Coming around another steep turn, Christina caught a glimpse of a speedboat anchored in a small cove. Approaching closer, she saw that another one of Antonio’s men was waiting for them on the boat.
She slipped yet another time and feeling a sharp rock dig into her back, she gasped in pain. The other mobster grabbed her by the arm and pulled her violently to her feet. Christina felt a sting on her wounded arm, and it started bleeding again.
As they reached the beach, Giovanni went into the water and climbed on board first. The other mobster shoved her toward the craft, and she waded through the water. When she reached the boat, Giovanni reached for her hand and hauled her over the side. Soaked, shivering, and in pain, Christina crawled up onto one of the seats and tried to make herself as small as possible. The other mobster climbed aboard as well, and the boat took off, heading for the open sea.
Christina turned back and glanced at the mansion high on top of the hill. It appeared deserted. Something is definitely up, she thought. But where are they taking me now?
***
Alexis was waiting for Dan at the Corfu airport and seemed genuinely glad to see him. He explained that they had already issued an arrest warrant for Antonio Rosetti. Dan and he would be flying to Kefalonia the next morning, and hopefully by then, Antonio and his mobsters would be under police custody.
Dan was restless and would have preferred to fly to Kefalonia that same night, but there was nothing he could do about it right now.
They climbed into a police jeep, and Alexis drove into the beautiful and elegant town of Corfu—the so-called “old town” where centuries of Greek tradition coexisted harmoniously with European influences. Dan had never been to Corfu before, and the beauty of the place took his breath away. He wished he had come here under different circumstances, but now he was too worried to enjoy it. Maybe we can come back sometime in the future with Christina, he thought wistfully.
Cruising down a beach boulevard, Dan let his eyes wander over the beautifully maintained buildings on one side and the magnificent body of crystal waters—turquoise closer to the beach and sapphire farther in—of the Ionian Sea on the other. The impressive old Venetian fortress could be seen on a rocky peninsula that jutted into the sea.
“I’ll take you to your hotel so that you can rest,” Alexis said.
“No, I’m fine,” Dan reassured him, anxious to go to the General Police Directorate in case they had any developments. Of course, Alexis would know about them, he reasoned with himself, but still it would make him feel better being there, in the center of the action.
Alexis drove to a short, aristocratic avenue with neo-classical mansions and tree-covered pavements, filled with banks, shops, cafeterias, and restaurants.
“I’ll call the Chief of Kefalonia Police,” Alexis said as they climbed off the Jeep and went inside the building housing the General Police Directorate.
Dan could hardly wait to find out if Antonio had been arrested and Christina was safe.
***
The speedboat had been flying on the calm waters for almost an hour when Christina saw a yacht from far away. They approached and stopped next to it.
Giovanni helped her climb the ladder to the yacht.
One of the other mobsters dragged Christina into a main cabin. She was shocked to see Antonio waiting for them. Somewhere deep inside her, she had hoped she would never have to see him again.
“What’s going on?” she dared to ask him. “Where are you taking me now?”
“Shut up!” he barked at her and waved to the mobster to take her downstairs.
The man dragged her downstairs and into a long corridor with doors on both sides. They stopped at the one toward the end. The bully opened it and shoved Christina inside. She fell on the floor and lay there for a few minutes, unable to move. When the pain subsided a little bit, she tried to sit up. She was in a small cabin with a narrow bunk bed and a chair. From an opened door, she could see an adjacent bathroom. Reaching for the chair, she helped herself up. Drawing a few breaths, she tried to calm her frantic heartbeat. They were out in the middle of nowhere, so there wasn’t much she could do right now. Devastated, she slowly moved to the bed and lay down on it.
All of a sudden, the engines came to life, and shortly after, the yacht took off. Christina held on to the sides of the bed, feeling dizzy from the sudden thrust. She just couldn’t believe what she had been through during the last couple of days…
A few minutes later—or maybe it was hours, she had lost track of time—the door swung open. Startled at first, she exhaled, relieved when she saw Giovanni. He was a mobster, all right, but he’d been kind to her so far.
He stepped inside, holding a small paper bag, and softly closed the door behind him. “How are you holding up?” he whispered while taking a look at her wounded arm. Even though the bandage was soaked in blood, the bleeding had stopped. However, it still hurt like hell. I hope it doesn’t become infected, Christina prayed. I won’t be able to get any help out here in the open sea. Not that she believed she would get help when they reached wherever they were going. If something happened to her, she was sure Antonio would rather let her die than call a doctor.
“Let me take a look at it,” Giovanni said and slowly unwrapped the bandage.
Christina drew a sharp breath from the pain but remained silent, watching him cleaning the wound with peroxide and wrapping a clean bandage he had brought in the paper bag around it.
“You need to go along with him and do as he says,” he whispered as soon as he finished with her arm.
“I don’t understand,” Christina whispered back.
“A lot has happened in the meantime… The only thing that can keep you alive right now is to go along with his plans.”
“What plans?” she asked, worried and perplexed.
“He wants the property on the island,” he said hastily. “Sign it over to him.”
