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OK It's like this A man (we can call him X).

arrives in the middle of the night

at some town in the boondocks We know he is there.

to do a boring job run of-the-mill and bureaucratic.

Meaning, he isn't a journalist or a detective

or a writer or a scientist.

Nothing particularly exciting in the least.

We may imagine he is an inspector..

or a land surveyor Something like that.

It doesn't really matter much yet.

All that matters about his work is this.

It takes him somewhere east town

at seven the following morning Just a couple of hours later.

So time passes and X is in the middle of the road.

There are no signs of the place he was supposed to find.

X thinks "I got it wrong."

There's no one around to tell him where to go.

He sees a tractor far away.

Before the tractor reaches him the episode takes place.

CHAPTER I WHAT HAPPENED BY THE TRACTOR

Initially nothing happens.

It looks like he tractor driver.

is waiting impatiently for something.

He stops suddenly and hides something

beneath a hay bale.

The tractor driver seems to be uneasy

he heads for the tractor.

and does something we cannot see

he removes something..

from his pocket and hides it as well.

It may have been a weapon Then, he waits for something

truck pulls up.

and two men get out.

They greet as though they know each other

rather affectionately but showing little trust.

The fat one nods hello but is less friendly.

There is something amiss here, something vaguely disturbing.

The fat man seems to be a dangerous person.

So this is what is going to happen.

Somehow the situation is going to get tense.

Then, the fat one is going to reach the truck.

take out a shotgun.. and shoot the driver.

There he goes.

The other one is surprised..

and reproaches him. They argue.

The tractor driver looks dead.

The two men leave They appear to be alarmed.

It seems like this wasn't planned.

They had not come here for this.

They leave.

X approaches the dead man.

He inspects the surroundings.

he grabs the shotgun..

but then looks for what is hidden in the hay.

That thing the other two did not notice.

Things get tricky at this point.

X grabs the man's briefcase.

without knowing why and leaves.

The men from the truck return They are worried.

We have no way of knowing if they saw X.

But they do know someone else was there.

When the episode ends, X has killed a man.

He has witnessed a murder and is wanted by two killers.

He has an envelope they want.

and doesn't know what's inside it.

He doesn't know the killers or if they have seen him.

He knows nothing.

Second story.

The trigger. A man ho arrives in a town..

to take over someone's job.

That man, our mam character is going to be "Z" for us.

and all we know about him.

is it's his first time as a boss.

His first time in a high-ranking position.

The man who hired him tells him.

"Don't worry. It's a quiet job".

No decision making, nothing new

you won't have any problems".

It might be routine

but you get used to it quickly".

You should work there or a few months.

while you look for something better".

Just don't get too comfortable.

The guy before you stayed there

for over 20 years. Be careful"

I'm not like that." Z thinks to himself.

"I'm not like that".

CHAPTER II THE INVISIBLE MAN

The place is unremarkable.

It's a typical small town office.

It is used for some agricultural activity.

Farmyard birds or something.

Everyone calls it "The Federation."

Although he's the new manager. Z's not sure about what they do.

What kind of problems they solve.

What each employee does.

And what is he supposed to do.

He is shocked to discover that he is seen

as an authority figure.

They meet him as though he's there to give orders.

He thinks, "Take it easy. It's two months, three max".

Amidst such confusion he gets some good news.

Every month he gets to make that they call

a 'monthly regional inspection'.

Three or four days of driving around..

visiting sites to sign documents.

The promise of travel calms Z.

You could almost say it excites him.

A few hours after arriving, Z asks about Cuevas

his predecessor there for the last 20 years.

They won�t give him many details.

He was shy solitary and methodical.

He was a doomed workaholic, not particularly interesting.

Single no friends he dropped dead.

at a gas station while filling his car.

two months ago.

No one came to claim his body.

It was as though he hadn't existed.

He didn�t even have a home.

All the time he was there, he lived in a filing space..

on the floor above the Federation office.

The same place Z will stay.

until he finds something better.

Some of Cuevas' things remain Z looks at them with curiosity.

Books on veterinary medicine.

Detective books in other languages.

Souvenirs and exotic objects.

as if Cuevas had lived many years abroad.

