35 35. It's Brazil Time

"Human Trash?" Hector exclaimed, confused. "You mean like the evil sorta folks? Well, they sure ain't saints, that's for sure."

Hunter hummed, rubbing his chin as he pondered over his upcoming hunt for trash. It was clear by now that "Trash" as a word had a very wide definition when it came to the magical book. 'I reckon a single day ain't gonna cut it. At least three days?'

"I got somethin' else planned there, some business an old buddy set up." Hunter tried to wrap up their little talk, "You better focus on your own career. Maybe try to get back into the Rangers."

Not getting anything from Hunter, Hector dejectedly retreated, hoping to return home. Being nearly double Hunter's age, he saw him as his younger brother, one with heavy responsibilities and problems on his shoulders. 

"I can't change what's happened. But if I'd known how it'd all turn out, I wouldn't have handed over the evidence to the Captain," Hector said before leaving, his way of apologizing indirectly, "I-I got scared, y'know. Rose kept sayin' she was bein' followed every day when bringin' Justin home from school. Then someone chucked a stone at our window in the middle of the night—"

Hunter suddenly stepped forward and gripped Hector's collar, lifting him up a little with his inhuman strength. His eyes glaring, he growled at his old partner's face, "And you figured now's the time to tell me all that?"

"I didn't 'cause of this right here. You're young, impulsive, hotheaded, and I couldn't afford no mistake," Hector replied, not angry, but very much ashamed. "You know what we was up against. You really think they wouldn't have hurt my family? Or yours?"

Hunter sighed and released his grip, taking a step back, "Then why are you here? Ain't scared of dyin' now? Just head on home, Hector."

"Because I worry about you. I know my fault, and I—"

Hunter didn't give him a chance to finish and headed to the door, "If all you wanna do is wash away your guilt, go ahead. I forgive you, I can understand why you betrayed me. I'd have done the same thing if it was my family—but I'd be serving time at Polunsky."

Left alone, Hector sighed, tiredly rubbed his face, and went downstairs to head home. He knew betraying a partner as a cop was a very low thing to do, and earning back that broken trust might just take a whole lifetime. 

Sadly, he could never rightly understand the true reason behind Hunter's unyielding anger. He hadn't just lost his job but also died because of that betrayal.

####

"You should have asked him to have dinner with us," Susan said, sitting with her whole family at the dining table.

"No, he'll eat with his own family." Hunter shrugged and focused on his chicken-fried steak with a side of some veggies. "By the way, I'll be headin' to Brazil for three days tomorrow night. Got a contact there in construction supplies, could be a good opportunity."

Everyone stopped eating all of a sudden and stared at him. 

"Can I tag along? I wanna see the statue of Christ the Redeemer," Annie chirped briskly, always eager since their small town and Dallas were all she'd seen in her sixteen years of life.

"Brazil?" Susan's reaction was more filled with worry, "Isn't that too far away?"

"It's just a short trip, Mom. Home's where I'll be operatin' from now on," Hunter replied, then added, "Actually, I was thinkin' about askin' them folks upstairs to clear out the apartments. I'll take one, and the other one, I'll convert into a private gym."

Marcus' face lit up upon hearing that, silently appreciating Hunter's words. Whether good or bad, Marcus was known for his quiet demeanor, rarely speaking even at home.

"But Hunter, the shop ain't makin' much these days, and you los—"

"I've got plenty of savings, and I sure don't wanna hear Marcus snorin' like a bull in his sleep," Hunter said. "And don't you worry 'bout the job. I've got everythin' planned out and ready to roll. In fact, let's go on a Europe tour next summer. I bet Annie will love seein' them big ol' castles."

Susan glanced over at Hunter with a puzzled expression, not really sure if he was serious or just aiming to please Annie more than was necessary. She kept her words to herself and simply nodded in agreement, "Well, if our wallets ain't too light, reckon we could give it a shot."

"That settles it then," Hunter muttered, finishing up and taking his plate to the kitchen sink, cleaning it quickly. "Oh, Annie. Mind if I borrow your old laptop?"

