Fire trucks arrive on the scene, making their way through the curious and opportunists. The police cordon off the scene and search for witnesses to the tragedy.“Detective, a wounded soldier. He says that some very suspicious subjects were going to leave a car on the front sidewalk, and that a comrade went to stop them, and the driver shot him, so they returned fire, and that caused that terrible explosion.” A policeman informed his superior.“I knew they were going to attack Ximena. And as usual, my boss didn't listen to me.”“Detective, they took a lot of precautions, and that's why they doubled the guard.” The officer left to help the firefighters remove debris.Ximena emerged from the chaos, filthy and disoriented, accompanied by escorts.“Mrs. Ximena, are you hurt?”“Detective Das, what happened? Do you know anything about Angelo?” Ximena greeted her, hugging her detective.“It seems they were planning to blow this building sky-high to silence her. As for Angelo, I assumed he was
“I thank you very much for this last favor.”“Do not worry and remember it very well; I can't have friendships with a snitch. Although your grandfather also helped, the old man sold the castle and the little that was left.”“Yes, José Luis, I know; he told me that he feels very guilty about everything that happened with Ximena; he knows that he will have to pay for that when he dies.”“Angelo, enough with the sermons; we must concentrate on the operation; they shouldn't have called the police; it complicates everything.”“I didn't do it, it was up to her and Detective Das; I would have preferred something from us.”“It might be better; Max's father, whose real name is Giuseppe Latin, has more money than all of us together, therefore more men and means.”“I am confident that we will succeed, as we always do.”“Of course, Angelo, we make it, or we die, either way, for the hole we drive.”“It may happen, but at least I'll take Giuseppe with me; I'll send him to meet Max.”“At least the c
“Angelo, I will kill your children first, then your sister-in-law, then you, although I will take my time with everyone.” The old man took a rusty poker and went to the prisoners' cage. “Sir, we are informed that Alexandros took another route; it is possible that he went wrong. Or he kind of stole the money.” A henchman arrives to inform him.“That can't be possible, and if it is, we will look for his mother, and we will apply five hundred bullets to make that rat come out of his hiding place.” Giuseppe spat on the ground and almost dropped his box of teeth.“Besides, there is something very strange; the lookouts on the road report many cars in the sector. More than usual, it is possible that it is a rescue; it would be better, sir, if you were eliminated quickly, and we leave.” The assistant lowered his head as he spoke to him.“Nonsense, that doesn't mean anything. Besides, I have been waiting for this moment for years; I am going to savor it; I will be delighted; it will be a spec
A dream wedding, a white and illuminated church, full seats, and television news cameras; I was the bride; I wore a white dress with rhinestones; it seemed strange that my groom did not arrive; perhaps it was a Sicilian custom; perhaps it was my freckles? I don't think so because my many suitors have praised them along with my honey-colored eyes, my brown hair, and my toned body. Although I am not very tall, I am not small either. I have come to the conclusion that I am a Colombian beauty, a bombshell, which means that I would not because I am ugly. The orchestra of the moment kept playing their repertoire; they already felt forced. I calmed down, thinking that they wanted to avoid their most successful song, which talks about heartbreak. I felt that the bouquet was getting heavier, and the heels, those heels that I chose to try to surpass, wanting to eclipse him somehow, now charged rent to my feet. Furthermore, I look at the door, wanting a whirlwind to come in and take me to Oz or
I woke up with a concert of drums in my head and an urgency that kicked me in the belly, threatening to shoot out of my throat. I got up, crawled to the bathroom, and vomited a lot. Furthermore, I make an effort to breathe while I make the oath of the dawn, “I do not drink again.” When leaving the bathroom, I am surprised to see a hand offering me a glass and the other two pills, I look at his face, and the floor seems to collapse. It was him; the cowardly dog was there with me. It is possible that the floor opened up and a river of lava flowed out of it. Filling me with anger, I slapped that glass, breaking it against the wall. “You are a bad man!” I shout at him and slap him in the face, and the very agile man stops it and answers me, “Don't make things more difficult; they are already very complex.” I follow him, trying to hit him with the other hand, which also grabs me and hugs me. Maybe it was the drink I still had in my system, but I felt his smell, not his cologne, for a few
“What a crazy day; we have to close it at the opening party of the famous Liz's bar.”“Is that lady the daughter of the oilman Colmenares, the one who changes boyfriends more than pants?”“Yes, I am very good friends with her, and not because of the money; she set up a bar to have a great time,”“But Angelo, I promised his grandfather to take him straight home; he called me very worried, telling me that he dreamed that you were a mouse that was caught in a mousetrap.”“Those are old man's bullish; let's have fun; life is short, and even more so in this business.”“Sir, I distrust Macho and the bushes; they are strange; they have been hiding themselves all day long, and they get upset when I confront them.”“They know that if they betray me, they will disappear; I am not to be trifled with.”Confidence is mixed with arrogance, and he leaves, believing that in this city his enemies would not attack him. How wrong he was! Of course, sometimes bad things can happen for good things to happe
