Sofia Sullivan must have been awake and attentive.Just a few minutes ago, she'd been named the best employee in the coffee shop; how could she not live up to it?But she wanted to squeeze her eyes shut for a long minute. Breathe too."How will I pay all these debts?" she asked herself after had done her math.She found it ironic to say that money wasn't everything, but far more ironic the awards she was given before went home. Her landlady gave her an ultimatum, she had to pay the rent that week. The debt was for two months. If she didn't want to go live in a shelter, the best thing to do was to catch up.These were difficult times. He hadn't been receiving support from the municipality for months and his salary wasn't enough. It was a good job, but still not enough. The accounts did not lie, she was in the red. Standing behind the cash register of the café where she worked, still wearing her apron, she kept writing in her little notebook the various strategies that her dull head des
"What do you mean...? Theft? I've never stolen anything in my life!"Vos kept his words to himself, but he wanted to believe her."You can't take me without any information, this is a kidnapping! Who has reported me for theft? Who?!""We ask you to remain silent until we arrive," the rookie growled, receiving a stern look from his superior.Vos glanced at the center mirror and met Sofia's burning gaze.He swallowed hard. Stopped at a traffic light, a beam of daylight painted those eyes and he could see them more clearly. He immediately wanted to detail them, to see them up close and corroborate their innocence.Sofia remained silent, but held his gaze with determination, not being intimidated by him, not even by the journey he was taking into an uncertain future. Still breathing fast and her nerves on edge, she carried a tangled mess inside her head trying to figure out who could have put her in a patrol car as if she were a criminal.She was thinking about her little boy, only one-ye
The policeman's face froze on hearing such news. He cursed to himself, but at the same time, his questions grew. The Cliff family was everywhere: in business, in banks, in politics, in the courts, and the police. He belonged to the Intelligence Department, and it wasn't his job to investigate cases close to them, but everyone at the station knew that the Internal Affairs Department pursued anyone linked to police corruption and the strongest version: that this corruption was sponsored by the Cliffs and their business. It was never his jurisdiction to catch white collars, but he knew who the leaders of those mafias were. His boss gave him Sofia's case, which mentioned Gael as the plaintiff. He was only taking her to the station; now he understood the reason for making her enter from behind and take her to the special interrogation room. He had thought it was for avoiding ordinary paperwork and not for anything worse.Vos looked at her for several seconds and bit his lower lip, thinking
"Did you get to the daycare?" "Yes, I'm walking toward the entrance," Officer Raymond St. John commented. "I'll charge you for this one."Vos, still standing in front of the door that locked Miss Sullivan in, gave instructions to one of your greatest allies in the police force."Don't let anyone touch that baby, and make sure the caregivers aren't complicit in anything.""Got it."About to hang up, Officer Vos listened:"Why are you doing all this for her? How long have you known her?"Vos paid no attention and hung up without answering. And it was better not to, especially since he didn't know what to say.He looked straight ahead, not focusing his eyes on anything, he needed to find a way to communicate with her without the cameras recording.Just as he decided to move from there with an idea in mind, he heard a noise to his right.Vos squinted, scanning the three people walking through the glass door, the same one the rookie walked through.One of his Intelligence colleagues, dres
Sofia opened her mouth wide and felt as if the ceiling was falling on her. She wanted to articulate words, but she couldn't, the lump in her throat fortified, imprisoning her, as well as the agonizing feeling of the walls threatening to crush her. "This..." She looked at the woman, then at the glass. And making silence for a couple of seconds, she understood that what was happening there seemed like a circus in bad taste. "Where is he?" Her words broke through the pressure of her teeth. "Where is Gael?! Is he there? He is there watching everything, isn't he? Gael! Look at me, Gael, look at my face, what have I done to you to make you do this to me? Why are you doing this to me?!" Both women jumped when they heard the door open unexpectedly. "What the hell is going on here!" the policewoman exclaimed. "I'm in the middle of an interrogation." It was the rookie. "Excuse me, Lieutenant, we have some very important information for you to review." "What information? This is absurd."
