Day 2 – noon – 52 million euros

Raquel opened her eyes, still heavy with tiredness. For a moment, she was confused as to where she was, and she instinctively stretched out a hand to reach for Sergio, but he wasn't there. Then the events of the previous day rushed back to her and she was instantly wide awake. The first day of the operation had gone well, bringing them one step closer to success… and bringing them one step closer to the end of the heist, when their life together could really begin. She closed her eyes for a moment as she imagined them on a beach somewhere, when all of this would be over, when she would finally be able to start rebuilding a normal life, when she would finally, finally be able to hold her daughter again. She took a deep breath – one day at a time – then she sat up to see Sergio sitting in front of the screens, exactly where he'd been when she'd fallen asleep. He turned when he heard her stir.

"Good morning", he smiled. "How did you sleep?"

"Alright", she said, rubbing her face. "How long was I asleep?"

"Almost six hours", he said. "I was just about to wake you."

He walked over to her and sat down on the edge of the bed to give her a soft kiss.

"Hi."

"Hi", she smiled. "Everything under control?"

He nodded. "More or less."

"Good, then it's your turn to sleep now."

"In a little while, I'm not tired yet."

She frowned. "That's not possible, Sergio, you've been up for more than 30 hours now, and very stressful hours at that."

He waved a hand. "I'll sleep later."

"Alright, then catch me up on what happened. Did a hostage read the declaration to the police?"

"Yes, and it went fine."

"Have you been out at all?"

"Yes, a few minutes ago, I got you hot chocolate and churros."

She smiled in delight. "That's my favorite breakfast."

He smiled back. "I know."

"You're spoiling me."

"Nonsense."

She kissed his cheek.

"So what's the money situation?"

"We're at 52 million euros right now."

Her smile broadened. "You're going to be a very rich man soon."

He shrugged, smiling, a warm look in his eyes. "I've got you. What's a few hundred million euros compared to that?"

She shot him an amused look. "Why the flattery? Do you want something from me?"

He leaned in to nuzzle her ear. "I do. I always do. But we said we wouldn't."

He didn't get up, however, but began kissing her neck.

She groaned softly. "If we said we wouldn't, then what are you doing?"

"I couldn't sleep next to you tonight", he said with his lips against her skin. "I need to kiss you for a bit."

She laughed as he pushed her back into the pillows.

"I need to kiss you here…" he said, pressing a kiss to her neck, "… and here…" a kiss to her chest, "and most definitely here…"

He nipped at her nipple through her top and she gasped and tried to push him away, laughing.

"Stop it! Go back to your screens!"

"Alright", he sighed. "Just one more…"

He pressed a long, soft kiss to her lips, then he sat up. He didn't move from the bed, however, looking down at her with an expression of longing.

"Go", she smiled, seeing him struggle with himself.

"Just one more", he said, bending down to kiss her again.

This time, the kiss lasted longer, and her hands came up automatically to tangle into his hair. She felt her body respond to him, and even though she knew she shouldn't, she started imagining how nice it would feel to have him on top of her, just for a few minutes… They broke apart and looked at each other, slightly breathless, and she knew he was thinking the exact same thing…

The next moment he was kissing her hard and she wrapped her arms around him, returning his kiss with enthusiasm. His hands were under her top, and she moaned against his lips as he pinched a nipple, the sensation of it going straight through her to start a fire between her legs. She pulled at his tie, then started on the buttons of his shirt… oh, she wanted him, she wanted him so badly…

Suddenly the phone rang, and they both jumped, instantly pulled back to reality. Raquel cursed inwardly as Sergio quickly got up.

"That must be the Inspector."

She pushed down her feeling of frustration as she watched him walk away from her, towards the ringing phone. He didn't pick up immediately, however, letting it ring while he calmly buttoned up his shirt again, redid his tie and put on his jacket, and she clearly felt the presence of the Professor manifest itself. He sat down at the desk, then picked up a square of red paper. Raquel quickly scrambled out of bed to put on her own headset so she could listen in, reminded again of how easily she could have been at the other end of that line, and how it would have been Angel adjusting his headset next to her instead of Sergio.

Sergio finally picked up the phone.

"Don't you think we have a rather special connection?" he started. "I was just going to call you."

Raquel threw him an annoyed look. Did he really have to flirt with this woman right after she'd interrupted them?

"Well", Inspector González said drily, "who else would you call in the middle of a hostage situation? Your grandmother? Your therapist? Actually, that might not be such a bad idea."

