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The drive to Toledo took forever. And the silence between them was tense, oppressive, unbearable and could be cut with a knife.
Raquel drove the car, her eyes fixed steely on the road ahead of her, her fingertips gripping the steering wheel tightly. She had something much stronger than suspicion this time: she had a grudge, she had rage, she felt poison.
Sergio sat in the passenger seat, handcuffed and motionless. He knew he could have probably overpowered her as she drove, but he didn’t. Firstly, resisting arrest would have assumed guilt, but secondly, he didn’t know exactly what Raquel knew or what her plan was. Something had happened to alert her to his real identity at the Hanoi, but he didn’t know what. Yet the fact that he wasn’t already behind bars at the police station in Madrid and instead they were on their way to Toledo meant that something much deeper was going on. No, Sergio thought, he had to find out and regain her trust. Therefore he would wait until there was a more appropriate moment, and hope to god he wasn’t wrong.
Finally they arrived at the house in Toledo. It was deserted after the crime scene investigators had raided the place the day before. The only remnants remaining were the police ‘do not cross’ crime scene tape left surrounding the house and across the front door.
Raquel parked the car, immediately grabbing her gun and pointing it at Sergio. Not hesitating, she got out of the car and circled to the passenger door, gun still on him. Roughly, she yanked him from the car and with her gun poking into his back, she directed him under the police crime scene tape, to the front door and into the house. Up the stairs and into the loft attic, Sergio was edged forward, the sensation of the cold metal of Raquel’s gun pointed into his back.
In the doorway, Raquel paused, her eyes scanning the room until she saw what she was looking for. With another jab to his back with her gun, she forced Sergio forward until he was in the corner of the room facing the wall. “Don’t move,” she ordered, her voice cold.
Sergio didn’t reply and stood still, his senses heightened as he listened to Raquel move about the room. There was sound of metal clinking together and Sergio remembered the thick metal chain left lying about on the other side of the room. Minutes past as he waited, listening intently to the mixed sounds of Raquel’s heaving breaths and metal clanking together and he wondered what she was doing.
Finally, he felt the gun being prodded into his back again. “Turn around.” He did slowly, his eyes fixing on hers. They were steely, her gaze unyielding.
“Now,” she ordered, her voice calm and steady but full of authority. “This is what is going to happen: I’m going to uncuff you and remove your coat and search you. Then I’m going to chain you up there.” She inclined her head to the side. Sergio followed her gaze to see that she’d set up the thick metal chain around the large centre beam that ran across the dilapidated ceiling.
“Don’t even attempt to try anything,” Raquel warned coldly. “I will not hesitate to shoot you.”
Raquel uncuffed Sergio and began to search him thoroughly. He didn’t resist, but he kept his eyes firmly fixed on Raquel the whole time as pulled his shirt out from his trousers, loosened his tie and ran her hands up and down his body, frisking him for any concealed weapons or anything else he might have been hiding. She’d already confiscated his phone at the Hanoi before they’d gotten in the car.
The fierce way she was roughly searching him, not bothering to care whether or not she was hurting him contrasted completely with the previous time she’d run her hands up and down his body. That time, only the night before, had been very different as they were in the throes of lovemaking, their passion and desire for each other completely overtaking all other senses. How could he forget the gentleness of her fingertips caressing softly and lovingly across his chest, soothing his bruises then down to his hardened erection to stroke him up and down erotically? Or the tenderness of her lips and her warm kisses as she explored his body with her mouth? Sergio gulped, trying to rid his mind of those lustful thoughts.
When she was satisfied he was clean, Raquel chained Sergio up to the ceiling. Raquel then turned away from him, walking over to the other side of the room where she took her time to put down her purse and phone then discard her suit jacket.
Sergio watched her warily. There was silence in the room, apart from Raquel’s footsteps pacing back and forth. The wait was agonizing but the atmosphere was almost electrifying as she moved slowly and deliberately, pacing back and forth across the room, almost like she was contemplating exactly what she was going to do to him. Her inner fury bubbling away under the surface, while she presented a front of being completely calm and fully in control.
Finally she began to speak, yet she still didn't look at him. Her voice quivered a fraction, the only crack in her steely façade, betraying her emotions slightly. “You know what guilty people do when they’re taken to the crime scene? They don’t stop talking: about the weather, politics, they even joke around. Because they’re nervous, because they can’t bear the silence. But you,” Raquel finally spun around to confront him, her gaze accusational. “You don’t say a thing.”
Sergio shifted nervously, arms bound high above his head. “What do you want me to talk about, Raquel?”
She flinched slightly, eyes narrowing, like she was shocked by his stoic attitude to his arrest and imprisonment. “What’s your name?” she asked, voice calm but firm, her hands on her hips.
“Sergio Marquina,” he responded. It was obvious Raquel knew something after the arrest charge she’d read out when she’d cuffed him in that bathroom at the Hanoi. There was no reason to continue lying to her. And he hoped giving her the truth would instil trust.
