Thompson couldn’t believe his eyes. A woman fitting the description of Katherine Anderson was crawling through the basement window. Was it her? This woman was badly beaten and barely recognizable. Holy crap! He nudged the agent next to him and pointed in the woman’s direction. The man dressed in black camouflage looked through his binoculars and nodded before picking up his gun and silently shooting a hole straight through the sleeping man’s chest.
The head of the lifeless body fell to the side. While he had been trained to shoot to kill, he’d never actually done it nor had he ever seen it happen. He watched as she turned and looked at the dead man. The look on Katherine’s face was one of sheer panic as she looked back through the window and appeared to be talking to someone. Who was it? Could it be Massimo Bertalucci? Hesitantly, Katherine turned back around and stood up. She looked left then right and headed straight toward him.
The sniper talked into his microphone alerting his team of the situation. One by one, men started quietly dropping to the ground. He couldn’t believe how quick and effective these guys were. Their precision and skill were bar none.
Katherine grew closer as her speed picked up. Gunfire assaulted the air as bullets pelted the ground behind her. More men had come out of the house and were firing random shots in an attempt to make contact with the snipers. A man aiming for Katherine fell to the ground as the bullet hit his chest. She tripped and fell, and she looked around before getting back up and running for the trees. Thompson scrambled to his feet. The sniper nodded at him to retrieve her.
Thompson ran down the hill. His heart pounded and sweat poured from his face. Please don’t let her get shot. As soon as she reached the trees, he snagged her arm. She protested at first, hitting him and trying to pull away.
“Ms. Anderson, I need you to relax. You’re safe now.”
“H—How do you know my name?”
“My name is Daniel Thompson. I’m a special agent with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. I’ll be taking you back home.” It was the words he’d been waiting to say. They felt like money falling from his mouth.
Katherine fell into his arms and began sobbing. She held onto him as her knees gave out.
“Miss Anderson, I’m going to need you to come with me. It’s not safe for us to stay here.” Thompson helped her stand, and guided her up the hill to the rest of the team.
“Get her in the car. Manchetti is waiting there to take you both back to the embassy,” one of the men commanded.
He was overwhelmed with relief. This would soon be over. Mr. Anderson would be able to hold his daughter in his arms as soon as the plane landed. Thompson latched onto Katherine’s arm and guided her further up the hill until she stopped abruptly.
“Wait! What about Tony? He’s stuck inside that house. They’re going to kill him.”
“Tony? Are you referring to Massimo Bertalucci?” He held his breath. It couldn’t possibly be this easy.
“Yes. You can’t just leave him in there!” She pointed to the house she just came from.
“Where is he?”
“He’s in the basement and his cousin is upstairs with a bunch of armed goons. You have to get to him!”
“Stay right here.” Thompson ran back down the hill and alerted the men to Bertalucci’s whereabouts before rushing back to Katherine’s side.
“They’re going to do everything they can to get him out, but we have to go now. Your father should be arriving in Rome shortly. He won’t be happy if you aren’t there.”
“My dad? He’s really here?” More tears poured from her already moist eyes.
“Yes, and as you can imagine, he’s not very happy about it.”
Katherine laughed and wiped away her tears. “That sounds like Daddy.”
Once they got up to the car, Manchetti ran to open the door and assist Katherine into the back seat. Thompson handed her a blanket before getting in the car. “Are you okay? Can I get you anything?
She dabbed at her eyes. “Just make sure they get Tony out. I’ll be fine.”
Thompson offered a friendly smile. “They’re trying,” he said as he walked around the front seat and climbed into the car.
The car pulled off the dirt path and onto the main road.
Manchetti looked over to Thompson as he drove. “How did you get her out so quick? We weren’t supposed to go in for another couple of hours.”
Thompson filled Manchetti in on the details.
“You’re one lucky woman! You could’ve easily been shot if it wasn’t for my men.” Mancetti looked at Katherine through the review mirror. He turned the steering wheel and pulled off into the parking lot of the gas station.
“What’s up? Why are we stopping?” Panic swept through Thompson. He wasn’t pleased about pulling over so close to the Bertalucci estate.
“I was going to get Miss Anderson some water and food. She looks like she could use something.” Manchetti motioned for him to take a look.
Thompson studied Katherine and realized it was true; she looked dehydrated and malnourished. “Fine. Hurry up. We need to get her some medical attention, and I want to get back to the embassy as soon as possible.”
Manchetti pushed out of the car and walked into the mini-mart.
Thompson peered down at his phone, getting ready to dial his boss.
“Agent Thompson?” Katherine’s voice was barely a squeak.
