A Silent Death

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Streetlights snaked off up the hill from the simmering darkness of the empty hotel complex. Tiles flaked from rain-streaked walls. Unpruned palms and overgrown shrubs climbed the building, obscuring windows and doorways. Weeds poked a metre high from cracked tarmac in covered parking lots out front. And beyond the bridge that straddled the dual carriageway below, headlights raked the night, southbound towards the distant silhouette of Gibraltar.

What little light remained in the sky glowed pink verging on purple. It lay in narrow bands along the distant horizon, where a bank of cloud obscured North Africa beyond a Mediterranean Sea that mirrored infinity. The moon had not yet risen.

Cleland drew his black SUV into the cover of an overgrown gateway hidden beneath the main entrance to the hotel. When he had first arrived in this part of Spain the Condesa Golf Hotel had been a thriving business, its Thalasso Spa a popular attraction for holidaymakers and wealthy locals. Water drawn from the Mediterranean purified for the various treatments offered. Its restaurants serving Michelin-quality food.

But something, Cleland knew not what, had gone wrong. A change in financial fortunes. The hotel had closed and lain empty for years, quietly decaying on the edge of the port without any indication that it would ever reopen.

He grabbed a black bag from the back seat, then helped Ana down from the vehicle. She had shown no inclination to resist since leaving the church, following all his instructions with a quiet acquiescence. Holding her by the arm, he led her carefully past the entrance to the spa. Something opaque had been painted over glass doors to prevent anyone from seeing in, but vandals had used it as a base to scrawl their names, and the names of their lovers, and all their pointless profanities. An unbroken sticker pasted across the doors read Protegido Por Seguridad. It was impossible to see in beyond the reflections of willows and bamboo that pushed up from the dry river bed opposite.

They hurried around a proliferation of uncut hedging that hung down over the pavement, to follow a curving walkway almost completely engulfed by advancing regiments of trees and bushes. Paint-peeling walls and glass balconies rose above them through three floors, and they had to fight their way past overhanging branches and trailing root systems to find the short flight of steps that led up to the main entrance.

Cleland tore away red tape stretched across a gateway to the turning circle in front of revolving doors which had once swept guests into an impressive reception. Approaching from this angle avoided the security cameras. He had no idea if they still functioned, but he wasn’t going to take the risk. A side door was secured with a padlock and chain. He released Ana and set his bag down on the cracked pavings to take out a pair of heavy-duty wire cutters. They sliced through the chain like a hot knife through butter, and within seconds he was leading Ana into the fusty interior of the hotel.

He shone a torch into darkness and saw footprints in dust which had accumulated like frost on marble tiles. Old footprints. He stopped for a moment to shine his torch on the plans he had been given. Downstairs, through the spa, then out by the rear entrance to the rooms and up the fire stairs that wrapped around the lift shaft. The bedroom he was looking for was on the second floor. No. 233. It would be unlocked, they had said. He would find a bed with clean linen, a working toilet, bottled water, candles, matches. A safe room. A place to lie low for thirty-six hours until the exchange.

‘Where are we?’ It was the first interest Ana had shown. He took her hand in his.

— No matter. We’re safe.

This time he held on to her hand and led her down into pitch blackness. By the beam of his torch he saw spa baths raised above floor level, the size of swimming pools laid side by side. They filled a vast echoing space that must once have resounded to the carefree voices of wealthy patrons. All gone. In another era these pools had frothed with clear blue Mediterranean waters. Now they were filled with dust and debris, Roman pillars stained by time and damp. Doors led off along one side. Changing cubicles, and massage rooms where hot stones wrapped in soft towels had once been laid on aching backs.

They circumnavigated a tiny labyrinth of stairways leading to and from the baths, disturbing dust as they walked. It hung in the air like mist in their wake. Until they found the exit door at the far end and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

Room 233 was carpeted. Even though its south-facing windows were shuttered, it had trapped the warmth of the day and was stifling hot. Cleland led Ana to the bed and sat her down while he rolled up the shutter and slid open glass doors leading to the balcony. Fresh air flooded in and he took a deep breath.

‘Don’t hurt me.’ Her voice was tiny.

He looked at her and frowned. He had sat her on a bed. Did she really think he was going to rape her? He sat beside her and took her hand again. As a means of communication this was frustratingly slow.

— Not going to hurt you. Here for a while. Don’t call for help. No one to hear. I’ll be gone some of the time. Day after tomorrow I’ll take you to The Rock. You know it?

‘Gibraltar?’

— Yes.

‘I’ve never been.’

— A shithole. Strategic for the British. And for us. He paused. It’ll all be over then.