by Jonas Saul
“The services you’re paying for are the minimums of my expertise. I’m an infiltration expert.”
“I know that. Your talents came highly recommended. That’s why you are where you are. But every minute she’s still employed is another minute of worry for me. The conference is less than a week away.”
“I understand, but don’t you think it’s odd that she’s on a train?”
“A train?” He fell silent.
Frank waited, watching out the large window.
Then his boss said, “Where is it headed?”
“To the green heart of Italy.”
“Umbria? Why?” his boss stammered. “Does she know about the conference?”
“That’s why she’s not terminated.”
“Has the cowboy made contact yet?”
“No. But he’s been watching her. She chased him yesterday, but he got away.”
Frank checked the passenger across from him to see if he was listening but the young man had an iPhone in his hands and earplugs in his ears. The woman across the aisle from him was nodding her head as it grew heavy in sleep.
“Make sure the cowboy never speaks to her.”
“That’s part of the infiltration plan.”
“What is this infiltration you keep talking about?”
“I will befriend her. I will get Sarah to trust me. I will tell her I’m an investigative reporter and offer her information. If the cowboy makes contact when I’m not around, she won’t trust him. Already he’s gone about it all wrong. She thinks he’s got devious intentions. This’ll be an easy task. Then her termination will be quiet, not loud and messy.”
“You were hired because I understood you could handle this task. If this is how you feel it needs to be dealt with, then so be it, but the timetable remains the same. Termination within six days. I will not attend that conference with her on Italian soil, only under it. Understood?”
Frank nodded, even though his boss couldn’t see him. “Will The Dealer be brought up to speed in time?”
“I will handle The Dealer. That is not your concern.”
Frank clicked off. It was his concern, but he wasn’t about to debate that with the boss, a man of limited view. His employers never lived in his world, never walked in his shoes. They hired a hit man to execute someone but they didn’t know how much went into pulling the trigger or tightening the noose. How much planning went into making something look like an accident. How much planning went into pulling it off and being able to walk away. And not just walk away, but remain on the outside of prison walls.
Sam ‘The Dealer’ Marconi had managed to do that for many years. But now it was Frank De Luca’s turn to be the most feared man in Italy.
And if their mutual political friend couldn’t get The Dealer under control, then it would be left in Frank’s hands to deal him out of the game.
There was nothing Frank De Luca wanted more and the woman who could lead him to Sam Marconi was sitting on the same train, only a few seats up, completely unaware of the danger watching her.
He felt like a frog, watching a fly that was too close. A snake watching a mouse. A leopard examining a gazelle.
He smiled.
Sarah Roberts was his gazelle. Leopards were superior hunters in the wild and Frank De Luca was a superior hunter in Italy.
The end was near. He dialed another number. After arranging a car to meet him in Perugia, he relaxed in his seat and waited the ride out.
Everything was going better than he could’ve planned it.
He smiled as the Italian countryside disappeared when the train entered a tunnel.
Chapter 12
As soon as the train went black and before the lights flicked on to illuminate the inside of the car, Sarah hopped up from her seat and made a beeline for the door that connected the train cars.
As she bounced through the door, the lights flickered on. She crossed between cars on a covered walkway and opened the door to the next one, which was just as full.
At the other end of the car, a man in a Trenitalia train uniform and cap had just entered. He turned to the people in the first set of seats to check their tickets.
She couldn’t allow train officials to check her. She didn’t have a ticket and she’d be kicked off, but they would see her face and maybe call it in. They may even require a passport to give her a fine.
The least amount of official attention was the better way to go right now.
At the end of the next car, the train exited the tunnel and sunlight poured in through the windows. She opened the next door, exited that car, and looked back over her shoulder.
It entered a tunnel again, but the lights were still on. A sign on the door beside her said toilette. She opened the door, entered the restroom, and set the lock.
She sat on the lid of the toilet and breathed a sigh of relief.
Chapter 13
As the train exited the second tunnel, Frank leaned over in his seat to look at Sarah.
Her seat was empty.
Merda!
He jumped up and almost collided with the Trenitalia employee checking tickets.
“Excuse me,” Frank said in Italian and started to move away.
“Ticket please.”
Frank stopped. Sarah was still on the train. He would find her. They hadn’t stopped yet.
