Soldier of Time

XL: The New Nation (2)

In the mirror, a woman was looking at her, and she had her hair crossed and two ribbons under her right eye and on her left eyebrow where she had scratches.

A bruise on her left arm just where the shoulder began and a firm bandage on the elbow of her right arm, and that was just the wounds that the clothes didn’t cover. Nicol wanted to say something, but her voice trailed off, and she silently left the room.

Karen finished getting ready while Johan talked to Simon and had a very downcast face. Nicol typed things on her laptop at high speed.

The Deer entered the room, hanging up the phone, and looked at Karen when he said, “Are you ready? This guy who helped Simon, a man named Troy, has a prisoner who could give us information.”

“Well, let’s go see him,” said Karen, standing up. She waited for a second to see if dizziness hit her, but then she decided that she was fine.

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know. I suppose Johan can take us.”

Johan got up, assisting, and they set off. Before leaving, Karen looked at Nicol, and the young woman was looking at her with fear.

The wounds on Karen’s face only reminded her of the horrible attack two days ago. After all the injuries she received, the young woman wondered how the lieutenant could be ready to continue with that job.

“Deer!” Nicol said without thinking well about what she was going to say next, “I don’t think the lieutenant should go, and she is still very sore...”

Karen looked at the young woman, and when she was about to speak, the Deer said, “Don’t worry Nicol, nothing will happen to the lieutenant,” and looking at Karen, he added, “and you will be safe here. No one would ever attack this place.”

Karen nodded, looking at the Deer, and they all began their tasks. Half an hour later, the young people arrived at a Bar called The New Nation.

The sign dictated that the bar would not provide services, but its doors were open. All the young people entered, and at the tables inside, they saw many people who were barely seeing them stood up.

Simon observed a familiar face that approached him smiling, and all the others looked at the newcomers with caution until the young woman stood in front of Simon and asked, “How are you, Tourist?”

Simon smiled, and the girl looked at everyone else as she smiled and said, “The boss is waiting for you. Follow me.”

She began to walk, and all the young people followed her, the other people who were in the bar sat down again, but none of them stopped looking at the newcomers with caution. As they entered the back of the bar, they saw two men who looked like relatives talking to the cook.

One of them was Troy, who smiled as he spoke. The other was a young man not much older than the Deer. He had a Mohawk cut and listened carefully to what Troy was saying, and the boy was dressed in black pants and a white T-shirt that revealed his arms full of small scars.

When they noticed the presence of the newcomers, the laughter was exhausted, and the young man took a black sweater that was on a shelf and put it on to cover his arms.

“At last, you are here,” said Troy looking at the Deer. “I’ve been waiting for two days. Who is the blonde?”

The Deer looked at Karen, and the girl’s expression became hard. The Deer turned his gaze to Troy and said, “She is the head of the operation...”

Troy smiled and turned once more to talk to the cook, and the lady looked at him in disbelief while her eyes wandered over the motley group that just arrived, he listened carefully to what Troy had to say, and when he finished, he hugged him and headed for a door in the side of the kitchen.

Karen did not want to wait any longer and, to take a step forward, making an effort not to stumble, she said, “Hey, don’t make me waste my time. They say you have a woman who works for Hanibal. Where is she?”

Troy looked at her curiously. The man seemed surprised by the attitude of the young woman.

He looked at her face covered with wounds and instantly knew who she was, but the boy who was with him did not give importance to Karen’s position, and he said, “You should speak with more education, girl... maybe that’s why they left your face like this...”

The girl looked directly at him, and smiling, and she said, “I’m sorry, I don’t have the time to waste on your affairs. I have to attend to mine.”

The boy advanced and stood in front of the young woman who was taller than her by two whole heads and said, “If you could handle your affairs efficiently, woman. We wouldn’t have to fix your s**t for you. So leave the arrogance that this is not your home.”

The girl snapped her teeth as Troy grinned and leaned back from a kitchen ledge. Karen glared at the boy, but she looked at Troy and said, “I have no time for mercenary stupidity. You want to tell me where that woman is?”

Troy smiled and said, “Here, the only mercenaries there are, you brought with you precious. This young man talking to you is called Jerome. He is my nephew. And he’s right you can’t solve your affairs, so relax, this is not your home.”

Karen seemed puzzled, she looked at both of them without knowing what to say, but the Deer came forward and said, “Troy, we did not come to impose ourselves. We want to know if you managed to find out anything. Do you still have the girl?”

“Yes. She’s in the fridge,” Troy said. Walking to a fridge in the room and opening it, he took a bottle of beer and added, “She was very hot. She had to be chilled.”

Johan approached, and with an incredulous face seeing the refrigerator that Troy had opened, he asked, “Is she in that fridge?”

The fridge was a conventional household fridge not big enough to fit a person. Troy looked at that one in confusion and said, “No.” And smiling added, “She still doesn’t fit in this one. Follow me”

The man started off, and the boys followed him. They came to a deep fryer at the back of the bar. The door to the fridges was larger than the entrance door to the bar and seemed much thicker.

Troy made a great effort, but he opened it and inside that place was a young woman. Shivering with cold and with her arms chained to the walls and held in the air so that she could not make contact with anything, she stands in the center of the place could not touch the walls or any object in that place.

The girl looked up and saw Troy enter the refrigerator and said, “I still do not want to talk, bastard!”

The strength of the woman was overshadowed by the shivering of her teeth. The cold that she felt did not allow her to conjure her warrior posture.

“I didn’t come to ask you anything,” said Troy, taking a long drink of the beer he had taken from the other fridge. “I came to show you off.”

The girl looked over the shoulder of the subject in front of her and saw the newcomers. The Deer stepped forward and said, “Can I ask her some questions?”

Troy looked at him and said, “Sure, go ahead.”

The Deer turned on his heel as he took the door of the fridge and closed it behind him, leaving only him and Troy inside.

Outside the huge fridge were Karen and Simon and young Jerome, who watched everyone warily. Johan walked up to him and asked, “Hey boy, do you know where Julia is?”

Young Jerome looked at Johan with eyes of hatred, and facing him, and he said, “After all, you still ask about her?”

Johan knew how sensitive Troy’s men could be, but he was not willing to pass up that opportunity to speak to her, especially after he knew that he would face Hanibal directly. This could be his last chance.

“Will you tell me where she is?” Johan asked, knowing what that question would generate.

The young man puffed out his chest full of anger and said, “Of course I’ll tell you, friend. Of course.”

And with those words, he clenched his fists next to him tightly. Johan knew what was about to happen, but suddenly Trixie appeared next to him saying.

“Jerome, enough! She wants to see him.”

The young man looked at Trixie, who was taking Johan by the shoulders to start guiding him, and said, “Wait, woman, I won’t authorize that...”

The girl gave a loud laugh, and without stopping laughing, she turned to walk backward and be able to look at Jerome and tell him.

“Stop playing Troy, would you. You make a bad impression on our guests. Tell Troy when he gets out that I took him to Julia.”