Edoardo sat behind the wheel of an unmarked police car. “This car’s color was wretched before the paint dried.”
The interior smelled of cigarette ashes, old coffee, stale sweat, and tension. Alessandro’s seat adjuster was broken. A hairline fracture ran down his side window. The car had done three hundred thousand kilometers. Alessandro had spent far too many hours in such cars. The smell alone took him straight back to Naples and the days when he went nowhere without his armed escort.
Edoardo had the habit of becoming morose whenever he was breaking a major case. The more severe his expression, the closer he was to bagging his prey. Today he looked positively funereal. “Are you sure they’re coming?”
“I dialed the police headquarters,” Alessandro replied patiently. “I spoke personally with the watch commandant. You should stay awake. You miss the most interesting events.”
“They’re taking too long.”
“It’s been twelve minutes. Not even you could cover the distance from Como to Brunate in that amount of time.”
“You shouldn’t have told them no siren or lights.”
“Today we are merely acting as backup. We have no evidence to tie the mob to the villa up ahead of us,” Alessandro replied.
They had covered this same terrain several times already. The fact that he was right only added to Edoardo’s dour state. “We have the testimony of an American military officer and a retired detective.”
“Please, Edoardo, we have discussed this to death. Charlie Hazard was most explicit. We must allow their teams to enter the villa. If we stop them, they will only return at another time. Our only hope is that Charlie is as good at his job as he appears.”
“I did not claw my way up through the ranks to play backup.”
“Nonetheless, that is our role today.” Alessandro felt positively giddy. He always felt that way in the presence of danger. Only afterward, when he was safe and lying in his bed and reliving the moment—usually at three in the morning with Carla asleep beside him—did he know terror. Just now, however, he was having a wonderful time. “Isn’t this fun?”
Edoardo shot him a look of sour astonishment. “Now I know why they made you leave Naples. You are insane.”
“We’re saving some very good people from some very bad men. What could be more fun than that?”
“We’re two people against eight. One and a half, really, since you refuse to carry a gun. My SWAT team is trapped on the motorway inside a traffic jam sixty miles long and won’t be here until November. So for backup we have one carload of Como’s local constables.” Edoardo shook his head. “They’ll probably shoot us both.”
“They will do just fine.”
“And I am telling you this as a friend. Seek help before it’s too late.”
Alessandro’s phone chirped. He checked the readout and said, “It is our brave lads.” He had specifically ordered them not to use their radios. Italian police radios were so often tapped by the bad guys, they might as well use megaphones. “Hello?”
“We are entering Brunate now.”
“We are in the unmarked car around the corner from the funicular station. Pull up behind us.” He ended the call and conceded, “They do sound rather young.”
Edoardo sighed and reached over. “Give me that thing.” He had depleted his own phone’s battery yelling at his backup. He dialed a number, and instantly the tinny sound of sirens came from the cell phone’s speaker. He shouted, “How long?”
Alessandro said, “Not so loud, please. My ears.”
Edoardo hung up and said, “Another hour.”
“Which means two.” As soon as Alessandro held the phone, it chirped again. “It’s the Americans.” He put it to his ear. “Hello?”
Charlie said, “Two teams are inbound. Both Americans. Two carloads of locals are also parked outside the gates. It appears they’re assigned to a backup role. Can we leave them to you?”
“Of course. You are sure you would not rather have us—”
“Stick to the plan. Hazard out.”
Alessandro set down his phone. Felt the most delightful shiver of nerves. “It has begun.”