Lost in Italy (46 page)

Halli screamed her brother’s name from the
Scappare
.  Lapaglia wasn’t moving.  A grotesque hole in his head said he wouldn’t move again.  The dark haired man who’d shot Ben slumped on the back bench, face ashen as he gasped for air while blood spread across his gray button down shirt in two different spots.

Halli’s scream tore into Trent’s heart, but he forced his attention to her brother, trusting his dad to take care of her.  He had to make sure Ben was alive.  Had to make sure he
stayed
alive.  At all costs.

Tony, the blond guard from the coffee house, surged forward at the same time Trent vaulted from his boat to theirs.  The vessel rocked, throwing Tony off balance as he reached for the wounded man’s gun.  Ben groaned as the woman named Eva leaned over him.  She had one hand pressed to his chest, the other trained on Tony, gun steady as she shouted in Italian.

Translating her frantic speech proved difficult as Trent debated who posed the most risk to Halli’s brother.

“I’m a police officer, Eva, like you,” Tony said.  He spoke in English and shifted his gaze to Trent.  “I’m on your side.  It’s over.  We can all put down our weapons.”

The woman named Eva demanded to see a badge.  Trent’s hand wavered between them, gun still ready.  What the hell was going on?

“Trent—call for help,” Eva ordered without looking away from Tony as he slowly reached into his pocket.  “Have them send medical teams to the dock at Via al Lago off Via Statale.”

Ben’s head lifted toward Eva.  “You’re a cop?”

Tony flashed an official looking badge and Eva immediately lowered her gun to focus solely on Ben.  “Nino and I were undercover.  Alrigo Lapaglia’s been under investigation for years.”

He dropped his head to the boat with a thud.  Groaned as he sucked in a breath.  “So many things make sense now.”

Slightly stunned by the news he stood in the company of two police officers, Trent reached for his phone, but Tony held one to his ear, already dialed.  His own weapon still raised, Tony fixed his pointed gaze on the gun in Trent’s hand.

Trent cast a glance at Alrigo’s prone body, tucked the gun away in his back waistband, and dropped down next to Eva.  “What can I do?”

“Give me your shirt.”

Trent stripped off the T-shirt and handed it over.  Eva efficiently folded the material into a square and placed it and Trent’s hand over where Ben had been shot.

“Keep pressure on it, like this.”

Trent leaned his weight onto his hand.  Ben’s breath rasped between his lips, but he still sounded better than the man Tony tended while he spoke in rapid Italian on the phone.  Didn’t look better, with the multi-colored bruises on his face, slightly swollen black eye and split lip, but at least he wasn’t coughing up blood like the Italian guy.

Staring down at Ben, he knew Halli was probably sick with worry.  As Eva shifted to check on Alrigo, he dug out his phone and turned it on to see he’d missed four calls.  All Simone.

Something wasn’t right.  If Rachel was fine, why did she keep calling him when she knew what was going on right now?

He hesitated, then dialed his father’s cell number, programmed into his phone less than an hour ago.  As it rang, he noticed Ben’s gaze shift to Eva.

“You’re okay?” Ben asked in a low, hoarse voice.

“
Si
.  Thanks to you.”

Relief flashed in Ben’s eyes before they closed and his body relaxed.

Eva clasped Ben’s hand, leaning closer.  “You should not have done that.  I am supposed to protect
you
.”

Trent’s father still hadn’t answered.  He checked the cell before glancing over his shoulder at the boat.  He had service.  Had he programmed the number incorrectly?  Why wasn’t his dad above deck?

“Ben? 
Ben.
  Stay with me.”

Trent jerked back around at the sharp concern in Eva’s voice.  Ben had yet to respond and Trent’s stomach lurched.  Had he failed Halli like he’d feared all along?

Eva leaned closer, a sheen of tears in her eyes.  “Benjamin?”

Ben’s eyelids fluttered and one corner of his mouth tugged up.  “Where would I go?”

