“We need to go in there and get him.” Thompson got out of the back seat of the car where he’d been listening to the conversation between Tony and Matteo. He was frustrated that his only link to Katherine was driving away in the enemy’s car. Yes, he was wired, but up until now, nothing seemed to work out in this investigation. Something always went wrong and Thompson needed this to turn out right.
Mancetti exited out of the car stretching his arms and legs. “We can’t yet. We need to find out where the girl is. If we get him now, we may never find her.”
“Look, we’ve confirmed Matteo is, in fact, running the operation. We have him confessing that he killed Massimo’s family. He pretty much said he’s not going to kill Katherine. He knows his life would get dramatically worse. If we get him now, we could force him to give her whereabouts. If we let him leave that factory, he may leave the country and we may never find him again. Not to mention, Tony used the safe word.”
“Let’s look and see if Bertalucci was able to get the tracking device on him.” Manchetti jumped into the back seat of the car and typed on the computer as the screen pulled up. He pointed to the red dots on it. “This is Bertalucci. We can see he’s headed to Rome. The other one hasn’t moved yet, it is still at the factory. Hopefully, he was able to drop it in Matteo’s pocket and not on the ground.”
Thompson was skeptical as he kept his eyes glued to the screen. This entire thing could be over if they just went in and nabbed Matteo Bertalucci. If he were back in America, this wouldn’t even be a second thought. “There! It’s moving. He did it.” Thompson threw his arms in the air and sighed in relief. “We can get her. Get your men ready; I want to be out of the country by the end of the night.” Thank you, God. This would certainly lead to a raise and possibly even a promotion.
“Not so fast. We don’t know if he’s going to her or not. She could be somewhere not even close to here. We need to figure out where he’s going and take a look inside.”
“At least get the reinforcements ready. I don’t want to waste a minute.” His voice got a little deeper and gruff with irritation. It always seemed as though Manchetti was stalling. At the very least, he was slow and methodical.
Thompson kept his eyes glued to the screen while Manchetti picked up the phone. The dot moved across the screen at a steady rate. After only a couple of minutes, it stopped. When the dot started again, it zigzagged back and forth. He nudged Mancetti’s arm and pointed at the screen.
“I’ll have to call you back.” Mancetti hung up the phone.
“What’s happening?” He followed the zigzag with his finger.
“I don’t know. It’s unusual for this kind of response. There must be something going on.”
Mancetti pulled up the location on the computer. “He’s about five hundred yards from the factory. It looks as though it’s a field. This doesn’t make sense.”
He watched in anticipation as Mancetti typed away. His stomach was dancing as sweat formed on his brow. He didn’t know if he was supposed to be happy or crying expletives.
“Fuck!” Mancetti slammed his fist against the back of the seat. “Somehow, the bastard attached the tracking device to a fucking cat! Are you kidding me?” Mancetti threw his head back against the seat.
“Matteo must’ve known Bertalucci was wired.” He rubbed his chin. “That means Bertalucci is in trouble. I told you we should’ve gone in when he said Empire State Building. He must’ve known something was up. Quick! Pull him up on your computer. See where they’re going.”
Mancetti typed away. “It appears they are, in fact, heading to Rome. I’ll have my men track them there, and in the meantime, we’ll catch the train and beat them there. Let’s get out of here. We don’t have a lot of time to spare.” Mancetti closed up the laptop and climbed into the front seat of the car.
Something wasn’t right about this. The last thing he wanted to do was go back to Rome. He was so close to Matteo he could practically smell the aftershave. “Wait! Don’t you think we should hang out here in case Matteo shows up? I want to be as close to Katherine as possible.”
“Look, we don’t know if or when he’s going to surface. We also don’t know if she’s anywhere close to here. We have to follow what we know.” Mancetti turned on the car and the engine purred to life.
Thompson climbed out of the back seat and into the front. Dread plagued him and regret stabbed at him. This wasn’t the right move, but what other choice did he have? He was in a foreign country with little to know power. He had to rely on Mancetti.