Hidden Tracks | ✓

23 | big enemies

The next morning, we decided we'd begin with our interrogation.

The two agents had arrived from TIA to keep a watch over Kirk and Asimov all the time, even when we were out of the house. One of them was Agent Gupta, Miranda's girlfriend, and the other was Agent Turner, an American by birth but brought to Zürich the same way I was.

Agent Gupta was a dusky beauty, but she definitely looked like someone you wouldn't want to mess with. She was tall, built and had a resting no-nonsense face. Agent Turner looked a bit more friendly but he was still one of the best snipers I'd ever seen.

Agent Gupta stood beside Kirk and Asimov, ready to take action if they attempted to flee, while Turner guarded the main entrance. Miranda, Soler and I were sitting in front of the two men, ready for our questioning.

"So," Miranda began. "The reason why we brought you here is because we want to know more about the kind of work you do. We know you deal in drugs. We want to know who you deal it with."

Asimov grunted. "Why would we tell you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Aren't all the things that happened yesterday reason enough for you to tell us?"

Soler glared at the men. "Either you answer our questions or I shoot you in places other than your leg. How does that sound, Kirk?"

Kirk looked away. Miranda decided to begin.

"Who is your leader? The person you report to?"

After a moment's silence, Asimov responded, "Rubio. Miguel Rubio."

Soler sat up. "He's Spanish?"

Kirk nodded. "He's from Spain, but he lives everywhere. Has houses in almost every Western European country. We don't see him all the time, but we report to him."

"How do you contact him? Phone, or anything else?"

"Usually by phone, and we send the drugs to him through some people who are trusted by him. He never collects them directly from us, or from any other dealer, so to say."

I scrutinised their expressions carefully. They seemed like they were speaking the truth, though I couldn't be sure. "When was the last time you saw him?"

They thought for a moment. Then Kirk replied, "I saw him last around two months ago, here in London. He'd come here for a fancy dinner with some client. He's a man of luxury. I'd met him to talk about payments."

Asimov said, "I last met him a month ago I reckon, in Prague. I'd gone there for business, and he was there too. He'd asked me to meet him to let me know there would be some new men delivering the drugs from us to him, since some of the older men had been arrested."

Soler nodded. "And where is he currently?"

Kirk and Asimov exchaged looks. "Last we heard, he was in Madrid."

Soler nodded. I sat forward for the most important question of the day.

"Do you know anyone by the name of Mason Caldwell?"

They both stilled at the name. I immediately knew they'd heard it before. Well, they both lived in England so they could very well be familiar with Caldwell the MP, but I had a feeling they also knew of some connection between him and the druglord Rubio.

They nodded. I pressed more. "Do you know if Miguel Rubio had any connection with Caldwell? Any kind of contact?"

Asimov was the first to speak. "I don't know much, but I just heard Rubio mention Caldwell a couple of times. Something to do with his restaurants and payments? I don't remember exactly."

Not much help. But at least we could be sure that Rubio was associated with Caldwell.

I turned to Kirk for an answer. He simply shrugged. "I also heard Rubio talk about Caldwell, and I think he knew him personally. Though I can't be too sure."

Well this was interesting.

This most likely meant that Miguel Rubio was the one Caldwell had caught with the drugs at his restaurant in Paris.

Maybe that's why Caldwell was so shocked when he discovered his own waiters (and probably Rubio too) dealing at his own restaurant. Maybe he'd thought of Rubio as a friend and didn't know he was a druglord in reality?

Could he really be that clueless? Is that why he'd felt so scared when Rubio had threatened him? Because he already knew Caldwell and could easily end his life if he wanted?

These questions kept plaguing me long after the interrogation was over. I just couldn't figure out if Caldwell was truly clueless that his 'friend' was a druglord, or if he already knew of Rubio's true identity. But that didn't make sense. If he knew who Rubio was, he wouldn't have felt threatened by him. He wouldn't have sought out witness protection.

There were still so many questions, and we didn't have much time left to answer them.

I was pondering my thoughts when Miranda came and sat beside me. Soon after, Soler followed.

"Listen," Miranda began. "I've thought of a plan. We need to meet this Miguel Rubio somehow, and get some information out of him. Now, obviously he's not as foolish as Kirk and Asimov, and ten times more dangerous. So we can't directly confront him. We have to go undercover again."

I nodded. That was my forte. "What's your plan?"

"We make either Kirk or Asimov call Rubio with their phone, and tell him about this new dealer they've found, who has a guaranteed supply of ecstasy and who is willing to deal with Rubio. Soler, you'll pretend to be that dealer. Kirk or Asimov will make Soler sound like a pretty reliable supplier so that it gets Rubio interested. After that, Rubio calls you, Soler.

You talk to him and tell him you've been an independent dealer all these years. Make it sound like you have a lot of experience. Like you're not a rookie. Get Rubio to believe you're credible. Credible enough for him to make deals with you. But you will insist that you won't do a single deal without meeting him first. Challenge his credibility as well, like you won't be sure about making any deals until you've spoken with him in person. That way you can meet him, and we can be there too, either in hiding or as your associates."

My eyes brightened. "And we already have those two packets of ecstasy from the restaurant."

Miranda nodded, eyes gleaming. "Exactly. So that if Soler actually has to supply any drugs while being undercover, we can use those."

Soler sat up, already excited. "I can do that. That's a good idea, Miranda."

I agreed. Well, now we were at least getting somewhere.

a/n: lot of plans in motion! who is miguel rubio, and how do you think he's connected to caldwell?