Chapter 4 - Understanding it - Feddos
Simón
Miguel was right, but I swore to Roland I would take care of her.
"Rat, we have a lot of things to resolve. While we're tied up taking care of her, the son of a bitch who sent him to be killed could slip away."
"I know. Try to find whatever can help us."
I entered Mrs. Veronica's room and sat in one of the chairs beside the bed, never taking my eyes off her. I was furious. I watched her open her eyes, and for a long time, we just stared at each other. What is this woman thinking? Her weak demeanor was pissing me off. She wasn't the same woman who had come into our lives with her inner strength and overwhelmed us with her virtues, changing our existence.
"I have no excuse." Her voice was weak but sincere.
"No, you don't, and to be honest, your weakness is driving me crazy. Sorry for the language."
"Forgive me. But I don't want to go on without him."
I let her cry; she hadn't done it properly before. After several long minutes, I spoke again.
"You know, I don't understand you. A woman who brought us back to life, taught us to see it from her perspective—happy, strong, simple, and full of values—that's what made Roland fall in love with you. Seeing what you've become now, believe me, he would be disappointed wherever he is. Why do you do it? You're not letting me do my job!" I shouted. "I swore to my friend on his deathbed that I would take care of you. His last words were 'Take care of her, if you take care of her, you take care of me.' You're not making it easy for me, Mrs. Veronica!"
"I understand now, you're going to thwart every suicide attempt, and the answer to your question is because I know where he is."
"I don't understand." I furrowed my brow.
"Simón, he didn't have time to balance the scales and redeem himself. He was in that process, his soul hadn't accumulated enough noble acts, kindness, and favors to go to heaven. He went to hell. I, on the other hand, have done good and noble deeds. The only thing that would send me to hell is taking my own life.
"I want to be with him, Simón. If I had succeeded, I would already be by his side. I don't care about going to hell. I bet he's already next to the devil. If I get there, he would find me, and we could be together forever."
This was madness, I thought. What was she trying to tell me? For a few minutes, I was silent, analyzing every word. I sighed before speaking.
"Forgive me, I have two options for understanding your analogy: either you're truly crazy, or you love in a way I don't understand. I'm going to ask you just once, and I hope that out of the affection we have for you, you let me do my job. Let me take care of you until you decide to rebuild your life."
"Never, never!" That confidence returned to her voice. "My body only is and will belong to Roland, and I swear I will never try to take my life again." I saw sincerity in her eyes. "I'll find another way to taint my soul to go in search of him."
"What are you planning to do now?" I sighed.
"Take care of my husband's business. I'll take over the position he left."
This woman is going to give me an ulcer, but the words of Inés came to my mind. "She must return to God," her brother's last words, shock therapy. Is that what she wants? Her soul still has much goodness and virtues that haven't disappeared. Does she want to know the rotten world her husband wanted to leave? That's what I'll do.
"Fine, that's a field I know how to navigate, but with two conditions."
"I learn fast."
"Excellent. First, you must handle everything Roland did, and second, you must put effort into decision-making. In a month, the will is to be read; they won't accept you if you show up as you are now."
Roland had organized his time to fulfill the penances given by Father Gabriel. Work your miracle, Roland's guardian angel. If you appeared to him, it was for her. But over my dead body will she soil her soul. She will never kill a person. I'll show her the worst of that world. I know the real Mrs. Veronica is still there.
"It's a deal." With pain, she raised her hand and shook mine.
"We start at four in the morning," he frowned.
"So early?"
"Do you want Mr. Roland's position?" he affirmed. "At four."
I turned off the light and went to the next room. Inés was nodding off, while Cebolla was still investigating. He handed me a paper with basic information about the woman who had given us the package.
"Look at this."
There were two images on the front. One was of the woman I had seen in the waiting room, standing next to a lady in her fifties.
"The lips are the same. I already compared them in the program. What does that mean?"
"Roland was the one good with puzzles. He had a mastermind for analyzing situations and making conjectures. I just handle the information. We need to find that stranger."
"Alright, I'll get on it."
"Cebolla, I expect you at four in the morning tomorrow."
"What?"
"We need to train Mrs. Verónica for Roland's position." The shout and the look of horror on the faces of the two people in front of me.
"What madness is this, Simón?" I looked at Inés.
"Shock therapy and getting closer to God," I responded bluntly.
"Explain yourself."
"I'll need your help. How do you think she'll react when she has to make a decision about sending a container of children for prostitution and drugs?"
"Roland stopped that from the first day, you know that. He killed the one who did it," Cebolla replied.
"Yes, but you know they started it again a month ago, and they'll do it again in two days. We won't allow it, but I want her to know about that part."
"Do you want to drive her completely mad?"
Inés still didn't understand, while Cebolla's thoughtful reaction showed he was beginning to get it.
"Inés, I need to make her react. We'll also take her to the Patron's latest charity works. She needs to see reality up close to make her understand. She'll know, and I don't see her giving authorization for something like that. As soon as she sees children and women, she'll ask us to save them. It's just a hunch."
"Alright, tomorrow at four."
"Change all the IPs of the cameras. From now on, only you and I will know and see them. Let's get the infiltrator out."
"I'll do it as soon as I get home."
"Perfect."
We spent ten minutes trying to wake up Mrs. Verónica. Inés had sent her some sports clothes. If everything goes as planned, we'll stay a few more days at the clinic. Meanwhile, we had a training and exercise routine.
Handling weapons is suspended until her wrist wounds heal. We won't do combat either, but I need to keep her mind occupied. Salcedo has a shipment of children ready for Spain, though he doesn't know that I know.
We need to make her decide about that before the shipment takes place. She'll see them, and we'll see if she can give the order to send them. Cebolla needed to have everything organized by the afternoon. I don't want Salcedo to know. That bastard won't get any child out. I need to use the children's desperation and fear to make her react.
"Is it much longer?" We had been running for an hour.
"You like to run."
"But it's been a long time since I did it." She stopped. Her wrists were bleeding a bit.
"After running, we'll train some combat techniques. For now, you can watch us. I always lost to the Patron. None of us ever beat him, only Rata managed to land some good hits," Cebolla commented. He also noticed the bleeding wrists. "She won't be able to train in weapon handling like that, ma'am."
"That's right, you won't have the strength. You need to heal."
"Of course I can," she said.
"We can leave that for when you're healed if you don't do anything else stupid." She glared at me.
"But Simón, she can join us today for the Salcedo matter."
"Do you think so?" I looked at her, and she felt challenged.
"Of course I can! Besides, I haven't taken those damn... absurd medicines today."
I exchanged a look with Cebolla. A point in our favor. She couldn't bring herself to say a bad word.
"Alright, let's go back. We need to be at the warehouses by one."
"Are you sure you want to go?"
"I told you I want to do the same as my husband."
"As you wish."