“Sergio?” Raquel repeated, her tone scoffing. “Salva? The Professor?” She took slow careful steps towards him. “The person who escaped all the police, the CNI and the Special Corps in check? The man I’ve been speaking with the last five days on the phone…” Her voice began to rise, trembling slightly as she became more heightened and angry. “…Who I told what colour my blouse was and even how often I orgasmed?” She paused, glaring daggers at him. “So which one are you, then?” Raquel demanded.
Sergio was silent. He was all of them.
“Why aren’t your fingerprints stored in the national ID database?” Raquel asked.
A beat, a second wait before Sergio found his voice, stuttering slightly. “W-well, because I stopped renewing them before they went digital.”
“When?”
“Um… more than 20 years ago.”
Raquel let out a short laugh of disbelief, then spun away from him, as thoughts flew rapidly through her head. “That opens up a world of possibilities, doesn't it?” she remarked sardonically. “Because no one would report the disappearance of a man who simply just doesn’t exist.” A pause. “I guess I won’t even have to try hard when I burn your corpse.” Slowly Raquel pivoted around to face him again, glaring forcefully.
“Is that what you want?” Sergio asked, his breath catching in his throat. “To kill me and burn me?”
Another beat. A flicker of the eyes as Raquel considered it. “Yes,” she replied. No hesitation. “I want that.” The statement was definite. Real. Fearsome.
A breath; a mere fraction of a second past as a plan began to form in her head. A sly smile graced her lips as she stared intently at him. “In fact, I think that’s a very good idea,” Raquel muttered, almost to herself.
The way she was looking at him; cold and calculating, Sergio suddenly realised she was serious, deadly serious. It sent a chill down his spine and he was gripped with fear. He’d completely misjudged her.
Raquel smiled again, but it was a creepy sort of evil smile like she was contemplating the various different ways she could kill him. “But of course,” she began, licking her lips a tad. “Before any of that, there are questions that I feel need to be answered. You know as… as an Inspector I probably shouldn’t be saying any of this to the individual who organised the entire hijacking of the Royal Mint.”
Raquel moved so close to Sergio that he could feel her breath hot on his face. “But as a woman… as a woman who has spent years of her life being afraid of everything…” Her voice cracked. “Asshole! Who finally trusted again and trusted someone who knew just how vulnerable she is, who’s been fooling her from the beginning. From the fucking beginning!” Her voice shook with a mix of emotion and rage.
Sergio finally understood. This was not just about him being the Professor, the mastermind of the heist that Royal Mint – if it were, he would already be behind bars. No, this was all about her and him – them together, his cruel deception of her and how he had hurt her and cut her deep. Really deep and there was no denying it.
“Why?” she asked, almost pleading. “Why didn’t you just walk up and then talk to me and plant a bug on me, as opposed to sleeping with me?”
Sergio wouldn’t meet her eyes as she continued to unleash her anger at him. He didn’t know what to say. She was right about everything. He should have kept it clean: clinical, completely according to the plan. But instead, he’d let his guard down and let her in, deviated from his plan and given into his own desires. No wonder she felt like he’d used her. He was an asshole.
“But no. No, you couldn’t,” she cried, scoffing. Another quivering breath as her eyes darted wildly. “Yesterday, everything was so good. Shit. We talked about the future. The future!” Her voice cracked with emotion. He felt it also: the shattered promise, the crushed dream. He’d wanted it so very badly too – to run away, to escape, to have a life with her. Now, everything was gone.
“Who the hell are you, huh?” she demanded. “What are you, some disturbed fuck?”
He held her gaze, the weight of her words resting heavily on him. “I-it was all planned out, Raquel,” finally Sergio managed to stammer, words tumbling from his mouth, desperately trying to somehow explain. “Everything. All of it. I’m so sorry. It was all planned out, except what happened between us. I… I don’t know. I broke my own rules. I didn’t consider that variable.”
“What the hell are you saying?” Raquel cried, confused. “What variable?”
“Falling in love with you,” Sergio admitted. Whether or not he should, Sergio wanted to tell her his feelings, even if it was to be the only time he got to say it. He loved her with every fibre of his being – he loved her and he needed to say it.
Reacting with a combination of surprise and hurt, Raquel suddenly slapped him, and slapped him hard. It stung.
“Do you really think I’m gonna let you go on with this fucking show? Huh?” she yelled, hysterical. “You son of a bitch! That I’m just gonna sit back while you keep lying to my fucking face as if I was some stupid 15-year old girl?”
“I’m not lying to you, Raquel,” Sergio was insistent. He needed her to understand what he felt; what the truth actually was. “I’m in love with you.”
His confession tipped Raquel over the edge. She slapped him again, even harder than the first time. “Say it one more time,” she egged him on, eyes blazing with fury. “Just one more time. I dare you to say it one more time.”
“Raquel,” Sergio took his time to say it slowly and clearly, his eyes fixed firmly on her. “I’m in love with you.”
And that broke her. Her entire body trembling with a mixture of hurt and rage, she slapped him hard a final time. Sergio took the full force of her blow but didn’t retaliate. Instead, he looked her deep in the eye, apologising again. “I’m so sorry.”
Breathing hard in and out of her nose, Raquel swallowed against the hard lump in her throat and blinked away the couple of tears that had started to form in her eyes. Her chest heaved up and down and she stared intently at him, like she was trying to work out what to do next. Finally, talking a step back, Raquel pursed her lips together and gave a faint nod like she’d made a decision. Then she spun on her heel, quickly grabbing her phone and purse as she fled the room.
