Robert Wilson - The Hidden Assassins

'And religious groups?'

'Some of these fanatically right-wing groups have religious elements, too. If they advertise themselves in any way, we know about them. What concerns us is that they might be learning from their perceived enemies.'

'So the other possible scenario-that this was an organized attack against a Muslim community-is based solely on what? That it's about time there was a reaction against Islamic terrorism?' asked Calderon.

'Each terrorist atrocity is unique. The circumstances that prevail at the time make it so,' said Juan. 'At the time of the March 11th attack, Aznar's government were expecting an ETA attempt to disrupt the forthcoming elections. A couple of months earlier on Christmas Eve 2003 two bombs of 25 kilos each had been discovered on the Irun-Madrid intercity train. Both bombs were classic ETA devices and had been set to explode two minutes before their arrival in the Chamartin station. Another ETA bomb was found on the track of the Zaragoza-Caspe-Barcelona line, which was set to explode on New Year's Eve 2003. On 29th February 2004, as everybody in this room knows, the Guardia Civil intercepted two ETA operatives in a transit van which contained 536 kilos of Titadine, destination Madrid. Everything was pointing to a major attack on the railway system prior to the elections on 14th March 2004, which would be planned and carried out by ETA.'

'That was the information, and the extrapolation from it was sent to the government by the CNI,' said Calderon, keen to stick it in.

'And it was wrong, Juez Calderon. We were wrong,' said Juan. 'Even after listening to the tapes of the Koran found in the Renault Kangoo van near the Alcala de Henares station, and the discovery of the detonators not previously used by ETA, and the fact that the explosive was not Titadine, as customarily used by ETA, but Goma 2 ECO, we still couldn't believe that ETA was not behind it. That is the very point I am making, and it is why we should consider all scenarios in this present attack and not allow our minds to harden around a core of received opinion. We must work, step by step, until we have the unbreakable line of logic that leads to the perpetrators.'

'We can't leave people in the dark while we do this,' said Calderon. 'The media, the politicians and the public need to know that something is happening, that their safety is assured. Terror breeds confusion-'

'Comisario Elvira, as leader of this investigation, has that responsibility, as do the politicians. Our job is to make sure that they have the right information,' said Juan. 'We've already started looking at this attack with a historical mind-the apartment bombs in Moscow, the discovery of Islamic paraphernalia in a white van-and we can't afford to do that.'

'The media already knows what was found in the Peugeot Partner van,' said Calderon. 'We cannot prevent them from drawing their conclusions.'

'How do they know that?' asked Juan. 'There was a police cordon.'

'We don't know,' said Calderon, 'but as soon as the vehicle was removed and the journalists allowed into the car park, Comisario Elvira and I were fielding questions about the hexogen, the two copies of the Koran, a hood, the Islamic sash, and plenty of other stuff that wasn't even in the van.'

'There were a lot of people out in that car park,' said Falcon. 'My officers, the forensics, the bomb squad, the vehicle removal men, were all in the vicinity of that first inspection of the van. Journalists do their job. The cameras were supposed to be kept away from the bodies of the children in the pre-school, but one guy found his way in there.'

'As we've seen before,' said Juan, breathing down his irritation, 'it's very difficult to dislodge first impressions from the public's mind. There are still millions of Americans who believe that Saddam Hussein was responsible in some way for 9/11. Most of Seville will now believe that they have been the victim of an Islamic terrorist attack and we might not be able to come close to confirming the truth of the matter until we can get into the mosque, which could be days of demolition work away.'

'Perhaps we should look at the unique circumstances which led to this event,' said Falcon, 'and also look at the future, to see if there's anything that this bombing might be seeking to influence. From my own point of view, the reason I was very early on to the scene here was that I was at the Forensic Institute, discussing the autopsy of a body found on the main rubbish dump on the outskirts of Seville.'

Falcon gave the details of the unidentifiable corpse found yesterday.

'This could, of course, be an unconnected murder,' said Falcon. 'However, it is unique in the crime history of Seville and it does not appear to be the work of a single person, but rather a group of killers, who have gone to extreme lengths to prevent identification.'

'Have there been any other murders with similar attempts to prevent identification?' asked Juan.

'Not in Spain this year, according to the police computer,' said Falcon. 'We haven't checked with Interpol yet. Our investigation is still very new.'

'Are there any elections due?'

'The Andalucian parliamentary elections last took place in March 2004,' said Calderon. 'The Town Hall elections were in 2003 so they are due next March. The socialists are currently in office.'

Juan took a folded piece of paper out of his pocket.

'Before we left Madrid we had a call from the CGI, who had just been informed by the editor of the ABC that they had received a letter with a Seville stamp on the envelope. The letter consisted of a single sheet of paper and a printed text in Spanish. We have since discovered that this text comes from the work of Abdullah Azzam, a preacher best known as the leading ideologue of the Afghan resistance to the Russian invasion. It reads as follows:

'"This duty will not end with victory in Afghanistan; jihad will remain an individual obligation until all other lands that were Muslim are returned to us, so that Islam will reign again: before us lie Palestine, Bokhara, Lebanon, Chad, Eritrea, Somalia, the Philippines, Burma, Southern Yemen, Tashkent…"' he paused, looking around the room, '"and Andalucia."'

Seville-Tuesday, 6th June 2006, 13.45 hrs

The meeting broke up with the news that another body had been found in the rubble. Calderon left immediately. The three CNI men spoke intently amongst themselves, while Falcon and Elvira discussed resources. Inspector Jefe Barros of the CGI stared into the floor, his jaw muscles working over some new humiliation. After ten minutes the CNI conferred with Elvira. Falcon and Barros were asked to leave the room. Barros paced the corridor, avoiding Falcon. Some moments later Elvira called Falcon back in and the CNI men moved towards the door, saying that they would conduct a detailed search of Imam Abdelkrim Benaboura's apartment.

'Is that information going to be shared?' asked Falcon.

'Of course,' said Juan, 'unless it compromises national security.'

'I'd like one of my officers to be present.'

'In the light of what's just been said, we have to do it now and you're all too busy.'

They left. Falcon turned to Elvira, hands open, questioning this state of affairs.

'They're determined not to make a mistake this time round,' said Elvira, 'and they want all the credit for it, too. Futures are at stake here.'

'And to what extent do you have control over what they do?'

'Those words "national security" are the problem,' said Elvira. 'For instance, they want to talk to you on a matter of "national security", which means I'm told nothing other than it has to be private and at length.'

'That's not going to be easy today.'

'They'll make time for you-at night, whenever.'

'And "national security" is the only clue they've given?'