Chapter 133
133
Afew days later, Emilio – one of my foot soldiers – called me on the radio.
“Boss, you better come to the observation room QUICK p>
I hustled up to the third floor of the mansion. As soon as I saw the footage on the video monitors, I got Niccolo and Dario up there ASAP.
“What the fuck is that?!” I asked as I pointed at the screen.
The camera was pointed at a stretch of forest bordering the mansion – but in the distance, we could make out a figure in a dress walking through the trees…
Twisting her body to the side…
And completely disappearing.
“Is that Alessandra?!” Dario demanded.
“We think so, sir,” Emilio said.
“Oh shit…” Niccolo murmured as he stared at the screen.
“What IS that?!” I asked.
Niccolo sighed. “There’s a gap in the wall around the property p>
“And WHY is there a gap in the wall p>
“Because my grandfather escaped through it 50 years ago when hitmen attacked the house, and both he and Papa were too sentimental and superstitious to fix it p>
“So why am I just hearing about it now p>
“Because I forgot about it,” Niccolo scowled.
“What the fuck do you mean, you FORGOT – ”
“Is this live?!” Dario interrupted.
“No, sir,” Emilio said. “It happened ten minutes ago p>
“God damn it!” Dario snarled.
I turned to him. “Do you need me to – ”
“No, I’ll handle it,” Dario said, then ran out of the room.
“You can’t go out there alone!” Niccolo yelled after him, but Dario was already gone. Niccolo turned to me. “Tell Adriano and Massimo to follow him p>
I radioed the brothers and told them to follow Dario, then turned back to Niccolo and pointed at the screen. “This is a big fucking gap in our defenses p>
“Well, now we can patch it,” he said irritably.
“The bigger question is, how did she get out there p>
Niccolo frowned. “What are you talking about? Didn’t she just walk out there p>
“No – my guys had orders not to let her leave their sight p>
“Well, somebody obviously fucked up p>
I ordered Emilio, “Rewind all the cameras back 30 minutes p>
He fiddled with the control panel, and every monitor showed footage of all the cameras rewinding. I stared at them, watching people moving quickly in reverse.
It took almost three minutes before I found what I was looking for.
“Stop!” I said.
Emilio hit ‘Stop,’ then ‘Play’ on the footage.
One of the cameras clearly showed Alessandra walking along a hallway inside the mansion. Then she disappeared offscreen.
“Where is that?” I asked.
“The west wing,” Niccolo said. “First floor, near the chapel p>
“Keep going,” I ordered Emilio. “Keep your eye on the exits p>
We watched all the doors –
No Alessandra.
“Fast forward,” I said.
Emilio fast-forwarded.
No Alessandra –
And then, after fast-forwarding six minutes of footage, there she was walking through the forest.
“How the fuck did she get out there?!” I exclaimed. “Are there any doors we missed that she walked through p>
“No, sir,” Emilio answered.
Niccolo stared at the screen with a sick look on his face. “Oh shit… I think I know p>
“What?” I demanded.
He winced. “There’s a secret passageway out of the west wing, through the old servant passageways in the walls p>
“HOW MANY SECRET FUCKING EXITS DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE?!” I roared.
“No one knows about it!” Niccolo snapped.
“Well, somebody does!” I said as I pointed at the screen.
“Shit,” he snarled. “Shit, shit, shit p>
“We need to get cameras on both those spots immediately p>
“Obviously p>
“Funny – it didn’t seem so obvious before Alessandra walked through both of them,” I snapped.
Niccolo gave me a vicious glare and was about to say something –
When Adriano’s voice crackled over the radio. “Uh… we have a problem p>
“What?” I asked.
“Dario almost beat a guy to death… and then the guy and a blind priest killed themselves p>
“WHAT p>