by Mari Sillva
To help him in this reckoning he brought with him his Sniper rifle, something he was quite proud to own. The projectiles fired by him travel such great distances that the shooters need to take into account the movement of the earth and the direction of the wind before pulling the trigger. Speaking of Sniper, British soldier Craig Harrison entered the Book of Records for firing the longest shot ever recorded: 2475 meters with the same gun and the bullet took only six seconds to reach his target. Blade had broken that record a long time ago, but it was not to boast about his deeds as most people do, he knew he was perfect at what he did and that was enough for him. The shots fired by the rifle are supersonic, which means the targets are hit before the noise of the shot hits your ears. Bullets with the finer and aerodynamic tip are known as "spitzers". Its name is derived from the German term "spitzgeschoss", whose translation means "pointed bullet."
-Speak - Blade said nervously, he hated being interrupted when he was "working." In fact, he hated being interrupted at any time, he felt well alone, especially in that kind of work that required all his concentration, a false breath, and everything could go wrong. He did not admit to erring in anything he had to be perfect in everything he did.
-What do you want, Stephen? - he asked rudely as he adjusted the rifle's lens, could not talk to anyone else.
-Really, you're not coming, Blade? - Stephen snarled, hardly getting nervous. But at that moment the Englishman was so out of his mind that he could hear the sound of the thumping of his left foot on the floor, like a nervous tic, on the other side of the line. That left Maldonado in the warning he had never seen Salvatore altered before.
-No, - he said dryly, short and thick. He was not a man of many words. He hung up on Stephen's face. In less than two seconds the cell phone started ringing again. Now it was Julius coming on the scene.
-You know the boy will be very sad if you does not show up, do not you? - He took a deep breath and tried not to lose his temper, something Blade had already lost long ago. -It is not any day that we have the opportunity to go to the graduation of our youngest brother. Do not you even mind hurting him that way? Bobbi is a good kid, he chose a different path from ours he is fair and kind! It is not for anyone to graduate with honors at one of the best colleges in the world on their own merit, many would give their lives to enter Harvard, but few can, even more with a full scholarship. You'll be a great lawyer, -said the proud Mexican.
- I don´t care? -He said in a rude way, his gaze like an iceberg, like the sinking Titanic, so cold.
-Do not pretend you do not care about the boy, because he's in the face! - There's no way I do not like a boy as sweet as Bobbi, not even a heartless, heartless man like you. He uttered such vicious words without mercy, but he knew he would not tickle Blade he was no man to hurt himself with anything.
At bottom, those words had had a certain effect on him, after all he had fulfilled the promise he had made to the boy they had found on the street thirteen years ago, becoming his family. Without ideas of names for the little one, Maldonado decided to call him Bobbi, a name that he would like to give to his dog if he ever decided to have one, something almost impossible to happen since he hated animals. Since they could not register him at the time, Bobbi was nicknamed him. Then, formally, in the eyes of the Law, the boy happened to be called Robert Salvatore Perez Xing M. Receiving the surname of the four became strange, but nothing juster. The youngest of the family did not want to follow in the footsteps of the brothers. He was sweet, gentle and extremely honest, totally different from them, but he loved them more than anything in the world. Unfortunately he could not use the full Blade surname to avoid raising suspicions about his connection to the last Maldonado.
- I do not care! - Blade responded angrily as if that were obvious, turning off on his face as well.
He cursed a dozen profanities as the cell phone rang for the third time. His mouth was dirty, especially when he was nervous. He thought that now it would probably be Li to give him another sermon about not wanting to go to a place that did not suit him at all, he hated places with lots of people and loud noises. Blade was the kind of person who refused to do what he did not want to do, especially when they kept urging him to do it. But, to his surprise, it was not the Chinese as he thought. Li did not have the patience to argue with anyone. It was Bobbi, the only person he did not use to be so thick or irritated easily, at least not so often. He was attentive to him, within his limits.
- Say it. -His voice was soft, totally different from when he answered the calls of Stephen and Julius. He relaxed his body breathing deeply the expression on his face had changed night to day in a matter of seconds. He squared his shoulders, now sitting up and using the orange brick wall as a support for the broad back.
-Sorry to bother you, my brother, but I needed to hear your voice! -Bobbi was polite by nature, and he respected the brothers very much. The emotion in his voice was evident, he was crying. -I'm not a Blade boy anymore, I'm twenty-two. -He smiled, rolling his eyes full of tears, thinking how funny it was that his brothers treated him as if he were still eight years old.
-Twenty-one years, eleven months and two weeks. - He looked at the square watch of pure gold and diamond studded on his wrist. -Eighteen hours, twenty-three minutes and ten seconds. It's not twenty-two years Bobbi, - he answered earnestly, but softly.
The young man laughed how Blade always corrected him even in the smallest detail, but this only made it look like his brother what was to delay the time, he did not want to see that he was growing and spreading his wings to the world, he never wanted to. Maldonado was aware that he was a man with many enemies he knew that one day Bobbi would want to have his own life, but he still had difficulties accepting such an idea. She could not protect him when she was away from his eyes, and that worried him a lot.
