They’d left a couple bottles of water for her, but so far, she had difficulty even looking at them.
It had dawned on her how close she had come to being tortured and killed. What kind of men were these people? How could they all look at her as they had? She was a real person and yet, some kind of mob mentality had set in. They didn’t see her as someone’s daughter, as someone’s friend. They’d seen her as a piece of meat. Was that really the way human beings were? Had they’d shown her a level of debased humanity?
What was going to happen to her? Would someone come for her?
She dabbed the tears off her cheeks as she wept, her thoughts caused her to feel even more paranoid. How could she have been so stupid? She knowingly walked into their grasp. She could’ve been in Athens. She could’ve been far from these people. But she walked off the plane and right into their hands.
She did it for her husband. She had to remember that reason and stay as strong as she could, because there was a very real chance that these men would capture Darwin and bring him there.
She would need to be strong for him. She only hoped she’d get to see her husband one more time before she died.
She rolled into a ball on the mattress, wrapped her arms around her legs and cried.
What a fucking honeymoon this turned out to be.
If she ever got the chance, she’d take down as many as she could before she died. Even if that meant throwing herself out the window. She’d grab a few of them as she went.
A knock on the door startled her.
Before she acknowledged the man at the door, he was already opening it. Light spilled in from the hallway. The door shut behind him and the light got cut off.
What now? Personal interrogations?
“Dinner,” he said.
The man walked over and set a large plate of steaming lasagna down beside the lamp.
“I’m,” she paused to clear her throat, “I’m not hungry.”
“Doesn’t matter. Eat. You do not want to piss off the boss. If he says eat, then you fucking well eat.”
The man walked over to the wall and leaned against it. As far as she could tell in the dim light, he stared at her.
“What?” she asked. “Are you supposed to stand there and watch me eat? How do I know it isn’t poisoned?”
The man pulled something out of his pocket and started twiddling it in his hands. She waited. He didn’t respond right away.
He pushed off the wall and walked back to her mattress. She unrolled her body and edged away.
He squatted, clutching a rosary.
Religious bumfucks. Who knew?
“There isn’t any poison in your food. Didn’t anything that happened to you today give you any insight?”
“What are you talking about, insight? The only reason they stopped was to keep me in good condition in case my husband proved difficult. So I’m still meat, just a different kind. Bait.”
The man shook his head back and forth and flipped his rosary in a circle around his palm.
“No, there is a blood debt that has to be collected. Poisoning you means you don’t bleed.” He stopped, contemplated something, and then said, “Well, I guess there’d be bleeding on the inside, but that wouldn’t do. The boss wouldn’t be able to see it.”
“Hmmph,” she mumbled.
“Anyway, whatever. I’m here to take you to the bathroom too. Can’t have you soiling your pretty panties. Not with what’s coming. Get it, coming?” He laughed.
What a horrible sound.
“I don’t have to go.”
“Oh yes, you do. Man, aren't you defiant? I’m here to take you to the bathroom. That’s it. I have a job to do. I do it. No questions asked. You’re supposed to go to the bathroom, so you go. Whether you shit or piss makes no difference to me. But you’re going. Got it?”
His face had changed. His eyes seemed wider, his teeth closer together when he talked. She could tell she was trying his patience.
Well, fuck him. To make a point, I should defy him. Get him killed for not taking me to the bathroom.
She rolled off the mattress and got to her knees. She used the wall to help her stand on wobbly legs.
“Good girl. Follow me. Do not deviate. As you’ve already seen, penalties are severe.”
She nodded, most of the fight beaten out of her. The only thing she could count on was her internal voice. The voice of reason, understanding and coping. She could call them all the names she wanted in her head and they couldn’t touch her.
The man led her out of the room, down the hall a few doors and then opened the ladies bathroom door. He stepped into the sink area and waited.
“What?” he asked. “I am not letting you out of my sight. I won’t watch you piss or shit, but I’m staying right outside the stall door. Now, do this thing.”
She stepped into the stall and tried to deal with the humiliation of having to go with a man just outside the door. When finished, she washed her hands and followed him back to her jail. The two men on either side of her door were new, spelling the others. They parted and let the two of them inside.
The man shut the door behind them.
“Aren’t we done here?” she asked.
“I want to make sure, before I go, that you start eating. I can’t leave without knowing I did my job.”
Rosina knelt down, eased her sore frame onto the mattress, and picked up the lasagna. It smelled amazing. She couldn’t believe she was so hungry after all she’d been through.
The first bite woke up her stomach. Then, before she realized what was happening, the man hustled over and dropped down beside her.
“Here, take this,” he whispered.
He held out the rosary for her. She looked up into his eyes.
“I’ve only got a second and then I have to go. I’m here undercover. Say nothing to no one. I won’t let them kill you. I can’t say if I can stop more torture, but I’ll do my best. Do you understand?”
She nodded and reached out to take the rosary.
“Good. Listen closely. The Fuccini family showed up here four days ago, looking for you and your husband. They don’t have the muscle in Italy like they have in Canada. They had to reach out, ask for help from their family ties in Sicily and ask permission to conduct business here in Rome. It was granted last night. I am one of a dozen men sent over to handle the Kostas situation. I’ve been undercover for three years now and my real bosses are about to pull me. I’ll be taking you with me. Got it?”
Rosina felt shock, salvation and hope course through her. It was like she was on a failing plane when all of a sudden everything righted, and the pilot came on and said he got the engine restarted. They were going to be okay. She nodded at him.
“Good, play it cool. Do what they say. This’ll be over soon.”
He stood up and stepped away. “Good,” he said, his voice louder. “Eat all your fucking food or I’ll come back and force feed you.”
As he exited between the two men in the hall, he muttered, “Stupid bitch.”
One of the guards slammed the door shut, casting Rosina back in the dark.
But it wasn’t as dark anymore.
Chapter 6
Darwin wondered what he would do for the next twenty-four hours. Where would he stay, what would he eat? Greg told him to check in at a ritzy hotel, but which one?
He walked along the crowded train station in a daze, unfocused, rudderless.
The first step would be a weapon. But what kind? Knives were out of the question, of course. Along that line
