THE SILENCE OF THE DAWN that was coming allowed him to hear many things and Benedetti did not like the strange tone in which the men spoke next door, although he could not understand their murmurs very well. He opened the door cautiously and went into the hallway, stopping at the edge of the neighboring door, which was half open.
— Just close it there. — he heard one of them whisper. — That'll cause a stop...
Are they messing with the devices? he wondered.
This would be sabotage, murder!
He crept over to the small glass window in the center of the door to get a better look, and there he was, one of the men, wearing a white doctor's glove, handling a device that was monitoring the young man's condition. The gauge was beginning to beep a strange warning.
Without hesitation, he pulled his gun from the poorly hidden holster beneath his clothes and pushed open the door, aiming it at the head of the man who was closest.
— I don't know what you did there, but fix it now! — he said, surprising the two strangers.
The men looked at him in fright and then looked at each other. One of them had the reflex to reach for his gun, but gave up and ended up raising his hands, following his partner. Carl Benedetti saw the warning of the machine become more intense and the two men remained still, looking at him perversely.
— Do what I tell you. Now! — Benedetti said, louder and more offensive.
The two looked at each other again, but did not react.
Benedetti insisted:
— I swear to God that I will not have the slightest reason to leave them alive after this boy's death! — As he said this, he placed the cold barrel of his revolver against the back of the killer's neck and unlocked it, to make his threat more dramatic.
With no other options, the other man gave in to his orders and touched the device again. The warning gradually reduced until the boy's condition became stable again and the machine no longer beeped.
Benedetti thought about what to do to get out of that impossible situation and get the injured man safe, but nothing came to mind that didn't involve killing the two strange men. They would certainly kill him if they had the chance... He remembered when he walked through a restaurant with a gun to a man's back and no one noticed, or at least they did nothing, but here it was different, he was facing two opponents who were probably very well trained, no traditional tactic would work, perhaps nothing would work for him there.
One of the men, the one across the room from him, raised his eyebrows as if to say, What's up? But he didn't know what to say.
What would an old man do to beat two men in a hospital bed without attracting attention and ending up in bigger trouble?
— Give me your weapons! — he said.
The two handed him two pistols they were carrying.
— Take off your clothes! — he continued.
The two were surprised, but Benedetti maintained the tense and serious expression he had and also his order:
— I already told you! Take off your clothes!
With no other options, the two men, who had been well-dressed until then, began to take off their clothes, clearly annoyed, but without saying a single word about it. In their eyes, one could already see the spirit of revenge, which would certainly be fueled until they could do something worse to the old man. The idea came to him as a quick solution. In addition to not having to search two trained agents, it would avoid a more serious confrontation, and it would also leave them, in a way, embarrassed about everything.
They both finished taking off their clothes and threw them to Benedetti, who picked everything up and held it with him, always aiming his revolver at one of them.
— Now hug each other. — he said, taking two handcuffs he found among his clothes.
The two men, very bored and naked, embraced each other, always passing one arm over and the other under the arms that were wrapped around them, like a lasso. Benedetti handcuffed them, naked and tied to each other, without options and much less dignity to react.
— Now lie down on the floor!
With great difficulty, they managed to lie down and felt how cold the floor was in that hospital.
— You never thought you would suffer this at the hands of an old pervert, did you? — Benedetti said, laughing at himself in that situation. — Stay quiet while I decide what to do, or I'll have to kill you as you are. Would that earn you some medal of honor? — he mocked the two men, who were no longer even trying to hide how enraged they were.
Carl Benedetti observed the young man in bed. He lifted the sheet and looked at his injuries, trying to figure out what he could do to protect him, if he could take him away. The medical records stated that he had suffered lacerations to his abdomen and other parts of his body, but that no vital organs were affected. He was under light anesthetic medication, which explained the way the men were going to kill him, with too much of the drug, causing cardiac arrest. Taking him away from there might not be such a bad idea, although it could cause him suffering.
Well, better to suffer a little and stay alive...
He took some of the clothes and put them on the bed where the boy was, the rest he took with him.
He said to the two assassins:
— Move and I'll put a bullet in each of you.
After that, he got out of bed and walked down the corridor.