The Sea and the Sand
Page 34
“Italy, Sicily,” he was told.
Sam closed his eyes and gave thanks. “Can I make another call?”
“It’s your phone and you’re not under arrest,” the officer said.
Sam found the name and number and tapped the green button.
The answer was slow and the phone all but rang out.
“Buongiorno?” He’d obviously been woken.
“Luca, it’s Sam. Father, I could really use your help.”
He’d slept soundly for three hours when the handset buzzed at his ear. He longed for it to be morning in the UK so he could hear the voice he craved but the screen revealed an Irish code.
“Hello?”
“Is Sam?”
He closed his eyes, straining to think through what he could say so it would be understood without betraying him to anyone who might be eavesdropping.
“How are you,” he began. “How are you both?”
He was keen not to use their names on an unsecure line.
“Fine,” Alea said. “How is yourself?”
Sam noted how the vernacular was already creeping into her English.
“I wanted to let you know that the man you told me about, he is gone.”
There was a silence for a while, then her voice cracked. “How about the people under the ground?”
Sam paused for a moment not having anticipated the question.
“Some are with me on their way to Europe. They are safe.”
“Some,” she repeated.
“How many were there?”
“Ten. Sometimes. Twenty. Sometimes more.”
Sam closed his eyes. “Some of them are safe and the rest are no longer in danger.” The truth has many interpretations, he thought.
“Thank you, Sam,” she said.
His phone bleeped as the battery began to give up. He pressed the red circle and dialled again. His mother-in-law had read the tea leaves and immediately put Isla on the line.
“Hallo, Daddy.” She sounded sleepy. She’d obviously been woken.
“Hello, wee darlin’, how are you?”
“Good. What ya doing?”
“I’m working, wee love, what ya doing yourself?”
“I love it here, Daddy,” she said. “It’s really fun on all the rides.”
“Brilliant, darlin’. Listen, I can’t talk for long but will you tell Nanny I’ll be a few days late getting back from my job?”
“Ok.” She was all but drifting back to sleep.
“I love you so much.”
“I love you too, Daddy-o.”
About the Author
Finn Óg lives and works in Ireland. He is surrounded by rogues and the sea. This book is the second in a trilogy. Part three - Too Close to Home - will be released in 2019.
A MESSAGE FROM FINN
Thanks a million for reading, you’ve done well to get this far! Taking a few minutes to leave a rating is so incredibly useful to new writers. Any review - good, bad or indifferent would be enormously appreciated.
On my website www.finnog.com you can sign up to become an advanced reader and receive free novellas and copies before publication - if you can face it.
May the wind stay at your back.
Acknowledgments
Thanks, always, to the women - tall and small - whose words and ways litter this text. To my pal in stroke city for always being the first eyes across. To Stuart Bache for the covers, to Victoria and Emma for editing and to my belter or a family for absolutely everything.
Copyright © 2019 by Finn Óg
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
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