“Let me give you a lift.” Before I even hear his request, I start feeling a tingling sensation coming from my arm, and I realize that his hand is still touching my skin. To my surprise, I don’t feel assaulted at all; his soft grip is appealing.
Fall back now, Sarah!
My cell rings before I can freak out completely and distracts me from the discovery I just made. My mother’s on the other end of the line; she has probably just arrived and realized I’m not there and I didn’t leave a note explaining why. Bruno’s trying to spy on my phone. Finally, something he sucks at.
“Mom, I’m on my way back.”
“Hi, sweetie. It’s fine, I just wanted to let you know I’m back and that a friend of yours came to visit as well. What was your name again, young man?” I can hear her voice dim a little, meaning she turned away to ask the question. My senses go into ‘alert’ mode, I feel an adrenaline rush. This is not good, I know this is not good. “He says his name is Leon. How long until you get here?” Her tone in that last question is different, only I can tell. She’s suspicious as well. I’m searching in my mind trying to find that name and match it with a face, I just don’t know anybody by that name. I look at Bruno, standing beside me and watching me wonder.
“What’s happening?” His eyebrows are once again really close together.
“She says there’s a man over there with her. A ‘friend,’ apparently. I just don’t know anybody by that name.” My voice is starting to tremble, my body has been doing that for a while now. My mom and Bruno are talking at the same time; I can’t understand either of them, it’s chaos for me. Bruno steps up to control the situation by taking the phone away from me to talk to my mom.
“Ma’am. What is the name of this friend?” he asks. The minute he gets the answer, his face twists. He hangs up and drags me by the arm towards the street.
“Bruno, what the hell is going on? Who is he?” He doesn’t answer. Instead, he pulls his own cell from his pocket and speed dials someone. That someone doesn’t pick up.
“God fucking dammit!” He yells while still hauling me outside.
The rain is still pouring.
There’s a car parked right outside the house. He opens the passenger door and helps me get in. He puts his hand on my head to make sure I don’t bump it against the frame while entering. What in the world is going on? While I click the seatbelt in, he shows up on the other side of the car, starts the engine and without saying anything else, he puts the car into gear and starts to drive. He doesn’t look back, his eyes are fixed on the road, not even blinking; he shifts the gearbox frenetically. The only thing I can hear is the roar of the engine revving. There’s so much rain on the asphalt that the car is skidding, but he’s driving as if the pavement was completely dry. I think this isn’t the first time he does this under this kind of weather. We reach my house; I’m trying to unbuckle my seatbelt when I feel his hand over mine.
“Stay in the car, I’ll be back in a minute.” I want to argue, but my body decides that I should say nothing and just comply. He gets out of the car and starts walking fast through the front yard.Is that a gun?Yes, I just noticed it, he has a gun trained on his chest, pointing straight ahead. He moves smoothly through the lawn and finally reaches the porch. He opens the door and enters. I lose sight of him.Why didn’t I say anything?It’s my mother, Goddammit! Before I can realize it, I’m already at the porch. To my right, or at the end of the porch, I can see a guard’s body, lying down on his back, eyes open, pupils dilated, both hands on the neck. I can see the gloves drenched in blood. And then it hits me— something very bad has happened and my life is about to change drastically and violently, again.
I knew my new life had ended the minute it had begun.
Chapter Fourteen
Operation birdcage.
Bruno
My night went from a somewhat peaceful dream to a piece of shit horrifying nightmare, and I’m talking about ‘your Tinder date slash model drugged you and stole your organs’ kind of deal. That’s what hearing the name did to my mind— that fucking name made me realize that Sarah was going to crash, again, and break into a million pieces. This was the final blow she was so afraid of. I know from this moment on I will become the much-needed partner who provides support.
