Page 166 of Capuleto

I heard the violence of a door slamming shut. He had taken my car keys! How did he intend to drive with a broken ankle?

The engine roared, I bellowed.

I couldn’t lose him this time!

The most fatal sound I had ever heard made the port tremble.

68

See you later, Yuri

When Gálvez, the former port director, took me on a tour of the facilities and urged me to climb a port crane, after asking him if it was very difficult to operate, I never thought I would get so much out of the visit.

There, under thirty tons of steel, lay the lifeless body of my brother, and one of Romeo's precious cars turned into an unclassifiable amalgam.

I closed my eyes, savoring the tranquility of a good decision.

When my husband left through the door of the building, I knew I wasn't going to keep my promise of waiting there for him. As long as I had strength and breath, I would do whatever was necessary to help him.

I was born to be a hunting dog, but not to wear a muzzle, to run the race and fight for those to whom I give my loyalty.

Yuri had lost it, and it was R whom I would not abandon.

I observed what was happening. R was running towards the containers a few meters ahead of the building, and my brother was preoccupied with hunting him. I had a clear path if I was stealthy enough.

The gunshot hurt. Before leaving, I improvised a compression bandage with one of Cheng’s stockings. I gave the Chinese woman a shirt to press on the wound and promised her we would get through this. Although the wound was in a bad spot, it shouldn’t have affected the carotid artery, because she was still breathing. If the glass had cut an important capillary, she would have bled out in fifteen minutes.

“Do you have a phone here to call 112?”

“In the rice jar.”

“How convenient!” I found it in the cabinet and handed it to her.

“Call them to come for you, and tell them to hurry, I have to help Romeo.” She nodded.

“Be careful.” I offered her a smile.

“No one knows Yuri better than I do, or so I think.”

As soon as I stepped outside, I saw the crossfire. By the voices, I could roughly locate where each of them was.

My brother, behind the containers on the right. Romeo had managed to reach the one in front. Anyone in his position would try to approach Yuri from the rear. So I had to go the other way. I had no weapons, but there should be something around I could use; maybe I could find a knife... I looked up and then saw what I had been looking for, it was perfect!

The crane operator had left one of the containers suspended; I just had to reach the cab, move the load as the port worker Gálvez introduced to me had shown me, and drop it on my brother before Romeo got there.

On another occasion, I could have gone faster. It wasn’t a problem with my shoes or clothes; rather, I was struggling to breathe and had to stop several times on the stairs because I was getting dizzy. The strength I had gained these days was slipping away with the blood loss.

I pushed myself. Step by step, I covered the distance and didn’t falter until I reached the cab.

I entered exhausted and panting.

From up there, everything looked so insignificant...

I hadn't arrived in time. Yuri and R were locked in a fight, and I cursed myself for not making it. If they were together, I ran the risk of crushing them, and I couldn't shout to warn Romeo because my brother would find out.

I lived through some of the tensest and indecisive minutes of my life.

When Yuri hit Romeo on the head, I was tempted to become a diver and plunge into my brother's jugular. I would have done it if I knew my bravery wouldn't have ended with me splattered like an egg on the asphalt.