JESS STARED AT an ancient suit of armor set against the stone wall. She inspected the intricate detail of its hinges and interlocking plates. A hard shell to protect a fragile interior, designed to fight off an unforgiving world. She understood. “So Dad is on his way here?”
She’d just returned from the drive with Giovanni. Bursting through the doors into the entrance hallway of the castello, she announced that she’d spoken to people at Darmstadt. Her father wasn’t there.
To which her mother replied, yes, she knew.
“I saw the email on your account just after you left,” Celeste added. Standing beside Jess, she tried to put a hand on her shoulder. “Ben said he was driving here. He’s already in Switzerland. He’ll be here tonight.”
Giovanni sat on the edge of a copper-studded red leather chair near the entrance, the keys to the Maserati still in his hand. Nico had just told him about a ransom note he found an hour before.
“And you didn’t call me?” Jess turned from inspecting the suit of armor and paced the length of the hallway.
She tested her new leg. It felt looser than her old one, but it wasn’t bad. Better than some she’d had. At the far end, away from the entrance, was a massive stone fireplace, big enough to stand inside. She stopped in front of it, looked up at the collection of stuffed wild boar heads on the mantle, at the pointed arches of windows above that, the midday sun streaming in. The ceiling was a geometric patchwork of interlocking beams in dark wood.
“I tried, but the mobile networks are still jammed,” Nico answered. He stood to one side, leaning against a long mahogany table littered with family photographs in frames. “Sometimes it works, sometimes not.”
“I need to tell you something,” Celeste said. “Maybe you should sit down.”
Jess turned on her new foot. She hated that expression. Why would people want to be sitting down when bad news came? She preferred to be mobile. She needed movement. Sitting still made her feel trapped. Just the same, her heart rate kicked up a notch. “What happened to Dad?” she blurted out.
“Nothing like that.” Celeste’s lip’s trembled, her hands mashing a cream silk scarf. She wore some of Giovanni’s mother’s clothes as well. “Ben, he knows what Nomad is…”
“And?” Jess took four quick steps to Celeste, who looked on the verge of tears. A rock, that was how Jess imagined her mother—she’d never seen her like this. She put her hands on her mother’s shoulders. “What is it?”
Everyone stared at Celeste.
“Nomad will be inside Earth’s orbit in three days. It’s a black hole, or two of them. A binary pair, he said.”
Nobody said anything. The seconds ticked by.
“Merda Madonna!” Giovanni picked up a porcelain lamp and heaved it against the stone wall next to him. It exploded, scattering fragments that clattered across the floor. “Merda! Merda! Merda!”
His face apoplectic red, he turned away, hanging his head low. Turning back to Nico, he rubbed his face with one hand, his jaw muscles rippling. “And this ransom note, what does it say?”
“Monday, we are to deliver five million Euros in gold bars. Leave them in a truck in front of this address in Saline.” Nico held the hand-written note up. He found it nailed to the front door of the exterior entrance just after Giovanni left. “If we want Hector alive, it says.”
“This is not the time for this.” Giovanni pulled at his hair, snarled with gritted teeth.
Not the time for this? Jess frowned. When was there ever a time for this? Something didn’t make sense. It was like he expected the ransom, as if it was some kind of game.
“And how do we contact, these”—the tendons in Giovanni’s neck flared, both hands balled into white-knuckled fists—“kidnappers?”
Nico read the note again, but shook his head. “No instructions, no way to contact them.”
“Monday will be too late!” Giovanni screamed the last word. He put one fist to his mouth and bit on it. “Today is Friday. We can try calling Florence, see about getting money, but gold? And by Monday it will be too late, if what you’re saying is true.” He turned away, put both hands against the wall and hung his head between them.
“Signor, if I may?” Nico almost whispered.
Giovanni let out a guttural roar. “What?”
“As I said before, I did a background search on Enzo…”
“And…?”
“And I found his family home, his relatives all live in Vaca.”
Giovanni spun around. “Vaca?” His brows came together in a scowl.
“Yes, and I’m sure he doesn’t know that I know. He’s not very—” Nico paused to choose his word. “Smart.”
“Vaca,” Giovanni muttered, pacing back and forth in tight circles.
“What’s going on?” Jess asked. Something was happening between the lines.
“And you have an address?” Giovanni asked Nico.