“Sign it over to him? But it’s not mine to sign it over.”
“Oh, yes it is. Along with everything else that belonged to Paolo… It’s the only thing he wants.”
“I don’t understand,” Christina insisted. “If the property belongs to me like you said, why keep me alive to sign it over? Why not kill me and inherit everything, anyway?”
“He was probably planning on staging an accident to get rid of you. But now things have changed… The police know you’re here so making his move right now would look suspicious. We hardly had enough time to dump the bodies of Adriano and his men.”
“The police know about me? So that man at the mansion was the police chief, after all.”
“Who? Marcos?” Giovanni inquired, puzzled. “But of course he’s the police chief.”
“But why would Antonio invite him there if he didn’t want the police to know about me?”
“Marcos is working for Antonio. He’s not the one who informed the police about you. On the contrary, he’s the one who warned Antonio that a warrant has been issued for his arrest, and he needed to get out of Greece as soon as possible.”
“Get out of Greece? And go where? Where are we going?”
“To Italy.”
Oh, God, Christina thought. How is Dan ever going to find me if they keep on moving from one country to another? All of a sudden another thought crossed her mind. “And how did the Greek Authorities find out about me being here?”
“I don’t know,” Giovanni replied. “Marcos didn’t know, either. But the order for Antonio’s arrest came down the chain of command.”
A glimmer of hope warmed Christina’s heart. Someone had notified the Greek Authorities about Antonio, and that probably had to be the United States’ Authorities. So Dan might know where she was, after all.
***
Alexis attended a briefing on the case while Dan waited for him in his office. Dan couldn’t attend the meeting as he was in Greece unofficially. Besides, his knowledge of the Greek language was limited, and he wouldn’t be able to understand, anyway.
?
??We’re leaving today,” Alexis cried out, storming into his office.
“What happened?” Dan inquired worryingly, springing to his feet.
“Antonio and his men have escaped,” Alexis barked furiously, slamming his fist on the desk.
“When? How?”
“I’m not sure, but by the time the police raided the place, it was deserted.”
“I don’t believe it!” Dan cried out, furiously.
“Someone must have tipped them off,” Alexis said. “Otherwise, why pick up and leave in such a hurry?”
“Are you sure they were there in the first place?”
“Yes, witnesses saw people at the mansion just a few hours before the raid. And not only that…”
“What?” Dan inquired, feeling the hair stand on end on the back of his neck. He had a feeling he wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Some scuba divers spotted a speedboat a few kilometers off Myrtos Beach…”
“And?” Dan asked, waiting breathlessly for the answer.
“They were dumping bodies in the water…”
“What?” Dan was outraged. He clenched his fists and drew a few breaths trying to control his temper. “Have the police retrieved the bodies? Were they identified? Was a woman among them?”
“Dan, calm down,” Alexis said. “We haven’t been able to retrieve the bodies yet, but I’m sure Christina is not among them. It wouldn’t make any sense to bring her all the way to Greece, just to kill her.”
“I know,” Dan replied. “But maybe they got scared about the raid and killed her, anyway.”
“I don’t think so, but we’ll know soon. Divers have gone down trying to retrieve the bodies before they’re carried away by the strong currents in the area. We’re lucky the scuba divers spotted them otherwise these bodies would have never been found.”
“When are we leaving?” Dan inquired, anxiously.
“Right now… A police helicopter is waiting to take us to Kefalonia. In the meantime, the coast guard has been notified, and they are searching everywhere for the speedboat or a yacht. Antonio owns a 150 foot yacht, and we’re suspecting he might use that to escape to Italy.”
“Let’s go then,” Dan said and stormed out the door…
***
After Giovanni had left, Christina sat on the chair, feeling restless. She was sure now that the police were looking for them. But would they be able to find them before they made it to Italy?
Time went by excruciatingly slow when she suddenly heard a piercing voice from the coast guard’s loudspeaker, ordering them to surrender. Her breath caught in her throat. The police had found them. No matter what, everything would be over soon.
She heard commotion and loud voices from the deck upstairs. Then all hell broke loose. The sound of bullets striking the yacht, and who knew what else, echoed in her ears.
They won’t surrender, she thought, devastated, and we’re all going to die…
The yacht was maneuvering violently, and Christina had crawled under the bed, trying to protect herself from any diverted bullets.
It seemed like ages before the shooting subsided, and the yacht stopped its crazy course. Christina waited a couple of minutes and then crawled out from underneath the bed. She made it to the door and tried it. To her surprise, she found it unlocked. Giovanni must have left it unlocked, she realized.
She tiptoed to the end of the corridor and up the stairs to the main cabin. It was a mess. Bodies were lying all over the blood-stained carpet, among broken pieces of furniture and shards of glass from the broken windows. Among those bodies, she saw Giovanni’s, and her heart sunk. He’d been good to her.
She heard people running on deck and ducked behind the sofa, panicked. Men in coast guard uniforms rushed inside, holding their guns in their hands. Christina stood still as one of them approached her cautiously. The rest checked the bodies and then ran downstairs. The officer helped Christina to the deck outside.