Finally he sees a big picture frame in which Cuevas

like a teenage girl

has put together photos of different times in his life.

When the day ends, Z wonders.

"What kind of character was this Cuevas guy?"

Okay third and last story.

For this one imagine a river scene.

A river, which is not going to be named.

But it's the Salado River.

the one that crosses the entire province.

Typical river of the plains region,

broad and calm.

In the middle of that river there is a man.

Due to a complicated series of events.

he must travel along the river.

The first of these events happened a few days before.

In a town 50 kilometers away

at the end of the year meeting..

of the "Sol de Mayo" Association.

CHAPTER III THE BET

We can base the dredging plan on this feasibility study.

We'll use a motor that revs ..

between 1400 and 2000 horsepower.

Here is a map that is already marked up.

Yes, it's from the Town Hall, but I did some work on it.

The first stage takes three months,

then the next nine months.

The "Sol de Mayo " Association has twelve members.

Yanez. Fava, Factorovich, Bagnasco, Gardehni Raulim.

Zavatarelli, Mazzuchelh. Laurmo Samoa.

Sorrento and Siri.

Agronomists, a civil engineer, a couple of veterinarians.

a manager. and a machinery salesman.

What does the Association do? Nobody knows.

It's partly a village social club,

partly a group of friends...

given to technology and inventions

nee a month they meet.

to eat, drink, and argue for hours.

They each present projects.

for developing the city or district.

The project must be both innovative and feasible.

Man, turn off that slide Turn it off!

No. I'm sa in that during he three months of drought...

Here's the thing Yahez is relatively new in town.

This is his fourth meeting,

and the first time he has submitted a project.

His proposal s to channel water.

from the river to transport goods

on medium sized boats like he traditional cargo rafts

of the Mississippi or the Danube.

Bagnasco (arrogant disparaging, and mocking).

enjoys destroying and humiliating Yanez.

Three years ago one of Bagnasco's inventions.

won the first prize at an Australian fair.

That deed gave him license to poke at anyone and everyone.

It seems to me that we need to be.

a little more serious here.

Sure, we are eating and drinking.

Some people are even smoking.

But you can't even work with a projector.

How are you going to dredge a river?

One two, three hours go by.

The situation grows tense due to alcohol and fatigue.

Bagnasco goes from open mockery to personal aggression.

Fava the most like a group leader

tries to moderate people's moods.

But tonight nothing can stop Bagnasco.

Hey, stop cut it out. Let's be serious.

You can't get anything done with this team.

Not even the pool at my house1.

Not even his pool, and you're saying 45-80.

Where�d you get 45-809 You have to slow down man.

Factorovich had been silent all night.

Known for his explosive temper,

he has hated Bagnasco since childhood.

He has seen this scene many times.

Bagnasco enjoying himself for hours with a new victim.

Playing with him s though he were.

the Emperor of Rome at the Coliseum.

The Lavalle-Cobo commission..

You don't know the Lavalle-Cobo commission?

Just go on.

Kid you have to know the commission...

that has been working for five years.

Factorovich tries to remain calm.

He knows this temperament.

Confronting him would be a mistake.

This has nothing to do with him.

At least, a 4500. Maybe a 45-16 or a 45-26.

You need a little over one thousand horsepower

to get something done.

But 1500 horses in the middle will do.

What?

Factorovich thinks, "Keep cool, don't get ahead of yourself".

He'll get the best of you he always does".

Lavalle and Cobo held a commission.

to correct the river's drainage.

For five years they worked. Five1.

He's got it wrong.

He's talking about old machines."

With the new 327 you can do it easily

and he knows it".

He's tricking them as usual."

Two thousand horse power won't work either.

You need at least 2600.

There's no machine here that can do that.

A half hour goes by, maybe more

eventually the conversation.

returns to the technical aspect.

At some point Yanez attacks with his original argument.

Then, to fire things up, someone proposes a bet.

Maybe it was Bagnasco, maybe somebody else.

Wait. When I bet, I bet for real.

What are you going to bet for real.

You know quarter 2, lot 6?

You know where I sold that land

he bet quickly turns.

into the sole topic of discussion.

