32

Nothing like a little gunfire to wake a guy up.

Julio used a carbon blade he’d taken off one of the dudes and sliced their trousers from ankle to crotch. He slathered the back of the clamped palms with more Super Glue, ditto to the inside of their knees. It took some serious grunting to scrunch the inert body into a crouch, but once the glue hit the glue, the dude was set. Knee to back of hand, palms together, then to the other knee.

He was admiring his handiwork when he heard the crunch of gravel.

One thing Julio knew instantly, the phantom hadn’t made that noise. That dude made no sound. Julio couldn’t tell for certain, not with the rain crashing down, but he thought maybe it was more than one guy.

Julio was dressed in his warmest sweats, which were black and baggy. The only thing his clothes had in common with the fancy suits on the floor was, they were dark. The gatehouse lighting was very dim, a single bulb suspended from the high ceiling. Julio reached for two of the Tasers he had taken off the guys and dropped onto the stone floor. He cradled his hands between his knees so that his shape conformed to the glued-up attackers. He was last in line and half hidden in the shadows at the back of the gatehouse. He figured he had about thirty seconds before the guys realized he didn’t belong.

He watched through slitted eyes as two guys craned into the doorway. One was a heavy brute maxed on pasta, the other was a young snake. Hooded eyes and calm and deadly. The snake hissed a question Julio didn’t need to understand.

Then the snake saw him. And raised the silenced pistol in his hand.

Which was when the phantom struck.

Both of the thugs stiffened and gasped. Julio assumed the phantom had slammed them with a one-two to the kidneys. Not enough to put down a pair of pros. But it opened their eyes up to saucer size and sent the snake’s shot winging through the gatehouse window.

The thugs responded as a team. The heavyset man turned and hefted his own silenced pistol. The snake fell to the stone floor, rolling to bring his firing arm around.

Julio used the inert body between him and the action to steady his aim. He fired the Taser.

And missed the snake by about six miles.

He had never fired a Taser before. Even at ten or eleven feet, the aim was lousy. The trigger popped and the darts flew, the slender wires spinning and shimmering in the dim glow. The darts missed the snake’s gun shoulder by about a foot.

And sank into the other thug’s right leg.

The Taser crackled with the release of energy. The thug gave a strangled cry. And toppled straight onto the snake’s firing arm.

Julio took aim with the second Taser and fired.

Before the darts zinged across the room, he was already thinking, Way, way wrong. There was no way he could hit the snake. Not with the other dude covering him like an electrified rug.

This time the darts hit the heavy thug in the chest. He gave a little cough and went completely still.

The snake was one strong dude. He tossed the thug at the phantom like he was heaving a basketball. The phantom dodged the body, then saw the gun coming up and slipped back into the night.

Before the first shot was fired, Julio was already up and moving. The snake’s gun coughed three times, firing at shadows and rain, before Julio hammered him just above his right ear. He didn’t realize he still held the Taser until the snake’s skull was covered with plastic shards.

Julio gripped the snake’s neck and gun hand. He heard another couple of pops and felt ceiling plaster rattle down on his head. He felt his grip slipping off the rain-slick wrist. The snake’s breath smelled of mint and death. Then the phantom reappeared and chopped the snake where the pulse throbbed in his neck artery. Again. The strikes were as fast as Julio’s panting terror. The snake’s eyes lost focus. The phantom took hold of the snake’s hair and hammered the man’s skull on stone. The snake went slack.

The two of them stayed exactly as they were for a second. Julio could hear himself grunting with the effort it took to breathe.

The phantom went over and checked on the other thug. “Man, this is one well-fried turkey.”

Julio rolled over. Stared at the ceiling. Fought for breath. And saw only the snake’s raging eyes.

“What’s your name?”

“Julio.”

“I’m Benny Calfo. Where’d Eltee find you?”

“Who?”

“Eltee. Hazard. Where’d he pick you up?”

Julio pushed himself up to where he could get a grip on the windowsill and pull himself to his feet. “Satellite Beach community center.”

“That a fact.” Overbright teeth shone from the blackened face. “Well, you did good back there. I owe you.”

“Are there more?”

“Eltee and some lady took care of the rest.”

“Her name is Irma.”

“The way she swings that crowbar, she’s got the makings of a pro.” Benny kicked the pistols away from the bodies, gripped the inert thug by the collar, and dragged him farther inside. “Why don’t you stitch these boys up, I’ll go bring you the rest.”

“What are we supposed to do with them?”

But the phantom was already gone.

divider

Dawn was less than an hour away. Julio figured they had this particular corner of the rain-swept world to themselves. The only sound he heard was rain hammering the car roof. “You want to run this one by me again?”