(Five years later). "Are you sure you want to leave? There's still time." Dolores Sullivan's anguish was evident in her freckled face and her accentuated expression lines. Standing in the Barajas airport, Sofia and her sister said goodbye. "Mom, is it true that Aunt can't come with us?" Both women crinkled their faces tenderly, looking down at Liam's sad little face, even though he was already six years old. Sofia bent down to talk to him face to face. Dolores would if it weren't for her tears, which she was trying to hide. "Honey, aunt has to stay for work, you know that, right? But at Christmas, she's coming home to celebrate it with us. Do you like that idea?" The little dark brown-haired boy, a color that was changing with time, nodded with a kind of smile, not very convinced by what his mommy was saying. "Hey, buddy, give me five," Dolores asked with a clean face and high-fiving him. "Time will fly by. In less than a rooster's crow, we will all be with the family." The c
"Mom, why do I have to go to school today? We only arrived the night before last." Sofia was surprised by the mature way her son spoke, besides, everything he said was not without logic, since it was true, just a couple of days ago at most, they arrived in New York and from that city they traveled by train to Albany, specifically to an area called Stone Village, almost on the outskirts. They arrived at the lodging in the wee hours of the morning and slept practically all day, recovering their strength at night with the idea of getting ready to go to school at the beginning of the school year. "Honey, I know it's been hard, but I couldn't make it earlier, I couldn't get other flights, not even direct ones, and even less on other dates. I understand you so much, honey. I'm tired too because I have to teach classes, but everything will be fine, I promise." She squeezed her little Liam in a warm embrace, already inside the cab that was taking them to their destination. Sofia didn't sto
Leonel began to feel sick. Sitting in his assigned chair at the celebration, he felt trapped inside himself, as if he were a very heavy, archaic, out-of-sea diving suit. He couldn't focus on anything, nor could he hear with precision the words of the hosts who were joining the stage, who were explaining the functions of that building. He could not take his eyes off Sofia, from whom he moved away thanks to the protocol, now having her on his left, quite a few seats away, sitting there, among the people, looking at him as well. He averted her eyes when he felt a sudden dizziness; he had to inhale and exhale, take deep breaths in an attempt to calm the array of things he felt. He had never imagined seeing her again, never thought would meet her in the United States, let alone that the surprise would sting. She seemed to be smiling and that was worse. «What are you doing here? Since when are you in the country? What are you doing here?!» he reiterated to himself, breathing harder, try
"Thank you for waiting," Sofia said to Raymond after she had asked his permission to go and change. She was not so foolish as not to notice the looks he gave her as soon as she approached. Raymond rose from the furniture to politely greet her in the living room, where he made himself comfortable while waiting for the teacher. He sat back down when she did. Sofia in a single-seater and he in the three-seater armchair. "Okay, Raymond, tell me, what's going on? What are you doing in San Juan?" "Nothing's going on, Sofia. I know it may seem strange for you to travel back here, but I needed to do a few things here on the island. As you may have noticed, I work together with Leonel. You will likely see me often when it comes to his business." "Okay, it's fine, although I don't understand much, you manage at your own pace. Where is he?""He's busy." Ray avoided the pressure of his jaw. She stared at him. "He tightened the security in this house, then you come... Why all this? And why
It was already 20:00hrs in San Juan, and Leonel had not answered a couple of calls and text messages. Frank called her, explaining his boss sent word that he would contact her soon and apologized for the inconvenience and absence, he was attending to matters that consumed all his time. Half an hour after she hung up the short conversation with Mr. Loman, Liliana arrived out of her working hours, bringing with her a couple of pizzas and soft drinks, plus some desserts that, according to the cook, were sent by Mr. Vos as an apology. Sofia didn't say anything, but it all seemed very strange to her. However, she didn't know exactly what Leonel's work routines were like, the exact things he was dedicated to, she didn't know the details of his specific tasks. Food plans at Larry's school? In other schools or NGOs? Sale of the articles he saw that time when he invited her to dinner? Coordination of companies, management of shares, assets, protocol acts, commitments with personalities, inv
Frank sat in front of his boss's bed, who was lying down, resting from an operation on his left arm. Mr. Vos would recover, but the bullet wound tore the muscle, entering from the shoulder and exiting a point below, causing cracks and splinters in the forearm bone. The businessman should have been operated on immediately, but Frank himself, aided by the family doctor and his influences, arranged to leave the hospital as soon as possible. After what had happened, they couldn't risk staying inside the medical center at the mercy of any of Gael Cliff's henchmen. "Now this looks like a clinic," Mark joked, entering the room and speaking in a low tone so as not to wake Vos. "What the hell happened?" he asked, already seated in another corner of the room. "I think that Mr. Cliff wanted to prove a point of authority over Leonel, albeit a messy one. He didn't ask very intelligent questions. He insisted on knowing where his son's mother was and by logic, he must already know. We thought he
