Il Paradiso - The Haven Ch. 06

Marco, Inspector of Police was angry, indeed his anger was Vesuvian to behold. Torn between his duty and his friend, his duty always held sway,

"You opened fire and shot two men in my city!" He strode around the library, detecting the faint smell of faeces in the room, despite it being cleaned up an hour before, "Did someone shit themselves?"

"Yes, I had a guest from the Albanian house," Nicholas replied, glancing at his watch. He wore khaki today, a throwback to his military days, he looked at the picture of professional soldiery. It unnerved Marco.

"Had?" Marco picked up the obvious point.

"Yes, by now I think he will be about an hour from the outskirts of the city. I did only give him flip-flops to walk in. The delay is the key to my stratagem." Nicholas smiled and beckoned Marco over to the table. The two men looked at thick red marker lines across the city streets map and continued to the larger regional and countrywide maps. The picture was obvious.

"You're leaving!" Marco breathed.

"I have not a single option left. I have stirred the hornet's nest and I need to evade them." Nicholas smiled ruefully, frowning at the size of the problem he had to solve.

"Hornets do not carry automatic weapons, Nicky!" Marco shrugged.

"Yes, so I will be out of your hair, my friend." Marco looked over and thumped his good-naturedly on the shoulder.

"So, what can I do to get you away quicker?" Marco turned and leaned against the table and rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

"I need some muscle, just enough men to pad out the house and make us an even bigger target!" Nicholas sighed and then smiled at Marco.

"You want them here?" Marco replied, beginning to guess the plan, Nicky had formed.

"If they come here, that means they can't be chasing the girls. I've set four of them off already but with now 18 girls to move, I'm going to have to get creative." Nicholas shrugged.

"What exactly do you want from me?" Marco knew Nicholas had given this some considerable thought.

"I want six police transports to take groups of girls to larger Italian cities: Milan, Bologna, San Marino and Genoa. No one would attempt to take down armed police transports. That will then leave smaller private cars to move the girls to the airport to take small private flights to Sicily and Croatia." Nicholas sighed.

"This isn't cheap, is it?" Marco chuckled, "The police transports will cost you too."

"If it's 2 million euros, it's money well spent." Nicholas chuckled, "Sofia will be escorting one of the groups, I want her safe. You'll make sure of that?"

"Mamma Sofia will be well protected. I assure you." Marco cared for Sofia as much as his loving mother, "Are you leaving for good?"

"I can't come back, you know that. I've worn out my welcome. I will find another place in another country, probably Cyprus." Nick smiled ruefully. He liked the people here but if he was ever going to silence the nagging voice in his head, his private crusade would have to continue.

"I can't remember why you came here, Sir Nicky and set up Il Paradiso?" Marco asked, now fishing out his mobile phone.

"I came here to run away. I came here to use my money to live up to someone else's standard. Somebody special." With that Nicky shrugged his shoulders and held his hand out to Marco, "If I get out of here, I'll send you World Cup Final tickets!"

After two hours of calls, drawing out the plans and then a sudden confusion of departures, Marco and Nicholas parted as friends. The day's heat had dissipated, and the veil of blackness fell. It felt like the heat of the Italian sun had been shut in a box. Nicholas felt empty, the house was almost deserted. With Marco's transports, most of the girls had gone, only four remained and they would be gone by the morning, he and the expected team of Marco's men would hopefully arrive and be ready.

Sleep would not come to Nicholas, as it never did before an operation or exercise when he wore the crown on his beret. He had wandered around the house, dressed in army surplus fatigues and boots, carrying the ugly weight of his sidearm. Finally, about 2 a.m. he settled back into his office. Il Paradiso was silent now, he sat in his little office. The house was almost empty, the lights out, but for a single exterior light. The silence was a blanket, a shroud if this plan didn't work. Now, he sat at his laptop and the silence. He turned on the light and there she was, naked.

"Irina, you don't have to do this." He stood up and walked over to the beautiful girl, who had spread her legs for him, her pussy there for his enjoyment.

"I want to, Sir Nicki" She smiled up at him.

"Oh Irina, I'm twice your age!" He stammered but her beauty stirred him as no other woman had before Rosalind entered his empty life.

"Is that an excuse, Sir Nicky?" Irina stood up and crossed the distance between them, "In this moment, you don't have to be alone now. You've been alone too long, haven't you?" Irina was wise beyond her years.

"I am here to protect you and all girls like you. In a few hours. We could be under fire from the same men that trafficked you!" He stripped off his jacket and held it out to her, "If we make it out of here, you can choose any man you want." She accepted the jacket and then looked up at him.

"I choose my Nicky!" She tiptoed and kissed him lightly on the lips.

"Now, go get dressed. This could all kick off any time." She smiled and skipped out of the office and Nicky looked down at his tented trousers, "Well, you nearly got us into a lot of trouble."

As if the gods had heard him, the radio sitting on the desk clicked. Nicholas turned and heard the alert signal.

Click-Click- Click

Luigi knew the protocol and above him in the upper front room, he lay with his beloved Beretta 501 sniper rifle and infra-red scope watching the approach of a convoy of two 4X4s. He watched them, wishing that it was the expected reinforcements from the mercs Nicholas had hired. He followed them with his scope and watched them suddenly stop. The lead car opened its doors and four men climbed out a good 300 yards from the driveway from the house.

Click- Click- Click

By this time, Nicholas had rattled up the stairs three at a time, turned any lights off crawled through the small door gap and shuffled up alongside Luigi.

"Ours?" Nicholas sighed, praying.

"Temo di no!" Luigi replied, his tone flat. Nicholas guessed the response.

"Ah, that will make things quite difficult I fear." Nicholas rummaged for his phone and thumbed a few keys. He texted Marco.

