Legacy of Sorrows (33 page)

Anna knew that she had to do something quickly before Lorenzo appeared. She looked at Marco's bloody nose and an idea crept into her mind. ‘I'll get you a tissue from my makeup bag,' she said and stood up from the bed. She motioned to the man that she was moving to the unit by the window where her bag was. He nodded in agreement. Marco saw his chance to distract the killer. He tightened his grip on his jacket and threw it in the killers face. Stalin was distracted for a moment, which was all the time Anna needed. She picked up her bag with her left hand and with her other hand pulled out her Beretta, turned, and coolly shot the man between the eyes. He somehow looked comical as he dropped to the floor with a kind of quizzical look on his face. Anna picked up her coat and shouted at Marco with an urgent voice, 'quick, out the door, Lorenzo's probably on his way up here now.' Marco was staring at the dead body on the floor, still unsure of what had just happened. Anna grabbed his hand and helped him to his feet. ‘Marco, pull yourself together, we need to get out of here now.' They opened the room door and carefully looked out. Once they were sure the coast was clear they ran along the corridor. ‘Use the stairs, not the lift, ‘cried Marco as they ran to the red door marked ‘Scale.'

Lorenzo pressed the lift button for the third floor and watched as the red light above the door changed numbers. At number three the doors opened and he walked to the left towards Marco's room. Before reaching it he sensed that something was wrong. The room door was lying open. He carefully came alongside it, drew his gun and looked inside. He didn't need to go inside the room to find out what was wrong. His associate, Stalin, was lying on his back in the middle of the floor with a bullet hole between his eyes. He rested his head against the wall for a moment and tried to pull his thoughts together. It must have just happened, so they can't be far away. He made for the lift, pressed the button and hesitated. They probably took the stairs he thought, to be safe, in case they met me on the way up. He frantically made a dash for them.

Lorenzo was on the second level when he heard the sound of a door slamming shut on the bottom floor. The fire door, he thought. He reckoned it must be Corti and Bastiani trying to escape. He ran faster down the stairs and slipped on one of the metal treads and fell on his back. He cursed his luck and picked himself up. He felt the niggle in his back pull as he started running down the stairs again. It wasn't anything serious so he put it out of his mind and soon reached the exit door. He opened it carefully. When he was sure no one was there, he ran up the street as fast as he could towards the sound of running footfall.

‘Keep up Anna' Marco shouted, your agents must be in that car just ahead.' He pointed towards the Fiat car parked by the side of the road about fifty metres in front of them. As they both kept running for the car Anna wondered why her backup didn't show themselves to find out why they were running.

Marco reached it first and recoiled in horror when he saw the scene inside. The two agents had exit holes in their heads as big as a fist. Their brains and blood were spread all over the inside of the car. Without further thought he opened the car door and reached inside the dead driver's jacket for his handgun. Taking it out he spun round just as Anna arrived on the scene. ‘What's happened? Why are they just sitting there?' Marco pulled her away before she could take in the slaughter and led her behind the car for safety. He saw Lorenzo, running with a limp, towards the car with his gun visible in his hand.

‘Are they dead?' Anna asked pointing towards the agents. Marco looked at her, solemnly nodded his head, then said, ‘focus in Anna, this bastard wants to kill us as well.'

Lorenzo couldn't see his prey anywhere, but he knew they must be just ahead. The evening gloom was beginning to fall, and he found it difficult to see ahead clearly. The briefcase and the letters were not his focus now, only revenge. So far, he had lost four members of his cell and his blood was up. He could feel the pain in his back becoming more intense, so he slowed down to a brisk trot. He heard a male voice shouting from what appeared to be the SISI agents car ahead, ‘Police, put down your weapon or we will shoot.' He stopped in his tracks and stared into the gathering gloom. The voice seemed to come from where the SISI agent's were but Lorenzo knew that was not possible. Perhaps, he thought, he had only wounded one of the agents and he was still able to function. He raised his pistol and began firing at the cars windscreen three, four, five times, more in hope than certainty. He saw the windscreen completely shatter, sending glass everywhere. The answering fusillade from Marco and Anna ripped into him and his lifeless body fell to the ground in an untidy heap.

Slowly, Marco and Anna left the shelter of the car and approached Lorenzo from different angles, all the time keeping their weapons trained on him. Marco reached him first and removed his pistol from his hand. He knelt beside him and felt for a pulse. Anna kept her gaze averted from the dark pool of blood spreading from underneath Lorenzo. Marco lowered his weapon, and turned to a tearful Anna. He held her close to him and gently kissed her cheek. ‘It's all over Anna, it's finished, he said. ‘I'm not crying for him, ‘she replied, ‘I'm crying with relief.' She looked up into Marco's face and closed her eyes as he gently kissed her on the lips.

Their moment together was ended abruptly with the sound of sirens and flashing lights as two police cars arrived on the scene.

Uniformed officers with weapons drawn approached them. ‘Throw down your weapons and raise your hands,' someone called out to them. Marco and Anna placed their pistols on the ground and did as they were told. Anna repeatedly shouted out, ‘police officer, on duty.'