He grinned. "You think I need a therapist?"

"I think you have to be fairly delusional if you think you can pull off a heist like this, yes."

"Well", he said, steering the conversation back to the script he'd prepared. "Let's not allow that minor criminal fact to interfere with our relationship. I see this as an opportunity."

"An opportunity for what?"

"To get to know each other. I'm sure if we'd met in a bar, you wouldn't have paid me any attention. Tell me, Inspector…"

He hesitated for a moment, smiling to himself, and Raquel knew what was coming. She'd tried so hard to get him to change the script here, but he'd stubbornly refused.

"Why do you have to ask her that? What possible purpose could it serve?"

"Let's play out this conversation, you and me. Answer like you really would in that situation."

"Alright, ask me."

"Inspector, tell me… have you ever faked an orgasm?"

She hesitated for a moment, then said: "No."

He raised his eyebrows at her. "Is that true?"

"No", she admitted. "But what else am I going to say under the circumstances, surrounded by my colleagues?"

He smiled. "Exactly. And at that point, I can point out that you're lying to me, and get you to promise that you won't do it again. That gives me the moral high ground and the upper hand in the negotiation."

"What if she admits that she has faked an orgasm?"

"Unlikely, but if that happens, the same purpose is served: I can point out that she's a liar for doing so."

Raquel still hated the stupid question – it made her cringe for her ex-colleague – but she had to admit that she was curious to see how Elena would handle it, after the astute way she'd turned his 'what are you wearing' question against him yesterday.

"… have you ever faked an orgasm?" Sergio asked.

The Inspector didn't hesitate. "If I were you, I'd also talk to my therapist about that tendency you have to ask women inappropriate questions."

He smiled. "Answer the question, Inspector. Have you ever faked an orgasm?"

"No", Elena answered, like Sergio had predicted she would. He threw Raquel a satisfied look and she rolled her eyes.

"Please, Inspector, don't lie to me. Take a moment to consider."

She snorted. "I'm not lying. I don't understand why women fake orgasms. If the men I sleep with are doing a bad job, I want them to know it."

Raquel raised her eyebrows at Sergio. Now what? He looked annoyed as he pushed a button so the police wouldn't hear them.

"She's lying."

"Prove it", she said, amused.

He released the button and said sternly: "How can I trust you if you lie to me, Inspector? I don't believe you."

"What do I get out of faking an orgasm? A smug man who thinks he's all that and who won't try harder next time."

Sergio pushed the button again and threw Raquel a questioning look. She couldn't suppress a smile as she felt his Professor persona slip a little.

"I think she's telling the truth."

"Yes", he said. "I think she is."

"Good for her."

He swore softly. "There goes my strategy."

"Good", she said drily. "It was a stupid strategy to begin with."

Before he could think of something else to say, the Inspector cut in:

"Alright, I think I've indulged you long enough. Let's get to business. Why did you want to call me?"

Raquel saw him regain his composure as they got back to the script.

"Well", he said. "We need food and medicine. Insulin, Sertraline, albuterol, an abortion pill and sedatives."

"An abortion pill?" the Inspector asked, and Raquel's eyebrows shot up too.

He shrugged. "One of the hostages requested it. We all have personal problems, right?"

"Alright, we'll grant your requests."

"Good. The Protección Civil should make the deliveries, in clear bags to avoid hidden weapons. And now tell me… why did you want to call me?"

"First of all, I'd like to congratulate you. You handled the situation last night admirably. Putting all the hostages in the same clothes as the robbers… very clever."

Sergio smiled. "You're congratulating me on outsmarting you?"

"I like to give credit where credit is due. I can admire your organizational skills even if I don't agree with your goals."

Raquel noticed that Sergio looked rather flattered, but she felt like Elena was building up to something. And sure enough…

"There's just one thing, Professor", the Inspector continued. "If you brought over 60 extra jumpsuits and masks, not to mention a machine gun… that means this was all planned beforehand. That 'escape attempt' yesterday was faked, wasn't it? You were never planning on just robbing the Mint. You came prepared to stay for days. You're printing money."

Sergio's raised his eyebrows at Raquel, and she leaned over to push the button with a feeling of alarm.

"Damn", she said.

"I know", he nodded. "She would have figured it out sooner or later, but I didn't think it would be this fast."

On the other side of the line, the Inspector said:

"I'm taking your silence as a 'yes'. So let me tell you why I called you."

