Tomas scrolled back and forth through the tape. “So when do they start fucking?” he asked.
“They are,” said Anna exasperatedly. “It’s aestheticised. Movie magic. When it’s edited you won’t be able to tell.”
“I will! The positioning is crazy!”
“Well, that isn’t my fault,” Anna said, and pouted.
“Can you two shut up?” Sergio was closing and flicking open a pocket knife on the other side of the room. “I’m trying to think.”

He had dragged Anna out to the car and shoved her in.
“You’re taking me to Tomas?” she said, and he had only grunted in answer and pulled away, leaving chaos behind at the house.
Anna didn’t know Sergio all that well – she wasn’t even sure that was his name. The black-gloved, scowling doppelganger to her passionate partner had been a distant figure for the months she had known him, mostly pulling Tomas away from her on some new scheme or threatening to call his criminal allies in to make trouble for her if she didn’t ease off.
This new side she was seeing, this violent side, terrified her all the more for seeing it come from the face she had known so well, that she was used to seeing wrinkled by Tomas’ loving smile.
When they hit the motorway he eased off his white-knuckle grip, glancing at the clock. “Goddammit. Goddammit. If you want to come so bad, you can come with us. It won’t be a joyride, though. Got it?”
Anna looked at him and decided that this was not the time to cause trouble. “Got it,” she said.
“Don’t know why you’d want to follow him anywhere, but no accounting for taste,” Sergio had muttered. He pulled off the motorway hard and took them around in the direction of his and Tomas’ flat.
Anna had only been to the brothers’ place once before – usually she would meet up with Tomas out, and they would return to her apartment on the outskirts of the city, in a small brick building from the 1970’s. The building Tomas and Sergio lived in was larger, dirtier and older, with red bricks faded to greenish-brown and dented steel security doors. Sergio pulled into a parking space on the side of the road, mounting the sidewalk, and hit the handbrake.
“Stay in the car,” he said.
“Fuck you,” said Anna, and followed him to the door of the building.
“Stay. In the car.”
“Or what, you drive me over here to shoot me in front of your brother? I’m coming in.”

The security door opened inwards, which probably saved their lives as it meant that the man closest to the door was caught by the outer edge of the swing and stumbled forwards into the firing line, catching the bullet that was meant for Sergio. He crumpled to the ground and Sergio’s gun was in his hand, returning fire from the corner.
“Get down here!” came a cry from someone down the hall, and the sound of something heavy rattling echoed from above. A moment later and Sergio ducked as a spray of automatic fire thudded into the doorframe, twisting and sending up sparks from the metal.
“Jesus Christ!” he yelled, when the gunfire died down.
“I’m fine, thanks for asking,” said Anna, behind him.
“Hey!” Sergio yelled, ignoring her. “What the hell is this all about?”
“You Sergio?” said the surprisingly nasal voice of one of the toughs.
“What if I say no?” said Sergio. There were chuckles from the hallway.
“Then we kill you and then go kill Sergio,”
Anna watched the thoughtful expression on Sergio’s face. It was unfamiliar to her. For all his faults, Tomas was never an overthinker.
“Listen, fellas. Surely we can make a deal?”
This was met with some consternation: “What kind of deal?”
“The kind where I walk away from this. I’m sure you can figure out a way to make one dead man look like two. Or at least, that he may as well be two.”
Anna gasped. “No!”
“Believe it,” Sergio hissed.
“Your own brother!”
“How about,” said Sergio, “a hostage? My brother is ruled by sentiment and lust, a heady combination. My friend here appeals to both.” He turned his gun to cover Anna. “Move,” he muttered, “And you’re dead.”
There was some muffled conversation down the hall. “I believe we can make an arrangement. Bring the girl in.”
Sergio grabbed Anna’s shoulder and forced the gun into her spine. “Now, you move. If things get bad, you drop to the floor. Don’t run, they’ll kill you,” he whispered.
They shuffled down the hallway gradually. Anna let out a sob, and Sergio snarled. “Shut up,” he said. “Or I’ll shut you up.” He sized up the toughs. “Glad we could make a deal, fellas. I’m allergic to lead.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” nodded the head of the toughs. His voice was incongruous in a body that seemed to be made out of steak. His big hand dwarfed a 9mm pistol. Beside him stood the owner of the machine gun, a little skinny man with glasses. He looked like if he fired it it would lift him into the air.
“Tell him you have Anna and he’ll run right out to you,” said Sergio.
“I can’t believe you’d do this,” said Anna, anger mixing with tears, her nose streaming. She spat at Sergio’s feet. “You’re sickening!”
Sergio shoved her forwards and she stumbled into the big guy, who raised his hands to catch her.
The end of Sergio’s gun caught the skinny guy in the chin and spun his head sideways, while he lunged forwards past his big companion. He twisted, using the momentum of the strike and brought the butt of the gun round on the back of the big man’s head, and then he grabbed the barrel of the machine gun and pulled, Skinny struggling to keep hold of it.
Big brought his hands up to shield his head, and Anna took the opportunity to bring her knee into his groin with practiced precision as Sergio pushed, jamming the gun into Skinny’s belly. He was gasping for breath now, and Sergio easily wrenched the machine gun away from him, sweeping his leg out from under him.
He swung the gun overarm like a sledgehammer, and Skinny twitched once and lay still. Job done, he turned to Big, and found Anna had done half his work for him.
“Take- that- you- big- goon!” she said, kicking him in the ribs furiously.
“Hey! Hey! Stop that!” said Sergio. Anna looked at him sideways. “There’s no point in hitting him there. He’ll just get up mad.”
He swung the gun like a golf club this time, and then again, until the red, wet mush of Big’s face was starting to resemble minced beef.
“It’s okay if you need to be sick,” said Sergio. “Try not to get it on the car.”
And he walked upstairs.

Tomas answered the door, his face pale. “Is Anna with you?” Sergio nodded.
“She’s outside. You’re welcome, by the way.”
“Welcome?”
Sergio jerked his head sideways, inviting Tomas to follow him. “Bring the bags. We’re not hanging around.”
Tomas stepped over the bodies, holding their two suitcases out of the pooling crimson on the floor. “These guys were here for me?”
“For us,” said Sergio. He picked up the machine gun and weighed it in his hands. “This won’t fit in the car. Shame to leave it.” He dropped it on the prone body of Skinny, who made a faint noise. Whether he was alive or it was just escaping air from wasted lungs, Sergio didn’t care to check.

When the two brothers left the building Anna wondered how she had ever mistaken them even for a second. Oh, Sergio had impressive powers of observation, he knew every detail of his brother’s speech, his gait, but the difference even in their demeanour leaving the building was so pronounced she almost gasped.
She held up her hand when Tomas went to kiss her and turned her cheek towards him. “Not the mouth,” she said. “I’ve been sick.” Tomas looked puzzled, but complied. He lived in this world. The days when blood upset him were so far behind him he would have sworn they never existed.
Sergio settled into the driver’s seat, with Tomas in the front passenger and Anna behind, squashed into the rear of the small car. Sergio loaded the bags into the trunk, pushing down on the rear of the car.
Sergio drove off without warning. Anna looked from one man to the other again, with a horrible feeling in her stomach that she had just committed herself to a huge mistake.
The man in the driver’s seat drove calmly. Calmly he drove past the turning for the train station. “Where are you going?” said Anna. “I thought you had a train to catch?”
“We have to go by Franco’s.”
“Franco?”
“He’s the one who sent those men,” said Sergio.
“Franco did that?” Tomas said, his eyes widening.
“Who else? Well I’m going to let him know I’m not running.”