Revenge in Barcelona

by Kathryn Lane

  “I’m a medical doctor. I can help,” the man said as he crouched next to Olani. To check for a pulse, he felt the side of Selena’s neck. He glanced at Olani. “She’s unconscious, but she’s alive.”

  The doctor tapped the victim’s shoulder vigorously and asked his companion to lift the victim’s legs to get blood to her head.

  This time the doctor tapped her shoulder a little harder, and Selena opened her eyes. Once she regained consciousness, he took his handkerchief and used it to wipe the side of the victim’s forehead, where her wound was bleeding.

  “What happened?” Selena asked Olani as she focused on the man whose face was looking down at her.

  Another patrol car arrived with lights flashing and parked behind the two already on the street. An officer and a man in plainclothes stepped out.

  Olani squirmed in close to her friend to hold her hand. “Taiwo hit you with the grip of his gun.”

  “Where is he? Are you in danger?” Selena asked.

  “Last I saw, the police were running after him.” Olani suddenly saw two pairs of shoes plant themselves near Selena’s feet. She followed the pant legs up to the waistlines and torsos and on up to the faces peering down at her. She saw a policeman and another man. Olani’s facial expression changed from the concern and fear to total surprise.

  “Rafa? Where did you come from?” Olani asked.

  “Is Selena okay?” Rafael asked.

  “I’m fine,” Selena responded from her supine position on the concrete. “Glad you found us.”

  “You’re supposed to be taking care of Olani. How can you take care of her if you are passed out on the street?” Olani noticed Rafael looking around, taking in the total scene.

  Cards scattered on the sidewalk around Selena made the setting appear part of a ritual. Rafael leaned over and picked one up.

  “Tarot cards?” he asked, slipping the card into his pocket. “I asked you to take care of Olani.”

  “Olani’s taking care of me instead,” Selena said. She managed to laugh.

  Rafael looked at the other two people. His face gave away the fact that he recognized the couple. “What are you doing here?”

  “We heard a scream and turned around to help,” the woman said. “We were on our way to my aunt’s condo.”

  “Running into you is quite a coincidence,” the doctor said. “You’re like Batman, you’re everywhere, man.”

  “I’m afraid this is not a coincidence,” Rafael said in a somber tone. He told them he needed to talk to them as soon as he had made sure the two women had been taken care of. “Get to the condo and stay inside until I come by or call you.”

  “The woman was unconscious,” the doctor said. “She’s probably suffered a concussion and needs to be checked at an emergency room.”

  The detective nodded.

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Barcelona—Eixample District

  Tuesday Night

  “Why did he say it’s not a coincidence?” Nikki whispered once she and Eduardo were beyond the officers’ hearing.

  “Probably connected to the break-in at Carmen’s or to the bombing,” he responded.

  “Oh my god,” Nikki said. “The man who attacked the woman—could he be the African? Did you notice if he was African?”

  “I only caught a glimpse of his back when the woman screamed. He ran off too quickly.”

  “The woman said he used a gun to hit her friend over the head. What’s scarier, if he’s the African, he may have been stalking you again.”

  “Why did he hit her?” Nikki asked. “Why not come after me?”

  Eduardo suggested asking the detective when he called them.

  “I’d also like to know the connection between the two women and the detective.”

  “I wondered that myself,” Eduardo said. “They’re probably undercover agents working with him.”

  “Dressed as fortune-telling Rom? Really, Eduardo? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

  “Why not?” Eduardo asked. “We wear disguises in our undercover work. Or have you forgotten, my lovely chambermaid?”

  “Umm, makes sense,” she conceded. “But tarot cards were strewn around on the sidewalk? I think they were real Rom.”

  “Maybe so,” Eduardo said. “If you were undercover as a Rom, I’m sure you’d include tarot cards as part of your disguise.”

  “She looked vaguely familiar to me.”

  “Which one?” Eduardo asked.

  “The one who was knocked out,” Nikki said. She keyed the code into the security panel while Eduardo unlocked the door into the lobby in Carmen’s building.

  The guard wished them bona nit, good night, as they walked to the elevator.

  “Something happened on our way to Carmen’s condo.” Nikki spoke in a feverish pitch as she and Eduardo entered Floyd’s suite. “Rafael González, the detective, arrived on the scene and he later came to talk to us.”

  “The African suspected in the bombing followed us on our way to Carmen’s,” Eduardo said. “Rafael told us the guy is from Nigeria and he’s dangerous.”

  Nikki saw Milena and apologized for her ranting. In a calmer voice she explained about the incident, including the Rom women who saved them from the Nigerian attacker.

  Floyd invited them to take a seat.

  Milena excused herself, saying she was glad Nikki and Eduardo were safe, but they needed to talk investigations with Floyd and she would watch TV in the bedroom.

  “Get this,” Eduardo said, looking at Floyd without slowing down. “Rafael told us the guy killed his own twin brother in Morocco to steal his passport and use it to get into Spain. The man was arrested tonight right after our incident.”

  “Did Rafael have assets tailing the Nigerian? Is that how he knew the guy was following you?”

