The Ignoranceof Blood

24

On the road to the Serrania de Ronda – Tuesday, 19th September 2006, 14.30 hours

They took two cars. Falcon, Ramirez and Ferrera in the lead car, Serrano and Baena behind. Only Perez was left in Seville, still working on the murders in Las Tres Mil and Carlos Puerta's suicide. Falcon was anxious about taking all his men off their various cases, but El Pulmon was an important witness and the intelligence they'd had from the local Guardia Civil, who they were going to meet in Cuevas del Becerro, about twenty kilometres north-east of Ronda, had been promising. He needed all this manpower because the farm was in an area protected by high mountains to the north. There were a lot of horses on the farm and if the two gypsies got wind of their approach they could ride into the sierra in minutes and, once up there, they'd never find them.

Falcon had arranged to meet Yacoub in Osuna at as close to five o'clock as possible. Just as he was leaving the Jefatura he'd bumped into Inspector Jefe Tirado of GRUME, but hadn't been able to think his way round all the complications of warning him off the Russians. He'd just told him what he'd mentioned to Flowers – either or neither – and to keep an open mind. Tirado didn't think that was helpful. His investigation was stalled. He was doing a lot of work around the Nervion Plaza for nearly no return.

The heat was more brutal out in the open country, where the bleached sky and the bare, chalky brown earth seemed drained of all vascular circulation. The ridge of mountains they had to cross to get to the village where they were meeting the Guardia Civil was lost in the afternoon haze. The endless hectares of olive trees, ranked like ancient armies ready for battle on some vast uncontested plain, were the only evidence of civilization in this arid, deserted landscape.

On the way he briefed Ramirez and Ferrera on the situation with Alejandro Spinola, his involvement with the mayor's office and his relationship with Marisa Moreno and therefore, very possibly, the Russians. He also told them what had happened when he went to see Comisarios Elvira and Lobo.

'So, what are we going to do about Spinola?'

'When we finish this business, you two are going to the airport to see who comes out of the I4IT chartered jet and follow the car to wherever it takes them. Serrano and Baena are going to track Spinola.'

'But they're all going to end up in that fancy hotel, La Berenjena,' said Ferrera. 'Why don't we just go straight there?'

'It looks like the Russians want to influence the outcome of whatever this deal is between the mayor's office and the I4IT/Horizonte consortium,' said Falcon. 'We just don't know how or when they're going to do it.'

'And we can't touch Spinola because of Lobo and Elvira,' said Ramirez.

'And we can't mount an official operation at La Berenjena either,' said Falcon. 'Who knows, it might turn out to be a completely legitimate deal, with no mafia involvement, and we can all go home and sleep easy. On the other hand, with the intelligence we've gathered, I think we have to be available in case things go wrong.'

'Can we at least do some preparation work?' said Ferrera. 'Like get a list of the other guests, warn the manager that we're coming and get some idea of the security set-up at the hotel.'

'What do you know about this place?' asked Ramirez.

'The website says that it's an exclusive celebrity hangout, that royalty has stayed there, and that it's not just an ordinary country-house hotel. They have a head of security and the management is willing to consult on additional security arrangements.'

'It's important that Elvira doesn't hear about any of this,' said Falcon. 'So if it can be achieved in total secrecy, then go ahead.'

'We might need some help in identifying the players we don't know,' said Ferrera. 'There are four suites booked at La Berenjena, so who is this extra person on the I4IT/Horizonte team, and how do we recognize the mafia men?'

'There are no existing shots of Leonid Revnik and only an old gulag shot of Yuri Donstov,' said Falcon. 'The rest should be on the CICO database.'

'We'll have to take shots of them when they arrive and send them to Vicente Cortes and Martin Diaz for identification,' said Ramirez.

'I'll bring a laptop,' said Ferrera.

'You'd better brief Cortes and Diaz,' said Falcon. 'And I'll talk to the CNI.'

