They got into the car he’d led them to, and Ella lay down as he drove away, the movement of the car adding an extra layer of disorientation to the mix. She could hear sirens now, and this man knew her name.
“What the fuck is going on?” It was Chris, his voice too loud, burning off the adrenaline. “And who the fuck are you? And what ... Just ... What’s going on? Fuck!”
At first it seemed like he wouldn’t answer, but after a brief pause he spoke, his voice still calm and low, sounding subdued after Chris’s shock-fueled rant.
“Probably an attempted kidnap. I’m Lucas. Mark Hatto asked me to watch Ella in case of something like this.”
“So I did see you in Rome and Florence.”
“You can get up now.” She sat up. They were away from the town and it was darker.
“Where are we going?”
“Florence for tonight. I’ll call your dad from there.”
Chris turned in his seat and looked at her, his features shadowy and indistinct. “Why would someone wanna kidnap you?”
“I don’t know.”
“And a bodyguard?” His tone was accusatory. “I mean, what the hell is that all about?”
“I don’t know, Chris! I don’t fucking know, okay?”
“Okay! Jesus!”
After a few seconds he said to Lucas, “What about you? Care to enlighten us?”
“They’re rich.” It sounded as if he’d go on to say something else but he didn’t, and they fell silent.
Ella tried to think back to the scene in Montecatini, putting it back together in her head, trying to make sense of it. Lucas had looked agitated, and he’d been looking up the street in the direction the two men had come from. The way he’d stood in front of her, surely that’s what a bodyguard would have done.
She still couldn’t process the fact that two men were dead, or the measured way Lucas had shot one of them in the head after he’d fallen; that hadn’t been defense or protection, that had been an execution. And she still couldn’t process that she was at the center of this, that she needed to be watched, that there were people out there who might want to kidnap her.
Why her? They weren’t rich. They were well-off, comfortable, but it wasn’t like her dad ever made the rich list or anything. That meant there were at least a thousand people in the country who were richer than they were, a thousand people with daughters or sons or grandchildren worth much more to a kidnapper than she was. So why her?
“Did you follow me in Thailand last year?”
“No.”
“Did anyone?”
“I don’t know.”
Chris turned to him and said, “What about at college?” The question annoyed her, Chris sounding more concerned about his own privacy being breached than about her safety or what had just happened. Maybe he was right to be concerned, but it annoyed her all the same.
“I don’t know,” said Lucas, as if irritated by the questions. “I was just asked to keep an eye on you in Europe, that’s all.”
He slowed and pulled over next to a pay phone. There was a small supermarket across the road, a garage fifty yards away, lit like stage sets under the deep black of the sky.
“Stay in the car.” He got out and walked over to the phone. They couldn’t hear him talking, but he kept looking at them while he spoke.
“He took the keys,” said Chris. “For someone who’s meant to be on our side he doesn’t seem to trust us much.”
“Check the glove compartment.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know. ID or something.”
Chris reached down casually and checked but found nothing. “It’s a rental car.”
A scooter approached at speed from behind, the sudden high-pitched drone startling her. It sped past them, two good-looking Italian boys, the wind pulling at their hair and their shirts, giving them an air of sleekness and freedom.
The one sitting on the back was laughing and had turned briefly and looked at the car as they’d passed. For a second Ella imagined he’d looked at her, the smile for her, his eyes invitational.
And now they’d disappeared and she was envious, of their carefree night, their open road, a night that had been hers, too, just half an hour before, though she hadn’t appreciated it then. Maybe she would have if she’d known how soon it would end.
“I need to call my dad. Have you got your phone?”
“Yeah.”
Chris handed the phone back to her. She held it close to the window to pick up some of the street light, but before she could start dialing she noticed that Lucas had seen her and looked in a hurry to end his call. Within seconds he was back at the car, opening the door.
“Turn it off.”
“I was calling my dad.”
“Not on that. Turn it off. I’ll call your dad when we get to Florence.” She turned off the phone and handed it back to Chris.
Lucas got back in the driver’s seat and turned to face them both. “Keep your phones switched off. Don’t be tempted to make a call, don’t be tempted to use your credit cards, do nothing to give away your identity or location, not until we know what’s going on.”