The Crypt (19 page)

Unless it was a quality counterfeit badge, everything checked out. Having said that, Sarah wasn’t an expert on what to look for. She hadn’t spent any time studying police badges as she had no use for the police. She disliked cops and law enforcement in general. They’d rarely stepped up in the past and done the right thing for her. Only Parkman could be trusted.

She lowered her weapon and flipped the safety on. “Okay. The gun is down but it stays in my hand. I don’t exactly feel safe yet.”

“Understood. Come and sit down. We need to talk.”

Rosalie gestured to a nearby pew. Sarah nodded and stepped over to sit, her face aimed at the two men sitting by the square windows.

“Where’s Parkman?” she asked.

Rosalie sat opposite her. “He’s outside somewhere. We assaulted the city once you were down with Tony in his office. Parkman said you would use the fire, whatever that meant. We assumed it meant you would be okay because you would use our cover fire to make whatever move you were going to make. It’s a relief to see you come up those stairs and not Mr. Soprano.”

“I used the fire, but it wasn’t yours.”

Rosalie frowned for a second then her face flipped back to composed. The ultimate professional soldier. “Your reputation is quite something.”

Always suspicious, Sarah looked away to keep an eye on the two men who were staring out the windows. They weren’t firing at anyone, just watching from their concealed spots.

“My reputation? How do you know me?”

“A few months ago your name crossed my desk. It was regarding the compound bust in the southern States in your hunt for Armond Stuart. Armond is one of Tony’s best customers. Many law enforcement agencies are hunting for Armond but he’s one of the slipperiest perps we’ve ever come across.”

“He’s quite cunning, but I won’t rest until he is brought to justice whether that’s in front of a court or God. Either one is fine by me. Every day he walks free is another day I’m disrespected.”

“I understand. That’s why we need you. We heard you were coming so we organized our team and planned the assault for your arrival.”

Sarah almost lifted her gun again to demand more specific answers.

“What do you mean, you heard I was coming? How could that be? And how come you know so much about me? This isn’t making me feel all cozy and cute. I just met you and yet you have the upper hand. Usually that pisses me off. Start talking and telling.”

“Of course,” Rosalie said in her best motherly voice. “A man named Rod Howley, an American, said you would be coming to Montone to meet Mr. Soprano today. He’s with some American University that deals in paranormal research of some kind. This man said you were to be taken care of. When he says taken care of, I mean…” she paused.

“What?” Sarah asked, her stomach turning at the thought that the man she shot in the shin in Budapest had passed her name along like an old friend. All she kept hearing in her head was
property of the United States of America.

“His message came to me directly. It was forwarded to me through my superiors. They took a risk contacting me like they did. Usually there’s only one reason for that kind of contact. Abort the operation. But this wasn’t an abort order. This was someone sending me a message and the message was about you. Can’t say I wasn’t elated to hear your name and that you were on our team, but the message came down like it was from the President of the United States himself.”

Sarah breathed out through her teeth. How powerful was this guy? How connected? If he knew everything about her, where she would be going and when, and he had the power to delegate to a group of undercover operatives like this, than he was much more than she could deal with.

“I know, I couldn’t believe it either,” Rosalie continued. “Anyway, once you went downstairs, we took out the few men Tony had in the church, got Parkman down and tossed him a weapon. The three of us were left behind to debrief you. By the way, loved the quick action to disarm one of their men and run to Parkman. I’ve read your file, heard about your triumphs, but it’s quite another thing to watch you in action.”

“Is this where I’m supposed to thank you for the compliment? Because truly, all I’m doing is staying alive and sticking with the people I trust and at this moment Parkman’s it. What’s next?”

“The city of Montone will be ours in the next few minutes. After that we have six months or more of files and paperwork to sift through. That paperwork will effectively bring down all the people in each government around the world that are on the take.”

Sarah was shaking her head. “I mean what’s next for me.”

“We need you to accompany us back to Budapest. At this point you and Parkman, but mostly you, are the only ones who can positively identify Armond Stuart’s new face.”

“Then what?”

“Rod said that he would meet up with you after that and the two of you are heading back to the States.”

Sarah shook her head. “No fucking way.”

Rosalie frowned. “I take it you two aren’t associates?”

“If attempted kidnapping of an American citizen is thought of as being pals, then maybe we’re acquainted.”

“What? Then how does he know so much about you?”

“Long story. Maybe another time. If you’ve got Montone locked down, I need to meet up with Parkman and get something to eat. Kinda shaky with what went on down below in the crypt.”

“Absolutely. By the way, taking out Tony Soprano was like taking out the master vampire. All his minions will soon follow.”

“Why does everyone continually refer to vampires?” Sarah said, almost to herself.

“What?” Rosalie had half turned away, but looked back.

“Nothing,” Sarah brushed her off.

“Tell me, how did you do it?”

“I didn’t. Tony shot himself. I was unarmed. He had bullets in little boxes on his desk. I just knocked a bunch into the fireplace. When they began discharging, he was in the way. I wasn’t.”

“That’s risky. You could have been shot too,” Rosalie said, her eyebrows raised.

“I had a feeling I’d be okay,” Sarah said, thinking about her sister’s note.

Rosalie nodded and stood up. She walked over and addressed both men in their positions and then talked into a lapel mic. She looked at Sarah and waved her over.

“It’s done. As far as we can tell the streets are safe. My men have about four men locked down in a stronghold. They’re the last of Tony’s crew that didn’t surrender or get killed. My team are drilling into the stone wall of their stronghold as we speak. Everyone else is accounted for.”