The senior police officer approached with his weapon aimed at them. ‘Where is your ID Signora?' Anna turned her head and answered him ‘inside my bag on the ground there.' She motioned with her head behind her. A police officer took her ID from the bag and showed it to the senior officer. After satisfying himself to Anna's identity, he asked her, ‘what happened here?' Anna lowered her hands and answered, ‘the man on the ground is a member of the Red Brigades and we have been following him for sometime. He came up behind the two officers in the car, who are SISI agents, and shot them. There is another dead terrorist in a room in the hotel Imperiali He attempted to kill us as well, but we were able to down him first.'

The police officer took in all of this information in an incredulous manner before saying, four people have been killed tonight, is that correct?' ‘Yes,' Anna replied. He then turned towards Marco ‘And who are you
signore
?' My name is Marco Corti, and I am helping the police with their enquiries.'

‘What enquiries would that be sir? 'He said, looking Marco directly in the eye. Anna interrupted him. ‘I'm sorry Officer, but for any further information you will have to contact Commandante Capaldi who is in charge of this operation. All I can say is that SISI have jurisdiction in this matter.'

The police officer, who had many years experience in the Carabinieri knew if the SISI were conducting this operation and with two of their agents murdered in the street in cold blood, then he should not ask any further questions of the two people in front of him. This looked like it was going all the way to the top and there was no way he wanted to get involved. He turned to his waiting officers and issued orders to set up a crime scene and to call for an ambulance. He turned to Anna again saying,' I will have to verify what you have just told me Officer, and I will contact SISI personally. In the meantime I would request you go back to the Station House and await instructions.' At that point, Anna and Marco left the scene of the carnage. Anna looked at Marco, who still had blood flowing from his nose and said, 'why don't you get your nose sorted out at the hospital. You've probably damaged something inside.' I have to report to my superiors about what's happened tonight. I'm sure the Officer here will be on to SISI before long and I want to alert them first.' Marco agreed. ‘I'll catch up with you later' he said.

Chapter 13

A
nna
was finishing off her report for Enzo Capaldi when Marco appeared at her side. ‘What a surprise to see you so soon,' she said. ‘How's the nose?' secretly pleased that he'd come to the police station. ‘A lot better,' he said. ‘I thought we might have a chat Anna. I feel there are still some loose ends in this case.' Anna looked directly at him, ‘what loose ends? Tomorrow morning we go for the letters and the case is closed. What's worrying you?' Marco was obviously unsettled about something. ‘I don't know Anna. It's just the feeling that we're missing something important.'

Anna gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, ‘don't worry, what can go wrong now?'

Marco gave her a nervous grin and said ‘you're probably right, I'm just being silly.'

Being a little more positive, he said to her, ‘fancy a glass of wine before turning in?

Anna smiled at him, ‘that's my boy, give me five minutes to bring Enzo up to date and I'll be right with you.'

They went to a small wine bar along from San Michele church in the centre of the old town, called Bar Re. Marco liked this bar as it was usually quiet, and the sort of place you could have an intimate conversation without being overheard. They sat at the back of the bar in one of the booths and ordered a bottle of Chianti.

Anna had been thinking that as the retrieval operation would be completed tomorrow there was a good chance that Marco would be going home in the next few days, and she felt that they still didn't know each other that well.

She decided to seize the opportunity now. ‘When do you think you'll be going home Marco?' Marco shrugged his shoulders. ‘I really haven't given it much thought. I'll probably see how it pans out over the next few days.'

‘Do you have anyone special waiting for you?' Anna asked.

‘No one special at this time.' Marco replied. I was in a relationship for a number of years, but that ended some time ago.' ‘What happened?'

‘A dream job in America happened, and it just lost energy from there.'

Marco had never really shared this with anyone before and he was surprised how easy it felt to do it. He had feelings for Anna, but he wasn't quite sure what these feelings were. Their relationship had hardly been typical so far, with six deaths, a hostage situation, and a shootout with a terrorist being the norm. Perhaps eventually the future would look brighter for them, or did they have a future together?

‘What about you Anna? Do you have anyone special in your life?'

‘No one that I could call really special. I lost my parents when I was very young, and I was raised by an aunt who was very kind to me. I have had a few boyfriends however; things just never seemed to work out.'

Anna smiled at him; her record with relationships was poor to date. Every time it got serious she seemed to want to run, but this time it could be different. She continued, ‘the hours with this job are a real drawback.' He decided to push the boundaries a little further on ‘Do you think Anna we could see each other after all this is over?' Anna looked him directly in the eyes, reached out for his hand, and said, ‘I really would like to see you again. I don't know how it would work out, with you in Scotland and me in Italy, but I'm willing to give it a try if you are.' Once this is over we can work something out,' said Marco. He asked for the bill, and once paid, they left together, hand in hand, both revelling in their newfound relationship. Marco stopped a passing taxi, and opened the door for Anna. They kissed goodnight, and parted. What was I missing, he thought. It's staring me in the face but I can't see it.