The mood in the boardroom at Theodor Consultants was considerably lighter than it had been since the robbery. Paz had treated all the staff to a night out on a floating casino, a replica of a Mississippi riverboat, moored in Puerto Madero in the south of the city. He’d given all his men a thousand dollars each to play the slots and tables so, as Paz entered the room, his operatives broke into a spontaneous round of applause. Herrera was the first to speak.

“Boss, on behalf of the men, I want to thank you for a fucking amazing night. It’s been a rough time, and we all needed to unwind. No one should forget this job cost Ángel and Benjy their lives and we need to sort out their families.”

Paz took his usual seat at the top of the table and nodded to Herrera. “Well said, Luci. But now we need to talk about the next phase of the operation.”

Herrera gave his boss a slightly startled look.

“Now that García is dead, the immediate pressure may be off, but we still need to find the contents of Box 1321. We need to speak with García’s family, friends and work colleagues. Somebody must know something that will help reveal his hiding place. Avoid violence and intimidation where possible. Offer money, lots of it. In fact, as an incentive to loosen tongues, offer a hundred thousand for any information that may help lead us to it.”

Paz then turned his attention to Hugo Otero. “Hugo, I’m sure the cops are going to be thinking exactly the same way as us. So, more than ever, we are going to need our friend at the station to keep us fully informed.”

Otero had been secretly hoping there would be no mention of his police informant. “Boss, there might be a problem there. They contacted us this morning to say that, following a meeting with one of the IT guys, the chief inspector suddenly appears to be keeping things on a need-to-know basis and so they’re in the dark as to what’s going on right now.”

Paz’s mood changed in a flash. “An IT guy? What the fuck would any IT guy know that might be relevant?”

That was the question Hugo had really been dreading. He couldn’t hold eye contact with his boss as he murmured his reply. “Apparently, he was reporting back on the mobile that was left behind at Ramos’s apartment.”

Paz felt as if an electric shock had just surged through his veins.

* * *

Vargas sat in his office, staring at a torn piece of notepaper displaying a handwritten ten-digit phone number. It was the only lead he had. He was desperate to call it but wasn’t quite ready. Instead, he made an internal call to one of his team.