“I almost missed the train in Termini. I didn’t have time to buy one.” He reached in his pocket and pulled out a few hundreds. “How much to Perugia from Termini?”
The employee sold him a ticket, validated it with a hole punch and fined him fifty euros for getting on without a ticket.
The train entered another tunnel. He opened his mouth and clicked his jaw to clear his ears with the air pressure change.
He started the only way he was sure Sarah would’ve gone. She probably saw the ticket inspector coming and took off toward the front. She didn’t get up and walk his way or he would’ve seen her.
Frank had watched as Sarah tried to buy a ticket, but stopped and ran for the train just before it left the terminal.
By being smart, patient and observant, Frank believed in his skills as a tracker. Deduction alone allowed him to know which way she had gone.
They exited the tunnel. He had ridden this train many times. There were half a dozen tunnels, all just after leaving Rome. Soon the tunnels would stop. Soon the train would stop. And soon, he would find her and stop her.
In the second car, he traversed the seats, looking at everyone he passed, his smile wide as he pursued his prey.
This was the part of the game that he loved.
Chapter 14
While she occupied the restroom, she might as well use it. After pulling down her new pants, she sat on the seat.
The train car door just outside banged open as someone walked from car to car.
Must be the ticket guy.
After a few minutes, she would leave the bathroom and head the other way through the cars until she got to the end.
She decided to get off the train at the next stop, where she would buy a ticket to Perugia. There would probably be an hour wait or longer for the next train, but that would give her time to eat and calm her nerves.
She stood, did up her pants, and cleaned her hands as best she could in the limited space.
The door banged outside the restroom again.
She waited and listened.
Without knowing where the ticket guy was, she decided to wait a little longer.
Chapter 15
Frank continued through the third car without seeing Sarah. How could he have missed her? He had looked in every seat.
In the train station, as she ran along looking at the train destination signs, she had stopped at Perugia for a reason. He was sure that was her final destination.
He needed to remain calm. Just because he couldn’t see her didn’t mean things had changed. She was on a train bound for Perugia, and so was he. The train would make routine stops along the way, but he would watch
to see if she exited at any of them and continue his pursuit from there.
At least until he could befriend her.
She wouldn’t even know what hit her.
He entered the fourth car.
Still no sign of Sarah, and only two more cars to search.
Chapter 16
Sarah opened the restroom door slowly and peeked out. The compartment between the two train cars was empty.
She headed back the way she had come to avoid coming up behind the train employee. After walking through several second-class train cars, she came upon a door with a sign for first-class.
She stepped inside and looked the length of the car. It had better seats and was almost empty. She counted seven heads in a car that could hold fifty people. It had been the opposite in second class. There had only been seven empty seats and almost fifty people per car behind her.
In first class, each set of seats had a foldout table between them.
She passed a man on his iPad, a pie chart on the screen. Up ahead, a couple sat discussing a church they had just toured. At their chairs, the man looked up and tilted his head sideways.
Sarah went on guard instantly, her hands flexing at the first sign of a problem.
“Do I know you?” the man asked her in American English. He was dressed well in a suit jacket. His hair was combed to one side and he had a thin goatee that framed his jaw.
She shook her head and looked at the woman with him, her hair pulled to the side and flowing over one shoulder. “I’m sorry, I don’t recognize you either, but I love what you’ve done with your hair and that dress, gorgeous.”
“Thank you.”
Sarah looked up the aisle to the end.
This is the last car.
She would have to head back the way she had come and chance bumping into the ticket man.
“Do you know when the next stop is coming?” Sarah asked.
The man nodded. “We’ll be stopping in Terni within minutes. Where are you headed?”
“Terni,” she said too fast.
The man narrowed his eyes. Keen eyes that took everything in. He had an iPad in his lap plugged into the train’s wall. On the screen was a golf game he had been playing. The woman, his wife, Sarah assumed, also held an iPad, but with a novel open on hers.
“Is it a lot more for first class?” she asked. “You get these tables and plugs to charge your iPads.”
“Not at all,” the man said. “It works out to be about five to ten euros more per ticket. We do it because first class is hardly ever full which makes it quieter, easier to read.”
“Or play golf,” she said, gesturing at his iPad. She turned to the woman. “What are you reading?” Sarah wanted to make conversation while she waited for the train to slow as it approached Terni.
