“Arrogant asshole,” she said, turning the volume on the stereo up.
She stopped in the small town of Poggiomarino to steal a set of license plates and put them on her car before continuing to head towards the coast.
The image of Coventina in the video made her blind with rage when she thought about it. At one point, after seeing that image in her mind’s eye, she ran an oncoming car into piles of garbage that had been left at the roadside. “Just let me get my hands on you, fucking Water Goddess,” she said to herself. “Close enough for my hands or a bullet will do.”
After twisting and turning her way east, she checked in to a room at the Forum Hotel in Pompeii, using one of her sets of fake ID’s and paid in cash. It was one of the closest hotels to the excavated ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii that had been buried under tons of ash when Vesuvius erupted.
Once inside her room, she started a bath and plugged in her computer to charge it. When she opened it she was greeted with another message from the Water Goddess. There is nowhere you can hide.
73
Dawn
Three women and six legionnaires moved north on foot through a field just south of Mario’s compound. They moved in stealth with shields already activated.
When they got to the electrified fence on the north side of the compound Layla uprooted and ripped it in two providing a large path through it and on to the property.
Dogs. Should we have planned for dogs? Layla said.
Too late now. We have to assume they can somehow detect us. Denise said.
The four dogs they had patrolling the property all converged on them as they approached the buildings, now moving faster.
Quintus. I cannot communicate with these dogs. They must be taken out. They can detect us somehow, Denise said.
They are moving directly towards us Denise. It will not be difficult.
From the rooftop of the main building, two of Mario’s men were watching the dogs through binoculars. They could not see any visible reason for them converging on what looked like an empty field, at least until they watched two of the four dogs fall to the ground dead after crying out in pain.
“What the fuck? Did you see that?” one of the men said.
“Holy shit. Did you just see that?” the other man said, after seeing the heads of the other two dogs separated from their bodies before they dropped to the bloody grass beneath them dead.
“What do we do? The barking stopped?”
“Of course the barking stopped, all the fucking dogs are dead. Mario is going to be pissed cause it’s so early but some fucking thing is out there.” He aimed his automatic weapon to where he thought someone might be standing who could have killed the dogs. The rounds whizzed over their heads because they were moving too quickly.
More of Mario’s men poured out of one of the guesthouses, followed by some of Ines’ men.
“What the fuck is going on?” one of them shouted.
“Someone killed the dogs, but I can see no one,” one man shouted from atop Mario’s villa.
“Where?”
“Over there, in the open field.”
Four of Mario’s men turned the corner of the house to head towards where they said the dogs had been killed. They did not make it any further. Four of the legionnaires greeted them, leaving them in a bloody heap.
“What the fuck is happening?” the two men atop Mario’s villa shouted, as once again they opened fire in the direction they thought someone should be that had just brutally murdered four men. This time they could see the bullets bouncing off their shields in every direction.
“Did you see that? Someone is out there.”
“Someone or some thing.”
Supergirl can you shut those two up? Denise asked.
Affirmative. Layla slammed the two men together so hard they fell to the ground unconscious.
Coventina was still moving with Denise and Layla as the six legionnaires rounded the corner killing anything that moved. Three went into each of the two guesthouses to search for anyone who might be left in them. Marcus found Aaron hiding under his bed. He and Lucius dragged him out of the building, dropping him onto the grass. When he looked up Coventina materialized before his eyes.
“I told you that you could be saved. You are not guilty of any of the crimes against me. Leave now, or die here, today, with all the others,” she said in a tone that terrified him.
“I don’t know why you spare my miserable life, but I will leave.”
“Change, and LEAVE, NOW,” she shouted before disappearing from sight.
There were now six more men atop Mario’s villa and more around it shooting blindly across the fields. Occasionally some rounds would bounce off the shields only to miss when more weapons were trained on the spot they thought someone might be. They were moving too fast.
Once again Layla took out the men atop the villa, this time sending them flying after being slammed into one another. They landed unconscious out back by the pool. They missed the water.
Denise Layla and Coventina watched as Quintus and his men eliminated the other men outside the house. An eerie silence came over the compound.
Let’s finish this. There is no telling how soon it will be that this place is swarming with police, Denise said.
Odumnus kicked the door open and the legionnaires rushed in. Denise pitied whomever they might run into.
They found Mario and Ines in a master bedroom, taking their weapons from them before the three women entered.
Once again Coventina materialized before them. “Do you remember me? I was your very special prize is how I believe you put it,” she said, looking at Mario. Ines watched in horror as Mario’s head was separated from his body and flew across the room.
“You ordered the murder of my family, because you lost your prize,” she said to Ines. Before the terrified woman could utter a word, Quintus’ sword pierced through her heart from behind her. She looked down at her blood that had formed on the invisible Gladius before falling to the ground dead when he pulled it out.
“Let’s get out of here post haste,” Layla said.
“We missed one,” Coventina said as they walked quickly back across the field to the rendezvous point where their ride was waiting.
