Final Challenge (6 page)

- Okay, I'm there in twenty minutes.

     Hanson definitely wasn’t
lucky. Recently someone had decided to end his patience. Forty-five minutes leaning on the bandstand were the drop that filled t
he glass. He punched the wall,
which went pretty badly hurt and directed his complaints to Marvin.

- Whoever he is, he has teased you.

- Not to me. I just call this kind at the request of t
he boss
. Tell him.

- He could
have
quoted us at least in a place a little more  ... discrete, I say.

- I propos
ed, but he declined. This guy,
named Sheridan,
was so nervous that I couldn’t
understand half of what he was saying, so I do not bother to ask why
he
had chosen this site for the meeting.

 
Marvin broke his explanations to set his eyes on a
n
individual rather ugly, unkempt, whose age was not easy to discern, although he
looked as he was seventy old,
walking toward them in a ramshackle way. When reached to them, looked both of them and a question was launched into the air.

- Any of you are
the ...
agent Marvin
?

- Yes
, this is
- Marvin replied while shaking hands with him - you must be ... Sheridan, right? ...

- I think I recognize your voice, but I'm
not sure ... Show me your badge
, show me the plate!

  Sheridan appeared to be more than nervous, out of control. He watched agents with eyes that were out of their orbits, so much that both of them tried to
calm Marvin showing their badges
. Then Marvin tried to instill confidence to him.

- Quiet,
you can you talk to us freely, do not worry.

  Sheridan, far from calming down, turned his head in all directions, searching for someone,
then said a few words that, in
his state, were difficult to understand.

- Is that ... they pursue me ... I know it  ...  and they will not stop until ...

Marvin put his hand on his shoulder.

- You're in good hands. Nothing will happen.

Sheridan, instead of answering him, was still looking in all directions. That was stronger than the patience of Hanson that had long was running out, so he decided to talk to Sheridan in a very direct way.

- Well, you told our boss that you knew what had happened to Drs Klein and Olsen.

Sheridan seemed a little calmer, began to speak more coherently.

- Listen ... they were part of the plot, a great plot. No one can be left out, no one. Not even you. It's too late.

- What are you trying to say? ... - Marvin asked him -

Sheridan turned back his head again looki
ng around, then
answered while he was still absorbed in his particular inspection.

- I tried
it
, I tried to escape from their clutches. I thou
ght I had succeeded, but they
are lurking me some time ago, watching me, I know. They want ... killing me.

Hanson had had enough. That guy de
finitely seemed to be crazy. He had
to intervene to ask a more than logic question.

- Tell me, if you are so afraid, why do we have quoted in a place like this? Anyone could see you here talking to us! Perhaps if we were to a more secluded or closed place, even at home if you prefer ...

Sheridan interrupted him before he uttered the last words. He was beside himself, took several steps backward.

- You don’t
understand, I knew you would not understand! I just do not trust of nobody,
nobody,
what’s more, I do not trust in
you!
If th
ey kill me here, there will be
some witnesses at least.

M
arvin and Hanson exchanged a knowing look hinting some air of resignation. Marvin finally did a comment to Sheridan trying to win his trust.

- If
you don’t
trust anyone, can hardly get out of your situation.

Sheridan opened his eyes so wildly and began to speak very slowly. It looked like a messiah who was looking for his cause.

- Soon, you will not trust in
your friends, much less in your
shadow
s
.

Hanson finally exploded. That fellow was getting on his nerves.

- Well, enough! Look, we have enough problems to stand up to chatter a Sunday morning with an old insane.

Marvin took a hard look to Hanson. They would not get anything of that fellow losing their patience. Then he turned to Sheridan lowering his voice, like begging an answer.

-
You said you knew the reason for which
the doctors had died.

- Reason? Does life conforms to reason? Perhaps
to laws, but never, never, to
reasons!

  Sheridan seemed to have assumed a rol
e of illuminated
that Hanson deeply disliked, so he made a gesture of leaving and motioned to Marvin to do the same.

- Come on
, my patience has run out.
A wonderful weekend to be sunk
for
bullshit. Tell the boss that the next time he do
es
not trust in the first nutcase that call him - said Marvin to Hanson -

- Wait, wait a minute ... - Marvin turned around and went to Sheridan - Look, Sheridan, or whatever. Obviously you are altered for any reason, let's say ... your nervous system is slightly disjointed. Come with us and we will respond you appropriately.

That acted as a spur to Sheridan, who made as if to run away and then said, pointing them with a finger:

- I knew, I knew. You come to get me. You are on their side!

With these words began to run as fast as he could. Marvin came behind him and, not without some effort, managed to catch him by the shoulder. Then he heard the cries of Hanson to his back.

- Marvin by God! Let the crazy run to his lair. If we took
him by force we are going to lo
se our hair.