Left alone, Sergio yanked at the chains at the ceiling that were keeping him bound, but they wouldn’t give: Raquel had secured him too well. He even tried to lift his body weight up several times using his core muscles, flinging his legs this way and in the hope that the beam the chains were wound around would give way. But alas, nothing. It wouldn’t budge. He let out a grunt in frustration. He had to escape but he didn’t know how. He needed to think his way out of his situation. As long as he was still breathing, anything was possible. He would never quit trying.
Straining sideways to look out the window, Sergio could just make out Raquel getting in her car then taking off. He didn’t know where she was going but he suspected that it wouldn’t be long before she returned and that would be the end. Her heightened emotional state and the furious and merciless look in her eyes told him that there was no doubt that she would carry out her threat to kill him.
Sometime later, maybe an hour or so, Raquel returned. The sound of her wedged-heeled boots thundered on the stairs, like she’d taken them two at a time and in mere seconds, she was back in the attic standing right in front of him. She drew her gun out of the holster, pointing it at him with one hand, while the other hand reached upwards and unlocked the handcuffs attached to the metal chain wrapped around the ceiling beam.
“Let’s go,” she ordered flatly, her voice devoid of emotion. A quick prod of the gun into his ribs forced Sergio to walk. He hesitated after a couple of steps, contemplating how easy it would be to suddenly spin around and disarm her.
Almost like she read his thoughts, the gun moved to the back of his head, her hand firm on his shoulder. “Don't even think about it,” her voice hissed in his ear.
Raquel walked Sergio out to the car and instinctively, he made to go towards the passenger side. “No, no, no,” she stopped him. “Not this time. I need you to drive.”
Opening the car door, she shoved him inside, hand on his head so he wouldn’t bang it police style. She jammed her gun into his side as she reached over his body to put on his seatbelt for him, then she quickly moved around to the passenger side and got in, her gun pointed on him the whole time.
Reaching over, she put the keys in the ignition and ordered Sergio to start the car. He sat motionless. “I’ll need my hands free if I’m going to drive the car,” he stated.
But Raquel shook her head. “No, you can hold the steering wheel just fine as you are. I can’t trust you to free you. Now drive.” The gun was poked harder into the soft spot on his waist between the bottom of his ribs and his hip bone.
Sergio turned his head sideways towards her. The severe and determined look on Raquel’s face told him he had no choice. He exhaled deeply as he started up the car and began to drive. It was a little awkward driving with his hands still cuffed together, but there was just enough space between his wrists to be able to hold the wheel effectively and steer.
The drive was long and it was done in complete silence, except for the times that Raquel gave him directions. She kept one hand on the gun prodding into his ribs, while the other one gripped her phone as she followed the map to their unknown destination. As they drove along, the roads got quieter and quieter as they left the main highways and turned off onto empty country roads. Eventually, they even left the sealed roads in favour of a dirt track that led out into the middle of nowhere.
Sergio knew what she was doing and where she was taking him: somewhere isolated and remote where she could kill him, dispose of his body and no one would ever know. His heart thumped wildly in his chest. He was absolutely fucked.
“Raquel…” he began.
“Don’t call me that,” she shot back immediately.
“Why?” he questioned, flicking his eyes sideways at her, then back to the road. “It's your name.”
“My name. Ha!” she snarled sarcastically, letting out a low laugh and flexing her jaw. “Names… they’re a funny thing, right? A simple little thing that people use all the time. But the fact is, you weren’t honest about yours, Sergio,” she spat, “therefore you’ve lost the right to use mine.”
Before he could respond, she gave another direction to turn off the dirt track and they drove for approximately another five minutes through the woods until they reached a clearing. Raquel then told him to stop the car.
Glancing around him, Sergio shuddered. They really were in the middle of nowhere. Nothing around. It was completely deserted. He’d tried to mentally remember each turn along the way to return to the main highway, if, for some chance, he managed to get himself out the predicament he was currently in. Apart from being terrified about his own imminent situation, he was very aware of the drastic impact that his disappearance and possible subsequent death would have on his gang still in the Mint.
Sergio didn’t quite know what time it was but he knew it wouldn’t be long before he missed his next check-in call with Berlin at the Mint. And if he missed that call, a back-up alternative plan would be put in place by his gang assuming that Sergio had either been compromised and arrested, or was dead (which could be potentially true if Raquel carried out her threat to kill him).
After commanding Sergio to stay put, Raquel got out of the car. But instead of going around to the driver’s side door, she locked the car then opened the trunk. She hauled a large coil of thick rope over her shoulder then made her way towards a nearby tree. She threw the rope over a large branch overhead, looping it over several times before tugging it firmly as to test its strength. She tied the rope securely, leaving part of it dangling down. Then returning to his side of the car, Raquel opened the door with one hand, the other held her gun straight at Sergio.
“Out,” Raquel ordered. When he hesitated to move, roughly she yanked him out of the car and hauled him towards where she’d rigged up the rope. She placed her gun back in her holster momentarily while she secured Sergio’s handcuffed wrists to the rope, once more tying him up with his arms high above his head so there was no way he could manipulate to free himself.
