The Lost Testament

67

Bronson worked quickly. He removed the back of the phone, took out the battery and then put all the components down on the desk. Then he picked up their two carryon bags, tossed them onto the bed and began jamming their clothes in.

‘Quick, help me pack.’

‘Chris, what’s going on?’

He paused for a moment, then zipped up one of the bags.

‘That phone call didn’t really make any sense, and I’ve only just realized why. That man wouldn’t have seriously expected us to trot along and meet him and his band of killers somewhere. He would know that we’d be far more likely to just run away, get as far from Madrid as we could.’

Angela looked puzzled as she pulled open a drawer, took out a pile of clothes and began packing the other bag.

‘So why was he calling at all? Just to gloat or something?’

‘No,’ Bronson said. ‘I think it was much simpler than that. I think he just wanted us to stay here, sitting in this hotel room, long enough for him to track us down, and if I’m right, that implies that he’s got more reach than even I expected.’

He pointed at the disassembled phone on the desk.

‘You can pinpoint the position of any mobile phone in the world as long as it’s switched on, and sometimes even if it’s switched off as long as the battery is still in place and there’s a tracking chip installed,’ he said, ‘but only if you have access to the service provider’s equipment. All you have to do is identify the cells that are in contact with the phone, and that lets you triangulate the location of the mobile. It’s more accurate in a city or other built-up area because there are more cells to cope with the volume of calls.’

‘So you think they’ve found out that we’re in this hotel?’

‘By now, they probably know more or less where we are,’ Bronson said. ‘The good thing is that we’re in a hotel, so even if they have identified the building, they’ll still need to find out which room we’re in, though that probably won’t take them very long. But we must move right now.’

‘But what about George?’ Angela asked.

‘Right now, I’m afraid he’s a very low priority. If we don’t get out of here in one piece, we’re not going to be able to help him or anybody else. Our first priority has got to be to lose ourselves somewhere in Madrid. If we can manage to do that, we might just be able to help him.’

But as Bronson picked up his bag and walked towards the door, somebody outside gave a brisk double knock.

‘Oh, God,’ Angela muttered. ‘They’ve found us.’