Soldier of Time

XIII: Hanibal King (1)

Hearing the name that the Deer pronounced, the girl gave the newcomer a long look as he said.

“You break my heart, and I thought we had something special. Even if…”

The girl went for her gun in her belt, but just before her hand reached it, a letter opener prostrated on her jugular at speed few could reach.

“You are here!” the man said with the letter opener placed on the young woman’s neck, “believe me. That is enough for me!”

Slevin waited for the sound of a shot or the mobilization of soldiers, but nothing happened. Everything remained the same, only Karen’s surprised look and the panicked breath of the other man on the table.

Karen felt the tip of the letter opener on her neck. She felt the pressure of that man who was not looking at her but who knew perfectly well that her hand was on her weapon.

The smile of the newcomer was never lost, and he said without taking his eyes off Slevin, “Beautiful, put your weapon on the table, please.”

The girl doubted for a second if she should obey, but the open letter to her neck left her few options. Karen slowly drew the gun and placed it on the table, and the barrel pointed at the man in front of her.

The girl still had the letter opener on her neck, and this did not allow her to move her head freely.

Hanibal saw the girl’s gun on the table and continued, “I also want to see your other weapon on the table, beautiful.”

The girl gulped as she felt the stabbing pain that she felt on her neck. She said, trying not to move her head too much to avoid cutting her, “I have no more weapons.”

While she was speaking, she tried to look with her eyes at the rest of her men, and there was no radio communication.

No one seemed to speak, “I only have that weapon that you see there.”

For the first time since he had sat down, Hanibal gave her a look, and this was penetrating and terrifying. The smile had disappeared even though the young man’s face was still calm.

He accompanied that threatening look. He said, “Do not make me waste my time. Let’s move on, put your other weapon on the table, please.”

The girl felt how the tip of the letter opener put more pressure against the skin of her neck, and the pain led her to nod.

She tried with her right hand to reach the weapon she carried in a holster on her ankle. When she reached it, she placed it on the table and felt the tip of the letter opener move away from her.

Slevin tried with all his might to control his breathing. Looking Hanibal directly into his eyes caused him great disturbance.

He looked around trying to locate the rest of Karen’s soldiers, but they seemed not to be close, suddenly his gaze met that of the one who had to deliver the money, the man was about to hyperventilate, the tension drove him crazy, he looked in all directions, and his sanity was about to break.

Slevin placed his hand on his forearm, feeling the man’s sweat flow on his palm, and with his eyes, he helped him to pace his breathing.

“Come on, and friend, calm down. Nothing happens,” Hanibal said, amused, putting his hand on the other arm of the man.

A battle for control of the subject’s tension broke out, but the fear the man felt was considerably greater than the confidence the Deer could give him. His breath hitched once more.

“What did you do to my men?” Karen asked hurriedly.

“Your men?” Hanibal asked, his head titled while looking at her.

The girl opened her eyes to the maximum they could when she saw the expression of mockery.

Suddenly on Hanibal’s features, it seemed that an idea was forming and she gave meaning to an entire situation.

Hanibal deliberately ignored Karen and addressed Slevin directly, “You do not know how glad I am that you are here. I thought this job would be very boring. Now I know that it will not be so. Now I know that I will have a lot of fun playing with you.”

Karen was getting more and more frustrated by the way Hanibal was handling the whole situation, the girl was losing her patience, and she asked through clenched teeth, “Is this all a game for you?”

Hanibal looked at her smiling and placed his hands on the table. Turning the letter opener on it and taking a napkin, he began to fold it and then said, “Do you have any idea what it feels like to be really bored?”

When did he say that he looked at Slevin, “The last job I had against you was incredible, and everything was sensational. You handled the situation as a genius would, and then you hid like a freed w***e. What the hell happened to you? I had nothing else to do, so I looked for another challenge.”

“Challenge?” Slevin frowned before he asked, “What challenge?”

“The Royal Guard!!” The smiling man said casually, “not this.” as he said that, he nodded at Karen as he finished a rose made with the napkin. “I mean the real royal lairs.”

The girl took a breath as a wave of anger ran through her entire body, “I am a royal guard!”

Hanibal burst out laughing as he looked at the rose he had just made. Then he looked at the young woman and put the rose in front of her.

He took the letter opener from her and then started spinning it at high speed between his fingers before he said casually, “No precious, no. I mean the royal guards, Matthew, your uncle, that’s a challenge, that guy is crazy, like you Deer.”

The girl lost her composure, and her surprise washed over her.

“What?”Hanibal asked with a raised brow when he saw the surprise on Karen’s face, “Did you think that nobody knew that? Your Uncle Matt takes you under his wings, but that does not mean that you are one of them. That does not mean that you can fly by yourself.”

Hanibal suddenly laughed before he continued, “The sky must be earned, dear. Your uncle, who took out the rebels during the war, earned it. You know him, Deer. He tore the squad of child soldiers to pieces. Your squad, he was the one who turned Simon, your servant.”