Raquel stood back and peered at him intently, her brow furrowing slightly in consideration. Yet, she didn’t speak. Instead, she turned around then took off her gun holster, laying it down on a nearby log. Slowly and methodically, Raquel began to unbutton her blouse, stripping off the light blue material from her shoulders and placing it down next to her gun. She reached for a nearby twig from the ground and used it to whip her hair up into a bun.
Sergio stood rooted to the spot and watched as mechanically and systematically, Raquel began to gather wood. She dragged a few large branches into a pile in the centre of the clearing. “What are you doing?” Sergio asked.
“What does it look like, asshole?” She shot a furious look over her shoulder at him. “I’m making a huge fucking fire to burn your body after I kill you.”
Her words sent a shiver down his spine. As much as Sergio had keeping hoping that perhaps her threats were empty, as more time went on, the more certain he was becoming of his fate.
There were a lot of small branches and pieces of wood scattered around the clearing and between the nearby trees. But very quickly, Raquel realised that it would not be enough, not nearly enough for the large bonfire she intended on building. She stopped, placing her hands on her hips as she assessed the situation. There were several larger logs and branches from fallen trees, but they were too big and heavy for her to move by herself. Luckily, she’d come prepared. Spinning on her heel, Raquel marched back to the car and retrieved the large axe from the trunk of the car.
Sergio’s eyes widened as Raquel walked over to the nearest log and swung the axe. While some wood chips flew off, the axe barely made a dent. Another chop and a bit more wood flew off, some progress made. Her muscles flexed and rolled as she whacked the axe again into the wood. She grunted loudly as her arms twisted and raised above her shoulders, ready for the next strike. She hit again and again, furiously attempting to chop the large branches and logs, with letting out more loud grunts, cries and hisses with each blow. Beads of sweat formed on her forehead and down her back due to the heat of the late afternoon sun and all the strenuous effort she was putting in.
Sergio felt a mix of emotions as he watched Raquel trying her best to cut the wood. Of course he was terrified of what she was planning on doing to him. But at least she’d planned to kill him first before burning him – the thought of the other way around – burning him to death, gave him the chills. Yet, as Raquel continued to unleash her rage and frustration on the wood with the axe, Sergio really felt responsible about everything that had led to that moment. Her pain, her anguish, her anger – he had caused it all. Yes, he had intended on making contact with her using his fake alias of Salva to get close to her during the heist, but he had not planned, predicted or anticipated how quickly their relationship would move from strangers to friends to something much, much more than friends: to falling in love.
He had deceived her, that was true and it was plainly obvious that her act of retaliation and revenge was purely fuelled by her crushed emotions and feelings of betrayal due to him. He was sorry, of course, he’d never wanted to hurt Raquel. And as he’d gotten deeper and deeper into his deception, his feelings of guilt had been overwhelming and unbearable. Despite the absolute dire situation he was in, Sergio felt an overwhelming sense of relief that Raquel finally knew the truth. He hadn’t been able to take it anymore, all the lying, all the deceit. He could finally be honest with her, even if it meant it would result in his death.
But as Raquel struggled with the weight of the axe and the inability of the wood to give way to break into smaller pieces, but Sergio couldn’t help but marvel at the woman in front of him. Crazy he knew, especially considering his predicament. Raquel was a woman who had risen through the ranks of the police force: a profession dominated by men, full of misogyny and up against so much, yet she had been incredibly successful. She believed herself to be weak, but she was strong, stronger than she thought. She had power. Fierce, determined and smart – oh so smart! She had kept him on his toes during the entire heist and she was a formidable opponent. He admired her so much.
Raquel continued to swing the axe again and again, the muscles in her arms and back rippling with each blow. Her slight, yet lean, strong body was highlighted very clearly by the tightly fitted black singlet top she was wearing. She was the most beautiful, sexy woman he’d ever met, Sergio thought, and instantly he hated himself for even thinking that knowing that she was no longer his to desire, but it was true. Sergio had rarely dated in the past and all of his previous relationships had only been brief, and few and far between; mainly entered into under duress from his brother, Andres. Yet even though Sergio had never been interested in women before, he’d always had an appreciation of women and their beauty, but only from a completely academic or clinical point of view. So much so that he’d always felt that love and relationships was something not for him.
But meeting Raquel, kissing Raquel, making love to Raquel had been something beyond his wildest dreams and he couldn’t get her out of his mind. Her sexy body, her kisses, the sly little smile she’d give just before she’d take him in her mouth, the way her lips parted lustfully with arousal and how she panted and moaned as she rode him hard; her perfect, beautiful breasts bouncing up and down with the vigorous movements. She was a sultry seductress in bed and everything about her was exceptional. She’d opened his eyes and his heart and made him feel alive for the first time in his life. No wonder he had fallen deeply in love.
Maybe he’d been a fool for dreaming of a life with her knowing that life would have been built on a lie? Perhaps he did deserve everything that was coming to him for deceiving and hurting her like that?
Love and hate were two deep and powerful emotions, like two sides of the same coin, only separated by a fine line of passion. And even though he was facing death and he should hate her, Sergio could not. He loved her with every fibre of his being and he would until his very last breath.