Yanez was enjoying himself at one point.

Now he wants to disappear. Bagnasco, emboldened insists

I'm just saying this.

You get this project to work, I'll put this money on it.

At that precise moment, Factorovich makes a mistake.

et me see that paper.

Look who we have here.

Yeah, I�m up for it I'll bet you You got it?

I bet you1 In one month. Right here. The bet is on.

Calm down

I am calmed! You got it?

The one who ain�t gonna be calm is this guy1.

Let me go'

I'm sick of him!

Let me go1.

When he wakes up the next morning.

Factorovich doesn't remember a thing.

He isn't even sure of where he is.

He slowly begins to realize.

He's at his friend Fava's house,

after a drunken night.

He quickly realizes that he's made an absurd bet.

He doesn't fully understand it

but Fava comes to calm him down.

Don't worry I have good news!

The La Plata River Company,

with more than 15 years' involvement.

in the development of Argentina's rivers.

has begun a project of the future.

The Pampas River Canal1.

International in scale,

it's the future of fluvial cargo transport.

An 800-kilometer project

from the very heart of the humid Pam pa.

Today the river runs towards the sea.

with no regard of the future.

It will be transformed into a bridge.

for development and progress.

It's all thanks to a project of untold proportions...

using materials for irrigation, canal building,

and domestic development

in short. 30 years ago.

a company started Yanez's same project.

Measurements had been taken, feasibility studies were made.

The course had been drawn up. The first phase had concluded.

The company had gone bankrupt as Fava soon discovered.

One owner had killed himself,

and the rest had left the country.

The project ad been left unfinished

and no one had touched it since.

Nothing was left but the rums created by the land surveyors.

But that was enough to prove that Yahez was right.

You've got him with this, Fava told Factorovich

I knew it was somewhere They had it at the barracks

I asked Novoa and he sent it to me.

You can kill him with this".

Factorovich thinks It's not enough

I know him all too well He ll want hard evidence.

Recent proof This isn't enough".

Connecting he most fertile lands.

of South America with the world.

The Pampas River Canal. A straight line to development.

Listen do you have the taffeta?

Take a look!

A week later, a strange man calls H.

He wants to hire him for a very strange job.

To travel the river in search of forgotten monoliths,

check on their condition, and take photographs.

Monoliths9 H doesn't fully understand.

The upset man who hired him says

I don't understand either. Just don't ask me questions,

and don't cause trouble �.

He is on the river in an hour.

His journey has begun.

CHAPTER IV THE FEDERATION

Second story. Z is at work.

The 0-8 corresponds to the Leghorn and Rhode mix.

The 7-5 was suspended, and the 12-0-3 replaced it.

In the 24-32 circular Remember that.

No, but that was replaced by 12-03.

But remember that one of these forms is mixed.

You used it for the Leghorn as well as the Creole.

Z�s first day at the Federation is overwhelming.

He is drowning in a sea of names

forms, balance sheets.

certificates, finance checks and balances.

All the names seem the same. the processes are indistinct.

ne certification procedure

is indistinguishable from another.

The rules are incomprehensible,

completely inaccessible.

He hears the explanations.

He repeats and writes down

the differences between certifications.

But he can't help thinking,

This is a mistake I want out".

Weren't we using this form for the Creoles as well.

However as days go by things become easier.

The indecipherable cosmos of rules.

mysteriously thins out.

All he has to do is sign what he is told to sign,

check what he is told to check

surrender control to his subordinates.

The strange science of the first day

isn't necessary anymore.

The Federation s like a machine.

repeating the same motions each day.

He is nothing ut a small piece

of that machine.

No one expects decisions. ability, or wit from him.

When the first week of work ends

is clear to him.

that apart from some signatures and phone calls

he hardly has to do a thing.

As time goes and the days pass,

Z begins to get acquainted with his co-workers.

They each have.

an almost involuntary relationship with their work.

Nothing, not the smallest bit of their lives or interests.

has anything to do with what they did there.

They just work like students doing homework -detached.

They don't ask why they must do it.

They just do it.

Strangely like some of those students

they all seem to like it there

here's something about it..

that reminds us of a home or a family.

