by John Wilson
Laia led me over to the elevator. I kept my eyes firmly on a small patch of the marble floor in front of me. When the doors were safely closed, I looked up. “Did you know this?” I asked.
“No,” Laia said, “but there are many naturist resorts along the coast. Sofia and Felip used to bring me on holiday to them when I was young.”
“Are you a naturist?” I asked.
“No,” she said to my great relief. “It is not for me, but if you do want to take your clothes off, the south of Spain is probably a good place to do it.”
“If you have lots of sunscreen,” I said.
Laia laughed. “You see, already you are getting used to it.” The elevator doors opened and we pushed out past a large, noisy, naked family on their way to the pool. At the door of 412, we stopped. “Don’t worry,” Laia said. “No one has to take their clothes off—unless they want to go for a swim. I’ll see you downstairs—after eight. It’s been an exciting day.” She smiled, kissed me on the cheek and went on to room 413. I fumbled with my key card, fell into the room, closed the door and collapsed on the bed beside my backpack. I wasn’t sure how much more excitement I could take.
“Do you feel more comfortable now?” Laia and I were looking at each other across a spotless white tablecloth in the largest restaurant I’d ever been in. It was 8:15, early to be eating dinner in Spain, so the restaurant was quiet. The few diners there were all fully clothed.
“I think I’ve gotten over the shock,” I said. “You know what I first thought when I saw the naked couple come out of the elevator? It was a line from The Sixth Sense.”
“The scary ghost movie about the kid who says, ‘I see dead people’?”
“Yeah. My first thought was, ‘I see naked people.’” Laia laughed. “The rooms are great though,” I went on. “The bed’s so soft, I fell asleep as soon as I lay down. I only woke up half an hour ago, but a shower and clean clothes made me feel like a new person.”
“That’s a shame,” Laia said. “I liked the old person. But the rooms are nice. I sat on the balcony for a while, looking out over the pool and the palm trees to the lights of the boats out at sea. I suppose some people live like this all the time.”
“I feel more relaxed than I have all day. Shall we eat?”
Dinner was a buffet that stretched the full length of the restaurant. There was food from all over Europe, but Laia insisted we eat local dishes. I had shrimp, octopus, fried local fish, ham, salad and a wonderful pastry dessert dripping in honey. I returned to the buffet three times.
“You won’t need to eat for the rest of your holiday,” Laia commented after I had finally finished and sat back in my chair.
“I’m not so sure about that, but I’m certainly eating well. Almost enough to fuel all the walking we’re doing.”
“And there’ll be more tomorrow,” Laia said, “if we’re going to walk back up to location number five.”
“What does Felip have planned for tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. I suspect there will be a lot of legal paperwork he will need to check on so that Chad can be fully informed when he goes back to whoever’s behind this scheme. He’ll probably have to drive down to Almería.”
Mention of Chad brought back memories of Scarface and Blue Eyes’s threat. “By tomorrow, we’ll be halfway through the forty-eight hours,” I pointed out.
“I know,” Laia said. “If we see Felip tonight, I’ll try and find out what’s going on. If Chad’s not too keen, finding out about the laws and regulations he’ll have to get around might be enough to discourage him. If not, I’ll tell Felip about Blue Eyes tomorrow night.”
I must have looked worried, because Laia went on, “It will be all right. If all else fails, we’ll be gone from here before the forty-eight hours are up anyway. Blue Eyes’s threats were meant to scare us. It makes no sense for him to chase us to Barcelona or Canada. He would just be increasing his risk, and there would be nothing to gain by it. It’s not rational.”
“I’m not convinced that Blue Eyes is entirely rational,” I said. “He’s a Russian mobster, after all.”
“But that’s what makes him rational. He wants to be able to carry out his illegal activities with a minimum of fuss and without drawing unwelcome attention. He’s not above threatening people or hurting them if necessary, but he wants to maintain at least the façade of being a reputable businessman. There has to be a gain to outweigh any risk he runs, and there’s no gain in chasing either of us.”