-Anyway, brother, I want you to know that I would very much like you to be by my side at this very important moment, but I would never force you to be in a place where you do not feel well. - Respect your space and I will always give my best to someday be proud of me.
I already have! Maldonado thought, but he kept it for him. He could not expose his feelings, ever. While he was talking to Bobbi, he kept his eyes on the sidewalk on the left, in front of the Calun luxury hotel. It was possible to have a wide and privileged view of one of the most expensive and expensive establishments of the city especially the electric glass door of the entrance that opened like the Red Sea when feeling the proximity of someone moving next to it. From there would come his target at any moment he was a corrupt politician involved in drug trafficking and prostitution, several murders of innocent people, most of them low-income people who used the names on the papers to apply government scams.
-Can we finish this conversation later, boy? - He narrowed the subject, the strangely exotic eyes that changed color in the mood, a mixture of ruby with emerald, sometimes grayish, sometimes indecipherable, fixed on his prey, which had just left the hotel through the lens of long distance built into the rifle. He looked like a hunter hounding an animal about to slaughter. -I'm a little busy at the moment, - he added, relieving the acidity he had used with Bobbi, wanting to end that call soon. He really could not speak at that moment.
From the silence as a response from him on the other side of the line he knew he was hurt, he was too sensitive. He felt a little guilty, very little. He had no remorse for anything, but when it came to his younger brother, the thing changed.
-All right, Blade, I know you're too busy! - He hoped his brother would at least congratulate him on graduation, but he had not. He was silent, longing for the call to end soon, realizing it, and said, -I love you, Blade, - he said, holding it tight so he would not cry again, doing so as soon as the call ended.
Bobbi's biggest dream was for Maldonado to prove, at least once, that he loved him, even if only for a moment. But what the young man did not know was that sometimes those who love the most are those who least demonstrating was love a discreet, cautious but lasting
feeling. Already passion is scandalous, overwhelmed in everything it does hand in hand with madness. In the same intensity that comes, it goes in a matter of minutes, doing damage wherever it goes, often using misplaced proofs of love and a lot of beautiful words thrown in the wind, after all, who declares himself, feels little.
Julius and Li had never had a problem proving and saying how much they liked Bobbi. Estevao did not speak and tried to say no, but he liked the young man too, perhaps even more than the others. His strange way, but he loved him. But Blade, in addition to not saying so, did not show anything. He was an empty man, he did not live he only survived.
- Bye, little devil! It was the last thing he said to him, turning off his cell phone and shoving it deep into the pocket of his black pants so nobody would bother him anymore. - He rolled his body at a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree angle, returning to the same position he was before being bothered, which, in his opinion, should never have left. He stared at the lens snugly to the gun, directing the laser right over the victim's heart, holding his breath before pulling the trigger. Silence was essential at that moment. He hit the target with precise agility, or maybe not so much. Blade was astonished to see the victim rising from the ground safe and sound, speaking something in a microphone tucked under the sleeve of his blouse as he pointed to the building where Maldonado was.
-An ambush, - snarled the man with no law, totally possessed.
He dropped everything and ran as fast as he could. The street was seized by a symphony of sirens from the thousands of vehicles scattered throughout it and by the deafening sound of helicopter propellers flying around the building.
The dream of every policeman was to catch the last Maldonado. This would ensure a considerable millionaire reward and a good promotion at work, but above all, a lot of respect within the police. As with Major Carter, who took part in Blade's parents' imprisonment, but strangely did not accept any penny of the reward or other types of benefits, never gave interviews or talked about what happened to anyone, and that was more than twenty-six years, just before his eldest daughter was born.
The problem was that Blade was to clever as a cat and to make matters worse he was part of the best team of thieves today. They stole and everyone had no idea how they came in and out with what they wanted without anyone noticing, they were invisible to the cameras. So much so that they did not know what their faces were like, they were only aware of the robberies that were involved because they always leave a souvenir at the crime scene to say that they passed by. Maldonado ran as fast as the bullet he fired minutes earlier at his target. By the time of the army, he was always the first to reach the eight-kilometer-a-day race. He took the pack of the gun and jumped from one building to the other, falling to his feet with his elegantly sexy posture, like a black cat venturing alone at night without any fear of danger. He paused for five seconds to figure out what to do to get away with it, especially how he would avenge the culprit later. Like in slow motion, he studied everything around him cautiously. He thought about descending the fire stairs, but soon realized that just as the elevator-or any path to the terrace-would be crowded with police officers.
After spending only three of the five seconds deciding what to do, he took a piece of steel wire lying on the ground, probably the rest of some work, to use as a base to slide over the extension of a pole that was next to the building. It would not be easy to get to the whole floor, but it was the only chance he had to get out of there alive. He took a deep breath for at least two times, wrapping the steel cord around the largely rounded cement pillar. He did not have to get the courage to go down, he had enough. He leapt down, grunting as he felt the sole of his Italian leather boot being skinned, his favorite, light and comfortable. She landed on the floor without a scratch, looking at the four sides at the same time to see if anyone was watching her. Luckily he was at a point where the cops were looking for him, but when he thought he had managed to escape, he ran into a policeman who in his mind could only have come from hell to irritate him even more. The policeman had a gun pointed at him. He was a tall, broad-shouldered man, athletic physique, full of muscles exploding under the black shirt with the FBI acronym. He seemed to be very good at what he did, but he was a bit afraid to face a legitimate Maldonado.
