At Close Quarters Read Online Free PDF

on the peaked cap and looked in the mirror. Not bad: he was still young enough not to feel crushed under its weight. The peak shaded his eyes, but did not extinguish the two hard sparks, clean and devoid of malice, of his pupils. His thin lips and clenched jaw made him look more serious than he really was, and a large chin which refused to retreat bolstered the impression of inflexibility. He turned his head slightly to observe his profile and saw a calm, elegant man who still wondered how it was possible that three square metres of green cloth, a dozen golden buttons, some two-toned ribbons and tin stars wrapped and dotted aroundhis body had the power to predispose him to being punctual, daring and good at his job. Irrespective of his decision in a few weeks’ time – whether to continue on active service or ask to pass to the reserve – he would still wear his uniform one last time, even if he wouldn’t notice, as he would be dead. He had stipulated in his will that he wanted to be dressed in his uniform at the moment of entering into the eternity of nothingness, and he knew his daughter would carry out his wishes.
    He made sure all the documents pertaining to the report were in his briefcase. Then he put the small Star in the holster under his armpit and buttoned up his jacket. He always carried a gun. Although he had no intention of using it, it gave him a feeling of security and confidence, because even if a gun is not fired it could always well be.
    Carrying a gun had become a habit during the three months he’d been stationed in Afghanistan, as part of NATO, in a peacekeeping mission that also worked towards the disarmament of extremist groups linked with Taliban guerrillas. Back there, a pistol on one’s hip was as necessary and natural as the boots, cap or trousers. And once in the habit of carrying a gun for protection, he felt more vulnerable without it than someone who’d never held one. Over the last few years, the Mediterranean coast had become the scene of terrorist attacks, and although he knew it was unlikely that someone dressed in trainers, jeans and a hoodie might attack him at close quarters, putting a bullet in the back of his head, he could not forget that his name had appeared on a list of terrorists ’ targets after an interview he’d given some years previously, on his return from the Balkans. If he were the victim of an attack, it would probably involve explosives, and his gun would be useless, but neither did he forget that a colleague from the academy had been riddled with bullets in the garage of his house as he was parking his car, and that, perhaps he would have been able to defend himself if he’d had a gun.
    His time in Afghanistan, his discipline, and his rigorous and efficient compliance with procedure had earned him a promotionto major, and on returning home he enjoyed a solid prestige both among the rank and file and his superiors. In Madrid they had praised his firmness when dismantling installations, disarming guerrilla groups without humiliating them, and restructuring his own units. His reputation as a courageous, intelligent soldier had influenced his superiors’ decision to commission from him a report on the advisability and difficulty of closing down the San Marcial base. Abolishing obligatory military service, turning the army into a professional institution and introducing new technology had rendered obsolete the old idea of efficient, mighty armed forces. Squadrons, companies and battalions were no longer discussed so much as warfare technology. A country’s defence budget could no longer be wasted on dressing, feeding, housing, disciplining and instructing a host of recruits by making them do archaic exercises, more aesthetic than tactical, when they would hardly get the chance to engage in hand-to-hand combat. By necessity, the modern army based its power of deterrence on technology, not on the number of its troops; the function of the latter was a thing of the