  “That’s what Eduardo thinks,” Nikki said in a calmer voice. “The two Rom women must have been disguised GEO agents. Otherwise why would they put themselves in danger?”

  “That makes sense,” Floyd said. “Wait here. I have something to discuss with you.”

  Floyd stepped into the hallway connecting the living area to his bedroom and returned with a corkboard. He set it upright on an easy chair across from Nikki and Eduardo. Then he placed a pen and a stack of index cards on the coffee table before taking a seat in the other easy chair.

  “You’ve been busy.” Eduardo whistled as he looked at handwritten notes on cardstock and photos thumbtacked onto the corkboard.

  “Trying to make sense of what little we know. In no particular order, I’ve written down additional questions we should consider. I’ll communicate any worthwhile ideas to Javier. Let’s go through these,” Floyd said, pointing to a card in the upper left side. He read aloud:

  After reading the first card, Floyd glanced at Nikki and asked if she had given Paula’s letter to Rafael.

  “I didn’t even think about it,” she said. “We can give it to Javier.”

  Prefacing discussion of the next two cards by stating they would know a lot more if they only knew the answer to one of these questions, Floyd read the cards aloud.

  After talking it over, they concluded they did not have answers, except for Massú trying to frame Paula. Floyd touched a fourth card:

  Floyd remained quiet for a few seconds.

  “Floyd, please continue,” Nikki said.

  “Speaking of photographs, I’d like to speculate on a couple of thoughts,” Floyd said as he made a sweeping motion over all the photos he had tacked onto the board, including the snapshots Eduardo had taken of the photos they discovered in El Saraway’s safe. Then Floyd touched two cards, which he also read aloud:

  “Charlotte sent me the blockchain history on El Saraway,” Nikki said. “I’ve analyzed it and the only suspicious part is possible money laundering, but I’ve given Charlotte instructions on further work.”

  “With biometric data on passports and driver licenses,” Eduardo said, “how does a man live without driving or traveling?


  “Plastic surgery and avoiding biometric data banks,” Nikki said. The she pointed to a card and read it.

  “That’s a good question,” Eduardo said. “As things are shaping up, I’d say this is a stand-alone cell. TV carried a story of two terrorist groups lauding the incident, but not one has claimed responsibility.”

  Floyd read the last card tacked to the board:

  “I’m thankful for the pattern I see emerging here,” Nikki said.

  “What’s that?” Eduardo asked.

  “Paula is innocent.”

  Floyd blinked several times as he tended to do when he was thinking. “Sorry, Nikki, but I cannot rule Paula out. Remember her computer was stolen. It must have had incriminating evidence on it. It’s too early in the game to rule anyone out.”

  “What about Fadi?” Eduardo asked.

  “What about him?” Nikki asked.

  “He seems too squeaky clean. That’s never good, in my mind,” Floyd said.

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Barcelona—Carrer de Balmes

  Wednesday Early Morning

  Rafael and Alberto entered an interrogation room in the building of the General Directorate of Police on Carrer de Balmes, which also housed the national police offices in Barcelona. Taiwo was handcuffed. He looked up as the two men sat down across from him. His movement was further restricted by his handcuffs being tied to a hook on the side of the steel table, which was embedded in the floor. A very old public defender sat next to him.

  Rafael checked the camera for the red indicator light. Recording was on.

  “Taiwo Adebayo, we are here to ask you a few questions,” Rafael said in a stern voice.

  Taiwo stared at the top of the table.

  “Who hired you?”

  The stare continued.

  “Who wanted to blow up Sagrada Família?” Rafael asked.

  No answer.

  “Did you intend to blow up a Christian church?”

  No answer.

  “Or were you hired to kill specific people?”

  After more than an hour of unanswered questions, Alberto spoke for the first time during the interrogation to inform the suspect the sooner he answered, the sooner he would be out.

  “You’re going to lock me up no matter what I do.” Taiwo’s response was worded in good Spanish suffused with his Nigerian accent.

  “That might be true, but you’re not going to eat a morsel until you talk to us. You had no breakfast. You will have no lunch, no dinner. We get to eat, so we can hold out for days, weeks even, if needed. So who did you work for?” Alberto asked.

  The public defender cautioned Alberto not to make threats and he told the suspect not to let the threat intimidate him.

  Rafael sensed Taiwo’s indignation. “Who did you work for? It will help if you cooperate with us.”

  “I don’t have a name for him,” Taiwo said. He looked at his handcuffs with an expression of contempt.

  “How did he contact you?” Rafael asked.

  “An intermediary met me out on an island.”

  “Which island?” Rafael asked.

  “Ibiza.”

  “Give us the guy’s name.” Rafael made the request knowing the suspect was stalling.

  “He never told me.” Taiwo’s brow showed tiny beads of perspiration and repeated the man was merely an intermediary.

  “So how did he hire you?” Rafael asked.

  The room was silent for a minute before the suspect began.

  “I was given a phone number to call. The person said they needed a job done. When I agreed to do it, they gave me another number to call. A week later, the same man approached again. He told me they had a second job for me and gave me an international number to call. Some numbers were local, some were international. Every time I made a call, the person I spoke with gave me a new number to use for the next part of the assignment.”

