Run To Rome

Chapter 1

“For the love of God, Hal, we didn’t travel over ten hours for you to film swans.”

Halli Sanders ground her back molars together, ignored her sister Rachel, and zoomed her camera in on the flock of white birds across the water. Graceful and serene, they stood out in stark contrast to the dark, shaded water of the small inlet her brother had parked near. A shaky breath helped steady her hands.

“You guys wanted to stop, now I want to see if Lake Como, Italy and Lake Como, WI have more in common than their names,” she informed her sister and brother.

“Who cares?” Rachel moaned. “And it was Ben’s bright idea to pull over, not mine. I just want to find the hotel and shower away some of this jet lag. And, we still have to find a converter for my hair dryer.”

Halli rolled her eyes and kept filming. Yes, she was being snotty about it, but they’re the ones who threw away her meticulously planned itinerary so they could make impromptu stops like this. Ben specifically had insisted she lighten up, as if she’d chosen to become a control freak after their crazy, unstable years on the run with their parents.

The half dozen or so swans had floated into the sunlight, near a wooden dock in front of a stone villa. She wondered who lived there. The tabloids always talked about George Clooney’s house on Lake Como in Italy and how he always had friends visiting—could this be it? If it was, any number of stars could be there right now.

That’s it, she told herself. Focus on something other than the fact her plans had all been scrapped. She did not want her anxiety issues ruining this vacation. As long as she had Ben and Rachel, she’d be fine.

She allowed herself one last lingering look at the regal villa through the viewfinder. The weathered stonework was beautiful, but the shiny, reflective windows captured her attention. She loved large windows that let in natural light. Wished she had them in her studio apartment overlooking the lake back home.

Ben ran interference behind her. “We’ll go find the hotel first, then an electronics store, then we’ll find a place to eat. Sound okay?”

“Yes, thank you,” Rachel agreed, her tone full of exaggerated drama. “Let’s go, Hal.”

“Fine. I’m coming.” Halli took a step backward, but a movement in the windows caught her attention. She paused and steadied the camera. The front door to the villa burst open. As someone ran outside, the swans took flight, their startled cries echoing across the water.

Behind her, she heard car doors open. Then Ben’s, “Oh, hurry up—there’s a break in traffic.”

Bam. Bam. Vrrooommm.

The slamming doors made Halli glance over her shoulder. She did a double take when the little blue car her brother had rented in Milan shot off the curb.

“Hey—” She spun around, took a few steps, then stopped with a disbelieving laugh. “Real funny, guys.”

Surely any second now, they’d give up the joke, pull to the side, and wait for her to catch up as they laughed their hilarious frickin’ heads off.

No brake lights.

No U-turn.

Nothing.

The blue car accelerated around the bend in the road and disappeared.

Her heart skipped a beat and her stomach sunk. Muttering under her breath, she looked around self-consciously, doing her best to distract herself from the fact that she was suddenly all alone in a foreign country. A dark-haired man across the street glanced her way with open curiosity. Thankfully, he kept walking. Cars cruised past; a couple kids on bikes; a woman on a moped. Though the kids stopped a short distance away, no one paid her much attention over the next few minutes.

Well, sure. Lake Como, Italy was probably used to lost tourists, what did they care?

No, you’re not lost. The adamant statement helped to steady her breathing. That’s right. Ben and Rachel would be back any moment. She had nothing to worry about as long as she didn’t leave this spot.

The man across the street gave her a more thorough inspection and a chill trickled down her spine. Halli averted her gaze and hugged her arms around her middle. Her heart rate continued its steady acceleration.

Oh, she was going to kill them when they got back. They’d pulled pranks in the past, but this one was cruel—especially her first time travelling overseas. Why would they do this now? Ben may live life with the motto “Rip the Band-Aid off”, but not Halli. It had to be a joke, right? It was either that, or they didn’t know she wasn’t in the car. But how could anyone miss something like that?

If Ben’s phone wasn’t the only one equipped to make international calls, she’d call and give them a loud, extended piece of her mind.

Stop! You’re going to be fine. There are plenty of people around and no one’s going to do anything in broad daylight. She clutched the small travel purse hanging diagonal across her chest containing her passport. See? If you need help, you can prove you’re a US citizen.

Not that she’d need to prove her citizenship. Any minute the blue car would come back around the bend. Any second even.

She stared down the road, counting seconds.

Seconds became minutes.

Maybe they didn’t know she’d been left behind. What then? How long before they came back? Desperate to control the unrelenting apprehension no amount of silent talk would quell, Halli turned back to the lake as if she’d find answers somewhere across the water.

A lone swan near shore reminded her of the camera still clutched in her hand. The red light on the front reminded her she was still recording. Ironically, the camera was part of the reason she was sitting here alone, and yet she’d completely forgotten about it.

She stopped the video and swiveled to take a seat on the cool ledge of stone that held the lake water at bay. It was the perfect vantage point to keep the loitering man across the street in sight. A glance over her shoulder located where the other swans had landed a good distance from the villa’s dock.

She frowned and faced the lake. Strange how that person had burst so suddenly from the villa.

The noon sun sat at a point that she had to squint and shade her eyes to see the structure’s stone walls across the small inlet of water. Even then, it was too far away for the naked eye. Flipping open the viewfinder as she lifted the camera, she waited for it to focus, then tried to zoom. The low battery indicator flashed as she maxed the zoom.

She studied the picture. Something was different—one of the windows looked odd. Her attention snagged on a tall figure in the corner of the pane. Longish dark hair above a square jaw with a severe slash for a mouth. He raised a pair of binoculars to look across the bay. Her pulse jerked when he zeroed in and stared straight at her—

Tires squealed and an engine revved loud to her right. Halli jumped about a foot. Ben and Rachel! An uncharacteristic spurt of anger doubled her anxiety as she whirled around.

“I can’t believe you guys left—”