by Doug Welch
Three days later, Carlo returned from the trip and Paris called another meeting.
Speaking primarily to Dani, he praised the group. “You’ve all done a hell of an amount of work in a very short time. I’m pleased with all of you.” Waiting until Dani had translated, he continued, “Now we need to follow some of the targets we’ve identified. We need to know their routines, their habits, and some way to predict where they’ll be and when they’re most vulnerable.”
Dani translated again but stopped at a question from Emiliano.
After a few back and forth statements she turned to Paris. “Emiliano has a question and frankly I’ve wondered about it myself. If we can’t see the People, then how can we know they’re not following or observing us?”
Paris held up a digital camera. “I anticipated that.” He looked around the table, making sure everyone was following him. “The People trick the mind, not the eyes. Although they can block their image from your mind, they can’t fool a video or digital camera. Also they can’t disguise their body heat. Its one of the reasons they’re reluctant to be caught in public. Modern technology has made life very uncomfortable for them.”
He laid the camera back on the table and pointed to it. “You can use that to discover if any of them are near. Just pretend you’re taking pictures and use the image in the camera to compare with what your eyes are seeing.”
Dani picked up the camera and examined it. “How does it work? I don’t mean the camera, I understand that, but how can this, do more than my eyes?”
Paris shrugged. “It’s a fair question, Dani, and I only understand it because I can experience it. A Shadow blocks his self-image from your mind. The camera’s not a part of your mind and he can’t erase his image from the electronics. Your vision field is resolving the camera, not directed at him. At least that’s how I’ve interpreted it.”
He shook his head. “The why isn’t important, just trust me, it works.” He pointed to the camera she held. “We need to buy more of those, one for each of you.”
“All the same?” Dani asked. “Wouldn’t that look suspicious?”
“Good point, Paris replied. “Make them all different. Just make sure they can do stills and video.” He thumbed through some of the documents they’d downloaded. “I need your brothers to check out the people we’ve identified, particularly the ones who work near Naples. Make sure they don’t follow the same person twice in a row. Rotate them so that they’ve had an equal chance to observe each individual.”
He pushed the papers together in a pile. “What’s the progress on locating Gerardo?”
“We know his last name,” Dani replied, “but that’s about all. He’s a recluse, apparently prefers to run things in the background.”
“I know of a man who say he see him,” Carlo interjected.
Paris’ brows rise toward his forehead. Speaking slowly he said. “Really? Can you find this man?”
Carlo spread his hands. “Maybe, Emiliano know him better, but it may not be soon.”
Dani fired a few sentences at him and waited for a reply. She turned to Paris. “I know of the man he speaks about, but I’m not too confident that he’s reliable.”
“Why?” Paris asked.
“He is a very strange man, but very smart,” Dani replied. “What Americans might call a computer nerd. He is very choosy to whom he opens his door.”
“Do you think he might talk to us?” Paris asked.
Dani bit her lip. “Perhaps. Perhaps if I accompanied you he would talk but I cannot guarantee it.”
Privately, Paris thought a man would have to be brain-dead to not want to talk to Dani, but he didn’t say it. “Can you at least try?”
Dani nodded. “I can do that but it would be better if you came also.”
“Very well,” Paris said, “we’ll go. I have one more question. Have you found a cell phone for me?”
Dani removed a cell from her pocket and slid it across the table. “I would not call the Chairman or your home on it if I were you.
Paris picked it up looking at its features. He raised his eyes to Dani. “Why?”
“True, it is anonymous,” she replied, “but if you make an overseas call, especially to the United States, the phone company will very likely monitor it. It’s the same for Chairman Chandler. I am hoping he will call us when he becomes worried as to why you have not traveled to Belgium. I think you should wait.”
Paris ran his hands through his hair and sighed. The two weeks he’d promised Elizabeth were almost up and she was sure to become worried about him. More than that, he had no idea as to whether or not she’d delivered the baby and he desperately wanted to be there when it happened.
“Isn’t there any way we can call out of the country without arousing the Borgia’s suspicions?”
Dani shook her head. “I am afraid not. The Borgias practically own Italy. I am sure that they have people in the phone company and their interest in your whereabouts borders on paranoia. My brothers tell me that even with the false trail Carlo created, they are still looking for you.”
“What if I need to leave the country?” Paris asked.
Dani shrugged. “Actually that is not a problem. My father has an interest in a small fishing group. They can sail you to Corsica and you can fly out from there. If necessary, you can reenter Italy the same way.”
Relieved that he had a means to escape the country, he turned his attention to the current problems. Since it seemed that all of the answers he sought lay in Italy, it was the logical place to concentrate his efforts, but he couldn’t stay here much longer. He needed to return to the Family and Elizabeth.
“About this man, the one you called a nerd. When can we talk to him?” Paris asked.
Dani glanced at Emiliano and spoke a few words. He shrugged and replied. She returned her attention to Paris. “Emiliano says maybe tomorrow. He will have to check if he is still living at the same address.”
Paris nodded. “Tell him to start today. If the guy knows anything about Gerardo we need to know what it is. Meanwhile let’s get started with the surveillance of the others, the ones we know about.”