Sergio’s thoughts were broken as Raquel let out a frustrated cry and threw the axe down in a fit of rage. The twig holding her hair in a bun had come loose and her long hair had fallen down to the shoulders, mattered and sticky with sweat. Although Raquel had put in a valiant effort with trying to chop the wood, it was clear she wasn’t getting far very fast. “Fuck,” she muttered angrily under her breath. “This isn’t working.”
Suddenly, Raquel spun around to Sergio, her eyes blazing. “You,” she yelled as she stomped over to him, reaching up to free him from the rope holding the handcuffs. “I need you to do this. Chop the wood for me.” She reached for the gun in her holster on the log nearby and pointed it at him.
Sergio didn’t move right away. After so long with his arms tied high above his head, although he was still handcuffed, it felt good to have them down, the blood rushing down his arms, sensation slowly coming back to his hands.
Raquel shook her gun in his direction. “Go. Now. Pick up the axe and chop the wood.”
He held out his cuffed wrists to her. “It might help to uncuff me.”
She scoffed. “You think I’m that stupid to do that? No, Professor, I’m sure you can make it work just as you are.”
Sergio took slow, careful steps over to the axe and picked it up, but left the wood untouched. “So this is the plan? Make me prepare the fire that you’ll use to burn my body, like how during the war prisoners were made to dig their own graves before they were executed?”
Raquel nodded, an evil glint in her eye, her expression cold. “Something like that. A little bit of extra torture and suffering before I kill you.” There was a hunger in her eyes, a desire to unleash pain, but he didn’t believe this was really her.
Sergio held her gaze for a few seconds. “So you’re actually going to do this? Kill me?”
“You think I’m bluffing?” she retorted, her brow raised.
Sergio took a long breath, still holding her gaze. “I think you’re angry and I think you’re hurt, but I don’t think you’re a killer.”
Raquel stepped towards him, prodding her gun against his chest. “You don’t think I’ve killed before?”
“No,” replied Sergio quietly. “I know you have.”
“What…?” Raquel gasped, like in shock that Sergio knew this about her. But he continued speaking immediately, interrupting her.
“You were 25 and only a couple of years out of the Academy,” Sergio began softly. He’d done all his background research on her months and months before the heist, finding out everything he could about her, even from many years earlier. “It was a routine call out, a home invasion. But when you arrived, the perpetrator had taken the homeowner hostage and there was a standoff between him and the police. It was one of your first times being a negotiator, but it didn’t end well. As the perpetrator tried to escape, he shot your partner, forcing you to shoot him back. He was killed.” Sergio paused, seeing Raquel’s breath hitch in her throat and her body began to tremble slightly at the memory. “Although you were cleared of any wrongdoing at the following inquest, you took six month’s leave and had psychoanalysis for the next year or so.”
While Raquel didn’t reply, a lone tear ran down her cheek and she swallowed hard. “You may have killed before, but you’re not a killer,” stated Sergio quietly but definitively. “And neither am I.” While that was true, he’d had the opportunity and motive, even just the day before when he’d been faced with ending Raquel’s mother’s life. But he couldn't do it, he wasn’t a killer either, that was for certain.
Sergio couldn’t tell what she was thinking as her expression was guarded, but they held each other’s gaze for what felt like the longest time until finally Raquel broke their connection and looked away. Wordlessly, she jabbed the gun once more against Sergio’s chest, prompting him to commence chopping then she stepped away, gun still pointed at him. Exhaling deeply, Sergio lifted the axe, taking a second or two to adjust his grip since his wrists were still bound together before taking his first swing.
It felt good to stretch his arms and move after standing still for so long. He walked around the clearing to the various locations of logs and branches, whacking the wood again and again and piling up the smaller wood pieces. But unlike when Raquel was chopping, his greater strength and force applied meant the wood splintered away easily. He was quickly building up a sweat. Time past – half an hour, maybe more. The rhythmical and repeated pounding of the axe into the wood and the exertion on his body felt similar to when Sergio would punch his fists into his boxing bag whenever he needed to think. And he really needed to think right at that moment.
As he moved around the clearing, Sergio took his time to assess the situation. Raquel had her gun on at him at all times and any move against her, he knew she would not hesitate to shoot him. He was also handcuffed and out in the middle of nowhere, so making a run for it wouldn’t work either. She’d kill him before he even got ten steps away. No, the only way forward was to try and persuade her of his sincerity.
He was an observer, and he was very good at reading people to be able to anticipate their reactions and responses, and in a way, manipulate their psyche. On one hand, Raquel seemed intent on carrying out her threat to kill him, but on the other hand, he’d seen some cracks in her façade: she was clearly driven by her fragile emotions so he knew it might be possible to appeal to her with that. But Sergio didn't want to lie to her again, or trick her. No, he would only tell her the truth and hope it would be enough to convince her otherwise of carrying out her threats.
