“They’ve just found the body of old man Gonzales’s main carer, Maria Vidal.”

“Let me guess … a single gunshot to the head?”

“No, a knife wound directly into her heart. Just as fatal.”

Neither man spoke for a few seconds, then Torres broke the silence. “Jesus, sir. What have we stumbled into?”

Thirty minutes later, both men were standing in Ricardo Gonzales’s apartment. His body was slumped in the chair, his hands and legs still firmly bound. There was a single bullet hole between his eyes and his groin area was one of the most horrifying sights either detective had ever seen in their long careers. Vargas almost heaved as he looked at the badly mutilated corpse.

“That’s three murders in quick succession. Gonzales was clearly brutally interrogated before he was killed. It’s totally horrific. I’ve never come across anything like this before.”

Torres had to look away from the body. “They obviously wanted the names of the other two men who did the job and, by the look of things, I’m sure they got them.”

“Juan, if this was just some rival gang wanting to steal the haul, then it would make some kind of sense. But whoever did these murders left the entire stash in the old man’s shed – millions of dollars in cash just ignored. So what is this really about? What do these guys really want?”

Torres looked back at the disfigured face of Ricardo Gonzales. “It’s got to be about what’s inside one of the stolen boxes. Whoever owns that box wants the contents back badly.”

* * *

The boardroom at Theodor Consultants was set up for an extraordinary meeting. What made it unusual was the time of day. It had been set for midnight. Every seat was occupied and all eyes were on Matias Paz who sat at the head of the table with his number two, Luciano Herrera, sitting to his right.

“Okay, gentlemen, we are going to launch the raids at three in the morning. There will be two teams – one led by Luci and the other by me. The vital thing is to hit the two marks at exactly the same moment so they have no time to warn each other. My team are going after Sebastian Ramos, who has a flat in Barrio Soldati and Luci’s team will hit Pedro García at his home in Villa Lugano, which is only a few kilometres away. Remember, before they die, we need to know exactly where they hid their share of the haul. Before this day is out, I want the contents of that box back in our hands.”