Soldier of Time

LIV: The Prisoner (1)

The girl turned her eyes and started to walk outside, and before leaving, she said, “I’ll be the one to heal you, miserable.”

After those words, everyone except Simon left the room, Troy looked at Steven, and he said, “Always taking command of everything, Troy.”

“Someone has to do it,” Troy replied with a shrug.

“How have you been, old friend?”

“This is not the place for that talk,” Troy said, while looking at Simon, “I’m nice to you, Steven, because you saved my nephew’s life. I appreciate that.”

“I knew he was your nephew. That’s why I did it. Do not beatify me yet, and I didn’t forgive the girl.”

As he said that, his gaze fell to the ground. Troy looked at that gesture and said, “You are not like that. Or at least you didn’t use to be. What’s wrong with you? You are helping to wage war. Did you go crazy?”

Steven sighed before he looked at Troy and then replied, “I follow Hanibal wherever he goes, friend.”

“And what do you owe that psychopath?” Simon asked while looking at Steven curiously.

“Much more than I owe you,” Steven said seriously. “He is to me what the Deer is to you.”

Steven was now pointing his gaze to Simon. He looked back at him, but before saying anything, Steven continued with a bitter smile, “You did something unthinkable. And the Deer forgive you. Not only did he give you his friendship, and he kept you by his side, he has even saved your life. And you know perfectly well that the only thing you deserve from him is a bullet. My case is no different.”

Troy turned his face towards Simon, and this man avoided his gaze.

After that, he looked back at Steven and said, “Whatever you owe him does not justify the war they seek to create.”

At that moment, Steven lowered his face and said, “Nothing justifies war.”

“You suffered it!” Troy said, raising his voice a little, “by God, you suffered it more than anyone!!”

Steven looked down at him again, and Troy continued, “How many people did you save? How many deaths did you avoid? How is it that you, the man who saved people the most during the war, now struggles to form one? What would Gloria think?”

Hearing that name, Steven burst into tears. He wanted to answer, looked at Troy, but he could not pronounce words, the image of that woman bounced in his mind, and infinite remorse grew in his chest.

Something broke in his conscience until he finally said, “I can’t help it, Troy!”

Troy got up and grabbed Steven’s shirt collar and asked with restrained anger, “What do you mean, you can’t help it?”

Steven gritted his teeth. He then replied with helplessness, “Hanibal can no longer be saved, friend, and he has done too much wrong. But I won’t let you kill him. I cannot do it.”

Troy looked at Simon, and he nodded.

“I see. Then you too are beyond salvation.”

With those words, they both left the room.

Simon looked at Troy and said, “He wasn’t lying.”

Troy nodded and, looking firmly at Simon, said, “They all have stories. Everything has a story. You know that well, apparently.”

The blond man nodded and said, “But sometimes an excuse doesn’t excuse you.”

And with those words, he walked away. Troy watched him walk away and then looked at him at the door where his ex-friend was. Things have never been so simple.

The throbbing of his head was such that he could hear it clearly, his gaze trembling with each resonance, causing the floor to vibrate at the sight of it. The man looked up and saw an empty chair in front of him and immediately felt the handcuffs in his hands. The Deer was a prisoner.

The throbbing of his head was such that she could hear it clearly, his gaze trembling with each resonance, causing the floor to vibrate at the sight of it.

The man looked up and saw an empty chair in front of him and immediately felt the handcuffs in his hands. The Deer was a prisoner.

Slevin waited a few seconds until his head assimilated the information that his eyes received. At the moment that he felt more conscious, he stopped time and managed to observe the room where he was with complete tranquility.

In front of him was a mirror that reflected the entire room. In the right corner was a small table with a glass jug filled with water and two glasses.

In the mirror, he could see that behind him on the right side was the entrance door to the room, and the rest of the room was white.

After that, he let time go by, and his hands that were handcuffed behind the chair began to touch the handcuffs to give the Deer an idea of what kind of handcuffs they were.

His hands were handcuffed between the bars of a chair that was not attached to the ground assuming from the shape of the empty chair in front of him, the chair where he was the same as that.

An aluminum chair with three bars on the back where the column should rest and a circular arch that completed the entire back and that left two openings between the edges of the back and the three central bars, openings through which the hands of the Deer had placed to handcuff them behind.

The Deer knew what kind of handcuffs they were, and without wasting time, he put his mouth inside his shirt.

With some effort, he grabbed with his teeth a small Click that was hooked on his shirt under his micro-mesh coat and tucked it under his tongue.

Just the second this happened, the door rang behind him. A young woman walked by his side and looked at him with some embarrassment as she approached. She asked, “Deer, are you awake?”

Her voice sounded like that of a high school girl, but her face was somewhat older, although her expression was smiling and happy. The Deer saw her directly, and the young woman blinked several times before answering her own question in haste.

“Yes, you are. Obviously, I see you with your eyes open... sorry if I talk a lot, I’m nervous, it always happens to me when I meet someone great. I mean, you’re great, and I admire you... sorry.

The Deer looked at her confused and questioned, “I’m great?”

The young woman sat in the chair opposite the Deer pulling it forward like a young fanatic as she said, “Yes, yes, you are the Deer. Everything I have read and heard about you is great. Only beaten by Hanibal King. And well, that has not changed. Sorry…”

The Deer was completely confused, he looked at the young woman, and without understanding what was happening, the girl did not give him the impression of being dishonest.

“Are you okay?”

The Deer shook his head and said, “Of course I’m not okay” he began to shake his head and look at the ground. “You’re crazy, you attacked my friends, and you could have killed several of them.”

The young woman got up and put her hands on her chest as she said, “I didn’t, and I didn’t. I swear I didn’t do it. I didn’t even enter that building. I told Mr. Hanibal that he didn’t want to be against you, but he insisted. Just a favor, that’s what he said, I did not want that to happen, but I don’t know how to tell him no. He is very persuasive and is a bit scary. I would never do anything to hurt you.”

The Deer looked around him again, and with a grin, he said, “Not the best way to show your fanaticism.”

“Sorry…”

“Release me, please,” Slevin tried to ask, but he doubted that this woman could do anything to help him.

She shook her head before she replied sadly, “I can’t. Mr. Hanibal would kill me.”

The Deer evaluated the look of the young woman and her body language and still could not tell if the girl was lying. She seemed so honest that the mercenary was inclined to believe her.

“Well, girl, at least you can give me some water.”

The young woman nodded and got up violently to go to the table to serve the water. When she got up, the Deer threw the click that he had under his tongue to the ground to one side of where he was.

The girl turned around with the glass of water and approached the Deer to give him a drink. The moment he touched the water, the door behind her was thrown open.

“Good afternoon!” Hanibal said, slowly entering, sitting in a wheelchair. The young woman got up instantly, some of that water fell on the girl’s pants, who when she saw Hanibal seemed terrified.

“My dear Rudy, are you spoiling our guest?”

The girl who wouldn’t stop talking seemed to have lost the ability to respond.

The Deer stared at her, and seeing her terrified look on Hanibal was all it took to believe what the young woman was saying, “Tell me, Rudy, what are you doing here?”