by James Flynn
“Where are we goi …” Chung Su didn’t finish her sentence; she had seen in the mirror the outline of the red Nissan roaring out onto the road behind. “They followed, they followed!”
Luke had seen them as well. He pushed harder on the accelerator, his last chance was to head into the town and lose them in the streets. It was a long shot.
The air suddenly erupted with the sound of several gunshots, crack, crack, crack, crack. Fizzing noises went past the car and several metallic pings shook the rear.
Great, Luke thought, they have automatics.
Luke steered the vehicle through turn after turn, the road constricting and widening like a pulsating organism. The Nissan waited until they were on a wider stretch flanked by frozen mounds of earth and then made its move. Its passengers were no longer interested in shooting from distance, the speeds were too great. They knew they were faster and were going to come alongside. Luke watched as they dropped a gear and started gaining. Without hesitating, he swerved as much as the speed would allow, blocking any opening they had of getting level, but they were no idiots, they began predicting each swerve and were gently nudging the rear bumper. Luke could feel the back tyres wanting to slip away every time the Nissan brushed the car. If they got it right then they would cause the rust bucket to fishtail, and at those speeds it wouldn’t be pretty. The petrol gauge was being drained and the poor engine wouldn’t hold up much longer. Luke decided to act, slowing the car.
“What are you doing? They will hit us!” yelled Chung Su.
Luke kept the Nissan in his sights. He saw it begin to accelerate and make another run. Just as they were about to touch, Luke took the handbrake loosely in his hand.
This time the Nissan hit harder and Luke felt the rear of the car become unstable. Instead of fighting it, he had been anticipating it. Dabbing the brake, he let the car swing round. The world slowed as he pulled hard on the handbrake. The Nissan’s momentum kept it pushing past and the cars crashed side by side. The force of the braking meant Luke had to fight to stay upright in his seat but it was what he had hoped for; they were now facing the opposite way to the Nissan and before the car could stop he threw it into a high gear and punched his foot onto the accelerator, gritting his teeth.
Dusk was rapidly descending. The rust bucket flew past an illuminated sign letting Luke know they were now on the Strada Statale 81. Rifling through the map in his mind, hepinpointed that they were heading into the heart of Teramo. He kept checking his rear view mirror; there was no sign of the Nissan. Luke looked over at Chung Su. She looked back. Her dark eyes seemed so innocent in the low light; her mouth was turned down at the edges, battling a tidal wave of emotion. She was living on adrenaline, and that would carry her through for now.
A sudden symphony of car horns erupted from behind; Chung Su swivelled in her seat. About a hundred yards behind there was a sea of red brake lights being applied. Then the Nissan came into view, travelling the wrong way down the opposite side of Strada Statale, heading for the rust bucket.
“Go, go, go!” Chung Su dropped back into her seat. Luke didn’t need telling. He was giving the feeble engine everything he could; the steering column was coming loose from the abuse. They were passing through inhabited streets. Houses lined the road on both sides and small pathways ran in front. The Nissan had purposefully flicked on its full beam, blinding Luke in his rear view mirror. Then the light crossed from the back of the car to the side. They were making another attempt at coming along the passenger side. As they drew level, Luke looked past Chung Su and could see the curly-mopped driver looking over. Luke’s attention shifted instantly when he saw the shaven-headed one appear in the rear seats with a short-handled Uzi. Without hesitating, Luke rammed into the side of the car and saw the gunman roll off balance.
Parked cars lined the streets; Luke was practically scraping the side of each. Chung Su instinctively leant away as the Nissan returned the favour and smashed into the side of the rust bucket.
“Lean back!” Luke yelled above the whining of the engine. Chung Su didn’t lean back; instead, she cowered in a ball in the footwell. Luke had raised the Beretta and was aiming out of her window; he let off two shots that were deafening, smashing the passenger window and doing likewise to the Nissan. Luke then immediately rammed the car again.