Raquel sat on a log nearby, her gun remaining directed at him. But as he stopped for breath, Sergio noticed that she’d returned to the car at some point while he was occupied with the wood to retrieve a bottle of water. Raquel took long, slow sips of the water, even drizzling some of it down her sweaty chest, droplets running down the valley between her breasts. Arouse by the sight, Sergio gulped then involuntarily shuddered. He instantly tried to banish the sordid thoughts about her that entered his mind and re-focus his attention on getting her talking.
Placing the blade of the axe against the ground and leaning on the handle he spoke to her. “Raquel…”
“Inspector,” she corrected instantly, her eyes flicking up to him, her expression hardening.
He looked at her intently, then inclined his head in acknowledgement. “As you wish, Inspector.” Sergio took a breath before continuing. “I am a little surprised. You know that I’m the Professor, yet you’ve asked me nothing about the heist. Apart from the fact that you wish to kill me, I would have thought as Inspector in charge that you’d at least interrogate me, to find out some information on my gang or what I had planned in order to end the heist. But nothing. Why is that?”
Raquel laughed low, scoffing almost. “All I know about you is that you’re a professional liar. Why should I trust anything you say?”
“Because I haven’t put up any type of resistance. I let you arrest me, bring me all the way out here. I could have overpowered you at any time,” he lied through his teeth. “Yet, I’m still here, even though I know your plan is to kill me.”
“So I should trust you, just like that?”
“Yes. I want to be honest with you. I can’t take it anymore, all the lying… It has to end. Nothing but the truth from now. You have me at checkmate. I have nothing to lose. Ask me anything.”
A pause, a beat as her eyes darted about as she considered what he’d just said. Then Raquel nodded faintly, her expression softening somewhat. She inclined her head towards the log across from where she sat, gesturing that he should come and sit down. But she kept her gun fixed on him, a clear sign that although she was giving him an opportunity to talk, she still didn’t trust him.
He was sweating profusely, his hair clung to his forehead in damp curls and there were dark moisture stains on his shirt under his armpits and also on his back and chest. Hands still cuffed together, Sergio awkwardly pushed his glasses up his nose as they had been sliding down his sweaty face.
As Sergio sat down, to his surprise, Raquel held out the bottle of water to him. He gave her a small smile of thanks. But as he took the bottle from her, their fingertips touched momentarily. It was like a bolt of electricity and their eyes met. For the briefest of seconds, he saw it: a softness, a warmth in her eyes, like she’d let her mask slip slightly. It gave him hope that perhaps not all was lost and he could get through to her. But as quickly as it happened, Raquel tore her eyes from his and she let go of the bottle. The moment was gone.
Disappointed, but wary of not pushing things further, Sergio didn’t say anything. Instead, he took a couple of gulps of water before holding the bottle out to Raquel to take back. But she didn’t, she waved it away, like she was not willing to risk a physical connection again. Instead, Sergio placed the bottle on the ground in between them.
Raquel recovered quickly from the little moment she’d shared with Sergio. She grabbed a nearby twig from the ground and wrapped her hair around it, putting it into a bun off her neck once more. Then slowly and carefully, her voice calm and fully in control, Raquel began to interrogate Sergio. “The idea for the heist, it was yours then?”
“No.”
“Then who’s was it?”
Sergio inhaled before he replied. “My father’s. He died before he carried it out so this is a kind of a tribute.”
Raquel let out a scoffing laugh, like she was suddenly putting the pieces together. “It was the apple story then. The fucking organic cider story? The one you told in bed was the story of the heist? And I listened to you like a moron…” her voice trailed off like she couldn’t believe that she’d been sucked in like that. Her anger rose. “This whole time you’ve been mocking me, from the first moment.”
“No,” Sergio interrupted, pleading with her. “I have not been mocking you. I swear. My father had a sick child. Without a fucking euro, what would you have done?” His eyes searched Raquel’s, imploring her to understand. “He spent his time planning robberies to pay for a hospital in the US out of desperation to try and save my life. My life!” Tears began to form in Sergio’s eyes as he spoke. “Because no one, no one helped him. He attempted to steal the money but they shot him in front of a bank…” Sergio’s voice faltered as the memories of witnessing his father’s death as a child still haunted him. “And that is the truth. I suppose there are many perceptions of what justice is.”
Raquel’s eyes glistened with tears too as she listened to him. She blinked them away. Her breathing was short and shallow, clearly emotional. But quickly she pulled herself together to continue her interrogation.
“And me?” she asked, voice barely a whisper. “Did you think I was an easy target as a woman who suffered abuse?”
Her question caught Sergio off-guard for a moment. It was difficult one to answer as the only response he could give her was the truth, but he knew it would hurt her. “Yes, I did.”
Raquel gulped in a breath. She pushed further. “When you leaked to the press that I refused to release eight hostages in favour of Allison Parker, did you know I was going to be publicly lynched and my career destroyed in front of my mother and my daughter?”
Once again, he had to respond with the truth but that truth was going to destroy her. “Yes.”
Tears rolled down her face and she furiously wiped them away. “Ok,” she continued. “You slept with me only because I was the Inspector in charge –”
“– No!” he countered immediately.
“You did that because I’m the Inspector in charge –” she repeated angrily.
“– No.”
“Will you stop lying to me? Damn you!” she cried.
“I’m not lying to you,” Sergio insisted.
“You mean I should believe you just like that?” she asked.