Mrs Gavilan is methodical. soft, and overly nice.

She has a hint of condescension in her voice,

like a nurse or a teacher.

She is the kind of woman who remembers everyone's names

their birthdays

their boyfriend's and girlfriend's names,

and the names of their grandchildren.

She appears to have no life outside the Federation.

but she doesn't seem to need one.

No one knows much about her,

except that she sings in a choir on Thursdays

and has grandkids living in some other city.

She is a widow.

She has never missed a workday

never arrived late or been sick.

Then there are some more minor characters.

A girl that hardly talks and always gets calls

from an older man.

An accountant who only comes a couple of times a week.

Z can never remember his name.

A gay couple around Z's age, Griffa and Carlos Dorado

with whom he rarely speaks and can't quite make friends.

They are two minor; ore boring characters.

who don't matter at all.

Palomeque's story is different.

From the beginning Z notices that Palomeque is overly shy.

He's extremely quiet and respectful. It saddens him.

He suspects he's timid and boring,

a man of few words or interests.

For some reason, he feels the need to cheer him up.

He tries to become friends with him, cracks jokes.

and makes small talk.

He shows that he is interested in learning all about him.

After a short while, Z realizes he's made a huge mistake.

Palomeque becomes what he has always been

an unstoppable chatter box.

After years of coexistence

his fellow employees came to tame him.

They made him a silent type ho fears conversation

the way an alcoholic fears the bottle.

Like Aladdin. Z frees that locked up demon.

and must resign himself to being his slave.

What kind of ice is there?

The interesting thing about ice...

is that the winds keep making different kinds of ice.

Palomeque' memory seems infinite.

He's the kind of guy that loves asking unnecessary questions

world capitals, scientific names of plants and animals...

the dates of battles and historical figures.

He's capable of unerringly naming

the rivers of Europe, the Egyptian dynasties

constellations, dinosaur species.

He lives for lists and often hears him listing places..

with the same dreaminess...

of someone reciting a poem.

Crassula, Arrhenatherum, Parrotiopsis.

Slowly Zs routine begins to come together.

As soon as he discovers that the new job leaves him

with plenty of free time Z takes walks around the town

which is still new to him.

He imagines life of lon walks.

in the outskirts of the city

looking for strange architectural features

or turn-of the-century relics.

But the day of these grand excursions never comes

must resign himself.

to the area near the Federation.

He spends the weekends wandering around the plaza

reading the local newspaper..

doing whatever there is to do at night in the town.

Rarely more than a movie or a circus.

He has no friends. His only friend is Palomeque,

He meets him in the plaza at the comer store,

at the restaurant at supper time.

Invariably, they get involved in long conversations.

realizes more than once...

that these are not chance meetings.

He is Palomeque s only friend too.

It's a lonely but quite calm life.

Whenever he talks about how boring village life is.

Z knows that he isn't being honest.

He's not really bored.

At this point in the story.

Z isn't worried any more about Cuevas.

To Z, he is nothing else than a forgotten,

sad and lonely person.

Nobody has ever noticed him.

Nobody ever speaks of him.

He is not an enigma. not even a loose end.

If Z has not still removed Cuevas' things from his room

it's because Cuevas s so invisible.

that he is not even a nuisance.

Around Z's third week on the job,

Cuevas' ghost begins to appear

he day

of the first "Monthly Regional Inspection" finally comes.

It's the day that Z has been waiting for.

For three days he must travel the province

in a Federation vehicle.

signing up controls and certifications.

The same trip that Cuevas made monthly for almost 15 years.

Disciplined and obsessive, Cuevas planned this trip.

a year in advance.

The hotels, meals and car tune-up

have been paid for.

The trip is organized with clockwork precision.

Z only needs to follow the plan.

The situation is somewhat creepy.

These are dead man�s plans.

Here�s the entire itinerary.

That man was like a calculator, so you won�t have any problems.

It's all written out in detail, all the stops everything.

Let me help you with your bags.

Z begins to feel uneasy.

This trip he had been waiting for.

as if it were a gust of freedom and adventure

in the middle of the monotony he Federation...

began to get tinged with the shadow of Cuevas.