A helicopter was hovering low above the yacht, and an officer helped her climbed into a bucket lowered down on the deck. She was then pulled upwards and on board the chopper.
***
Christina woke up in the hospital. She was fed up with them. She, who had never been sick one day in her whole life, had spent so much time in hospitals the last few weeks. She glanced over and was elated to see Dan sleeping on the chair next to her bed. He woke up as soon as she moved.
“Hi,” he said with a big smile on his face.
“Hi,” Christina whispered and returned his smile.
“How are you feeling?” he asked and reached over to touch her hand.
“I’m okay,” Christina responded and glanced at her arm covered with bandages.
“You’re going to be fine,” Dan reassured her. “It was nothing serious, only a flesh wound. It’s just that you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“What happened? How did you know I was brought to Greece? And how did you get here?”
“Take it easy,” Dan said, softly caressing the back of her hand. “I’ll explain everything, but first, you need to relax. We’ve been through a lot and need some rest.”
“How did you find me?” she insisted, unable to comprehend what had happened.
“We received information from the FBI about Antonio’s mansion here on the island. And since we couldn’t find a trace of him, his men, or you in the States, we concluded that he had brought you here.”
“The FBI? Is the FBI involved in this case, as well?”
“The FBI was involved right from the start…”
“What do you mean?”
“Johnny,” he said simply.
“What about Johnny?” she inquired, confused. “Where is he, and what does he have to do with the FBI?”
Dan shifted in his seat and remained silent for a moment.
“Dan, what’s wrong? What happened with Johnny? Who is he?” Christina bombarded him with questions. “He came to the cabin with that other man, and I was scared to death. I didn’t know what to think. I just ran away, and they chased me with guns…”
Christina started shivering. Dan stood up and sitting on the bed, he took her in his arms.
“Calm down!” he said. “Everything is all right now.”
“I woke up, and you were gone,” Christina mumbled, tears sliding down her face. “And I was so scared. I didn’t know who to trust. The man who came with Johnny pointed a gun at me. He would have killed me if it weren’t for Champ. He launched at him, and I had a chance to escape. Then I ran into Adriano, and he brought me here...” she added, and her voice trailed off.
“Everything is all right now,” Dan tried to soothe her.
“I am so grateful Champ was there. He risked his life for me… How is he?” she added.
Dan drew a deep breath.
“What?” Christina asked alarmed. “I heard a gunshot.”
“Champ is dead,” Dan replied, softly caressing her cheek.
“Oh, no!” Christina cried out. In the short time the dog had spent with them in the mountains she’d become very fond of him. Not to mention the fact that he saved her life.
Devastated, she rested her head on his shoulder and started crying again. “Everyone who comes close to me dies,” she mumbled.
“Don’t say that. I’m still here,” Dan said, softly caressing her hair.
“I’m so tired constantly looking over my shoulder.”
“Things will change now,” he reassured her and when she pulled back to stare at his face, he gave her a warm smile.
“But you never explained about the FBI,” she said after a moment of silence.
“Well, you see Meyers is FBI.”
“Who on earth is Meyers?” Christina inquired—her eyes wide with bewilderment.
“Well…” Dan hesitated for a minute. “It seems that your friend Johnny is a Federal Agent working undercover. He had...”
“He’s what?” Christina cried out, shocked.
“An undercover agent,” Dan repeated.
“And so was one of the three guys who you saw with him in his apartment. They’ve been working on this deal for a long time.”
“An agent? Johnny is FBI?” Christina repeated, more to herself than to Dan. “And to think that I was worried to death about him,” she continued. “I wish he had told me.”
“This is not the kind of thing you go around telling people,” Dan said, and Christina realized that he was right. But she was still upset—she felt used.
“But why didn’t he tell me when he came to the cabin?” she asked, confused. “The guy who came with him was also FBI? I can’t believe that. I could tell that there was something wrong.”
“You were right about him,” Dan said, and Christina looked at him puzzled.
“He was a traitor. He almost killed Johnny, and he was probably going to kill you, too. We’re trying to find him right now. He’s not going to get far. The whole Rosetti organization is falling apart.”
***
Dan was still holding her in his arms when they heard voices in the corridor and the door opened. Christina was shocked to see Johnny standing at the doorway, and so was Dan.
Johnny was pale, and his shoulder and chest were wrapped up in bandages. “Hello,” he said simply and hesitated at the door.
“Johnny!” Christina cried out. “Where on earth did you come from? How did you get here?” She was astonished to see him in Greece.
“I just had to come,” he mumbled. “I was so worried about you.” He turned to Dan. “Hello, Mallory.”
“Hi,” Dan replied, and releasing Christina from his arms, he sprung to his feet. “When did you arrive?”
“About an hour ago,” Johnny replied. “I flew to Athens and then boarded a connecting flight to Kefalonia.”
“Is Cole here with you?”
“No, I’m here unofficially, just like you.”
“Who is Cole?” Christina cut in.
“My new FBI partner,” Johnny replied.
“And how did you find us here?” Dan inquired.