Torn

by Karen Moore

  “Can you make out what they’re saying? You can barely hear anything and what you can hear is all in thick dialect,” said Hanna quickly, trying to mask her suspicions.

  Sergio plugged in the headphones and turned the volume up to maximum.

  “More talk about spedizioni – shipments, I think you’d say – without specifying what’s being shipped. Hang on, now there’s mention of charitable aid and the ‘shipments’ being bound for a number of refugee centres along the west coast and on the offshore islands. They’re saying that on the island of Lampedusa, there are more ‘shipped goods’ than locals.”

  “The content of the few files I saw when he left his laptop on was pretty damning, that’s why I copied the lot. It’s proof that Luciano is involved after all, just as we thought,” Hanna said in a low voice, her chest heaving with the effort to mask the bitter disappointment that burned inside. “Let’s just hope that he’s behind the kidnapping and will release Eva once he gets the information back. It still seems incredible that he’d kidnap his own daughter.”

  “There’s a lot at stake, and the evidence speaks for itself. He wouldn’t want this to fall into the wrong hands, that’s for sure,” said Sergio.

  Hanna noticed that he seemed pleased, almost triumphant, to have uncovered proof of Luciano’s illicit business dealings. Just what did this mean? Was Sergio on her side, or was there more going on? Could he be mixed up in this in some way? After all, both his father and his long-lost brother had turned up in the video evidence now. She wondered yet again whether he could be trusted.

  “Let’s see what else is on there,” she said, stifling another yawn.

  “You should really get some sleep…” Ceri suggested. “We should all get some sleep. We can pick this up tomorrow and make our decision then about what to do next.”

  Hanna looked at her with pleading eyes. “C’mon, Ceri. I need to see just how mixed up Luciano is in all this. Another half hour?”

  “OK, you win,” Ceri replied wearily. “Then we all go to bed, right?”

  Hanna squeezed her friend’s hand gratefully, tears springing to her eyes again. “You’re a good friend, Ceri. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  Ceri wrapped her arms round Hanna’s shoulders and lightly kissed the top of her head, saying dismissively, “You’d do the same for me.”

  “Enough of that, ragazze,” said Sergio. “Come on, let’s try and finish viewing these video files before Ceri’s curfew.”

  More evidence came to light the following morning as Sergio scanned through the remaining files. Hanna noticed the dark shadows under his eyes and coarse stubble on his cheeks and chin. He’d evidently not had much sleep, but then neither had she. Troubled images of Eva lying hurt and wounded had played through her head on a constant spool, keeping sleep at bay. Eventually, she gave up trying and resorted to scouring the local news channels on her phone for any mention of a kidnap, but there was nothing.

  Piecing together the fragments of information from the memory stick was difficult, and trying to making sense of it all was even tougher. It was a complex, tangled web of human shipments that seemed to involve not only Luciano and his father but also several upstanding figures of the community, according to Sergio. His own father had only appeared once more, in the background of a short dimly-lit video clip which appeared to have been shot in a cave. He claimed his brother hadn’t shown up again.

  Turning to Hanna, he said, “Well, cara, it looks as if Luciano and his cronies are well implicated in people trafficking. If he knows you’ve got this information, he’s quite capable of doing anything, even kidnapping his own daughter, to get it back. Once he does so, he’s bound to release her unharmed.”

  “How can we be sure?”

  Sergio shrugged. “We can’t be, but the chances are…”

  “D’you reckon that Luciano and his father are the ringleaders in all this?” Hanna asked.

  “It’s not clear from what we’ve seen. But it’s certainly a lucrative business, judging by the sums being quoted. There’s also talk about charitable funds being siphoned off. That’s worth a packet alone.”

  Hanna could sense that Sergio was loath to follow this up, possibly because of his father’s and brother’s potential involvement. “Let’s just focus on getting Eva back safely. The rest can wait for now. So, given all this, do you think we should make the drop-off as instructed?” she asked tentatively.