For the first time.

he feels he is living someone else's life

he thinks about this man..

that spent 15 years in that miserable room.

He thinks of all those books and photos.

For the first time he realizes, Something is wrong".

But the first day passes Then the second.

Cuevas' name appears everywhere.

but without causing any problems.

He is barely an isolated obligatory reference.

Perhaps a Such is life" remark and nothing else.

Cuevas doesn't matter to anyone.

thinks Isn't someone..

so invisible, something of a mystery?"

But he also thinks.

What a tale I am spinning I must be bored".

On the third day of his trip the story changes.

What's your car registration'?

Z arrives at a hotel after a day on the road.

One of Cuevas' many hotels.

While looking for the registration,

Z goes through Cuevas' belongings.

He finds a notebook A red notebook.

It's a notebook with Cuevas' notes.

From then on, nothing will be the same.

Let's see. What comes next is complex.

One must go slowly and pay close attention.

Z reads the small notebook. Then reads it again.

He doesn't understand anything.

A series of names dates and words.

joined by no logical connection.

Looks like some type of code.

The 25th in the Ramona

7 Napoleons, 6 Mona Lisas. 40 Pharaohs. 1 Samurai.

The sixth, in the Noa Noa. 12 Marco Polos, 12 Cleopatras

3 Mona Lisas. Carefull No Napoleons.

The list continues seeming to cover many months.

They quickly tend to get repeated.

Cleopatras Nefertitis, Napoleons, Marco Polos,

Mona Lisas Charlemagnes.

Every once in a while a Samurai appears.

sometimes a Nebuchadnezzar.

What were these names? The first ones..

seem to match ships.

What about the rest? There's no way to know.

At one point things get even more complicated

notices that one sign.

gets repeated more than the others.

It is strangely familiar.

In the notebook he finds a scrap of paper.

It has an old phone number and the same sign.

Z vaguely remembers the sign.

He seems to have seen it many times

but never paid attention.

Then he has a hunch.

In the notebook there's also a map.

The old map of Cuevas' route.

Again, there's the sign with his initials,

on a nowhere country road.

he suddenly finds..

smaller crosses with other names.

He looks at the notebook and sees the names.

with others next to them. Names of people.

What is going on?

What are these inscriptions...?

And what do they have to do with Cuevas?

Z gets the feeling..

he has stepped into another world.

A parallel and supernatural dimension.

He is confused and excited.

At 5 am, he finally closes the notebook.

He turns off the light. but he can't sleep.

Kruooer^.

A blond man?

He has not come round for quiet a while.

This is for Krugger, see?

These are very old. I don't know if

I think I put them somewhere, since no one came to get them.

If you give me a moment, sir.

The result is 10 or 12 items addressed to a Krugger guy.

These are mostly letters of no importance, circulars,

specials on real estate, mostly Paraguayan

or from countries that Z cannot identify.

Of all these letters.

there is only one that draws Zs attention.

The letter is in English and from some African country.

As far as Z can tell it�s from a bank employee.

It's about some routine movements..

in Krugger's bank account.

Z sees the account balance

1200 000 Sterling pounds.

Back at the Federation.

Z searches the room or more information...

On this Kruger.

Finally, he finds a box.

behind some tiles in the bathroom.

In the box there are some letters some family souvenirs

a few wads of one hundred dollar bills,

and an assortment of passports.

One of them is Paraguayan. Christian Alberto Krugger

Christian Alberto Krugger Krugger is Cuevas.

Back to the first story.

X in the middle of the road the tractor the truck

the briefcase the murder the two strangers. X's shot.

the escape to run and hide.

CHAPTER V A PLACE TO HIDE

rom now on.

the story takes place in a hotel, in this hotel.

This is the night before the incident.

X arrives at the hotel.

He checks in and takes a room for five days Room 301.

The next morning he gets up early.

He has a shower.

Then he asks the concierge ow to get.

to where he needs to go.

He listens to directions, he doesn't fully understand

and he leaves.

When he returns to the hotel has killed a man

and is wanted by two murderers.

He returns almost running,

making sure he's not being followed.

Once there he gives an excuse.

He says he must work or a few days..

and must not be disturbed.

He announces he will stay much longer than planned.