“You don’t have to believe anything. It's what I feel,” he told her honestly. “I didn’t expect it. It just happened, I know it happened to you as well.” He paused, carefully watching her reaction. She swallowed hard, body quivering slightly like she knew what he said was true.
But when she didn’t reply, he continued. “If it didn’t happen to you, when why are here, huh? Why am I not in prison? What the hell is this? Are you the crazy woman from Misery? It's something we’re both feeling. Both of us, do you understand? It happened to both of us.”
Trembling, Raquel hugged her body with her arms, rocking herself back and forth and her breathing was so shaky and rapid, she was almost hyperventilating. Tears poured down her cheeks and she wouldn’t meet his eyes. Her expression was twisted, like there was a fiery battle raging on inside her: her torment and her anger versus her longing and desire.
Love and hate were two deep and powerful emotions, like two sides of the same coin, only separated by a fine line of passion, Sergio thought again. Raquel was teetering on the edge, on the precipice, not quite sure which emotion would be stronger. Both were possible, both were true, but only one would win.
“Raquel,” Sergio pleaded furiously, using her name. She didn’t correct him. “I fell in love with you. And you fell in love with me too. Deeply and passionately, whole body and soul. Everything! We fell in love with each other! And whether or not you want to admit it, you know it is true, don’t you?”
“Enough…” she managed to breathe out.
“Don’t you?” Sergio continued to push, determined for her to admit her feelings. “I love you and you love me. Tell me it’s true.”
Her voice rose. “No, I said enough.”
“It is true!” he implored. “We love each other, Raquel. I wish I could change how things happened, but I can’t. I wish I never had to lie to you. I’m so sorry about everything. I didn’t want to hurt you,” he apologised profusely.
“Shut the fuck up!” she screamed, pulling out the twig from her hair, letting it fall freely down to her shoulders. “I don’t want to hear this! I’m done listening to you.”
Gun pointed at him with one hand, she yanked him to his feet with the other. Sergio didn’t resist as she marched him over to where the rope was still hanging from the tree. She put her gun back in the holster. It took less than a minute for Raquel to tie Sergio back up, his hands held high above his head. She took several steps before stopping then quickly spinning around. Then she launched herself at him, unexpectedly slapping him hard across the face. Sergio wasn’t expecting her attack and he stumbled back a step with the impact.
As he recovered, Raquel suddenly pulled a knife from a hidden sheath at her ankle. She grabbed him, grasping his throat, pinning him to the tree trunk behind him. She pressed the knife against his throat, just hard enough to lightly nick the skin. Sergio froze. One little move, a stab or a slash and it would end it all. She pushed the blade harder against the flesh of his neck. He winced as the stinging pain of the cut was felt. Her hand remained at his jaw, steady and firm.
“Asshole!” she yelled, her whole body shaking with rage and the blade cut in a little further. “You asked me to run away with you and I said yes. We dreamed of that together and I wanted it so badly. If I hadn’t figured out who the hell you really were, what then? Would you have continued to deceive me? Been Salva the fucking cider guy forever? Would we have lived a whole perfect life together based on a lie, a fucking lie? Tell me!”
“I don’t know, Raquel,” Sergio stammered, his voice failing him. “I just don’t know…” Deep down Sergio knew that he would have eventually told her the truth, the burden of the lie being too great, even though he knew the truth would’ve destroyed their relationship forever and he would’ve likely ended up in prison. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered.
She released him with a sharp cry and removed the knife from his neck, blood trickling down from the small gash left there. Raquel let out a loud sob as she backed away from him, the knife dropping to the ground. Her face was twisted with a mixture of anger and anguish. Sergio’s heart broke. He felt everything she was feeling. “Fuck you, Sergio!” Raquel hissed as she walked away, her eyes dark and wild and filled with vengeance.
Furiously, Raquel stomped over to the wood and began to pack it in a large pyramid pile using the top-down method: larger logs at the bottom and smaller kindling on top: an excellent method, Sergio recognised, that promoted high airflow and maximum burning efficiency while reducing smoke production. It was exactly how he would have a built the fire too, he thought with a shudder.
Raquel returned to the car where she hauled out of the trunk a jerrycan full of petrol. She took her time to douse the wood pile with splashes of petrol all around it before she took a lighter out of her pocket. She lit a splint of wood then tossed it on the pile. In less than a second, it caught alight, due to the copious amount of petrol present, flames shooting high up into the sky. The fire crackled and popped loudly as more and more wood progressively caught alight and it started burning profusely, smoke and bits of ash rising into the air.
The orange and yellow glow of the blazing fire complimented the myriads of colours in the sky formed by the setting sun. Raquel stood in front of the bonfire, her back to Sergio, perfectly silhouetted as she watched the blaze burn. Despite the heat from the fire searing his face, Sergio’s blood ran cold.
The flames of the large bonfire danced and flickered with fire’s light reflecting off Sergio’s glasses, creating a dazzling effect. A long time past with Raquel watching the fire and Sergio watching Raquel, both waiting for what seemed to be an eternity for the inevitable to come. The sky had darkened, night had fallen. Finally Raquel slowly turned around to face him again, picking up her gun as she did so.
