by Robert Cuma
“Okay, that’s it guys, we have to swing into immediate action. Gina, go up to the penthouse and move our friends to the church. Make sure you are not followed. I will meet you there a little later. Hannah, you stay with me, we will take care of a few things first.”
“Okay, Boss,” Hannah, replied. Gina got herself together and was out the door in a hurry.
I picked up the phone and called Miller through the Baltimore connection. When he answered the phone, he said, “Miller here.”
“Frank, I’m calling you on an open line, watch what you say.”
“Roger that.”
“The mission has been compromised, including your side of the operation.”
Miller replied, “The pilots talked.”
“You got that right.”
“They will be coming your way very soon under the same flight plan we used before.”
“Okay, just keep your people off that flight. When you get to a more secure communications facility, contact me for details.” We hung up. Just then, Gina and Mike were coming in the door.
Gina exclaimed, “Linda’s gone! After leaving here she never made it back to her room!”
I asked, “Mike where did you go to meet the Bono people?”
“There is a farm house east of Naples. This is the main place where we met their people.”
“Gina, can you get some of the Carabinieri to help you raid the farm house?”
“Sure, I’ll call Carlo. He’ll send some of his troops.”
“Good, you and Mike get on that right away. Call me to keep me informed, one other thing, where does Campo live?”
“He has an apartment near the office building.”
“Okay, people, use the cell phones for communications and stay in touch. Let’s get going.” After Gina gave me Campo’s address, everybody moved out.
6 The Raids
___________
Hannah and I went to Bono’s office where we saw lights on from the street. Hannah rapidly climbed to the roof again to see what was going on. She quickly came down from the roof to report. Apparently, Campo likes his women. Here it was 5 a.m. and he’s in his office doing the nasty with some woman. I told Hannah to drop in from the skylight while I crash the front door. The weak door to his office was an easy entry. Once inside, I held my gun on him and told him not to move. With that, Hannah dropped in from the skylight and knocked Campo out cold. Hannah quickly tied up the woman and didn’t bother to dress her. After she threw her in the corner, she tied up Campo with a hood over his head. I went through some of the drawers in the office looking for something useful. On the telephone speed dial, I found Bono’s direct line. I also found Campo’s home number. I dialed it and asked for his wife. When I got her on the phone, I told her I was the police calling to notify her of a problem with her husband. Since she lived nearby, she should come to his office at once and bring a family member with her. About ten minutes later, a short thin woman arrived with a teenage girl. When they entered the office, I slammed the door behind them. I pushed my gun in the woman’s face and told her to sit on the floor next to her husband’s mistress. Meanwhile, the teenager jumped on my back and began to pull my hair. Hannah grabbed her and lined her up with the other two women on the floor. The kid was a feisty little brat. She wouldn’t stay put, so Hannah tied her to the radiator and put a gag in her mouth. The small woman asked frantically, “What do you want from us? Do you want money? I can get you all you want, just give me a little time.”
I responded, “I don’t want your money and I assume you’re Signora Campo, is that correct?”
“Yes I am,” she replied, “but what do you want?”
“When your fat pig husband wakes up, he will tell me what I want to know.” Then Campo woke up moaning and groaning from Hannah’s slam to his head. His first words were, “Whoever you are, you’re going to die for this.”
I responded, “You’re probably right, but the other people in the room will die first.”
His wife spoke, “Armand, what is going on here?”
Campo yelled, “What is she doing here?” as he tried to get himself loose. “I’m going to kill you whoever you are!”
“Relax, chubby, just tell me where my girl is so you and your family will be safe.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Well, let’s see. I have here your wife, who looks to be a nice lady. Your mistress, which I’m sure your nice wife doesn’t know about. Oh, yes this lovely young girl here. I think she’s in her teens. Nice looking kid, we probably could get a lot of money for her in the slave trade market. So, my fat friend, tell me what I want to know.”
“Wait, just let the kid go and we can talk.”
“No way, tough guy, talk first! Do you want to hide behind the hood while I kill everyone or would you like to watch? It’s not going to be pretty.”
“People will be coming in here any minute now. So why don’t you let us all go and we’ll call it a misunderstanding.” Just then, some goon did walk through the office door. Before he could get his gun out, I shot him between the eyes. Of course, my pistol had a silencer on it and the thug hit the floor.
I calmly said, “As they come through the door, I will kill them all. Enough of this nonsense take off his hood and bring the wife to me.” Hannah dragged Campo’s wife over to me. I put my gun to her head and said, “Where is my girl?”
“I don’t know who you mean.”
“The one you were crushing with your fat pathetic body on the bed in the hotel room tonight.”
“That girl, ah, Linda, she’s gone.”
“Where, quickly tell me, where?”
“They planned on grabbing her as soon as they found out about Bono’s wife.”
“Who took her and where to?”
“It was that Clark guy. After we left the girl’s place, we came back here and decided to grab her tonight for collateral. Clark said he would take care of it. He has a lot of people around Italy. She could be anywhere by now.”
