Assumption

Assumption - One Page Synopsis
During the Assumption fiesta in Alicante, hijackers storm the largest cruise ship in the world and overpower the crew. Inspector Carlos Rico is alerted, but he can do little but watch as the Mediterranean Princess leaves harbour. When it is revealed that the American Secretary of State is on the passenger list, the motive seems political. The hijackers frustrate the efforts of the Spanish military to retake the ship, but they soon discover that it has been in vain, as the VIP is not on board. After two days, they commandeer a helicopter and escape to an inland rendezvous. Police find the helicopter and weapons used to kill 26 people, but the hijackers escape. Russian mafia don Oleg Petrov, sponsor of the sleeper agents used for the hijacking, asks his controller in Moscow why the intelligence used for the hijacking was flawed, and discovers that they know nothing about the mission. Petrov has been duped. Moscow sends a very dangerous man to make enquiries on their behalf.
Over the same weekend, the Alicante Depositary is robbed in spectacular fashion. Similarities with a robbery in London, lead to Scotland Yard sending help in the shape of Inspector ‘Tasty’ McManus, an unconventional law enforcer. Together with Carlos Rico, they turn over stones in the Alicante underworld and find all is not well within the criminal fraternity. Oleg Petrov loses something valuable in the robbery, but a document belonging to him is left on the floor of the vault. He accuses Sonny Gómez, head of an old Alicante crime family, and relations are strained. The spat comes to a head and Oleg Petrov is shot. The man from Moscow kidnaps the wife of the depositary manager, demanding to know who had access to the document in Petrov’s box. When his demands aren’t met, the woman is killed.
Tasty finds a cryptic clue at the scene of the robbery that tells him exactly who the ‘draftsman’ was, and Scotland Yard confirms that his suspect resides nearby.
Evidence points to Sonny Gómez as the supplier of the material used in the hijacking, and he, knowing his arrest is imminent, tries to flee the country. He is captured and admits to carrying out the robbery with the help of a gang of veteran London villains. He also names Petrov as the paymaster for the hijacking.
Carlos seizes Petrov’s document, and the intelligence agencies break the code to identify the sleepers. However, the timings for the hijacking don’t fit. A review of the evidence throws up a possibility that the two crimes are related. Tasty proposes a theory that the hijacking was merely a diversion for the robbery. If this were the case, Carlos suggests that only two men could have planned these events.
At the funeral of the murdered kidnap victim, Carlos uses one of his target’s own talents to trap him and Andrés Solomon, the assistant manager of the depositary confesses. Disillusioned at not becoming manager, he wanted revenge. He used the contents of security boxes to fund the robbery and contacted Sonny Gómez to carry it out. Solomon discovers Oleg Petrov’s list of Russian agents and uses this knowledge to initiate the hijacking of the ship. Before the robbery, he steals two priceless Fabergé eggs from Petrov’s box, knowing they would be assumed stolen in the raid, and hides them in his own security box. The robbers and hijackers are rounded up, with only Andrés Solomon beating justice by committing suicide using the cyanide he found inside one of the eggs.