I’m moving as fast as I can through the front yard, I want to run or even sprint, but that would be a mistake. I have to keep my shit together… for her. I want to save her mom, I have to. Nothing in the world matters more. I reach the porch and see a guy from the security detail, dead from a clean knife swipe to the neck. There’s no sign of struggle. Whoever jumped him was a pro. I need to focus, otherwise, I might end up like this poor bastard. My handgun is trained forward, my trigger finger ready for anything. I’m through the front door, the small hallway after it looks clear.Come on, check your corners, Bruno, stay frosty.I turn left to the kitchen— clear as well. No sounds so far, that’s never good. I’m now moving to the living room. If there’s somebody here, I’m going to fuck them up. Sarah’s safety comes first. There’s two cups of coffee on the living room table, one spilled over the table cloth, the other one still smoking. Chairs are turned over, signs of a fight.Shit. Going around the table to completely clear the room delivers another clue— blood, making a trail to the main and only bedroom in the house. Through a reflection in a window, I can see her mother on top of the bed … beheaded…Fuuuuck!I need to clear the bathroom before I can go into the bedroom. I clear it fast, there’s nobody else here. I turn towards the bedroom and I see her. Sarah’s already standing at the door, staring. She looks stiff, her eyes are wide open and full of tears. Her hands are turned into fists and the nails are clawing her palms. I grab her waist quickly and move her to the kitchen, trying to put some distance between her and the corpse. I have her sit down and I pour a glass of water. Her face is still frozen in the same expression. I put my weapon behind my back…How am I supposed to explain this?I kneel in front of her and, with my hands on her thighs, I say, “I’m so sorry, Sarah. I really am…” My stomach twists. She’s shaking and doesn’t reply. I lean forward and hug her tightly. I can’t think of anything I can say to even begin to explain any of this. She pushes me away and looks straight at me. She demands answers without a word coming out of her mouth. She grabs my jacket and shakes it violently.
“Why…? Why!? Why!? Three years as a prisoner! Three. Fucking. Years. Dirty, sick, starving, being tortured. Wasn’t all that enough!?” She’s falling apart. For the first time in years, I don’t have answers; there’s nothing else I can do right now but hold her. She hides her face in my chest. I can feel her pain. She doesn’t yell or cry, she just grieves in silence. That is how I know she’s really hurting.
An hour goes by since we arrived. The police are already here. We are now outside in the back of an ambulance. This ambulance thing might be becoming a bit repetitive for her. The house is packed with law enforcement personnel walking all over the place, dusting for prints, taking pictures, gathering evidence from the crime scene in an attempt to recreate what happened and hopefully have a lead on who did this. But I already know who did it, and I’m sure as hell not gonna tell them. There’s another thing I know— I failed my last mission… Failed? Fucked up would be a better way to put it…
My fist is up, the squad behind me is waiting for my call. The mission ends tonight. This is when every single one of them dies. We will drop the curtain and end this shit show once and for all. On this day Cassandra walks free and Dante will be remembered.
My fist is still up; nobody talks, moves or breathes. We are also radio silent until we breach, but we won’t go loud with breaching charges from the start. I’ve been studying their movements for the past three years and I know that this motherfucker will come out for a smoke in just five seconds.
…
Three.
Two.
One.
The deadbolt clanks and the door opens but doesn’t slide back again— just as I expected. Abdel comes out, immediately gets a cig and lights it up, takes a few steps while smoking it. I sneak behind him quickly, I cover his mouth with my hand and easily slit his throat with the other like a hot knife through butter. I kick the back of his knee and when he hits the ground I roll him over to see his face. “I hope you rot in hell, you piece of shit,” I say. His face shows pain, but he’s also confused. He’s suspicious of me; maybe my voice rang a bell. In an act of pure arrogance, I move my skull scarf down for him to see my big ass smile. He looks mad now and tries to scream but he can’t: I made sure to cut the vocal cords, so the only thing coming out of his neck is a mixture of blood and smoke. I’m standing here watching him die. I want him to look at me. I’ve waited for this moment for a long fucking time and I needed this. Now it is done.
Somewhat satisfied, I walk over his body and go back into position, scarf back into place. I ready my fist up and then open it. Almost in the same instant I can hear breaching charges going off and bullets flying.
Operation birdcage is a go… and I’m coming for her.