He locks himself away in 301 like it's a bomb shelter

that X doesn t know now.

is that this sight s all he will see.

for a very long time.

For weeks on end and even months.

Why does X lock himself up?

At first because he thinks. I can't go to the police.

My story is too implausible.

I am really the one that killed him.

The gun has my prints on it.

If train and bus stations are guarded. I'm lost

I have a reservation for five days

I can't leave earlier

I have an alibi in here. I am safe".

But after those five days why does he stay?

He thinks. The killers are at large.

Did they see me? Are they watching for me?

What if this affair is more complex?

Over time the reason or locking himself up

becomes less clear.

There will be time to discuss that later.

For now we have a character hiding in his room,

determined to stay put.

until he can understand what happened.

Like a castaway on a desert island.

X quickly finds ways to survive.

He has breakfast at the bar. while his room is cleaned.

He sometimes has lunch there but he mostly eats in his room.

The laundry and cleaning are taken care of.

No one suspects a thing.

The employees are on rotation.

No one knows whether he is there.

The morning shift starts work. he leaves in the afternoon.

The afternoon shift thinks he goes out at night.

The night shift never sees him. No one thinks about him.

Nobody worries about him, and many don't know he exists.

He is simply room 301

he quickly realizes..

there is no better hiding place than this one.

If he wanted he could remain here unnoticed.

for the rest of his life.

He returns to the crime scene over and over in his mind.

He tries to understand what happened.

he first concludes

that the tractor driver was waiting...

for something dangerous.

That's why he hid his briefcase.

That's why he kept looking from side to side all the time.

That's why he was armed.

He was afraid of something He was waiting for something.

But was he waiting for the two men in the truck?

Maybe not.

The meeting didn�t seem planned.

The tractor driver was tense.

Those guys were the last people he expected to meet.

Yet they did know each other.

Though the tractor driver was distant,

they were no strangers.

What had they gone there for^ Why were they there?

Did they want the briefcase he had hidden?

Perhaps.

At least that's the only theory he has for the time being.

And then? What happened9 Something got out of hand.

They were nervous Something in the briefcase worried them.

They feared the other guy was carrying a gun.

In fact he was carrying a gun.

Then the fat guy freaked out,

lost patience and made a mistake.

Clearly, they hadn't gone there to kill him.

Killing him ruined their plans.

They didn't expect he briefcase.

to be there either.

They didn�t even look for it. They didn't even search around.

There is no doubt they were clumsy.

They were amateurs.

They did nothing but make mistakes.

If X hadn't appeared, if they hadn't heard the shot,

if they hadn't realized there was someone else there,

they would have disappeared never to be heard from again.

X soon begins to learn things through the newspaper and TV.

The tractor driver s name was Orlando Rey.

He was a widower, no children.

He had lived in the village or less than four years

and had no criminal record, ut he had been a jailer..

for a long time, years before.

On the day of the murder t least two people

broke into Rey's house.

They searched it from top to bottom.

A few days later, neighbour of the field

where Rey was killed reports suspicious red truck...

loitering around the area.

The next day. The truck is found abandoned across town.

It's proven to have been stolen.

Then someone sneaks into the house..

of one of Rey's old co-workers.

The guard dogs rip him apart and he dies immediately.

The dead man is Salvador Armas.

X recognizes him as the fat man that shot Rey first.

The police announce...

the search to capture Salvador's brother Carlos.

From Carlos Armas' identikit.

X recognizes the other man involved in the incident

vaguely, though. The identikit is terrible.

So the situation is as follows.

an ex jailer Orlando Rey, dead.

Another ex jailer. Salvador Armas

the one that shot Rey also dead

Carlos Armas Salvador's brother

is at large, a dangerous man who looks for something X has.

There is only one loose thread the briefcase.

It is time to open the briefcase.

"Down to work." X thinks.

CHAPTER VI THE RIVER

It �s around three in the afternoon.

He's been in the river for six hours.

Anything he could have worried about

has disappeared.

Factorovich had given him all kinds of advice

the current the whirlpools the wire fences

the tree trunks, the water level.

Nothing's gone wrong.

He's seen them vanish one by one.