They crossed the main road, climbed the ridge and dropped down to where the Guardia Civil were waiting for them on the outskirts of Cuevas del Becerro. They had a large-scale map of the area and some further intelligence. El Pulmon's gypsy friend had been seen in Ronda buying clothes and shotgun shells. The owner of the farm was touring up in the north and the place was being run by a manager, who had gone down to the coast with his family. There was a stable for twenty horses and the gypsy lived in a small cottage adjoining it. His job was to look after the animals. He was well known in the area and he knew the country like the back of his hand.

'Where do you think they're most likely to be at this time of day?' asked Ramirez.

'With any luck they'll be having a siesta,' said the Guardia. 'But they could be… that's a point – at the back of the stables there's a practice bullring for training the horses with bulls.'

'Is that what the horses are used for?' asked Baena.

'Yes. He's one of the best rejoneadors in the business. Fantastic horses. He goes all over Spain and Portugal with them,' said the Guardia.

'They won't be out in the fields, not at this time of day in this heat,' said the other Guardia.

'Those horses are going to be pretty valuable,' said Baena.

'So,' said Serrano, taking out his revolver, checking that it was fully loaded, 'we'd better not shoot any of them by accident.'

'Fuck, no,' said the Guardia. 'You do that and you'll have to find at least a hundred thousand euros per animal.'

'And the rest,' said Baena.

'Do you know the practice ring?' asked Falcon. 'How many ways in or out?'

The Guardia shrugged. Falcon decided they'd go in their two unmarked cars and not risk taking the Guardia in their green-and-white Nissan Patrols with them.

'When we get there,' said Falcon, 'Serrano and Baena will go into the stables and check them out. Ramirez and I will search the cottage. Ferrera will stay outside and keep watch. If there's no sign of them, we'll move to the practice bullring. The three of you will man the entry points and Ramirez and I will go into the ring.'

'Toro!' said one of the Guardia, and they all laughed.

The Guardia led them out into the country and pointed out the entrance to the Finca de la Luna Llena. The farm buildings were not visible from the road. There was a long two-kilometre slope up from the entrance gates and the main building could be seen at the top of the rise.

'If they're out and about, they're going to see us coming over this rise,' said Ramirez.

'That's if they're looking out for us,' said Falcon. 'El Pulmon isn't expecting anybody to find him out here.'

'Shotgun shells?' said Ramirez.

'That's the minimum he'd need to take on Nikita Sokolov,' said Ferrera.

The two cars coasted down the track, engines idling, into the farm buildings. The stables were behind the main house and the cars came to a halt in front. Silence. No movement. Too early in the afternoon even for cicadas. They got out, guns ready. Nobody slammed the car doors. Baena trotted up to the far end of the stable block, checked round the back, held up his thumb, went into the building at the far end. Serrano took the door next to the cottage. Ferrera moved silently between the buildings, listening for voices and movement.

The cottage was open. Ramirez took a quick look around, just three rooms. Empty. Falcon pointed to the ceiling. Went upstairs. Nothing there. Outside, Ferrera was waiting, told them she'd heard voices in the practice ring. Serrano came out of the stables and the four of them headed for the practice ring, guns out.

Falcon stood in the middle of the main entrance to the practice ring. There was a stone staircase on the outside wall of the ring where spectators could go up to watch from a roofed seating area above the main gates. Ramirez went right, Serrano left.

Two minutes. Ramirez came back at a trot.

'Serrano's positioned at the entrance for the animals, just in case; there's a small bull in there,' he said. 'The only other way out would be to run up the seating in the ring and then down the stone staircase here.'

An animal snort came from inside the ring.

'There's at least one horse in there,' said Falcon.

'Let's take a look,' said Ramirez.

Ramirez went up the staircase, crawled the last five steps, came back down.

'Two guys, both gypsy-looking, one horse. The horse is tied up. It's got padding around it. One guy, who looks like El Pulmon, has a cape. The other guy is holding a mock-up of some bull's horns.'

