CHAPTER 19

I guess those two remotes are both for Sanders’ wonderful TNT suite. Also, I have a feeling Justine won’t drop her zapper. Honestly, I don’t think she would even drop the soap in jail. She doesn’t seem the type.

And she smiles and I wonder what the hell she has to smile at. She could be out of her mind just like her boss and experience tells me that lunatics are much worse than regular villains. Which means that we are fucked. Which means that I have to find a way to solve this or we’ll blow up all together, like a little family.

My gunshot wounds are hurting too much and soon I won’t be able to stand up straight anymore. Probably I’ll faint but not now. Not now, Dante, take a long breath and please keep your fucking cool and think. Think. Think.

My vision blurs for a second and I bite my tongue, strongly, until I can taste blood. Everything in my sight returns sharp and clear, immediately. Okay. Breathe, now. Breathe and think and forget about the wounds. Think.

I could shoot Sanders in the head. And Justine would push the button. I could shoot Justine. And Sanders would push the button. It doesn’t work. One gun and two targets. This is so fucked up. I could throw a look at Shane, who is still holding the other gun, and hope she’ll take the hint and shoot one of them. But I can’t risk that. Shane is not a sniper. The same goes for Carmen.

And in any event, I don’t want them to have their hands dirty, I don’t want them to kill anyone. I know something about conscience and how it hurts, at night, when you’re alone with yourself and you think about how easily you took somebody’s life away. I don’t want them to feel the way I have felt… and I will feel.

Because the truth is that I didn’t want to kill anyone else in my life. That’s one of the reasons why I left the Corps. But tonight I had no other choice. And another interesting truth is that I’ll kill even that chick and Sanders if I’m forced to. At this point, it really doesn’t matter anymore. The only thing that matters is that we need to get out of here – alive.