“One of his books,” she said, pointing at the man with the goatee.
“What’s it called?”
“A Murder in Time. His new time-travel thriller.”
“A writer?” she said out loud, almost to herself.
He nodded, his eyes still observing her.
“I am, too,” Sarah said. “I’ve written two full-length memoirs of my life. When I get home, I’ll be working on my third.”
“Where’s home?” the man asked.
“Right now, Toronto, Canada.”
“Me too,” he said. “Funny, eh? My wife’s from California.”
The train slowed.
“Well, I guess that’s it,” Sarah said. “Here comes my stop.”
The man stood. Sarah reared back, but realized there was no danger and made it look like the momentum of the train caused her to lose her balance.
The man pulled out his wallet and handed her two business cards.
“When you get home, look me up on Amazon. This is my wife, Brenda Grate and I’m Jonas Saul.”
“Jonas Saul. Why does that name ring a bell? Maybe I’ve read you before.”
“Maybe,” he said, his eyes never leaving her face.
“My name is Sarah Roberts.” It was out before she could stop it. Advertising her name only left a trail.
The man reached out his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Sarah. I knew I knew you.” He looked at his wife as if he just won a small victory, a wide smile on his face. He turned back to her again. “Saw your name in the papers over the years. It’s an honor to meet you. Keep up the good work.”
The train was almost in the station. She had to go.
She clasped his hand, shook it hard, and let it fall.
They exchanged a smile. Brenda stood and shook her hand, too.
“Gotta run,” Sarah said and started away.
“Stay safe and run fast,” Jonas said. Then he grinned, his eyes lighting up further, if that were possible. It was the kind of look she expected from an adoring father who was proud of his daughter and the decisions she had made.
Her step faltered.
What is it about this guy that draws me to him? Could he be that friendly?
She collected herself as the train stopped, nodded at him once more and jogged for the door as she slipped the two business cards in her pocket.
“Say hello to your sister for me,” he shouted after her. “And listen to her very closely. Everything always depends on Vivian.”
She stopped at the door and looked back but Jonas was already sitting down.
She opened the train car door that led between the two cars and turned to leave through the open exit door on the side. A whistle blew. The door to the outside started to close.
She jammed her foot in it and forced it back open.
Then she slipped outside and dropped to the platform. The door closed behind her and the train started moving almost instantly.
She moved away from the train and looked for Jonas and his wife, but couldn’t see them as the windows slipped by.
How did he know about Vivian?
Over the years, the Toronto papers had featured her many times. Three years ago, she was front page news after breaking into a religious compound and freeing female captives. Since then, she had been featured no less than a dozen times. Someone who watched the news routinely could easily recognize her, but it rarely happened.
She shook her head at the notion of familiarity and decided to forget about it. Those people weren’t a threat. If anything, she had felt comfortable in their presence.
The last train car lumbered by.
Inside, a face pushed up close to the window.
The smiling face of the man with the ponytail, T-shirt and jeans.
Wow, some Italians have no restraint with the staring thing.
She turned around to go buy a ticket, not able to get out of her head how Jonas and Brenda made her feel.
Chapter 17
Frank had gone through the train cars all the way to the back. At the Terni station, he had waited at the exit door as long as he could, watching the length of the Trenitalia train for his prey, but Sarah did not get off.
To double check, he leaned over the empty seats in the last car and stared out at the people walking toward the station as the train pulled away.
Once the train left Terni, he would walk back through it and check all the toilets. She had to be here somewhere.
But to his surprise, Sarah stood on the platform as if in a daze. She didn’t move or react as he passed her.
He made sure to smile wide because they would meet again. He wanted her to remember his face.
They were going to be friends one day very soon.
After passing her, he took a seat and clenched his fist into his other hand.
There was nothing worse than being thwarted by an amateur. He was the tracker. He was the hunter. Yet she was able to elude him on the train for almost ten minutes and get off without him seeing her.
The mission would stay intact. Sarah was on the train to Perugia for a reason. Otherwise she would’ve gotten on any train.
He would continue to Perugia and set up a meeting with Marconi while he w
aited for Sarah to arrive.
He was smart. He knew her. She was only in Terni to buy a ticket. Why else would she jump from her seat when the ticket inspector came through and then leave the train at the first stop?