When the Man Comes Around part 8 (finale)

The Cavalier checked his surroundings. He was now in front of Nadie himself; going by photos he had seen in the past, he recognized the man next to him as Javier De Guzman, the president of Costa Triste. The two men sat at a dining table with full plates, Nadie at the head of the table facing the knight, with Javier to the side. There was no security, no weapons, and no defenses.

“You should’ve left New York alone when I gave you the chance,” Cavalier warned.

Nadie ignored the statement and pointed his fork at the plate before him, “I’m sure you’ll refuse, but in my culture, if you have a guest, you should always offer them something to eat.” Nadie took a small bite of chicken and swallowed, “It just so happens, my kitchen staff is quite talented.”

“I’ll pass,” Cavalier looked around the mostly empty dinning room, “I gotta admit, I thought there’d be a lot more guys.”

“I wanted us to meet privately. My men are loyal, so it took a lot of convincing to get them to leave. They’re not usually so adamant, but I know their hearts are in the right place.”

“Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to go it alone.”

“Well, I do have one important individual with me,” Nadie motioned toward the man next to him, “I’m not sure how much you know about international politics. I’d like to introduce Javier De Guzman, the president of Costa Triste.”

Javier sat up straight, “Welcome to our country.”

“Shut up, idiot,” Nadie snapped.

Javier did as he was told, but didn’t appear happy about it.

“President De Guzman might be an idiot…,” Nadie explained, “… But he’s a useful one. His backbone is soft enough to be controlled, but he’s still corrupt enough to do anything to have a seat of power.”

“This is how you treat your employees?” Cavalier asked.

“Only the politicians…,” he eyed Javier in judgement, “… particularly the ones who have been caught on camera with teenage girls.” Nadie turned back to the Cavalier, “Having that information has made him easy to control. It’s why I allowed him to win the election.”

“He isn’t the first president you put in place, is he?”

“Of course not.”

“If that’s how you run a country, I can see why you allowed an attack on Democracy Day. You have no respect for the rights of these people.”

Nadie shook his head sadly, “I’ve unfortunately learned that democracy is an illusion. Those in seats of power will always find ways to oppress the helpless. In most countries, people are given the chance to vote to make them feel powerful, but ultimately, they have to accept whatever leader the establishment has given them. Luckily for my people, I’ve managed to place myself in this position. It’s rare that someone can sit where I sit and be altruistic.”

“Altruistic,” Cavalier scoffed, “Is that what you call it?”

“It may not seem like it, but I’ve sacrificed quite a lot to bring peace and prosperity to this country. It’s not a position I ever wanted, but it is was necessary. Because of me, orphans finally have names. Women can walk down the street safely. Crime is the lowest out of all Latin American countries.”

“Don’t give me that shit. No matter how you dress it up, you’re still just a crime boss.”

Nadie appeared offended, “As I said… sacrifices have been made.”

“Pretty easy to sacrifice the lives of others.”

“I’m not sure if you believe in God, but I do. I go to confession regularly and seek penance.”

“And you think God keeps forgiving you for doing the same thing over and over?”

“God’s forgiveness is infinite.”

“And his patience?”

“I believe his patience is also infinite, yes.”

“Well, mine’s not.”

“So it seems,” Nadie folded his hands on the table in front of him, “And now that you’ve run out of patience, what happens? Will you call the police?” He pointed to Javier, “Do you understand why I brought the president here tonight? It’s not because I enjoy his company. I despise the man. But here he is, in my home, eating my food, and he’s not talking because I told him to shut up. Did you notice he doesn’t have his bodyguards here? A head-of-state being present without security detail is unheard of anywhere else in the world. They’re not present, sir, because I told them not to be. So, now that you see how much control I have over the president, what will the police do? You’re an intelligent man, so I’m sure you understand the point being made.”

“Yeah, I get it. As long as we’re in this country, you’re untouchable. I’ve understood that for a while.”

