of power from his old master.'

'Who seems to have met his nemesis,' said Elvira. 'A card was found on the diving board of his swimming pool. An identical card was found on Cesar Benito's body in his hotel room. Arabic script. A quote from the Koran about the enemies of God.'

Elvira finally turned round when he sensed something thunderous developing behind him.

'Are you all right, Javier?'

'No,' he said, gritting his teeth. 'I'm not all right.'

'You're angry?' said Elvira, surprised. 'It's very dismaying, but…'

'I've been betrayed,' he said. 'Those bastards from the CNI have betrayed me, and it's cost us the possibility of a resolution to this entire investigation.'

A knock on the open door. Pablo and Gregorio came in. Falcon wouldn't shake their hands, got up and went over to the window.

'So, what's going on here?' asked Elvira.

Pablo shrugged.

'I recruited a Moroccan friend of mine…' started Falcon, and Gregorio tried to interrupt by saying this was all top-secret CNI business and not for public consumption. Pablo told him to sit down and shut up.

'My Moroccan friend has infiltrated the group which positioned Hammad and Saoudi with the hexogen in Seville. The group demanded that he show his loyalty by passing an initiation rite. This required him to ask me who was behind the Fuerza Andalucia conspiracy. I refused to do this. At which point there was a very timely breakdown in communication-"a problem with new encryption software". Since then, I have not been able to contact my friend. I do not think that the deaths of Cesar Benito and Lucrecio Arenas are unconnected with what happened. I believe that my refusal to help was intercepted and replaced with the information my friend required. The fact that these two men were found dead with quotations from the Koran on, or near, their bodies seems to indicate that revenge has successfully been taken.'

Elvira looked at the CNI men.

'Not true,' said Pablo. 'It proves nothing, but we can show you the transcripts. It's true that your refusal to help did not go through before the system failed, but we did not replace it with anything else. The encryption software problem has still not been solved and we are now thinking of going back to the original software so that we can at least make contact with your friend. On the subject of the deaths of Arenas and Benito: the detectives and forensics on the ground in Marbella and Madrid have independently told us that they believe this to be the work of professional hitmen. They say that, whilst they have no record of any individual "hits" being taken out by Islamic jihadists, they do have records of professional hitmen using these methods.'

'Agustin Cardenas had just given me Cesar Benito,' said Falcon slowly.

'We know,' said Pablo. 'We spoke to Madrid. They've picked up the recording he mentioned in his interview with you.'

'You nailed him,' said Gregorio.

'For the murder of Tateb Hassani,' said Falcon. 'Don't you think the families of the people who died in El Cerezo deserve a bit more than that?'

'They might get it in court,' said Elvira.

'You said it yourself on Tuesday night,' said Pablo. 'Terrorist attacks are complicated things. You only have a chance at a resolution. At least in this one the perpetrators have all suffered.'

'Apart from the electrician who planted the Goma 2 Eco,' said Falcon. 'And, of course, the people who are so contemptuous of law and order that they will assassinate anybody who might make them vulnerable.'

'You have to be satisfied with what you've achieved,' said Pablo. 'You've prevented a dangerous group of Catholic fanatics from developing a power base in Andalucian politics. And in the process, through the actions of Hammad and Saoudi, we have uncovered an Islamic jihadist plot. Juan doesn't think that that is such a terrible outcome.'

'Which brings us back to the business in hand,' said Elvira. 'Hammad and Saoudi. Their faces have been all over the news and there's been a terrific response. Unfortunately, there have been sightings from all over Spain. They've been seen on the same day, at the same time, in La Coruna, Almeria, Barcelona and Cadiz.'

Elvira took a call on his mobile.

'Chasing Hammad and Saoudi is a waste of time,' said Pablo. 'It's been four days. They'll have done whatever needed to be done and got out. The only thing that will help us now is intelligence.'

Elvira came back into the conversation.

'That was the Guardia Civil. They've had a confirmed sighting of Hammad and Saoudi, early on Monday morning 5th June, on a stretch of country road near a village called El Saucejo, about twenty-five kilometres south of Osuna.'

'And how do we know this is a bona fide sighting?' asked Pablo.

'They were changing the back tyre, driver's side, on a white Peugeot Partner,' said Elvira.