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Chapters (61)
  1. Prologue
  2. Chapter One
  3. Chapter Two
  4. Chapter Three
  5. Chapter Four
  6. Chapter Five
  7. Chapter Six
  8. Chapter Seven
  9. Chapter Eight
  10. Chapter Nine
  11. Chapter Ten
  12. Chapter Eleven
  13. Chapter Twelve
  14. Chapter Thirteen
  15. Chapter Fourteen
  16. Chapter Fifteen
  17. Chapter Sixteen
  18. Chapter Seventeen
  19. Chapter Eighteen
  20. Chapter Nineteen
  21. Chapter Twenty
  22. Chapter Twenty-One
  23. Chapter Twenty-Two
  24. Chapter Twenty-Three
  25. Chapter Twenty-Four
  26. Chapter Twenty-Five
  27. Chapter Twenty-Six
  28. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  29. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  30. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  31. Chapter Thirty
  32. Chapter Thirty-One
  33. Chapter Thirty-Two
  34. Chapter Thirty-Three
  35. Chapter Thirty-Four
  36. Chapter Thirty-Five
  37. Chapter Thirty-Six
  38. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  39. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  40. Chapter Thirty-Nine
  41. Chapter Forty
  42. Chapter Forty-One
  43. Chapter Forty-Two
  44. Chapter Forty-Three
  45. Chapter Forty-Four
  46. Chapter Forty-Five
  47. Chapter Forty-Six
  48. Chapter Forty-Seven
  49. Chapter Forty-Eight
  50. Chapter Forty-Nine
  51. Chapter Fifty
  52. Chapter Fifty-One
  53. Chapter Fifty-Two
  54. Chapter Fifty-Three
  55. Chapter Fifty-Four
  56. Chapter Fifty-Five
  57. Chapter Fifty-Six
  58. Epilogue
  59. Author’s Note
  60. Acknowledgements
  61. About the Author

“Understood, boss. I’ll get us what we need.”

Paz stood up as a way of signalling to Núñez that the meeting was over.

“Alonso, I hope you are not going to disappoint me.”

As Núñez watched his boss walk away, he couldn’t help but wonder if Luciano Herrera had recently disappointed the Black Scorpion.

* * *

The search for García’s hiding place got underway at just after ten in the morning when the detectives set off to the Villa Lugano neighbourhood. There were just over ninety potential sites to check out within a one-mile radius of the flat, and not all of them had direct street access. Torres divided up the properties between the team and each detective was given a duplicate key. Vargas and Torres kept the original and headed off with their specific list of addresses, which contained a mix of garages and small storehouses. By four in the afternoon, every potential site had been checked out, but no one had made a successful match. Torres radioed the team to confirm that the following day they would begin checking the two-mile zone and he would email everybody their lists overnight so they didn’t need to come into the station.

* * *

Vargas had just arrived home and cracked open a beer when he received a call from Hembury. He quickly brought Troy up to speed about García’s mystery key and the search for the hidden location.

“Troy, do you think I’m wasting everybody’s time? Another needle in a haystack?”

“No, I think it’s good lateral thinking and, if it pays off, you’ll be a hero.”

Vargas laughed for the first time in a while. “You know something? I actually dream about what’s inside Box 1321. It’s become an obsession.”

“Nic, even though it’s not my case, I can’t help thinking about it either. I wonder if Franklin ever made an internal check to discover who on his management team used that direct line.”

“I’ve had the same thought. That individual, whoever he or she is, has been sanctioning multiple executions from six thousand miles away.”

“Yep. And that begs two questions. Who is it and why are they doing it?”

Chapter Thirty-Five

22 January 2012

Buenos Aires