Assassins Betrayed

by Robert Cuma

  I asked, “Ideas anyone?”

  Mike said, “Well, for the time being we still have our prisoner. Maybe we can get him to talk.”

  Gina jumped in and said, “Marko knew we had the prisoner. He told me to take him to Clark’s cell and to release him right away.”

  I responded, “What! I think I’m getting pissed off here folks.”

  Tina said, “I’ll bet you are really scary when you get pissed off,” as she started to slide down in her chair. The kid was okay she brought a smile to my face.

  I continued, “Listen, Gina, do you know of a secure place for us to stay for a few days?”

  “I do have a couple of places in mind.”

  “Are they far from here?”

  “There is one place I know that shouldn’t be a problem. It’s within walking distance from here.”

  “Why don’t you check it out and let us know.”

  “Sure, will do Steven.” Gina quickly picked up her jacket and took off.

  I said, “Mike put a tail on her and call me. Be careful, she may be watched.”

  “Okay, Boss,” as Mike took off after Gina.

  Once they were gone, I asked, “Tina, can you tell me what transpired here tonight?”

  “Well, since I like Hannah a lot and you somewhat, I’ll tell you.”

  “Good girl.”

  “When this guy Marko arrived he was pissed off. He pushed Gina around a little and started to curse at her.”

  “Why do you think he was mad?”

  “He came in here like a crazy man shaking his fists at Gina who just stood there. I don’t know why she took that kind of abuse. He reminded me of my father and the way he abuses my mother. Anyway, when he asked where the prisoner was, Gina told him she didn’t know what he was suggesting. There were two other guys with him. When Gina didn’t answer the question correctly, the two guys grabbed her and punched her in the stomach a few times. Then she took the two guys to wherever the prisoner was. I guess the two guys left with what they came for and Gina returned here. Her blouse was torn and her mouth was bleeding a little. Marko told her to get cleaned up and to stop doing what Cross wants her to do. Are you Cross?”

  “Yeah, that’s me. Continue with your story.”

  “While Gina was away with these guys, Marko began to question me and eventually he made some suggestive remarks. He even put his hands on my leg and began to slide them up my skirt. I told him he was a pig and that I was no stupid kid, so stop. I had to push the old pervert away. That’s about what happened while you were running around Italy burning everything down.”

  “I was burning down heroin processing plants, if you must know. But thanks for the information.” I glanced at Hannah as she nodded her head in the affirmative. She was assuring me that the kid was telling the truth. I trusted Hannah’s instincts on most things. I said, “As soon as I get word that my girl is safe, I’ll take you home. Okay?”

  “Can’t I stay with you guys? This is a lot of excitement in my dull life.”

  “Well, you can stay for a while. In the morning, you can call your mother to let her know you are alright.”

  “Great. You know, you’re not such a bad guy after all. No wonder all these women are crazy about you.”

  “Okay, take it easy, Tina.” Hannah was smiling as the kid was talking.

  At that moment my cell phone rang, it was Major Reed. He told me the flight in question just took off for Taipei. He wasn’t sure but it looked like there was a woman with her hands tied behind her as he observed the group from afar. There wasn’t enough time for him to intervene so he let it go on its way. I asked him to notify Colonel Miller right away on this particular situation and on the other activities of tonight. He agreed and we broke our connection.

  Mike returned a short while later. He came in and said, “Steven, she went to another church and talked to a priest.”

  “Is that all she did?”

  “That’s it, she was followed but no one approached her. She should be back here any minute now.”

  I turned to Tina and said, “Tina, not a word about Mike following her. I have to be sure of everyone. Do you understand what I mean?”

  “Sure I do no problem.”

  “Thanks.” Gina came walking into the room quietly. She said, “I have a place for us to go for the night but I was followed so I don’t know how secure it will be.”

  “Don’t worry, Gina, we’ll work something out,” as I took her by the arm out of the area to be alone with her. We went down to one of the dark corridors.

  Gina asked, “Steven is something wrong?”

  “Nothing is wrong. I only want to hold you for a while.” I held Gina gently in my arms and kissed her with great tenderness. I said, “If anyone ever puts their hands on you again, they will meet an untimely death. If you want to tell me what happened you can, but if you don’t it’s not a problem.”

  “I didn’t know the men who came with Marko. Actually, I didn’t even know that Marko knew about this place. The men who came with him were not with any Italian police authority. When they had me near where Clark was locked up, they began to get rough with me. One guy ripped my shirt open, while the other fondled me. I told them to back off or they would never find Clark. Finally, before it really got out of hand, they stopped.”

  “Were you frightened?”

  “No, I think I was more annoyed than anything else. I directed them to where Clark was and I quickly came back to the center.”

  “What did you think about Marko’s actions?”

  “I never knew him too well but this is the first time I’ve ever seen him act this way. I don’t know if he’s being bribed or corrupted by Bono. He seemed to be under some kind of pressure from somewhere.”

  “Well, let’s figure a way out of here. Are you aware of other ways to leave this place?”

  “Sure, there is a way out but it will take us down two streets from where we usually come in and we won’t have any of the cars.”

