Twenty Seven Years

"No matter how bad the result is, it's really not that bad. I'm wondering if it's possible. Let's play the trick well and use Porfirio and Gonzalez to strengthen the revolutionary power of Montrego." Explore the possibility in the impossible.

   "You still want to cooperate with them?!" Connie said in surprise.

  “At present, cooperation is not advisable, but I still hope to find a feasible way.”

  The main station is under pressure from the Brexi government forces, and other sub-stations also have their own battles, and the help they can give is very limited.

  Verak didn't want to wait for their support to open up the situation, and he didn't want to miss the opportunity that was changing in the blink of an eye.

"There are only eight of us, how can we not be seen through? What's more, we don't have any money now, and we even rent the car and the house, so we can't pretend." Murphy shook his head slightly, feeling in his heart that this road would not work. .

   "Let's discuss it when we get back." Verak sighed, closed his eyes and recovered.

   Not long after, Murphy drove the car back to the car rental agency, got back the deposit, and then met Lopez and his team who were in charge of other tasks at the hotel rented in the outer city.

   "How is it?" It was almost one o'clock in the afternoon when they came back. Lopez and the others were worried that they didn't even have lunch. Seeing that the three finally came back, they couldn't help but swarmed up to ask about the situation.

   "The charity dinner should be fine, but..." Murphy told the five people what happened in the morning.

   "Then what should we do now?" Lopez didn't expect so many things to happen in just half a day.

  Murphy looked at Veraker who was hanging his coat on the hanger: "Comrade Veraker is trying to find a way to make the most of acting, and use those people to strengthen us."

   "But we..." Lopez looked left and right, "There are only eight of us, dealing with them, how can we pretend that we have a lot of people and a deep layout?"

   "Why do you have to pretend? The overall strength of our International Equality Alliance is there. Even if Menglege's sub-station has just started to develop, it won't be ignored?" De felt that there was no need to go around these detours.

"It won't take long for the warlords to occupy the city of Montrego, so there is not much time left for Porfirio and Gonzalez to make a choice. If we let them know that we have no foundation in Montrego, that's all. Personally, it is impossible to grow into a strong backer for them in a short period of time. They will never choose to join us, but will put their targets back on the major warlords. If they cannot cooperate by then, we will be enemies. They and The warlords will inevitably join forces against us, and our situation will become worse because of this," Murphy said.

"I see…"

"What Comrade Verac wants to solve is to prevent this situation from happening, and find a way to deceive them through acting, let them join us temporarily, and then we will use their power to step up expansion in the city of Montrego, and wait for us to really develop Come on, when the matter is a foregone conclusion, even if they know that we lied to him, it doesn't matter." Murphy explained the situation patiently, "The problem is that everyone has no clue at the moment, and Comrade Veraker plans to hold a meeting later to discuss it. "

   "That is to say, Comrade Veraker wants to turn the situation that is most unfavorable to us into the situation that is most beneficial to us."

   "Yes." Murphy nodded.

   "Okay, have you eaten yet?"

"not yet."

   "We didn't either, let's chat while eating." Lopez asked De and Muskis to buy food.

   Soon, after buying the meal, eight people gathered in a room, either sitting at the table, or standing on both sides because there were not enough chairs.

  Verak took a sip of water and asked, "Have you explained the situation to them?"

   "Clarified." Murphy replied.

"Everyone, this matter can be regarded as a crisis or an opportunity. My experience tells me that since difficulties cannot be avoided, the best way is to face them decisively and overcome them. I hope Everyone can brainstorm, overcome difficulties, and turn all challenges into our stepping stones..." Verac faced the crowd, "Old rules, I will first mention some of my ideas to help you broaden your thinking..."

   After eating and chatting, this delayed lunch took an hour to finish.

  Unfortunately, after everyone spoke freely, they still failed to formulate a feasible plan to accept the Guard Corps.

   After all, that is the largest armed force in the city of Montrego. Porfirio and Gonzalez cannot be fools. As long as their performance is slightly negligent, the other party has a great possibility of seeing through the scam.

  Failed to use it, on the contrary, it angered these two even more, and their life in Montrego City will be even more difficult.