Hannibal at the gates.

"I have three targets." Luigi breathed.

"No, take out the radiator of the lead car." Nicholas smiled, "That will give them pause."

A single shot exploded from the barrel of the rifle and struck the lead car, with a thunderous noise causing the men to scatter and take cover behind the car.

"Can you do the same for the other?" Nicholas was hopeful, but Luigi shook his head.

"If it retreats, I will take the shot." He smiled.

"Keep an eye on them, I fear they will not turn tail and go home." Nicholas replied, "I'll gather the girls for a siege. I think we'll have to go to the mattresses!" He joked. Nicholas shuffled back and out of the door. He looked around and trotted down the stairs. From the occupied rooms, the remaining four girls emerged. He held up his hands,

"Get dressed. Jeans, boots and a light jacket. You have a backpack that was issued with, fill it with water and raid the kitchen, energy bars and so forth. Meet me in the library in ten minutes." He looked up at Irina, "Look after them, especially Anoushka. I've already told Luigi, that she will exit with him along with Kara. You and Greta will come with me." He smiled thinly.

"Do I get a gun?" Irina asked flatly. She looked at the ugly shape hanging from a shoulder holster.

"We'll see. If we must get out quickly, Luigi goes through the conservatory and out through the garden, we go through the kitchen and over the small wall. This may all turn out to be nothing, but let's be ready.

The radio in Nicholas's hand clicked.

Click-Click-Click.

"They are on the move. Go quick!" Nicholas ordered, his Sandhurst voice was hard and clear.

Click-Click-Click.

Nicholas broke RT's silence, "How many? "

"Ten at least. They're using cover. One is still behind the other." He whispered.

Nicholas's phone vibrated in his pocket. He pulled it and read the message.

Scipio 1 hour.

"Pull out. Scipio is an hour out." He whispered back into the radio. He thumbed the phone keypad.

Hannibal at the gates.

Luig emerged from the upper room, his rifle in its case. He followed Nicholas to the library; Irina had rounded all four girls up. They all stood in dark clothes, backpacks, and broken-in boots.

"Luigi, you are through the conservatory. It's a 4 km hike to the upper road. Hide out in the farmhouse. Scipio is on the way. If you get a shot, take out the second car. I'll go across the hills. Turn off GPS and use Channel 6 for transmission. Go!" With that, Luigi nodded, looked at Anoushka and took his lover's hand. Kara followed him, as arranged.

"Goodbye, Sir Nicky." Kara smiled and left down the hallway to the rear of the house.

"Irina, Greta you're with me!" They ran through the house, into the kitchen and waited at the door. Nicholas opened it and then checked the sightlines. Irina looked around the kitchen and saw a large kitchen knife in the block and grabbed it, stashing it in the backpack. They followed him out through the small herb pots and out to the small wall. The air was cool, and the darkness was inky black, and thankfully a no-moon night. He threaded the girls over the wall and then waited at the foot of a knotted old cedar tree. Glancing back, he looked at the Il Paradiso.

"Goodbye, old girl." He whispered and then nodding to Irina and Greta, they took off over the scrub into the comparative safety of the night. In less than ten minutes, Nicholas stopped at the unmistakable sound of gunfire. He turned and saw the muzzle flashes splitting the darkness. The Albanians and their mercs had got to the house and would soon be on their trail. He halted the girls and pulled the radio out from his webbing belt.

Click-Click-Click.

Luigi responded.

Click-Click-Click.

Nicholas took off again, with the girls managing to keep up. They were careful not to stumble on the scrubland, and Nicholas was ever stopping and checking on their movement. He knew they would leave a trail but he couldn't help that now. His goal was the trail that led up and over the scrubland to the road on the other side of the hills surrounding Il Paradiso. If they could steal a car, make their way to Pisa, and then hole up in a tourist hotel or even catch a train.

"Nicky!" Irina stopped and hissed at him. Nicholas stopped and turned. Greta was limping.

"Greta? You, okay?" He whispered.

"I twist my ankle. I'm sorry." Greta's face, though poorly lit showed the agony she felt.

"Okay." Nicholas scrambled back to her and then without hesitation hefted her onto his shoulder and started to make his way into the night.

Irina marvelled at the energy reserves of the man she followed. Greta was a mere slip of a girl, as they all were, but he moved with certainty and within twenty minutes, they stopped in a ditch.

With laboured breathing, Nichola set her down and looked around. Disturbingly, the darkness gave an unreal quality to the landscape, but he could see a structure in the distance.

"Well, if we make for that shelter, we can rest for a minute or two. It's probably a goat shack or some such." Hefting Greta onto his shoulder, he set off. After resting for a few minutes, Nicholas thumbed the radio.

Click-Click-Click

Luigi responded with the same three clicks.

"At least, they are alright, otherwise Luigi would respond with a single click." He sighed. Irina had looked at Greta's ankle and used some strips of cloth, torn from her shirt as a support.

"I can walk Sir Nicky. I won't slow you down." She smiled but winced at the tightly tied makeshift bandage.

"That's fine my lovely. We will make the hill road in an hour, but that will bring us close to dawn. We will need to hide." Nicholas instructed. The trio set off at a slower pace, but as they moved over the scrub, Irna noticed that the sky was less black.

"We're approaching dawn, and we must be careful now. I know that they will be following us and if they do." He looked at the two women.

"I will kill myself. I will not go back to that life, being made to fuck men chosen for me!" Greta spat.

"It will not come to that. As soon as we find the road, I'll flag down a car, and persuade the owner to take us into Florence. Once there, we will mingle with the crowds." He smiled, hiding the very real fear that this would not work out well.

"I hope so!" Irina added.

End of Chapter Six