  “Francamente, I don’t see why not. After all, we’ll still have the back-up stick, should you want to take any further action. But you probably won’t, not after what’s happened. You wouldn’t want to risk it happening again, or something even worse. They’ll be aware that we could have copied the contents, but this kidnapping is to scare you off from going to the police.”

  He seems very sure, thought Hanna, as if he knows more than he’s letting on. Could he be yet another of the compari, one of Luciano’s cronies? But surely Ceri would have suspected something by now? But it had taken Hanna ages to doubt Luciano, so maybe not.

  “What d’you think, Ceri?” Hanna asked.

  “I’d go with Sergio. He’s got much more knowledge about this sort of thing and the likelihood of getting a positive result.”

  “I just want to get Eva back safely and then get the hell away from here. It may sound selfish, but I don’t care about taking any further action. If there’s already a police investigation underway, then Luciano’s bound to be caught at some point anyway,” said Hanna, her voice quivering between anguish and pain.

  “Ok, that’s settled then,” Sergio replied. “I’ll drive you there and you can do the drop-off bit on your own, but I’ll have your back should anything go wrong.”

  Hanna cast her mind back to the reason she and Eva had fled from Sicily in the first place. The three silver bullets. One for each of them. That implied that someone else was involved, unless it had all been part of some devious scheme of Luciano’s. She couldn’t shake off the idea that it might not be Luciano behind the kidnapping after all. Her imagination conjured up scenarios of how this could all end very differently.

  Paralysed by fear, she realised she might not come back at all. Nor might Eva.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Sicily, Wednesday 29th – Thursday 30th November, 2017

  Sergio left the apartment later that morning, saying he had an urgent assignment to finish at work. No sooner had he left than Hanna’s mobile started to vibrate. She snatched it off the kitchen table, alarmed that it might be the kidnappers to say that things had changed and the drop-off had been cancelled. But it was only a message from Rhys, asking if she’d made any progress with getting Eva back.

  She hadn’t really given Rhys another thought since she’d returned to Sicily; she’d been totally focused on rescuing Eva. A feeling of guilt welled up inside her. Rhys deserved better, after all he’d done for them both.

  “Everything okay?” asked Ceri, looking worried,

  “It’s just Rhys, asking how things are going.” Hanna started to text him back. “I’ll let him know about the drop-off tomorrow and I’ll call him when it’s over. I don’t feel like talking right now.”

  “Talking of my brother, how were things working out in Wales?” Ceri asked.

  “Rhys was a great help and it was all going so well. It really seemed like a new start for me and Eva. I’d even begun to forget about the past. Until this happened.”

  “Well, hopefully it’ll all be over soon. We’ll get Eva back and you can start again where you left off,” said Ceri, squeezing Hanna’s hand.

  “Let’s hope so.” Hanna doubted that life would ever be the same, even if Eva was returned safely. She didn’t want to think about what she’d do if not. Life wouldn’t be worth living.

  “I don’t know if Luciano will ever forgive me taking his daughter away. But if he’s responsible for kidnapping Eva, he’s certainly getting his revenge and making sure that I suffer and won’t ever reveal the details of his business affairs.�
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  “And what if it’s not him? Once you get Eva back, you might be able to patch things up with him and reach some sort of arrangement so he won’t cut too much of a brutta figura and look bad in front of his family and associates.”

  “Seriously? Ceri, he’s a people-trafficker, for God’s sake. Nothing can condone that,” Hanna said, exasperated that her friend could even contemplate such an idea. “There’s no way I can live with that, and no way I can allow Eva to be brought up in that world.”

  Her eyes filled with tears again at the mention of her missing daughter. She thought back to the three silver bullets. Why had there been three? It still suggested that a third party was involved, someone who wanted to threaten the whole family. But surely this was all about Luciano trying to retrieve the damning evidence she had of his business dealings? And in the only way he knew how, by kidnapping Eva. Or was it? She felt sick at the thought that someone else might be behind it all.

  “You okay?” Ceri interrupted Hanna’s thoughts.

  “Just thinking about everything’s that happened. Nothing we haven’t talked about already.”

