The Sacred Protocol

by Hylton Smith

  *

  The subject of the elevator was being discussed by Verdasco, Boniek and Gretz because of the Orient ground rocket launch. They had decided to demand protection of the facility to be beefed up. If it was compromised it would make the playing field of lunar voyages a little more even. It would also starve and ultimately cause the collapse of SACRED.

  *

  Antonio Salina’s resignation was ‘reluctantly’ accepted by President Sanchez, and his replacement was a total surprise to everyone except Pierze and Duarte. It had begun to fall into place some time ago and it was mostly a case of managing the events to justify the outcome. Duarte rang to offer his congratulations.

  “Do I keep addressing you as Pierze or use your new fancy title. I must say I didn’t foresee this particular cog falling into place so quickly, but I sensed some major change would come about. You, on the other hand have known about it for some time. It explains quite a bit and will hopefully bring convergence to the entire investigation. I would hazard a guess that we are now going to see your minders return to spirit you away.”

  “Thank you Duarte. Fear not, the fact that I am now going to operate out of Madrid will not slow the progress – in fact it should do the opposite. Also, you can begin to proceed a little more freely without my shadow. I know you are on-board with the general principles of what we are striving to expose and you will continue to enjoy my support. I will not be leaving until the scan has been performed on Konrad Salina.”

  When Duarte had exchanged possible consequences of Antonio’s resignation, and Pierze’s appointment with Manuel, his reaction was confined to the personal aspect at first.

  “This will actually help my mother in the long term by being out of the public eye. It disappoints me however that what is about to be ferreted out by the press didn’t impact my father while still he held office, and believe me, that is why he resigned. A former head of Central Security is not as juicy to the newshounds as the current incumbent.”

  *

  The hotel in which Butragueno was staying was just off Playa Espana, whose waterfalls were designed to light up the evening sky. The blend of colours and the sound of splashing water was a welcoming experience. She had been told she would be met for dinner by an unexpectedly high-ranking officer in the precinct. It smelled of damage limitation, in the event of them having to acknowledge any exposed shortcomings in their conduct. Javier Montero was already being groomed to be ‘kicked upstairs’ shortly. Butragueno would find out that this promotion was not only a surprise for the rank and file in the precinct, but it seemed to have been pulled out of the hat in a rather convenient timescale, to coincide with the investigation being reopened. An additional guest arrived and was introduced as being from ‘Internal Affairs’.

  “Detective Inspector Butragueno – welcome, may I present Carla Dominguez, she will help us in ensuring you get all the cooperation you need. I will be pushing the buttons of the specific officers assigned to acquaint you with the files and people you request to interview.”

  “I’m pleased to meet you both. I hope we haven’t conveyed any criticism of your investigation. I’m only here because of tenuous links to our own case – that of Konrad Salina. There’s much more to learn with that suicide, but it would be premature to say we have any hard evidence. We hope that re-examination of a few other protestors’ deaths may throw up new information, this is but one example.” She hoped this would relax them otherwise they were in for a very long and cagey evening.

  *

  Having despatched the courier back to Gretz, Manuel set off for the Riu Principal to say a temporary goodbye to his mother. “The funeral will be delayed and I will be informed of its rescheduled date by Duarte in good time for me to return. Please don’t worry about me. I’ll be in touch.” Senora Salina was struggling to put on a brave front, but Manuel knew she had the benefit of years of experience with this type of discomfort, courtesy of his father’s demands. She kept it short.

  “At least Olmeda has gone back, now Antonio is free to give me a proper explanation. He does realise that if our marriage is to survive we must slay a few dragons. I fear your father may not have the humility to embark on the quest, now that he has been publicly stripped of his dignity. I will just have to remind him of what I had to endure all these years.” She smiled and confirmed to Manuel what he already knew. His mother was a woman of remarkable strength of character. There was also the slightest hint that she might be prepared to leave him, if he did not measure up.

  *

  What Pierze had not said to Duarte was that his former department was being merged with Central Security. It was felt there was no need for the public to be confused with internal mechanics of government. However, as it filtered down without an official announcement, Duarte reflected that Manuel would realise this was the indictment of his father’s performance he had wanted to become public. The members of the political pyramid would mumble behind Antonio’s back and be supportive to his face. To continue to associate with him would not be good for one’s career. He was a leper.

  *

  The newspapers had put a name to the body in Firenze, and infuriated the local police. Adrianna Rossi was a known activist, not just with regard to SACRED; she was involved with many protest activities. The precinct had labelled her as ‘Domina Nueva Anarchisti’ and joked that it was in her DNA, which they had already flagged on their database as one to watch. They suspected she was a pusher as well as a user, but had never managed a conviction despite several arrests. They had wanted to change tactics and let her feel they had given up on her. When her body was found, they believed the organisation she was part of must have felt she had become a liability, and forcibly caused her overdose. Now that the reporters were picking up on her possible connection to other SACRED protestors, it could flush out actual or speculative minions in the drug ring. This would not be helpful to their plans to snare the big players. It seemed a little strange to Butragueno that no mention was made in the coverage, of anyone being arrested at the scene, as Pierze had admitted to her boss. ‘Where was he being held?’ she thought. She contacted Duarte with an update on her evening with the Barcelona duo and warned him that there was more than a whiff of whitewash about, it was pervasive in the extreme. He more or less expected that.

