HEARING THE SHOTS, Tony and Tom immediately leaned against the wall, next to the front door, both with guns in their hands. Tom kept his sights on Kid, who, not knowing what to do, just raised his arms to avoid being shot. Tony pointed at the door, in case someone came in.
— What was that, kid?! — Tony asked Kid, nervous.
— I don't know, boss, I don't know! — he replied, trembling.
— You set us up, didn't you? You piece of shit! — Tom shouted at his possible enemy.
— I don't know anything, brother, seriously!
— Tell me now before I exchange your gold tooth for a bullet in your shitty mouth! — Tom threatened him with the gun at his fingertips.
— See if there's anyone else in there! — Tony said.
Leo quickly investigated the rooms in the apartment and returned to the living room, where they were.
— There's no one.
— We can't stay here, we'll have to find a way out...
— The only way out is through this door. — said Kid.
— Then you go first. — said Tom, grabbing him by the neck and throwing him towards the door. — Hurry up!
OUTSIDE, BENEDETTI ALREADY FELT the weight of age falling on his shoulders, but he still needed to be agile in these complicated situations. He thought quickly, took a few steps back, took a deep breath and ran straight towards the other side of the corridor he was in, crossing the place where the enemies were. He fired as fast as his gun would allow, hitting another one of the remaining ones in the chest, with three shots. This one was probably dead and there was only one left standing, he checked.
The men fired randomly, trying to suppress him, but they were so disoriented by the erratic plan they had followed that they only managed to graze his arm. He quickly replaced the bullets in just one of the revolvers and prepared himself for the last enemy. He waited until there was a break in the shooting and realized that it had been a long time.
They probably only had one bullet left and would need to reload.
He didn't think twice, he jumped with his gun in his hands and fired two accurate shots, one in the chest and the other in the head of the last enemy. The others were no longer in a condition to participate in the exchange of fire, due to their serious injuries.
Getting up from the ground, he walked over to the bodies of the strangers to check the situation. One of them was unconscious, covered in blood on his stomach. He must have been the first one Benedetti had faced. The next was already dead, with his eyes wide open, staring at the ceiling. Three marks revealed the places where death had entered him. The third man had also already met his death. With wounds in his chest and stomach, he was exhausting his life on the floor of that dark place.
As he went to see the last one, Benedetti could hear the desperate clicks of his gun. With blood on his chest, the man had no strength to drag himself along and was breathing agonizingly, which suggested that his lung had been punctured. Taking advantage of what was left of his consciousness and strength in his fingers, he pulled the trigger of the pistol that was already empty of bullets, in an exasperated act of survival.
Benedetti adjusted the cigarette in the corner of his mouth as he observed the scene.
— A beautiful end to a shitty life, huh?
He could feel the effort of breathing that his victim was making in the last moments of his life, while he saw the barrel of his Colt pointed at him. Of the four remaining bullets, only one was enough to complete the act.
After a long sigh, he rubbed his hands to remove the dust from his pants and jacket, reloaded his two revolvers and sat down to smoke.
He whispered:
— Let the cigarette take care of me...