Christina's punch hit Leon hard, sending him reeling backwards. Pain pulsed in his mouth as he tried to understand what had just happened. Christina remained motionless, staring at him with intense eyes."I thought you were different." Christina growled, her voice filled with restrained anger. Then she shouted: "I thought you were here because I had no choice.Still holding his chin, the boy replied:"I was kidnapped in the dead of night. Of course I don't want to be here!""You tortured your ex. I heard her screams.""Stay out of it.""Don't be cynical, Leon. You have choices, even here. And you chose to become a monster."Christina's gaze was piercing, a mixture of disappointment and disgust. Leon could feel the weight of her words piercing his conscience. "You don't know who she was. What she put me through.""I heard everything that was said in there. And even that doesn't justify it."Leon turned aggressive immediately:"What are you, some kind of moral authority? Who gave you t
Leon didn't want to think about anything but one thing: his revenge.Even though he was now trapped, caged and at the mercy of a crazy woman who shot people whenever she wanted, he knew it was only a matter of time before it was all over.The whole thing, whatever it was, would end.Sasha never said exactly what her final plan was. She just systematically created teams, sent them to strategic places in the city and ordered certain items to be stolen from there. And, at the end of the missions, she would smile like a madwoman and dismiss everyone.It had been two days since Brittany had been caught and tortured. Leon hadn't seen her anywhere since, and frankly, he didn't want to look for her, even after Alex had argued that the girl might have some useful information.The question that wouldn't go away was: how had Sasha allowed Alex to be so bold, interrupting what would have been a torture session and then death, and not eliminated him on the spot?Leon tossed and turned in bed, unab
It wasn't easy to look away from her full breasts, but the boy did it."You're crazy," Leon muttered, looking away, trying to keep his composure in the face of the uncomfortable situation.Sasha laughed, a sound full of malice and triumph."Crazy? Maybe. But you can't deny that it's tempting, can you?" she teased, leaning forward even more, her eyes shining with a dangerous intensity."Well... yes.""Well?"As if to tempt him further, Sasha removed her long skirt, showing off her red lingerie. Leon felt a trickle of sweat running down his back.It could only be a trick, something to unsettle him. But..."Sasha, stop it," he said, his voice sounding firmer than before, although his expression betrayed a certain nervousness.The woman smiled like the devil, as if amused by his discomfort."Why resist, Leon? You know you want this as much as I do," she said, taking a few more steps towards him.The boy's body betrayed him. A heat seized inside his chest, spreading to the rest of his limb
"The first phase has been successfully completed."Sasha, proud, smiled triumphantly as she showed all her prisoners the performance of the last two months. A screen behind her indicated all the boxes that had been stolen and replaced, a total of one hundred.Then, placing both hands on her waist, the woman spoke in an even more cheerful tone:"Now we'll be starting the second phase."Leon, who couldn't look Alex, Christina or Brittany in the eye, stood among the other young adults, wondering what the woman meant by that.The truth was that all that kept Leon there, with or without the chance of revenge against Brittany's father, was shame. How would he face his own father after that? "You must be wondering what you're going to do next. I suggest you don't interrupt me, because I'm not going to speak twice, and the one who interrupts me will deeply regret his arrogant attitude."Wisely, everyone remained quiet, in a church-like silence."The second phase is a natural extension of the
"Many of you are already expert invaders," Sasha's voice sounded. She was again showing images on the giant screen, her voice serious and captivating at the same time. "Trained to sneak in and out of places as discreetly as possible. However, today you will need to be seen. Seen and heard."None of the men and women in the room said anything. The silence was such that you could even hear the sound of the woman's heels."As I said before, you will have to infiltrate key places in the city. You'll obviously be very well disguised, and if you don't do anything stupid, you'll be able to fool everyone. Remember, of course, that the people you're about to see don't tolerate spies. So even if they make the mistake of trying to ask for help, just by being there, they'll be killed immediately."Leon, standing in one corner of the huge room, looked to one side. Alex wasn't looking at him, in fact, he seemed to be purposely ignoring him. Brittany was nowhere in sight and neither was Christina.S
Leon couldn't utter a single word.Not even if he wanted to.Brittany, who hadn't noticed or cared about the boy's shock, continued:"Those bombs are stolen technology. They were made with the obvious intention of serving as a weapon of war, but then confiscated for breaking some laws of war.""But those boxes were in megacorporations. That doesn't make any sense," Leon finally managed to say. "Shouldn't they be in barracks or something?""I don't know everything, Leon, just a few details. That's the point, Sasha probably wants to know how much they know about it."Leon struggled to process the torrent of information Brittany was pouring over him. The idea that they were inadvertently involved in a plan to destroy the city was overwhelming."So, what do we do now?" asked Leon, his mind spinning as he tried to devise a plan of action.Brittany looked at him with determination. "We need to find a way to disarm these bombs before Sasha sets them off. And that means finding out where the
The chief of police was exactly as Leon had imagined: polished, polite, somewhat reserved and not very willing to smile. He shook his head to indicate something, drank little and was always attentive.Leon, sitting in front of him playing the role he had been assigned to play, just hoped that the man wouldn't doubt his intentions.If the boy had been a little more impulsive and inconsequential, Leon would probably have thrown everything away and told him everything he knew about Sasha, asked for help and even promised resources after it was all over - an alliance between millionaire and policeman would have been a great help.But he wasn't. He could be a monster, as he had told Brittany, but even monsters know their limits.So instead, he just smiled in a plastic, vulgar way at Mr. Paxton and asked, following the script that Sasha had ordered him to follow if he was approached:"So you've never posed for a police search? I'm surprised."The chief of police, Mr. Paxton, looked at Leon
Leon knew he had crossed a line in the sand.Worse still, he knew that there was a very real chance that he would pay with his life, if the delegate was in fact an imposter and a very obvious decoy that Sasha had planted in the middle of the scene.What made him take courage and write down the distress call in his notebook was simple.The image of his father.Brittany was still a dirty, foul-mouthed, unscrupulous bitch and deserved to be treated as such, but she was right to say that no, Leon wouldn't stand by and watch the city turn to ashes, not if his father was right in the middle of the rubble.How would Mr. Juan be now, finding himself alone in a city where he was the father of the poor little rich boy no one really cared about? Standing next to his own team, clenching his fists as he remembered how he had been kidnapped and brought into that world of inescapable horror, Leon stared at Sasha without showing any fear or trepidation. Everyone there was silent, waiting patiently f