  “Why don’t we go and get some fresh air?” her friend suggested. “It’ll be ages until Sergio gets back, and we don’t want to stay cooped up here until then. We can take a stroll along the beach.”

  “Good idea, it might help to take my mind off things. I’ll get my jacket.”

  After dinner that evening Hanna and Sergio spent more time browsing the files on the memory stick. They didn’t uncover anything of particular interest, just more videos showing similar small groups of men huddled together, discussing “shipments” in thick dialect, according to Sergio. No more appearances from Luciano or Sergio’s father or brother. Fortunately, they’d had the foresight to copy the files the day before, as not all of them would open and some had reverted back to their encrypted form. Tiredness finally defeated both of them and they gave up and went to bed.

  But as soon as Hanna’s head touched the pillow, her fatigue vanished. Thoughts streamed through her head of what might or might not happen the following day at the drop-off. Images of being reunited with Eva, of seeing her hurt, of never seeing her again… or even worse. The frenzied thoughts eventually subsided enough for her to fall into a fitful sleep. She continued to toss and turn, finally waking shortly before 7am, her head pounding and her skin clammy from sweat. It was as if she hadn’t slept at all.

  Reluctantly, she forced herself into the shower. The pulsating jets of warm water revived her and left her feeling ready to face the day ahead. After towelling herself dry, she pulled on a warm sweater and jeans and headed for the kitchen, where Ceri and Sergio were talking in low voices. They both looked up as she came in, as if she were interrupting something

  “Morning,” Hanna tried to sound cheery. “Did either of you manage to get much sleep? I know I didn’t.”

  “Not really,” said Ceri, “but it’s not really surprising in the circumstances, is it? Sit down, I’ll make more coffee and get you some breakfast. What time are we planning to leave?”

  Sergio shot her a glance. “We talked about this last night and I thought we’d agreed that it’d be just Hanna and me going? Just in case of any trouble.”

  Hanna felt a twinge of alarm. “We’re not expecting any, are we? After all, I’m supposed to be doing this on my own. I’m scared enough as it is.” She flopped wearily onto the nearest chair.

  Sergio looked annoyed. “Whoever is behind this wants the information on the memory stick at all costs, so they won’t want to do anything to stop you delivering it. So no, I’m not really expecting any trouble, but there’s no reason for Ceri to come.”

  “Not even to give Hanna a bit of moral support? You could do with it, couldn’t you?” Ceri directed the question at Hanna.

  Hanna shrugged. “Honestly, whatever you think best. I want to get it over and done with so I can get Eva back as quickly as possible.”

  “Ok, it’s decided then. Just you and me, Hanna. Ceri, you stay here just in case,” said Sergio, without specifying in case of what.

  “What time do we need to leave?” Hanna asked.

  “It’ll take us a good 40 minutes to get there, and then we need to find the exact location of the drop-off point,” explained Sergio. “Why don’t we leave as soon as the rush hour’s over? That will give us plenty of time to get there by mid-morning. Va bene?”

  “Fine with me,” said Hanna. Her mouth was dry and her stomach was doing somersaults. It was an effort to drink the fresh caffè latte that Ceri had made, but she managed to force down a couple of mouthfuls of croissant. Afterwards, she helped clear away and wash the breakfast dishes.

  The three friends fell into an uneasy silence. Shortly after 9.30am, Sergio picked up his car keys from the kitchen worktop. “OK, Hanna, time to make a move,” he said. “Are you ready to go? Got the memory stick?”

  Hanna nodded nervously, patting the pocket of her jeans in response. “Let’s get this over with,” she said, slipping on her jacket and transferring the memory stick to one of its zipped pockets for safety.

  “Sure you don’t want me to come, too?” asked Ceri, directing the question to her partner.

  “Quite sure,” replied Sergio firmly. “Stay here close to your phone in case we need anything.”

  “Okay, will do. Good luck and take care, both of you. Let me know how it goes.” Ceri gave Hanna a quick hug and Sergio a peck on the cheek.