"Sure thing, but you gotta play a game with me first. I'll show off my brother to the world today!" Annie mused with a spark in her eye, glancing over at Marcus. "You oughta join us too, Mark. Maybe you'll get a girlfriend then?"

Hunter chuckled, wondering if that was supposed to make Marcus feel bitter or better. 

"I'm going to my room." Marcus disagreed and just got up, picked up his plate, and then Annie's before going to the kitchen and washing it. It was a rule in the house to wash their own dishes to make Susan's job easier.

Without hesitation, Hunter pushed Annie's new chair and entered her neatly decorated room. 

The walls were painted a soft pink, with RGB lights lining the edges of the ceiling. Cute plushies adorned the wall shelves alongside a collection of figurines. Most of the figures depicted roaring muscular men with blonde hair.

"Laptop's in the box by the bed," Annie drawled as she rolled her chair over to her PC setup, booting up her system. It was something Hunter had gifted her five years back when he got himself a promotion. Since then, she ditched the old laptop, letting it collect dust.

Hunter quickly connected the power cable to the old laptop and sat on Annie's bed by her computer table. Leaning his back against the wall, he made sure she couldn't look at what he was doing.

'Here it is.' He quickly summoned the hard drive from the magical storage and used an external SATA hard drive connector to read the data. It was an old laptop, and the hard drive seemed even older. It took him a dozen tries with the USB connector to make the damn thing even work. 

As he opened the drive folder, Hunter found it empty except for a single text file, the last updated date on it from ten years ago. In his heart, he prayed to the gods of all worlds that it wouldn't be locked.

'No errors?!' Hunter's heart relaxed as the file opened without any interruption, revealing a single white page of text. A long string of numbers and letters lay before him, uninterrupted.

'This must be the private key,' Hunter muttered to himself. He quickly opened the web browser and accessed his old crypto wallet, which he had created years ago when studying the new hot topic. 'Please work,'

After feeding all the details, he waited for the number to appear in his wallet. He remained stuck to the screen for almost fifteen minutes, his confidence slowly dwindling. 

'There it is!' But just as the sixteenth minute approached, Fifty-six appeared in his account balance, named Bitcoins. 'Wait a sec, how much is a Bitcoin worth? Hundred? A thousand?'

Having no clue except that it was a hot topic before, he searched it on the internet. The very next moment, his eyes bulged out. He took a breath and looked away from the screen, wondering if he mistook the dot for a comma.

But when he looked at the screen again, nothing changed. However, instead of happiness, he felt a sudden rush of guilt. This wasn't his money. Even if it had been ten years, this was clearly someone else's investment.

However, knowing cryptocurrency, he also knew it was impossible to find its true owner. If he were to go on the internet to try to find the person, it'd be like painting a red bullseye on his back.

'More than three and a half million dollars,' he calculated, sucking in the cold air between his teeth. It was all the magical book's work, his Devolution's gift. 'I don't know who it belongs to, but… I guess I'll donate this same amount once I get plenty.' 

It was hard to wash the guilt away, but he knew he needed this money right now to set up his foundation. So, not being too greedy, he only withdrew three Bitcoins, totaling just over two hundred thousand. Knowing the bank transfer would take nearly a week, he disconnected the hard drive and shut down the laptop.

Silently, he looked at Annie playing some video game and making commentary, shouting and crying at times, flailing her arms in frustration. It was some game about climbing with a hammer? But whenever she fell, she'd fall all the way back to the starting point. 

"Dammit!" She barked and noticed Hunter's eyes on her. "Help me, Hunter."

Amused and interested, he got up and stood beside her chair. Over the monitor rested a single old webcam, and her headphones had their own built-in microphone that she used. 

"Take the mouse and see if you can get him to climb up," Annie handed him the mouse.

Hunter silently did as she suggested and started to get the hang of it. It was all about swinging and the right timing, very easy—or so he thought. He didn't realize when almost an hour passed, his eyes turned red with rage, similar to his sister's.

