Neither denies it; they’re deflecting.
“Well,” I say. “Give me your phones.”
The angry one shouts in Sicilian again. Salvatore translates. “He says something along the lines that he’s not giving you anything, because you try to stick it to him like poop on his shoe.”
A downwards smile appears on my face as I scoff, and the other one hands the phone to me, reluctantly.
I take it, unlock it with his face, and look up the phone's details. I take a photo with my phone and send it to Rosalia’s number.
YOU
Check for any connections
I place it on the desk in the meantime. I lean on the desk, onehand on the gun in the back of the black high-waisted trousers Salvatore organised for me, together with the silk blouse I am wearing. Black is not my style at all, but we agreed it might be the better choice than a floral dress for the time being, until the storm has calmed. And while I disagreed, I wanted to give Salvatore the feeling that he matters.
“Last chance,” I say to the other man. “Give it to me now, or I will have to make an assumption. And that assumption will be that you are a traitor.”
“You are the traitor,” says the man and spits on the floor. He aims for his gun, but I am already waiting for it.
I pull my handgun and shoot before he has his in his hand.
“I will not allow betrayal,” I say as I walk up to the man on the floor with the life vanishing from his eyes as he coughs out blood, and I spit on him.
Salvatore nods slowly, apparently approving of the measures taken.
My phone vibrates.
I look at the display. A message from an unknown number, that must be Kat.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
none found
“Now, you,” I say. “You were honest and followed orders, and are hereby dismissed. But I am warning you, if you try anything, please be good, because I will be breathing down your neck the moment you try. Tell that to the others who think about going the same route as him,” and I tilt my head to the man on the ground.
My last words stick with me, because Rosalia has said the very same, and I have judged Rosalia for being who she is, acting the way she does, and now—now I am becoming her.
I kill people. It is the fourth person I have killed in my life.
They have deserved it. They have done very bad things,says a voice in my mind.
And I am becoming the very same I accused Rosalia and Kat of being. Now, I am the hypocrite.
Or you simply do what you have to survive,says the voice.
Maybe,I answer myself.But maybe they are doing the very same.
A feeling spreads through me. One that tells me I might have done both of them some injustice.
But then, they kidnapped me and tortured me. That should make us even.
“I must say,” says Salvatore, “I underestimated you.”
“Thank you,” I say. “Can you take care of that? I’d rather not have him lying around here.”
“He has a wife, shall he be returned?”
“Kids?”