The river s as calm and still...

as a path in the middle of a field

thinks, "If this continues.

it will be the easiest money ever".

And the most boring.

And the most ridiculous".

Before he left, someone had said.

Don't expect much from the river.

It's not what you imagine.

It's not a fast flowing river like the ones in the south.

Nor an enigmatic and deep one like those of the north.

Don't expect adventures It's a river from the plains.

Just a body of warm brown water.

that runs slowly to the sea.

Its a deserted river, just a line on the map.

Just a puddle for loose cows to drink from, just that.

Don't expect surprises Maybe an occasional grove or a mill.

Maybe an old bridge a tram once passed over Nothing else.

You will feel like you're sleeping.

or sleepwalking.

You almost stop thinking like the cattle.

It's like an abandoned path nobody uses any longer.

No one uses the river either Why would they? Remember.

Don't expect anything big There's nothing in the river".

That's the scene that awaits H.

A boring, silent indifferent scene.

Around 5 pm the first day H gets to a place known as.

the river bend".

The river becomes narrow, deep. surrounded by large ravines.

Factorovich had told him

100 meters before the first bridge

you ll see the first monolith.

It is a cement monolith, about 15m tall,

10 meters from the shore You can't miss it".

H doesn't lose his head.

He thinks, There must be a mistake.

It must be another bridge. In any case, I can't be far."

Two hours pass. The river bend ends.

The ravines end There's no other bridge.

The next day he goes on

hoping to find the place he was told about.

He fears he has missed it.

Finally he arrives at a place marked in the notebook.

as "Bagual Corner".

The description is a perfect match.

There under some trees

is supposed to be the second monolith.

Again, H finds nothing, except for some remains.

Remains of human presence. pieces of destroyed cement.

The monolith.

What's going on?

H begins to miss the moment just a few hours earlier

when everything seemed easy and even monotonous.

CHAPTER VII - THE MASSACRE OF THE SAN MARTIN MILL

The briefcase contains a dossier.

It's an internal investigation of the Penitentiary Service.

It was ordered by a local judge, Saverio.

The report has two parts.

The first part is a summary of an incident.

that took place three years ago.

Saverio had investigated it.

Judging by the newspaper clippings.

included in the report, t was widely publicized.

and caught the public attention for some time.

The newspapers had dubbed it.

The Massacre of the San Martin Mill."

Apparently the facts and details of the case.

had been as follows.

The main character was Chilean.

Victor Hugo Oyarzun, aka Nestor Oyarzo,

aka Valentin Sepulveda, aka Monsignor' aka "Pancake",

aka "Spark Maker".

Oyarzun was famous nd respected

throughout the penitentiary system.

A long-time resident of the country,

he was serving a 10-year sentence.

He had robbed he five branches.

of the "Epecuen Cattle Ranch."

The crime ad been a combination.

of audacity and shrewdness.

This time the plan was as follows.

Oyarzun had somehow found out about a big deal to be closed.

between the San Martin Mill and some gram importers

an Arabian-funded company based in London.

The contract was.

for a 15 year exclusive grain supply.

It was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Escorted by two Scotland Yard agents

a corporate representative would carry a suitcase.

filled with 8 kg of pure gold as a permanent deposit.

But Oyarzun had some bonus data.

a man from the insurance company...

must act as a witness to the transaction.

This man who would travel to the mill..

to witness the gold delivery was Chilean.

Oyarzun's plan was.

to leave the jail for a couple hours.

having some of the guards as accomplices.

He would intercept the Chilean and take his place.

He d present himself at the mill..

and take part in the transaction.

With or without violence. he d steal the gold.

Later he would run away..

and return to jail with the loot.

A perfect hiding place for the gold and himself.

No one in the world

would look for the gold in a jail.

But everything goes wrong.

Oyarzun intercepts the Chilean.

but he finds out that he is traveling

with his wife and her mother.

Oyarzun. Who hadn't planned to kill anyone,

has to murder three people.

He finally arrives at the mill and notices something strange.

The operation proceeds normally.

but the people there are acting a little funny.

A few minutes later,

the whole local police force arrives at the mill

yarzun reacts quickly...

and kills the Scotland Yard agents.