"I'm all ears", Sergio said.

"To give you a chance to surrender."

He chuckled. "And why would I do that?"

"Because I've got footage from inside."

Sergio shot Raquel an amused look, clearly thinking the Inspector was lying.

She continued: "I've got the identity of one of your crew members, and it won't be long until I figure out the rest."

He shook his head, smiling. "Inspector, I don't think…"

She firmly cut him off. "I can offer you a deal with the public prosecutor. There have been no casualties, so I'm authorized to reduce your sentence from 16 to 8 years, but only if you come out now."

"I don't think that's a fair deal. We'd lose."

"You've already lost, Professor. Even if you managed to get out of there, your faces will be everywhere. What will you do then?"

"Activate plan B."

"I see", she said mildly. "You think I'm bluffing."

"Frankly, yes."

"Fine", she said. "Let me prove to you that I am, in fact, telling the truth: you have 67 cell phones attached to the wall with Velcro."

She let that sink in for a moment, while Sergio and Raquel looked at each other in dismay.

"Listen, Inspector…" he tried, but she knew she'd won.

"No", she cut him off again. "I think we're done here. You have one hour to accept my offer."

She hung up, and all they were left with was the dial tone. They looked at each other in consternation.

"Fuck", Raquel breathed. "How could she know that?"

"They must have missed a cell phone", Sergio said, agitated. "One of the hostages is communicating with the police."

"This is serious", she said. "Call Berlin."

He nodded and dialed. On the camera images, they saw Berlin enter the room and answer the phone.

"Hello Professor, hello Lisbon."

Sergio lost no time. "They know about the phones we've taped to the wall."

On the camera, Raquel saw Berlin frown.

"There are no security cameras inside, are there?" Sergio continued.

"Of course not, only the ones we've installed."

Sergio was shredding his origami piece. Raquel reached out a hand and touched his arm, and he stopped.

"Then it was one of the hostages", she said. "You must have missed a phone."

"I don't think so", Berlin said.

"There's no other option!" Sergio said. "You have to find that phone, or we're screwed!"

"Let me punish them", Berlin said. "Either we scare them or they'll keep trying to be heroes."

"Punish them how?" Raquel asked suspiciously.

"Set an example", Berlin replied. "An execution, for example?"

"Are you mad?" Raquel said heatedly, at the same time that Sergio firmly said:

"No. Just find that phone."

Sergio moved to hang up, but Raquel raised her hand to stop him.

"Just a moment. Berlin, is it true that one of the hostages asked for an abortion pill?"

"Yes."

"Which hostage?"

"Mónica Gaztambide."

As Sergio hung up the phone, Raquel turned to him in disgust.

"An execution, seriously, what's wrong with him?"

She got up and flipped through the files they had on the hostages until she found the right one.

"Here", she said, "Mónica Gaztambide."

Sergio threw a look at the file. "Isn't she the one you thought was sleeping with the director of the Mint, Arturo Román?"

"Yes", she said. "So I guess we know who the father is."

She was scanning the screens.

"There she is, the one with the curly hair."

"That's the woman Berlin chose to make the declaration to the police this morning", Sergio said.

"She looks so scared", Raquel said softly. "Poor girl. What a situation to be in."

Sergio nodded silently, and she turned to him with a frown.

"This doesn't feel right, Sergio. She shouldn't make a life-changing decision like this when she's under so much pressure, she's not thinking straight."

He shifted uncomfortably. "I agree, but I don't think there's anything we can do. It's her decision, we need to respect that."

"Of course. But maybe someone could talk to her? We could ask Nairobi."

"Honestly, Raquel, I feel for her, but the priority of the team right now should be to find that missing phone."

"Yes", she nodded. "That's definitely our main problem. But I'm sure Berlin will find it soon."

"I hope so", he said dejectedly.

"Sergio", she said softly, taking his hand and squeezing it, "go to bed. You're exhausted."

He shook his head. "Not until they have that phone."

"Alright", she sighed. "I'm going to get dressed and get some coffee."

"No", he said. "I don't want you going outside, the entire area is crawling with police, any of whom would recognize you. I'll go."

He got up, but she stopped him with a hand on his arm. He looked down at her.

"It's going to be alright", she said gently. "This is only a minor set-back. We'll get through it."

He nodded and squared his shoulders. "Yes, you're right."

A soft look appeared in his eyes and he bent down to press a kiss to her lips. "Thank you."