-If you move, I'll shoot. - Take the hood off your face and raise your hands. -He threatened the gun in his hand, trembling like a snake's rattle.
It was even funny to look at. But he was brave you could see that in the depths of his deep blue eyes. If he had to, he would shot and he seemed to be a good target.
-Shoot, - cried Maldonado, his voice darkly grave, walking toward him calmly, like a fox.
He was not in bulletproof vest. He was a man with a capital M, not afraid of anything, much less death. In fact, he wanted to die, killing the bad race of his family.
-If you take another step I will shoot, I'm not joking! - Stay where you are. The policeman announced for the last time, determined to do anything.
-You're not man enough for that,- he said, taunting him. He took pleasure in testing the psychological of people, among other "peculiarities."
- I warned! - As soon as Blade took another step, the officer prepared to release the trigger and end the legacy of the Maldonado family, killing the last of them. And then she appeared...
-Reinforcement is here, Joseph! - Jesse Carter arrived confident.
The messy girl was an FBI investigator, the cop's partner who still held the gun pointed in Blade's direction. The bandit looked to the side to see. Who was the owner of that soft, sweet voice, which strangely transmitted him so much peace. He raised his eyebrow, staring at the strange creature in front of him, he had never seen a weirder creature in his life, Blade though. Jesse barely knew how to hold a gun. Maldonado, an observer as he was, concluded this immediately when he noticed how small and delicate the girl's hands were, had a certain obsession with that part of the women's body. Her fingers were thin and long. She was low and very thin, so fragile that seemed she could break only with a light touch. His face was exotic, large and black eyes like the night that prevailed everywhere around them the skin in a perfect tone of chocolate and the lips big and thick. She wore worn jeans, not because it was fashionable, but because it had been worn several times.
Jesse hated to spend money unnecessarily, was born into a middle-class family so he had to learn early on not to squander. Daughter of a hard-line soldier, she gave up the dream of being a photographer to pursue her father's career, which made it very clear that he wanted to have had a son to follow in his footsteps with the police and that this type of profession was not for women. Instead, he had two girls, the youngest daughter, Mainara, was perfect in everything he did, had drawn the personality and beauty of his mother, Maria Joaquim, determined and strong. Intelligent as she was, Mainara chose to do robotics, was a genius at completing anything involving technology, unlike her older sister, pursued her goals without thinking about what her father wanted to impose on her life, and at twenty-one was already a lot successful. She was a graduate student and paid for her studies with a generous grant from a company where she worked as a trainee until she finished her degree, passing first in the test she had done. In fact, she went through everything she did, whatever it was. Already Jesse did more than ten tests to enter the police, and the last one went through a little difference. In fact, the teacher felt sorry for the half-point she needed, could not bear to see her leave with that look of failure on her face. But that was the biggest mistake of her life the girl was no good for anything, let alone to be a cop. She was too distracted, seemed to live with her head on the moon, awkward and a real magnet for confusion.
Blade also noticed that Jesse's pants were wide and weird, looked masculine, the blouse then was not even talked about, it was three times bigger than the ideal size for her. Hair stuck in a very badly made coke on the top of the head with many loose strands appearing not to see comb for weeks, and indeed did not. By the volume of the coke they we
re shoulder-length perhaps and rebellious with certainty, medium curls very curly, but well defined when well combed, that is, it almost never stayed that way. Her face, thin with no trace of makeup, hardly ever wore. On her feet, she wore low-heeled shoes from the cheapest brand on the market, which made her look smaller. She was the most careless woman, that Blade had ever seen, even more so to a man like him who would pick out the women who clapped her hands on him. He was demanding on everything, and in that part was double.
-Hands up, - she said firmly, pointing the gun at Blade.
What she lacked in skill rewarded with courage. She did not tremble and was not intimidated to be face to face with such a dangerous thug.
-For God's sake, Jesse! – Your gun is upside down, his partner said, rolling his eyes without a trace of patience with her, it was a walking disaster.
She was embarrassed to try to correct the mistake and ended up unintentionally squeezing the trigger and hitting the weapon of the partner who was also pointed at Maldonado. The shot hit the partner's hand. If it had been planned it would not have worked out so well, it really was good at ruining everything. Running to try to help him, since he was rolling on the floor of pain, she stumbled on his own foot, falling all over the poor man breaking his finger in three places. That finger that had once been scratched by the bullet that now had been scraped may now have to be amputated.
-The thug, Jesse, he can´t get away!!! - Joseph exclaimed through the groans of pain.
When the girl lifted her head, Blade had already dissipated in the air leaving only a small ticket in its place. Carefully she laid her partner's head, which was once on her lap, on the floor, and walked cautiously to the piece of paper stuck under his gun that had been hurled away because of her accurate shot. Why did not he use the gun to kill us? It was what she wondered, but neither Blade had that answer.