“Okay, let’s assume that you’re right. What do I do now? Do I kill you and everybody else? What are my assurances that you won’t get stupid?”
“I give you my word.” I looked at Hannah and gave her the signal to take the kid with us. As she took the young girl, Campo went crazy shouting like a wild animal, “I will kill you!”
“When you give me my girl back, you’ll get yours.” I wrote down my cell phone number on a pad lying on the desk. “Call me when you’re ready to make the swap.” Hannah and I left with the kid kicking and screaming through her gag. We threw her in the trunk of the car blindfolded and headed to the church. We soon arrived at the safe house below the church. I carried Campo’s daughter on my shoulder. Once we got settled in the safe house, I took the gag and blindfold off her but kept her tied to one of the pipes in the area. I told her to be quiet or it would get rough. After a while, she calmed down. Hannah gave her some coffee and cookies as she began talking to her. Soon the girl was calm under sweet Hannah’s influence. I listened to them talk.
Hannah asked, “Are you comfortable?”
The girl responded, “You can’t keep me here. It’s against the law.”
“You won’t be here too long. You see, your father has taken our friend and won’t give her back. With you here with us, he’ll give us back our friend and everybody will be happy again.”
“Who said I was happy before?”
“Are things not good for you at home?”
“My mom and pop fight all the time.”
“What do they fight about?”
“All the gangsters my father runs with and all the prostitutes.”
“That’s not a good home life for a girl like you.” I watched as Hannah was winning over the affections of this kid. She was a professional all the way and Hannah’s Italian was excellent. The things we keep on learning about the people we care for.
Hannah continued, “Would you tell me your name?”
“It’s Tina,
Tina Campo.”
“That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful child like you.” The kid was extremely pretty and very sharp about things.
“I’m not a child. I am seventeen years old, soon to be eighteen.”
“Okay, I won’t call you a child any more, young lady. Do you have a boyfriend?”
“No, all the boys around here use the drugs that my father sells.”
“Now that’s a shame.”
“Next year I’m going to the university to get away from all this.”
“Good for you, Tina. Now if I untie you, are you going to give me a hard time?”
“No, you seem to be a nice person and I don’t want to give you a hard time.” Hannah cut loose her binds. The two sat at the table and continued to converse.
Soon after, my cell phone rang. It was Gina. She said, “We have arrived at the farmhouse which has unfortunately been blown up by Bono’s gang.”
“Any sign of Linda?”
“No sign of anyone.”
“Okay, Gina, you and Mike pick up Fred Clark. Do it quietly. Isolate him from anybody around him and snatch him. Mike will show you how it’s done. No one can know about this, not even Carlo. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Boss. We will get right on it as soon as we can break away from here.”
“Good girl, Gina, and thanks. Call me if any complications arise.”
______
Then I called Miller on the safe house secure communications line. I routed it through Baltimore again. Once connected, I told him of the entire situation. Miller, a brilliant military strategist, suggested that we keep Bono on the run. I asked, “Frank, what do you have in mind?”
“I can have a detachment of my people at the navy base in three hours. They will come from Athens and be under the command of a Colonel Jackson Hawk.”
“Are you sure he can mobilize quickly?”
“I alerted him and his people after you left here the last time. He’ll be ready. I also talked to Major Reed and he’s onboard. He’ll have the necessary firepower ready for Hawk. It will be totally covert. Tonight, give him your three targets and he’ll do the rest. It is imperative the entire operation take no longer than six hours start to finish.”
“Can I send Mike with him on the raid?”
“No problem, I already told him that some of your people would assist.”
“That’s great, Frank. About that returning plane from the airbase here, I would guess they will have Linda onboard.”
“Roger that, Steven, if she’s on that flight, we’ll get her out safely. That will be my number one priority. Check back with me sometime tomorrow about 5 p.m., your time.” We both hung up and I briefed Hannah on Miller’s mission.
A short while later, Mike and Gina returned with their prisoner. He was tied, hooded and gagged. Mike and I found a dungeon beneath the corridors of the basilica. There we hung Clark from a ceiling pipe to let him think for a while about his situation.
Gina asked, “Steven, who is the young girl in our place?”
I responded, “This is Campo’s daughter. She’ll be staying with us for a while, at least until Linda is returned safely.” Gina took me by my arm and we went for a little walk through the church corridors.
“Steven,” she said, “you can’t be running around Italy kidnapping just anybody. It is against the law you do know that, right?”
“Gina, keep in mind what your people want me to accomplish for them. The young girl will never be harmed while she’s with us. Clark, on the other hand, I will torture to death and as for the raids tonight, I don’t want the Italians involved, it is for their own good. If you feel like you should tell somebody, let me know now. I’ll just find Linda and be on my way.”
“Steven, I’m not going to tell anyone, this is all new to me and that’s all I’m trying to say.” She pushed me against the wall and began to kiss me with extreme passion. I did return the gesture. After a few minutes, we both knew we had work to do. So we returned to the others.
