The Mafia Emblem

by Michael Hillier

  - 40 -

  So Ben told them about the attempted climb on The Face of the Devil and its tragic conclusion. When he had finished he sat silent on the wall on the edge of the cliff, looking down at the waves swirling over the rocks far below. He felt a deep sense of shame.

  “I know I should have made more of an attempt to rescue Carlos,” he admitted, “but I seemed to be so weak. My muscles had given up working. I hardly had enough strength left to hold myself up there.”

  Donna spoke out, “Well, I reckon you’re a god-damned hero. Me – I’d have just given up and only thought about saving my own skin.”

  Francesca had said nothing and Donna prompted her, “Don’t you agree that he should have a medal for saving your brother’s life?”

  The girl was silent for a long time, then she blurted out, “Carlos deserved to die. Toni did not.” She rested a hand on Ben’s arm. “My grandfather said he believed you are the tool of God.”

  The other two looked at her in astonishment but she didn’t seem to think her words were strange.

  “You have been sent to us in our day of need,” she said. “I think you will destroy the Vitelli. My grandfather told me this. He said I must follow you.”

  “Christ,” said Donna irreverently. “It seems that now you’re the god-damned messiah.”

  “I don’t know about that.” Ben tried to make a joke of it. “I’m not sure I can even look after myself, much less sort out the Vitelli. I’ve still got to find a way to get up that cliff over there.”

  Francesca glared fiercely into his face. “We will do it. They will not be able to stop us now.”

  “I don’t know about that,” said Ben. “I tell you that will not be an easy climb. It’ll have to be made at night. I may make a noise. If I had to put a bet on it, I would say the odds are two to one against doing it without being caught.”

  “I tell you we will do it. You will not be alone. I shall come as well to help you up.”

  “That’s out of the question.”

  “You said you cannot do it alone. On your own you would not succeed. You must not do it alone. Also you will need to someone to show you the way when you get to the house. I am the only one who knows where to find Mancino Vitelli.”

  “I tell you, Francesca, it won’t be an easy pitch. It’ll be dark and the rock will be wet and difficult. It’s no climb for a beginner.”

  “But I have to come,” she said. “I am the last of the Cimbroni. Poor Alfredo is an empty shell. I cannot ask you to do something on your own that is so difficult. For the honour of the Cimbroni I must come.”

  Ben shook his head. “I tell you again that it is not a climb for a novice. A girl like you would not have the strength in her hands.”

  “Do not talk to me in that way,” blazed Francesca. “I may be a girl but I am equal to any man. I will show you that I am not afraid of anything. And I am very fit and strong. I will probably leave you behind half way up.”

  Ben looked at the fury in her face. If sheer determination was enough, he could believe that she was more than capable of scrambling up two hundred feet of sheer, friable limestone. However it would need more than that. He turned to Donna for support but she just shrugged.

  “Aw, hell. Let the madam go,” she said. “Then she’ll find out what it’s really like.”

  “Even if she kills the pair of us?”

  “You too,” said Francesca. “Why should we not all climb?”

  Donna shook her head vigorously. “Not me, little sister. You won’t get me anywhere near that rock-face. I sure am scared of heights.”

  “If I go, I go on my own. I don’t want anyone else to slow me down or put me in danger,” said Ben.

  “You know that is not safe,” said Francesca. “We have already said that you cannot do it alone. I remember that Toni said many times that no person should make a big climb on his own. It doesn’t matter how good a climber you are - you must have someone to back you up and carry spare equipment. Besides,” she spread her hands wide, “I ask you, where will you go when you get to the top of the cliff if I am not there to guide you? You do not know the way into the building. You also do not know what Mancino Vitelli looks like or where he sleeps. You cannot even speak Italian very well. You will get nowhere without me. You will do all that climbing and then throw it away for nothing.”

  She had a point there. Ben still felt it was wrong to expect a young girl to risk her life doing something that she had never done before. But when he looked to Donna for a way out, she was no help to him.

  “I say let her go. She’s gotta learn to be a big girl some time.”

  He shrugged. “OK. You win. I’ll take you with me.”

  He saw Francesca’s grim smile of success. Ben thought that probably she was only coming to make sure that he didn’t have an opportunity to back out. It was likely that she didn’t have any confidence in his ability or his resolve to succeed. But he couldn’t complain about that. He didn’t feel much confidence in himself at the moment.

  He thrust those thoughts firmly behind him. “If we’re going to climb tonight, we’d better get moving. We’ve got a busy day ahead of us – checking out the equipment and giving you some basic training, Francesca. I’m not climbing without the proper preparation.”

  “You’re the boss.” Donna stepped in before the girl could argue. “Tell us what we’ve got to do next.”

  “All right, then. First we go back to Naples to pick up the kit and check it out thoroughly. It hasn’t been used for two years and it was packed away after an unsuccessful climb. It’s bound to be in a mess. So it’ll have to be cleaned up and possibly repaired. That’ll take all three of us at least a couple of hours.”

  He paused but there was no argument.

  “We’ve got to plan our ascent properly. Speed is going to be important. A climb like this may take three to four hours in the dark. We can’t start until all the light has gone and there’s no risk of people in the Villa spotting us. That means we won’t begin climbing until about midnight. Dawn is soon after seven at this time of year. We’ve got to be in the house long before that. Really I’d like to be in and out again by that time. So this afternoon we’ll have a training session to try and instill some technique into you, Francesca - how to hold yourself, how to control the ropes - that sort of thing. We can do some low climbs on the cliffs where Toni used to train and I’ll show you what to do.”

  He was ready for Francesca to raise some objections, but she seemed to be keeping remarkably quiet. Perhaps she was so anxious to do the climb that she was prepared to do everything she was told, just to humour him.

  “The other thing that I want to do is to take a boat out from somewhere near here so that we can give the cliffs below the Villa Rafallo a thorough survey. I need to have a good idea of what is the most suitable route up. For that I’ll need a local boatman who isn’t a friend of the Vitelli.”

  “While you two are practicing I’ll see if I can come up with someone,” said Donna. “I sure am good at worming my way under the skin of the locals.”

  “Thanks.” Then Ben suddenly thought, “You’re doing a hell of a lot, Donna. This isn’t your fight. I’d understand if you didn’t want to get involved.”

  “Hey! Don’t you try and edge me out. I haven’t had so much fun in years. I’m with you all the way - just so long as you don’t ask me to do any dumb things like climbing up cliffs. That’s your department. And Francesca’s, of course, if that’s the way she wants to play it.”

  Ben nodded. “OK. Well, thinking about it, we ought to do the survey as soon as possible, before the shadows get too deep. The climbing practice can come later. If you can drop us back at Toni’s flat, Donna, then Francesca and I will sort out the gear while you’re off looking for a boat. Then you can come and pick us up as soon as you’ve got one, if that’s all right with you.”

  “Sure is.”

  “Let’s get moving then.”

  He turned back to the car. His heart was t
humping as he climbed into the back seat. “I wonder whether I can go through with it,” he thought to himself miserably as Donna did a U-turn and headed back to the city.