   "That's it for now, and we will pay for the children to settle down tomorrow." Verak waved his hand, signaling that everyone can go to their own business.

   "Then let's go outside to investigate the situation." Lopez felt ashamed for not being able to provide useful advice, and took the other four people out.

"Let's plan for the worst. If we can get the money from the charity dinner, we have already made money. In the future, we will have to face the pressure of the Guard Corps and the warlord at the same time. But we didn't expect to be able to win over at the beginning. For either of them, everything can develop according to the original goal." After a long silence, Murphy suggested.

   "Let's look again." Verac is a person who never gives up until the last moment, "When is the next time you try to contact the sub-station?"

   "The day after tomorrow, the afternoon of the twenty-fifth, the third attempt."

Verac lit a cigarette, frowned and smoked frequently: "Regardless of whether we can get in touch with the substation on the afternoon of the 25th, we will go to the casino to visit Gonzales on the 26th. Before that, if we can think of a disguise The best way is naturally the best, if you can’t think of it, just delay the time as much as possible, and we will withdraw as soon as the charity dinner is over and we get the money.”

   "Okay." Murphy said, "I feel like I can get in touch the day after tomorrow. The letter should have been delivered after so long."

   "Yeah." Verak stood up suddenly, picked up the clothes from the hanger and put them on his body, "Let's go, go out and investigate the situation in various areas, you can't just sit in a daze."

   "Okay." Murphy and Connie put on their coats, followed Veraker out of the hotel, and went to a place that hadn't been set yet to investigate.

  In the evening, eight people returned to the hotel one after another. Verac saw that no one else was willing to offer any ideas, so he didn't organize a meeting to discuss how to contact the Guard Corps. He just arranged for himself, Murphy, Connie, and Obrador to resettle the children tomorrow.

The next day, in the early morning of October 24th, the four of them first went to an area that was more suitable for children after comprehensive consideration. They rented two large houses, bought some daily necessities, and then bought I bought some cheap clothes and found the children who were still hiding at the corner of the alley.

  This is the third time they have met, and the children have been roughly sure that Verak and the others are not bad people, so they don't show much fear.

  Kid King Jose was a little surprised. He didn't expect Verac to fulfill his promise. On the 24th, he brought someone here: "Did you... find a way to help us?"

"We currently have limited funds, so we can only temporarily rent a house for you in a relatively safe and relatively cheap place to help you through the winter. You don't have to worry about food and clothing during this period, we will provide it unconditionally." Verak Let Murphy translate, "It's hard to say what will happen in the future. What I can tell you now is that we are working hard to resettle more children who have no fixed homes before winter."

   "...Thank you." Jose didn't know how to express his thanks.

  The actions of Verak and others are equivalent to saving the lives of all of them.

"These are some clean clothes, you all change into them. After you are finished changing, in order not to attract the attention of people outside, we will take people away one by one and send you to the resettlement place." Verak brought the clothes , first handed the biggest piece to Jose.

   "Batch by batch..." Jose took the clothes and hesitated.

   "If you still don't trust us, I can take you to see it first." Verak saw through Jose's concerns at a glance, and proposed generously.

   "...Yes." Jose originally wanted to be completely relieved when he saw Verak being so frank, but as the biggest reliance of these friends, he had to be cautious and put an end to all hidden dangers, "I'll go and tell them."

   "Yes." Verak and the other three stood aside and waited.

"...I'll go over and have a look first to make sure it's true. Before I come back, you don't believe anyone's words. You must never leave here. Remember?" Jose put on clean clothes and rushed to the most reliable couple. said a companion.

   "Let me go, I run fast, if there is any danger, I will definitely escape."

   "No matter how fast you run, can you run faster than those adults? Let me go, I have nothing to worry about, even if there is real danger, it doesn't matter. Jose, you are different, if something happens to you, what will everyone do?"

   "It's still me, I am the most useless among us, if something happens to me, you won't have much loss."

  The companions volunteered one after another, and Jose was moved, but his face was still cold and determined: "Stop talking nonsense, and protect your brothers and sisters. If there are no accidents, I will be back within an hour."