“So, what’s the next course of action? Perhaps you’d like to simply put me in your hovercraft and fly back to New York? I’m not officially a world leader, but you’ll still be breaking international laws doing that.” Nadie pointed to the president again, “The president himself would have to get involved if a citizen of Costa Triste were kidnapped, as well as the Ambassador to the US… who is in my employment as well.”

“Yeah, it’s not a good plan, I agree.”

“I’m sure you don’t want to be a fugitive again,” Nadie told him, referring to Cavalier’s time as a wanted vigilante.

“I guess we’re running out of options, huh?”

“There is one option left.”

“Yes, there is…”

There was a silence between them and even Javier seemed aware of the implications. Nadie smiled and leaned forward, “Did you come here to kill me?” When he asked that question, the president gave him a concerned look and stopped eating. Cavalier, meanwhile, said nothing. Nadie continued, “A strong man like you, it should be easy enough.” A wrinkled finger pointed to the floor, “You can walk across the room right now, place your hands around my throat…,” Nadie became strangely calm, “…And there would be nothing I could physically do to stop you.”

The Cavalier’s voice lowered, “You seem pretty confident that won’t happen.”

“Look at me,” Nadie spread his frail arms, “Do you think a man like me would survive in this game as long as I have without knowing who is or isn’t a killer?”

“Your old friends in the CIA tried to convince me that killing you was the only way to stop you. La Respuesta, had the same idea.”

“I’m aware,” Nadie went back to eating, “Now, what they failed to realize is that killing me would only make things worse. They, like you, might not care for my methods, but there is always someone waiting to take my place. Knowing what I know of Costa Tristen history, that person would be far worse than me.” He once again pointed to the president, “Do you think this worm is going to take over? No, if he doesn’t get executed outright, he would just end up as a puppet for someone else. As I said, he’s an idiot and a coward.” He took a bite and swallowed, “So, now that we’ve established I’ll never see the inside of a prison and there’s too much incentive to keep me alive, I ask you… what’s your plan?”

“I’ll be honest, when I got here, I wasn’t 100% certain of what I wanted to do. I thought I’d eventually find something to use against you.”

“And did you?”

“Funny enough, I did. Kudos for manipulating the CIA and La Respuesta, by the way. It was clever. Both groups almost killed me at different times and they had no idea you were the one pulling strings. Unfortunately for you, setting them up like that led me to learn a bit about you.” He paused for a moment before asking, “Did you know a woman named Sister Mary Catalina?”

Nadie was silent, but his micro-expressions told Cavalier everything.

“Did you know the CIA interviewed her some time before she passed away? Something tells me that one slipped past you.” Cavalier produced a phone, “And this is Ramona Sanchez’s phone. I got it off her once I found out about your connection to La Respuesta. Originally, I just used it to find you, but it had another use.” Cavalier pressed a few buttons. Suddenly, Nadie heard an alert on his phone. He looked at the equally-confused president and back at the Cavalier. “You’re gonna wanna see that message,” the knight told him.

Nadie slowly opened his phone and played the footage onscreen…

The date was 2004. The man giving the interview wasn’t seen in the grainy footage, but Sister Mary Catalina was visible. She was old and frail-looking. The man began off-camera, speaking in Spanish,“Recently, General Zahino and most of his inner circle went missing and are believed dead. You believe this was the doing of the man calling himself ‘Nobody’?”

“Yes,” she responded in Spanish, “We called him Eduard.” She smiled a bit as she corrected herself, “Mostly, I called him that. My little ‘Eduardito’. He was so smart. And kind. A lot of the nuns felt he was too good for this world.” She appeared sad, “It was this world that corrupted him.”

“How do you mean?,” the interviewer asked.

“After a very unfortunate situation with a brute of a man named Santiago, he grew cynical. Resentful. Soon after, he began sending money to the church. He said that he was blessed by God, but… I knew better. Of course, I knew better.”

“Where was he getting the money?”

“Cartels. I’m not sure what it was and I didn’t ask. To be honest, for a while, I was happy that he was providing. I didn’t want to ask questions. When he moved out, he said he had an accounting job, but that was obviously not the whole truth.”