'El Pulmon practising his old moves.'

'There's a lance leaning up against the wall of the ring and there's a shotgun next to it.'

'This is the only way out on a horse, isn't it?' said Falcon.

'There's no way to manoeuvre a horse in the bullock pen.'

'All right,' said Falcon. 'Cristina, you go up to the seating area above and cover us. Fifteen seconds and we go in.'

Ferrera crept up the steps. Falcon nodded to Ramirez, who opened the door. They slipped in, closed the door behind them. The two men were facing away from them. The horse seemed to acknowledge their entrance with a nod of the head and a snort.

'Roque Barba!' shouted Falcon, gun out, pointing directly at the man with the cape. 'Police!'

It happened at lightning speed. The gypsy dropped the practice horns and in one leap was on the back of the horse. El Pulmon threw his cape up in the air and it came spinning towards Ramirez.

'Freeze!' shouted Ferrera, from above.

The gypsy slapped a button on the barrier and the main door to the practice ring sprung open. He slipped the rein and picked up the picador's lance. The shotgun was too low down for him. El Pulmon hesitated, thinking about reaching for it. The gypsy put the horse between El Pulmon and Falcon, dropped his head low to the horse's neck, tucked the lance under his arm. El Pulmon grabbed the padding at the side of the horse and kicked his feet up in the air. With a jab of the gypsy's heels the horse took off out of the open door. Falcon and Ramirez scrambled to one side; the steel tip of the picador's lance flashed past at face height. Ferrera let off a shot over their heads. It didn't stop them. In the space of twenty metres El Pulmon got his leg up over the rear of the horse. The gypsy chucked the lance and hauled his friend up behind the saddle. El Pulmon grabbed hold of his waist. The horse galloped the length of the stable block. Falcon and Ramirez ran out of the practice ring in time to see the horse getting into its full stride, kicking up dust and heading for the fields above the farm.

'What a fuck-up,' said Ramirez.

'I didn't want to risk shooting the horse,' said Ferrera, from above.

They were all watching the galloping horse when from the far side of the stable block came another rider on a black stallion. The gypsy's horse was badly encumbered by its protective padding, and the black stallion, which was a beautiful beast, had no difficulty in catching up.

'Fuck me,' said Ramirez. 'That's Baena.'

Baena was ducked low by the horse's neck, arse up in the air, looking every bit the professional rider. He reached out and grabbed El Pulmon's fluttering shirt and yanked it hard. El Pulmon had no stirrups and came straight off the back of the horse. Baena pulled up and was on him, gun in his face, his other hand hanging on to the stallion's rein. El Pulmon had landed on his back and was badly winded, rolling around and cycling his legs in the dust, trying to get some air into his remaining lung. The gypsy reined in the padded horse, which came up on his hind legs, while its rider stood up in the stirrups and did three or four complete turns as he looked back. Ferrera ran for the car, picked up Falcon and Ramirez and they joined the gasping El Pulmon. Baena calmed the stallion, which had been alarmed by the rush of the arriving car.

'I didn't know you could ride, Julio,' said Falcon.

'I went to riding school for years when I was younger,' he said. 'I fancied myself as a rejoneador but, you know what happens. Not many people make it. I did a couple of years in the mounted police, but it was too boring. I tell you, when I saw that stallion already saddled up I thought, I've got to have a go. That's a quarter-million euros' worth of horse there.'

They lifted El Pulmon into the back seat of the car, cuffed him face down. The gypsy on the padded horse was still there, pacing his animal to and fro.

'What about him?' asked Ramirez. 'He came at us with a lance.'

'We haven't got time for that,' said Falcon. 'We've still got a long day ahead of us. Take that horse back to the stables and let's get on with what we came here for.'

They drove back to the farm buildings while Serrano and Baena walked the stallion to the stable block. Ramirez righted El Pulmon, sat him up in the middle of the back seat. Falcon got in the other side.