“I suppose so.” What Laia said made sense, but I’d still be much happier with Chad gone and all talk of building Roman-style resorts ended.
“Hello, you two.” We looked up to see Felip coming toward us. I was relieved to see he was alone.
“Hello,” Laia said. “I wasn’t expecting you here so early. Where’s Chad?”
“He said he had people to see,” Felip said, sitting down beside us. “To be honest, I find him a bit…”
“Tiring?” I suggested.
Felip nodded. “He is cheerful all the time. Everything is so positive. I’m afraid I find it a bit wearing.”
“I know what you mean,” I said. “Do you think he will go ahead with this Roman resort project?”
“I don’t know. He goes on about how wonderful the idea is, but the decision’s not up to him. He’s simply checking things out for an American company.”
“What will the local businesses think of an American company moving in?” Laia asked.
“Good question,” Felip said. “As you can see from all the building along the coast, there’s a lot of investment here already. Much of it’s foreign money.”
“Russian?” I asked.
“Some,” Felip said. “It’s hard to tell where the money comes from, and there are many different companies that could easily all be owned by one man. But there is a strong Russian connection. This resort, for instance, is owned by a company called Gorky Holdings, which certainly suggests a Russian connection.”
Laia and I exchanged looks at the mention of Gorky. It was a name that seemed to crop up everywhere.
“What do you think of the resort?” Felip asked with a smile.
“You mean apart from the naked people all over the place?” I said, smiling back. “That was a shock at first, but the resort seems fine. I’m not sure I’ll use the pool though.”
“There are a lot of naturist resorts along this stretch of coast. Chad said he booked us in here because it was the only place with space that was close to Palomares. Otherwise, we would have had to drive in from Almería. Speaking of which, I have to go down there tomorrow to look at land-titles records and talk to people. What are your plans?”
“I think we’ll walk up into the hills and look at location number five,” Laia said. “I doubt if there’s anything to see, but I’ll bet the views are spectacular up there.”
“They are,” Felip said. “Take plenty of water with you. I should be back in the afternoon. I have to meet with Chad, but we can have dinner later. Perhaps the next day we can drive north and poke around the ruins in Cartagena?” Felip stood up. “I have paperwork and emails to catch up on, so I’m going to head on up. See you down here for breakfast?”
“Sounds good,” I said as Laia and I also stood. “Good night.”
“Good night,” Laia added.
When Felip had gone, we signed the meal bills to our rooms. “Let’s get a breath of fresh air,” Laia suggested. We strolled through the lobby, nodded to the doorman and headed outside. The air had cooled since midafternoon, but it was still pleasantly warm. We wandered up the drive toward the road, without any specific goal. “I guess Blue Eyes does own this place then,” Laia said. “He certainly seemed to be into Gorky.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “Do you think he might be the Gorky in Grandfather’s notebook? He might be old enough.”
“He could be, but when you asked him if he knew Gorky, he talked about someone else.”
“I suppose so. We may never solve that part o
f the mystery.” I stopped and pointed to a red scooter under one of the streetlights. “Isn’t that the scooter that passed us on the road this afternoon?”
“There are a lot of scooters around,” she said, “and I don’t think the kid we saw could afford to stay in this place.”
“Hi, kids!” A figure stepped out of the shadows. I couldn’t see who it was, but I would recognize that cheerful voice anywhere. Laia groaned audibly as Chad strode toward us. “You two going for a romantic evening stroll?”
“Yeah, something like that,” I said. “I thought you had a meeting.”
“All done,” Chad said. “You’ve got to be quick in this business. You snooze, you lose.”
I was tempted to keep walking, but I had a question I wanted to ask. “Do you think your American investors will go ahead with the Roman resort project?”
“It’s a wonderful investment opportunity,” Chad enthused. “In the long term, it can’t fail, and the cleanup costs will be absorbed quickly. I think they’d be crazy not to run with it.”