  “I think we can take care of the transportation issue but is there anywhere outside of the city that we could be safe for a while?”

  “I know a place up in the hills above Sorrento where we could hide for awhile.”

  “Great, but for now let’s get back to the others and try for some rest.” Gina and I rejoined the rest of the crew.

  7 – The Escape

  _____________

  It was shortly before dawn when we all awoke. I told everyone to get ready to move. I had Gina draw a map of the rear escape exit. She quickly responded to my request. I asked Gina to get her car and to meet us at the gate in the rear of the church for our escape. Mike would follow her in our other car and take out any would-be followers. Gina directed us down through the maze of corridors to the exit gate. Then she and Mike went for the cars. The rest of us waited on the side of a building for our rides. We heard gunfire as Gina came racing around the corner coming to a screeching halt right in front of us. Mike followed shortly after. He knew the drill, Gina’s car would be the lead and Mike would be the follow car. We got started immediately with Hannah jumping into Mike’s car. Tina wanted to go with Hannah but I told her it would be too dangerous. She insisted as I picked her up and threw her in the back seat of Gina’s car.

  We roared down the empty streets of Naples bumper to bumper running traffic lights all the way. When we hit the open road leading us up to the hills south of Naples, the sun was beginning to rise. I asked, “Gina, how much longer to our destination?”

  “About forty-five minutes. We have to get off this highway soon and start taking the side roads.” Within a short while, Gina got off the highway and began to climb the mountain roads. The tires of the car were squealing around every hairpin turn. On each side of the road were shear drops of a hundred feet or more into the ravines below. Gina was switching gears and speeding around each turn. As we came around one of the blind turns, to our amazement, a chopper was hovering about fifty feet in the air. There were two sharpshooters hangi
ng on either side of the chopper ready to destroy us with their rifles. Gina continued the turn as I immediately took out my pistol and fired until both of them tumbled to the ground. The chopper quickly rose to a higher altitude out of range of my bullets. Then we noticed two cars hot on our trail. As the road straightened out for a stretch, we saw a blockade about a mile in front of us. Why wasn’t I surprised? Gina shouted, “Steven! What now?” I waved to Mike to take the lead. He saw what we were up against and proceeded to pass us.

  I shouted, “Gina, stay on Mike’s tail and don’t flinch!”

  “Okay, Steven, I hope you guys know what you are doing!” As we sped toward the blockade, Hannah, from Mike’s car, started firing her automatic rifle at the cars forming the blockade. This tactic usually works when one of the cars explodes from the constant barrage of bullets. We continued on, with the hopes of an explosion. The closer we got the more tense it became. At a quarter of a mile to the blockade, Gina said, “Are we sure about this, Steven?”

  “Just remember, there’s no turning back now. Stay close to Mike!” We must have been traveling at speeds in excess of 90 miles per hour as we approached the target. Gina stayed less than five feet from the lead car’s bumper. She was extremely focused and willing to trust me in this circumstance to her possible demise. Tensions were extremely high as we all were beyond the point of no return.

  Gina shouted, “I think I might be in love with you, Steven!” Then from the back seat where I put Tina on the floor, I heard her muffled voice say, “I love you too, Steven. So make this crazy idea of yours work!” At that moment, one of the blockade cars exploded under Hannah’s firepower. The car went thirty feet in the air as our cars went right on through the wreckage. The two cars following us got hit with the falling debris from the exploding car. They both crashed into each other and into the gunmen manning the blockade. Tina jumped up and said, “We made it! What a rush!”

  I responded, “We still must get away from the sights of the helicopter. Gina, pass Mike now and let’s get to where you want to go.” Our car passed Mike’s as I gave him and Hannah the high sign. I opened my window to look out for the chopper. Sure enough, here it came again, this time firing its large guns at us. The chopper was targeting our car when again Hannah opened fire with the automatic rifle. The bullets from her gun were entering the chopper’s fuselage as it turned away from our area leaking fuel. They knew a few more shots from Hannah’s rifle would blow them into oblivion. Once we were out of its sight, Gina made a hard left turn on two wheels. With Mike close behind, we headed to the top of a mountain. Once there, we pulled into a heavily wooded area. There was good tree cover as we continued toward our destination. A little while later, we arrived at a cave with a well-camouflaged house next to it. After both cars were in the cave, a couple of elderly Italian men came running out of the house to cover the cave’s entrance with brush.

  When we all got inside, a nice Italian woman quickly gave us some coffee and pastries. Gina introduced the woman as Olivia while we all sat at a unique solid wood-carved table. Tina ran to Hannah and hugged her saying, “You were incredible Hannah. All of you were fantastic.” Hannah hugged her back. Gina put her arms around the woman she called Olivia and kissed her on the cheek.

  “Ciao, Zia,” Gina said.

  “Ciao, Bella,” the woman responded.

  I asked, “Gina, where are we?”

  “We are far from any place one would be looking for us. These are my relatives that nobody knows about. We should be safe here for a while.”

  I asked, “What Italian family has relatives that no one knows about?”

  “Olivia is my father’s sister. My father built this place also. After we all unwind, I’ll show you around.”

