by Robert Cuma
I asked, “What’s going on here? Are you the guy on the phone?”
“Well, Mr. Cross, you figured it out. Now you can watch your beauty die firsthand, or are you prepared to transfer the money back to our accounts?” He called for one of his comrades in the other room. As the goon came into the room, he was ordered in Russian to be prepared to remove the woman’s head. Then the goon revealed a rather large knife. The headman continued, “Cross, you have five minutes to get the wheels in motion or her head will fall in the trash basket.”
“Wait a minute, how do I know that she is not with you clowns?”
He shouted to his henchman, “Show Mr. Cross how we treat Italian spies!” With that, the other man ripped Gina’s shirt off and revealed the torture she had endured. Her back was bleeding profusely. This was no act! She had been whipped and beaten across her back. I put my wrist up to my mouth and exclaimed, “Take them out, now!” The leader was first, as the top of his head went flying off his body from Tina’s hard hitting bullet. Within the next few seconds, the knife wheedling jerk was shot right between his eyes as he turned toward Tina’s position. I ran to the adjoining office to see the other two laid out on the floor from Hannah’s precision shooting. I quickly returned to Gina’s side as I called for Hannah and Tina to get up here right away.
Gina said in a weakened voice, “There are more in the building, Steven.”
I said, “Don’t you worry about anything right now,” as I held her bleeding body in my arms. Tina came crashing in the door with a bunch of towels.
She said, “There was a cleaning person down the hall and this is all she had. I saw what they had done to our beautiful Gina through my scope. I don’t think I could have waited a moment longer to kill these creeps.”
“You did good Tina.” We picked Gina up and placed her on the desk. Tina began to tend to her wounds. A few moments later, Hannah entered the room. She looked at Gina and I saw the fury mount within her very being. She began to help Tina care for her.
Tina exclaimed, “We must get Gina to a hospital right away!”
“I know,” I said.
As we began to help Gina up, two other goons came walking in the room. Before they could draw their guns, Hannah jumped on one as I slammed the other with my gun butt. He went down while the other lost his arm from Hannah’s combatant skills. She snapped his arm from his body and crushed his windpipe with a swift kick to his throat.
I yelled, “Let’s get out of this place, now!” The girls led the way but not before Tina put a bullet in the goon, I knocked out. Carrying Gina in my arms, I followed the girls out of the building to our car. We quickly sped out of the area. Soon enough, we found a hospital and Gina received immediate medical care. The doctors examined her and told us she would be okay. After a while, Gina was coherent enough to talk.
She said, “I’m sorry I caused you so much trouble.”
Hannah responded, “Gina, we are all in this together. If one of us is in danger, then we all must respond. You did it for me and I will respond for you always. You must know by now that we love you dearly.” Hannah began to hug Gina who was feeling rather emotional.
I asked, “Are you well enough to tell us what happened?”
“Well, my boss, Balsano, on the advice of Marco Marino, sent me to Milano to take the lead in an immediate investigation. It was to confirm some things on one of Bono’s illegal operations in the area. It didn’t sound too urgent but I went anyway. When I arrived at the Milan office, I was grabbed by the Russians before I could enter the SISMI building. They took me to the location where you found me and began their brutal torture. They kept asking me how we moved the money out of the Swiss accounts. I kept telling them I didn’t know. Then the torture became harshly intense.” She began to sob but soon regained her composure. She continued, “It appears to me that Popov and Marino are all part of the same criminal organization that has been plaguing us for years. From what I can tell, they wanted us to take out the rest of their ruthless mob so they would have more money for themselves.”
“We know these two are dirty but did you hear about anyone else?”
“No one else was mentioned. However, I do suspect Carlo’s father, Balsano. He was extremely adamant about me going on this assignment.”
“I think you are right about him and it probably goes deeper into our world of espionage. There is too much money involved not to corrupt others!”
Gina continued, “Popov is in the area. He was the one who had his way with me. Then he ordered the rest of his goons to torture me with some horrific tactics. It would have been worse but they needed me to lure you here. There seems to be a contingent of these lowlifes occupying the building.”
“Okay, Gina you stay here and rest. Tina, I want you to stay with her and kill anyone who comes near you guys.”
“Will do, Boss!” as Tina showed her automatic rifle in her carrying case.”
“Keep an open line with our communications equipment. I’ll be taking Hannah with me. We shouldn’t be too long.”
20 - The Next Prisoner
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Hannah and I returned to the target building. Once inside, we began our search for Popov. As we scanned every room in the building, we noticed the entire building was inhabited by the mob. Since we couldn’t take the chance of blowing the building and killing too many innocent people, we decided to turn it all over to Carlo. But first, we had to leave there with Popov. We were on the top floor when Hannah spotted him entering an elevator. With her head down, she quickly jumped in and held the doors for me. There were two men with him. They probably were his bodyguards. It took a minute or two before he recognized me. By then, it was too late. Hannah had already killed the bodyguards with her silencer pistol and destroyed the security camera mounted in the elevator. With both of them on a heap in the middle of the elevator floor, I quickly disarmed Popov.
