For him, for me

Chapter 4

They quietly ate gnocchi with smoked salmon.

After Tom said about his wife's death, the atmosphere changed completely. They were both lost in thoughts. Tom waited for Andrey to say something, and Andrey's thoughts were fixed on a red suitcase that he was no longer sure about being in the safe. He was overwhelmed by uncertainty. What if they took it. What if he came back and saw his small, modest apartment in a ruin. What will Tom say? What will he say to him? Andrey has to tell him before things escalate. He once again prepared himself to death, but this time he will not die before doing what he wants. He needs Tom's help.

"Tom, I saw one of them." he began.

Now Tom stopped eating and looked up at his friend.

"I saw him first time before you came. When Annie fell. He showed up out of nowhere and was carrying a red suitcase."

"That red suitcase?" Tom asked quietly.

"Yes, I have it now." Andrey said. The whole time he was looking around, he was scared that they listened to him, that they were somewhere here and were trying to find out where the suitcase was.

"How? That is not possible." Tom seemed too loud so Andrey gave him a signal to be quiet.

"On the day you came, when I went to visit Annie after work, he was waiting me in front of my car. He wanted to kill me, but— " While talking, Andrey was no longer sure whether to tell him everything. Tom thinks differently from him. What if he objected? But still they were together in this. It was right thing to tell him.

"Hmm, lack of energy. I'm not sure what his cause was, but I also felt it." Tom was similar to them, but something important separated him from these monsters. He had emotions, he had his reasons, and he made his own decisions. He made a lot of wrong decisions, he made a big mistake in the past, but he made it himself without someone's command. He was no one's dummy even though it was once his purpose. People who owned his mother, physically and mentally, gave him that purpose.

"Then I took the suitcase. I can't tell you how I felt when I opened it. In that old red suitcase, it seemed new, I don't know if it works anymore, but it can be put in order—" Andrey couldn't even finish the sentence, and Tom interrupted him coldly.

"It can be put in order !? Andrey, how can you say that? We have made big mistake in the past, we have learned a lesson, we will not repeat the same mistake again! It should be destroyed." He hissed.

Andrey has changed since he saw the red suitcase, that is, not changed but started thinking again as he was thinking 29 years ago, before he was killed with his own weapon, the weapon that he is trying to save. 

He gave Tom reasons why the cardiac power-gun should not be destroyed, but Tom's reasons were far more powerful.

"I made it. You don't even understand how it works. In the past, I have not been able to show it to the public, but now I have the opportunity. Believe me, I won't let anyone abuse it."

"That thing can only be used for destruction and killing. I don't understand why you resist so much now. Whether we own it or not, it doesn't matter, they are far more powerful than we are and sooner or later they will get it. It must be destroyed before they reach it!" Tom grew louder and louder. 

In the moment that little girl who was sitting on the table next to theirs, turned to him and looked at him with a confused look, he realized that they need to go. 

He left his money on the table, and headed to the car.

"I should have paid." Andrey said, practically running after him.

"Don't change the subject. When we get in the car, we'll agree on what to do next."

Andrey got behind the steering wheel and turned on the car.

"First, I want to see Annie at the hospital." Tom told him

"Couse she said man in black visited her?" Andrey asked.

"No. She knows something. She is seeking for help."

They went silent.