Tales from Éden - Who is Edmundo Montenegro?

Chapter 11 - Meeting old friends

Jennifer entered the room cautiously. The people who had previously been chatting and playing games were now dead and carefully arranged in a way she knew very well.

At the table closest to the counter, a man sat nonchalantly while twirling a pistol on the table with his index finger.

A bloody knife stuck in the end of the table removed any doubt about how he had killed everyone in that room.

Jennifer could even see him parading in slow motion between the tables and executing each of those unfortunate people before they could even scream.

She gathered her courage and approached the table, sitting in front of the man.

- What are you doing here? - she asked bluntly - Is there nothing for you here?

- Is that how you treat old friends? - the man said with a short, artificial laugh - I've always wanted to say that, every villain says that in books, is that how you treat old friends? But we're not friends, are we Jennifer? At most, we're coworkers. Please call your daughter.

- Maria Eduarda, come here, please - called Jennifer.

Maria Eduarda entered the room at her mother's call. Initially, she didn't notice anything, but she saw the man sitting in front of Jennifer and immediately said:

- Hi, Edmundo, I really wanted to talk to...

- This isn't Edmundo - Jennifer interrupted - This is your father.

- A sperm donor is more appropriate - Jack corrected, barely looking at the girl. - Honey, there's vomit on that table, could you clean it up, please, the smell is bothering me.

- Mom! These people...

- They're dead, honey - confirmed Jennifer without taking her eyes off Jack - our family moment gave Jack a unique opportunity to intimidate us.

- That's the reason for the vomit - confessed Jack - Go clean it up, honey.

Jennifer gestured with her head to the girl, telling her to obey.

- When you're done, you can sit next to us, you're the main reason for our conversation - Jack finished dryly.

While Eduarda cleaned the table, trying not to look at all those dead people.

Jennifer and Jack exchanged barbs with their eyes, theirs were cold and inflexible, making it clear that he would do exactly what he had to do. Her gaze, however, told them to leave them alone, to stop doing whatever it was he wanted to do there.

Eduarda finished cleaning and sat between her parents at the table, her childish eyes unable to look away from the bloody knife.

His mind couldn't process that, he was a soldier, he understood the need to kill for a better good, but those people, they were harmless travelers, that futile and senseless killing was hard to process.

"Oh, it's been a while, Jennifer," Jack said suddenly. "I confess that I missed you."

"Fortunately, I can't say the same," she replied.

Jack's lips moved in a line that could easily be mistaken for a smile, for people unaware, but this was not the case for Jennifer, who knew him very well. That was nothing more than an expression of cruelty.

-No kindness, I understand - Jack agreed - let's get straight to business.

Jennifer didn't answer.

-Jennifer, do you remember that mission we did in Tarell, when we pretended to be innocent children sold into prostitution? - he asked - The one where we had to kill renowned politicians, I can't remember their names... Fuck it! They're all the same, it's not worth remembering their names, six men... okay, it was Tarell's army, one of our corporals would do the trick, but even so, we were just kids, remember? How old were we?