  “Course we will,” said Sergio. “We’ll call as soon as it’s done.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Sicily, Thursday 30th November, 2017

  Hanna and Sergio left the apartment and walked over to the car which was parked in one of the nearby narrow streets. Hanna climbed into the passenger seat and Sergio took his place behind the wheel then deftly manoeuvred the Fiat 500 out of the tight parking space and into the heavy morning traffic.

  They’d just reached one of the town’s main streets when he was forced to brake sharply to avoid an elderly lady who had stepped into the road in front of them. They were both flung forwards towards the windscreen before their seatbelts jerked them back.

  “Oh, signora, stai attenta! Lady, watch where you’re going!” Sergio shouted through the open window. “Are you okay?” he asked, turning to Hanna before driving off again.

  “I’m fine,” said Hanna, although she felt a little shaky. “Just a bit nervous about today. I just want it over and done with. D’you think the kidnappers will be there at the drop-off, watching us?”

  “Maybe, maybe not. But they won’t be far away; they’ll be eager to get their hands on the memory stick as soon as they can.” He glanced at her anxiously. “It’ll all go well, you’ll see. Eva’ll be back safe and sound before you know it.”

  “God, I hope so,” said Hanna, with a deep sigh. “How soon do you think it’ll be before I get her back?

  Sergio shrugged. “Who knows? We’ll just have to wait, I’m afraid.” He turned towards her briefly with a smile, patting her hand.

  Hanna mused over his vague answer and wondered how dangerous the situation really was. Maybe they should have reported it to the police, after all. She could feel her heart hammering in her chest, her head thumping in tandem. How she wished that none of this had happened and she could have her old life back. But no point on dwelling on that now.

  People and shops flashed by without her really registering anything. In contrast, Sergio seemed surprisingly relaxed as he navigated the streets out of the town, one hand on the steering wheel, the other resting on the gear stick.

  Soon they reached the main road which would take them west towards Palermo and the turn-off to Caccamo. On a normal day, Hanna would have appreciated the beauty of the coastal road, flanked by the majestic Madonian Mountains on the one side and the Tyrrhenian Sea shimmering in the sunlight on the other. But not today.

  “So, this is how I suggest we play it,” said Sergio. “I’ll drive as far as the turn-off for the lake. Then yo
u take over driving and I’ll hide in the back seat out of sight.” He indicated a rug he’d brought along to cover himself with. “As long as you can find the right spot for the drop-off – the chestnut tree stump they mentioned – I don’t think you’ll have any problems. They won’t want to show their faces but they’ll be watching. Any problems, just call me and I’ll come running.”

  Hanna nodded, taking this in, and checked her phone for the umpteenth time to make sure Sergio was on speed dial. “Seems to make sense. How long do you think it’ll be before they get in touch afterwards?”

  “Well, once they’ve checked that all the information is there, they’ve got no reason to keep Eva any longer. They’ll just need to make arrangements to get her back to you.”

  This sounded much too straightforward. Hanna fell silent and Sergio switched on the radio to fill the void. A local news bulletin came on reporting the discovery of two mutilated bodies in a burnt-out shack out in the country somewhere in the province of Palermo. The place name meant nothing to Hanna, but Sergio seemed to be listening intently to the report.

  “Is that near here?” she asked, alarmed, wondering if the incident could in some way be related to her own dilemma.

  “Don’t worry, it’s the other side of Palermo,” Sergio replied. “Probably family feuds or immigrant gangs. You’d be surprised just how often this sort of thing happens around here. Yet another story for us to follow up at La Gazzetta della Sicilia.”

  Hanna shuddered, realising how protected she’d been from the dark side of Sicilian life. Or maybe she’d chosen not to see it. Now it all felt very real and threatening. She said a silent prayer begging for Eva to be returned safely so they could both leave the island for ever.

  They continued their journey in silence, each lost in their own thoughts, until they reached the turn-off for Caccamo where they headed inland. Sergio negotiated a number of hairpin bends as the road started to climb towards the hillside town, dominated by a colossal medieval castle built on a steep rocky outcrop.