'I'm not talking to you,' said El Pulmon. 'Fucking Narcs.'

'You don't have to talk to us,' said Ramirez. 'We're taking you back to Seville and throwing you to the Russian bears. You'll talk to them. Your old friends. They're the ones who supply you with dope, let you make a lot of money, and kill your girlfriend.'

'What?'

'You didn't hear about that?' said Falcon.

'They killed her?' said El Pulmon.

'We're homicide cops,' said Ramirez.

'We're looking for the guy who shot the Cuban, Miguel Estevez,' said Falcon. 'He's the same guy who went into your bedroom and, for no reason at all, shot Julia Valdes.'

'In the face,' said Ramirez.

'His name is Nikita Sokolov,' said Falcon. 'He used to be a weightlifter. Stocky guy. Very muscular legs. Remember him?'

'You'll be glad to know, Roque, that you winged him,' said Ramirez. 'With that shot from your Beretta, you drew blood.'

'I used to get my product from the Italians,' said El Pulmon. 'At least I knew where I was with those guys. They spoke my language. Then back in March this stocky Russian turned up and started giving me different stuff, very pure. The Cuban, Miguel, came along to translate.'

'So why did they come to see you yesterday?' asked Falcon.

'I was due a delivery.'

'What about the gun? Your Beretta?' asked Ramirez.

'I was still selling Italian product. I didn't want to drop my old suppliers because I didn't know how long the Russian stuff was going to last. The Russian wanted me to sell his gear exclusively. A few weeks ago the big guy hung me out of the window to make his point, warned me that he would install his own dealer if I didn't stop selling the Italian shit. So I got myself prepared.'

'Didn't clear your girlfriend out, though, did you?' said Ramirez.

'I didn't think they'd come to kill me,' said El Pulmon. 'It was just a delivery, but I was nervous enough to take precautions. And, fuck, I wish I had got Julia out of there.'

'So what happened?'

'One of my clients ratted on me,' said El Pulmon. 'Told the Russian I was still selling Italian product.'

'Aha!' said Ramirez. 'Now we get the full story. Was Carlos Puerta the rat?'

'How do you know that?'

'We picked him up on some associated business,' said Falcon. 'He described the Russian for us. He saw the whole thing from outside your apartment block.'

'That fucker. He's still crazy about Julia. And then he got himself badly strung out. Needed more dope and his money ran dry.'

'And the Russian stepped in with a little bribe,' said Ramirez. 'Puerta's dead. Committed suicide this morning. Happy?'

'Joder,' said El Pulmon, head bowed.

'We need to find Nikita Sokolov,' said Falcon. 'How did you make contact with him?'

'I called Miguel, the Cuban. That was my only way in.'

'You know how to catch a Russian bear?' said Ramirez.

El Pulmon shook his head.

'Honey,' said Ramirez. 'We're going to cover you in honey and tether you out in the sun and wait for Nikita to turn up.'

El Pulmon looked from Ramirez to Falcon to see if he was going to be more friendly.

'When we bring Sokolov in,' said Falcon, more reasonably, 'you're going to identify him.'

'You're fucking kidding.'

'It's either that or the honey treatment,' said Ramirez.

'And you'd like to get the guy who shot Julia, wouldn't you?' said Falcon.

El Pulmon's shoulders dropped. He stared into the footwell and nodded. A quarter to five and Falcon was making his way up to the main square in Osuna. A strange town, which looked unassuming from the outside, but the low, tiled, whitewashed houses gave way to opulent sixteenth-century mansions from the time when New World wealth had found its way into deepest Andalucia.

The Plaza Mayor had colossal palm trees which shaded the few bars, the 1920s casino and the empty square. Yacoub was early and Falcon watched him sitting alone in the heat at a table on the pavement. He had a cafe solo and a glass of water beside him. He was smoking and looking remarkably unperturbed, compared to their last two meetings.

