56
Gabriella huddled with the rest of her team at the back of the cave. Before them were the long planks they had used to cross from the villa’s top rear window to the cave’s mouth. Gunfire erupted five different times, shattering the windows and the balcony doors she could see from her station at the front of the group.
Then nothing.
Wind howled and moaned beyond their rocky haven. Behind where Gabriella stood gripping the air pistol, someone whimpered. She wanted to tell them it was all right. Charlie was out there. They were safe. But she could not find the air to speak the words.
Outside the cave, branches shook and weaved, like the trees needed to share her fear. Her vision felt scarred by the flickering shadows.
When a scrabbling sound came through the opening, Gabriella gripped her weapon so hard she thought her bones would break. Then a voice called, “Don’t shoot.”
“Yes.” A shape rose gradually into view. But the sunlight was strong behind him, and it was suddenly very hard to see beyond the veil shimmering before her eyes. “It’s over.”
Alessandro returned the salute from the young policewoman. Officer Benedetti was seated in the passenger seat of a blue police van. Two of her fellow officers were seated in the rear with the captured thugs. Alessandro watched the van trundle down the hill and said, “Such fine young people. Italy should be so very proud.”
Edoardo grunted. “The woman’s not bad.”
“You certainly made her day. Were you serious about that job offer?”
“I never joke about such matters. Our lives hang in the balance.” His smile was scarcely more than a squint, like he was taking aim at a memory. “Did you see her confront the driver?”
“I fear that happened around the time of my heart attack from running up that hill.”
“He tried to give her lip. She almost pulled him through the window.” Edoardo’s eyes tightened further. “She’s small and she’s young and she’s angry about being both. She should fit in very well with my team.”
A few villagers clustered down by the funicular station, their curiosity in conflict with their innate Italian desire to have nothing whatsoever to do with the police.
Alessandro gave them a cheery little wave. “I wonder how the main event has gone.”
Edoardo grunted again. “Perhaps we should go see.”
“The villa does seem a bit quiet.”
As they approached the main gates, Charlie appeared between the stone pillars. “Are the other officers gone?”
“Indeed so. How are your friends?”
“Excellent. Allow me to introduce my dear friend Edoardo di Santo. Edoardo is with the anti-Mafia force of the Guardia di Finanza. You must forgive him. He is convinced he speaks perfect English. Unfortunately, he is mistaken.”
Edoardo shook Charlie’s hand and said, “Poor Alessandro. He has problem in head. Very serious. So sad.”
Charlie nodded as though it all made perfect sense. “There are a few more head cases up at the villa. We could sure use your help with them.”
As they walked the gravel drive, Alessandro took time to study the American. Charlie had a bruise forming where his jaw met his neck. A thin line of blood ran from his left wrist to the sleeve. Alessandro could not tell whether the blood belonged to Charlie. The man held himself slightly curved as he walked, leading Alessandro to wonder if he might have cracked a rib. Edoardo noticed the wounds also, as well as the man’s silent disregard for his state. He caught Alessandro’s eye and nodded once. Charlie Hazard was his kind of man.
They entered the villa together and stopped in the front portico. Gabriella stood there frowning at Edoardo. “Who is this?”
“Alessandro’s friend.”
“He is police?”
Edoardo stated, “Guardia di Finanza, signora.”
She crossed her arms. “Is this a good idea, Charlie?”
Alessandro watched how the warrior gave her room. A strong man acknowledging the lead of an equally strong woman.
Charlie said, “It’s your call. But I say yes.”
Edoardo did not seem to be the least bit fazed by the exchange. He crossed to the staircase, where divots had been torn from the railing. The villa’s air still stank from cordite. “Interesting.”
Alessandro suggested, “Perhaps this lovely villa was once attacked in the last war.”
Edoardo flicked away a bit of raw wood. “No, this is much older than that. I think many centuries.”
Gabriella asked Charlie, “You trust him?”
“I trust Alessandro.”
“And I, signora, trust Edoardo with my life.”
Gabriella stepped aside.
Charlie pointed at the ground-floor corridor. “This way.”
Edoardo offered Gabriella a courtly bow and followed Charlie down the stone stairs.
The locker they had taken from the Evidence chambers was set on the first room’s bed. Charlie lifted one of the guns. “This rifle got a little bent.”
The stock was split in two. The lower segment was missing entirely, the upper hanging by a splinter. “What happened?”
“Bullet. Knocked it clean out of my hands. The missing stock whacked me in the chest. I didn’t notice it at the time. My opponent was armed with a nerve gas canister and a silenced .45. I had a laptop.”
Edoardo frowned. “Please. You shoot this man with a computer?”
“It doesn’t concern us, Edoardo.” Alessandro replaced the rifle and shut the case.
Charlie offered, “I’ll pay for the gun.”
“There is no charge. Officially, this locker has never left the vaults. In four years our gentleman comes up for parole. When he is released, he will discover that these items have been auctioned off and the proceeds given to the state. End of story.”
Edoardo asked, “He is in so long for shooting animals?”
“And two game wardens. And a pair of activists who captured his work on film. Fortunately, the last of their little group managed to survive and bring their evidence back to Italy.”
“Ah.”
“This was not a nice man.”
“Speaking of which . . .” Charlie led them out of the room and down the narrow hall. In the last chamber they found nine men and one woman stretched out on floor pallets. The room stank of gunfire and plaster. A line of chest-high holes was gouged from the walls.
Alessandro nudged the closest body. “They are alive?”
“Yes.” Charlie pointed to five bulky packs leaning against the wall. “Their weapons.”
Edoardo bent down and unzipped the first pack. He whistled softly. Gingerly he sifted through the contents and came up with a silver aerosol can. The nozzle was as long as a gun barrel. “This is what, please?”
“Nerve gas.”
Edoardo dropped the can and zipped the bag.
Alessandro asked, “What did you use in the darts?”
“A mix of two drugs. One dose of GHB. It’s a general anesthetic used by emergency rooms and day clinics for moderate to severe operations. The patients have a vague idea of what’s going on, but they feel nothing and remain totally immobile. Motor function is nil. Very fast acting. Often used in date rapes.”
“How long will they be like this?”
“Eight hours for the big guys. Probably ten for the woman.”
“Can they hear us?”
“Doubtful. They’re a little busy right now.”
Edoardo asked, “This business, it comes from the other drug?”
Charlie nodded. “KeBrescone.”
Alessandro said, “I believe I have heard of this.”
“Animal tranquilizer. In humans it acts as a hallucinogenic. Never caught on as a party drug because it carries a high risk of very bad trips.”
Edoardo laughed out loud.
“KeBrescone causes extreme but temporary psychosis. The effects normally come and go for several days. Memory is affected for much longer. Temporary amnesia often lasts for weeks.”
Alessandro said, “We can’t just leave them here.”
“I have an idea,” Charlie said.
When he finished explaining what he had in mind, Edoardo asked, “Your family, they are Italian?”
“I already asked him,” Alessandro replied. “He claims not. I think perhaps Charlie is mistaken.”
“This plan of yours,” Edoardo said. “Machiavelli would be very pleased.”
“I quite agree.” Alessandro rubbed his hands together. “Very well. Let us begin.”