HEARING THAT STATEMENT meant that he was speaking at that moment to the country's greatest enemy. That senile old man, sitting in front of him amidst coughs and clearing his throat, was the threat that had so afflicted the nation in recent days!
With a start, Martin rose from his chair, looking back at Dr. Robert and scanning his surroundings for possible enemies immersed in the darkness.
—What is this story? — Martin shouted, excited at the news he had received.
— Sit down and listen to me, you brat! — the old man replied, in total contempt for the gun that was pointed at him. — I don't have all the time in the world to waste on explanations! They're probably close by, the ones looking for us!
— Next? Who?
Robert Payne pointed a finger at him with his tired arm and said:
— That friend of yours thinks he's smart, that no one can beat him, but there are other good people in the world, better than him, even. Just as I found them, others may have found them. And if I hadn't sent that message and made them leave that place soon, they would probably already be dead...
— Speak up! — Martin shouted, still standing, aiming in his direction. — What do you want from the President?
The old man lowered his hand and grabbed a cane that was leaning against his side, tapping it lightly on the ground.
— The President was never our target, not even an enemy. We would be on the same side, if it weren't for your damn plan. Idiot!
— Plan? What plan?
— An immature man who smells power and thinks he can solve everything with his own hands! Everything was going well, until he created his damn contingency plan that ended up becoming a problem for us! Pathetic...
"Were you responsible for what happened on Fifth Avenue?" Martin shouted hatefully.
— We must do what you should have done for us! — the old man said loudly.
—Hundreds of people died there! You murderers! — Martin continued to scream.
— We had no choice! — the old man replied at the same time.
— Don't you have any scruples?
—This isn't even a sample of those who will die if Kenan puts his plan into action! — Robert yelled, banging his cane hard on the floor, so much so that Martin ended up falling silent.
Robert Payne began to cough uncontrollably after straining his voice too much. He was too old for excesses and felt the weight of the effort.
Martin watched the scene, trying to absorb what the man was saying. Luckily, he was recording and Greg would receive all the content.
— Scruples... — said Robert, recovering himself — What does this mean? Perfection? Did we make such wrong decisions? The God of the Christians sacrificed his son to save mankind and so many people talk about it on the streets as a beautiful story. We sacrificed a few hundred to save many thousands. But, by God! We are only human!
— Who's going to die? — he asked, still in a state of intense anger.
His finger trembled nervously on the trigger of the revolver.
— Many, my dear, many! But these many who will die are from peoples where people already die every day. Hundreds of Muslims die every day in their homes, in their schools, in their old age and in their youth. For a long time we have sent our soldiers, and now our drones and missiles, to kill and destroy, under the ideological sanction of fighting evil in distant places, and we have become as hypocritical and as murderous as those who kill in the name of their gods. In the countries we have invaded, every day is September 11th...
—I didn't come here for humanitarian speeches. — Martin said, his eyes wide and surrounded by dark circles.
His abdominal wounds bled through the gauze and bandages that wrapped him.
— Kenan Vaine knows who some of our enemies are, he knows some of them, but not the strongest ones. He thinks he can contain them if he can get public approval and worldwide support, but he doesn't understand that the world is already theirs... His intention is not to end terrorism at all, he knows very well that terrorism is practically an American creation. What he wants is to weaken the enemy. Surround the regions of interest, filling them with American and allied soldiers, and gain control of oil production, leaving them without resources in the medium term.
— Which would even be positive for the country's economy.
— Yes... But he is innocent if he thinks that this will happen as he plans. If Kenan succeeds in his plan, the world will completely cover its eyes to this. All sides will accept the dirty game. There will be no more limits to the arrogance of the powerful, everything we have done secretly in the last decades, all our effort to maintain world balance, will all be in vain. And because of just one man, with a little power in his hands.
— It's not just one man who will be able to make the whole world accept what you're saying. — Martin replied, intrigued, but still very resistant to what Payne was saying.
"You are a fool if you think that what you say is true!" the old man replied. "Do you remember what happened on Fifth Avenue? The device I used there is a prototype of a weapon of war!"
— A sonic weapon? Is that it?
— A device I developed for the government of this country over half a century. A weapon capable of taking down enemies without spilling a single drop of blood. Capable of turning people into animals, zombies, or killing machines. With no risk to the person holding it in their hands, no escape for the target. Very few people can resist its effects, few minds that break out of the norm and can react in different ways. Imagine the government with a weapon like that in its hands?
— It can destroy entire nations without any geographical damage, without any physical destruction. And all this because of just one man...
— Yes... this tired old man who speaks to you today. If I had handed this gun over to the government two decades ago, the world today would be completely different, boy. A hellish decision that I have had eating away at for years, and that I made two decades ago. The world could have its destiny determined by the hands of a single man, and if you think philosophically, I made a decision.
— Kenan doesn't have that weapon in his hands... — Martin stuttered, trying to convince him.
— You don't understand human potential, boy. You don't understand the irony of humanity! You don't understand how one man alone can be immensely powerful and yet a whole mass of people so incapable... How a short period of one person's life can remain influential for generations to come...
The old man shook his head, looked down at the ground, and searched for something in his pockets. From one of them he brought out a box of matches and took out a matchstick. He struck it until it lit. He held up the little burning matchstick in front of Martin and said:
— Look at this match. It is so small, so fragile, and in the face of all the greatness around it, it will soon go out. But in the short time it keeps its flame lit, its tiny spark of fire is capable of spreading and setting an entire forest ablaze. This is what I call human potential.
— And what does all this mean?
— Kenan is a flame I must extinguish before he can set other nations ablaze.