Venetian Valentine

by Kristian Parker

  I think I preferred running the length of the country than just sitting, waiting.

  “I will stay with you.”

  “Thank you.”

  We sat there for about forty-five minutes. I couldn’t stop glancing at my watch. By six-thirty, Antonio came into the courtyard, looking grave.

  “Andrew, I have news.”

  He sat on the bench on the other side of me from Soraya. Dread overpowered me. Sergio couldn’t be dead. I would not accept this.

  “Oh god, what is it?”

  He sighed. “The phone has been analysed. They are still going through it, but it looks as though it has messages, emails and voicemails opening up this whole network. The owner thought he had encrypted it securely and decided to use the phone freely instead of a burner phone, but we have managed to get through his stupid codes.”

  I couldn’t care about that at this point. “What about Sergio?”

  He looked down at his feet. “About an hour ago, they were transferring Sergio to the Poggioreale district. There is a prison there. I suppose they thought it would be more secure. Suspected police killers don’t always fare well being held in a police station.”

  “So, can you contact the prison and have him released from there?”

  Antonio glanced at Soraya. “They never made it to the prison. The van has been intercepted. The escorts were knocked unconscious and Sergio is nowhere to be seen.”

  I looked from one to another. “Then we find him.”

  “I have many men working on this, but it is difficult. Naples is a very big place.”

  Soraya lit a cigarette. “You know what you have to do, Antonio.”

  Antonio looked a little put out, being told what to do. “What?” he asked with a frown.

  “Contact one of the cops on that phone. Offer them a bargain if they give up the location.”

  Antonio looked hesitant. “But…”

  “But what?” I said.

  “Then one will get away with it.”

  I spun around, feeling the rage building up in me. I knew I should respect his authority, but I couldn’t believe where his priorities lay. “Are you telling me that Sergio’s life is worth less than someone getting a lenient sentence? We both risked everything to bring this phone to you. We could have handed it in immediately and taken our chance with the police in Venice, but it didn’t feel right. Now you’re going to let Sergio die for his trouble?”

  Antonio couldn’t meet my gaze. He had the decency to look ashamed.

  “Look at me,” I demanded.

  Slowly he looked me in the eyes. I don’t know what he saw there, but his resolve crumbled. “You are right, of course.” With that, he got up and disappeared into the building.

  “I cannot believe he even considered it.”

  Soraya stubbed her cigarette out and immediately lit another. I wished I hadn’t given up two years ago. Anything to relieve the pressure of this situation would be welcome.

  “People have died for a lot less, Andrew.” She took a drag of her cigarette and exhaled. “This is a huge war. You cannot blame Antonio for being so committed to it. It is a good thing.”

  I could kind of see it from her perspective, but I wanted to feel Sergio in my arms again and to be told we were out of this nightmare. I wouldn’t let Antonio off the hook from doing the right thing until that moment came.

  “Let’s hope his conscience wrestling hasn’t cost my friend his life.”

  He came back out in less than twenty minutes, looking a lot more positive this time. I hoped we were going to see some action now, not least because Soraya sat smoking at an alarming rate.

  “It took about ten minutes for this pathetic excuse for a policeman to tell us everything,” he announced. “They have him in a disused hotel by the airport until your friends from Venice arrive. We must move quickly. This informant is in custody but who knows how deep these networks run? They could get a message to them in no time. I’m mobilising some men and a helicopter. If they know that Sergio is of no use to them, we are in trouble. At the moment, they don’t know for certain the phone is in our hands and they will keep him for negotiation.”

  Soraya stood and faced him. “If you go in hot, they will likely kill the boy and run. You know that.”

  Antonio held his hands up. “You are never happy. What do you want me to do?”

  “Which hotel?” she asked, a determined look in her eyes.

  “Oh no, you don’t.”

  “Which hotel, Antonio? Give me a fifteen-minute head start. That’s all I ask.”

