To see Mint again is a big enough shock in itself. But it's quickly washed away by those words.

Mint, in all his half-unbuttoned, rugged third-world mercenary lord glory, is like a punch in the face. Coming from someone as precise and ruthless as him.

Those words, the ones Gabriel started each and every mission reciting, are like a meteor crashing into Earth, destroying all sensible forms of life. They render me useless.

She promised us every time that she would lead us to safety. She made us believe that she would guard the lambs committed to her care, no matter what.

And she did.

It wasn't a lie. She never let any of us get lost. Not once.

I feel my knees go weak. I really should get a grip. I totally can't faint in front of Mint.

Or her.

She's nothing like I imagined her. She looks as impassionate as she always sounded on the radio, her eyes are cold and expressionless, not gentle or caring at all. Almost as if she wasn't happy to see us.

But she's definitely a woman. A quite awkward woman, not a striking beauty by any means, but dammit, I knew it! A woman. Our lady Gabriel. Just the way it should be.

Except that she should be dead. That's a quite unnerving difference between her real self and the way I imagined her. Even more shocking than the sore lack of her dream version's DD cups.

Heck, two of us three should be dead! I'm the only legitimately alive person in the room. And the strange children staring at us. And the guards.

Fuck, the guards! I forgot about them completely. And Mint did, too. He seems to be on the verge of dropping his gun, to be honest.

But, luckily for us, Gabriel is still her usual self. She addresses the guards, using a few straightforward commands, making them accept in ten seconds that they should wait outside until the tactical unit arrives if they want to avoid unnecessary bloodshed. I can't help but admire her effectiveness, just like in the good old days. She is our Gabriel, without a doubt.

She also orders the children to hide behind a statue and sit down. She uses an incomprehensible word, something like managua, yet they do it without thinking twice.

Then, she finally turns to us.

"You almost blew my cover, assholes," she says, still sounding astonishingly calm. "Now listen. In five minutes, the armed forces will arrive. I'll deal with them. Do you know a way out? Or two separate ways out, to be precise."

Mint just keeps staring at her. So I feel obliged to stop my trembling and answer in an equally cool and collected way. We're professionals, for God's sake.

"You... you were dead!" I blurt out the moment I manage to open my mouth. Not exactly what I was expecting from myself.

"I wasn't, obviously," Gabriel says. "I just retired."

"You don't retire from service," I insist as if there was any other explanation for her standing here, alive and kicking. "The Agency wouldn't let it happen."

"Well, you," she answers, shrugging, "you don't retire from service. Because you don't know how to bargain with people like Mr. Toe. But I do. So I retired. End of story. Now, back to the evacuation. You came absurdly unprepared, so I need a map asap to find the best route. Do you have a map, at least?"

I seriously have no idea if I have a map or not. I can't remember my own name at the moment, and I'm certainly too confused to answer such complicated questions.

Luckily, Mint seems to gather himself a bit faster than me. I hope he has a map. We're not on the same side anymore, though, so I should hope that he doesn't, I guess. But, at least, he seems to be able to give Gabriel a normal and practical answer, unlike me. He nods firmly, like a competent pro should, and clears his throat.

"We mourned you," he confesses.

It almost makes me tear up. Because it's the truth. We did. And his voice is filled with so much pain; it's heartbreaking to hear.

Well, to me, at least.

"Yeah," Gabriel sighs. "Because you guys believe fucking everything. How many times have I told you to use your brains, huh?"

Mint and I finally look at each other. We shake our heads as one. We fucking can't believe how insensitive she is. One tough bitch, our Gabriel. Then, precisely at the same moment, as if a spell was lifted from us, we also realize who we are. Mint isn't Mint anymore. He's a threat to humanity. And I'm the one who must stop him.

In a blink of an eye, we're pointing our guns at each other.

I can't lie, I break out in a cold sweat. Facing Mint like this for the first time, knowing his real skills, more accurately than anyone else in the world, is anything but funny. It makes me feel like I'm a dead man walking, and I bet he feels the same. There's a huge difference between theory and practice. In theory, I know that I can die at any moment, having an enemy like him. In practice, I feel an almost irresistible urge to drop my weapon and let him kill me, just to end this.

"Duke! Mint! Stop it at once! Are you nuts?"

It's Gabriel. I see the gun in Mint's hand flinch. He almost complied. And I did, too. Almost.

I take a peek at her face. I know I have time to do that because Mint's doing the same.

"Do you really want to kill each other?" she asks. Now she looks interested, for the first time since we've met.

We nod at the same time.

I watch her eyes. The way her impassionate gaze turns into something else. Into a look of unwavering determination, stronger than hardened steel.

Gentle, caring woman, my ass. A terminator, rather.

Suddenly I get the feeling that Mint isn't the most dangerous person in the room. And I'm not, either.