* * *
Paris stood in front of a small house that sat on a hillside in a community near Pozzuoli. Looking at the shuttered windows and closed door, he wondered if the man they sought was at home.
They’d ascended a narrow winding road to reach the place. He’d feared for his life because Emiliano drove at a breakneck pace, ignoring the road’s dividing line. Relieved to have survived the trip intact, he’d abandoned the car as soon as it stopped.
Dani, seeming unfazed by Emiliano’s reckless driving, extended her long legs out of the car and rose from the front seat to join him.
Sensing her near, he asked, “How do you know this guy?”
She shrugged. “He had a crush on me when we were in school together. I felt sorry for him and became his friend. Emiliano knew him as well. He’s very smart. I think he is rich as well, because he created some inventions, but I would not be able to tell you what they are.”
Paris thought that if the guy was rich, the house didn’t show it. The paint was peeling and the front veranda sagged, showing the house’s age.
Emiliano joined them. “So how do we approach this?” Paris asked. “Just walk up and knock?”
Dani laughed. “It is not quite that simple. Let me try.” She sauntered up the steps leading to the veranda, swaying her hips and pausing as though reluctant to come further.
On the porch, she turned and leaned against the door. She spoke some Italian phrases and waited.
In a few moments, Paris heard a voice come from the house. “Who is with you? Emiliano, I recognize, but who is the stranger?”
Surprised the voice spoke English, Paris waited for Dani’s reply. She held up a finger to caution them from speaking. “He is my friend, Bernardo, and he wants to talk to you, as do I.”
The door remained closed. “I have not seen you in years. Why all of a sudden
do you appear, bringing a stranger?”
Dani stood away from the door, placing her hands on her hips. “You have not seen me because you have been hiding in this house. Now, open up and let me in!”
Paris heard the mechanical sound of several door locks and then the door cracked open and an eye peered out. A voice responded. “I will only let you in, Dani. The others can wait outside.”
Dani frowned and hissed out a frustrated breath. “Do not be ridiculous, Bernardo, would I bring someone along who would harm you?”
Paris was about to intervene with his mind, but Bernardo opened the door wider. “I guess not,” he said, “but enter quickly. They might be following you.”
Dani brushed past him and entered the house. “Who is ‘they’?” she asked as she walked through the door. “Who are you afraid of?” She swung around and confronted him.
Emiliano followed by Paris, walked into what Paris thought might be the living room, but it was hard to tell, computer parts and equipment occupied every horizontal surface. He heard the door slam and the sound of the locks being engaged.
A painfully thin man glanced at each of them. His black hair surrounded his head in a twisted mass that obviously hadn’t seen a comb in a while. His face was covered by a beard that brushed his chest as his head moved and his grey eyes darted wildly back and forth as though looking for threats from every source.
Dani cocked her head. “What in God’s name has happened to you, Bernardo? You look a mess. Have you been eating?”
Bernardo focused on Dani. “I cannot go out of my house to buy food. I have been hiding from them.”
“Them who?” Dani asked. “Who are you hiding from?”
Bernardo’s eyes dropped to the floor. “I do not know who they are but they want me.”
Paris, frustrated at the way the conversation was going, decided to intervene. “I think Bernardo needs food at the moment and maybe a bottle of wine. Dani, tell Emiliano to go out and buy some hot food and groceries. Put it on our business account. Is there any place to sit here?”
They piled some of the surplus equipment on the floor, clearing space in a few chairs. Emiliano brought a couple more from another room.
After Emiliano left to get the food, Paris sat facing Bernardo and Dani. “We’re not here to harm you Bernardo. We want to help you.”
“You are American,” Bernardo said.
Paris nodded. “How do you speak English so well Bernardo?”
Dani intervened. “Bernardo is American,” Dani said. “He taught me the language. He also taught Emiliano everything he knows about computers.”
Paris eyebrows rose. “American? How did you attend Italian schools?”
Bernardo turned his attention from the floor to focus on Paris. “My father was an American and I was born in Chicago, but we came to Italy to live when I was a child. Since that time, I have not been back to America.”
“What’s your last name?” Paris asked. “Maybe you have relatives in the States.”
“Sabatino,” Bernardo replied. “But all of my immediate relatives are in Italy.”
“It’s a common name in the United States,” Paris said, “at least among Italians.”
Dani interrupted. “Who are these people you are afraid of, Bernardo?”
Bernardo’s eyes went back to the floor. His face drew up in an anguished expression. “I do not know. It started after I received a commission to do some programming for a biotechnology company. I met a man who gave me the specifications, and he told me that I had to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
“After the job was completed they paid me and I thought it was over, but then another man came to my house and asked me to come with him. For some reason I felt compelled to do as he asked. He took me to a large villa and introduced me to another man who didn’t say anything. He just stared at me for awhile.
“Then the first man, the one who came to my house, drove me back home. It was very strange. During the whole time, I felt as if no one spoke, but I distinctly remember words being said to me. After that, every where I went, I felt as if someone followed me, but I couldn’t see anyone. Now I’m afraid to go out of my house.”
Dani’s attention turned to Paris. She looked at him as though seeking confirmation.