  He looked so harassed but, in the end, nodded. “I don’t know why I am doing this. It is the Hotel Napoli. But I do not authorise this. Remember that. No wires, nothing. We will be there exactly fifteen minutes behind you, but you are on your own until then.”

  “Then you’d better go and not watch me leave.”

  Antonio didn’t need telling twice and went back into the building, shaking his head and muttering to himself. Soraya turned and smiled.

  “I will do my best for you, Andrew,” she said. “My best is pretty good, even if I say so myself.”

  “Take me with you.”

  “Impossible.”

  “Soraya, please. If we get him out, I can help. If the worst happens, I don’t want him to be surrounded by strangers.”

  In a split second, she nodded. “I am getting soft, that is the only explanation. You follow me and do everything I tell you. “

  “Fine. Whatever you say.”

  She held her finger up. “Do not think for yourself, not once. This could be the end of your life. You do understand this?”

  “I understand but I want to be with him…no matter what the cost.”

  I just hoped the cost wouldn’t be too steep.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “You ever been on one of these before?” Soraya asked. She looked me up and down as if she already knew the answer.

  I shook my head at the hugely powerful motorbike.

  “Then this is turning out to be quite the day for you. Get on and don’t fall off. It is that simple.”

  Determined not to show any reluctance, I climbed aboard and we sped off through the streets of Naples. Had it only been a few hours since Sergio and I had made a similar journey? We’d been so convinced we were coming to the end of our awful experience—little did we know we would still be caught up in the hurricane.

  Soraya would have put our taxi driver to shame with the way she negotiated the streets of Naples. She weaved this way and that. I held on firmly to her waist and tried to mimic her movements to avoid us toppling over completely.

  We made it to the hotel in a blur. The area looked half-deserted, with many buildings boarded up, others with washing hanging from balconies. No wonder the hotel sat disused. I couldn’t imagine anyone choosing to stay here.

  “We go the rest of the way on foot,” said Soraya.

  She glanced at all the windows with shutters down.

  I could read her mind. A lookout could be anywhere.

  “Hold my hand.”

  She grabbed hold of my hand. “We are just a loving couple on their way to the shop. You look almost scruffy enough to belong around here.” She gave my hand an extra squeeze.

  As we walked down a street, a woman came out of one of the buildings and gave us the once-over but didn’t appear to find anything interesting and started walking in the opposite direction to us.

  “Interesting,” said Soraya.

  “What is?”

  “They have a lookout. She didn’t look too interested though. She’ll have plenty to look at in half an hour.” She chuckled to herself.

  My legs threatened to give way underneath me as we turned a corner and there, in the middle of the street, stood the Hotel Napoli. Every fibre of me wanted to run inside it and find Sergio.

  “Keep walking past it. I want to see everything.”

  We walked past on that side of the road. The windows were pretty grimy, but it looked like quite
a small hotel. Could he be behind one of those windows?

  “Wait.”

  Three black cars drove past us and stopped outside the hotel.

  We got to the end of the street and turned right before doubling back and finding ourselves in a back alley, where Soraya peeked around the wall.

  “They are going in. They must have just arrived. Perfect.”

  Perfect? I wished I had her confidence in how things were playing out. A huge crash came from inside. I lurched forward but Soraya held on to my arm with a vice-like grip.

  “Okay, so we go in the back,” she said. “They are in the front. They won’t hear us.”

  “Won’t they have a lookout at the back?”

  She gave me a slightly amused smile. “Not for much longer they won’t.”

  We crept down the back alley. I tried to copy the confidence that exuded from her—she had clearly done this before. I…hadn’t.

  Soraya pointed for me to wait behind an industrial-sized bin and winked. She picked up a stone and threw it so it ricocheted off the opposite building. Quickly, she took cover with me behind the bin. We could just see around it and sure enough, two men holding guns appeared, muttering something to each other.

  Soraya picked up another stone and threw it a little way behind us. It hit a corrugated roof and clattered down it.

