Contract with God aka The Moses Expedition

7

MADRID, SPAIN

Thursday, 6 July 2006. 8:29 p.m.

‘Andrea! Andrea Otero! Where the hell are you?’

To say that the newsroom fell silent at the sound of the Editor-in-Chief’s shouts would not be entirely accurate, for the newsroom of a daily paper is never quiet one hour before going to press. But there were no voices, which made the background noise of telephones, radios, televisions, fax machines and printers seem like an uneasy kind of silence. The Chief was carrying a suitcase in each hand, and had a newspaper tucked under one arm. He dropped the suitcases at the entrance to the newsroom and walked straight over to the International section, to the only empty desk. He banged his fist on it angrily.

‘You can come out now. I saw you duck under there.’

Slowly a mane of coppery-blonde hair and the face of a young blue-eyed woman emerged from beneath the desk. She tried to act nonchalantly, but her face was tense.

‘Hey there, Chief. I just dropped my pen.’

The veteran newsman reached up and adjusted his wig. The issue of the Editor-in-Chief’s baldness was taboo, so it certainly wouldn’t help Andrea Otero that she had just witnessed this manoeuvre.

‘I’m not happy, Otero. Not happy at all. Can you tell me what the hell’s going on?’

‘What do you mean, Chief?’

‘Do you have fourteen million euros in the bank, Otero?’

‘Not the last time I looked.’

In fact, the last time she checked, her five credit cards were seriously overdrawn, thanks to her insane addiction to Hermes bags and Manolo Blahnik shoes. She was thinking of asking the accounts department for an advance on her Christmas bonus. For the next three years.

‘You’d better have a rich aunt who’s about to pop her clogs, because that’s how much you’re going to cost me, Otero.’

‘Don’t get angry with me, Chief. What happened in Holland won’t happen again.’

‘I’m not talking about your room service bills, Otero. I’m talking about François Dupré,’ said the editor, slamming the previous day’s newspaper on the desk.

Holy shit, that’s what this is about, thought Andrea.

‘One day! I take off one lousy day in the last five months, and all of you screw up.’

In an instant the entire newsroom, down to the last reporter, stopped gaping and turned back to their desks, suddenly able to concentrate on their work once more.

‘Come on, Chief. Embezzlement is embezzlement.’

‘Embezzlement? Is that what you call it?’

‘Of course! Transferring a huge amount of money from your clients’ accounts into your personal account is definitely embezzlement.’

‘And using the front page of the International section to trumpet a simple mistake made by the principal stockholder in one of our major advertisers is a royal fuck-up, Otero.’

Andrea swallowed, feigning innocence.

‘Principal stockholder?’

‘Interbank, Otero. Who, in case you didn’t know, spent twelve million euros last year on this newspaper and was thinking of spending another fourteen this coming year. Was thinking. Past tense.’

‘Chief… the truth doesn’t have a price.’

‘Yes, it does: fourteen million euros. And the heads of those responsible. You and Moreno are out of here. Gone.’

The other guilty party walked in dragging his feet. Fernando Moreno was the night editor who had cancelled the harmless story about an oil company’s profits and replaced it with Andrea’s bombshell. It was a brief attack of courage that he now regretted. Andrea looked at her colleague, a middle-aged man, and thought about his wife and three children. She swallowed again.

‘Chief… Moreno had nothing to do with it. I’m the one who put in the article just before going to press.’

Moreno’s face brightened for a second then returned to its previous expression of remorse.

‘Don’t fuck around, Otero,’ said the Editor-in-Chief. ‘That’s impossible. You don’t have the authorisation to go into blue.’

Hermes, the computer system at the paper, worked on a system of colours. The newspaper pages appeared in red while a reporter was working on them, in green when they went to the managing editor for approval, and then in blue when the night editor passed them to the press for printing.

‘I got into the blue system using Moreno’s password, Chief,’ Andrea lied. ‘He had nothing to do with it.’

‘Oh yes? And where did you get the password? Can you explain that?’

‘He keeps it in the top drawer of his desk. It was easy.’

‘Is that right, Moreno?’

‘Well… yes, Chief,’ said the night editor, trying hard not to show his relief. ‘I’m sorry.’

The Editor-in-Chief of El Globo was still not satisfied. He turned so quickly towards Andrea that his wig slid slightly on his bald head.

‘Shit, Otero. I was wrong about you. I thought you were just an idiot. Now I realise you’re an idiot and a troublemaker. I will personally make sure that no one ever hires a sneaky bitch like you again.’

‘But, Chief…’ said Andrea, starting to sound desperate.

‘Save your breath, Otero. You’re fired.’

‘I didn’t think-’

‘You’re so fired that I don’t see you any more. I don’t even hear you.’

The Chief strode away from Andrea’s desk.

Looking around the room, Andrea saw nothing but the backs of her fellow reporters’ heads. Moreno came and stood next to her.

‘Thanks, Andrea.’

‘It’s all right. It would be crazy for both of us to get fired.’

Moreno shook his head. ‘I’m sorry you had to tell him that you broke into the system. Now he’s so mad he’ll make things really difficult for you out there. You know what happens when he gets on one of his crusades…’

‘Looks like he’s already started,’ Andrea said, gesturing to the newsroom. ‘Suddenly, I’m a leper. Well, it’s not as if I was anyone’s favourite before this.’

‘You’re not a bad person, Andrea. In fact, you’re quite a gutsy reporter. But you’re a loner and you never worry about the consequences. Anyway, good luck.’

Andrea swore to herself that she wouldn’t cry, that she was a strong and independent woman. She gritted her teeth while Security placed her things in a box, and with a great deal of effort was able to keep her promise.