Angelo pictured his boxing coach telling him to “get up, give me one more round; you're the best; don't let it be a dogfight.”He jumped back to his feet, hitting with a hook one of the thugs that were shooting at the woman's car and pushing another one. He ran under the garbage cart, giving it a bounce; he heard the noise of the friction of metal against metal and cans against cement; he watched as the garbage vehicle wobbled a little; and the woman's car came out of a small space at full speed, shooting sparks.“Please help me; I'll give you anything you want,” Angelo begged, one of the few pleas of his life.The car jerked to a stop. “Let's go fast. Run.” He ran to the vehicle, and without asking to open one of the doors, he climbed in through a window, ordering, “Please start.”The vehicle screeched again, the accelerator pedal seemed like it was going to come off because of so much pressure, and the projectiles brushed the cans, raising the tension. She turned the first corner, t
“I love Colombia; there is no such thing as boredom here; I don't know why people go elsewhere.”“Ximena, I thought you were in this country to be with me.”“Liz, I also thought you left Europe for me.”“Ximena, that was the main reason; then I started to meet beautiful specimens that made me fall in love with the country; for example, look, pay attention, here comes our sociology professor; he is the only reason why I came to study here; unfortunately, I discovered that he is not my type; it hurts me to admit it; he is more your type; come, let's say hello.”“Hello, teacher D.”“What a surprise if it's Liz with her beautiful friend, who, as I remember, is called Ximena.”“The surprise is that you left without saying goodbye; you are a very rude teacher,” Liz complained, clenching her fist.“I had to leave; I had a family matter. How did it go? How did the dance go? The party was great.”“And how are you doing, Angelo?” Liz asked him.“I am very, very worried.”“What about that?” asked
“Angelo, I will kill your children first, then your sister-in-law, then you, although I will take my time with everyone.” The old man took a rusty poker and went to the prisoners' cage. “Sir, we are informed that Alexandros took another route; it is possible that he went wrong. Or he kind of stole the money.” A henchman arrives to inform him.“That can't be possible, and if it is, we will look for his mother, and we will apply five hundred bullets to make that rat come out of his hiding place.” Giuseppe spat on the ground and almost dropped his box of teeth.“Besides, there is something very strange; the lookouts on the road report many cars in the sector. More than usual, it is possible that it is a rescue; it would be better, sir, if you were eliminated quickly, and we leave.” The assistant lowered his head as he spoke to him.“Nonsense, that doesn't mean anything. Besides, I have been waiting for this moment for years; I am going to savor it; I will be delighted; it will be a spec
“I thank you very much for this last favor.”“Do not worry and remember it very well; I can't have friendships with a snitch. Although your grandfather also helped, the old man sold the castle and the little that was left.”“Yes, José Luis, I know; he told me that he feels very guilty about everything that happened with Ximena; he knows that he will have to pay for that when he dies.”“Angelo, enough with the sermons; we must concentrate on the operation; they shouldn't have called the police; it complicates everything.”“I didn't do it, it was up to her and Detective Das; I would have preferred something from us.”“It might be better; Max's father, whose real name is Giuseppe Latin, has more money than all of us together, therefore more men and means.”“I am confident that we will succeed, as we always do.”“Of course, Angelo, we make it, or we die, either way, for the hole we drive.”“It may happen, but at least I'll take Giuseppe with me; I'll send him to meet Max.”“At least the c
Fire trucks arrive on the scene, making their way through the curious and opportunists. The police cordon off the scene and search for witnesses to the tragedy.“Detective, a wounded soldier. He says that some very suspicious subjects were going to leave a car on the front sidewalk, and that a comrade went to stop them, and the driver shot him, so they returned fire, and that caused that terrible explosion.” A policeman informed his superior.“I knew they were going to attack Ximena. And as usual, my boss didn't listen to me.”“Detective, they took a lot of precautions, and that's why they doubled the guard.” The officer left to help the firefighters remove debris.Ximena emerged from the chaos, filthy and disoriented, accompanied by escorts.“Mrs. Ximena, are you hurt?”“Detective Das, what happened? Do you know anything about Angelo?” Ximena greeted her, hugging her detective.“It seems they were planning to blow this building sky-high to silence her. As for Angelo, I assumed he was