Now it was my turn to groan. Chad gave me an odd look, part concern and part thoughtful, not like him at all. “But,” he said eventually, “if you want my honest opinion, I suspect the politics will be too much for them. I think we’re a few years away from any development on that land.”
My heart leaped, and I had trouble not shouting out loud. “Oh,” I said as noncommittally as possible.
“You kids have a good walk,” Chad said, winking broadly at me. “Don’t go too far. You never know what kind of people are around these days. Good night.”
“Good night,” I said.
Chad headed for the hotel lobby, and Laia and I continued out to the road. “I was terrified he was going to suggest he come for a walk with us,” Laia said.
“Just as well he didn’t,” I said. “I would have had to kill him.” We laughed. “I was glad to hear he doesn’t think the deal will go through with his investors. Blue Eyes should be glad to hear that.”
Laia nodded, and we linked arms. We strolled along the road and down to the beach, happy just to be in each other’s company. When we got back, I noticed that the red scooter was still there.
FOURTEEN
Breakfast the next day was a long-drawn-out affair with Chad blabbing on about how to make money. He was interested in what Laia and I were going to do that day, and I was terrified he was going to offer to accompany us. I didn’t feel comfortable telling him anything, but Felip gave him a sketchy outline of what we had found out from Grandfather’s notebook. “Well,” Chad had said as we eventually managed our escape, “don’t you kids go finding any more nuclear bombs. It’s hard enough persuading people to invest here as it is.”
With a huge sigh of relief, we wished Felip a good trip to Almería, arranged to meet him that evening for dinner and then escaped both Chad and the naked people who were beginning to show up throughout the hotel. “We need to pick up some bottles of water,” Laia said as we headed into town. “It’s going to be a hot day.”
I glanced up at the clear blue sky which, even in midmorning, was already painfully bright. “I’ll pick up a pair of shades as well,” I said. “I never thought to bring mine. They’re not something I use much in Toronto in December.”
“A flashlight might help as well,” Laia added. “In case we do manage to move that rock.”
“Good idea.” I was about to comment on how glad I was that Chad hadn’t offered to keep us company when the red scooter shot past us. The rider was wearing a green scarf again, even though there was no dust on the main road. “That’s the same guy we saw yesterday—I’m sure of it,” I said. “Do you think he’s following us?”
“Why would he do that?”
“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I guess I’m feeling a bit paranoid what with Grandfather’s secret codes and Blue Eyes’s threats.”
“Palomares is a small town,” Laia explained. “He probably works the night shift at the hotel and passed us on his way to work yesterday. Now he’s heading home.”
“Probably,” I said. It made sense. We found a store and bought water, sunglasses, snacks for the day and a cheap flashlight. “We forgot to get the GPS from your dad,” I said.
“We won’t need it. The rockfall will be easy enough to find.”
That was true—we just needed to follow the track we had come down the day before—but I would have felt more comfortable with the GPS. That was silly, I told myself. If we didn’t do anything stupid, like wandering off into the hills, we would be fine. I was beginning to worry about every little thing. I hadn’t been able to fall asleep the night before, worrying about DJ and whether he was getting into a situation he couldn’t handle. That was really dumb, since DJ could take care of himself and I was the one who had been threatened by the Russian Mafia. Still, I had texted him, asking how he was doing, before switching off my phone and finally falling asleep.
I pushed my worries aside and determined to enjoy the day with Laia, but as we turned off the main road and onto the track into the hills, I looked back and caught a glimpse of a red scooter stopped by the side of the road, the guy in the scarf crouched beside it.
It was lunchtime when we reached our destination. We took a moment to sit on the flat rock, drink some water, eat a snack and enjoy the magnificent view of the sparkling Mediterranean. Then we examined the rockfall carefully.
“No other marks on any of the rocks,” I said.
“True,” Laia said, “but there’s a lot of lichen and dirt on many of the rocks. It would take a lot more time than we have to check thoroughly.”
“I guess we should try and move number fourteen.”