Then he straightened up again and walked towards the door.

Sergio hurried back to the hangar, trying to suppress the feeling of panic rising in his chest. This was bad, this was really bad. He desperately needed to talk to Raquel. When he opened the door, however, he found Raquel and Tokyo shouting at each other.

"What happened?" he asked urgently, putting on his own headset.

"Berlin hurt Rio", Raquel quickly summarized, and then Tokyo was yelling in his ear.

"… and if anyone lays another hand on him, the next bullet will be aimed at one of you!"

He felt a cold anger as the Professor took over. "This is exactly why I wanted no personal relationships."

"You're one to talk!" Tokyo yelled back.

"I don't let my relationship cloud my judgment", Sergio said icily. "Control yourself, Tokyo."

"But Berlin hurt him! He hurt him!"

"Why?"

"Just because he made a stupid little mistake!"

"What mistake?" Sergio said sharply.

"It appears that Rio allowed a hostage to use her phone and the police accessed it", Raquel explained. "That's how they got the image of the phones on the wall."

Sergio cursed softly.

"It was a mistake!" Tokyo yelled. "Everybody makes mistakes, you can't go around hurting people for every little thing! We're supposed to be a team!"

Sergio's thoughts were racing, and he suddenly put two and two together.

"Well", he said coldly, "Your boyfriend's 'little mistake' may well cost us this operation. The police found out your identity, Tokyo, and Rio's too."

Raquel's eyes went wide.

"I was just out", Sergio continued, "and I saw your faces on the news. The police know who you are. They probably got a glimpse of Rio through that cell phone and worked from there. So no, Tokyo, this wasn't a 'little mistake'."

He hung up, and felt his anger fade together with the Professor as he looked at Raquel. He gave her a helpless look. They were quiet for a few moments.

"Looks like the Inspector was telling the truth, then", Raquel said finally.

He nodded, a sinking feeling in his stomach. "So it seems."

"Why were you gone so long?"

"Elena was in Hanoi again."

Raquel raised her eyebrows. "Oh, she's 'Elena' now?"

Sergio ignored that. "I tried to find out how much she knew about the team inside, but she didn't tell me anything useful."

"Of course she didn't, Sergio, and she won't! She doesn't know you!"

"She was quite friendly, though. I think I only need a few more meetings before she'll really trust me."

"I still think this is a bad idea!"

"You've made that abundantly clear, thank you."

"Sergio…"

He cut her off. "I don't want to have this discussion again. We have actual problems to deal with." He gave her an anguished look. "They found out their identities, Raquel. That wasn't supposed to happen."

"Well", she said firmly, "it's unfortunate, but there's nothing we can do about it now. We'll just have to make sure they're disguised when we get out of here. But if I were Elena, I'd try to get a message to Rio now, he's clearly a weak link because he's still so young. You should call him, Sergio, make sure he sticks to the script we gave him if the police contact him. He may be a little shaken up by what happened with Berlin."

He nodded. "Yes, I will."

She gave him a closer look. "Sergio, it was inevitable that some things would go wrong. This is a massive undertaking."

"But I planned everything so carefully. How could this happen?"

"Human error", she said. "There's no way to plan for that. You can control a lot of things, my love, but you can't control other people."

He didn't like that one bit. His life's work, in the hands of other people – irrational, emotional, impulsive people. So many grains of sand in the perfect, gleaming machinery of his plan, any one of them containing the potential to bring the whole thing to a grinding halt. He'd done his best to tell them what to do, how to act, but he now realized for the first time that they might simply… choose not follow his instructions. How many other bad choices would they make? The idea terrified him.

Raquel was observing him closely. "Go to bed, Sergio. Everything will look better when you're rested."

He shook his head. "Elena will call back in twenty minutes, I need to be awake for that."

"I can handle that conversation."

"You know I don't want you talking to the police. And anyway, I'm too worked up to sleep now."

"Then go and hit that punching bag for a bit, that should help."

He nodded and got up.

After twenty minutes, in which he worked off some of his frustration, washed himself, and had something to eat, he felt a little better, and he sat down to wait for the Inspector's next call with a renewed feeling of calm. When the phone rang, he was ready with another of his prepared lines.

"Your hour is up", Elena said. "What's your answer?"

"Inspector", he replied. "What games did you used to play as a child?"

