Chapter Fifteen #2
On our way home, Lorenzo barks out a laugh when I tell him the story, and I ask what words were exchanged between him and Galli as we left. Galli told Lorenzo he was welcome in the bar any time, but to leave the uncultured punk at home. I guess I made an impression that night.
At night, Lorenzo and I make as little noise as possible.
We wait until Mrs Bellacci switches off the light in the living area, closes her bedroom door, then spend a precautionary half an hour on quiet foreplay—kissing, touching and sucking—giving her time to fall asleep before the heavy session begins.
“This new look is good on you,” he says, breathing deeply after wiping the cum from my chest. He has developed a habit of running his hand over my cropped head when we’re in bed.
“But I cannot call you Aksel, not when we are together. You will always be Gabriel to me, the angel that descended into my life.”
I try hard to dismiss comments like this, but my stomach twists in knots every time. Apart from Albert, I have never allowed anybody to get close to me, but Lorenzo has breached my defences. And now I worry that what we have may be fleeting.
Dr Romano visits the villa each weekend, and I’m beginning to learn more about him. He’s a master of intelligence. Within days of locating the file, he has not only found the name of the hospital where Leblanc was taken but the number and location of the secure ward where she is being treated.
“Mrs Bellacci tells me your training is going well,” he tells me at the end of my second week of instruction.
Each of us has a private one-to-one session with him after he has finished speaking to us as a group.
“You pick things up quickly. Another three weeks and I will send you to London for your first assignment, after which you will visit Leblanc. The job I have for you is fairly simple. Access the hotel suite of a specific businessman and place surveillance devices in all the living areas. We would normally do this in advance of a person’s stay once we know the booking details, but this man rents three or four identical suites for his entourage, and only allocates them on the day they arrive.
You should be in and out in an hour, but you’ll need to carry out surveillance for two or three days beforehand to become familiar with his comings and goings. Now, let’s talk about you.”
“About me?”
“We need to make sure no stones are left unturned. Who in England might worry about Gabriel? You mentioned working for a charity—”
“I do. I did. They’ve given me—Gabriel—three weeks’ compassionate leave.”
“Which will end soon. What will happen when you don’t report back?”
Romano is good at grounding me. I have been so focused on training and moving forward that I’ve lost sight of these small but essential details.
“I’m not sure. My connection with them was through Albert. I suppose they might contact Edward, but even if they did, I’m not sure he would give a damn. But if he said anything to Alice, that might be another matter altogether.”
“What about this friend called Josh? The one who knows you’re here?”
“They don’t know Josh.”
“Have you kept in regular contact with him?”
“Irregular. With him and his partner, Nishan. Out of everyone, they might be the ones to worry if they try to contact me and get no response.”
“And what are they likely to do? This is important, Aksel. Are they likely to come and look for you?”
“No,” I reply too quickly. “I don’t know. They both have busy lives. But Josh is as close to a best friend as I have ever had. I don’t know what they might do.”
“I see. Well, Lorenzo and Mrs Bellacci will need to have a plausible story in place to feed them about you moving on and leaving no forwarding address, should that eventuality arise. Something they would swallow. You will need to help us with that.”
“That seems sensible.” I stall a moment at the thought of Josh and Nishan. Letting them believe I have gone missing—or worse—feels like a betrayal.
“Aksel,” says the doctor, becoming severe and drawing my attention to him. “Somebody knew you were here in Monticiano and sent people to try to kill you. I know you think you can trust people like Josh and Alice, but you need to let them go.”
“I understand,” I reply simply.
Dr Romano does not know that I saved Josh’s life a couple of times when we were on the streets, once from a group of three knife-wielding thugs trying to steal the weekly wage he had just been handed, and the other at a club when he overdosed.
On the second occasion, I literally carried him to the accident and emergency unit of the nearby hospital.
In the recovery ward, I was his only visitor in the days that followed.
On one of those, in a moment of crystal clarity, he promised to clean himself up, told me he owed me his life and swore on his own that he would repay the debt one day.
Moreover, I’ve survived this long by following my instincts, and I know I can trust Josh.
Alice is different. We are not dissimilar.
Both of us are trying to survive as best we can in a hostile world.
“And you will leave Puchinsky to me,” says the doctor out of the blue. “Do you understand?
“But if he—”
“No, Aksel. Focus on yourself. Puchinsky, I will deal with. In the right way, at the right time. In this matter, I need you to trust me. Professore Callico will have his retribution.”
“But don’t you want me to speak to Dr Leblanc about the medical reports—”
“Aksel,” says Romano, with the kind of long-suffering smile reminiscent of Albert. “You forget who you’re talking to. Concentrate on yourself. That is your priority. Now, I am going to be gone for the next three weeks but I expect you to be ready to leave when I come back.”
Four days later, I know something is wrong when Mrs Bellacci interrupts our morning swim to tell us to come to the kitchen. The doctor is on his way. Everything was going too smoothly. I should have anticipated dark clouds on the horizon.
When he arrives, Romano gets straight to the point.
“A hostile assault team is being assembled and sent here. Elite Spetsnaz soldiers from Russia or one of its allies. Probably this weekend.”
“How did they find us?” asks Mrs Bellacci. “Gabriel’s lady friend?”
“No, one of Spataro’s hired hands, I believe.
One of those we freed may have blabbed about our capabilities.
I have no doubt his thugs work for others, many of them undesirables.
” Romano turns his attention to me. “How our enemy found you is unimportant right now. We need to act fast. These soldiers will be elite professionals. We have moved your assignment in London forward, and you will leave immediately. I have all the instructions with me. Teresa and Lorenzo, go and prepare the house for an attack—”
“Should we stay together?” I say.
“Go now,” says Romano to his team, ignoring my question. “I need to speak to Aksel privately.”