A terrible memory raged in Slevin’s mind, memories of a betrayal and a battle that could not be won.

“That’s why I accepted this job,” Hanibal continued, “I was hoping that by threatening national security, it would be more than enough reason to attack with their big guns, one of the royal guards would come for me, for the best assassin, but instead they insult me with this.”

Hanibal’s words spoke were laced with unmasked disappointment as he glanced at Karen before he looked at Slevin.

The contempt in his gaze was felt in his voice. The young man smiled and spoke as if he were the host of a program.

Slevin listened to him but looked at Karen, whose anger rose for seconds. Her face was reddened by the blood that flowed in the veins, her body became invisible, and her hands clenched strong fists that trembled on her legs. Slevin waited for this guy to drop his guard, but Hanibal had the whole situation in his hands.

“A girl! Not even a woman like Marilyn the Navy Executor or Sabrina, the secretary of your boss Deer. There are many interesting people to face, but you are not one of them. You are just a niece, I was waiting for Matt, or better yet the other guy,” He said that fluently and looking at Karen with superiority,

He added in disgust, “But no. They send you. I mean, look at you, you fell into this stupid move, it was obvious, and still, you fell. I was furious, I wanted to open your head, but just when I decided to kill them all to see if they took me into account that way, you appeared.”

Hanibal pointed the tip of the letter opener at Slevin.

Slevin looked at him, and he was smiling authentically. His eyes seemed excited. The Deer felt the pressure of his gaze, and the confrontations he had had with him were reproduced deep in his memory. His hands instinctively pink his legs looking for weapons that were not there.

Suddenly to bring him out of his reverie Hanibal continued, “But looking at it objectively, this move is nothing more than predictable, and no one would ever move their strongest piece away from the most important one. Instead, they place this excuse with a plate, which gives the perfect reason to bring you here, you who already beat me. You were the viable option. You were avoiding me so much, Deer, and that only caused you to have to play a glorified babysitter who sooner or later will have to face me.

Karen couldn’t take another second, and she said, “You think I need help to kick your ass! Look where you are. I can easily catch you, and I don’t see that you are so incredible!”

Hanibal laughed aloud when he heard her. “You got me?! God, you are more of an i***t than I thought. You just don’t understand, this was planned by me! All to see who they would put after me when I saw you. I was disappointed I wanted to water your guts on the floor. But everything went well, and now I know that this work will be interesting.”

While saying that, he was watching Slevin, who was keeping quiet, trying to keep his mind clear to act at the best moment.

The man in front of Karen long ago seemed to stop listening to what Hanibal said. He had the portfolio in his hands, and he held it tightly, he seemed to want to give it up and be able to get out of there, but Karen wouldn’t stop talking.

“He is not here to face you, my team and I are!”

“Oh yeah, your team...” Hanibal said meaningfully, trying to hide a smile. The girl felt a pang of fear in her stomach.

Hanibal continued without paying attention to her and said, “Deer, this will be sensational. You just saved the lives of almost all these people. Feel good. You are a hero. I look forward to seeing you on the day of the show.”

Slevin clenched his fists under the table as Hanibal made to stand up, the man raised the briefcase towards him, but Karen spoke once more, raising her voice above the noises from the table.

“Do you think I’ll let you go?! If you move my sniper... almost?

The last question was little more than a whisper. The girl did not look at Hanibal, and she looked at an empty space on the table while she waited for an answer from that mercenary.

“Snipers,” Hanibal said smiling as he threw four bloodstained IDs on the table, “If that’s what you called them...”

The identifications of her men stained with blood on the tablecloth, the girl, did not hear anything in that place, and people seemed to have disappeared.

At the table, there were only the reddish photos of those men and women in her charge. Slevin saw the IDs and knew what was coming. The girl went crazy.

From one moment to the next, she put her hand on one of her weapons but long before she could reach it, the letter opener stabbed her, burying itself on the table, penetrating the center of the young woman’s hand with ease.

Karen took a second to understand what had happened, she saw her hand stabbed, and at that moment, a drop of blood came out of her wound.

A scream of intense pain pulled Slevin out of his world. He reacted as quickly as he could, taking the small gun.

Hanibal had turned the table, but not before taking the other gun. When the Deer got up to point him, he had the money man hostage.

Karen screamed and cried as she tried to free her hand from the fallen table. Slevin pointed at Hanibal as the latter was shielded behind the money man.

Then the killer said, “Look at your friend, and she is seriously injured. Put down the gun, and if you continue like this, I will kill your friend and this guy here. Come on, take my advice, and put the gun down.”

Slevin looked into Hanibal’s eyes clearly. Karen’s screams were a distant noise.

The Hostage’s gaze seemed to beg him to heed what Hanibal asked, so Slevin obeyed.