John stroked Ariella’s hair before sitting up in his chair. “So much for a quiet drink and dinner.” The exhausted group nodded their understanding and slowly rose from the table. John approached the SUV with Ariella and looked back at the others with a playful grin. “We call shotgun.” Opening the front passenger door, he realized that the man already sitting there actually had a shotgun and was glaring back at him. John quickly gave him a sheepish look and closed the door.
Leo and the others piled into the SUV and looked out at Morelli, who was standing by the table as if he was the last one to be picked to play a game of kickball. “Aren’t you coming, Anthony?”
Morelli walked over and took Leo by the arm. “I’m afraid not, Leo. My place is here. I’ll be fine. Francois and his men are watching over all of us.”
Right on cue, a second black SUV pulled up behind the first. Morelli hesitated. “We’ll join up again after we get control of the situation. Besides, I need to go pick up my car.”
“You mean my car.” Leo was relentless. Morelli laughed knowing that this would be an ongoing thing for years to come. He grabbed a bottle of wine off the linen tablecloth and tossed the waiter some Euros before climbing into the backseat of the second SUV with Francois. Within minutes, the two vehicles were speeding off into the dark streets, one headed for the harbor, the other for the Vatican.
The SUV holding Leo’s group raced out from the city center toward the harbor on the Autostrada Roma Fiumicino. Everyone except for the security men leaned back in their seats and began to relax when Lev’s voice crackled over Alon’s radio.
“Alon, do you read me? What’s your location?”
“We’re on our way, Lev. We should be there in less than thirty minutes.”
“Change of plans. Right after we came onboard the yacht, a bunch of vehicles with guys in suits armed with guns drove up to the dock alongside the yacht. We’re pulling away from the dock and out into the harbor as we speak.”
Alon shouted to the driver of the SUV. “Are those your men?”
The driver appeared horrified. “We were trying to keep a low profile. They’re not ours.”
Chapter 50
The SUV increased its speed. Alon wanted to take the battle to the men on the dock who were now menacing his friends on the yacht. “Call for backup. We can take those guys out. No problem.”
The driver was already on his cell phone, calling the headquarters of the Swiss Guard at Vatican City. He looked back over his shoulder at an agitated Alon. “Don’t worry, sir. We have a team on the way along with the carabinieri.” The carabinieri were the Italian military police distinguished by the bright red stripes running down the side of their trousers. They dealt with everything from major crime to speeding offenses.
Alon sat back in his seat, wishing he was more in control of the situation. He jumped as a frantic call blared into his earpiece. It was Daniel calling from Morelli’s house south of the city. “Alon, do you read me? We’re in trouble.” Alon quickly hit the speak button and answered. “What is it Daniel?”
A chilling reply came back to him. “We’re surrounded by Vatican security men with guns.”
Alon’s face took on a look of helpless panic as he yelled at the men in front. “Your men?”
“No, sir. We don’t have anyone at that location.”
From the backseat of the SUV, Alon glanced up and met the eyes of the driver in the mirror. He twirled his finger above his head as an indication to turn around and shouted for the driver to head south in the direction of Morelli’s estate in the country. Alon keyed the mike. “They’re not from the Vatican, Daniel. Stay put, and don’t do anything unless you have to. You and Sarah hide somewhere until we get there, and stay off the radio unless it’s an emergency.”
Leo leaned over the front seat and spoke to the driver. “Do you know where Father Morelli’s estate is?”
“Yes, sir. We do security sweeps of the property on a regular basis.”
“How far is it from where we are now?”
The driver thought for a second. “It’s about forty miles, Father. It will probably take about forty-five minutes to get there through this traffic and the narrow winding roads leading to the village.”
Forty-five minutes was an eternity. Daniel and Sarah were surrounded by men with guns. Leo knew what these people were capable of if they found them. His leonine nature was expressing itself as he began to take charge. “Alon, let me speak to Lev on the yacht.”
Alon immediately handed him the microphone.
Leo thought for a moment before he pushed the talk button. “Lev, come in. This is Leo.”
“Go ahead, Leo,” the reply came back. “We read you.”
“Are you in open waters now?”
Lev and Alex traded looks on the bridge. “We’re just passing the jetty into open water. What’s on your mind?”
“Did you hear the call for help from Daniel?”
“Yes. Are you en route to them?”
“We’re on the way, but it will take us some time to get there. It’s located next to a small village through twisting, narrow mountain roads.”
Lev looked back toward the harbor through the windows on the bridge. “I’ll give the Italian police a call, but I doubt they have anyone in that area. It looks like they got the ones who came after us at the dock. The whole area is lit up with blue flashing lights.”
Leo pressed his face against the side window of the speeding SUV, wondering what he could do. “Francois said there is an Israeli warship in the area. Can you give them a call?”
Lev instantly caught his meaning. “We understand, Leo. Give us the coordinates of Morelli’s house.” The Vatican security man in the front passenger seat overheard and immediately began retrieving data from their onboard GPS.
“Lev, are you ready for the numbers?”
“Go ahead. I’m ready.”
Leo began reading off the GPS coordinates of the country estate as the SUV left the city behind and began to encounter thinner traffic. Determined to cut their drive time in half, the driver pegged the speedometer at one hundred ten miles per hour as the lights of Rome faded in their rearview mirrors.
Chapter 51
In the darkness of Morelli’s enormous house, Daniel and Sarah had taken refuge in the twelfth-century medieval tower. Sarah had seen the cars coming from the highway before they turned up the long tree-lined driveway and came to a stop in front of the house next to the fountain.
She had called Daniel on the radio, alerting him to rush to the room at the top of the tower where they had an unobstructed view of the surrounding countryside. They had wisely chosen it as the perfect place to fend off armed intruders. The only entrance to the room was the small wooden trapdoor located on the floor in a corner.
The caretakers had left for the day, and no one else was around except for the men in suits now scouring the grounds with flashlights. Several of the men had entered the house and were going through it room by room, while others had fanned out and were looking around outside the house. Their search was hampered by Daniel’s quick thinking. He had jammed a screwdriver into the main circuit breaker on his way to the tower and shorted out the ancient electrical system, throwing the palazzo-like residence into darkness.
Daniel grabbed his two radios and turned the volume down so as not to give away their position. Did these men even know they were here? If they weren’t sure, they would know in time when they found the sabotaged electrical system. Daniel and Sarah had two automatic pistols, an Uzi submachine gun, and a shotgun. Anyone coming up through the trapdoor was in for a surprise.
Sarah peeped through the medieval slit in the thick wall. She had counted four small cars holding four men each. Sixteen against two. What did they want? She saw a short priest in the glare of one of the car’s headlights as he stood in the circular driveway. He seemed to be giving orders to the other men as they spread out across the property. Within minutes, the search reached the bottom of the stairwell in the tower.