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-I'm ready.
-Accompany me.
I follow him, he takes me in other directions that I don't recognize much until he takes me into one of the rooms on the ground floor. There are countless machines, maps, whiteboards and computers with enormous plasmas that allow each of the data to be visualized. Nadia and Lorenzo are there analyzing things about a specific region. When I come to admire them I realize the work they are doing.
They are investigating Apulia.
For a moment I want to run to get my friend back, but then I think about everything that can happen because of that outburst of desperation and I remind myself that we are not going to achieve anything if we are not properly prepared. Leone hands me an iPad, he takes his and shows me the huge television built against the wall.
—Strategy is essential not only when shooting, attacking, or aiming, it is also important to create your own plans without the need to take hours to study your options —he explains to me—. You must keep in mind that not all plans are going to turn out as you expected, some are going to fail when you are just going to execute them and you are not going to return home to prepare another plan. At that very moment you must have something in mind, see exits, see weak and strong areas in which you can even take refuge to be able to attack.
On the screen on the wall it shows me a simulator of a terrain with several places where there may be possible hiding places, there are people pretending to shoot and in my case I am hiding on a large metal container where the bullets bounce.
—It's like a game, you must attack, advance without being shot or killed and recover ground until you find the red flag. I want you to show me what your ways would be like to cross to the other side where your enemies are prohibiting your passage.
—Well, I can kill anyone, right?
—Yes, but don't kill for the sake of killing, part of the strategy and planning is to focus on getting there, but not on cleaning the entire area to feel safe in some way —he asserts—. Within this world you will never be free of risks, Fiore.
-I understand.
I start with the simulator imagining that I am inside that screen, from the iPad I move the character carrying a machine gun. I move, shoot and knock down two that allow me to advance so I can hide behind a car. I go out, analyze, think twice and kill others seeing the red flag flying in the distance, in front of me.
I don't stop when shooting, this way it's easy because it doesn't weigh me down at all, however, I think for a few seconds what it would really feel like to do it in real life. This was what I wanted, what I wanted to be able to contribute something.
—Think carefully about each of your movements, see all your flanks, you must find out where five more enemies are aiming at you from.
I listen to his orders, letting myself be carried away by the adrenaline that the game provides me. I don't stop moving, looking to each side of me and shooting when necessary, programming my brain to keep in mind that I don't always have to let go to kill to feel safe that way. I must think clearly, I must have my objectives clear as I advance and I can waste many bullets if I only unleash them on people that I can skip and kill later when I have more ground gained.
"When you're in combat, no one will tell you where to look," he says, looking at the screen, "and there's someone pointing at you behind you."
I turn the digital character to be able to find out who he is talking about, I find him and I bleed from one side when he shoots me, making him angry for my mistake.
—It will be just you reminding yourself of your good and bad points, no one else, so be careful or they will kill you for lack of intelligence.
I don't let myself fall, I keep trying to find a free life to reach that flag. I continue and continue for several minutes until he pauses the simulator to tell me about my mistakes, about the five possible options that I now have to be able to attack and collect that flag. He speaks to me like a true teacher.
-Do you understand what I'm trying to say?
—Yes, I must think of more options at the same time I attack, not just one.
-Exact.
—What exactly do you do in your job? How does Leon feel?
For a moment he remains with his eyes fixed on the screen of the device in his hands, he puts that aside to look at me.
—I am in charge of organizing and orchestrating all kinds of attacks against the people who owe us, who we have to charge for what they do or for their mistakes —he explains—. I take care of the entire group of people who help me kill, and it feels... How it should feel, Fiore. You are in charge, not of a job or a company, you are in charge of planning an attack to kill people.
—Do you regret it?
—No, but deep down...
—Calm down, it is not necessary to say it.
He leaves the device on the table, leans on it so he can cross his arms and think about each of his words.
—Deep down, I don't want this type of life forever, I want something more, I want my life to end in a different environment.