"What kinda dumb game is this? Ain't nobody can finish it..." Hunter queried, tumbling down for the nth time.

"Pff…" Annie held her laughter back, "People have speedrun it." 

Hunter's brows furrowed, giving up. "As much as it's addictive, I gotta go pack my bags. I'll leave this to you, kiddo."

Hunter reached into his wallet and plucked out all the dollars he had in there. It was his three days' pay from the odd jobs he'd been taking on in the city before the accident, a total of six hundred.

"Grab yourself a good cam and mic," Hunter said, handing the cash to her. "I might not be as tech-savvy as you, but I know this here setup ain't cuttin' it for a top-notch channel."

"What?!" Annie gasped, shocked at the offer, "No, no… take it back. I'm savin' little by little for it on my own. Don't you worry 'bout it."

But Hunter retreated to the door, "You wanna spend your entire summer holiday just savin' money? Just buy it, think of it as an early birthday present."

"But…" Annie put the money on the table, not touching it. "I don't want it. Y'all are… Y'all are too nice to me already."

Seeing her getting emotional, Hunter walked closer and patted her shoulder, "Think of it like an investment. I wouldn't have lent a hand if I hadn't seen some potential. You done got 'em thirty thousand subs yourself, right?"

Hunter had noticed her summer break goal sticker on the wall as soon as he entered her room. Knowing she might not even be able to move her hands in a few months, he wanted her to have everything she wanted right away.

"Then… I'll pay it back later."

Hunter held a thumbs-up and moved to the door, "With interest, Annie."

"Promise!" She raised her thumb too. 

Hunter chuckled and closed the door behind him, then sighed and returned to the living room. His bags were still there, so he packed a light suitcase for the next day and selected some clothes suitable for tourists.

"You're really going?" Susan approached him, "I know all your buddies. None of 'em work in Brazil."

"He ain't from my school," Hunter replied, lying despite hating it. "Don't worry, Mom. I'll be safe, I promise."

Susan wanted to ask more, but she didn't want to bug him too much. "You got 'nuff cash for the trip?"

Hunter finished packing. Then he walked up to her and tightly held both edges of her shoulder. He stared right into her eyes with confidence brimming in his own. "Everything's under control. Ain't no need to worry 'bout money or Annie, or Marcus no more. I ain't leaving, not now, not ever."

Susan, still a little restless, nodded firmly. "Then… I'll go and sleep. Don't stay up too late."

"Yes, Ma'am." He nodded with a wide smile.

Hunter watched her leave, lingering until she disappeared into her room. He knew how much she had sacrificed for the three of them. She was young, smart, and stunning when their dad passed away, but she never considered moving on, solely focused on looking after Annie's declining health. Paying the bills, making sure they never skipped school.

'I just want y'all to be happy,' Hunter muttered and walked into Marcius' room. 

Bam!

The first thing he did was throw a pillow at his brother. 

"Quit your darn snoring. You ain't even chubby."

"Ugh…" Marcus merely grunted and turned a little before snoring again. 

'I really need that upper floor.' He sighed and forced himself to sleep.

####

Hunter left home early in the morning, even before the sun fully came up. Getting into his truck, he drove all the way to San Antonio, south of Austin. Sunny as always, in his loose half-sleeves t-shirt, cargo pants, and sunglasses on, he walked into the airport. 

Already reserved online, he soon reached his seat on the 20-hour flight to Brasília, the capital of Brazil. 

Minding his own business, he relaxed and put on the neck pillow, appearing like an everyday tourist. But that was only until the middle seat beside him got filled. A young, tall, blonde woman sat down, her clothes not much different from his—a white, loose, cotton shirt, blue jeans, and a baseball cap on her head. 

In her hand was her phone as she watched a news YouTube channel at a very low but audible volume. Right away, Hunter's attention was focused on the screen. 

"...now the question arises, why in the world would someone steal trash? Who is this mysterious Austin trash stealer, and…"

"..."

'Ain't got anythin' to do with me.'

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat.

____________________

This Monke humbly asks for stones.