Pleasantries over, Falcon sat at the small, round metal table and ordered a plate of squid and a beer, with a coffee to follow.

'You're looking more relaxed,' said Falcon.

'I've passed another loyalty test,' said Yacoub. 'The GICM say Abdullah isn't ready yet. They put him through his paces in training and his platoon commander says he needs to toughen up mentally. They don't want to lose someone of his intelligence and potential through poor preparation. They wouldn't think of giving him any sort of mission for at least another six months.'

'Your strategy worked then.'

'That's how you have to be with radicals. If you don't show the same fervour as they do, you're suspect.'

'Will they involve you with the mission when he is ready?'

'I don't know. I've been told I will be involved, but who knows with these people?' said Yacoub. 'Whatever… it doesn't solve my problem. I've still lost a son to radical Islam, I'm just in a slightly better position to stop him getting killed.'

'We've got time now,' said Falcon.

'And what is time going to do for us? You think I'm going to be able to change his mind? And, even if that were possible, then what? Hide him for the rest of his life? Hide myself?' said Yacoub. 'No, Javier, you're not thinking straight. What I've come to terms with over the last week is that this is a lifelong commitment. That's why I suffered so much. I've been thinking short term. I couldn't see beyond the horror of Abdullah being drawn into this organization. Because I have the mentality of a dabbler, I was kidding myself that there was still a way out. Now I know there isn't, and I've started to think much longer term. Not years, but decades. My Western mentality has always tempted me into the belief that there was a "quick fix", as the Americans like to call it. And, of course, there is one, but it always breaks. So now I've gone back to my Arab way of thinking and I've re-taught myself the art of patience. My purpose is different now. I will crush them, but… in the end.'

'What about the immediate problem you had with your Saudi friend, Faisal?'

'Yes, I wanted to thank you for being so discreet with the British,' said Yacoub.

'They put me under a lot of pressure,' said Falcon. 'They've even brought in Mark Flowers.'

'Don't go near him,' said Yacoub. 'He has the smell of rot about him.'

'Tell me how things went with Faisal.'

'That was part of the test. That was why the GICM sent me to London. They want to see where my loyalties lie,' said Yacoub. 'One of the things they feel sure about the Western mind is that it has grown soft.'

'Soft as in sentimental?'

'They believe that Westerners no longer have the necessary endurance for duty. They attribute it to a decadent culture in which love, money, family – all the things that a Westerner would betray for – now have greater value than political, patriotic, religious and moral beliefs. The Westerner has become a victim of the importance of self in their minds. And so they wanted to see where on my integral scale did my son and lover appear, compared to what they consider to be more manly beliefs.'

'Were there any surprises?' said Falcon.

'They've forced me to think,' said Yacoub. 'It's been humiliating and exhilarating.'

The food arrived. The waiter set down the plate of squid, some chips and salad, bread and a glass of beer.

'You're looking stricken, Javier,' said Yacoub. 'Is what I'm saying bothering you?'

'If we've gone soft and, as you say, lost sight of our beliefs, why are you fighting for us? What are you fighting for?'

'That's a good question. Any soldier needs to know what he's fighting for,' said Yacoub. 'Before I went into this, I thought I knew. It's only having been on the inside, by concentrating on what I'm fighting against, that I've understood. And it's not Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden. They're like phantoms now. But is it what Bush tried to replace those ogres with: that ultimate Western ideology? So while I watched young men blowing themselves up, killing their fellow Muslims because of an intense religious belief, I asked myself: Am I fighting for freedom and democracy?'

'Isn't that part of it?'

'You know who soldiers fight for?' said Yacoub. 'Each other. The guys in their platoon. They don't crawl out to a wounded comrade for democracy. They don't mount an assault on an enemy position because of freedom of speech.'

'And you?' asked Falcon. 'You don't have a platoon.'