  “That’s why I thought it would be prudent to take Manuel into our little clique. He’ll help counteract your placebo treatment from the precinct.”

  She agreed and ran a thought past him. “The case of Adrianna Rossi has me wondering if Pierze’s people got their man and then informed the police themselves about the body before disappearing. There was no mention of another person or witness in the papers and the precinct say no one has yet been questioned as a suspect. It could be worth asking him where this character is now.”

  “Will do, good thinking Butragueno.”

  Manuel had settled into his prestigious hotel; the one in which Elle was expensed came with a tight police budget restraint, and was decidedly the poor relation. He had been contacted by Gretz to say he was on his way to the lunar base and anticipated sending him his log-in confirmation soon. This triggered a question to the front desk of his hotel as to the nearest public booth in which he could engage with SACRED. It was met with a perplexed expression from the receptionist. She looked him up and down and said there was one she knew of on the hill of Monjuic, close to the old Olympic stadium. “I hope I am not being rude Sir, but it is a risky area and I would certainly not go there dressed like that. You should try to blend in. I would respectfully suggest you try to get permission to use a corporate facility instead. We don’t have one as it is looked upon as attracting a different client spread to the one desired in the hotel charter.”

  “Thank you, I’ll consider that. Where would I find an establishment such as you suggest?”

  She blushed. “There are some private gentleman’s clubs who have them. You will find some in the entertainment directory over there.” He thanked her a
nd began browsing the city guide.

  Chapter 13

 

  The only reaction Duarte noticed was a very slight twitch to one side of his mouth. “It is very difficult Chief Inspector.” That was the second clue. “The secondary scanning equipment is not really portable so we will have to take Konrad’s brain scan using the primary part of the unit which is portable, and then take that scan to the location of the interpretive part of the scanner. The same applies to Adrianna Rossi and indeed the man you now enquire about.”

  “I don’t seek answers to questions which I’d be better off not knowing Ricardo, so you may have to guide me here. Your people will take Konrad’s brain scan to wherever, and the same scanner will try to detect something similar to what you suspect will be in the living brain of the designated witness to Rossi’s death. The proverbial fly in the ointment is that he was late and didn’t witness the actual death, which was by means other than he was led to believe he could expect. That may indicate to a plodder like me that whatever you are looking for may be in a selective number of targets, who are currently walking around oblivious to all of this.”

  Pierze began shifting uncharacteristically in his seat. “Look we initially wanted our people to remove Konrad’s head because we could not expect the coroner to buy into our theory. Our technical people however, devised a two-step process by temporary detachment of the measurement and interpretation phases. If we do find correlation of significant level, we will have to take the heads of both Konrad and Adrianna Rossi, then probably others.”

  “Mmm, then you would still like the missing head of the Africana body.”

  “Quite. Maybe you can appreciate why the Antonio Salina roadblock had to be cleared.”

  Duarte smiled to cover his sarcasm. “Cleared – that’s an interesting way to put it. I can imagine he has some reason to be a roadblock, and it took one or two of his trusted subordinates, imbued with Brutus remits, to expose Antonio Caesar.”

  “Very eloquently put Duarte. It would however be entirely inappropriate for me to comment, in my new role.” The inability of Duarte to avoid thunderous breaking of wind did seem an adequate introduction to the re-grafting of their relationship.

  “Ricardo, I get the feeling I’m going to hear that a lot more in the future.”

  *

  Manuel and Butragueno met at a bar they both knew on the Ramblas. After a gentle kiss on the cheek he bought a bottle of Faustino Grand Cru and asked for two very large glasses. Her eyes widened. “You expect me to drink that kind of volume? Are you trying to get information via inebriation?”

  “Of course. Seriously, this wine needs a large receptacle to swirl, prior to imbibing. If I was trying to get you drunk it would be for personal and not professional reasons. Just joking.”

  She felt a flutter but did not react to, or dismiss the remark. “Let’s get up to date. My boss thinks that Pierze is about to accelerate his strategy now that he has the combined power of two departments. He’s also pretty sure that we, meaning Duarte and myself, will soon be considered redundant in his spider’s web. This leaves you, and I trust the boss’ judgement on this, to tread carefully with him. He’ll let us do quite a bit of mundane leg work for him and keep us employed on a need to know basis. Duarte is certain that Pierze claims to believe you can be extremely useful with your unrestricted remit, but also that he is covering one of his real objectives, to find out who has recruited you and why.”

  “Well, well – more levels of intrigue. I’ll bear this in mind. I guess you haven’t had a chance to begin questioning any relatives yet?”

  She sighed. “No. I have been chaperoned and I get the feeling it’s going to be that way in Sevilla too. I suppose it makes it even more important that you follow up these orchestrated interviews they will present me with, otherwise we won’t really get anywhere.” Manuel pondered whether or not to confide in this woman. She had been straight with him on every count but she was police. Leaning on his experience in his chosen vocation he made the first telling move on the new chessboard.