Paris nodded. “Bernardo, you’re not paranoid if you’re truly threatened, and I think you’ve got good reason to be afraid. Tell me, can you describe the man you met?”
“Yes I can. He was older with brown hair,” Bernardo replied.
“That’s not much of a description,” Paris said. “How do you know he was older?”
“His hair was grey around the ears,” Bernardo replied.
“Was his hair curly?” Paris asked.
“Yes, like pictures and statues of the old Romans.”
Dani interrupted again. “Do you think it could be Gerardo?”
Paris rose to his feet and ran his hands through his hair. “Yes, and if it is, we’ve just placed Bernardo in a dangerous situation, not to mention us.”
“What do you mean?” Dani asked.
Paris paced the room. He realized in his haste to complete the mission, he’d made a mistake, but he couldn’t have predicted how important Bernardo’s involvement would become. “They’re likely watching this house and if they are, they’ve seen me. I didn’t check to see if we were followed or if some Shadow was lurking around the property.”
Dani looked alarmed. “What do we do?”
Paris stopped pacing and concentrated. He expanded his mind to its maximum extent seeking the glow of others that might be near the house. Discarding some who might be local residents, he looked for the familiar pattern that warned of a Shadow’s near presence...
“Got him! He’s in a car near the bottom of the hill. Do you have that gun with you?”
Dani nodded. “Yes, I never leave home without it.”
“Give it to me,” Paris said.
Dani blushed. “Turn your head.”
Paris laughed. “Go into the next room, Dani.”
After she departed, Bernardo stood. All through the verbal exchange, he’d swung his head like a spectator in a tennis match focusing on each speaker. “What are you talking about? How do you know someone is watching the house? Who are you?”
“My name’s Paris Fox and I am a friend. Your most important friend at the moment. Dani can tell you the rest while I’m gone.”
She returned in a moment, handing Paris the automatic. It was very warm to the touch.
“Okay lock the door after me,” Paris said.
“Why?” Dani asked. “Will you not need help?”
“I need you to stay here and guard Bernardo. You know about the People and you can fill him in. I’m going Shadow hunting.”
Paris closed the front door and waited until he heard the sounds of the door locks. Pausing on the porch, he scanned the area again. Finding the location of the Shadow, he walked toward the bottom of the hill.
Weeds and thick bushes lined both sides of the narrow roadway. Fortunately they obscured his outline as he wound toward the Shadow’s hiding place. Rounding a bend, he spotted a small car parked in the weeds, well off the pavement.
Approaching the car, he hid his image from the Shadow’s mind. Pausing to study the form he saw in the passenger’s seat, it was apparent that first, the person was a man and second, the man who slumped against the window was fast asleep.
Knowing that a Shadow would not drive a car because a car seeming to drive itself would arouse suspicion, Paris scanned the area looking for a nearby Normal.
Close by he sensed a mind a little way off in the brush. Careful to not wake the Shadow, he hid behind the car, waiting for the Normal to return. His wait was rewarded as the man came out of the thick brush, zipping the fly of his trousers.
Paris pondered his limited choice of options. Should he leave them alone in the hope they hadn’t seen anyone enter Bernardo’s house or take the same risk he did with the men at Dani’s apartment? If
they didn’t report back to their superiors, the Borgias would become suspicious and that could destroy any hope he had of using what Bernardo knew. There was little chance they hadn’t spotted Emiliano’s car passing this spot twice, once with three occupants and again with one.
The Normal opened the car door and removed a set of binoculars from the interior. Raising them to his eyes he focused on Bernardo’s house, plainly visible from his surveillance point. Paris realized he’d been lucky. If the Normal hadn’t needed to relieve himself, he might have seen him leave the front door.
The situation screamed for action, moves that might prove hazardous in ways he couldn’t predict and there was always the chance of failure. If he had to subdue the Shadow it would need to be in a way that didn’t leave lasting marks, lumps or abrasions that might cause suspicion. In comparison the Normal was easy, just freeze him and remove any memory of their presence.
Deciding that no move was better than a bad move, he faded into the brush, crouching low, and headed to the bottom of the hill.
Reaching the fork in the road that branched of the main highway and led to Bernardo’s house, Paris opened his new cell phone. Speed dialing Dani’s number, he waited until she answered.
She sounded a little panicked. “What is happening Paris? Did you find anything?”
“Yes, there are two men watching the house. I’m waiting at the bottom of the hill for Emiliano to return and when he does we’ll take care of it.”
Sounding a little calmer, she replied, “Okay, but keep me informed. I was worried that something had gone wrong.”
“Nothing to worry about right now. I’ll let you know if you need to leave, but for now stay in the house and keep the doors locked.” He disconnected the call.
Standing near the edge of the road, he waited for Emiliano’s car to return. While waiting, his mind nagged him with all the problems he currently juggled. Most could wait until he had better information, but his two most immediate problems, Bernardo and Elizabeth needed some close attention. He couldn’t – no, make that wouldn’t – stay away from home much longer. His desire to be with Elizabeth for the birth of their baby was like an aching tooth that constantly pained him; he had to reach a stopping point in his investigation soon and leave Italy, or he’d go mad with anxiety.