Mr. Imperfectionist 2

30 - We Shall Win

We had to give a proper burial to Antonio. Finding his body was beyond impossible, since we knew it had either been burned or eaten by Luis's pet tiger. We had to bury only his head. You can never get used to the sight of a mourning family. I didn't know Antonio well. He was working for Esteban and not directly for me. But losing a team member has an impact on you. My heart was heavy the whole day. Yesterday was my birthday, and I had forgotten about it until I received Luis's letter. Javier sent me a flower bouquet. He was completely oblivious to the situation. No one from my team seemed to remember my birthday, or they chose to ignore it because of the situation. It wasn't a happy day to even mention it. I had seen mama's missed calls, but I thought she was calling to complain again, and I was anyway busy with Luis, so I had ignored her calls.

After the burial and the rituals were done, I did what I always do. I promised Antonio's family financial security and took responsibility for his five-year-old son's education. After returning home, I took a shower and called mama. She wanted to wish me for my birthday, of course. It was the first time I ever broke down in front of her.

"I have never seen you like this, Sabil. You are very strong. You will deal with this too." Mama said.

The tears kept streaming down my face. "I don't know how, mama. Another one of our teammates has gone. He has a five-year-old son. Luis is too powerful to kill. We have made up our minds to finish him, but none of us know how."

She was quiet for a moment. Then she spoke, "I never thought I would favour the killing of another human, but the situation has called for it. You, too, were never the kind of person who would harm someone, let alone kill them. The situation has made you this person, and I have never blamed you for that. Your papa, too, would have supported you if he were still alive. I have faith in you, son. You've got this. You'll think of several ways to kill the monster."

"Well, Javier seems to have some ideas about killing Luis. Let's see what he says. I will be leaving to meet him now. We had to install extra anti-tracking devices since we are all spied on. I am done speaking with you and everyone on non-traceable phones. I have to put an end to this so that I can go back to my normal life." My tears had now dried. I walked into my closet and started scanning for a shirt.

"You will be successful, Sabil. Just believe in yourself. And when you are done with everything and have some spare time, I'd like to hear everything about her."

I had a smile on my face. "Of course. I wish you could have met her. She was incredible. You would have loved her, mama. She was pious, beautiful, and kind."

"I have never heard you say such things about a girl before. Not even Maya. I hope meeting her will be possible one day."

I felt a slight ache in my heart because I knew meeting her would never be possible. She has moved on, and I'd like to keep it that way. I sighed and said, "Anyway. It felt nice after talking with you, mama. I will call you later, okay?"

I heard her laugh lowly. "Cuidate. Te amo."

"Yo también te amo. Take care of your health." I took out the white shirt and wore it.

"Sure will. Bye." She said and hung up.

I wore my blue jeans and left the house. Emilio was ready in the driver's seat. Julio and Daniel sat on the back seat with their guns. All our cars are loaded with guns. Guzman, Esteban, and Sebastian travelled in another car right behind us. We reached Javier's place after thirty minutes. His wife had gone to Pakistan for a couple of weeks. We all sat around on his dining table.

Javier looked at me and said, "I can't even imagine what you are going through, Mr. Moreno. You feared that you would lose another friend if you didn't shake hands with Luis. And that's what happened. I was wrong. I am sorry." He then looked at Esteban and said, "I am sorry for your loss, my friend."