sympathetic to the story of his brother and they were all outraged by the London bombings, which occurred not long after Botin became active.
'It was in January this year that Botin first started to detect a change. There was an increase in outside visitors to the mosque. This had no noticeable effect on the congregation, but by March it seemed to be having a discernible effect on Imam Abdelkrim Benaboura. He was preoccupied and appeared under pressure. On 27th April my agent made a request to plant a microphone in the Imam's office. I had a discussion with the Juez Decano de Sevilla, who was issued with my agent's report. The evidence was deemed to be largely circumstantial and a bugging order was refused due to a lack of hard evidence.
'On my agent's request, Botin stepped up his activities and started following Imam Abdelkrim Benaboura outside the mosque. Between 2nd May and the date of this report, which was Wednesday, 31st May, Botin saw the Imam meet with three pairs of men, on ten separate occasions at ten different locations around Seville. He has no idea what was said at any of these meetings, but he did manage to take some photographs, only two of which show clearly visible people. On the basis of this report, with the photographic evidence, another bugging request was made last Thursday, 1st June. We did not receive a reply prior to the explosion yesterday morning.'
'How many men are visible in these two shots?' asked Falcon.
'Four,' said Barros, 'and since the CGI in Madrid have sent down a set of shots from the apartment they raided yesterday, we've been able to identify two of them as Djamal Hammad and Smail Saoudi. We have no idea yet who the other two men are, but the shots are currently in the hands of the CNI, MI6 and Interpol. Obviously I would like to have made this information available sooner, but…'
'What about these ten different locations?' said Calderon, cutting in on the self-pity. 'Is there anything exceptional about them? Are they near public buildings, addresses of prominent people? Do they appear to be part of a plan of attack?'
'There's a significant building within a hundred metres of each meeting place, but that's the nature of a big city,' said Barros. 'One of the meetings was in the Irish pub near the cathedral. Who knows if that was the perfect cover for three Muslims who didn't drink alcohol, or whether their meeting outside the only remaining structure of the twelfth-century Almohad mosque was significant.'
'When was the first request to bug the Imam's office turned down by the Juez Decano?' asked Falcon.
'On the same day it was applied for: 27th April.'
'And why wasn't the second bugging request authorized and acted on?'
'The Juez Decano was away in Madrid at the time. He didn't see the application until Monday afternoon-5th June.'
'What was Miguel Botin's description of the Imam's state of mind during this month when he observed him more closely?' asked Falcon.
'Increasingly preoccupied. Not as engaged with his congregation as he had been the previous year. Botin became aware of him taking medication, but wasn't able to find out what it was.'
'We found Tenormin on his bedside table, which is a prescription for hypertension,' said Gregorio from the CNI. 'We also found an extensively stocked medicine cabinet. His doctor says that he has been treated for hypertension for the past eight years. He'd recently been complaining of heart rhythm problems and was on medication for a stomach ulcer.'
'When will we get access to the Imam's apartment and your findings?' asked Falcon.
'Don't worry, Inspector Jefe,' said Juan, 'we've been working with a forensics team since the moment we opened the apartment door.'
'We'd still like to get in there,' said Falcon.
'We're nearly finished,' said Gregorio.
'Does the CNI have an opinion about Botin's findings and the Imam's doctor?' asked Calderon.
'And has someone gained access to his mysterious history?' asked Falcon.
'We're still awaiting clearance on his history,' said Gregorio.
'The Imam was under a lot of pressure,' said Falcon, before Calderon could mount another attack on Juan. 'Hammad and Saoudi were known operators in the logistics of attacks. They met with the Imam. Were they asking the Imam to act in some way? Perhaps they were calling in a favour, or a promise made some time ago in his inaccessible history. Under those circumstances, what do you think would put a man like the Imam under severe stress?'
'That they were asking him to do something that would have very grave consequences,' said Calderon.
'But if he believed in 'the cause' surely he would be happy?' said Falcon. 'It should be an honour for a radical fanatic to be asked to participate in a mission.'
'You think the pressure came from being a reluctant accomplice?' said Gregorio.
'Or the nature of what he was being asked to do,' said Falcon. 'There's a different pressure in storing an unknown product for a week or two, say, and being asked to actively participate in an attack.'
'We need more information on the Imam's activities,' said Elvira.
'It hasn't been confirmed yet, but we think it likely that Hammad and Saoudi were in the mosque when the building was destroyed,' said Falcon. 'Confirmation will come with DNA testing. The other two men photographed by Miguel Botin have to be identified and found if we want to know how the Imam was implicated.'
'That is in hand,' said Gregorio.
'I'd like to talk to the agent who ran Miguel Botin,' said Falcon.
Inspector Jefe Barros nodded. Comisario Elvira asked for a resume of the situation with the electricians and the council inspectors. Ramirez gave the same very thin update he'd just given to Falcon.
'We know the CGI antiterrorist squad did not have the mosque under surveillance,' said Falcon. 'We have two men posing as council inspectors, who were clearly intent on gaining access to the mosque. The electricians were responding to a blown fuse box. We have to look at the possibility of a link between the fake council inspectors and the electricians. I cannot believe that a legitimate electrician would not have come forward by now. The obvious advantage of being an electrician is that you can bring large quantities of equipment into a place, and witnesses have confirmed that this was the case.'
'You think that they planted the bomb?' asked Barros.
'It has to be considered,' said Falcon. 'We can't ignore it just because it doesn't fit with the discoveries we've made so far. It also does not exclude the possibility that there was already a cache of explosives in the mosque. We must talk to your agent. What state of mind is he in?'
'Not good. He's a young guy, only a little older than Miguel Botin. We've been recruiting in that age group because they can connect more easily with each other. His relationship with Botin was close. The two of them had a religious connection.'
'Were they both converts?'
'No, my agent was a Catholic. But they both took their religion seriously. They respected and liked each other.'
'We'd like to speak to him now,' said Falcon.
Barros left the room to call him.
'The forensics need to make contact with the wives and families of the men who were in the mosque,' said Elvira. 'They have to start extracting DNA as soon as possible. The woman who represents them, Esperanza, says she will only talk to you.'
Elvira gave him the mobile number. The meeting ended. The men dispersed. Elvira hung on to Falcon.
'They're sending me some more people down from Madrid,' he said. 'No reflection on you or your squad, but we both know the demands that are being made. You need more foot soldiers and these are all experienced inspector jefes and inspectors.'
'Anything that's going to relieve pressure, I'm happy with,' said Falcon. 'As long as they don't complicate things.'
'They're under my jurisdiction. You don't have to deal with them. They'll be assigned where they're needed most.'
'Have the Guardia Civil been able to get more information on the route of Hammad and Saoudi from Madrid to Seville?'
'It's taking time.'
Barros pulled Falcon aside as he left the room.