She smiled until his eyes closed again and he groaned in pain.  Eva’s mouth trembled before her lips firmed and she glanced around.

“What the hell happened to our backup?” she demanded.

Trent wondered at the connection the two seemed to have formed during Ben’s captivity as Tony spoke over his shoulder from where he still attempted to stem the flow of blood from the other man’s wounds.

“They’re on the way.  Nino relayed the wrong coordinates.”

“Warned you not to trust him,” Ben whispered as Trent hit ‘send’ again to try to reach his father and Halli.

“I know.”  Eva watched Tony for a moment but made no move to help.  “How’s my partner?”

“Not good.”  Tony shook his head, helpless frustration evident.  “You
stupid
son-of-a-bitch.”

Blood from Nino’s wounds spread in ever-widening stains on his shirt.  Gurgling noises came from between his red-stained lips.

“Drive us to shore if you can’t do anything for him,” Eva ordered.

Clearly she didn’t intend to leave Ben’s side again.  Unease over his second unanswered call collided with a sudden spurt of anger inside Trent.

“How the hell did we get to
this
with three undercover cops in the mix?”

“We were one shipment away from an arrest when Lorenzo Roselli was shot,” Eva said.  “Your video would have put Lapaglia away for life, but the only way to make sure it didn’t fall into the wrong hands in the system and disappear was to go through with this exchange.”

Trent caught Tony’s eye when he glanced back.  He appeared mostly recovered from the espresso incident.  “She didn’t know about you,” he said to the blond man.  “Where do you fit in?”

“I’m with Europol.  I was investigating two Lenno officers in the smuggling case when Nino and Eva showed up about a year ago.  Nino’s activities and a few questionable ties to the mafia required further scrutiny, so they left me in place.”

Eva combed the fingers of her free hand through Ben’s hair as she asked Tony, “Got any idea why my partner tried to kill me?”

Nino’s bloody hand grasped the side rail in an attempt to pull himself up.  Trent just barely made out the Italian’s words as he tried to speak.

“Sorry…the money…Roselli…”

Trent’s brows drew together.  What did Lorenzo have to do with the money?

Beside him, Eva drew in a sudden breath.  Trent turned to see her staring down at Ben.

“Roselli’s not dead,” she murmured.

“Not dead,” Nino confirmed.

Trent looked back to Nino.  A cough spewed red droplets from his mouth, further staining his shirt and arms.  Tony leaned back to avoid the spray of blood.

Disbelief rippled through Trent.  “Of course he’s dead.  I saw him get shot—it’s on the video.  His
body
was found in my pool!”

“Alrigo has connections to get that story out without it being true,” Tony reminded.  “He wanted to put more pressure on you with
all
the police looking for you, not just the ones on his payroll.”

“He was shot three times,” Trent insisted, even as Simone’s numerous calls slammed into his conscious.

“I saw it, too,” Tony said.

“Bullet pr-proof vest.”  Nino choked and coughed.  “Wants…money.”

A bullet proof vest?  Trent’s mind whirled.  Lorenzo had showed up to their meeting that morning already wired.  They’d discussed the plan and Lorenzo went in, so it was possible he’d worn a vest under his shirt and jacket.

Rachel told Halli Simone looked like she’d seen a ghost.

Simone was sorry…
“should’ve told you earlier
”…

Lorenzo’s not dead.

Amazed relief came and went in a flash.  The money didn’t make sense.  The ransom demand hadn’t factored in until
after
Lorenzo had been shot.  He couldn’t have known Halli would video the shooting, or that Alrigo would hold her family hostage and demand cash for their release.

Unless… 
A whisper of his earlier suspicions tried to make itself heard through the confusion.
 

Blindly, Trent replaced his hand on Ben’s chest with Eva’s.  He surged to his feet and moved to shoulder Tony aside.

“How did Lorenzo know about the money before he was shot?” he asked Nino.  “Was he working with Lapaglia?”

Were they all?