   After speaking, he followed Verack and Murphy and left the alley without looking back.

   "He has a sense of responsibility, and he may become a part of us in the future." Murphy commented as he walked.

   "The best situation is when he grows up, and there is no need for anyone to throw their heads and blood." Verak said with a chuckle, "This kind of thing, one generation is enough."

   "That is undoubtedly the best." Murphy thought deeply.

  Jose couldn't understand the Bresci language of the two, silently thought through the worst possibility in his heart, and formulated a series of actions for himself under danger.

  When Verac and Murphy took him to the resettlement place, when he saw the two large rooms and the prepared daily necessities, those thoughts collapsed: "... I misunderstood you, I'm sorry."

"It's okay, I hope you can still maintain such vigilance and protect your companions." Verak was not angry at all, on the contrary, he admired Jose's point very much, "Come on, come and see this room, this room It is intended to be used for girls to live in. We currently have limited funds, so we have given priority to purchasing beds for them, and yours will have to wait."

"We don't need it. It would be great to have a place that can shelter from the wind and rain. It would be even better if we can save more money to help more people. You see, we only have more than 20 people, and this place is so big, it is completely fine. If there are 20 more people to live in, if you squeeze, 40 people will be fine..." Jose was not only thinking about his companions, but also those who were in the same situation as Verak said.

Hearing that Jose could say these words, and for the sake of more people, Verak liked him even more: "Leave those to us, and you just stay here with peace of mind. If we have spare capacity later, we can also split up the manpower." Teach you the skills to survive, so that when you are older, you can live on your own terms."

   "Can I join you?" Jose asked abruptly, "I admire you very much. What you do is what I dream of doing."

"You children don't need to stand up yet. If the world doesn't change one day, but we fall down, it won't be too late for you to go this way." Verac patted Jose on the shoulder, "Let's go, Go get the other kids."

   "...um." Jose looked at the backs of Verak and Murphy, and was stunned for a while.

  Going back to join the others, José told the news to his companions himself, and those children who were worried and didn’t dare to talk to Connie and Oduraldo who stayed behind were finally relieved.

  Some danced happily, while others covered their faces and cried bitterly. They were not only glad that they were able to live well, but also regretted the other companions who could not persist until today.

  Busy until the evening, a group of people finally settled the children down. After returning to the hotel, Verac saw that several people were very tired, so he let them go to rest after dinner, and only calculated the remaining funds by himself, racking his brains to find a suitable way to break the situation.

  October 25, afternoon

  Finally, it was the third contact time that Murphy had agreed with the substation in the letter. Lopez and others were not in a hurry to go out, but surrounded Murphy, waiting for him to operate the wireless telegraph to get in touch with the substation.

   Murphy also looked quite nervous.

  If they can contact the sub-station this time, they can discuss with the sub-station to find a way to deceive Porfirio and Gonzalez. If not, then they still have to rely on themselves.

  The time came to the exact appointed point, and the minutes and seconds began to pass by again.

  Murphy held his breath, adjusted everything, and waited for the signal.

   "Received!" Murphy's eyes lit up suddenly, and he heard the signal in the earphone, and then quickly pressed the power button, "It's them! Contacting!"

   "Finally contacted!" Lopez and others seemed the most excited.

   "Pen and paper!" Murphy is not a professional telegraph operator. After asking for a pen and paper, he hastily recorded the code, and pointed to the translator, "It's a branch of the Kingdom of Sidr! They are also confirming our identity!"

   "Return." Verak was very calm.

   "Understood!" Murphy kept pressing the button, "Confirmed!"

   "Briefly explain our situation to them, first see how much help the sub-station can give us, and then judge from the help whether we have the ability to carry out the follow-up plan." Verak ordered.

   "Wait a minute, they're sending a message." Murphy interrupted Veraker, quickly memorizing the code.

   When he memorized less than two lines and the voice in the earphone continued, Murphy's eyes widened, his body froze, and then his hands trembled, looking at the recorded code in disbelief.

  Verak vaguely realized that something was wrong: "What's wrong? What does this mean?"

   "Bo, Boin..." Murphy was rarely able to maintain his composure, "Passed away..."