  “El, I’m going to risk telling you something which needs to be between us and nobody else. I have to include your boss in this restriction. I need one person I can trust implicitly. It’s not one sided – I’m not volunteering this solely to help you, I don’t know what to expect, but from my conversations with Konrad, I should anticipate difficulties and I may need some help myself. When he first begged me to do this, he could have been that help.”

  “Whoa Manuel, I think I’m hearing that this will conflict with my responsibilities as a police officer. If I mustn’t discuss it with my boss I need to know why.”

  He lowered his head and whispered, “Because it may endanger my life. I can’t dismiss the point you raise as I don’t know exactly what will happen, I just know that I have to do it. I suppose it comes down to trust. Once I know more I would expect I can divulge more, even to Duarte.” Her emotional conflict was manifestly troubling her so he reached out and squeezed her hand. It only added to the flurry of mental processing to which she was a somewhat willing hostage. “El, I may have taken too much for granted in making this selfish request of you. Let’s begin the evening again, the wine is excellent, try it.” She fought off the urge to ask him to carry on and switched the topic directly to his brother.

  “I probably shouldn’t be the one telling you this, so I’m also taking things on trust. Your brother’s initial scan is not an invasive procedure, but if it proves positive in Pierze’s view, he will apparently require all or some of his body to be transported for a second procedure which is obviously going to mean disfigurement. I don’t know if or when you and your family were to be told about this. I can imagine the distress this will cause. I’m telling you this in case it is relevant to the risk you are about to take.”

  He sat back in semi-shock. She slowly sipped wine until he responded. “Thanks for trusting me with this. It actually makes what I was about to burden you with even more important to me. It has removed any lingering doubts I may have harboured.” Against all of her professional training her gut feeling prevailed, even though she knew the fulcrum had been shifted by her intense attraction to this man. The statement was emphasised by its simplicity.

  “Tell me.”

  The next half hour not only re-shaped the entire case for her but resulted in her pleading with him to let this be Pierze’s problem. His disarming expression was accompanied by a rebuttal of her suggestion. “If there is a much wider agenda involved here, I’m not sure Pierze will truly expose it, and I could say the same about Gretz. I have to know what Konrad was trying to tell me. Can I count you in?”

  “Very well, when do you expect the go-ahead from Gretz?”

  “Anytime soon. Let’s look for a booth.” His communicator’s vibration was nervously checked. The message read – ‘Proceed’. They checked a few booths and selected the one next to the metro station. Manuel’s thoughts were invaded by excitement and apprehension.

  Chapter 14

  Futureworld

  Konrad

 

  He felt weak and his vision was slightly blurred. His virtual apartment was in a mess and as he pulled himself off the sofa there was one thought in his mind. He grappled for the communicator and dialled emergency. Electing for Ambulance and giving his address, it was all he could manage to unlock the front door and crawl back to the sofa. He drifted in and out of consciousness several times and finally relaxed when the burly figure in uniform assured him he was going to be alright, but insisted that he fought off the desire to sleep.

  Several hours later, he was awakened by a young nurse and informed that the doctor was on his way. The reading of charts and conferring between the various members of hospital staff took much longer than he expected. At last the man in charge said, “Well Konrad, you have not been looking after yourself; I’m afraid you have severe malnutrition and dehydration. It will be a few days before we can be sure there is nothing more serious to
worry about.” A data balloon appeared in the top right corner of his field of vision to denote the probable cost of authorising this level of care. He approved it without needing to consult any manual or sub-screen, it all felt so natural. His new bank balance flashed up then faded slowly. He wasn’t aware of the intrusive looking headset at any time. Compiled data began scrolling down the right side again. Reactivating his character, and making a transaction must have triggered the display of his salient character statistics. Although this information was being viewed for the first time it didn’t feel like that, simply because he was Konrad Salina. Even the employment status display of ‘Junior Clerk – Central Security’ didn’t cause alarm; in fact he was disappointed that he had failed a promotion interview for the third time. His communicator rang and he was told quite curtly to switch it to vibrate only, otherwise it would be confiscated. Severe stomach cramps forced him to ask for painkillers and he was duly administered an injection. Just before he went under he saw the cost and new monetary balance display.

  When he awoke he felt much better, the intravenous feed had begun to restore his energy level, and he was glad to hear the new prognosis that he would be able to leave hospital the next day. The doctor admonished him once again and demanded that there was no repeat. “Perhaps there is a reason why you allowed your condition to reach dangerous metabolic levels, would you like to see a psychiatrist or psychologist?” He had already decided against this before he saw the cost. When the doctor and entourage had passed on to the next patient he picked up a newspaper. The leading story claimed that the U-turn by the government on a new tax banding was a refreshingly welcome capitulation – a success for mass, peaceful demonstration. He was about to read further when he had a visitor. Hector Sidibe was an Africana with whom he had studied at college. “How did you know I was here?”