He laughed and exclaimed, “You’ll never get out of the building with me as your prisoner. You fool!”
“Who said we take prisoners,” as I pressed my gun to his head.
Hannah spoke, “Blow his brains out right now! He is of no use to us anyway.”
Popov thought quickly and decided to cooperate. He said, “I can tell you many things, Mr. Cross. There is no need to kill me.” Just then, the elevator stopped at the garage level. As the doors opened, a couple of Popov’s goons were standing there. Popov made a move to signal them but I stuck my pistol deep into his ribs. His goons asked if everything was all right. Popov nodded in the affirmative. As the two approached us, Hannah instantly shot them both between the eyes. We walked over to our car, hog-tied Popov and threw him into the trunk. Before we left, Hannah went around the garage and shot out all the cameras to avoid a license plate check.
A little while later, we picked up Tina and Gina from the hospital and headed back to Italy in a hurry. On the way, I called Carlo and told him we found Gina and she was badly hurt. I also told him about the Russian mob operation in Toulon and that they were responsible for Gina’s condition. He said he would take care of everything. I figured he would love the international intrigue working across the border. Besides, they harmed his Gina. Carlo wanted to know how we wound up in France. I told him to call me at Gina’s house after he got things under control. He agreed. On the way, I told Gina we had Popov in the trunk. She became furious and said, “Let’s get to my house and I’ll take care of that creep.”
I responded, “Gina, I know how you feel but we need some conclusive information out of him first. Then you can do what you want with him.” She reluctantly agreed.
Nighttime was upon us when we arrived at Gina’s place. She told us to take the Russian to the basement behind the secret walls where a room was set up for torture. Before we took him out of the trunk, Hannah placed a hood over his head. This was always used to instill fear in the prisoner. After dragging him down the stairs, we chained him to the wall and left. Everyone sat in the living room so Gina could be more comf
ortable. Tina made us a quick dinner and asked if she should feed the prisoner. Hannah told her to stay away from this one and let him starve. Tina responded in the affirmative and left it alone. Later on in the evening after Gina went to bed, Hannah and I went down to see our prisoner. Hannah pulled the hood off his head and just stared at him while I moved into the shadows of the room. After a few minutes, she ripped the tape off his mouth. He began to spew out words of vulgarity. Then Hannah told him to shut up and listen. In a soft voice, she asked, “You have information for us, so start talking.”
“I need some water first.” With that, Hannah gave him some water as she held a glass up to his lips. While he was drinking, Tina entered the room. I pulled her to the side and told her to go back upstairs. She asked to stay because she had to know everything. I was reluctant to let her stay but the other side of me wanted to see how she would handle herself. I let her go. She walked over to Hannah and whispered in her ear. I knew by Hannah’s look in my direction that she knew my motivation. Hannah commenced with the interrogation.
She shouted, “Tell us what you know!”
“I don’t know too much about anything you don’t already know.”
Hannah fired back, “We have been killing all your partners. Tell me about the ones we don’t know about! Like the more prominent people, especially the ones in Italy and Russia.”
“I can’t do that! I would be a dead man!”
“What do you think is going to happen here and now?” Hannah took out her knife and cut away all his clothing rendering him naked.
Tina said, “Oh, I don’t think you’re going to like what happens next. I’ve seen her do this before. It gets extremely messy and I have to clean up all the blood. If I were you, I’d tell her everything.”
“I really don’t know too much. They tell me little.”
Hannah firmly asked, “Who tells you very little?”
“You know who - the senator, the ambassador and the SISMI people. Give me a break. I am just a small fish in a big pond. They will kill us all eventually.”
Hannah again shouted, “Give me names! All of them!”
“I don’t know all the names but you know who.”
Hannah began to press the knife into his groin area. Once again, she shouted, “I need the names of all of the dogs involved in this cartel!”
Tina exclaimed, “Look, he’s getting excited just like the other Russian. What is it with these men, are there no women in Russia?”
“I can’t help it with you two beautiful women standing in front of me. Have some mercy!”
Hannah angrily spoke, “Like you gave Gina mercy.”
Tina yelled, “I’ll chop it off,” as she grabbed a large knife off the table and approached Popov.
Popov screamed, “Don’t do that, please, I beg you!”
Tina shouted, “Start talking or I start chopping!”
“Okay, I’ll talk! The SISMI people are Marco Marino and his boss, Balsano. You must know about Bono and his partner, Campo.” Tina’s face began to show her emotions as she bit her lip. But she controlled herself like a professional. Popov continued, “Senator Dreyfus and the U.S. ambassador to Italy, along with my good friend, Ivan Titov. These are all the ones that I know of who are still alive. I swear this is all I know!”
Tina exclaimed, “Let me do it, Hannah,” as she moved closer to the prisoner. Hannah led Tina away from the creep since she knew better. We weren’t finished with Popov just yet. We all went upstairs to talk about the newly acquired information, leaving Popov to think about his fate.
Once upstairs, Tina made coffee and we began to discuss a strategy. Gina entered the room and sat with us.