“I need a way out; I have to go see him.” I have repeated these words many times, every day during these weeks, and I receive the same answers, although today a doctor answers me something different.“Mrs. Ximena, you know that it is something very complex because the gentleman is in another hospital since he was more injured. On the other hand, you still require special care, and although I have news for you, you are going to get out of here.” The doctor with the face of a kindly old man purses his lips to give a dramatic pause or to wait for my answer, but I just make a puzzled grimace, so he goes on, “Yes, as you can hear, we are going to get out.”“Explain me better; I notice something strange in the way you say it.” While I speak, the old man moves his mouth between fake smiles and sucker punches.“Mrs. Ximena, the judge who is handling your case demands that you be interrogated; that's what we are going to do, and it could be that your husband is also required; suddenly you will
“Where am I? Who am I?” I have asked these questions several times. Until suddenly my consciousness becomes clear, and the memories hit me all of a sudden. I look around me; it takes me a while to realize that I am in a hospital, in a first-aid room, and the smell of anesthesia raises my blood pressure. The doctors surround me with syringes, perhaps with painkillers, although they inject them in the serum, and I think I manage to ask for Angelo and my children before falling asleep.I have no hands, no feet, no face, or anything. It seems to me that I am a painting on a wall contemplating the horizon, but suddenly I am also someone who observes the painting. I detail that it is a canvas of my life and that it was painted with tears and smiles. I see it and I see me, both screens at the same time, until a blue energy shakes us and my eyes see a great light. Furthermore, as I turn my head and observe people dressed in white and blue, I hear, “We are going to intubate her.”It is a proce
“Calm down, my children; it won't be long now until we get to Bogotá.” Ximena consoled her children and herself.The long trip was coming to an end. She arrived at the central terminal; she went downstairs normally; the freezing city air calmed her; she breathed in the aroma of progress; and she prepared to leave to board the cabs. Everything seemed perfect until she saw a man who, upon seeing her, called someone on the phone.“I'm going to get caught.” These words escaped her, and she turned around, raised her children, and walked quickly. But, rather than running to avoid suspicion, she turned her head to see that the man was following her, accompanied by two others dressed in black. She calculated that her best strategy was to return to the fleet under the pretext that she had forgotten her luggage, so she could go back to the unloading area. But instead of looking for a non-existent suitcase, she marched quickly towards the exit of the buses, crossed the avenue, walked a few meter
“How is it that such a pretty young lady with such a pair of little angels walks around this region so full of dangers?”“I was visiting my grandfather; he lives in the mountains.”“It's good to go back to the country, to know the roots; besides, as an old man, you don't know when you will see your loved one for the last time; tell me, I haven't seen my daughter for a long time.”“And that, is it, that you are angry?”“No, miss, it's just that some criminals killed her. And she had two granddaughters who were taken by an uncle who refused to allow me to see them. It was very difficult; that's why I went to the country with my wife until she died. Now all I have left are memories of my life—of what I did, what I didn't do, and what could have been. Although the truth is that I'm not from around here, I'm retracing my steps. I know that the bone is breathing down my neck; although I'm still afraid of the uncertainty of the afterlife, I also long for it because this body no longer respon
“We are going to finish off even the sow's nest.” Angelo closed his black jacket, lowered his balaclava cap to cover his face, and jumped from the helicopter held by a rope. When he touched the ground, he landed with both legs, running straight ahead with the gun. He imagined he was diving from a very high pool; he didn't even turn to see if his men were following him. He neutralized a couple of guards and, little by little, his adrenaline went down as his sadness increased.“Sir, we went all over the place, and there is no trace of a woman and two children.” The mercenary Can-Can informed him, turning his head and looking for any threat.“It can't be possible; this is the place.” Angelo kicked a table to calm his mixed feelings.“My lord is not wrong; look here; we found this dog in a hiding place.” Jose Luis came in and pushed Diego to the floor.“Damn rat! What did you do with my wife and children?” Angelo lifted Diego by the neck while he was shaking. It was hard to understand wha
“Okay, Angelo, I'll tell you.” Emily cleared her throat, her voice almost unable to come out because those strong hands were choking her. “I made a mistake in proposing that question to you.”“Please forgive me; I didn't want to go to these extremes; it's just that I'm very worried.” Angelo whispered, letting go of her neck, “I know she's in danger; besides, I'm having the same symptoms as when she was pregnant with my twins; I hope it's just my psychosis.”“Angelo, I understand you. Hold on; I'll calm down, or I'll end up in an ambulance.” Emily exhaled, speaking fast, took a deep breath, mentally repeating the mantras that helped her calm down, and continued, “Please don't tell her that I was the gossip rat.”“You can tell her that I made you; although you will have to come with me, we must plan a way to rescue her.” Angelo picked up the hamburger again to eat it.“I remember when Ximena found me after we were separated because we were adopted by different families. She took me to e