single message in the inbox.
'This is timed at 22.20, about an hour after I left home,' she said. 'It says: 'Our patience is not infinite. Call: 619238741.''
'So, both players at the table now,' said Falcon. 'One bluffing.'
'We'll call the new people first,' said Consuelo. 'See what they want and how they ask for it. We might get an idea which group they're from.'
'Make a demand,' said Falcon. 'You should ask to speak to Dario first. That's what they've offered, but they probably won't allow it. They won't want to give away too much too early. In a kidnapping such as this information will be released by degrees. 'Do this and we'll tell you something about him, do the next thing and we'll let you hear his voice…' Then they'll send a photo and finally they'll let you speak to him. We want to establish who is holding him, so we must ask for reasonable proof. Is there something about Dario that no ordinary person would know?'
'He has a red birthmark on the underside of his left arm near the armpit. We call it his strawberry,' she said.
'Tell them to ask Dario about his mark and what he calls it,' said Falcon. 'Have you got a dictaphone?'
She dug out a small digital dictaphone. They tested it. She turned it on, wiped her damp palms with tissues, picked up the phone, switched on the loudspeaker, dialled the number. She took a deep breath, summoned the performance of her life.
'Diga,' said a voice.
'My name is Consuelo Jimenez and I want to speak to Dario.'
'Wait.'
The phone changed hands.
'Senora Jimenez…'
'I received a message telling me to call this number if I wanted to speak to my son, Dario. Would you put him on the line, please.'
'There are some things we have to discuss first,' said the voice, in perfect Castilian Spanish.
'What things? You have my son. I have nothing of yours. There are no 'things' to discuss apart from the return of my son, and that can be done after I've spoken to him.'
'Listen to me, Senora Jimenez. I can understand that you are very anxious about your son. You would like to speak to him, that is natural, but there are certain things we must establish first.'
'You are absolutely right -'
'May I say, Senora Jimenez, that I admire your calmness in this situation. Most mothers I know would be incapable of speaking to me like this on the phone.'
'I would cry, beat my breast and vomit with grief, if I thought that for one moment it would make any impression on you,' said Consuelo. 'But if you think I'm made of strong stuff, I know you're made of crueller stuff, and so human emotion is unlikely to move you to return my son. So this is what you get. Now, let's establish something before we go any further: I want to talk to my son.'
'That is not possible at the moment.'
'You see, you are already going back on your word,' said Consuelo. 'Your message is clear. It says -'
'I know what the message says, Senora Jimenez,' said the voice, with a bit of steel in it now. 'I wrote it. But you must be patient.'
'Don't talk to me about being patient. You will never comprehend the impatience of a mother who has had her child taken from her. So don't use that word again,' said Consuelo. 'If you won't let me speak to my son, which I regard as the ultimate proof that he is safe and well, then you must go to Dario and ask him about his mark and tell me what he says.'
'His mark?'
'Ask Dario, he will tell you all you need to know to convince me.'
'One moment, please.'
A long silence.
'Is there anybody there?' she asked, after some minutes.
'Please hold the line for a moment longer, Senora Jimenez,' said the voice. 'This is something for which permission is required.'
'Permission?'
'There is a higher authority in this matter. We are in contact with them now.'
More silence. After five long minutes the voice returned.
'Senora Jimenez, do you understand the nature of the people you are dealing with here?'
'If you mean: do I know you are members of a Russian mafia group, then the answer is yes. Which group, I don't know.'
'Perhaps your friend Inspector Jefe Javier Falcon knows,' said the voice. 'Yes, we know you're there, Inspector Jefe, we saw you enter the restaurant together.'
'Are you associated with Leonid Revnik?' asked Falcon.
'That is correct,' said the voice. 'Senor Revnik has been away in Moscow. Since he took over the operations in the Costa del Sol some structural problems have developed in our organization in the Iberian Peninsula.'
'You mean Yuri Donstov has assumed control of certain pieces of business in Seville and had poached Vasili Lukyanov.'
'Senor Revnik was in Moscow for a meeting of the Supreme Council of the five most powerful Russian brigades with soldiers on the ground in Spain,' said the voice. 'They found that Yuri Donstov was responsible for the murders of two senior members of one of the brigades and has moved into trades where we have agreements with our Italian and Turkish friends about how certain things should be done. We cannot allow that. It was the unanimous decision of the Supreme Council that Yuri Donstov's operations be stopped and his group disbanded.'
'This is all very interesting,' said Consuelo, 'but what about my son?'
'You have to understand the geopolitical situation before we can get down to the discussion of the detail,' said the voice. 'And there is also the question of the Seville bombing.'
Silence.
'I'm listening,' said Falcon, and he was, with every cell in his body.
'We are holding the men responsible for the making of that bomb and the positioning of it in the mosque.'
Falcon's heart rate doubled, he could feel it ticking in his throat. Something like greed came over him and he had to stop himself from snatching at what the voice was holding out to him. He reminded himself that everything is calculated, nothing comes free. This was just bait.
'And why would you be holding those men?'
'You are the police, Inspector Jefe,' said the voice. 'You operate from the outside, trying to find your way in. We are on the inside where everything is much clearer.'
'You're implying that Donstov was responsible for planting the bomb and that you disapproved of it.'
'For an operation which would change the political landscape and destabilize a region, which has been a safe haven for a number of organizations for many years, Donstov would have needed the full backing of the Supreme Council. He did not have it. It was something done to his personal advantage.'
'And Senora Jimenez's son, Dario?' said Falcon. 'Where is the boy in all this? What is your purpose in holding him?'
'I think there's been a misunderstanding here, Inspector Jefe,' said the voice. 'We are not holding the boy. We vehemently disapprove of the involvement of civilians in our foreign operations. It brings unwelcome publicity and unnecessary attention from the police.'
'You're not holding Dario!' said Consuelo, unable to dampen the shriek in that negative. 'So why are we talking to you?'
'Certain things had to be established before we could proceed to look at the situation with your son,' said the voice.
'You said I could speak to him if I called this number.'
'One of the most important things to establish is the nature of the people you are dealing with,' said the voice. 'Senor Revnik has rules, Senora Jimenez. He has a code of honour. It may not be the same as yours, or the Inspector Jefe's, but it is the reason why he is such a respected man in the world of vory-v-zakone. Yuri Donstov