Marvin thought for a few seconds, looking to Hanson. Then
he
chose to release him. Sheridan ran, terrified, while Marvin and Hanson were looking at him with impotence face.

XI

The coroner was taking longer than agreed to deliver the report on the autopsies. It
did not arrive
the next day to their tables, neither throughout the following week. And since o
ne of his strengths was comply
almost strictly with the terms at which he undertook, and the apparent simplicity of
the case, it seemed at least
a bit str
ange. Marvin let Hanson
to deal the issue. He was understood perfectly with the coroner so it was undoubtedly the best choice. But he was surprised that Hanson was down from time to time to visit him, and that, back to the office, he avoided any conversation about it. Marvin, however, could hardly hide his eagerness to know the results, so that morning while he was getting a coffee from the machine in the department, was approached by Hanson who with a wide smile and an envelope in his hand, waved it several times trying to get his attention, something that had not been necessary because he
had long been waiting for that
moment.

- The coroner has fulfilled. Here are the results
–
Hanson
t
old
him when he reached
to him, while handing him the envelope -

  While Hanson took a coffee, Marvin took out three stapled sheets and two photos. Before looking at them, for once could not keep his curiosity.

- What about
those
photos? What the hell? ...

- Hey!
I thought I was officially the impetuous
one
! Read carefully and then we talk. - He paused to pick up his coffee and take the first sip - Actually, there is nothing new, everything is as he had anticipated.

- Come on! So
much secrecy for this? I have to admit I'm somewhat disappointed.

Hanson smiled from ear to ear and continued:

- Well, not everything ... almost everything ...

- Hans, Hans ... a
re
you
playing with me, huh? You've said yourself "Marvin owes me one, for the investigation of the archive
s
, the missing scientists. Now it is my turn to have him on edge. " It's something like that, right?

- Come on, Marvin. Other times you would take it another way, I know you're a bit nervous. The "almost" refers to the photos. Look at the circle that is signaled.

Marvin took his time, he didn’
t want anything to happen unnoticed.

- Very interesting ... the left arm of both bodies. Several scars in the same area. Maybe ... som
eone injected the lethal drug by
this way.

  Hanson finished his coffee in one gulp and then grinned.

- No man, no! The coroner has found those scars are left by the body's allergic reacti
ons to various vaccines, -
Hanson
said
, Marvin smiled back -

- I ... I now understand your secrecy in recent days ...

- I asked the coroner to be as compr
ehensive as
possible, you can n
ot imagine the circus that I have had
to make up with him. At fir
st we got nothing, but then we
look at those scars.

- Well ... Congratulations ... good job, mate. But tell me ... What importance can have these vaccines? Perhaps discovering that both were vaccinated against mea
sles? Another coincidence – he drew out
a wry smile - which, surely, can be decisive! Come on, Hanson, everyone is vaccinated every once in a while, right?

- Yeah
, I know that sounds shocking, but most striking is that, according to the coroner, the vaccines were given relatively recently.  It may be silly, you may be right, but t
he coroner is examining them. As soon as he has something new, he’s going to
notify us.

XII

Marvin had every reason to be nervous, de
spite his serene and temperate
character. If he had problems in his working life, they were nothing next to those that really absorbed his brain, related to his private
life. So as
one night he returned to his apartment after finishing his work
and
received a call from Susan for an
appointment with him, he didn’t
know whether to laugh o
r to pray, because Susan didn’t
release the pledge on the occasion of the meeting. Against this, making use of circumstances, Marvin proposed a dinner at their favorite restaurant, the usual. After initial hesitation, she finally agreed. It could look like a sign of hope, but knowing her it might well
to
be to put on the table the demand for separation. The sword was hanging over his head for weeks, and he knew that the possibilities in this regard were many.

The next day Marvin wore his
best clothes to meet who still was his wife. He came with more than fifteen minutes early to their meeting, so while waiting in their usual table he had already taken two glasses of w
ine. When he saw her enter, his
heart turned over. She was more beautiful than ever, lovely with that dress she had bought for the last year-end party at the health center where she worked as a nurse.  Words hardly came out, he was more nervous than the d
ay he had known her. She didn’t
put him easy, trying to keep distances. Marvin thought then how different was the last meal they had enjoyed together, there in that same place, only a few months before, and how life might be able to change people, or at least their attitudes in such a short time related the person they love. While acknowledging the awkwardness he had committe
d, he crossed his mind that if
he
had become a stran
ger to her in just a few months,
that would not be able to break the space and time in a couple if the seed of hatred grows. Because it was apparent that she hated him. She hated him not only by his treachery, but for having failed her, for breaking her expectations. It was as if the past does not count, as if that single event would have made her awakening from a dream, as if she had found a different man in her waking. Marvin fell down in utter discouragement by a moment. You can fight against misfortune, perhaps even against fate,
but you can’
t ask someone to change the image that our own nightmares have distorted to the point of thinking that dream was really the former one, unreal, nonexistent.