He takes the rest hostage. including the Arab.

They all hide in a storehouse.

Oyarzun's holed up there. pinned down under gunfire.

or forty long minutes.

When the shoot out ends yarzun realizes

he has lost sight of his hostages.

He knows he is lost.

When the police decide to get in.

Oyarzun shoots a fuel tank.

The flaming storehouse becomes a death trap.

in a matter of minutes.

As a result. twenty-three people die,

fifteen of them are cops.

There's also a Saudi noble.

his nephew. He head of security

two British police agents, he owner of the mill.

his wife and her sister and Oyarzun himself.

he newspapers call it..

the worst massacre in the history of the district

and one of the worst of the province."

The gold, mysteriously, is never retrieved

7 he second part of the folder contains prison documents.

How did Oyarzun escape?

Did he have accomplices? Was the prison staff involved?

The prison management was dismissed.

All of the jailers were fired.

However, none was prosecuted.

The only person arrested in the case was an Ardiles guy

also Chilean.

Ardiles was Oyarzun's relative-in-law

who was caught at the border.

The report maintained Ardiles' innocence

remanded his freedom..

and recommended he investigation..

and trial of the two prison guards

suspected of having let Oyarzun out

having guaranteed the logistics of the operation,

and maybe even of having conspired

in the murder of the Chilean insurer and his family.

These guards were the brothers Carlos and Salvador Armas.

The pieces begin to fall into place for X.

Clearly, the report had never been disclosed.

Perhaps the person in charge of doing that had died.

Maybe it had been replaced with another report.

For sure, Saverio had never seen this dossier.

The folder had ended up in the hands of Orlando Rey.

The Armas brothers knew about the folder.

They knew it could put them in jail,

but they didn't know who had it.

Rey had kept the folder secret

waiting for the commotion to subside.

But eventually. Ot having heard

from the Armas brothers or a long time...

and in need of quick money, he had decided to sell it.

To whom? Who knows.

To an enemy of the Armas brothers

or to some friend of Ardiles, the Chilean...

unfairly imprisoned9 Nobody knows The point is,

he was going to sell it. for sure.

That's why he had it with him that day,

and was armed and on guard.

The Armases had somehow found out about the sale.

They show up confront Rey and ask for the folder.

Rey denies having it and everything goes so wrong.

that they end up killing him.

And so they lose he only way they had.

to find the dossier.

The blunders get worse and worse.

They continue looking or the folder.

in places visited by Rey.

Then it is revealed that one dies in an absurd way.

and the other ends up s the most wanted fugitive

in the province. X is caught in the middle.

When X closes the folder

he feels he's just read a long crime novel.

It's like he's emerged from a high fever

or awoken from a nightmare.

Something doesn't yet make sense.

Why is Armas still looking for the file?

Why does he risk his neck hen he knows..

that having killed Rey is a much more serious crime.

than having helped Oyarzun?

What is the dossier good for,

now that he is wanted for murder?

There is only one possible answer.

Armas no longer wants the folder.

He wants the buyer of the folder.

He doesn�t want the information but the person.

Why? To get even? Because he has the gold?

For some other reason? Who's the buyer? Man or woman?

"This is as far as I go" thinks X.

He knows he can't do anything.

but wait for the paper or the radio

to bring some news.

CHAPTER VII THE MAN IN THE RIVER

Story three.

H has been on the river for several days.

He still hasn't seen ny of the monoliths...

he is supposed to find.

Instead it's always the same

a bunch of rubble signs of recent destruction

Paraguayan tea leaves, tobacco.

He has made a decision.

If he doesn't find a monolith in the next few hours

he will turn around..

and tell the guy that hired him.

H wonders if maybe someone else

is doing the same thing as he.

He suddenly realizes he has no idea.

what it is he is doing.

If someone asked him why he was traveling

or what the monoliths are, who is Factorovich

if what he is doing could bother someone,

if it is right or wrong he wouldn't know what to say.

At about 6 pm he arrives at a place called "El gateado".

The river loses its way there.

For two or three kilometers,

it becomes a maze full of reeds and rushes.

"Well" H thinks, resigned "The story changes course."

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