Soy Alícia Sierra

27. Near the Air

Dear Readers, I am back! It is a shorter chapter, but I didn't want to leave you with nothing before I sort out my thoughts as we approach the end (finally :)). Enjoy!

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Algeria, April 2020

"Are you sure you don't prefer to wait until tomorrow morning?" Osman asked reluctantly once he had locked Río in his cubicle again and caught up with Alícia, well aware that he wouldn't be met with faces of gratitude at such hours, but soon realising that the rampage he was about to witness should he choose to challenge her request would be way worse.

Alícia on the other hand was sure about noting but the excruciating feeling she was experiencing right there. A consummating rage that was masking a grief so deep that her defence instincts urged her to inflict pain on someone else in order to appease her own. No, it couldn't wait. "Hazlo." Her tone left no room for further questioning. "Let me know when you have the trunk ready. I will grab some coffee," she announced blatantly not bothering to look him in the eyes, for if she did she knew that it would be impossible not to be reminded by her own consciousness that she was doing the very thing she despised the most about her superiors: leave the dirty job for others to do. "He will do it with his own hands," the redhead told herself in justification but loud enough for Osman to hear at the opposite end of the corridor.

If he was uneasy about her decision before, her last sentence made him doubt her sanity and fear for her mental health. The woman was clearly not in her best shape, but who was he to raise any question? He only followed orders, and at the moment she happened to be the one giving them. He couldn't help feeling things were soon to take a very unpleasant turn if Sierra really went through with her plan. He was experienced in the field, and had done and asked people to do all sorts of terrible things. Still, digging one's own grave had not been amongst them. Therefore he took his time grabbing the necessary tools and material and making his way to summon his subordinates, hoping to delay it as much as he could and give her time to calm down and quit acting on what he thought was lack of scruples but was in reality the need to neutralise the agony life kept imposing on her. Only she was too blind to see that this was neither the right person nor the adequate occasion to do so, as if there would ever be a way to righten every desolation she had suffered in between periods of happiness that had been at times long, sometimes shorter or, like now, non-existent at all.

Hours later, Alícia was alone in a improvised kitchen enjoying the only company that had never completely abandoned her, no matter how hard and how often she had tried to put an end to their relationship, when Osman presented himself accompanied by three disgruntled men who were just as intimidating as himself. The biggest of them was dragging a frightened Río, who was looking between each of them searching for a clue as to what they intended to do with him. He didn't know whether to feel relieved or even more terrified as the redhead put off her cigarette, strode towards him and enlaced her arm with his.

"We'll go for a little walk," she said in a forced maternal tone while motioning for Osman and the others to follow her, leaving Río no doubts that he should definitely expect the worst. The large holdall one of the men was carrying discouraged him even more.

Outside, the sky had turned a lighter shade of blue when the odd group left the complex, though it was still dark without any source of natural or artificial light to guide them to where the men had left the wooden container.

"Aquí," the shortest man halted after they had walked a quarter of an hour.

As Alícia distinguished the large rectangular container her stomach turned, increasing the discomfort imposed on herself by a body already drained by the extraordinary exercise. Not only her feet were aching but also her belly felt heavier than usual. On top of everything the heat was already hindering even though the sun had just started rising. Only her determination to take it to the end was intact. "Sueltalo," she commanded in a strained voice, her mouth and throat extremely dry.