The Geneva Deception

‘Well, you missed. We both did.’

‘That’s impossible.’ Tom shook his head, popping out the magazine and checking it. ‘He was coming straight towards me. He could only have been thirty feet away. Less.’

A sudden thought came to him. An impossible thought. And yet… it was the only explanation. Ignoring Allegra’s calls, he jumped down and raced back to the stern angel guarding the shattered gravestone. Peering through the opening to check that no one was coming up behind him, he lowered himself inside and then slid down the ladder.

‘Don’t move!’

Hearing the voice, Tom turned and saw that Gallo was conscious now, propped up against the wall and being attended by a medic. Four armed policemen were eyeing Tom suspiciously, their machine guns raised.

‘It’s okay,’ Gallo rasped. ‘He’s with us. Her too.’

Tom looked up and saw that Allegra was climbing down towards them. The policemen relaxed, allowing their weapons to swing down across their stomachs.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Tom demanded angrily.

‘What do you mean?’ said Gallo, wincing as the medic prodded his shoulder.

‘I mean this-’ Stepping forward, Tom smashed his forearm into the bridge of a policeman’s nose and wrenched the machine gun from the man’s grasp as he staggered back, howling in pain.

‘Tom, what are you doing?’ Allegra gasped as he swung the weapon towards Gallo and flicked the safety off.

‘Ask him,’ he replied tonelessly, before pulling the trigger.

The gun jerked in his hand, the muzzle flash lighting the narrow tunnel like a strobe light, hot shell casings pinging off the walls, the noise crashing around them with a deafening echo that seemed to feed off itself and last long after the final shot had been fired.

Gallo returned Tom’s accusing glare through the smoke. Unharmed.

‘Blanks?’ Allegra’s face turned from horror to understanding, to confusion as she looked from Tom to Gallo.

Pushing the medic roughly out of the way, Gallo heaved himself to his feet.

‘We need to talk,’ he growled.

‘You need to talk,’ Tom corrected him.

‘Fine, but not here.’

EIGHTY-TWO

Ponte Sant’ Angelo, Rome

20th March-11.55 p.m.

With his men forming a cordon at either end of the bridge, Gallo led them out to the middle, then turned to face them, his arm strapped across his chest where the medic had popped his shoulder back into its socket.

‘This will do.’

‘Where have you taken Archie and Dom?’ Tom asked angrily.

‘To hospital,’ Gallo reassured him. ‘My men will take you to them when we’ve finished.’

‘The same men who attempted a rescue armed with blanks?’ Allegra snorted. She didn’t believe a word he said any more.

He gave a heavy sigh.

‘It’s complicated.’

‘Is that your idea of an apology?’ she shot back.

‘There are forces at work here. Powerful forces.’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Tom’s tone was caught between irritation and impatience. ‘I want an explanation, not a palm reading.’

Gallo paused, turning to face down the river so that his back was to them.

‘Santos is connected. Very well connected,’ he began. ‘It seems that, over the years, the Banco Rosalia has done a lot of favours for a lot of people.’

‘What sort of people?’ Allegra pressed.

‘People he helped to evade tax and launder money. People who had relied on him to help fund their political campaigns. People who had profited from the sale of tens of millions of dollars in looted antiquities. Important people. People who couldn’t risk Santos going down and taking them with him.’

‘So these…people-they’re why you helped him get away?’ Allegra’s voice was heavy with an air of resigned disgust. ‘They’re why you watched him try to kill us.’

‘He wanted it to look as though he’d had to shoot his way out,’ said Gallo. ‘I didn’t know he was going to throw…that was…wrong.’

‘Wrong?’ Tom repeated with a hollow laugh.

‘How long has he had you on a leash?’ Allegra asked. ‘Since Cavalli was killed? Before?’

‘I didn’t even know who Cavalli was until I was put on to the Ricci case,’ Gallo turned to face them again, pressing his back against the parapet. ‘I don’t think Santos did either. But when Argento was killed, Santos grew worried that I might somehow connect the murders back to him or the Delian League. So he made some calls.’

‘Who to?’ Tom asked.

‘I’ve already told you’-Gallo shrugged-‘People. All I know is that, when my orders came, they came from the top. The very top. Protect Santos. Keep a lid on things. Stop the case spiralling out of control.’

‘What about Gambetta?’ Allegra said sharply. ‘Did they tell you to kill him too?’

‘I did what I had to do,’ Gallo said defiantly. ‘Santos had offered us a deal. Cavalli’s watch in return for keeping a lid on everything he knew and a promise to leave the country by the end of the week. Gambetta was an old fool who was never going to keep quiet about evidence going missing or how clever he’d been in linking all the murders together. He was a necessary sacrifice.’ A pause. ‘He’s not the first person to have died for his country.’

‘A necessary sacrifice?’ Allegra shook her head in disgust, a fist of anger clenching her stomach. ‘This has nothing to do with patriotism. This is about rich, powerful people doing whatever it takes to protect themselves. This is about murder. You killed Gambetta for doing his job.’

‘You don’t understand,’ Gallo shot back. ‘I had my orders. The things Santos knows…this was a matter of national security. He was to be protected at all costs. I had no choice.’

‘You had a choice,’ Allegra insisted. ‘You just chose not to make it. You killed a man and framed me for it.’

‘I was trying to protect you.’

‘From what?’

‘Santos found out you were asking questions about the Delian League. He wanted you dealt with. Why else do you think De Luca picked you up? I thought that if I blamed you for the killing and got your face in the papers, I might find you before he did. I was never planning to… Look, maybe it was wrong of me. But you’ll get a full retraction, an apology, your choice of assignments-’

‘You disgust me. You and whoever it is that can decide that an old man should die to stop someone like Santos being caught.’

‘I love my country,’ Gallo insisted. ‘I did what I had to do to protect it, and I’d do the same again. Anyway, I tried to put things right.’

‘How? With that little show you and Santos put on tonight?’

‘By saving you.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Tom challenged him. ‘Saving us from what?’

‘Who do you think dug you out of that tomb?’

‘That was you?’ Allegra swapped a glance with Tom, almost not wanting to believe him. Anything to avoid