He left the yellow envelope with the YES in the trash can and burned the green envelope. He felt tested but had already made his decision.

Back at his apartment, he went for a walk to relax. It’s decided! We will write Ronald’s book! he thought. He knew the consequences for his life would be absolute.

———

At the same time, in another part of Barcelona, two men were saying goodbye.

“See you later, Franco,” Lenel said.

“See you later,” Franco Gambino replied. They were in the lobby of the Marconi Hotel.

Lenel waited for a taxi to the airport. He was going to Paris. Forty-two, medium height, five foot seven, with black, neatly combed hair and dark brown eyes that stood out against his pale skin. He wore a black suit, white shirt, and elegant tie. A fifth-dan black belt in karate, he was rigorous, calculating, intelligent, and unpredictable on the tatami.

Franco watched him, remembering meeting him almost twenty years ago. He liked seeing him every fortnight in Paris. Lenel was a brilliant industrial engineer.

From age five to his teens, his mother made him pray his favourite Bible verse nightly: Mark 9:43–47.

‘If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. Better to enter life maimed than go to hell with both hands. If your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. Better to enter life lame than be thrown into hell with both feet. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than be thrown into hell with two.’

His mother separated from his father when Lenel was twelve after catching him with another woman. Until then, Lenel had admired his father, an exemplary Orthodox rabbi. His mother believed her son would do what his father had failed to do: ‘Son, now you must do what your father was not worthy to do,’ she had told him.