The threat was very real, and Alex did her best to remain calm.
‘So, you’re Blackridge, huh?’ Alex asked.
‘No, I’m Matt Brecker.’ He motioned to everyone else. ‘We’re all Blackridge. Believe you were, too?’
‘Not my finest moment.’
‘It should have been,’ Matt said, his arms behind his back as if standing to attention. ‘Better than running these streets like a gutter rat.’
‘Girl’s gotta make a living.’
‘Pretty face like yours, I’m sure you could have excelled at other lines of work.’ Matt smiled.
‘You’re a charmer.’
‘It worked didn’t it?’ he said smugly. ‘Didn’t take much to get you salivating at a big pay day. Now, why don’t you tell me where he is?’
‘Who?’
Alex felt a nervous sweat begin to trickle down the back of her neck. Considering her situation, she wondered if antagonising the group was the right way to go. Matt grinned.
‘Your loyalty is admirable.’ He reached into the pocket of his jacket. ‘Where is Sam Pope?’
She glanced around the room, making eye contact with the bloodthirsty crew that were spread out around the workshop. They looked like a pack of starved hyenas waiting for their alpha to give them go ahead.
‘I…don’t…know,’ she stammered unconvincingly.
‘Sure you do.’ Matt pulled a pair of leather gloves from his pocket and made a show of sliding hi hands into them. ‘So why don’t you save yourself a hell of a lot of pain and me a needless workout.’
‘Are you going to stop talking?’
Alex immediately regretted her remark, as the back of Matt’s leather clad hand struck her viciously across the jaw. The blow was swift, and she felt the blood trickle from the split in her lip. As she took a breath, Matt squatted down in front of her, his hands relaxed over his knees and he regarded her with pity.
‘Let me tell you how this is going to go. I’m going to ask you a few more times and in some ill-placed sense of loyalty, you’re going to keep giving me a smart answer. I’m then going to have to hurt you pretty badly. Then, once you’ve been through more pain than you ever though imaginable, you’re going to tell me what I need to know. So why don’t you just save yourself the bother?’ Matt smiled and nodded. ‘So, I’ll ask again. Where is Sam Pope?’
Alex drew the blood into her mouth, swashed it around with some saliva and spat it straight at him. The projectile caught him on his cheek and shoulder, and he stepped back in disgust.
Like a cobra striking, his fist caught her on the bridge of her nose, breaking it instantly and sending her and the chair crashing to the ground. With her arms shaking, Alex pushed herself onto her elbow, the blood dripping from her nose and tears streaming from her eyes.
The pain was excruciating.
Her fear was almost uncontrollable.
Her mind raced back to the underground bunker on the outskirts of Rome, where she’d lay in agony, a bullet wound in her leg. But then, she had Sam Pope fighting for her life.
A fight he would win.
Now she was alone.
‘Get her up,’ Matt spat, dabbing at his cheek with his gloved hand, wiping away the phlegm with a sneer of disgust on his face. The two henchmen stepped forward, roughly grabbing Alex by the arms and hauling her upwards. The female member of the group reset the chair and they dumped her onto it. All of them watched without a hint of remorse as Matt stepped forward again.
‘That was disgusting,’ he said calmly. ‘If you do that again, I will cut out your tongue and you will have to write out the address with your own blood. Capisce?’
Luca chuckled and Alex eventually nodded her cooperation. Matt, surprisingly, looked relieved.
‘You’re making a big mistake,’ Alex eventually said.
‘Alex, please.’
‘What do you actually think will happen if you find him?’
‘We will do what we do.’ Matt shrugged.
‘Yeah, but the thing is, what you guys do doesn’t even equate to half of what he does.’
‘Shut this bitch up.’ One of the guys snarled. Alex looked at him and gave him a blood smeared smirk.
‘Scared?’
‘Enough!’ Matt shouted. ‘Jimmy, hand me a hammer.’
Alex’s eyes widened with fear, as the black clad man known as Jimmy stormed across to one of the work benches and began shifting through the clutter. Moments later, he stepped towards his boss like an obedient dog returning a stick.
He placed the hammer in Matt’s hand.
Matt turned to Alex with a look of disappointment on his face.
‘This is really going to fucking hurt.’
Alex closed her eyes and took a deep breath, her resistance goading him into making good on his threat. Shaking his head, he lifted the hammer.
A loud banging thundered through the workshop.
Matt stopped, his arm raised high and he turned his head. Someone was banging on the door, the impact echoing through the abandoned workshop. The rest of the group stood to attention, hands ready at their waists, fingers itching to release their sidearms.
Alex opened her eyes, thankful for her stay of execution. Luca turned back to look at Matt, who impatiently nodded for him to investigate.
As the large man lumbered towards the door, his hand tucked to the inside of his jacket and clasping the grip of his handgun, Matt slowly lowered the hammer to his side.
Everyone waited quietly as Luca pulled back the bolt on the door and with a hard tug, yanked it open.
Despite the lack of visibility, Sam had been able to keep Alex in his line of sight. Annoyingly, she walked briskly through the streets of Naples, her speed enhanced by the spring shower that had washed over the town. It was near midnight and the weekday drinking scene was coming to a joyful close, with a few groups of inebriated locals stumbling through the streets. It made Sam’s job easier. The more people on the street, the less likely Alex would notice him.
Keeping his distance, he watched her round a corner, walking down one of the many
