"Amadori is a very powerful officer," María continued, "who appears to hold a key place in the food chain of what's been going on. Here's how it looks to me. Ramirez had an American assassinated yesterday. Amadori knew this was going to happen and let it happen. Why? So that he could present an audiotape to the nation implicating Deputy Serrador. Why? So that Serrador and the Basques he represents would be discredited at home and abroad. Then he had Alcazar murder your employer and his coconspirators. Why? To discredit the Catalonians and destroy their powerbase. If Serrador and the business leaders were planning some kind of political maneuver, that's finished now.

"More importantly," María went on, "the presence of a conspiracy weakens the government considerably. They don't know who they can trust or who to turn to for stability. Words won't reassure the people. They're fighting each other from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean, from the Bay of Biscay to the Strait of Gibraltar. The government needs someone strong to establish order. I believe that Amadori has orchestrated things to make himself that man."

Juan stared at her through the smoke of his cigarette. "So?" he said. "Order will be restored."

"But maybe not as it was," María said. "I know a little about Amadori-but not enough. He's a Castilian nationalist and, from all I can determine, a megalomaniac. He appears to have used these incidents to put himself in a position to have martial law declared throughout Spain-and then to run that martial law. I'm concerned that he won't step down after that. I need to know if you have or can get any intelligence that will help me stop him."

Juan smirked. "You're suggesting that Interpol and the Ramirez familia work together?"

"I am."

"That's ridiculous," Juan said. "What will stop you from gathering intelligence on us?"

"Nothing," María admitted.

Juan's smirk wavered. "Then you admit you might."

"Yes, I admit that," María said. "But if we don't stop General Amadori, then whatever intelligence I happen to gather on the familia will be useless. The general will hunt you people down and destroy you. If not for killing his operative, then for the threat you represent. The possibility that you could rally other familias against him."

Juan looked at Ferdinand. The granite-solid watchman thought for a moment and then nodded once. Juan regarded María. So did Aideen. María had played Juan honestly-and beautifully.

"Adversity has made stranger trenchmates," Juan said. "All right. We've been looking into Amadori since we returned to the factory." He snickered. "We still have some allies in government and the military, though not many. The death of Seńor Ramirez has scared people."

"As it was meant to," María remarked.