There was a silence on the other end of the line, and for a moment Sergio thought the Inspector might be fed up with his questions and refuse to play. He hoped not – this was the fun part of the negotiations – so he smiled broadly when she decided to answer after all.

"I'm afraid I was a very boring child – I spent all of my time reading. Not unlike you, I think."

Sergio raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Me?"

"You were a very bookish child, too, weren't you?"

He looked at Raquel – how could she possibly know that? Raquel motioned at him to move the conversation along, but he had to know.

"Why do you think that?"

"Look at the way this operation was planned", she said. "Meticulously, with such attention to detail, and above all, so elegant. A victimless crime – you're not even robbing anyone. It's beautiful, really. You're an idealist, aren't you? You're not a violent criminal, you're not a butcher – you're a surgeon. A bookish boy with a big idea. Tell me if I'm wrong."

Sergio was impressed.

"So I think", the Inspector continued, "that 16 years in prison won't be very pleasant for you. Take my offer, Professor. Eight years, and you'll be out in six on good behavior."

Sergio smiled. "Well, thank you for the offer, Inspector, but I've talked this over with my associates and we're choosing zero years in prison instead."

"Sooner or later something on your end will go wrong", Elena said quietly. "And then 8 years of prison will turn into 30. Get out now, before that happens."

"I assure you that everything is under perfect control", Sergio said. "So I have no reason to accept your deal. We hold all the cards here, Inspector, so I'd like to make a few requests."

He started making his demands, asking for a truck and a boat, pretending that they didn't have an escape plan in place. She didn't buy it, however.

"You expect me to believe that you planned this whole thing but you don't have a plan to get out of there?"

He quickly improvised: "I knew that I would be able to count on your cooperation for that particular part of the operation. I promise you that you will get your 67 hostages, safe and sound, as long as I get what I requested."

He hung up, and Raquel frowned at him.

"Do you think she believed you?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. I hope she'll lose time trying to get that ship, but if she doesn't, we'll just move on to one of our other delaying tactics."

At that point, their attention was drawn to the screens: Berlin, Tokyo, Rio and Nairobi were gathered in the breakroom and seemed to be having an argument. When Tokyo drew her gun, Raquel quickly picked up the phone and called them. Rio answered.

"What's going on?" Raquel and Sergio both asked at the same time through their headset.

They saw Tokyo point her gun at Berlin.

"No", they heard her say in the background. "You tell them."

Berlin took the phone. "I've broken the first rule of the plan."

Sergio sharply looked up. "What?"

"I've killed a hostage. Well, it wasn't me, it was Denver, but he was following my orders."

Sergio froze, his brain refusing to absorb that information. No, he thought. No, this isn't true. He's lying, he's joking, it can't be true. Next to him, Raquel was shaking her head in disbelief, too, her eyes wide. I'm dreaming, I misheard.

On the screen, Berlin grinned at Tokyo, who was still pointing her gun at him. "I thought it would be best to tell you personally."

As it suddenly hit him that this was really happening, Sergio felt like the floor dropped out from underneath him. Panic started rising inside his chest and he was breathing fast as he gripped the desk with shaking hands.

"That was the only red line", he said. "The only red line! You've fucked everything up, Berlin."

"I understand that you're shocked."

"You've fucked everything up", Sergio repeated. He was shaking hard now, feeling like he was falling, falling, falling… and then Raquel took his hand and squeezed it tight, and he held onto it like a lifeline. He looked at her and saw his own desperation mirrored in her face.

"She had a phone between her legs", Berlin continued. "Maybe she wanted to call her cousin Chelito, but personally I think she was going to call the police. There will be no more phones now, you can be sure of that."

"Who was she?" Sergio asked.

"Mónica Gaztambide."

"The pregnant girl?" Raquel whispered in horror. "Oh Berlin, how could you?"

Sergio couldn't speak. He just clung to Raquel's hand and stared at his brother's face on the screen, serene, unruffled. Who was this man – this monster – who spoke so calmly of killing a woman? He felt like a stranger.

"Will you punish me?" Berlin asked. "You should. I know you're an idealist, that you think they'll just give us the money if we ask politely. I know you want to be a good guy even if we do have explosives enough to blow this place up. But no more games now. You will have to punish me. Because if you don't have the guts, this won't end well. I've told you this many times throughout the years. It's not me who has a problem, it's you."

"Shut up, Berlin", Raquel said beside him, her voice low and dangerous. "You shut up right now."

