“Yes,” Nico replied. “We can be there in an hour and see if I’m right.” He added something in rushed Italian.
Giovanni continued to pace. “No, I will go alone.”
“Where’s Vaca?” Jess prickled in annoyance. “Giovanni, what’s happening?”
“It’s a village on the coast, not far.” He stopped pacing and faced Jess, bringing his hands together. “Nico thinks this is where Enzo may have taken Hector. It will only take a few hours to check.” He turned to Nico again. “You stay here, close all the gates, call our bankers in Florence and start loading gold and silver from the museum into the Land Rovers. We will give them what we can. We need to get Hector back.”
“At least take the two guards with you.” Nico held his hands wide. “For protection.”
He meant the security guards Jess had seen earlier. They stood on the entrance walls, watching for anyone else that might approach the castello.
Giovanni nodded, the crimson red in his face washing away. “Good.”
Jess glanced at her mother, then looked Giovanni square in the eyes. “I’m coming.”
“This is too dangerous.” He turned on his heel and walked through a doorway leading out of the hall.
“Dangerous?” Jess followed. “The whole world is about to be incinerated, and you’re worried about dangerous?”
“Stay with your mother. It is a gift that you have her, that you are together at this moment.” Giovanni didn’t turn as he stalked down the hallway. He stopped at a metal door and fumbled with his keys. “Your father will be here soon. Do you know what I’d give to have my father here now?” He opened the door and flicked on the light switch inside. A brick-lined staircase wound down.
“This is my fault.” Jess followed him down the stairs, limping, not used to the new prosthetic. “If I’d been more careful, not opened my mouth in public like that.”
And it was her fault. She hadn’t realized the enormity of the words coming out of her mouth when she spoke to Giovanni at the observatory. A death sentence to the world. And she hid it, purposely, from people nearby. Jess thought she understood Enzo’s anger, if not the bizarre way he seemed to be acting it out.
But then, Jess had anger of her own. Steal her leg?
She wanted to help Giovanni, that was true. But she also wanted to satisfy her own anger, right the wrong done to her, the burning humiliation of being turned into a cripple and stranded in the street. She wanted to look Enzo in the eye. After that, she wasn’t sure. But she wanted to be there.
Reaching the bottom of the stairwell, Giovanni fumbled with the keys again before opening a reinforced metal door. It swung inward heavily. He clicked the inside light switch. “Those security men, they’re professionals. Ex-military, Interpol, they’ll be able to find Enzo if he’s in Vaca. This is no place for…” He stopped and winced, sensing his misstep.
“What?” Jess pushed her way into the room behind him. “No place for a woman?”
She looked around. It had to be the castle armory. Two pairs of assault rifles, which she recognized as AK-47s, hung on one wall, with a row of handguns on shelves on the other.
Jess whistled, impressed. “Is this legal?”
Giovanni snorted. “As if legal matters to you.” He leaned over to pull out a cardboard box, ripped open the cover and pulled out an ammunition magazine, then grabbed one of the AKs from the wall. He looked at the magazine, turned it around. “And no, Jessica, this is not going to be any place for a woman.”
It was Jess’s turn to snort. He obviously had no idea how to load an AK-47. Shoving her way in front of him, she grabbed the rifle and magazine, and in one quick motion snapped them together. She stood in front of him defiantly. “Let me ask you a question.”
Taking a step back, Giovanni frowned at this woman, in front of him, holding a loaded assault rifle. “What?”
“How do you think I lost this leg?” She swung the rifle’s barrel down and tapped her new prosthetic.
“I don’t know. A climbing accident?”
“Relax, Giovanni. The safety is still on.” Jess flipped down the safety lever and pulled back and released the charging handle. She smiled. “Now it’s loaded. And now answer the question.”
Giovanni’s face reddened. “I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me?”
“Afghanistan. An IED explosion hit our Humvee on a reconnaissance mission. I was in the Marines for two years.” She clipped the safety back into place. “I’m coming with you.”
NOMAD
Survivor testimony #GR3;
Event +52hrs;
Survivor name: Heidi Hilfker;
Reported location: Zermatt, Switzerland;