04.4 The Wolf Pack

That night, at the house 1051 on Route 604 in Santa Rosa, there came a telephone call and Castillo was engaged in a hot unfriendly conversation.

Tony Yunis and Madeleine Blanche sat on the terrace of the incomplete house overlooking a playing field on the opposite side of the road. 1051 stood behind a row of houses with low roofs facing the road.

It was a clear August night and a spectacular moon climbed in their eyes.

Tony Yunis asked, “What was your role in all this?”

“I was the bait. I just opened the coast. I managed to get his attention and he invited me to his room,” Madeleine explained, “I asked the questions they wanted to ask.”

“Like what?” he enquired.

“About the cipher machines,” she lit a cigarette.

“What did he say?”

“He told a lot. I can’t remember a word. They were listening to us.”

“Who?” asked Tony Yunis.

“SIDE,” replied Madeleine.

“Well, you’d remember something!”

“He said there existed a Rubicon secret operation run by the CIA to snoop into these devices.”

“How?”

“I don’t know precisely.”

Meanwhile, Carlos received a call from his boss and an argument took place between Castillo and him.

“Isn’t that what you should know?” he asked.

“Exactly. When he mentioned Rubicon, things changed,” said Madeleine, “they wanted a technical team to question him and I was dismissed in the next morning.”

“Who are they?”

“I don’t know, it’s SIDE…”

Door slammed on the wall and Carlos appeared followed by two other guys. He drew a Bersa 83 at Tony Yunis, “Put your hands up!” The two guys reached, grabbed his wrist and locked in handcuffs.

“What is going on?” chuckled Yunis.

“Sorry, boss! You’re coming with us!”

Castillo emerged out of the dark, “You disgrace me, Mr Fish!”

“What is all this about?” cried Yunis.

“I am afraid. They are taking you to the police. Orders, my friend!”

“What will you tell Mr Sinclair?”

“Who is Mister Sinclair? You tell me!”

“What about her?” asked Yunis.

“She stays,” said Castillo, “I don’t want to harm the lady.”

Carlos grunted, “You keep her but they will find her!”

“This is absurd!” cried Tony Yunis.

Soon, he was ushered into the Ford and driven away.

Castillo and Madeleine stood out there on the road watching them go. Somehow, she was keeping that white coat in her hand.

“Señora! Take a nap tonight and I will drive you back tomorrow.”

“I can go in a taxi,” said Madeleine.

“None will come this far at this hour.”

“What are they going to do to this guy?”

“I have no idea. My boss was contacted by the secret police. They wanted both of you. I told him you were abducted.”

“Your boss?” quizzed Madeleine.

“Señor Alvieri. Everyone knows him. I guess they figured.”

“Figured what?”

“He was behind this racket supporting the American. They probably would know Mr Fish once they see his face in the cameras.”

“Where are we?” asked Madeleine.

“At Santa Rosa, in Quilmes.”

“It’s a beautiful moon!”

“Tonight’s a Full Moon,” said Castillo.

Madeleine slept in a rustic room on the top floor, a tiny cubicle with a single bed laid with a thick mattress. A parquetry floor under the bed and a narrow space between. A mirror on the wall and an awning vent on the bedside open to the terrace.

Few kilometres on the road, they put a blindfold on Yunis. Roco at the wheel uttered, “Take it easy!”

“Don’t talk!” snapped Carlos.

“He is American…”

“Shut up and drive!”

After an hour, Tony Yunis felt that they were passing street lights and city lights. Then it turned dark. The car stopped somewhere.

Roco saw that officer who appeared in the high beam. He turned it down. That officer wore a black coat and a scary sight. There were armed guards in the dark. A couple of military vehicles hidden in the coppices in the wooded trail he passed.

Tony Yunis was sedated and transferred to a black van promptly.

Next morning, Madeleine stepped into the sunshine with the white coat in her hand and a cigarette in the fingers. Bare branches of the trees and blue sky above, dry in the air and wet in the sidewalks. She inhaled a lungful of smoke and released through puckered lips in an upward stream. Rolled her eyes on the long road with scarce shanty huts on the sides. She could see no sign of life.

Castillo pulled out an orange car, to be precise – rust. She climbed and they drove off to the city.