“Boss, have you seen the breaking news?”

Paz didn’t appreciate being interrupted while feeding his beloved scorpions and let rip. “Of course I’ve seen the fucking news. As will have Franklin. We have to pray that Pedro García hasn’t.”

* * *

Vargas stood in front of the six detectives who were about to set off with him to García’s apartment.

“The reason we are going in unmarked cars is we don’t know the status of the suspect or his apartment. For all we know, our unknown enemy may already be on-site, so we have to be very careful. These people have already executed two of the thieves. We need to keep García alive and find his share of the robbery as, somehow, the answer to this case lies in the contents of one of those boxes.”

Torres picked up from his boss. “García’s apartment is on the second floor. Those of you with me will enter the building from the front and the other group, who will be with the chief, will enter through the rear of the building. Any questions?”

None of the officers replied.

“Okay, then, let’s go.”

The two white Peugeot 508s made their way in convoy across the city and came to a stop a few hundred yards away from García’s apartment in the Villa Lugano district. Vargas was sitting in the front passenger seat in the lead vehicle. He clicked on his radio.

“Juan, give us time to get set at the rear of the building and then, when I give the signal, we all go in together. Remember, for all we know some very highly trained criminals may be inside the apartment right now interrogating Pedro, or just waiting for him to come home, so use caution at all times and be ready to defend yourselves.”

“Okay, chief, we will hold our position out front and wait for you to action the entry.”

Vargas nodded to the driver and the Peugeot set off for the rear of the housing estate. The detectives were fully kitted out with body armour as Vargas was expecting the worst. All he knew about his unknown enemy was they were cold-blooded torturers and professional killers and therefore dangerous adversaries.

Vargas’s Peugeot parked up on the quiet backstreet with a clear line of sight to the rear of the building. The rusted iron fire escape was the only way in or out of the back of the apartments and he signalled to the other detectives to exit the car. The four men drew their standard Beretta 92 semi-automatic pistols and stealthily made their way across the large, open concrete parking area behind the building. Vargas was in front and stopped about fifteen metres from the bottom of the fire escape. He reached for his chest radio.

“Okay, Juan. It’s a go. Tell me when you are entering the front of the building.”