Crime and Diplomacy (Crimen y diplomacia)

A retired agent is compelled to investigate the disappearance of the granddaughter of a powerful magnate. What begins as a simple kidnapping soon turns into a dangerous international conspiracy that drags him from the beaches of Cádiz to Beirut, pitting him against traffickers, spies, and a dark secret from his youth that he never managed to leave behind.

Marco’s life was forever marked on a dawn in 1986, when he became entangled, along with his friend Ramón, in a fight in Madrid. Cornered by a gang and overcome by fear, Marco used a switchblade that Ramón had given him that same day and accidentally killed one of the attackers. The young man bled to death while Marco tried in vain to stop the haemorrhage. Terrified, both fled and buried the incident under decades of silence. That secret became a dark bond between the two friends.

Nearly forty years later, Marco lives in retirement in Cádiz after leaving the Spanish Foreign Service. For years, he took part in covert operations and clandestine rescues around the world, an experience he is now trying to leave behind while enjoying a peaceful retirement with his partner. However, his past returns abruptly when Ramón reappears unexpectedly. He knows too much about his former missions and arrives determined to collect the debt from that night in Madrid.

Ramón asks for his help in finding Laura, a nineteen-year-old young woman and granddaughter of Jacinto Ribagorza, one of the most powerful energy magnates in the country. The girl has disappeared, and neither the police nor private detectives have made any progress. Although Marco initially refuses to get involved, he eventually agrees, drawn by the challenge and by the silent pressure Ramón exerts on him.

With the help of Juan, Laura’s bodyguard, and Joe, an old associate with expertise in intelligence and technology, Marco reconstructs the last hours before her disappearance. Security cameras from a beach bar show how a group drugs Laura and removes her from the premises unconscious while distracting Juan. Following that lead, they identify a small-time criminal hired to lure him away and two young individuals directly involved in the kidnapping. Their statements lead to a yacht and to a lawyer in Gibraltar who has transferred large sums of money for a foreign client.

The investigation then turns into an international race against time. Marco and his team travel to Gibraltar, where they pressure the lawyer and discover that the money comes from a foreign intermediary operating out of Turkey. The trail leads them to Istanbul. There, after surveilling and raiding the suspect’s house, they discover that Laura has been transported by road to Lebanon. Marco begins to suspect that there is a mole staying one step ahead of all his moves, although he still cannot identify him. With support from intelligence services and using tracking technology and satellite surveillance, they illegally cross the Lebanese border and locate the place where she is being held, drugged and isolated.

The rescue leads to a sea escape, pursued by the Lebanese navy until an Israeli patrol boat intervenes and prevents their capture. Back in Spain, Marco realizes that one piece is still missing: Ramón. When he confronts him, he discovers that the entire kidnapping was part of an operation orchestrated by a powerful rival businessman of Ribagorza, whose objective was to ruin him and force him to sell his company. Ramón confesses that his role in the investigation was nothing more than a way to monitor every move closely and leak information to the kidnappers. He dies during the interrogation and, shortly after, the mastermind himself is found murdered. Marco then returns to Cádiz with the certainty that, no matter how far one runs, the past always finds its way back.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: Miguel Marco is a Spanish writer whose professional career was linked for more than twenty-five years to the Spanish Foreign Service, serving in various countries across Africa, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. This international experience has deeply shaped his narrative perspective, especially in Crime and Diplomacy, his first foray into crime fiction. The novel combines the pace of an action thriller with a contemporary espionage plot and a strong international dimension, giving it significant audiovisual potential. The story alternates investigation and psychological tension, supported by highly visual settings and strongly cinematic sequences.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Film, TV Film.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.