I said, “Let’s get ready to move. Gina, I want you to stay here with our pretty, little prisoner and keep her entertained. If her father calls, I will be able to talk to him on my cell phone. As far as the other guy goes, just stay away from him and tell the other people around to do the same.”
“I’ll take care of things around here, you guys be safe.”
“Okay, people, move out.” Mike, Hannah and I left for the air base. On the way over, I briefed them on the raids tonight. I didn’t want Gina to know too much. Either she was spooked out or she didn’t understand the way we operate.
We arrived at the base just in time to greet Colonel Jackson Hawk. He and his thirty men arrived aboard a cargo plane from Athens. The plane would wait for the troops to take them back to their home base. Hawk was a rather large muscular guy with a mean but good-looking face. We met in one of the hangers with Major Reed. On a sizeable table, Hannah, who worked with Gina on the three main target areas, laid out the maps and gave everyone a briefing. She was sharp and to the point. Colonel Hawk understood almost immediately as he assembled his troops. Reed led all of the attack force out to an uninhabited spot on the base. Waiting were three helicopter gunships. Hawk had his own pilots. It took his people about thirty minutes to check everything out and load up. Hawk then assigned a target for each of the choppers. I told Hannah to go on Hawk’s chopper since he was going to attack the main processing plant. The rest of us were going after two smaller ones. They were all within a fifty-mile radius of each other. We all took off to our respective targets. Hawk wanted everyone to communicate with one another, so we had one open channel. I could hear all the activity in my headset, but all would be quiet until we began our attacks.
We were flying without lights and had to rely on night vision systems. The flight to the Palermo area took us about an hour and a half. Each chopper arrived at their designated target about the same time. Then I heard Hawk on the radio, “All units, are you in place?” Affirmatives came back from all three choppers. As we swooped down on the unsuspecting facilities, I heard Hawk again, “Give them hell.” Our chopper alone launched six incendiary rockets at our target with two passes. The others did the same. The fires engulfed the entire region within a matter of minutes. The processing plants erupted into an inferno as Mount Vesuvius did on the day it destroyed Pompeii. While we were turning around headed back to the base, I knew there would be a great deal of collateral damage as the fires spread quickly across the fields. Flying low to the ground so we could avoid any radar detection, we returned to the navy base. Once the choppers set down, Hawk’s men gave them the once over to hide any evidence of recent use. I thanked Hawk and they departed as quickly as they arrived.
_______
I spoke with Major Reed about the possibility of someone at the base authorizing a flight to Taipei. I asked him to call me on my cell phone if the flight leaves. I thanked him again as we left for the safe house.
Upon our return, we found Gina, Tina and, to my surprise, Marko Marino there. I introduced Marko to Mike and Hannah while we all sat down for some coffee. Marko said, “It appears to me that you have been extremely busy, Steven.”
“I’m trying to get Bono pissed off enough to come out of hiding.”
“I think what you have done to his right-hand man should do the trick.”
“I hope so. He will die, you know that don’t you, Marko? If he harms a hair on my girl’s head every gangster in this country will die along with him.”
“Don’t you think you are being a bit too aggressive with your actions?”
“Marko, I didn’t volunteer for this assignment, I was recruited. If you like, once I get my girl back, I will leave you to deal with these thugs yourself.”
“No, Steven that is not what I’m saying. I received a call tonight from the Comandante to ask you to slow down a bit. He heard from his sources that you were involved in the raids in Palermo this evening.” Looking past Marko, I saw Gina who was standing behind him. She s
ubtly put her finger over her lips as to tell me to let it go for now. Looking at the picture here a little better, I thought it would be advantageous to back off somewhat until Linda was returned.
I asked, “Well, let’s keep it simple, Marko. What is it that you and your superiors want me to do?”
“Just don’t go off blowing up Bono’s facilities and probably killing innocent people.”
“Okay, I don’t have to do that anymore. What else?”
“You’ll have to give up Campo’s kid.”
“How do you propose I do that?”
“I can take care of her safe return.”
“I would venture a guess that this safe house is no longer safe for my people.”
“It would be better if you found another place to work out of. Gina can help you with that.”
I asked, “Gina, what do you think about all this?”
“He came here unannounced and I don’t think I like it. Marko what are you up to?”
“The powers that be will strip me of all my authority unless I can convince Steven to give up these crazy tactics of his.”
“Okay,” I said, “you’ve made your point. Take the kid and get out of here. We’ll be out of here by morning.” I watched as the young girl, Tina, whispered something into Hannah’s ear.
Then Hannah said, “Tina does not know this man. She would rather I take her home tomorrow. Would that be okay with you, Signor Marino?”
He looked at the girl and asked, “Young lady, is this what you want to do?”
“Yes Signor.”
“Okay, then I will tell your father that you are okay and you will be returned in the morning. I will leave now and I hope you understand my position, Steven.” Within a couple of minutes, he was gone. We all sat down and had coffee. We had to come up with some kind of plan.