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To love is to make sacrifices. Andrés knew that. Yet he loved the plan and he loved Martín. That didn’t really go hand in hand with each other. He had to realize that today, in a rather painful way. After Gandia threw a grenade at Rio and Denver in the elevator, the security guard ran away, followed by Palermo, Bogota and Helsinki. He was sure that they would easily catch and shoot the bastard, but minutes later, after hearing some gunfire, Helsinki spoke to him through the earpiece telling him that, apparently, Gandia managed to disarm Palermo and is now hiding in one of the bathrooms with him. He also said that he and Bogota are guarding the door, guns first, so Gandia won’t be able to leave.
Most people would describe Berlin as a calm, level headed man, who didn’t act because of his emotions. He acted strategic. But right now, he desperately tried to not let his feelings get to his head because Martín needed him now, but thinking about his love being held as a hostage did make him furious and also incredibly worried.
It was foolish to think being in love during a heist wouldn’t make you less objective, Andrés realized. But that didn’t matter anymore. It’s too late anyway, he was whipped for the other man. But it’s not too late to get Martín out of Gandias deathly grip. He internally collected himself, for Martíns sake, and ordered the rest of the group to the Gobernadors office.
“We are getting him out of there. No discussion. And we make sure Gandia is dead before the sun sets.”
“Aren’t you the one who always tells us to the stick to the plan? No matter what happens? Leaving only Matias in charge of the hostages while the rest of us goes to a rescue mission that ends in killing a hostage is not how things were planed.”, Nairobi said, but Berlin only rolled his eyes at her comment.
“He also tried to kill you, why the sudden change of heart by showing him pity rather than wanting to kill that bastard yourself?”
Nairobi sighed. “I just feel like this is getting out of control.”
“Everything’s out of control since we entered the Bank, when he decided not to kill him, despite my warnings. But I’m not letting things go wrong even more. This ends today, by killing Gandia. We won’t let ourselves get hunted by him anymore, like we are some kind of prey. We will be in charge of this place by the end of the day.”
Denver nodded determined, just like Rio.
“We also have to find Tokyo.”, the youngest of the Group said.
“Oh, you shut up, non of this would have happened if you just shot him when he tried to escape. We don’t know about Tokyo’s whereabouts but we do know for a fact that Gandia is currently holding Palermo hostage in the goddamn bathroom. So he is our first priority right now.”
He didn’t have to hide the fact that Palermo’s life was a little more precious to him than Tokyo’s was. Everyone guessed that there was more than friendship between the two man but no one dared to ask so they didn’t feel the need to give what they had a name. They could do that after the heist. Berlin preferred it that way, so no one really knew if the seemingly stone cold man did have any weakness, even though right now, he didn’t do a very good job at hiding his worry for Palermo in front of the team.
“How are we going to get him out then?” Stockholm asked and Berlin nodded in the direction of the duct vent.
“Rio and Denver, try to get to the bathroom by using the duct vent. Nairobi, join Matias and help keeping the hostages in charge. Stockholm, you and I will join Bogota and Helsinki, who are still standing in front of the door. This way we have him encircled. He’s alone and we will bring him down.”
Before they left, Berlin walked over to Rio who was waiting for Denver to get into the vent. He didn’t want to scare the boy, but he needed to get some of his anger out, so he wouldn’t act reckless while trying to free Martín.
“Good luck. And pray to god that he didn’t harm Palermo. For your sake.”, he whispered into Rio’s ear, calm, but forcefully and threatening.
Rio just nodded silently.
Blaming someone else, like Rio, was easier than taking the blame on himself. Because he should have known that a skilled guard like Gandia knew how to free himself out of handcuffs. He wouldn’t have to fear for Martíns life if he took that in account.
Berlin felt a wave of relief going through his body, when he and Stockholm finally reached the bathroom, Bogota and Helsinki still lined up in front of the door, their fingers on the triggers of their guns. He also heard Martín cursing, pretty loud. He was alive. And probably well, judged by the volume of his voice.
“Palermo, it’s Berlin. Are you okay?”, he still asked, to make sure Martín was really unharmed, and also to show Gandia that the man in charge arrived and wouldn’t leave before he single handily killed him.
“Oh thank god Berlin, you are here. Yes I am okay, beside that bald bastard holding a gun to my head.” Berlin grinned, even when in danger, Martín didn’t show any fear and especially didn’t stop his loose tongue from speaking up.
“Gandia, I would advise you to let Palermo go. And then we see if we kill you immediately, or if we have some more fun with you.” Berlin said with a steady voice.