The cars were now screaming side by side down the road. Without the window the rust bucket was being battered by the ice-cold air flooding in. The Nissan passenger was again at the rear window, taking aim with the Uzi. Luke searched for a gap between the parked cars but there was none. A volley of bullets fizzed through the car, miraculously missing both Luke and Chung Su who was still cowering in the footwell. Suddenly there was a car on the horizon, blaring its horn and heading straight for the Nissan. The driver had no choice and slammed on the brakes, slotting back in behind the rust bucket.
Luke kept pushing the car forward and another burst of fire came from behind, putting two bullets through the windscreen, but it held. This couldn’t continue; the law of averages said that a bullet was going to find its way into one of them or a tyre at some point. The cars flew out of the built-up area, the grey road snaking back out into the countryside.
Luke went over his memorised map and realised that just up ahead was a left-to-right hairpin, after that the straight run into Garibaldi’s roundabout. There was no way the cars could take the hairpin at the speed they were travelling, and with the solid concrete wall running around the left-hand side of the turn it was a recipe for disaster. There was only one thing to do …
Keeping his eyes ahead he shouted at Chung Su over the engine and wind. “Put your seatbelt on!”
She scrambled back into her seat and clicked in her seatbelt.
The hairpin was now in view, and in anticipation the Nissan was again touching bumper to bumper. Luke was fixed on the right-hand side of the road, examining the small grey safety fencing that ran along the verge. He was focused slightly ahead of the car looking for his opportunity, trees and darkness now whipping by. The hairpin was rapidly approaching, the black void where the road curled sharply around to the left was looming. The Nissan pressed the bumper, sitting just on the inside left, predicting the rust bucket’s approach.
Come on … come on, there must be one … there must be … without warning Luke jerked the steering wheel and threw the rust bucket in the complete opposite direction to the corner, pointing the Peugeot through a gap in the fencing, hurtling over the ridge and into the undergrowth.
The headlights jumped and jolted, illuminating the bare trees. The hard winter mud sent shockwaves through the car. Luke barely slowed as they hurtled between trunks, branches banging on the frame and sticking through the smashed window.
“What are you doing?” Chung Su screamed, leaning into the middle of the car to avoid the sharp branches. Luke didn’t answer; he was putting all of his focus on negotiating the rugged terrain. There had been no training on how to negotiate thick undergrowth at night in a clapped-out Peugeot. The headlights were almost redundant; all they did was pick out the nearest object, they didn’t penetrate further. The car banged violently up and down, throwing the pair of them around and a huge tree suddenly appeared in front of them. Luke just had time to skid around it.
They were moving downhill and Luke could tell he had the car pointing in the right direction. He kept snatching glances to his left, trying to pick out the Nissan’s headlights coming round the hairpin. The sheer drop leading back to the road below came out of nowhere as the rust bucket came out of the tree line, Luke had to break hard and swing the back end round to get parallel. He kept the car moving.
He caught the Nissan’s headlights moving fast toward them down below. Luke killed the lights and to Chung Su’s surprise threw the car back up the hill. He had a clear strategy; he ran it, re-ran it and then ran it again. It was far from well thought-through but he was going to play it out.
Just before the tree line Luke handbraked the car 180 degrees and brought the car
to a stop. For the briefest of moments silence descended; it was like a peaceful blanket after the raging of the chase. Chung Su looked deep into Luke’s eyes, searching for a sign of what he was thinking. Their eyes locked for a few moments. “Sit back, and make sure the belt is tight.” Luke spoke softly.
The Nissan’s lights were getting closer. Luke talked to himself. Not yet … not yet … the car kept coming … not yet … not yet … not yet. Luke took a breath. NOW!
The Peugeot’s chassis rattled as the car fought to get up to speed, bumping over the hard mud. Chung Su suddenly realised he was not turning, he was driving them off the ridge. He’s crazy. The Nissan was passing almost directly below. She pushed herself back into her seat and tensed her whole body.
