“And how many have you spared?”
That brought me up short. I had gone out of my way to only aim for humans with black souls, stained and greedy—the ones who craved power.
“See? You are not the monster they say you are. You kill, yes, but you are not indiscriminate. They, the military, make you out to be cruel and bloody because you are killing the elite officers. The ones with goals that do not reflect the peace they are meant to seek out and protect.
“Is there anything that could make you pull out one of the six guns you are wearing and kill me?”
“No!”
“Of course not. Your heart has been wounded. Not your head. Those men either had already done the unspeakable, or they would one day. They are conditioned to lose their humanity, their compassion. You are more human than any of them.”
I chuckled. “I’m not human.”
“Eh. The species is irrelevant. Your heart breaks like ours. If I had your powers, and clearly your training, I don’t think there was much that could have stopped me from going on just such a rampage if someone had killed my Raul before my eyes. As it was, they did, but I could never prove it.”
Oh.
She knew this pain because she had been there.
“How did you go on? Revenge can only take me so far.”
“Far enough to get you to the Russian base outside of the city, I hope.” She chuckled, and it was slightly infectious. “My sweet Raul was shot and killed because they wanted our land for oil. We live down by Comodoro Rivadavia, and we sit on an oil deposit. I couldn’t prove they killed him, so my sister and I sought to ruin their company. It wasn’t hard. I sought revenge in the best way I knew, through numbers.”
“Numbers.”
“I was a forensic accountant for forty years. Don’t be fooled by the exterior.”
I threw my head back and laughed as I hadn’t thought I ever would again. “Indeed,senora, I wouldn’t have guessed, but the sharpness of your mind led me to believe there is more to you than white hair and a marvelous hat.”
“Going on isn’t the problem,querida. It’s everything else. You’ll want to turn to them at night, and the bed will be empty. You’ll want to tell them about your day, and they won’t be there to listen. It’s not the going on. It’s the emptiness there. The times you turn to talk to them. The silly song you would sing. The sweet names they would call you. The inside jokes. The way the world seems so big and dangerous without them there. Their hand isn’t there to hold.
“It’s not the going on without them that’s hard. It’s the empty spot in everything you do that is. And not even another love can fill that. There was only one Raul in my life, and even though my dear Marcelo loves me, he is not Raul. Nor should he be, nor should he want to be. There is a Raul shaped hole in the world, and I can still see it and feel it there.
“Your heart will repair itself—with time. But nothing is the same, and don’t try to make it right. Let it find its new right in time. One day, you will wake up and smile at the memory and be glad you knew them.”
I nodded, sniffling, and wiping my eyes with my coat sleeve.
“May I know the name ofLa Espada Ensangrentada?”
“I’m Kimber. Kimber Stormbreaker.”
“A strong name for a strong woman. I am Teresa Maria Scholz-Ibanez. There are about nine more names in there, but those are the ones I use most often.”
Another laugh escaped me. “I am the same. Too many names.”
“Will you be all right if I head on to my grandson,querida?”
“Yes, Teresa. I will. Thank you.”
She grunted and rose from her seat. “We’re not all evil, Kimber Stormbreaker. We don’t all seek war. We just want to live and let live, like your people.Adios, querida.”
“Adios.”
I watched her ambling down the walk, her gait slow and steps small but steady. Her red skirts disappeared into the swirling masses of people a few more strides down the walk, and I slumped back against the wall.
The Russians, whoever that was or whatever that meant, still had a camp outside this city.
One more act forLa Espada Ensangrentada.