At first, it didn’t seem as if the rock was going to move, but with some scraping around the edges and by rocking it back and forth, we managed to loosen it. Eventually, it came free and rolled to one side. For a moment, Laia and I just stood there, breathing heavily and staring at the dark hole we had revealed.
“I feel like Howard Carter when he discovered Tutankhamen’s tomb,” I said.
“Well, I hope there’re no dead bodies inside,” Laia commented as she reached into her daypack for the flashlight. She switched it on, and we both leaned forward eagerly.
At first, we couldn’t see much in the narrow beam. The ground seemed to slope gently down, but the hole wasn’t large enough for us both to get our heads in and look around. After we had banged heads a couple of times, Laia pulled back and handed me the flashlight. “Here, you have a look around. It’ll be easier for one person.”
I stretched my arm into the hole, trying not to think of poisonous spiders or mummified bodies. At first I had no better luck than before, but then I caught a dull glint at the edge of the flashlight beam. By stretching as far as I could into the hole and peering hard, I could just make out what appeared to be a pale sphere. The surface was divided into hexagons, like a soccer ball.
I stared at the object for so long that Laia asked, “What do you see?”
I pulled out of the hole, scratching my shoulder and bringing down a clod of dirt that broke into choking dust. I coughed and took a drink of water while Laia fidgeted impatiently. “It’s there,” I said at last.
“What is?” Laia asked, although I was certain she knew what I was talking about. Felip had said the main part of the bomb was about the size of a soccer ball, and that the complex explosives designed to set it off were arranged in a pattern that resembled a honeycomb.
“The plutonium trigger bomb,” I said.
We stared at each other. We had discovered one of the most powerful weapons ever built. It had to be from one of the bombs that had fallen that day in 1966, but what was it doing here? Had sabotage by someone called Gorky caused it to fall here? Had Grandfather found it? Had he hidden it? If so, why had he never told anyone about it?
“The hole’s probably big enough to squeeze through,” I said. “Should I go in?”
“Do you want to crawl into a hole with a plutonium bomb?” Laia ask
ed. “It won’t explode, but what if some of the plutonium has escaped? If we go kicking dust around, who knows what we’ll be breathing in?”
“I don’t want to go in either,” I said. “Apart from anything else, the rocks above the hole don’t look too stable. Even if there’s no plutonium, I don’t want to get trapped in an old mine, or whatever it is. What should we do?”
“We’ll put the rock back,” Laia said. “Then we’ll go down and tell Felip what we’ve found. He’ll know who to contact.”
I nodded my agreement, glad that we had someone we could talk to. It was even harder to get the rock back in place, but we managed. We ate and drank some more and then, with the afternoon sun high above us, we set off down the hill.
“Is this the end of it?” Laia asked as we walked.
“I don’t know. We’ve certainly done a lot more than I ever thought we could when DJ sent the notebook pages. We broke the code, worked out the locations and much of what Grandfather’s cryptic comments meant—and we’ve discovered the missing bomb. That’s pretty impressive.”
“It is,” Laia agreed, “but we still don’t know the whys—why your grandfather came back to Spain under a false name and why he hid the bomb.”
“And we don’t know who Gorky is, or was, or what the saboteur had to do with everything. I keep making up stories in my head to explain it all, but nothing works. There’s something we’re missing. The question is whether we’ll ever figure it out.”
I looked at Laia walking beside me. She was as dirty and tired as me, and her shirt had a jagged rip on the left shoulder, but she was still beautiful. “You look like you’ve been in a war,” I said.
“And you think you look as if you’ve just walked out of a beauty parlor?” Laia said, looking at me with a broad smile. Her brow suddenly furrowed. “Are you okay?” she asked, pointing at my shoulder.
I looked down at where I had scratched myself on the rocks around the edge of the hole. There was a dark, rapidly drying bloodstain on my T-shirt. “It’s just a scratch,” I said. “Maybe I’ll go for a swim back at the hotel and show off my war wound.”