Luke didn’t falter; he had set his mind to it. The rust bucket hit the ridge doing almost seventy kilometres per hour. The steering went light in his hands. He had timed it right; the Nissan was passing directly below them. As gravity began taking over, the car tilted nose down.
“Brace!” Luke shouted just as the rust bucket ploughed into the roof of the red Nissan with an almighty crash of metal on metal.
The impact shunted both cars clean across the road and into the opposite grey safety barrier. The momentum rolled the rust bucket right over onto its roof and all the way back onto its wheels. Silent wisps of steam rose from both cars.
Chung Su was the first to make a noise; she groaned and rubbed her hand over her neck. The force of deceleration had thrown her forward with a tremendous amount of force. The seatbelt had done its job and tightened to stop her head smashing into the dashboard. Luke was conscious and fighting the pain in his leg. It had buckled hard as the front end of the car had pressed inwards under force.
“Are you ok?” Luke asked weakly.
“I think so, my neck hurts, but I think I am ok.”
Luke rattled the door handle, but the frame had been dented and jammed shut. A small flurry of snow had started and the flakes were being picked up by the single headlight still shining from the Nissan. It lay no more than twenty metres away with its roof severely dented; the windows and windscreen had been smashed and stressed. The engine was still running and the smell of petrol from both cars was strong.
“Where is the other one?” Chung Su asked in a fearful tone.
Luke could see Chung Su was looking over at the Nissan; he followed her gaze. The driver of the Nissan had been lucky enough to have an airbag deploy, but he was motionless, head resting against the fractured window. Blood saturated his mop of hair and face. But when Luke scanned across to look for the passenger his eyes were met with nothing; he was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he was thrown onto the floor. But then his eyes picked up something at the edge of the headlight beam … the rear door was open.
Before Luke could react, Chung Su let off a scream. “He’s there!”
The shaven-headed passenger stood right next to Luke’s window. His dark skin and jet black eyes seemed even more intense under the shadows being thrown. Luke jammed his thumb into the seatbelt ejector and reached for his waistband, but to his horror he did not feel the Beretta. His hands scrambled around the seat to try and find it, but it was nowhere.
The shaven-headed man slowly raised the Uzi. Blood was running from a wound on his cheek. His eyes bored into Luke; their blackness seemed total in the sharp-edged shadows. The man’s finger looped through the trigger. Luke searched frantically for the Beretta. Suddenly there was a glint of metal down in a mangled section of the central column. It was the pistol … the barrel had been jammed in a folded piece of ruptured plastic. Luke turned back towards his aggressor. He gritted his teeth in preparation for the hail of bullets that were about to tear through him …
Bang, bang, bang.
Silence.
It took Luke a few moments to realise the shots had not come from an automatic weapon. The man had disappeared out of view, crashing to the ground. Luke swung round to see Chung Su extended from her seat, gripping the Sig Sauer in both hands. Her delicate facial features seemed hardened and she sat frozen in the firing position.
Luke gently raised his hand and pressed down on her hands, lowering the gun. “It’s ok, he’s gone.”
Chung Su did not change her expression, but without warning she opened her mouth and her breath escaped. “Is he dead?” she managed to ask between short breaths.
Luke looked out of the window. The man lay contorted on the floor. A light dusting of snow was already settling and a pool of red blood was forming under him.
“He will be,” Luke answered bluntly. “It’s ok, he would have killed us, you did the right thing.”
Chung Su was in shock, a perpetual state for her at the moment. She had picked up the gun without much thought and pulled the trigger.
“Does your door open?” Luke asked Chung Su gently.
Chung Su shifted the pistol into one hand and clicked open her door. It was stuck, but with a little pressure it gave and swung open. She stepped out into the freezing early evening. Snow fell gently around. Luke struggled with his leg as he climbed over the seats to get out; the Beretta was well and truly trapped so he wiped it with a sleeve and left it.
