Chapter 6 #3
He lets out a slow breath. "Okay, okay. This is good. She is all I have, my Maria. Her nonna?" he laughs. "She no like me, I no like her. Maria's mama, she loved me too much. I am no good, her mama say. Criminale. Bad man. But my Concetta, she love me anyway."
"We're not leaving your mother-in-law behind," I say, my tone hard.
Enzo just laughs all the harder. "Why not? Pugli takes that woman? He is not knowing what he is biting off to chew. I think if we want to get away, we leave her. Let her do the dealing with Pugli. He is not gonna know what is hit him."
"You are not very good at relating the important information," I say. "You said you only hurt someone one time and it led you here."
"Oh, sì sì. When I let the ragazze go free, I drive the truck to the place I am told to go.
There is only one soldier to see me, okay?
He is to meet me and to bring the truck to another place, so if I am catched by the Carabinieri, I cannot say where they are.
This soldier, he look in the truck, he sees it is empty.
He look at me so angry, sì? And I know he is going to shoot me.
So I shoot him first. And then I go home.
I think maybe Pugli will think it is an accident.
Maybe he think someone else is doing this to him.
But no. He find out it is me, I do not know how he knows.
And here we are." He gives Killian a sharp, hard look, and then me in the mirror.
"Pugli, I cannot protect you from him. You know this? We are together in the trouble, heh?"
Killian snorts a laugh. "Enzo, buddy, I've got a feeling it's gonna end up being the other way around."
"You gonna protect me?"
Killian shrugs. "You don't know anything about us, do you? Story and me? Why does Pugli want us?"
"The only thing I know is what I am telled.
Go here, stop these young people from escape.
With the camion pieno di ragazze, I think he want her.
" He tips his head backward, indicating me.
"A bella giovane donna? He want the girl.
You are…" another shrug. "A problem, only.
To be…ahh…risolto. I do not know this word.
Take care of. No more problem. Because you are killed, hmm? "
Killian snorts. "Yeah, I'm following you. But it's a bit more complicated than that, I'm afraid."
"Oh? Why complicated?"
I meet Killian's eyes and shake my head—we can only trust this guy so far. I have the sense that he's being truthful about everything and it's a hell of a stroke of luck that we now have an ally, but I'm not ready to trust him with everything just yet.
Killian gives me a subtle nod in return. "I think that's a story for another day, Enzo."
Enzo nods. Rolls the wheel of his cheap disposable lighter, producing a small flurry of sparks. "I understand. Trust is a very difficult thing, I think. No very easy to find."
"Facts, buddy, facts."
Silence follows this, as Enzo seems to sink into his own thoughts as we drive across the island.
I'm honestly not sure how long the drive is—I drowse, dropping in and out of awareness.
Killian is as well, and it occurs to me that Enzo could be tricking us, pretending to be sympathetic and letting us think we've escaped, when in reality he's taking us to a new safehouse or something.
From then on, I let myself drowse, but keep half an eye on Enzo—mainly, I'm looking for evidence that he's in contact with someone.
I have his burner, but we never searched him, so he could have a spare.
I just…I still have a wriggling worm of unease in my gut. Something about all this with Enzo is too easy, his story too easily making him sympathetic to us.
I notice Killian's eyes aren't always closed all the way either; they crack to slits now and again, watching Enzo through his eyelashes. Good to know I'm not the only one staying suspicious.
If I had to guess, I'd say we travel for a little over an hour through a wide, open-sky landscape with the occasional serrated shadow of a mountain ridge in the background.
Every time I open my eyes to check my surroundings, things have become slightly more urban, and then there are apartment blocks mixed in with the warehouses, and then trees line the streets, and there are sidewalks and curbs, and then small shops and signs for public parking.
"Mmmm, where're we?" I mumble, sitting up, feigning more sleepiness than I feel.
"Olbia. On the nord-est…ahhh…north-east of Sardinia. Is a ferry to Rome from here. Maybe…six or seven hour, no more than seven and-a-half." He smushes the last three words into a single syllable. "I have a friend who live here, he is on holiday. We stay his place for some hours."
Less than twenty minutes later, we're entering an upper flat near the docks; it's newer, smells of fresh paint, and is sparsely furnished in typical single adult male fashion—a single couch, a TV and gaming console, and an old door laid over some milk cartons for a coffee table, on which is more of what you'd expect, that being alcohol, cigarettes, ashtrays, and plates of molding food scraps.
"Nice table," Killian says, his tone amused. "Very bachelor of him."
Enzo casts a critical eye on the structure. "Ah, sì, Tomas, he would rather spend his money on other enjoyments. He only comes here for sleeping, so why he waste money to make it pretty for nobody?"
"Makes sense to me, honestly," Killian says.
I just roll my eyes. "Men."
"What?" Enzo says, laughter in his tone. "You think to go buy some throw pillow for him? Maybe a…cazzo, what is the word? Dooly? Little lace things all over the tables.”
"Doily?" I suggest.
"Si! A stupid thing, and a stupid word."
Killian's shoulders shake. "Enzo, what the fuck are you talking about, man? Doilies? What the hell is a doily?"
"Never mind. Is just a silly joke. The ferry to Rome leaves at noon and eleven at the nighttime."
Killian frowns. "Y'know, I don't have a clue what day it is, or what time it is."
Enzo casts a glance at the green digital numerals on the range: 4:08. "It is four o'clock in the morning, and it is…ahhh…Thursday? Friday? I do not remember."
"So we have time to kill," I say.
"Looks like it," Killy adds.
Enzo points to the couch. "I am very tired. I am going to sleep." He points toward the rear of the unit. "The bedroom is there. You take it."
Killian and I trade glances, and then I answer for us. "You know, we woke up not that long ago, and you've been driving. Why don't you take the bed and let us have the TV?"