The quiet night was shattered by a burst of intense gunfire. The residents round about woke from their sleep and looked in horror towards where the shots had come from.
No one dared go out and have a look at a time like this. All they could do was ring the Guardia Civil quickly.
But less than ten minutes after the shooting stopped, the neighbours saw flames lighting up the night in the distance.
Caballo Díaz's villa was on fire.
"Fire! Come and put out the fire!"
The residents panicked and ran out to fight the fire. Another ten minutes later, three squad cars arrived with their sirens wailing.
The Guardia Civil were stunned too when they saw it. Hadn't the call said there was a shoot-out? How had it turned into a fire?
"The fire brigade, call the fire brigade!"
The scene was chaos for a while, and by then León had already driven a long way off.
The petrol had been prepared and kept in the space warehouse. Before pulling out, he'd set Caballo Díaz's villa ablaze.
Fingerprints, hair, footprints, every trace in the villa would vanish in the fire.
No one could prove León had done it!
Destroying the bodies!
Once sure he was safe, León sank into the space warehouse and went through his loot.
After killing Caballo Díaz, León had ransacked his villa and taken everything of value.
First, the three Tokarevs belonging to Caballo Díaz and two of his lads, and fifty rounds of ammunition.
In Barcelona, guns and ammunition were hard to come by, and a Tokarev cost more than a hundred thousand pesetas.
And even with money, you couldn't buy one without the connections.
Then there was some loose cash, about fifty thousand pesetas.
Last was the safe Caballo Díaz had mentioned, which León had simply lifted out whole.
After a while of fiddling, the safe was ruined, and León finally got at what was inside.
Four thick bundles of big notes, tightly wrapped, all in the largest denominations: four million pesetas.
There was also some gold and silver jewellery, which seemed a lot, but actually turning it into cash would be a bit of bother, and he'd get half its value at best.
"Murder and arson earn you a golden belt; the way to make a fortune is written in the criminal code!" León said with a faint smile.
He'd got rich overnight. As a waiter he'd been on only three hundred pesetas a day.
Now, money came so easily!
Seeing the sky growing lighter, León hurriedly disposed of the car, and with it the bodies of yesterday's two hitmen, all dumped in the sea.
Back in Eva's flat, the girl was sleeping soundly, her long legs wrapped round the duvet as if she thought it was León.
…
After two hours the fire brigade had put out the fire, and the Guardia Civil walked in slowly to clear up the mess.
They carried out a scene examination, but the site was badly damaged, and apart from establishing how the victims had been killed, there were no other clues.
They asked the neighbours, but no one had seen any suspects. After all, it had been after three in the morning and everyone had been asleep.
In the end the Guardia Civil couldn't even establish how many killers there had been.
"Brrring brrring~!"
A telephone rang in the bedroom of a flat.
Gerry Reyes woke and glanced at the clock on the wall. It wasn't yet five.
"What is it?" Reyes's voice sounded irritable.
He was in his forties, with cheeks as sharp as a knife, giving him a hard edge.
He was the man who ran the Ribes gang's Barceloneta district, in charge of thousands of lads, definitely one of the top bosses in Barcelona's gangland.
"Boss, it's bad!" The voice on the phone was urgent.
"I've just heard Caballo Díaz's been killed!"
"What?"
Hearing that Caballo Díaz had been killed, Reyes's face changed, and he sat bolt upright in bed.
"What happened? Who did it?" Reyes asked.
"Don't know."
"Somebody heard a gunfight at Caballo Díaz's villa, and not long after, the fire started."
"The fire's only just been put out, and the Guardia Civil haven't found any clues."
"Could it have been the Sala network?" Reyes said hoarsely, his face dark.
Caballo Díaz was his top man. A few days ago the Sala network had cost him both his arms, and now he'd been shot dead right after leaving hospital.
That made Reyes suspect the Sala network had done it.
"It~ could be!" The man on the phone sounded unsure.
But Reyes didn't care. He gave his orders for what came next and hung up.
Sitting on the bed smoking a cigarette, his face dark and brooding, the more he thought about it, the less he believed it had nothing to do with the Sala network.
"Bloody hell, this time if I don't wipe out Francisco Gordillo, I'll never let it go!"
He swore savagely, got straight up, and prepared to send his men out!
…
The next day León "woke up" on time, looked at Eva, whose eyes were open and a little dazed, smiled and kissed her red lips lightly.
"Good morning, baby!"
"Good morning!"
"Sleep a bit longer! I'll go and get you breakfast!"
Eva pushed back the duvet, revealing her perfect figure. After washing, she busied herself making breakfast for León.
The room was small but cosy.
The two of them ate breakfast lovingly, but at that very moment, the whole of Barceloneta was rocked by a piece of news!
Caballo Díaz was dead!
Shot in the head in his own lair, and all eight of his lads killed too.
For Barceloneta's gangland this was a shocking case, and it inevitably made some people feel they were in danger.
After breakfast León went to El Faro, and as soon as he came in, Big Mouth Paco came over: "León, el Fraile rang just now and asked you to ring him back when you got in!"
"Right, got it!" León nodded gently.
No need to guess; it was about Caballo Díaz. It had only happened a few hours ago, but who in gangland wasn't well informed?
Even Big Mouth Paco already knew.
When he'd heard the news, his first reaction had been to freeze.
He still remembered that only the night before last he'd told León to watch out for Caballo Díaz's revenge!
Yet within a day Caballo Díaz was dead. He'd heard he'd been riddled with bullets. A horrible way to go!
This made him suspect León might have done it.
But he didn't dare say anything!
Only the way he looked at León had faintly changed; there was even more awe in it.
When León rang Francisco Gordillo back, sure enough it was about Caballo Díaz.
"León, do you know who did this?" Gordillo asked.
"El Fraile, I've only been with the gang ten days. How would I know who the killer is!" León denied it flatly.
His tone was calm, as if it had nothing to do with him at all.
León had no intention of admitting it, because it would do him no good.
He'd already been made lieutenant right after joining the Sala network. Killing Caballo Díaz wouldn't take him a step higher; it would only make him the main target of Ribes revenge.
So in the short term it was better to keep his head down, develop quietly, and build his own power in secret.
Hearing it had nothing to do with León, Gordillo warned him to be careful of a Ribes counter-attack and to be ready to fight at any time, then hurriedly hung up.
Hearing the dial tone, León shook his head and smiled: "There's a storm coming!"
The war between the Sala network and the Ribes gang was about to start again!
"But it's nothing to do with me!"