“It’s time,” she said, pointing the gun at him.
One step forward, then two, Raquel walked slowly over to where Sergio still stood, bound to the tree and unable to escape. “Any last words, Professor?” she asked, her tone cold and aloof, detached.
Sergio’s fingers twitched. He wanted to put up a fight, but instead, he decided to relinquish everything into her hands completely. He had lost, not only himself but her. It was over. He just hoped his gang would forgive him for making a mistake, for losing control, for letting them down.
“Raquel, please…”
She raised an eyebrow. “Begging for your life?”
Sergio shook his head. “No,” he gulped. “Only for your forgiveness.”
Clenching her teeth, Raquel lifted her arm then pressed the barrel of the gun hard to the centre of his forehead, her eyes fixed firmly on his.
Sergio looked helpless and vulnerable, tears pooling in his eyes with the remorse he felt and the love he’d professed. She cared. How could she not after everything they had been to each other? Yet in the end, it didn’t make any difference, not really. She had made her decision. Raquel cocked back the gun, hearing it click.
“I do forgive you, Sergio,” she whispered, her voice shaky. “And I did love you. But it’s too late.”
She waited. A second. Then another. Until finally…
BANG!
It was the most fleeting of moments as she caught Sergio’s eyes widen in surprise in the microseconds after she pulled the trigger, before his head ricocheted back with the force of the gunshot, blood spirting everywhere with part of his skull exploding with the impact. His glasses flew from his face and onto the ground.
The sound of the gunshot reverberated around the clearing, the echo of it eventually fading into the stillness of the night. Silence, long torturous silence broken only by the faint crackle of the large bonfire burning away nearby and the sounds of Raquel’s heaving breaths.
In, out, in, out… rapid shaky breaths, her breathing completely uncontrolled with the shock of what she’d just done, adrenalin coursing through her body. Her grip faltered and the gun in her hand fell to the ground with a loud thud.
Raquel was covered with blood and remnants of brain matter: all across her face, through her hair and down her chest. There was so much blood everywhere. Blindly, she reached for her discarded blouse and used it to wipe the majority of the gore away.
Raquel screwed up her eyes and a low, guttural cry escaped from her throat. She staggered sideways, dizzy as the blood rushed to her head, her feet stumbling across the rough ground. Her legs gave way underneath her and she collapsed to her knees, her hands clutching at the dirt. Raquel gasped furiously for air but she couldn’t breathe.
After about a minute, Raquel forced her head upwards to look upon Sergio’s corpse. His eyes had darkened in death, his body dangled limp as he still hung by his wrists from the tree, blood pooling on the ground beneath him. Although her vengeance and retribution was complete, there was an anguish, a grief welling up inside her as she gazed for the last time at her lover hanging dead in front of her. The man she’d fallen deeply in love with; the man she’d just killed. With a gut-wrenching sob, she began to weep. The tears were hot and unstoppable, raw and deep.
Time past but eventually, Raquel gathered herself together. She wiped the remaining tears from her face then stiffly stood up. Then slowly and purposefully, Raquel untied Sergio’s body and with her arms holstered under his armpits, she dragged his corpse towards the fire, staggering slightly under the weight of it. The fire was big, hot and intense and she got singed as she struggled to fling his body onto the fire, but she barely felt it.
Finally, it was done. Gritting her teeth and intent on her purpose, Raquel tipped the remaining can of petrol on the fire. Immediately, the blaze intensified, flames rising high in the sky and beginning to consume his corpse. The pungent stench of the burning flesh was repulsive.
With her hands trembling, Raquel pulled out her phone then tapped several times, dialling a familiar number. It rang twice before it was answered. “Colonel Prietto?” she spoke, her voice quivering. “It’s Murillo. It’s done.” Raquel turned her back on the fire, not able to bear the sight of it anymore.
She swallowed hard as she listened to the response down the phone. When Raquel had left Sergio at the house in Toledo hours earlier, she’d contacted Prieto and made a deal: if she could eliminate the Professor and end the heist, Prieto would not only protect her and guarantee that no charges came her way, but he also would ensure that she would gain full custody of Paula and put Alberto behind bars with new evidence that she’d supply to prove Alberto’s abuse of her. Shattered and destroyed by Sergio’s deception and desperate to have her daughter with her forever, she’d agreed. Choosing her daughter over a man she’d met only days before and who had lied, manipulated and played her was easy, even though she knew the aftermath of what she had done to him would haunt her forever.
After listening to Prieto’s assurance that a team would be with her within the hour to clean up the evidence, Raquel spoke again. “Make the announcement at the Mint: the Professor is dead. Demand surrender, then enter. Try and save as many of the hostages as you can but if any of his gang resists, shoot to kill.”
Raquel ended the call then turned back to the fire. As she watched Sergio’s body continue to burn, Raquel felt as though her heart had been ripped out of her chest leaving a gaping hole, yet she had no regrets. She had been a woman that had been weak, afraid and vulnerable, who had allowed her husband to abuse her and then had allowed a criminal mastermind through all her defences and destroy her.
But no longer.
Never again would she let a man control her, use her, lie to her or betray her. Now she had taken a stand and there was never going back.
She had reclaimed her power.