I asked, “Gina, how are you feeling?”
In a weak voice, she responded, “I’ll be alright. I listened to the interrogation through the sound system right here in the kitchen. It was hard for me not to go down there and kill that creep but as always the mission comes first.”
I spoke, “Gina, we must keep Popov alive for now. We may be able to use him for something.”
“I understand, Steven, I understand.”
“Tina, would you bring him some water and something to eat? We have to make him think he’s going to live but don’t get too carried away with him.”
“You’ve got it, Boss but I still need to do another one so I can become a skilled surgeon.”
“There will be plenty of that down the road. Right now, we must move cautiously. Gina, try to stay away from the creep until we decide what use he can serve us.”
“Okay, Steven, I get the message!”
Hannah chimed in, “Steven, why don’t we get him to gather his cohorts right here in Italy. Then we can destroy all of them.”
Gina responded, “That would be a good idea. If he can’t do something like that, he is of no use to us.”
“Now, that’s a great idea. I’ll talk to him about it. You two stay up here and I’ll see if he will cooperate.” I went downstairs and approached our prisoner. Tina was giving him some water when I arrived. I took her aside and told her of our intentions. She too liked the idea.
Tina asked, “Should I be nice to him now?”
“As long as he’s cooperative, keep him fed and dress him up.” Tina and I approached Popov.
I said, “Things don’t look too good for you right now, Popov.”
“Well, I guess you are going to kill me now. The only thing I can ask for is a quick death. My last wish would be to spend some time with this young beauty here.”
“Well, Popov, I think you can be of use to us after all. If you agree to help us, you can live.”
“Who do I have to kill?”
“Nobody, just get a few of these gangsters together for us and your life will be spared.”
“That is asking too much.”
“If you can’t do it, then we can’t make a deal.”
“Wait, I probably can get some of them to meet here in Italy for an emergency summit. Can I still get the girl?”
“We’ll see how well you cooperate with us.”
I continued, “Tina, give him some food and a little bit of your attention.”
She responded, “Well, I’ll feed him for now but we should put some clothes on him. He has some excitement issues to deal with.” She fed him and worked around his anticipation rather nicely. I talked to him while Tina fed him. He told me he could convince Bono to call a meeting since the money had not yet been recovered.
I asked, “Don’t they expect you to resolve the problem since you captured Gina?”
“I’ll tell them she was rescued by you and in the process many of my people were killed. This should get them to call a meeting.”
“I want you to make the calls this morning and isolate Titov so I can encounter him separately. The only people I will need at the meeting will be Bono, Campo and Marino.”
“I’ll try to do as you ask.”
“Good, we’ll get started in a couple of hours.”
“Do I have to hang from the wall all night?”
“No, you can lay on the table right here but you’ll still be chained. Tina, run upstairs and get our prisoner a blanket.”
“Sure, Boss, right away.”
While Tina was gone, I warned Popov not to try to fool me because there are several women here who would gladly castrate him in a second. He seemed to understand what I was saying but he was one slippery creep. Once Tina returned, we moved him to the table but kept him securely chained to the wall. I told Tina to keep an eye on him and not to fall for his charm. She understood what I meant. I returned upstairs to the girls. I briefed them on what was set up for Popov. They both were apprehensive over the whole thing. I think they would have preferred to kill him and avenge Gina’s honor.
Hannah asked, “Steven, are you sure Tina can handle this clown on her own?”
“She has been doing fine so far. Besides, he has an attraction for her.”
Gina said, “Steven, be careful with that kid.”
> “Okay, okay, you guys get some sleep and I’ll keep an eye on Tina.” I carried Gina upstairs to her room and Hannah and her slept together in the big bed. Hannah changed Gina’s bandages on her back. The two were set for a while. I grabbed some coffee and went to check on Tina. When I entered the room, things seemed to be quiet so I sat in the shadows sipping my coffee. After a while, Tina, sitting in a chair near Popov began to nod off.
That’s when Popov spoke, “Hey, Tina, why don’t you lie with me on the table, it will be more comfortable for you.”
“I’m fine,” she responded.
He continued, “Look, my arms and legs are chained. I won’t be able to touch you. At least take this blanket off me, it’s too hot in here.” Tina stood up and removed the blanket only to reveal his strong excitement for her.
She exclaimed, “I’m not impressed, my excitement would be to remove that thing from your body! So don't push me!” She started to walk over to where I was sitting. Once Tina saw me in the chair, she sat on my lap and put her head on my chest. Within a matter of minutes, she was asleep. I took her in my arms, locked the door and carried her up to bed. I laid her down. She said, “Help me get undressed, Steven, I’m so tired.” I complied with her wishes. She fell right to sleep. I kissed the top of her head and went down to the living room to get some sleep myself. It came easy.
Only too soon, it was daybreak and I dragged myself off the couch to get some coffee. Hannah was up before me and joined me in the kitchen.
She said, “I just checked on Popov.”
“Is he okay?”
“Oh, yeah, still trying to impress the girls with all his excitement. I gave him coffee and a roll. Do we eventually want to kill this creep?”