In the headlight Luke couldn’t help but stare at Chung Su. Her face was soft, yet beneath it all he saw a steely determination, a soul that had seen suffering, and he realised for the first time he may have more of an equal than an incumbent.
Luke checked the pulse of the driver, it was there but he was completely unconscious. Luke walked back to Chung Su and took the Sig Sauer out of her hand; she wouldn’t let go at first, the shock still clamping her hand tight. Luke gently clasped her hand and slipped out the pistol. He put a bullet through the back of the driver’s head. His shaven-headed accomplice had three bullet holes in the chest, and was going through his final death throes. Luke left him to it.
He took Chung Su by the shoulders, she was shivering, her eyes distant. The tiny glass cuts were scabbing. He wanted to say so much but he couldn’t find the words. His training hadn’t taught him how to deal with emotion, other than bury it. He scanned the area. The petrol smell wafted up his nostrils. They needed to move. His leg was throbbing and he could feel the makeshift tourniquet bruising his thigh. He touched the jeans, feeling the plastic underneath. The blood had yet to seep through; he blocked the pain out.
“The town is not far, we can walk from here.” With that, Luke headed off over the barrier, disappearing into the undergrowth flanking the road. Chung Su said nothing, merely wrapped her arms around her body and followed him again into the darkness.
54.
Delvechi had returned to the station in a daze. I still can’t believe it. He had spent a long time interviewing the family who owned the hotel. On the surface the two scientists had seemed rather innocuous, two research fellows who had been granted the opportunity to work at the Gran Sasso Institute as a part of the laboratory’s policy to pick the best minds from all over the globe. They had been quiet, respectful, and most of all private.
However, it was not the details about the two men that occupied Delvechi’s thoughts. He was astonished with what they had told him about the officer who had visited them. I can’t believe it … I won’t believe it. But why are we still the only two Carabinieri here on the ground?
Delvechi paced the small office space. He could not relax, his thoughts were causing him agitation and a fear was setting in. He had found himself checking his mirror every fifteen seconds on the way back. He had now ordered the forensic teams to Battaglia to examine the scene; they were specialists being sent from Perugia. A range of papers and photos relating to the case were lying on the table. Staring back at him was Miss Chung Su.
Crossing to the picture, Delvechi examined her face. He no longer just saw a hot scientist; he followed the contours of Chung Su’s face, ignoring the beauty of her features, seeing only the dead, sunken faces of her countrymen. What the hell are you doing here, Miss Chung? I know it is to do with your friends … I know it …
>
Delvechi collapsed into a flimsy chair. The plastic creaked under his weight and his eyes stung from tiredness. He was utterly confused and it both frustrated and frightened him in equal measure. I am out of my depth here … I need to call someone.
Delvechi would always say he had it in his blood to become a hero. His father had lived in Turin when the Nazis had done their deal with Mussolini during the Second World War and marched into Italy. Delvechi’s father had joined the resistance movement and fled to the hills. He had grown up on extraordinary stories of the small pockets of fighting that flashed across Italy during the early years of the occupation, and Delvechi was enthralled with such feats of bravery. In 1941 his father realised that the resistance was living on borrowed time. Many of his comrades were being killed or captured, so he made the decision to escape across the border into north-eastern France, then up through Belgium. He jumped a boat to England, where incredibly after six months he managed to hitch his way on a personnel carrier back to southern Italy to join up with Allied-backed Italian forces that were still fighting. Delvechi smiled at the memory of his father regaling him with such stories. It’s in my blood.
He tried to calm his unsteady heart. The images that Miss Festino had shown him of Fiumicino airport, the Iranians going through the diplomatic entry point … they had help getting in. It all melded with what he had been told by the family up in Battaglia.
Flipping open his phone, he brought up his recently dialled list and pressed call: This is Chief Officer Beltrano. I cannot take your call at this moment, but please leave me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can, or if your call is an emergency dial …