"You're not like him, Lisbon", Berlin said. "You live in the real world, you know I'm right. He needs to show that he's a captain who can firmly hold the helm. I need to know he's someone I can put my faith in. You know he has to punish me – make sure he does it."

Sergio was still shaking, his mind racing with the implications, the horrible, horrible consequences. He never planned for this. Out of all the things he'd prepared for, this was the one scenario he'd never considered. Suddenly he was back in the classroom in Toledo.

"If there's even one drop of blood - and this is very important - if even one person dies, we're no longer Robin Hoods but simply bastards."

He was only vaguely aware that Raquel was still talking next to him.

"You're a psychopath, you know that?!" she said angrily.

"I'm a realist", Berlin answered calmly.

Raquel looked like she had much more to say, but she glanced at Sergio and seemed to decide that there were more urgent things right now than yelling at Berlin.

"Nobody knows about this woman right now", Berlin continued. "The plan can go ahead."

Sergio finally found his voice. "They'll ask for proof of life soon, though."

"Within three days", Raquel confirmed. "Congratulations, Berlin. You just set a time bomb under this whole operation. I hope you're fucking proud of yourself."

And she hung up the phone with a bang.

Sergio stared straight ahead. He felt like his carefully laid plans were crashing to the ground around him, and he could hear his hopes shatter. Dead. Someone was dead. Mónica Gaztambide – they had seen her on the screens mere hours ago. She'd looked so scared. As he saw her face in his mind's eye, there was a sharp pain in his chest and suddenly he couldn't breathe, his mind a swirling vortex of panic and shock. A darkness was gathering at the edges of his vision. He desperately tried to summon the confidence and calm of the Professor, longing to trade the mess of his emotions for cool rationality, but just as he felt the persona manifest, Raquel put a hand on his arm.

"Sergio", she said softly but insistently. "This isn't your fault."

To his distress, he felt her touch crack open the hard shell of the Professor to reveal Sergio again, vulnerable and in pain. He didn't want to be Sergio right now, he needed to be strong, he needed to think, he couldn't let emotions cloud his mind. He had to get out of here, he needed distance, he needed clarity. He stood up.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

"Berlin was right", he said through numb lips. "I have to punish him."

"I agree", she nodded. "He has to be removed from command right now."

He shook his head. "No, I can't do that."

"Yes you can. Call the team, have him tied up, put someone else in charge."

"Nobody else is suited to lead this operation."

"Berlin isn't either! He went against your explicit orders!"

"He made a mistake. He'll be punished accordingly."

"A mistake? Sergio, it's not like he tripped and his gun went off! He ordered this woman to be killed in cold blood! That's not a mistake!"

"Yes it is", he said stubbornly. It had to be, it had to be a mistake. His brother wasn't – he wasn't a murderer. "I just need to show him he has to respect my rules and it won't happen again."

"How can you possibly be sure of that?"

"I know him", Sergio said simply. "I know he won't disobey orders again. I'm… I'm sure he regrets this."

She gave him the most skeptical look. "That's really not what it sounded like."

He went over to the cupboard where he kept small items with everybody's DNA and took out the container that held a button off his brother's coat.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Berlin's DNA. I'm going to Toledo to plant it in the house. In a few days, we'll lead them there and they'll uncover his identity. That's his punishment."

She stood up in alarm. "Sergio, you are not getting on that bike when you're this sleep-deprived!"

He gave her a desperate look. "I have to, Raquel, I… I can't stay here right now, I…" His voice broke. "I can't."

She came closer to him with a soft look in her eyes. "I understand, but really, it's too dangerous for you to drive now. Please try to sleep first, please."

His eyes were burning. "I can't."

She reached out a hand, but he brushed it away and walked past her. If she touched him right now, if she tried to hold him, if she said one thing to comfort him, he knew he would shatter into a thousand pieces and how would he put himself back together then? She seemed to realize that he needed some time to cope, because she didn't try to stop him again when he put on his leather jacket and picked up his helmet.

"Please be careful", she said softly.

He nodded. "Don't talk to the police while I'm gone."

"I won't."

He kept seeing Mónica's scared face as he walked out the door and towards his bike. Dead, dead, dead. When he got on, his guilt suddenly overwhelmed him and he needed a moment to steady himself, drawing deep, shaking breaths. Everything was going wrong, everything was falling apart around him and there was nothing he could do to stop it. A gunshot echoed through his head and he flinched. Dead, dead, dead. He gazed down at his trembling hands. They looked red with blood.