“For now,” Layla said. They could hear the sound of sirens wailing in the distance.
It is one of the reasons we let Aaron get away, Denise said.
74
A Short Wait
The mood was somber it seemed, only for Denise, Layla and Aja upon their return to the farmhouse in France. The others were celebrating as one might expect warriors to celebrate after a victorious battle, even a battle as one-sided as theirs was. They quietly but happily explained what they did and whom they did it too. Diana, Maria and Anna all had painful smiles on their faces listening to the legionnaires, but smiles nonetheless.
“It’s like nothing you’ve seen in a movie,” Denise said to Aja, who was monitoring multiple computer screens.
“Gruesome huh?”
“Very. Oh don’t get me wrong. They showed no mercy, and justifiably so as far as I’m concerned,” Layla said. “But, it was gruesome.”
“I am glad I missed it.”
“I was so wishing this was going to be totally over. Any clue yet where Rosina is?” Denise asked.
“My guess is not very far from the scene of carnage, but I don’t know for sure, yet.”
“Thanks. I know you’re on top of it. I don’t know how to thank you my dear.”
“You are the one who knew she would not be there, so you may find out sooner than I do.”
“Yes. I wish things were clearer some times. One more hurdle to get over and everyone can try and settle into having a life.”
“Indeed.”
Layla went to join the others outside where Anna and Maria had some food cooking on a large grill.
“Would you like something to eat or drink?” Marcus asked.
“Not much of an appetite yet, but I
will have some wine, with a ice cube please.”
“Allow me,” Lucilla smiled. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah, I’m okay, I guess. Denise might be feeling a bit rattled though.”
“It must have been pretty horrible.”
“Well, I think Denise got it right a few minutes ago. It’s like nothing you’ve seen in a movie.”
“I don’t need the gory details.”
“How are you getting on?”
“Okay,” Lucilla smiled quietly.
“Are you any closer to that big decision yet?”
“Yes and no, but leaning towards yes.”
“I won’t ask you what the yes is. I have enough to think about,” Layla laughed.
“So what’s left?”
“One person, if we find her in time.”
“And if we don’t?” Lucilla asked.
“Denise and I could take care of it.”
“Chicken is looking very done, so come and get it,” Anna shouted.
Quintus and Coventina sat away from the others sipping on their wine.
Layla dragged her chair over by them. “May I sit with you?”
“Of course. I didn’t get a chance to thank you for everything you did for us today,” Coventina said.
Quintus raised his glass in the form of a salute and also thanked her. “How is Denise faring?”
“She’s good. Killing has a tendency to numb her brain for a short period, but she’s good.”
“A perfect way of putting it Layla. Unfortunately, the more you kill the more numb you become to it,” Quintus said.
“Even if you felt someone deserved it?”
“Yes, even then.”
Coventina sat in her chair like a cat waiting to spring at a moment’s notice, her very own Gladius resting beside her against a tree.
“Your property in England is quite the beautiful place,” Layla smiled. “One could make a good life there.”
Coventina simply offered a wide smile and thanked her.
“How about something to eat?” Denise shouted from the door waving at Layla, the late afternoon glowing in a glorious golden light as the sun started its descent in the western sky.
Layla smiled and nodded in agreement, “Well, if you will excuse me, before my stomach drowns out the conversation.”
“I didn’t feel like eating anything with a face. I hope you don’t mind,” Denise said.
“Good choice,” Layla said, looking at a plate full of vegetarian croissants.
Lucius joined Aja at the table. “No, thank you, I’ve eaten,” he replied to her offer of a plate.
“When I was a little girl in Chicago, one of our neighbors came home from the Army with a French wife. That was the first time I had a croissant. Can’t imagine why I did not keep eating them,” Denise smiled.
“That’s easy. I don’t think there is a French neighborhood in Chicago, and if there is we sure weren’t near it,” Aja giggled, reaching for a light at the end of the table.
Lucius watched her lightly perfumed bare arm move past him and smiled, breathing in her scent.
“Well I’m just from little old bake your own country style bread Danville,” Layla laughed.
“I love your bread when you bake it,” Denise said.
The sound of Aja’s beeping computer pierced the brief festive moment. A dead calm came over the room as she quickly walked over to it. Denise and Layla looked at each other and over to Aja.
“I knew it. I knew it was just a matter of time before she used her phone.”
Lucius walked over and stood next to her.
“And the call came from Aaron,” Aja said, turning to face Denise and Layla. “We will have to assume he is telling her everything.”
Denise held the half eaten spinach and cheese croissant in her hand waiting to hear more.
“She is in Pompeii,” Aja said.
Lucius ran out the door to notify Quintus and Coventina.
“Is there time for another croissant?” Denise asked.
“There’s always time for one more,” Layla said.
“Feel up to flying us there?” Denise said.
“I always feel like flying.”