“Follow me into town.” If Charlie minded repeating his instructions, he gave no sign. “When we get to where we’re going, we’re going to cram both teams into this Mercedes here. Then I’m going to ram it into the front of a bar.”

Julio looked at Irma. “This make sense to you?”

Irma must have stopped questioning Charlie entirely. “Did this come in one of those little extraterrestrial jaunts of yours?”

“I told you. They’re called ascents.”

“Whatever. Did it?”

“Right down to how it’s just me and Julio making this trip.”

“What am I supposed to do while this goes down? Take a bubble bath? Fix my nails?”

“Go and rest.”

“I’ve never run out on a bust in my entire life.”

“You’re not running out on anybody.”

“And just where exactly has that shadow of yours gotten to?”

“Benny will be on watch the rest of the night. And the rest of your questions about him will need to wait.” When she looked ready to give him more lip, he said, “Irma, you and I have a major day coming up. Go get some sleep.”

“This is more from the same ascent?”

“Yes.”

“What about you?”

“I’ve never needed much sleep. If I get a couple of hours I’ll be fine.”

“You’re kidding.”

“No. This discussion can wait too.” He turned to Julio. “Ready?”

Julio’s ride was sweet, an Alfa Romeo sedan with a beast of an engine. The descent, even in the rain, left Julio certain that given half a chance, this car would purely bolt.

They entered a completely empty Como. Charlie drove with the confidence of a man on rails. They wound their way into the old city, ignoring a bunch of signs that Julio was pretty certain warned all cars to turn around and make tracks in the opposite direction. Charlie stopped at one end of an empty cobblestone plaza. Julio reversed his car and backed it to where the two trunks almost touched.

Charlie walked back and said, “Pop the trunk.”

The work had them both puffing hard, extricating four human pretzels from the Alfa and cramming them into the other car. The last guy they shifted was the snake. As they were stuffing him into the driver’s seat, he huffed a breath and opened his eyes. Charlie gave the guy the same bird-wing attack as the phantom had used. His hand just seemed to float down and back. A swift little hummingbird wing of motion. The snake went still.

“Dude, you have got to show me that move.”

“Sure thing.”

“For real?”

“You’re one of the team, Julio. Whatever you want to learn, I’ll teach. As much as you can handle.”

Julio stood in the rain and watched as Charlie used the last of the Super Glue to plaster the snake’s right shoe to the accelerator and his hands to the wheel. It gave Julio another chance to inspect the snake. He was younger than the other men, and perhaps a trace more refined in appearance. Very slender. Reptilian cold even when unconscious. Julio shivered and forced his eyes away.

Charlie tested the snake’s foot and hands, then shook the rain from his eyes and said, “Go get ready to scoot.”

“No problem, ese.” Julio fired up the Alfa, then rose from the car and watched as Charlie used the crowbar he had taken from Irma to anchor down the Merc’s accelerator. The engine gave a discreet howl. Charlie lifted his head into the rain, sighted down the hood, made a slight adjustment to the wheel, then reached in and slapped the car into drive.

The cobblestones were too wet for the Mercedes to actually burn rubber. But the car managed to build up a pretty solid head of steam as it careened down the narrow lane.

The car hit the glass front of someplace called the Bar Azzurra head-on. There was the rending screech of metal being torn from its stanchions. Glass exploded like a car-sized bomb had just gone off.

Charlie walked back with ease, as if bestowing chaos and mayhem on an ancient Italian city was something he did at least once a week. “Let’s go get warm and dry.”

They left the city and started up the steep road to Brunate. Julio opened his window and thought maybe he heard a distant siren, but he was enjoying the climb and Charlie was clearly not the least bit worried about the cops. Julio left the window open a notch and pushed the engine as hard as the rain and the night and the hairpin curves allowed.

They pulled through the villa’s rusted gates and followed the gravel drive around to the stables built in solid to the cliff face. Charlie opened a set of double doors and waited while Julio drove the car in and turned off the engine. He shut the stable doors, and together they walked through a grey dawn and let themselves into the house.

In the downstairs hallway, Charlie stopped. Julio stood with his back to his bedroom door and listened to water drip off his clothes.

Charlie said, “Irma and I need to leave in a couple of hours. We’ll be gone for a while.”

Julio stifled a yawn. “You want me to stand watch?”

“No. Get some rest. If anybody on the team asks what happened, it’d probably be best if you wait until we’re back so they hear the whole deal at once.”

“I got no problem with that.”

“You were totally stand-up back there.”

“Just did my job, bro.”

“Benny says you saved his life.”

“Yeah, well, only because he kept me breathing through the first round.”

Charlie offered his hand. “Anywhere, anytime. You hear what I’m saying?”

As Julio showered and slipped into sleep, he was still grinning like a fool.