  “Does Marco know about this place?”

  “No one knows. Not even Carlo, no one.”

  Once everyone finished with coffee, Gina took us on the grand tour. We went into a bedroom in the rear of the house where Gina reached around the back of a bookcase and flipped a switch. Part of this paneled wall was a well-concealed door, which opened slowly. We all walked through to the other side. It was a communications center with a kitchen and cubicles with beds. It was similar to the setup in the basilica. Gina said, “This is our new safe house.”

  I asked, “Was your father an architect?”

  “No, he just had this passion for secrecy and built houses with that in mind. The power and phone lines are underground and originate in a store in the middle of Sorrento which is about five miles from here.”

  “Your father thinks of everything. He appears to be an extremely clever man.”

  “He is in many areas and in others he is downright foolish. But that is a conversation for another time.”

  “I understand, Gina.”

  “I know you do, Steven.”

  “Okay, everybody get comfortable. We may be here for a while. Gina, I need to make a couple of phone calls. Where can I go?” Gina led me through a door, which connected to still another room. There were several phones on a desk. I told her I was going to call Miller to see what happened with the Linda situation. Then I would proceed to contact Tina’s mother through Miller’s communications system. I asked her to wait about ten minutes and then to send in Tina. She agreed and left me alone. I contacted Taipei through the Baltimore connection and within a few minutes, I was talking to Miller.

  He answered his phone, “This is Colonel Miller.”

  “Frank, it’s me. I’m not on a secure line, so be careful. How are things going out there? ”

  “The plane arrived on time with the cute package aboard. The fools thought they could outsmart me. I allowed them to land with no resistance. Once they were all out of the plane, we took them with little effort. We killed most of them. The others are in our little jail cell out here.”

  “How is my girl?”

  “Physically she is fine but emotionally I think she needs to see you.”

  “Should I talk to her now?”

  “No, she told me when you call to let you know she’d be fine and would talk to you when you return to Taipei.”

  “I think we may have to come back there again for a while. Just for some R and R. It’s rough out here. I can’t trust anybody.”

  “What about your girl?” He meant Gina.

  “Oh, she’s okay. It’s everybody else. How is the new girl doing out there?”

  “She is fine. I have her well hidden with the best protection.” I knew what Frank meant when he said that. Bianca must be at Cathy’s grandfather’s place. This would be the best protection she could have. The grandfather has a small army guarding his estate. This was good news. On the other hand, I knew Linda wasn’t doing too well. She is an extremely beautiful woman who is always being put in these vulnerable situations either by me or through her own actions. She has been molested several times. Although I would like to take her out of harm’s way, it is not possible right now. Besides, it is the nature of this job. All the girls who work for me have been in these fragile situations at one time or another but Linda always seems to get the worst of them.

  I continued, “Well, Frank, do you think we can get out of here for a while?”

  “Sure, just say the word.”

  “Okay, I’ll try a couple of things here first and if I can’t get anywhere, I’ll call for the extraction.”

  “Whenever you want, let me know.” At that point, Tina entered the room.

  I asked, “Frank, can you make an untraceable call for me coming back to this region?”

  “No problem. Wait ten seconds after we are done talking and dial the local number. I’ll be waiting to hear from you. Good luck.”

  “Thanks, Frank.” I then handed the phone to Tina and told her to call her mother. She took the phone and made the call. I had to stay since I couldn’t trust her enough right now. As she spoke to her mother, she told her that she was doing fine.

  She said, “Momma, they are treating me good. Nobody is going to hurt me here. It�
�s not like at home. These people are being nice to me.” In a few minutes, the kid hung up the phone with her mother. With her head down, I couldn’t help but notice that she had tears in her eyes.

  I said, “Don’t be sad, we are going to take you home soon.”

  She looked at me with her teary eyes and said, “That’s just it, Steven. I don’t want to go home.”

  “Isn’t your mother worried?”

  “My mother wants me to leave home.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “She knows how my brother and his drug-addict friends treat me.”

  “Why doesn’t she tell your father?”

  “My father, that bastard, beats the hell out my mother and when I tell him about my brother, he beats me up and calls me a tramp! He says I always ask for it.”

  “I’m sorry, Tina. I didn’t know. I thought you had a brother at the university.”

  “I mean my oldest brother, who is following in his father’s footsteps. I’ve been abused too many times by him and his friends to want to go home.” She started to cry harder. I put my arms around her to try to give her some comfort.

  I said, “It will be alright. You can stay with us for now. Okay?” That seemed to stop her tears as she nodded her head in the affirmative.

  “Thank you, Steven. I won’t cause any trouble for you. I promise.” I kissed the top of her head and told her to stay in the room until her tears went away. I left to join the others.

  We all got together and tried to decide our next move. I told everyone about Linda. I also told the team about Tina’s situation while she was still out of the room. Hannah asked, “Can we take her with us?”

  I responded, “Hannah, we probably should but I think her mother will miss her.”

  “Steven, take the mother too.”

  “Why not, I guess we can open a home in Taipei for abused women.”

  “That might not be a bad idea, Steven.”