75
Lost And Found
Aaron was lucky enough to find one vehicle with the keys in it at Mario’s when he was released. He drove south, continuing to try and reach Rosina on the phone she had given him. “You’d think she would have left it on, fucking Rosina.”
He stopped for gas and a late lunch in Cosenza, trying to imagine where she would have gone, and what to do with himself now. His fingerprints would undoubtedly be found at the site of the carnage. I have to piece a story together. Rosina, where the fuck are you?
Upon leaving Cosenza, he headed towards the coast, where he would stop occasionally to try reaching Rosina on the cheap phone she gave him.
“She must have put the wrong fucking number in or something,” he shouted. The phone fell out of his hands landing hard on the pavement. When he picked it up he noticed a blank screen. “Fuck.”
After driving a little further north along the coast mulling over what to do, he decided to try reaching her on their regular phones. “She has got to know.”
Back in Pompeii, Rosina had been trying to reach him on the cheap phone. When she could not do so, the phone did not survive her temper. She threw it at the wall of a Roman ruin where it lay in pieces on the ground. She was heading back to her car, having been waiting for nightfall to travel, when her smartphone rang.
“What an idiot. I told him not to use these phones,” she mumbled before answering it. “This had better be important.”
“Rosina. That other fucking phone did not work even before I dropped it and it broke.”
“Yeah, well that might explain why mine is now in a few pieces. What is it?”
“We are all that’s left.”
“What?”
“I don’t want to talk on the phone, but trust me when I say we are all that is left.”
There was silence on Rosina’s end as she took in what she had just heard and mulled over whether or not to let Aaron know where she was.
“I am along the coast somewhere, where are you?” she said.
“I’m in Salerno.”
“I will text you instructions. I’m not that far away from you.”
“Rosina. I am frightened.”
“One question. How is it YOU are alive?”
“I was let go.”
“Let go?”
“Yes, by the Water Goddess.”
Rosina hung up hearing those two words again and slipped her phone into her handbag until she cooled down so it would survive.
“Water Goddess hey? Well, come and get me if you dare, you bitch,” she shouted, before changing directions and heading back to her hotel.
76
Scomparire
Rosina returned to her hotel room with the heavy suitcase that Aaron had left in the car. She opened it to find two Mini Uzi assault weapons. The rest of the suitcase was filled with magazines already loaded with ammunition and six hand grenades.
“Thank you Aaron,” she said, picking one up and loading it. “Grenades, how sweet.”
Aaron reached the city limits of Pompeii and carefully made his way to the hotel, parking more than a block away.
He dialed Rosina’s number and pushed the call button. She answered without saying a thing. “I am here.”
“Go to the desk and tell them you are here to see me. They are expecting you.”
The clerk directed him to room 214. He knocked on the door.
Rosina answered it with one of the Uzi’s in her hand. After closing the door she kissed him on the cheek. “You’ve nothing to fear from me,” she said.
“You can have all that stuff. I am through with this business,” Aaron said.
“Would you like my opinion?”
“Sure.”
“I don’t think you were ever cut out for the business we chose. You’re t
oo nice.”
“Rosina, what are you going to do? You’ve been using your phone. You must assume they know where you are. Hell, they are probably on their way here right now.”
Her eyes squinted when she turned her head from the window to look at him. “I am counting on it.”
She went about packing what she needed to take with her as Aaron told him all he knew about the massacre, wiping away her prints from whatever she was sure she would not touch before leaving.
“They did not use firearms. No, they must have been using machetes, or swords. They moved so fast, so calculated. They killed with no mercy, like professionals, like they had killed many times before.”
“Swords?”
“Yes, but that may not be the worst part. They could disappear.”
“Disappear?”
“Yes. Scomparire.”
Rosina slipped a magazine into the other Uzi. “Do you want your suitcase? I won’t be needing it.”
“Rosina. Why wait? Why not get away? Why not disappear?
“It is not in my nature, no more than it is in the Water Goddess’ nature. If I defeat her, and get away, I can start all over again. I can be in charge. It’s all I know Aaron. I cannot change.”
“Rosina. Scomparire, at least for a while.”
“No. Sweet of you to care, but no. I must leave. Take your suitcase.”
The weather was a little warm for the long black raincoat she wore. She turned in the key at the front desk and followed Aaron out the door into the street.
They walked to her car where she tossed everything but the contents of Aaron’s suitcase in the trunk.
“I cannot stay Rosina. Please reconsider.”
“Get out of here. If I’m lucky I just might be calling on you to come work for me.”
Aaron looked up at the moon that seemed to be poking its head around the corner of a building. “Beautiful moon.”
Rosina looked up then back at Aaron. “Decrescente Nonas.”
“Goodbye Rosina, and good luck,” he said, before turning to walk down the block back to his car. “I hope you live to see another Decrescente Nonas Rosina,” he said quietly to himself. After witnessing what he saw at Mario’s he did not think she ever would.
Rosina turned the corner at the other end of the block and headed for the Ruins of Pompeii.
77
Tua Vita Mea