Sign of the Cross

‘Back to prison?’

He shook his head and held up the newspaper. ‘Another crash site.’

Payne glanced in the mirror and tried to read the headline. Unfortunately, two things stopped him from reading it. The reflection was backward, making the article look like a feature story from Dyslexia Today. And secondly, the damn thing was written in Italian.

That being said, he was still able to make sense of things from the photos on the front page. You know the saying, a picture is worth a thousand words? Well, these photos were worth a million because they were graphic. Real graphic. The kind that could make a butcher puke. Mostly they focused on the burnt shell of a bus, but Payne saw some arms and legs in there, too, jutting out from the wreckage at impossible angles. He also spotted a head pinned to the ground under a massive metal panel. At least he thought it was a head. It was tough to tell since the flesh and hair had melted off the skull like a cadaver that had been dropped into a volcano.

Everything he saw — both man and man-made — was a dark shade of black.

Payne took a deep breath, rage boiling in his belly. ‘Let me guess. Boyd’s bus?’

But Jones didn’t answer. The anger and determination on his face spoke volumes.

32

One of the major drawbacks of using espresso as an energy source was its debilitating effect on the human bladder. At least that’s what Maria Pelati thought as she visited the library’s restroom for the second time in an hour. After finishing her business, she headed toward the long row of sinks. Just then a heavyset intruder jumped from the far stall and grabbed her, covering her mouth while pinning her frame against the tiled wall.

‘Don’t make a sound,’ he threatened in Italian. ‘Do you understand me? Silence!’

Normally Maria would’ve been quick to respond. She would’ve bitten the man’s hand, stomped on his foot, and screamed. In this case, though, she decided not to. She wasn’t sure why — it might’ve been the man’s body language or just a gut instinct — but she got the feeling that he wasn’t there to hurt her. Strangely, she sensed he was there to help.

He said, ‘If you promise to be quiet, I’ll let you go. Otherwise, we must stay like this.’ He stared at her for several unnerving seconds, waiting for her decision. ‘Tell me, will you behave?’

Maria nodded her head.

‘Good,’ he grunted as he removed his hand. ‘I hope I didn’t scare you, but it was important to speak to you immediately. And in private.’

‘You needed to talk to me? Why?’

‘Why? Because you’re in a tremendous amount of danger.’

Danger. The word caused the past few days to rush through her head. First, the blitzkrieg from the chopper, then the avalanche, followed by the screams of the bus victims as they fought to avoid death. Then the nauseating smell of burnt flesh as they failed.

‘Who are you?’ she demanded. ‘Who sent you to talk to me?’

A bittersweet smile crossed his lips. ‘You don’t remember me, do you? I’m the guard who let you in the library, the one you flirted with.’

Her face flushed with embarrassment. ‘You are? I thought you were wearing a uniform.’

The guard nodded, glad that she’d remembered something. ‘My shift ended an hour ago. And you’re lucky it did, because that’s when I realized the danger you face.’

‘Danger? What kind of danger?’

‘You mean, you don’t know? The lead story on every channel was about the man you came with today. Did you know that he’s wanted? Every policeman in Europe is looking for him.’

Damn! she cursed to herself. Keeping her cool, she said, ‘You must be mistaken. I’ve known him forever, and he’s not a criminal. He’s a well-known professor.’

‘The TV showed several pictures of him. He’s definitely the one.’

‘OK,’ she countered, ‘let’s pretend you’re right. What do you think we should do about it?’

‘It’s not what I think we should do. It’s what I’ve already done.’

Maria felt her heart skip a beat. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Once I saw his picture, I came back to make sure he was still here. Then I waited for you to leave his side — I didn’t want you to be taken as a hostage — before I called the local police. If we’re lucky, they’re already arresting him.’

A wave of panic swept over Maria. Suddenly, before she realized what she was doing, she found herself bolting toward the door, hoping to inform Boyd before it was too late.

‘It won’t do you any good. You can’t get out of here without a key.’

She tried the door anyway, but it wouldn’t budge, just like the guard had warned.

‘You have no right to lock me in here!’ she shouted. ‘No right at all!’

‘Actually, I have every right. I’m the one who let you in without an ID, so that makes you my responsibility.’ He strolled toward the door, hoping to calm her. ‘Let’s just wait in here until the authorities arrive, then we can sort everything out. Doesn’t that sound reasonable?’

Maria sighed, then gave him the warmest smile she possibly could. ‘Maybe you’re right. I mean, all of this stuff is so damn confusing. I’m so tired right now I can hardly think straight. I don’t know. Maybe waiting in here is the best thing to do.’

The guard nodded at her change of heart and stepped forward to comfort her. But the instant he got close, she slammed her knee into his crotch. The strike was so unexpected and so crippling, the guard doubled over in pain, giving Maria a chance to finish him off with a vicious kick to the chin, a blow that sent him sprawling onto the bathroom floor.

‘Then again,’ she taunted, ‘maybe not.’

Maria stole the guard’s keys and ran to warn Boyd. It took them less than a minute to gather all their materials and leave the conference room. But they weren’t quick enough. An Italian SWAT team had just arrived and was streaming into the building through the library’s front doors. Undaunted, the duo turned in the opposite direction and scrambled toward the back exit, hoping to sneak out. As they approached the women’s restroom, the injured guard stumbled out in front of them and tried to block their path.

‘Stop!’ he ordered.

But they were in no mood to listen. Boyd hit him first, using Tiberius’s bronze canister like a club, smashing it against the guard’s head. Then Maria finished him off, knocking him out with a mighty swing of the Latin dictionary that she carried.

‘Lord, that felt good,’ Boyd cackled.

‘Didn’t it? That’s the second time I nailed him.’

Their mood quickly soured when they saw several policemen enter the back door.

Stopping immediately, Boyd said, ‘We’re trapped!’

‘Not if we go up.’ Maria led him to the nearest stairwell and said, ‘Go ahead. I’m going to slow these guys down.’

‘Don’t be silly, dear — ’

‘Just go!’ she ordered. ‘They want you more than me. Get out of here! Now!’

Maria listened for Boyd’s footsteps before she focused her full attention on the stairwell door. She fiddled with the guard’s keys and tried inserting the first one into the lock but had no success. Cursing softly, she tried the second, then the third, and the fourth. Finally, on her fifth attempt, she found the right key and locked the door an instant before the police got there.

‘Yes!’ she shouted as she scrambled up the stairs to hunt for Boyd. She found him quickly, waiting for her on the second floor landing.

He said, ‘There are metal bars on all the windows, and the front stairwell has been sealed for renovations. This is the only way up or down.’

‘No freight lifts?’

‘Nothing like that. This building is too old for elevators.’

She pondered the information. ‘What’s being fixed?’

Boyd pointed skyward. ‘The roof. They’re redoing the roof.’