  The sound of footsteps coming gave me chills. I had no idea what would be expected of me but determination flowed through me. What a voyage of discovery this trip is turning out to be.

  Two men walked past us but thankfully didn’t even notice us. They were so intent on finding out what had made the noise that they were being sloppy. Silently, Soraya stalked behind them. One man raised his gun, but Soraya pulled her right arm back as if to hit him. Instead she smashed the heel of her left hand into his chin. His head cracked back, and he fell to the ground.

  Her speed stunned me.

  “They always expect the right hand,” she said.

  She grabbed hold of the second man and pushed him against the wall. She said something in Italian. The man looked terrified but said something she didn’t like. She kicked his legs out from under him and leapt on top of him. She pulled a gun out of her jacket and held it to his forehead. What he said next, she approved of.

  I flinched as she knocked him unconscious with her pistol.

  “Your lover is held upstairs. Come, get him over there.”

  I ran across and dragged the first man backwards. We dumped them in the bins, and she handed me one of their guns.

  That I’d only held a gun once before in my life, earlier today, must have been obvious. Soraya silently pointed to the safety catch.

  “Only in extreme circumstances. We must go quickly now. Antonio will be here in minutes. I want to be inside before then.”

  I nodded, praying that just holding a gun would give me enough authority to get Sergio out of there and to safety.

  We crept towards the hotel, the silence suffocating me. No one would believe it would be crawling with police in ten minutes. The back of the hotel had a kind of loading bay with a van parked in it. Was this how they had brought Sergio here? Next to the bay, a door stood slightly ajar. Soraya pointed towards it and I followed her inside.

  We found ourselves in the kitchen, where masses of cooking equipment was piled high everywhere. Everything was covered in dust, making it a minefield to navigate through. I didn’t want to be the one to alert the world by knocking something over, but my nerves were starting to jar. I couldn’t move normally and made weird slow-motion movements. Once again, I had adrenalin overload and forced myself to take deeper and slower breaths, although my body fought against me. I wanted to hyperventilate and allow the panic to take control.

  We made our way to what I presumed to be the dining room. I could hear voices in the next room.

  We were just underneath a half-open serving hatch. With that way cut off, Soraya looked around for another option. I noticed a door in the corner. I tugged on her sleeve and pointed. She nodded.

  We made our way across to the door. It led to a narrow staircase, which would take us upwards, something that came as a relief. Sergio’s upstairs. At least I hoped so.

  At the top of the staircase was a landing. I counted about five doors leading from it. How could we be sure which one he was in? We stood there for a second and two figures appeared at the other end of the landing, forcing us to drop back into the shadows. The two people went into the room farthest away. There was shouting, then a voice I recognised. It broke my heart to hear Sergio sobbing. He sounded terrified and exhausted. If only he knew how close we were.

  I looked at Soraya and nodded. “That’s him,” I mouthed.

  She pointed to me and mouthed back, “You get him. I get others.”

  I gave her a thumbs-up.

  We half-crept, half-ran down the landing. Yelling, Soraya burst through the door with me following.

  The shock tactic worked and the two men froze. Soraya leapt at one of the men and I dove for Sergio. They had tied him to a chair. The second man raised his gun towards him. I pulled Sergio over in the chair just as a shot rang out, smashing the mirror behind him. Sergio screamed as the man steadied his aim towards us. I went onto autopilot and flicked off the safety switch like Soraya had shown me. As if watching someone else do it, I pointed and fired. To my horror, I hit the man square in the chest, and he fell back on the bed.

  I fumbled with Sergio’s ties, but they were tight and my hands were shaking. Another shot rang out. I almost cried out with relief as Soraya stood. I finally managed to pull Sergio’s bonds free.

  “There are others, sleeping next door,” he screamed. “You won’t be enough.”

  “Don’t you worry about that,” I shouted.

  “Come on,” cried Soraya.