He turned around and faced her. “Yeah?”
“How well do you know that other agent?”
Thompson was puzzled; it seemed like an odd question to ask. “Not well. We’ve been working on this case for a couple of months. Why?”
“Do you trust him?”
Again, he considered her motives. “I believe so. Why are you asking?”
“Because before I escaped, Tony told me not to talk to anyone at the gas station. He said they could be informants for his cousin.”
Holy fucking shit! Thompson locked his jaw as adrenaline surged through his veins. What if Manchetti was working with Bertalucci? What if all this time, he knew where she was? Was it possible? It would certainly explain why they were always one step behind and the cartel always seemed to be ahead of them. Jesus, was he that big of a fool?
He thought back to Siena when they narrowly missed Bertalucci and Anderson, in Rome when they seemed to have lost the trail, and in Umbria when Bertalucci was taken away with one of his cousin’s men. Was Manchetti responsible? Did he allow them to get close enough that Thompson thought they would get Katherine back only to be thwarted by some mishap?
Thompson looked from her back to the convenience mart. What should he do? What could he do? He was in Italy with very little resources except for the ones Manchetti provided. What options did he have?
He looked through the door of the convenience mart and watched as Manchetti stood at the counter talking to a man who appeared to work there. He was engaged in an intense conversation with his arms intermittently flying through the air. Other times, he pointed angrily at the man’s chest. Why would this type of conversation take place if Manchetti was just buying food and drink? Thompson knew the answer. Before his mind had time to react, his body was already in motion.
He jumped into the driver’s seat, started the car, and pulled out of the parking lot. He didn’t know where he was going, so he headed in their original direction and handed Katherine his phone.
“Ms. Anderson, I need you to help me out here. Check the internet on my phone for driving directions to the embassy in Florence versus the embassy in Rome. I’m not sure which one is closer.”
Katherine, nearly lifeless, instantly came alive. Clearly, this woman had more fight in her. She grabbed his phone and plugged away quickly. “It looks like they are both just over two hours away. Rome may be a few minutes closer.”
“Great, select the Rome route. Your dad will be there, and it will be easier to get you on that jet back to the States.” Thompson wanted to give in to the smile looking to make an appearance across his face, but two hours was a long time. So much could happen, but he wasn’t ready to wave his white flag in victory.
“You need to go down this road for a few more miles. Then we need to turn left onto the E45. It looks as though that’s an interstate. We’ll connect with the E35 and then the A1. It should be a straight shot.”
Thompson rubbed his chin. Good. If it was, in fact, a straight shot, they wouldn’t get lost. The only problem was, these were main highways and he was now driving a stolen car. He had to come up with a plan and quick. If Manchetti was really involved with the cartel then he had a lot of connections that Thompson didn’t, and it was only a matter of time before they would reach him.
Thompson gestured for Katherine to give him his phone. He quickly located the number for his boss. Fortunately, the line rang on the first try—something that rarely happened, and he quickly updated his supervisor on the events that took place.
“So, let me make it clear, you have Anderson in your custody?”
“Yes, sir. I do.”
“Thompson, when I picked you for this assignment, I had no idea the trouble you would get into. I never imagined this thing would be so big with arms stretching so wide. Let me call in a few favors and we’ll get you out of there.”
He hung up the phone as the E45 appeared and he turned the car swiftly onto the highway. He had to be aware of his surroundings now. There would be no time to take in the scenery.
“What’s the plan?” Katherine’s soft voice was like velvet to his ears.
“I’m not sure. My boss is going to call me back.” He glanced at her through the rearview mirror.
“You know they’re going to come looking for us.”
“Yeah.” He couldn’t argue. They probably had a few minutes at best before the posse would come hunt them down. They were sitting ducks if they stayed on this highway.
Thompson’s phone rang. He picked it up from his lap and hit the “Talk” button.
“Sir.” His heart pounded in his chest like a procession of drums walking through a parade.
“What’s your location?”
“I’ve been driving on the E45 for just a few miles. We’re heading south toward Rome.”
“Good. You’ll come upon an exit with a street called Via Flaminia. Take the exit and turn left. You’ll proceed down the road about a mile and you’ll come to a restaurant called Ristorante Ottavi. It’s a blue building with a sail out front. Pull into the parking lot. There will be a team from the Interpol waiting for you. Your contact person will be Agent Marsailles. You have my order to follow their instructions implicitly. They’ll get you to Rome. Any questions?”
“No, sir. Thank you.” He hung up the phone and placed it back in his lap. He surveyed the highway looking for signs of an upcoming street or town. There was nothing as of yet.