“Parkman okay?”

“Other than bruising on his wrists from the ropes when he was tied to the cross, he’s fine. It was great to have him on our team. He saved the lives of a couple of my men today.”

The four of them stepped from the church into the late afternoon Italian sun and watched as people ran left and right, cleaning up shell casings and bodies as they went. Blood stained the ancient stones around Sarah’s feet.

A massacre took place here
, she thought.
Something the ancient Romans used to do for sport.

For all Rosalie had said and all that Sarah could see about her, something still nagged at her conscience. It was obvious the woman was telling the truth. A gun battle had taken place. The enemy was killed. Rosalie walked among the workers like she was the boss congratulating her employees. Everyone recognized her authority. Some even stopped what they were doing to salute her. A couple stared at Sarah.
More people who might know of her
, she thought.

Sarah was escorted around with the two men from the inside of the church who had been staring out the windows. The men she almost shot because they were looking away and she held the advantage.

But something still nagged at her. Rosalie had known Sarah was coming for Tony. She had been warned and then ordered what to do with Sarah afterwards. They had waited years to advance on Mr. Soprano, but the day they decided to move forward was the day Sarah was coming. Sarah, an unproven professional. She wasn’t employed at any law enforcement agency. She hadn’t had any formal training as these people had. Yet they waited for her.

Was it to see how far she got? Was she a guinea pig or fed to the lions? Any way she sliced it, Sarah wasn’t comfortable with how it was handled. A full assault on the Montone compound with a professional task force would’ve been a better option, leaving Sarah outside eating gelato. It would’ve been safer for her and Parkman. What if Tony had an itchy finger? Was her life worth nothing to these people? Or was she making a big deal out of it for nothing? And what was that message from Rod about
taking care of Sarah
? Did that mean take care of her like in pampering or take care of her like the mafia?

Not much would’ve stopped her from hunting Tony. Not after her sister’s message. They must’ve known she would be quite the person to try to stop. But still.

And then there’s Rod. How powerful was this man? How powerful could any man be?

She realized as she walked the tilting streets of Montone that she was a prisoner. This task force had their directive and that was to deliver Sarah to Budapest to ID Armond Stuart before being handed her over to Rod Howley.

The handover to Rod would never take place. But she’d allow them to take her to Budapest, because taking Armond down was her priority too.

Once Armond was dead, Sarah would disappear for a while.

Maybe go to Canada and meet that Drake Bellamy guy she’d been hearing about lately.

The paperwork these people had to go through would take too long to stop the hit on Drake at that baseball game in two weeks.

Decision made. She would deal with whatever she had to, to take down Armond, and then she would hide in Toronto and save a Canadian’s life.

Pulling her thoughts together, she looked past a group of people and saw Parkman.

She looked down and saw the gun was still in her hand. She’d forgotten it was there. A quick pull on her jeans and the gun was stashed away.

Parkman looked up at her. Their eyes locked and she felt safe again but only for a moment.

They needed to talk. She wouldn’t be a prisoner of these people forever and Parkman was the only one who could help her leave their custody after Armond was dealt with.

Planning an escape from Rod Howley was going to be tricky. The man was good. He was powerful.

But he wasn’t as street smart as Sarah.

If she couldn’t escape from him she would shoot him again but this time it wouldn’t be in the leg.

It would be a killing shot.

Chapter 18

They removed Parkman and Sarah from Montone and put them in Hotel Rio downtown Umbertide for the night, with Rosalie’s men guarding their room.

“What the fuck are we going to do?” Sarah asked in a whisper.

Parkman was trying to get the television to work. He smacked the top and then looked up at her. “I don’t know. Maybe I could ask them to get us another television.”

“No, not that. I’m talking about these people that are guarding us. You do know we’re prisoners?”

Parkman turned fully and stared at her. “There’s nothing we can do right now. They’re feeding us, getting us new clothes and flying us both back to Budapest. Our luggage has been picked up and everything is right with the world again. We have a major task force on
our
side hunting for Armond now and we’re in the lead as we’re the only two that can ID him. In my opinion we couldn’t have a better situation.”

Sarah turned and plopped down on her bed. It was a hard mattress like any other European bed she’d felt so far. “You don’t understand me. After this is finished they’re handing me over to the people who kidnapped you. What are we going to do about that?”

Parkman turned away from her and stepped to the window. With his back to her he said, “You know, I could really go for a toothpick right now. Do you know how long it has been since I’ve had a toothpick.”

“Parkman!”

He raised his hands. “Okay, okay.”

“Deal with this with me or I do it all alone. I’m offering you the choice and you know how hard that is for me,” Sarah paused and looked at her hands sitting on her thighs. “This is the first time I’ve had to deal with so many law enforcement types. You know me better than anyone, my parents included. I respond to a note from Vivian and walk away. I yearn for anonymity. I don’t have that now and I could use your help.”

Parkman turned from the window. “You’re right. I’m here for you and I will help you get through this. We’ll do it together because I know you’re going to need my help.”

Sarah looked up at him. “Why’s that? Why do you know I’ll need your help?”

Parkman walked over and sat beside her on the end of the bed. “I was taken by those Sophia Project men. What I learned in their company was that they use the University as a cover. They’re actually U.S. Government men working a black operation. Something seriously top secret. It’s also something that has given them clearance to the top. This Rod guy can make a call and the President would listen.”

Sarah frowned. “How is that
even
possible? The top people in our country are elected officials.”