said Falcon. 'Doesn't all that add up to…something?'
'Given the level of security around all major buildings, the announcement made last night of the reinstatement of spot checks and the police presence on the streets, I think it unlikely that they'll launch anything in Seville.'
'That sounds like an official communique,' said Falcon.
'It is,' said Pablo. 'The truth is, we have no idea. On Tuesday afternoon they were checking all vehicles going in and out of Seville, by Wednesday evening they were doing spot checks because people were complaining about traffic jams, on Friday they stopped all checks because people were still complaining, now they've reinstated them and you'll see what happens. Life goes on, Javier.'
'That sounds as if you're saying that we shouldn't worry too much if the population are so unconcerned,' said Falcon. 'But they don't know what we know-that there's more hexogen, that there is an intention to attack, and there was a twenty-four-hour break in the spot checks on vehicles.'
'All that information is in Juan's hands, and he's called me back to Madrid because what is going on there is more 'significant' than anything that could happen here,' said Pablo. They went to El Saucejo: Gregorio and Falcon in the front and a bomb squad officer and his dog in the back with Felipe the forensic. In Osuna they were met by the Guardia Civil, who led them up to El Saucejo in their Nissan Patrol. They stopped in the village and picked up two men and continued in the direction of Campillos. The rolling hills around El Saucejo were either given over to endless olive trees or had been ploughed up to reveal dun-coloured earth, with chalkwhite patches. The Nissan Patrol stopped outside a ruined house on the right-hand side of the road, which had a view over the shimmering verdigris of the olive trees up to some distant mountains. The entrance and a section of the verge on the opposite side of the road about twenty-five metres down towards El Saucejo had been taped off as a crime scene.
The Guardia Civil introduced the owner of the house and the man who'd spotted Hammad and Saoudi changing the rear tyre early on Monday morning. Felipe started work on the tyre tracks on the side of the road and confirmed that they matched those of the Peugeot Partner in the police compound. He then examined the tyre tracks going into and out of the courtyard to the left of the ruined house.
After half an hour Felipe was able to tell them that the Peugeot Partner had come from the direction of Campillos, which was to the east, entered the courtyard and then exited it sustaining a puncture, which was repaired twenty-five metres down the road.
Inside the courtyard the bomb squad officer released the dog, which ran around for a few minutes before sitting down under some secure roofing near the main house. The officer then made some tests on the dry, beaten earth under the roofing and confirmed that there were traces of hexogen.
The owner of the house said it hadn't been lived in for over thirty years because it was too isolated for most people and there was a problem with water. He'd rented it out to a Spaniard with a Madrileno accent for six months. There was no contract and the man had paid him 600, saying he just wanted to use it occasionally for storage. The man who'd spotted Hammad and Saoudi changing the tyre said he drove past the house every day and had never seen anybody using it. He hadn't even seen the Peugeot Partner coming out of the courtyard. It was already on the side of the road, with one of the guys changing the tyre.
'What's important,' said Falcon, 'is: did anybody see a car going into or out of this courtyard at any time since Tuesday morning?'
They shook their heads. Falcon drove back to El Saucejo. They talked to as many people as they could find in the village, but nobody had seen any vehicle using the ruined house. They left the problem with the Guardia Civil.
On the way back to Seville, Gregorio took a call from the CNI communications department, saying that they had reinstalled the old encryption software and the system was now up and running. They had made the Hammad and Saoudi file available to Yacoub, but he had not, as yet, picked it up.
By 2.30 p.m. they were back in the Jefatura, sitting in front of the computer. They saw immediately that Yacoub had now picked up the file. A prearranged signal email was sent to him and he came online.
'The men you know as Hammad and Saoudi are already back in North Africa,' wrote Yacoub. 'They have been here since Thursday morning. I only know this because there was much cheering and clapping when the satellite news announced that it was now known that the two men had not been in the mosque when it exploded.'
'We've found the place where they stored the remaining hexogen but have no idea when it was picked up or where it has gone.'
'It has not been talked about here.'
'The two men who were assassinated earlier today, Lucrecio Arenas and Cesar Benito, were the answer to your initiation test. Their killings were made to look like the work of Islamic militants.'
'A denial has already been issued to Al-Jazeera.'
'Have you heard anything more about the 'hardware' that was supposed to be made available for the original consignment of hexogen?'
'It has not been discussed.'
'Since yesterday there has been an increase in internet 'chatter' and also some cell movement here in Spain. Can you comment?'
'There's nothing specific. There's a sense of excitement here and there's talk of one or more cells being activated, but it's nothing definite. Nothing I am told by the group who meet here in the house in the medina can be relied on.'
'Can you spend some time thinking about what you saw when you were taken out of Rabat to be given your initiation test? You mentioned the architectural and engineering books and some car manuals.'
'I'll think about it. I have to go now.' After lunch Falcon arranged for Zarrias to be brought up to the interview room.
'I'm not going to record this,' said Falcon. 'Nothing we say to each other now will be used in a court of law.'
Zarrias said nothing, he just looked at the person who could have been his brother-in-law.
'My Inspector has already told you that Lucrecio Arenas was shot three times in the back,' said Falcon. 'The maid found him face down in the pool. Do you want the people who did that to Lucrecio to get away with it?'
'No,' said Zarrias, 'but I can't help you, Javier, because I don't know who he was involved with.'
'Why was Cesar Benito important to this?' said Falcon. 'Do you think it was something to do with his construction company?'
Zarrias looked troubled, as if this question had brought something into the frame that he hadn't considered before.
'I don't think this was about money, Javier,' said Zarrias.
'On your part,' said Falcon. 'In a discussion between Lucrecio and Jesus yesterday your old friend told him that power in a democracy does not come without a great sense of indebtedness.'
Zarrias's head snapped back, as if he'd just been kicked in the face.
'Maybe you were working at cross purposes, Angel,' said Falcon. 'While you and Jesus were in it to make this world into what you consider to be a better place, Lucrecio and Cesar just wanted pure power and the money that comes with it.'
Silence.
'It happened in the Crusades, why shouldn't it happen now?' said Falcon. 'While some were out there battling for Christendom, others just wanted to kill, pillage and conquer new territory.'
'I cannot believe that of Lucrecio.'
'Maybe I should get Jesus to come down here and he can talk you through his disappointment,' said Falcon. 'I didn't see it, but he told me he was going to resign at eleven this morning and resume his career in business. I've never seen a man's idealism so emphatically extinguished.'
Angel Zarrias shook his head in denial.
'Didn't you stop to think, Angel, about the nature of the forces you were joining?' asked Falcon. 'Was there not one moment, after you'd poisoned Tateb Hassani and you knew that Agustin Cardenas was amputating his hands, burning off his face and scalping him, that you thought: 'Are these the extremes to which one must go to achieve goodness in the world?' And if it didn't happen then, what about when you saw the shattered building and the four dead children under their school pinafores? Surely then you must have thought that you had inadvertently teamed yourself with something very dark?'
'If I did,' said Angel quietly, 'it was too late by then.' The press conference took place at 18.00 in the