“You are not in the place to make any demands.” Gandia replied.
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, you are alone. And the only way out is through the door, where several guns will be pointed at you if you decide to leave. You don’t really have a chance here. So be clever, let Palermo go, and maybe we won’t kill you when you walk through that door. Think of your wife and your child, Gandia. Be a clever man for once.”
Berlin was sure by bringing up the guards family, he would reach his mind and make him reconsider if holding Palermo hostage was the cleverest thing to do if he wanted to get out of this alive, but apparently, they underestimated the Guard again.
“I don’t think you truly understand Berlin. I have your little friend with a gun to his head. Just one shot and he is dead. If anyone’s making demands, it’s me. I decide what we are going to do.”
Before Berlin could reply to that, he heard Martín chuckle. ”Oh you really think you’re so clever huh? You should listen to Berlin, you sick bastard.”
Then he only heard a trigger being clicked and a gun being fired.
There were many moments in his life where he was angry for not letting himself love Martín back earlier. That he had to live through a near death experience in the Mint before he build up enough courage to let himself be with the other man. This was one of these moments. The time he spent with Martín was precious, even before they got together. He meant it, when he said that he didn’t love any of the women he was married to as much as he loved the engineer. Their 10 years of friendship were the most wholesome, exciting, pure times of his rather extraordinary life. But it got even better when he was finally able to openly love his soulmate. The years they spend together after the Mint, before the heist on the Bank of Spain, these years were astonishing.
That was everything he ever wanted.
He was truly happy. Most of the time, since he was in a relationship with Martín, the only negative emotions he felt, were regret mixed with anger. He could have had this way earlier, if he only had the courage to do so. Martín told him every time, that didn’t matter anymore, because at least they are together now. But he never regretted it as much as he did right now, after hearing that gun being fired and not exactly knowing how badly Martín was hurt. If he was alive. The fear for Martíns life, mixed with his anger and regret made themselves remarkable by twisting his stomach around and wrenching his heart.
It lasted until he finally heard Martín scream.
“You sick bastard!”
“Palermo, what happened?”. Berlin asked, relived that he was still alive, but also in urgent need to know what exactly Gandia did to him.
“He shot me! He shot me in the hand!”, Martín exclaimed and Andrés allowed himself to breath. That was in no way a life-threatening injury. He would make Gandia pay for hurting his love nevertheless.
“See? You are not in the position to make any demands.”, Gandia said and Berlin was getting impatient. He didn’t want Martín to be in captivity with that psychotic Rambo anymore.
Hopefully, Rio and Denver would reach the bathroom soon enough.
“I’m killing you, you fucking bastard!”, Martín kept yelling at Gandia.
“Palermo, stay calm.”, he said urgently, fearing Gandia would fire another bullet into Martín’s body.
“Don’t you tell me what to fucking do Andrés, that motherfucker just put a bullet into my fucking HAND!”
“Shut up, bastard, or do you want to lose sight on your other eye as well?”
“Oh you would like that right? Maybe I will shut up if you suck my fucking cock.” Berlin internally rolled his eyes, Martíns tendency to be overdramatic be damned. Couldn’t that man stay calm for once? His life is depending on it, for gods sake.
“I want you to offer me freedom Berlin, otherwise I will put all the bullets I have with me into him.”
Of course that was what Gandia wanted. And to be fair, letting him go away unharmed seemed like a small price to pay for Martíns safety. Tomorrow was another day where they could kill him. But also another day where Gandia could hurt one of them.
He decided to win more time first, so Denver and Rio could surprise attack him. He could still let Gandia go if that didn’t work out.
“Okay then, enlighten me, what exactly do you have in mind?”
“If I open the door, I want you all standing by the wall, with lowered guns. I’m taking Palermo with me as a human shield. Once I decide to let him go, I still don’t want to see any raised guns or I will shoot him. You understand that?”
“Loud and clear.” Berlin responded to Gandias demands.
He thought of what to say next, to keep the guard occupied, when he heard a loud bang, coming from above.
Denver and Rio.
“Oh you think you are so clever huh? Trying to attack me through the vent.”, Gandia said, having added up their plan. “How many are up there?”, he asked, before firing his gun again, apparently in the direction of the vent, according to the sound the bullets made when they hit it.
Stockholm flinched beside him, and he knew how she was feeling right now.
“Two, only two.”, he responded to Gandias question.
“Good. Now tell them to leave the vent and get in front of the door as well. I want to see all of you with no guns aimed at me before you get Palermo.”