Sofia was not feeling well that day, it seemed that the previous night's dinner had gone bad for her.She experienced a fever in the early morning, which she cured on her own by taking medicine. "Liam?" she said to her son, who was entering her room. She stretched to check the time on her cell phone. It was about 06:00 in the morning. "Mommy, are you okay? Why aren't you out of bed yet?" Sofia wrinkled her eyebrows tenderly as she saw her little boy worried and talking in his tiny voice. "Oh, honey. Yes, I've been feeling a little sick since last night, but I'm better now. I'll be changing soon, okay? Now, tell me something, I see you already dressed, why did you get up so early?" She was really surprised to see her son ready to go to school when there was more than an hour left for his classes to start. "I woke up to a noise." She accentuated the furrowing of her brows. Liam was not a light sleeper, especially at night, as opposed to naps, the few times he took them. "What no
"I'd love to put a bullet between those wretched eyebrows," Gael growled. "I don't know what you're waiting for." Gael looked into Leonel's dark eyes. "If you won't do it, then put that gun down, your arm is going to get tired," Leonel said.Gael took a couple of seconds, but he lowered the gun and smiled as if he was dumbfounded by something in particular. "Leo-Leo, the businessman who orders." He laughed. "I'll pretend that none of your detective friends are around here, somewhere in the walls or on the ceiling, waiting for me to say something that will bring the fucking police here." He pointed around with his gun and gestured with his free hand. "I'll also pretend I'm crazy enough to imagine you've already made a deal with your old Intelligence department to turn me in like a Thanksgiving turkey. Anyway, I came all this way so that you could tell me yourself what you intend to do with Sophia and what the plan is to use her. I certainly don't know exactly where you've taken her
Everyone would know perfectly well that the place was not watched by any camera. Only a few knew that Leonel once, not so distant that time, came to own shares of the place, that after parading almost completely from Gael's ranks, he sold those shares to never again own anything that would link him to Mr. Cliff. However, Leonel kept going to that improvised gym, a huge and transformed shed with a wide space, almost as big as a mini hangar, but he did it in very specific cases, those in which the businessman needed to touch from time to time that opaque world devoid of feelings. The parking lot was open; no one could notice anything strange; it was just vehicles entering the site like any other night; with the difference that day, it would be closed for training. Neither Frank nor he said anything at all, silence was the best behavior they could perform as they drove the van into the large covered parking lot of the shed. Both gentlemen could see the Nordic man standing by the back d
The hours passed under great tension. Frank was worried about his boss, who had not left his room all afternoon, after moving from the mini-mall back to the building to get ready before going to meet Gael Cliff. Mark was prescribed rest that day, as he had hardly had any, so he didn't notice their arrival on the floor. The time to leave for the meeting at Troy arrived, Loman was to let Mr. Vos know that they were to leave. Leonel permitted him to enter the bedroom after hearing the knock on the door. Loman found him readying his gun and placing it behind his back, pulling his jacket over his black sweater, and tucking his gloves into his pockets. He turned and Frank could see the determination washing over his boss's face. "All set?" Vos asked. "Yes, sir. The team is waiting downstairs and another one has already started." "Raymond?" "Monitor the area. He left for there an hour ago." Leonel nodded. With his bulletproof vest on over his sweater, his thick jacket with zipper i
Liliana gave a splendid smile. She sat down in one of the high chairs across the counter from the teacher. "Boricuas love romance as much as we love to party. And we can smell the chemistry of two people a mile away." She shrugged and stood up. "I don't know what the story is between you, but there's candela, there's candela pura." Sofia laughed, felt her cheeks flush, and hated herself for it. What the cook said reminded her of some people back in Spain. "You take me back to my years in Madrid. By the way, I met some of your fellow countrymen there. Not many, mostly clients of the restaurant where I worked. Are you usually that extroverted all the time?" "Well, what can I tell you? Yes, yes we are. Not all of us, but it's something that is definitely in our blood." She pointed to her arm. It's inevitable, you know? And it gets rough when we get infatuated with someone. And wham, there we are, watching and seeing everything, so we don't miss anything." Sofia loved the accent of
Sofia furrowed as she saw one of the guards sitting in front of the house. "New position?" she asked Mr. Francisco, as she sat in the front passenger seat of the vehicle. The teacher had steadfastly refused to ride in the back seat next to Liam, especially when they were just going to school, it also happened when they went shopping. Sofia still felt uncomfortable with so much privilege. "I think Mr. Vos transferred him to that job today." The chauffeur almost shrugged. "But we already have to go with a security team back there." She looked in the rearview mirror, spotting the vehicle following them; at that moment, it was parked next to the curb, just like them. "Live with another team surrounding the house, have fixed communications on recording alert in case a suspicious call comes in, not to mention the alarms activated 24 hours a day, the cameras around the perimeter..." "And some of them are living by the pool, right mom?" Liam interjected with his innocent voice to complet