Chapter 1 It's The Devil Himself, Leia Himself

• It could be said that my whole life has been focused on a single goal, after admiring the world of television all my life, I decided to go into journalism. I studied and struggled until I got my precious university degree.
• After a bad relationship in my youth took away all hope in love and men, I did nothing but put that world aside and focus on what would be work for the rest of my days.
• You could say it was an obsession, spending hours in front of the mirror faking interviews, watching TV for hours and driving my mother crazy from a very young age.
• I had grown up with her, the most recognized journalist in the area, who ended up dying at the hands of crime, killed in an interview in the middle of a shooting. She was able to do what the whole world feared, tell the truth and the facts without changing them, risking not only her career but her whole life.
• My mother had loved her career above all else, she had been fair and admirable for as long as I could remember, and I had done nothing but follow in her footsteps to this day. I felt that all this not only brought me closer to an image of her that did not exist, but also made me feel that she was looking at me from afar with pride.
• She had been my heroine to follow, as I had probably always wanted her to be.
• So when the job at the newest TV station in the area came up, I had no choice but to take it. It wasn't the job I wanted, not even the most luxurious one, but it was the opportunity I wanted, starting at the bottom and once again following in my mother's footsteps to become the most famous reporter in town.
• By July, I had been working on the platform for two months, and unfortunately, no one was paying attention to me.
• Dreams crumbled, and every time I asked my boss for attention, I was reminded of the perpetual probationary period he had left me in.
• I served coffee to the men every morning and picked up the mess when everyone left. I was tired, frustrated, and pretty disappointed.
• But then, believing that the opportunity of a lifetime had arrived, the black storm would roll in with all that.
• An interview that had been requested exclusively for me. Hector, who was my boss, was afraid to say anything about it and finally said that all this was too risky for a rookie and that instead of me, Karla would go, a long-legged redhead with a flat belly who had been on the front page for years.
• But the interviewer, whoever it was, had refused the change.
• Once again, Hector came to me, breathing deeply, his forehead sweating and his hands
• shaking with suspicion. It was probably the first time I'd seen him like that, I could see his fear, and I knew it wasn't for me.
• "This is very risky, Leia." It was the first thing he said. "In this job we expose ourselves every day, but what this guy is asking... It's playing with death."
• "But what are you saying, Hector? I've waited months for this opportunity, months of asking to do more than serve coffee, for God's sake, tell me what's going on. Don't you trust me?" I asked, exhausted.
• He denied it, wiping a thin white towel across his forehead. "That's not my fear, Leia. I know you're a great journalist, you do clean, amazing work like your mother once did, but this, you don't know what this could mean."
• "Who wants a private interview, Hector, why so scared?" I asked.
• "It's about Darren." He blurted out without thinking.
• "I don't know who Darren is." I blurted out confused.
• "Yes you do know who Darren is Leia." He said taking a deep breath. "He's the one who organized the shooting that killed your mother." He blurted out in a whisper.
• I looked at him blankly, stopped moving my left leg and started sweating as much as he was.
• This was the opportunity I had probably been waiting for my whole life, and whether I wanted to or not, I was going to face the most wanted man in the country and have the chance to not only understand what was going through his mind, but to know the truth behind the day I lost my mother.
• "I'll do it," I said without thinking.
• "No Leia, you won't. It's too risky." She explained, getting up to walk back and forth. "You haven't been out in the field, you have no experience, you don't know how to defend yourself." He continued.
• "I'll do it anyway, Hector." I said going after him. "Do you know how many questions I have? Do you know everything I want to know?" I asked. "This opportunity is what everyone wants and I'm going to get it. There is no better way to be recognized throughout the world than to interview the most feared and sought after man." I said animatedly.
• Hector, still refusing, ran his hands over his face in frustration, walked over to pour coffee for both of us, lit a cigarette and walked to the large window behind us. He looked around, smoked the cigarette and remained silent for the rest of those minutes.
• "Come on, Hector. Imagine what this could do for this place. We'll have a scoop!" I insisted.
• "I've already lost your mother, Leia. She was a wonderful colleague, friend and mother..." He whispered sadly. "I won't lose anyone else to crime." He finished.
• "You know I will," I said defiantly. "With or without you, it is he who has come to me." I warned.
• "... Leia..." he said scoldingly until he took a deep breath. "That doesn't make a good impression on me.
• "This is the chance of a lifetime, Hector! Let me do it! I promise to be safe!" I shouted excitedly. "I can wear a wire, a tracker... anything. Just let me do it!" I asked again.
• Hector ran his hands over his head again, shook his head gently and took a deep breath. "Let me think about it, let me think about how you can do this without putting yourself in danger. I'll talk to him, I'll set conditions... I'll try something." He whispered. "But just thinking about it, this man gives me the creeps."
• "He's that scary?" I asked.
• "Not just anyone has such a long kill list at such a young age, Leia. Whatever he is, he's a murderer, a criminal, a drug dealer..." She whispered. "And this country only pretends to want to catch him, but no one really does."
• And before he could say another word, an incoming call made Hector jump as he looked at his screen.
• I was sure it was him.
• "Is that him?" I asked.
• "It's the devil himself, Leia. Himself."