Apparently Berlin waited a second to long to tell Denver the order to come out of the vent, because Gandia fired another shot and he heard Palermo scream again.
“Palermo?” Bogota asked, because Berlin needed a minute to calm himself down, so he wouldn’t just kick the door open and kill Gandia with his bare hands.
“The leg.”, he heard Martín say through gritted teeth.
He needed to act, because he couldn’t bear hearing Martín scream in pain one more time.
“Okay, we will do what you want.” He despised giving up, but he couldn’t think of any other way to safe Martín without hurting him even more.
Eventually, Rio and Denver arrived and Berlin ordered all of them to let go of their guns and stay at the wall, just like Gandia told them to.
He was not prepared for the moment when the door went open and Gandia stepped out, holding Palermo by the neck in front of him, a gun pressed to his head. There was blood dripping from his hand, and also from the bullet wound in his leg, this one harder to spot because of the red colored jumpsuit. He hated to see him like this, with a painful expression on his face.
But when Martíns eyes reached his, he saw the pain, he saw fear but he also saw a glimpse of hope. He knew that Martín knew that he wouldn’t let any more bad things happen to him. That he would protect him.
“Good. Keep the guns down, and Palermo will be yours very soon.”
“But don’t you enjoy our bodies being pressed together like this?” Again, Palermo couldn’t resist making a daring comment.
This man was truly something else, but that’s just one of the reasons why Andrés fell for him.
Perhaps not only Martín loved too much. Even though it’s why Andrés left him in the first place. Because he feared Martín’s love would make it impossible for him to just follow the plan, just like Sergio had warned him. But now he is the one who is not giving a damn about the plan anymore, since his love is being held at gunpoint right in front of him and there is nothing he can do about it.
His expression was probably looking worried, because he saw Martín mouthing something that looked like an “I love you”, so he put on a brave face again. He was okay. And at least he had Martín in front of him, that was an improvement to the situation they had minutes ago.
Gandia continued to walk backwards, gripping his gun tightly. Berlin desperately thought of ways to make Gandia let go of Martín or at least move that gun away from his head, but he couldn’t think of anything that would work without risking Martíns life even more.
He didn’t have to think about it any longer, when a shot was fired.
Gandia crumbled to floor, after a bullet went straight through his head. When his body fell to the ground with a loud thump, he saw Nairobi standing behind Gandia, her gun still raised.
No one dared to move for a second, when Martín started to limp towards Andrés, who started going in Martíns direction as well then, pulling the engineer forcefully in a tight embrace once he reached him. He stroked his fingers through Martíns hair, pulling him closer to him, while also steadying him, so he didn’t have to put any more weight on the leg with the bullet wound.
God, having Martín safe in his arms made Andrés feel truly euphoric.
“I wish I could have shot him.” He heard Martín say under his breath and Andrés smirked.
“You’re safe now mi amor, that’s the only thing that matters.”, he whispered into Martín’s ear.
Still hugging his love, he saw Nairobi who was currently being hugged by Bogota. Their eyes met and he gave her an appreciating nod while mouthing a ‘thank you’. She gave him a warm smile in return. He knew Nairobi was capable of doing a lot of things, but today she did the greatest thing for him. Saving the man he loves.
“I knew I was safe the moment I heard your voice through that door.”, Martín said and Andrés looked up from Martín’s hand, which he was currently cleaning so he could bandage the wound afterwards.
“I told you before we got into this place, I wouldn’t let anyone kill you. And you know I’m a man of my word.”
“And I never doubted that. I even told Gandia, when I realized he was keeping me as a hostage, that if he kills me, Berlin will come for him and that he’ll pray for a quick death while he gets skinned alive.”
“I would never skin anyone alive. Too much to clean up.” Andrés smirked and Martín rolled his eyes.
“Of course I know that. Just wanted to make him realize what mi cariño is capable of.” Martín grinned and moved his head towards Andrés, who pulled his lover into a deep kiss.
“I promise you Martín, you will not suffer again. No wounds will be brought to your body, not as long as I’m in charge, and even if I’m not. We will make it out of here, find a new beautiful place to live. God, I thought I would never see you again. Maybe we should get married when this is over.”
Martín gave him the brightest and most sincere smile he had seen since the heist started. With glimpse of tears in his eyes, he nodded.
“Yes, Andrés. That’s everything I ever wanted.”
“Being Nr.6? That’s what you wanted?” Andrés smirked at Martíns annoyed, yet happy expression.
“If my hand wasn’t pierced through by a bullet, I would hit you now.", Martín laughed and Andrés just knew that they would be okay.