SOME OF THE faces were familiar from the metro refuge. He smiled as he walked the length of the room, squeezing between two long trestle tables. The odd hand reached out in greeting, brushing his arms, patting him on the lower back; they had not seen him for days.
‘Hola, Max,’ grinned a three-year-old boy between mouthfuls of tortilla.
‘Hi, Ricky.’
The buffet was laid out at the top table, where Berto was helping to pour drinks.
‘Hey, you’re back,’ he said, catching sight of Cámara. ‘The policeman.’
‘They told you?’
‘Well, it’s hardly a secret any more,’ Berto said, raising his voice above the sound of a dozen echoing conversations. ‘Not after what happened.’
He sniggered.
‘You had me fooled,’ he said. ‘I would never have guessed.’
Cámara shrugged.
‘There are policemen and policemen,’ he said.
He looked across to where Daniel and Dídac were sitting close by, eating their lunch and watching protectively over the day’s intake of people.
‘Things working out?’ he asked.
‘Like a dream,’ said Berto. ‘Thanks again for putting me in touch with these guys. There’s a great feeling here. I think we’re going to do amazing things together.’
‘I hope you’re right.’
He shook Berto’s hand and took a couple of paces across the room. Daniel looked up and beckoned him to sit on a spare seat next to him.
‘You hungry?’ he said.
‘I’m OK.’
‘You should try some of this paella,’ said Dídac. ‘It’s delicious.’
‘Thanks.’ Cámara shook his head.
‘No appetite?’ Daniel said. ‘It’ll come back. Eventually. Give it time.’
‘I’m getting there.’
‘We’re all really sorry about Alicia,’ said Daniel. ‘Really sorry.’
Cámara closed his eyes for a moment and nodded gently.
‘Thanks for everything you did.’
‘This place is good,’ Daniel said after a pause. ‘A bit small, but it’s fine. I’ve spotted a boarded-up shop a few doors down. If we need to expand we can liberate it from its current state of unemployment.’
Dídac chuckled.
‘Direct action,’ Daniel said. ‘It’s what this is all about.’
‘Even robbing banks?’ Cámara asked. ‘And handing the money out to the poor?’
Daniel stared into the distance.
‘No idea what you’re talking about,’ he said.
‘I miss the metro,’ said Dídac.
‘It was big and fun,’ Daniel said. ‘But nothing lasts for ever. You have to learn that.’
Cámara smiled to himself. The way Daniel spoke to his son reminded him of how Hilario used to speak to him.
The anarchist refuge in the metro station had to be abandoned after the story of the LOP broke. Until then no one had suspected that the tunnels were being used illegally. Soler’s ‘bunker’ had been shut down, but so had their own very different corner of the underground city as a result. Putting Daniel in touch with Berto had been Cámara’s attempt to help keep things going in a new form, however temporarily. And for the time being it appeared to be working: local restaurants were still offering uneaten food for the project, and more homeless and workless people were being fed as a result.
‘No empires,’ Cámara said.
‘No empires,’ Daniel smiled. He turned to Dídac. ‘Which means no parties.’
Dídac frowned.
‘He wants to set up a new political party,’ Daniel explained to Cámara. ‘To help establish true democracy.’
‘Noble sentiment,’ Cámara said.
‘But it’s not what this kind of anarchism is about,’ said Daniel. ‘At least not my understanding of it. We do what we can, when we can, and then we move on. Traditional politics will always drag you down, no matter how good your intentions at the beginning. I’m sure Hilario would agree with me if he were here.’
Cámara nodded.
‘Yes, I think he would.’
‘Look at what Max has achieved,’ Daniel continued, pointing to Cámara as he spoke to Dídac. ‘A Far Right party has been crippled, its leader banged up in jail. His security firm is now passing to new ownership, the corrupt bank which was paying him off is about to be nationalised, and the ruling party in the city is falling apart as we speak – all thanks to his investigation. That’s real activism. That’s anarchism at work for you. And he’s a policeman.’
Cámara laughed.
‘OK,’ Dídac said. ‘I get it. Time for a revolution. I was at the latest demo last night. Felt like the whole of Valencia turned out. Tens of thousands. They closed the place down. Everyone showed up – the anti-repossession activists, teachers, doctors, nurses. Even civil servants working directly for the Town Hall. Most of them haven’t been paid in months. And now they know all about the slush fund and the millions that were siphoned off. They’re angry. The police went in hard – loads of people were arrested. But there was a real sense of change in the air.’
‘But this morning did you see any banks had been burned down?’ Daniel asked. ‘Or that protestors had taken over government buildings?’
Dídac frowned.
‘Letting off steam, getting into fights with the riot police – that’s one thing. Demanding real change is another. And things have to get seriously bad – worse than now, even – for enough people to want that. I don’t know if it’s going to happen yet.’
The three of them looked in silence at the hungry faces – almost a hundred homeless people chatting, eating and enjoying a moment’s pause and relief from the business of having to survive.
‘I wonder,’ said Cámara.