  “So where were you when you got the first number to call?” Rafael asked.

  “In Nigeria.”

  “Where in Nigeria?

  “A mosque.”

  “Where is the mosque located?”

  “In Èkó.”

  “Èkó. Do you mean Lagos?” Rafael asked, allowing his annoyance to color his voice. “For the record, I need a confirmation or denial.”

  “Yes, Lagos.”

  “And you knew this person?” Rafael asked. “The one who gave you the initial phone number?”

  The suspect wiped beads of sweat on his forehead with the back of his hand. He stated Lagos is a big city and he’d never met the person before. The man had approached him inside the mosque the first time and outside a week later.”

  “You were following a foreign couple last night. Why did you intend to kill them?”

  “I did not kill anyone. A Gypsy woman confronted me. Distracted me with those fortune-telling cards. She tried to pick my pocket. That’s what that was all about.”

  “There was no Gypsy at Sagrada Família. Yet you detonated a bomb. You killed people.” Rafael’s jaw was tight as he spoke. “You would have killed more if you’d had the opportunity to set off the other bombs.”

  Taiwo glared at Rafael.

  “You placed flowerpots where you could maximize damage on the foundations of the church by detonating the bombs in a rolling fashion,” Rafael said. “Why were you not able to set the other bombs off?”

  “I did not make any pot placements,” Taiwo said.

  “You need to tell me what the target was at Sagrada Família. The basilica itself or the woman you were following last night?” Rafael asked.

  “I did not have a target,” Taiwo said. He stretched his head to one side as if he felt pain and needed to relieve it. His shoulders slumped.

  “Don’t deny you had a target. We have matched your DNA to the DNA found on the phone you used as the detonator. All you need to tell me now is what or who your objective was.” Rafael’s voice was harsh and commanding.

  “It was a job.”

  “Did you help to place the flower containers inside the church?”

  “That was Hassan. And the woman who owns the flower shop. He died on Saturday, but the woman is still alive.”

  “Did the woman help?” Rafael asked.

  “It was her flower shop.”

  “Hassan’s job was to get the flower containers inside the church with the explosives,” Rafael said. His voice was unforgiving as he continued the interrogation. “And your job was to set the explosives off and blow up the church?”

  “Yes.”

  “So you admit to setting off the explosion at Sagrada Família this past Saturday?” Rafael asked.

  Taiwo cast his eyes down. His shoulders slumped more until he looked as if he had aged a decade during the interrogation.

  “My phone was programmed to set off the bombs. Yes.”

  “Who hired you for that job?”

  “I’ve told you. I don’t know who hired me.”

  “It’s best for you if you tell us.”

  “I think it’s a man who owns a falcon.”

  “A falconer? You met with him?”

  “No.”

  When asked why he would identify a person he’d never met with, Taiwo indicated he’d seen the man twice. First on a cliff overlooking an isolated beach when he was hunting with the falcon and the second time in Ibiza Village as he passed by with the bird on his shoulder.

  “Is that why you followed the woman and her husband yesterday? You were carrying out orders to kill them?”

  “I was the one being followed. That Gypsy woman tailed me. I saw her in the morning and later that night.”

  “Answer my question. Why did you follow that couple last night?”

  “That man went after me at the church. I wanted to get back at him for not letting me complete my job.”

  “So why did you follow them on the train to Burgos? That was a week before the bombing.”

  Taiwo stared and said nothing.

  Rafael called for a meeting with th
e four agents who reported to him. Normally he and Alberto handled the most critical aspects of the terrorist investigation his group was assigned to, but the other three detectives performed specialized research, questioned witnesses, examined CCTV footage, and followed up on loose ends. All members of the team were commandos with cross training in explosives, combat driving, special environments, and more mundane tasks such as lock picking and gathering evidence with search warrants. All five were expert marksmen. One person on the team was a computer expert. Rafael had hand-selected his team and was very proud of them.

  Rafael convened two formal meetings a week—usually on Mondays and Fridays. Additional meetings were held when necessary. This gathering was in a small conference room with TV monitors and access to CCTV files. After the initial greetings and small talk, Rafael asked Teresa, the newest agent assigned to his group, the one who performed most of the online research, to share her findings with her fellow detectives.

  “Regarding yesterday’s CCTV footage from the Passeig de Gràcia incident,” Teresa began, turning on a video. “Of interest here is the suspect we apprehended after yesterday’s incident on Carrer de Provença, half a block off Passeig de Gràcia. You can see him walking away from the camera on the main boulevard. He is following the three foreigners. These three people also attended the wedding on Saturday.”

  “The bride’s cousin, Nikki Garcia,” one of the agents said.

  Rafael nodded.

  Teresa used a laser pointer to highlight two men and a woman, also heading away from the camera. Then she moved the laser beam to the suspect and enlarged the part of the video she was emphasizing. “See here, he pulls a gun hidden on his back, tucked into his belt.” Teresa brought the video back to normal size. “A bit further away, we also see two Rom women. One of them bolts into action when our suspect turns the corner. She leaves her companion behind.”