Three Alpha Romeo

I’m happy.

It was a simple realization, but a good one nonetheless. It brought a smile to my face, too. Our little jaunt had broken the boredom, shattered the monotony. It was exactly what we’d needed.

Maybe we could come back here, I thought to myself. With Marcus this time…

The delicious smell of roasted coffee washed over me as I fished into my pocket for money. The vendor was looking at me curiously, now. Gazing strangely at a point over my shoulder with a look of surprise… and something like fear.

I stopped at once, the hairs rising up at the base of my neck. Then the back of my head exploded in a flash of searing hot pain…

… and everything went instantly black.

Forty-Six

RANDALL

“Which way, which way?” Holden practically shouted into the man’s face. “Tell us which way!”

The coffee vendor was visibly shaken, and already surrounded by a small crowd. From what we’d had translated so far, he’d witnessed Andrea being attacked by two men. And not just attacked… but taken.

Someone in the crowd translated again, and this time the vendor understood. The man pointed down a narrow sidestreet with one flailing arm.

Holden and I took off so fast the crowd became a distant memory.

It was unbelievable to me, what had happened. That he’d left her alone for even a single second, considering the care and secrecy he’d committed us to all these weeks.

But it was my fault too. My fault she was even down here in the first place. My fault for sleeping late, when I could’ve been—

“THERE!”

I looked up, and there he was: an odd-looking man staring back at us, with dark-hair and a blue shirt. He matched one of the vendor’s descriptions. Only this guy was alone. There was no sign of Andrea.

Holden and I ran full speed at him, which would’ve ordinarily closed the distance quickly. He was one street higher, though. Up at least thirty or forty stone steps.

“WHERE IS SHE?” shouted Holden.

The man disappeared, bolting down the alley.

We reached the steps, which I took three at a time. I passed Holden easily, flung myself into the next alley, and looked up… just in time to see the guy hopping a low, wood-slatted fence.

Damn.

I took off before Holden even crested the top. As fast as he was, his bigger muscles required more oxygen. I was lighter. Quicker. Not to mention, running had always been my thing.

“Go!” Holden gasped, as I left him at the fence.

I saw him change direction as he ran around. In the meantime, the guy in front of me had disappeared into a house. He’d run right in through an open back door. Straight through a series of rooms and out the front.

I followed, much to the chagrin of the three people inside enjoying breakfast.

“Tu! Fermare!”

Someone clawed at me. I shrugged them off. A moment later I was sprinting across a front lawn, down into the street. I ran through another alley. Past a large crowd of children, gathered together in school uniforms.

Shit, he’s fast!

My quarry was flying along, his legs moving so quickly they seemed to be spinning. He leapt over a gate. Squeezed through the narrow gap between two stuccoed buildings, and stumbled down another staircase.

The damned staircases were everywhere. Fucking everywhere! Taormina, if anything, was a very vertical city.