Facial recognition activated.
Two seconds later, on a screen many miles from there, a red alert appeared:
“Manuel Rivas. Director General of the National Research Agency. Alpha priority.”
In the capital, Deputy Director Elena Vera received the notice on her phone.
He read it once.
Then another.
Then he took the hotline.
“Federal team prepared. Director Rivas located out of service in Parque de la Ribera. Do not intervene yet. Watch closely.
Three black vans left the central building without sirens.
No lights.
No noise.
Don Manuel felt his cell phone vibrating inside the vest.
He didn’t look at him.
I already knew who he was.
And I also knew it had just started.
Sergio lost patience.
“Up.” Now.
Don Manuel stood up slowly, his hands visible.
I’m collaborating.
“Of course I do.
Sergio tore the newspaper from his hands, broke it in half and threw it in his face.
The leaves fell on the grass.
A five-year-old girl started crying.
“Mom, why do you talk to him like that?”
The mother hugged her tight.
Don Manuel raised his hands a little more.
I’m not resisting.
Sergio pushed him with both hands.
Strong.
Don Manuel stumbled and hit his back against the bench.
The entire park let out a scream.
It was not a procedure.
It was abuse.
Then Inspector Ricardo Cruz, Sergio’s boss, appeared walking as if he already knew how it would all end.
Fifty and so many years.
Hard belly of power.
A man’s face used to no one contradicting him.
What’s going on here, Molina?
Sergio replied without hesitation:
“Suspicious individual. He’s not identified. He refuses to obey.
Don Manuel looked at the inspector.
“I was just sitting around, waiting for my wife.
Richard didn’t even hear it.
“Spoil it. We clear it up at the police station.
People protested.
“He didn’t do anything!
We are recording it!
Leave him alone!
Sergio grabbed Don Manuel’s arm and twisted it backwards.
“Hands on the back.
Don Manuel obeyed.
Click.
Click.
The wives closed on their dolls.
Too tight.
Then Sergio did something that no one in that park would forget.
He put a hand on his head and forced him to kneel on the lawn.
Don Manuel’s knees hit the earth.
His pants were stained.
Sergio leaned a knee on his back.
“He must have gotten up when I told him.
Twenty meters away, Javier Robles stood still.
The ball fell to his feet.
Now yes.
Now I remembered that face.
Seven years ago.
An internal investigation.
A young agent falsely accused by a corrupt superior.
His career about to die.
And a man from the National Agency entering the room and saying,
“From this moment, this case is taken by me.”
That man saved Javier.
That man was Manuel Rivas.
Manuel Rivas himself who was now on his knees in the park.
“My God,” Javier whispered.
He pulled out his pocket body camera, a custom he had never lost, and turned it on.
Meanwhile, an official car stopped by the sidewalk.
He lowered the window.
It was Alberto Flores, councilor of the municipality.
Inspector, everything under control?
Richard straightened up.
“Yes, Mr. Councilman. A minor problem. Breaking and disobedience.
Alberto looked at Don Manuel handcuffed on the floor.
For a moment he seemed to recognize it.
But he decided not to.
-Okay. We have to keep this park safe.
He went up the window and left.
Sergio lifted Don Manuel out of a tug and took him to the patrol car.
People made their way.
Mobiles up.
Forty cameras recording.
The crying girl got loose from her mother and asked:
“Mom, is that man bad?”
The mother, with tears in her face, denied.
No, honey. It’s not bad.
Sergio opened the back door of the car.
He put his hand over Don Manuel’s head and pushed him inward.
But he did it wrong.
By the way.
Don Manuel’s forehead crashed into the frame.
Toc.
“Beware of the head, Grandpa,” said Sergio, with a smile.
The door closed.
Metal against metal.
Don Manuel sat behind, handcuffed, calm.
Like I’m waiting for the bus.
Sergio sat behind the wheel.
Ricardo, by his side.
Central, here Molina. A detainee for disobedience, disturbance of order and resistance. Road to police station.
The radio replied:
“Received.
There was a little pause.
One doubt.
Because three minutes earlier, an operator had received a strange call from someone who claimed to speak on behalf of the National Agency asking about director Rivas.
She thought it was a joke.
I wasn’t so sure now.
In the back seat, Don Manuel looked forward.
Sergio watched him in the rearview mirror.
“Comfortable? I’m sure he’s not used to going on patrol.
Don Manuel did not answer.
Ricardo asked:
Did you get him ID?
“Nothing. No wallet, no mobile. Suspect.
Lie.
The mobile was in the interior pocket of Don Manuel’s vest.
Sergio hadn’t found him.
Don Manuel knew that.