It took a moment before the man could speak.  When he did, his words were punctuated with weak, gurgling coughs and shallow, gasping breaths for air.  “Planned to…sell you evidence…your brother’s murder…but …Alrigo shot Roselli…fucked up the plan…ransom… became a perfect opportun…”

Trent let out a shaky breath.  Halli and her family
weren’t
part of the plot.

With his next breath, Lorenzo’s obvious betrayal hit.  A split second later, gut-clenching fear bulldozed all else.

Lorenzo wanted the money.  Money that was still on his boat, with Halli, and
no one was answering the phone
.

He grasped Nino’s shoulders.  “How did he plan to get the money?”

“After…I—”

Nino’s face contorted and his body spasmed.  The man was dying right in front of him.  Trent’s fingers clenched, as if he could keep him alive by sheer will.

“Does he know where we are?”

Nino struggled for air, his eyes wide, panicked.  Trent gave him a desperate, violent shake.

Tony’s hand clamped on Trent’s arm.  “Take it easy.”

He released Nino as the distant sound of sirens reached across the water.  Flashing lights approached the shore of Lake Como beyond Isola Comacina.

“We must go,” Eva said.

Trent forced himself to pause by Ben as Tony brushed past on his way to the controls.  “Halli’s on the other boat.  I’ll get her and—”

“You brought her along?”

Trent bristled at the accusation in Ben’s voice.  “She refused to stay behind.”

“
Halli?
”

“Yes,
Halli
.  She’s very stubborn.  We’ll meet you on shore.”

He unwound the rope connecting his rental to Lapaglia’s boat and tossed it ahead of him.  Unrelenting urgency propelled him into the other boat in one leap.  He didn’t look back as he started the engine and opened up the throttle.  Ben was in good hands with Eva, and there was nothing he could do that she wouldn’t do anyway.

Halfway to the
Scappare
and closing, his phone rang.  He almost lost the damn thing over the side in his haste to answer.  “Halli?”

“Trent—Lorenzo’s alive!”

Simone.

“He called you this morning, didn’t he?”

“Yes.  I was so scared.  I still am.”

Trent wanted to believe the tremor that shook her words, but too much had happened for him to trust anything right now.  “What the hell is going on, Simone?”

“I don’t know.  He said something about finally getting his boat and told me to pack a bag and be ready.  I told him I would not go anywhere with him unless he told me what was going on, but he became angry and hung up.”

Trent was nearing the cabin cruiser by now.  Going against every instinct screaming in his body to thrust the throttle forward, he eased it back for a slow approach.  “Does he know Rachel’s with you?”

“No.  We moved to a neighbor’s house for safety.”

“Good.”  Now he trusted her.  “Simone, I gotta go, but stay where you are, okay?  Don’t go home until I call you.”

“
Si
.”

He slid the phone back in his pocket and eased alongside the cruiser.  All was quiet aboard the
Scappare
.  Too quiet.  A leaden sensation of dread grew in his chest when neither Halli nor his dad hailed him over the side.

Without regard for the rental, he scrambled aboard his boat.  His gaze locked on a smaller metallic blue vessel speeding toward the middle of the lake some twenty yards out at the same time overwhelming gas fumes assaulted his nostrils.  Icy slivers of fear froze the blood in his veins.  Gut instinct screamed for him to follow the boat but a low groan whipped him around.

His father stumbled up the steps from below deck.  Blood trickled down along the side of his nose from a gash on his forehead.  He waved wildly when he saw Trent, hollering as he lost his balance and fell to his knees.

Trent’s cell rang as he rushed forward.  “Dad, where’s Halli?”

Greg Tomlin shook his head, surged to his feet and wrapped his arms around Trent.  With a burst of unexpected strength, he drove them toward the side of the
Scappare
.  Trent couldn’t combat the surprise momentum that propelled them over the railing into the water.

A deafening boom concussed his eardrums as the lake closed over his head.  He fought his way to the surface and stared in stunned disbelief at the burning wreckage that seconds earlier had been his boat.  Flaming pieces rained down around his head.