The most unpredictable of events had happened that night. The militiaman's manned robot was attacked by Chekandino. With an array of weapons, Ata's twin brother fired several shots at the biped tank. He uttered disconnected words and fired shots all around the metal monster.
Everyone tried to understand the reason for the attack. The militiaman didn't react, he seemed bewildered by his brother's mad form.
Spin Bomb and Akachi watched without understanding. They had seen Chekandino's instability up close. Considering Ata's overprotection of his brother, no one had imagined that one would turn against the other.
"But… what's going on here?"
"I think Chekandino is trying to take control of the Fourth Estate, Spin Bomb."
As the situation unfolded, military helicopters flew over the area. A beam of light was emitted over the battlefield. A voice ordered the civilians:
"This is the Ilu Nla Special Police Operations Battalion. Drop your weapons, I repeat, drop your weapons. If you don't obey, you will be considered hostile forces and we will use force."
Spin Bomb put his hand to his face to protect his eyes from the aircraft's reflector. He held up his middle finger with his free hand and offered it to the police:
"Is it time for you to arrive?"
Mr. Nobody came up behind the pair, knocked out the sword maker and Adisa's son with the butt of his gun.
"Sorry, but that's our cue! You guys from Chrome, you'd better not stay here to see the grand finale"
The gunman picked them both up off the ground, and escorted by Yasini, they left. The members of the Central Command stumbled out of their positions and fled. The civilians forcibly recruited by Kinyua dropped their weapons on the ground. Military police descended from helicopter cables and began to make arrests.
Some tried to fight back, but were killed by the government forces. The police exchanged fire with the militiamen and drug traffickers. Both factions were enemies of the government. They had been weakened during the fighting. With the media absent, they carried out several summary executions, including civilians who had already surrendered.
All this was happening around the twin brothers. When Chekandino's ammunition ran out, he jumped onto the knees of the bipedal tank and began to jab the cockpit visor with his gun. With his eyes bulging, Ata watched the whole thing. She wondered what had happened to her little brother.
Why are you doing this to me, my brother?
"Ata, I'm going to get you out of there, bro. I'm going to get you out of there… I'm going to save you from that evil robot."
The militiaman felt a sharp, throbbing pain in his left temple. As if an ember had been lit. He reached out with the robot's arm and grabbed Chekandino's throat. The posergang let out a gurgling cry. Ata squeezed him even tighter, Chekandino's screams echoing as if his pain had brought him out of his hypnagogic state.
"I kept our father's promise, little brother. I protected you from everyone, from God and the world. You never thanked me! You always fucked up wherever we went. You dropped out of the fucking Military Academy to bum around while I was there working hard to bring money home. You've always been weak, a weight I've been forced to carry all this time to fulfill my father's last wish: to protect you! I'm going to kill you, my brother. I HATE YOU!"
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The militiaman's bones began to break. His internal organs imploded. His eyes popped out of their sockets. All of Chekandino's orifices hemorrhaged. One final squeeze and the man became a mass of ground meat, fluids and cybertechs. Then the biped tank stopped.
After the police raid, the soldiers went to the manned robot. There was a risk of explosion, as it was emitting Axé particles. Its spare core had fallen to the ground and was exposed. Carefully, the containment team approached, collected the Axé-Core and opened the tank's cock-pit. They found the militiaman inside. Ata was leaning over the controls.
They lifted the body. His eyes were closed. Two tears of clotted blood marked his face. One of his hands held a pistol. They checked the magazine; a bullet had been fired. The bullet had been fired into his right ear and had passed through his head, leaving a hollow from one side to the other.
They removed the body from inside, they didn't want to create war martyrs for the Fourth Estate. The militiaman's body was placed on a stretcher with his arms crossed. He was taken to where Chekandino's remains had been deposited. They lay next to each other. The chief forensic expert approached with a disposable Styrofoam cup, sipping bitter coffee.
He approached a table that had been set up for the forensics reports. He looked at the bodies, then back at the documents projected in virtual reality on the table. He discovered that they were brothers. He looked at the bodies once more. To his surprise, the bodies had intertwined their hands like children do when crossing traffic lights.
⸎
"Are you the man sent by the Fourth Estate's drug kingpin?"
"I'm not from the Fourth Estate, nor am I a henchman of Juta. I only deal in death."
The meeting took place the day before the militia attacked Chrome Hill. The room was poorly lit, with LED bulbs sparking. A ceiling fan rotated slowly and creaked sharply. It cast the shadows of its blades on the gloomy room. Kinyua, facing the man over one meter tall, felt intimidated. Not even Yasini's presence near the door made him feel safe.
The hitman was there to support Central Command. Juta had made a deal with Kinyua, and to show the good faith between them, he had become an informer. He had scraped together his savings and hired the best of them. He wanted the Burned Circuit Complex all to himself.
The best way he could find to get it was to make a deal with the boss of Chrome. He wanted guarantees, so hiring an Ilê Apanyan man came in handy. The undertakers were the most lethal hitmen in the world. Their headquarters were unknown. They had relationships with various criminal organizations and states.
Nobody wanted them as an enemy, and they had a good reputation in the underworld. Kinyua felt a chill in his stomach every time he realized that a guy like that would be acting in his patch without being able to say anything against it. The criminal ran his hands over his forehead, wiping away the sweat that was pouring down.
"If you kill Ata, that's fine with me."
"Mr. Kinyua, that's risky. He's an Ilê Apanyan man!"
"Better to keep him on our side, Yasini. It's healthier."
"All right, but I want him to do something for me, a favor."
Kinyua glared at the medium. This was a boldness that he had never allowed to occur at other times. It was laughable for a medium to ask a murderer for help.
What does this idiot think he's doing? Altruistic hitmen, that's all we need, hahahaha. I hope your recklessness doesn't get me killed, Yasini.
"Funeral directors have never minded leaving their signature at crime scenes. It's their best form of publicity. You're using our conflict to cover up your deaths. You must be doing this to serve someone's interests. I don't know who, but someone important. Please take Akachi and Spin Bomb away from this place. Take them to the falls, find my master Nyatui. He's part of the Masters of Suspicion. Leave them there, then follow their destiny, whatever it may be."
"Why would you do that, medium?"
"You didn't come to Ilu Nla for tourism, you came for business. Something tells me that your business will not end with the death of the Cupola of the Fourth Estate."
"You're very perceptive. I always consider people like that a risk to my missions."
The undertaker slowly slipped his hand into his jacket pocket. This created an immense atmosphere of tension. He pulled out an herbal cigarette and lit it. Yasini stopped squeezing the javelin. Kinyua let out an involuntary sigh. He leaned back in his chair and said:
"I don't care about Akachi, he'll be too much trouble. Spin Bomb stays, she's very useful here."
"No, the Spin Bomb goes with Akachi. Otherwise, I'm going."
"Are you going to betray me at a time like this, Yasini?"
The assassin let out a long puff into the air. The ceiling fan dispersed the greenish-gray smoke far away. He turned his gaze to Yasini and asked:
"Is this Akachi guy important in this plot?"
"Oh yes! And how! The Spin Bomb comes as a gift."
"Don't do that, Yasini!"
"All right, medium. I'll take two for the price of one. They won't come with me for good, I'll have to take them unconscious. I'll need a vehicle and coordinates."