“Tell me about the last time you saw him.”

“It was last year. He said Zahino forced him to work for him and that he had to stand up against him.” A tear fell, “I’m happy that Zahino is gone. Most of us are. But there’s been anarchy in the streets. They’re holding elections now and things will be stable, but… a few months ago, one of our sisters was attacked.”

“Attacked?”

“She was trying to help a few families who lost their homes in a fire set during the riots,” she wiped another tear away, “The people who attacked her… called themselves friends of justice, but there was no justice in what they did to her.”

“And you think ‘Eduard’ had something to do with all this?”

“Yes,” she said enthusiastically, “I know it sounds odd, but I know it was him. Not the attack, of course, but Zahino getting killed, the uprising, all of it. He always had a way about him… getting what he wanted… always knowing what to say. He was such a kind boy, but… I know what a person like that could become if pushed. And that’s what happened. He was pushed.”

“If you could have done it all over again…,” the interviewer asked, “… What would you do differently?”

“I would have sent him away as a baby,” she said finally. “Maybe I could’ve sent him to America or Spain… anywhere but leaving him in Costa Triste. He was better off not living in this countey and this country was better off not having him.” She broke down into tears, “He wanted to fight the monsters, but in the end, he became one himself. My ‘Eduard’ is dead and I don’t recognize the violent man who took his place.”

The video stopped there. Nadie stared blankly at the screen. The Cavalier felt sympathy for him, but was certain he made the right choice. “I sent that to all of Ramona’s contacts,” he explained, “I don’t know what it’ll do to your empire, but I know what it’ll do to you. Agent Saffron didn’t consider this footage to be very important to his mission. He was so concerned about killing you, he never thought about hurting you. I admit there’s not a lot I can do to you permanently, but if this keeps you out of New York, I consider it a win.”

The president was silent as ever and Cavalier knew he wouldn’t get much more out of Nadie that night. A twinge of sympathy returned. “It sounds like you started off as a good kid,” he told Nadie, “But you lost yourself in the fight. And the real tragic part is, you’re in too deep to course-correct at this point… even if you wanted to.” He started to leave, but stopped himself, “You were right about one thing, Nadie. You’re too vital to Costa Triste’s safety to be killed, but you were wrong when you said you wouldn’t see the inside of a prison.” He briefly gazed at the walls surrounding them, “Looks like you built one for yourself.”

The Cavalier left the mansion unimpeded. He climbed into the Dragon and set a course for New York. There were no further orders against him.

The next day, Nadie sat on the deck stretching out to the beach behind his villa. Mano and several of his men sat around a table, chatting and drinking beers. Nadie couldn’t help thinking about what he witnessed the night before. Sensing his struggle, Mano came over to him. “Sir, please enjoy the nice weather,” he pleaded. Nadie said nothing. They had all seen the video from Ramona’s phone, but they avoided talking about it. With one exception…

One of his men spoke up once he had a few too many beers, “Sir, don’t let it bother you. That nun was just a crazy old bitch.”

Nadie swung his arm around with a rage none of them had seen before, “Someone cut his fucking tongue out now!”

Instantly, they dog-piled the man, tackling him to the deck where they pinned his arms and legs. As Nadie heard the struggle, he rubbed his brow in quiet contemplation. Mano squeezed the man’s cheeks, forcing his tongue out against his will. Then, he produced a switchblade, ready to do as ordered. Before any further action could be taken, Nadie softly spoke again, “Stop.” Shamefully, he waved them away and the man stood up and offered apologies which fell on deaf ears. Mano came over to Nadie once more, “Sir, is everything okay?”

“I think I just need some sleep,” he told him wearily, “I’m so very tired. Please take me to my room.”

Mano quietly took Nadie inside and the men shuffled away, not knowing what to say. As Nadie was brought down the hall, he looked at the walls and ceilings of his villa. Curious how much it all resembled a prison cell.

Next: The Cavalier returns to New York