Pepe glanced at the watch on his wrist: 11:45 PM. Karl had suddenly left around thirty minutes ago without leaving notice, which suggested an extracurricular situation, a small slip.
'He's been gone quite a while already. Maybe he found those guys' hideout.'
He pulled a green button from his pocket with the number 11 engraved on it. He handed it to his boss, who immediately understood his intentions, then proceeded to hand him a key and a somewhat stained red handkerchief.
"It'd be better if you actually get something. We've had to turn a blind eye just to catch them all in one sweep."
"I understand. Let Kenny know for me if we don't come back after a while. At least a corpse is better than nothing. Carpe Diem."
"Carpe Diem."
He made a gesture with his hands from top to bottom and left to right before dismissing him.
At the barn, Karl adjusted his position slightly farther away, about a block's distance. His presence blended into the lack of visibility while a faint mist settled over the area.
The night sky, with the moon only half full, reminded him of the time. Midnight would arrive soon enough.
'I hope Pepe gets here soon. I'm getting hungry, and these bastards couldn't have hidden themselves in a more remote place. Tsk. Soon I should be sitting in Lecce with a good view of the sea. One final elegant dinner would be ideal.'
Karl spent a while fantasizing about taking a vacation soon. An old hunting dog like him, burdened with so many scars, should have retired long ago. But such was life: work and more work until someone else replaced you.
He leaned back against a stone by the wall.
His single eye glimpsed the stars for a moment. The nocturnal glow was faint, giving the world a dim atmosphere. He felt sleepy. He yawned tiredly.
He would only rest for a moment.
A single instant in infinity.
A slight blink...
Meanwhile, Pepe arrived near the Naples district. Pit guided him while several backups followed behind. His watch struck exactly 12:00 AM at that precise moment.
Karl felt as though he dreamed a strange dream. He felt old, yet he had only just turned eight years old then.
He paid no attention to the sensation and climbed down from the hiding spot in the tree where he had been sitting.
In the distance, he saw a house on the horizon, a small farm where he lived with his parents and eight brothers and sisters.
"Ugh, Jimmy forgot to feed the chickens again. Dad's going to beat all of us."
He picked up his playing cards and put them away. Life in the countryside was tediously boring to him, and he hated it immensely. Then his attention drifted toward the two things that interested him most.
Money and games.
In other words, gambling.
He hurried down and ran toward the house. Opening the door, he found two of his younger siblings running around chasing each other.
"!That was mine! I'll tell Mom you broke Jason's coffee jar if you don't give it back!"
"Wait, that's not fair, idiot! We'll both get punished!"
"!I don't care! Give me back my lucky rabbit's foot!"
Karl laughed at them a little. These children were so easy to manipulate. He had given them that rabbit's foot as a joke, and now they clung to it like treasure.
He ignored them and searched for Jimmy, shouting his name a few times while looking through several rooms. A feminine voice answered him instead: Paula, his thirteen-year-old older sister.
"If you're looking for Jimmy, he's probably with Dad at the rice fields."
"How long has he been there?"
"Since dawn. And I should say it's not convenient for you to disobey like this. Mom's been sick lately and can't properly take care of everyone. Do your part and stop being a burden."
"Tsk. I don't care about the farm. One day I'll leave this place and become a magnate with so much money that a thousand farms like this will just be a tiny fraction of my property."
He turned around and ran off while grabbing some bread from the kitchen. His family was large. They were not wealthy, but they could survive well enough. They were in a fertile season of the year, which meant there was a little abundance at home.
Originally, he had made a bet with Jimmy over a rat fight about who would do the other's chores the following day, but obviously he had not kept his word and would get himself into trouble. Irritated, he went to feed the chickens and tossed the seeds carelessly at them.
"If I lived in the city, I could go to those luxurious places where people practically hand away their money. Bleh, let's see who I scam—I mean, compete against fairly and beat so I can skip tomorrow's chores."
He finished feeding them and headed toward his hiding place. Climbing the improvised ladder to retrieve his belongings, he thought:
'Today it's Mike's turn. It's been a while since I've bothered him because he's a bit stubborn, but his pride won't let him keep losing to me forever.'
As he climbed, he grabbed onto a branch incorrectly, and it snapped, causing him to fall backward onto the ground.
Karl opened his eyes and jolted awake in fright. He had dreamed that he was a child again and had fallen to the ground. It felt strange. He dreamed about his home, but it had already been two years since he enlisted in the army. He was around nineteen years old then, a young man, agile and fierce.