  Out on the landing, Sergio was right. Two men were coming out of the rooms. Soraya shot one but was floored by the other. Sergio and I froze, which was a huge mistake—men from downstairs ran up the staircase and grabbed us from behind. The man holding Soraya yanked her to her feet.

  We had got so close to breaking free.

  A scarily young-looking man snatched my gun from me. He barked something in Italian and laughed.

  They all hushed as a man who was clearly the leader walked up the stairs. He was slow and arrogant as he reached the top. He flicked a gaze at his fallen comrades on the ground, but it didn’t faze him. The others stood to attention.

  My stomach contracted as he got nearer and a man next to him handed him a gun. The calm in this man’s face as he prepared to kill froze me to my core. How could someone be so detached from the evil they were about to do?

  “This is the English one, is it?”

  He pointed the gun at me. So many things ran through my mind. My parents. My friends. Anger at a lost future with this man next to me.

  “Thank you for saving me the bother of coming to find you. I don’t know who your friend is, but she’ll share your fate. Have no worries about that.”

  I couldn’t believe we weren’t going to win. After all this stress and tension and hard work, we didn’t deserve an ending like this, in some scummy hotel. The silence outside told me Antonio would be too late. He would catch these men undoubtably, probably standing over our bodies. A smile crept across my face, knowing that this man would face justice, no matter how cocky he was now.

  He started to squeeze the trigger and I clutched Sergio’s hand. This might be the end, but I wouldn’t beg him. He wouldn’t get that from me.

  Soraya screamed and fought to get free.

  Suddenly all hell broke loose downstairs, the whole building rocking with the sound and impact of windows shattering.

  With all my force, I launched myself at the man with the gun and pushed him down the stairs. I turned to the man who had been holding me and tripped him down after his boss. Pure anger drove me at that point, the aftershock of facing certain death coursing through my body.

  Sergio was fighting with his
captor. I picked up my gun and hit the man over the head, knocking him out. Panting, shaky, I came to my senses. Where was Soraya?

  Fighting a man halfway down the landing. Sergio ran and grabbed him by the back and I pulled Soraya away, handing her the gun.

  “Get away,” she screamed. I hauled Sergio off the man as Soraya shot him and he went down.

  “We have to get out of here.”

  I pulled them both towards the main staircase. I was convinced we should be where Antonio’s men were surely flooding the building. A barrage of gunfire peppered the stairs from below, causing me to jump back into the other two. These weren’t Antonio’s men at the bottom.

  “The back stairs, quickly,” she screamed.

  I reached them first and started down to the kitchen before Sergio shouted to me. A man had appeared at the last door to our right. How many are there? I yanked Sergio out of the way just in time. But the man grabbed hold of Soraya. Three more men spilled out of the room with guns drawn. I reached my hand out but leapt back in horror as a bullet hit her in the leg. She screamed out in pain and fell to the floor.

  “Go. Just go,” she screeched.

  We almost fell down the stairs and into the kitchen. Police had filled the room, banging the equipment to the floor, the time for surprise gone. They took aim at us, but Antonio pushed to the front and took hold of me. “No, no. Hold your fire. You okay?”

  I nodded, completely lost for words.

  He pulled us behind them. “Out. Now.”

  The serving hatch burst open and a man fired towards us. Glasses shattered as we took cover. The door to the dining room burst open and a man with a machine gun appeared. The boss! Not so calm now, he sprayed the room with bullets. To my horror, blood spewed from Antonio as he hit the floor. Sergio pushed past me. Keeping low, he launched himself at the boss and drove a knife straight into him.

  That was the last thing I saw before a huge explosion filled the room with dust and plaster.

  Chapter Fourteen

  My ears were ringing and my head felt as though it were splitting in two. A man was talking to me in a language I didn’t understand. Confused, I tried to get up, but he gently pushed me down. I was in an ambulance, its back doors open, and the building down the road was in flames.