“Well?” Katherine stared at him as fear crept across her face and etched itself into her porcelain skin.
“We are going to rendezvous with the Interpol. I think we can trust them. Here, look up Via Flaminia. We need to get off there.” Thompson handed Katherine the phone. She took it eagerly and typed the information in just as she had done before.
Thompson was always the straight arrow growing up. He never did anything wrong. In fact, he was teased about being a hall monitor in his high school years. The funny thing was, he was a hall monitor in elementary school.
As Thompson got older, he dreamed of working for the FBI. He wanted to find the worst criminals and bring them to justice. He believed everyone deserved the opportunity to feel safe and live in a crime-free world. He was an idealist.
When he graduated with his degree in criminal justice, he was immediately employed by the Department of Justice. Thompson thought he hit the jackpot. He quickly made his way up the security clearance ladder and within a few months, he got the call from the Food and Drug Administration to become an agent. He never dreamed of such a job; he didn’t even know what they did. After doing some research and asking around, he made the decision to go for it. He never regretted his decision for a second.
“We have about another ten miles.” Katherine’s words brought him back into the moment. A surge of adrenaline rushed through his veins. This was the most excitement he’d ever had. Thompson was running from the law and the mafia at the same time. If this is how criminals felt, he could see why they kept doing what they did. It was addicting.
If Thompson pulled this off, he would not only take down a huge cartel, but he would end the career of at least one dirty agent and get the damsel in distress back to her family. He would be a frickin’ hero. This would certainly allow him to pave a new path with his career.
Thompson nodded and smiled. Victory was almost his.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing. I just have a really good feeling about this.” His grin couldn’t be erased. It was finally going to happen.
“I’m glad you do. I’ve been through enough for a lifetime. I can’t wait for this to be over.” Katherine turned her head and stared out the window.
Thompson focused on Katherine. How could he sit there gloating about all the accolades he was sure to receive when the woman sitting next to him was broken and bruised, both physically and mentally? What kind of asshole was he? Suddenly the smile was gone.
“Don’t worry. We’ll get you home. This will all be over before you know it.” Thompson firmly believed in his promise to her.
His phone chirped, indicating he needed to get off on the next exit.Thompson moved over to the right-hand lane and proceeded to move onto the off ramp. He turned left and followed the directions his boss had given him. Before long, the blue-and-white building on the right side of the road appeared. The restaurant had a closed sign prominently displayed in the window. And with the exception of the five unmarked cars out front, it was a ghost town.
Thompson pulled up next to one of the cars. His breath hitched when one of the agents stepped out of the car. At first glance, he thought it was Manchetti. After doing a double-take, he realized it wasn’t.
He put the car in park, but left the engine running. He rolled down the window to speak with the man approaching.
“Agent Thompson?” the man questioned in a deep, raspy voice.
“Yes, that’s me.” Thompson studied the man. He looked like he could be straight out of the Men in Black movie. The man wore a black suit with a white shirt, and dark sunglasses. His face was expressionless.
“I’m Agent Marsailles. I’m with the Interpol.” Thompson let out the breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. “I presume that’s Ms. Anderson with you?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Perfect. You’re going to have to turn off the engine and step out of this car. We have a new car for you to travel in.”
Thompson looked hesitantly at Katherine before turning off the engine. His stomach was filled with butterflies, making it impossible to rely on his gut instinct. He let out a deep breath and opened the door. Thompson unfolded his long legs from the inside of the small car. Once he was standing, Marsailles extended a hand that he shook it firmly.
“So, what’s the plan? How are we going to get to Rome undetected?”
Marsailles smiled. “Agent Thompson, I like your style. You cut to the chase.”
Thompson nodded; the last thing he wanted was to waste time with familiarities. They were less than two hours from total safety and freedom. He didn’t want this to turn into a five-hour ordeal.
Marsailles motioned for his men to approach. Before Thompson could blink, seven guys approached—all were wearing suits similar to Marsailles. “This is my team of men. All of them are experienced and able to support you and ensure your safety back to Rome.”
Marsailles continued to explain the plan to Thompson. One of the men would take the car they had been driving to Florence in an attempt to throw off anyone who was following them. They would ride in a car with Marsailles to the embassy in Rome. The other gentlemen would follow in front and behind of the car carrying Thompson and Katherine to ensure their safe transport. The plan seemed flawless—ingenious.
Thompson helped Katherine out of the car and escorted her to their new vehicle. She moved slowly, as her muscles had undoubtedly tightened up. Once she was seated in the back, he placed himself in the front passenger seat. Within moments, and without a hitch, they were on their way to Rome under the supervision of the Interpol.