'I only have those closest to me. And I realize that in this respect I am a Westerner. Ideology breeds fanatics, and fanatics compete with each other to be more fanatical, until all the original clarity of their ideology has gone,' said Yacoub. 'The fanatics have damaged me by taking away what is dear to me, and I will hold them to account for it. I know my enemy now. I've lived with the narrowness of their minds, seen their vision of the future, heard their uncompromising views. I've had to absorb their ruthlessness, too, and now I'm beginning to make it my own.'

Falcon finished the food, downed the beer. Yacoub made his every action seem banal. The waiter came over with the cafe solo and a glass of water, took away the detritus of the meal.

'You've changed,' said Falcon.

'As I said, you can intellectualize as much as you like when you're on the outside, but I only found out the emotional truth by being on the inside,' said Yacoub. 'This feeling of purpose I have is from knowing that I'm fighting for those I love.'

'Not revenge?'

'Revenge too, but it's not the only driver,' said Yacoub. 'The disturbing and unsettling reality is that love is the other driver. I'm not sure that love and revenge aren't inextricably entwined. But what about you, Javier? What are you doing here? You didn't bring me here to talk about this.'

'Maybe the GICM are right and we Westerners have gone soft,' said Javier. 'Last night I turned my back on all my principles. I negotiated with criminals, stole evidence, allowed myself to be corrupted and, finally, I walked away from murder.'

'Why?'

'Not revenge,' said Falcon. 'Just love.'

'Whose love?'

'Consuelo's. And because I love her son, Dario.'

'And what has the boy got to do with any of this?'

'He's been kidnapped.'

Yacoub stiffened on the other side of the table and leaned slowly across to look at Falcon, who told him everything down to the whole horror of the previous night, which came back to him with surreal intensity.

'So if the Russians haven't got the boy, who has?' asked Yacoub.

'I think he's in Morocco.'

'Why?'

'Because one of those threatening calls I took, after seeing you in Madrid, told me that something would happen and when it did I would understand my responsibility for it and that I would "recognize" it. And now I do recognize it. Don't you… Arturo?' asked Falcon, using Yacoub's long-forgotten Spanish name.

'When did they take him?'

'When I was with you in London,' said Falcon. 'They took him from a football club shop in the Sevilla FC stadium while his mother was on her mobile phone.'

The two men were staring at each other, alive as hunting hawks, not daring to blink.

'And you think the GICM are responsible?' asked Yacoub.

'I don't know. They could be.'

'What would they gain from it?'

'To mess up my head. To put me under pressure. To make sure that my attention was diverted elsewhere,' said Falcon, 'so that they could achieve what they wanted with their new recruit.'

'And…? Go on. Say it.'

'To screw up my relationship with you,' said Falcon. 'Because I would know that the only reason it had happened was because of our involvement with each other.'

'So they're testing your resolve, too,' said Yacoub. 'And what have they found?'

'That while love and family ties can be considered soft and sentimental,' said Falcon, 'they have also, throughout history, driven us to as savage a ruthlessness as any ideology or religious fanaticism.'

'Listen to me, Javier,' said Yacoub, fixing him from across the table with his dark eyes. 'You must not reveal, under any circumstances, what I told you in London. It is vitally important. If you do, I can guarantee that you will never see Dario again.'

'What the hell does that mean?' said Falcon. 'I thought your strategy had worked and this Saudi thing was over.'

'It is over, for the time being, but the intelligence services still want to know what happened,' said Yacoub. 'And believe me, they will set everyone on you to find out what I've told you. But you must not tell them.'

'So you know where Dario is?'

'No, I don't. But I think I know what this is about, and I will find out where he is,' said Yacoub, standing up. They embraced at the table. Yacoub kissed him on the cheek.

'One thing I don't understand,' said Falcon, 'is why you told me all that stuff in London when you knew it could be so dangerous to you.'

'First of all, you are my only true friend,' said Yacoub. 'And, strange to say, there are some things that can only be safe in the hands of a good friend. Secondly, it was imperative to me that you would be the one person who would know and understand the whole truth.'