Chapter Text
In the big, brown closet, there were suspended dresses and coats, all very sophisticated, of the most expensive brands. The majority had never been used before.
The woman analyzed them, deciding what to wear for the occasion, but was interrupted by her phone ringing.
She moved to the nightstand, picking it up.
“Do you have him?” A male, robotic voice asked.
“Under seven keys.” She answered with a smile. “When do we meet?”
“In the morning.” The voice replied. “Bring him to the place I mentioned and you will have full sovereignty over your entire neighborhood.”
It was not sufficient for her.
“This is what you have promised me long ago, and that’s just a very small part of my plan...”
“Rome wasn’t built in one day.”
“ If you really want to have this useless old man back where he belongs, you better be ready to give me what I want.”
Silence followed.
“I want to see your face.”
The man sighed.
“That’s what I feared...” He made a pause for two seconds. “Nobody is supposed to know me. But I guess this is safe in this case. At least my work won’t remain uncredited for everyone.”
His excessive precautions contrasted with her confidence.
“In this new world we’ll live, you will be yourself and get all the credit of the world.”
But the man didn’t seem attracted to the prospect.
“Give an inch and she’ll take a mile.” He declined. “See you at 11, Lila.”
Turning off the phone, she smiled. Giving up on contemplation, she put on a short violet dress, mostly transparent, with lace covering only her breasts, and a black scarpin. The long red fur coat could wait for tomorrow.
Excitement, thrill and curiosity took over their hearts and minds.
Lito felt like he was about to produce another movie. They could all hear his thoughts echoing "to hell with Kit Wrangler", already expecting to have been fired, nothing that his boyfriend"s crazy plan would not make up for.
The Trojan Horse would be more than just an invasion disguised as a touristic entrance. They would be taking weapons, improvising an entrance - which would depend more on luck than on planning, however it would be either by randomly attacking everyone, or...
"A distraction." Kala proposed.
Everyone looked at her, either knowing or hoping it wouldn"t be about a conversation or performance.
"It can help us take some of them down, but it will be risky." She continued.
"An... explosion?" Sun asked, maybe fearing the answer a bit.
Kala nodded.
"A time bomb. Under the wires."
Capheus and Will looked at each other, undecided. Before they could argue, Puck, careless as he was, asked a not so careless question.
"This Trojan Horse doesn"t have space for all of us, does it?"
"Of course not. We are... 15?" Sutra counted.
"It will be better if not everyone goes." Will opined. "Not everyone here knows how to fight."
"We can all share." Lito argued. "Having more people is better for our disguise and combat."
"And it will be riskier." Wolfgang, now more attentive to the plan, agreed with Will.
If it were up to him, only he, Will, Sun, Diego, Puck"s group, and Felix would go... he was hesitating even to take Felix, not being crazy to endanger any of those he cared about, especially not the ones most likely to get shot.
Or he could go alone. The easiest way he imagined, all he could think was about killing Whispers and Lila in the worst way he could.
Listening to his thoughts, Nomi disagreed.
"We will go in separate vehicles. I will send you the signals from another van. Remember I can access everything."
"And I"m sure none of you can make or handle bombs better than I do." Kala argued, with a little smile.
Before Wolfgang could release a frustrated sigh, which could only be heard through their connection, Rajan hugged her from behind.
"If my wife is going to this insane mission, I"m going too."
Unwilling to delude him any further, or let him take risks for her, or let him stand between her and Wolfgang, she turned around, looking at Rajan with an impartial look.
"You will be at risk, Rajan. Let us handle this. Here less is more..."
She was interrupted by Lito.
"You are more than welcome to join us, Rajan. If nothing else, you will help us with our disguise."
Kala directed her gaze at him, with an indignant stare that inquired what are you doing. But he stared back at her, indicating he knew very well what he was doing, instead of making some unhelpful comment like he would do sometimes.
Rushing to stop any potential verbal or silent conflict or discussion to arise, Riley suggested something else.
"Since we are all chasing them and being chased, and we won"t stay with them anyway, we probably should go to separate hotels and meet again in the morning."
No one voiced any disagreement, knowing they already had their trucks and everything they needed for the plan.
However, some of them felt like they were leaving without important answers... more personal than practical.
Before walking away, Wolfgang unintentionally looked at Alphonse"s computer, caught off guard by what he saw.
A list... picture by picture, but only three names were displayed.
Josh... Maitake ... and Lila.
Lila"s picture showed her exactly like in their first meeting. Or what he thought was their first meeting.
Puck and his group knew way more than they were saying.
“Ladies and gentlemen, we have arrived at the London City Airport. Welcome to England.” A flight attendant announced. “The time is ten to five in the afternoon, the temperature is 23 degrees Celsius. For your safety, please remain seated and do not remove your seatbelts.”
Anxiously, he waited until the landed plane stopped moving. He could feel the rapid movement, the ground, a small thrill, but the urgency in his mind robbed him of the moment.
Tiredly, he got up, walked ‘patiently’ in the small row, leaving the airplane. Glad for the first time that no one would be there to receive him, he went downstairs to reclaim his baggage.
No time to wait until getting home.
Sitting next to the Caffè Nero, he picked up a phone.
No more visits.
Obviously, no contacts were exchanged. Too risky. And, admittedly, undeserved.
The closest way to reach them was through Nomi’s blog.
Dear Cluster,
I did what I could to keep your lives safe. I tried to convince Will that you should allow yourselves to become a secret, just like I’m doing. I failed you all, and I understand I will need to work to earn your trust. This is why I am stepping away, leaving you to your own choices, but it doesn’t mean that I won’t help you in any way I can. I owe this not only to you, after what I did, but also to Angelica and all the other sensates that were tortured and killed because of me.
I wish you all the best in this war,
— Jonas
After pressing ‘send’ to her private inbox, he stared at the message for a little while, wondering about its outcome.
No time for reflection.
Jonas closed the browser, opening the message inbox of the phone.
Not his phone.
Scrolling through the messages, Jonas found the one – from BPO – which mattered the most.
Mr. Secretary, we are in need of an update. The exchange happened two nights ago, and Miss Facchini is yet to return us the Agent Brandt. We had no choice but to report her to the Chairman.
And we need to identify that cluster, we were very close, but then we lost our chance and they are after us. We need to get Milton back and get them back as soon as possible.
Jonas didn’t have to think much.
Don’t worry about them. They are like dogs, chasing their own tails, still in Paris. Their plan was getting their cluster mate back, now that they have him, they will go back to their pathetic small lives and enjoy themselves.
Milton will be back in less than two days. Our Chairman is very skilled and good in getting everything he wants.
The message was simple, yet believable.
Two of three steps.
Now, Jonas had to reach his more skilled contacts.
His plan was to erase all evidence that they were in Naples.
The sun was high in the sky. It wouldn’t take long until sunset.
But it was still early enough for some shopping. This time, though, the shopping wasn’t going to be innocent.
Only appear to be.
Kala didn’t have time to overthink by wondering for the second, the third or the millionth time if the situation was strange enough, if Rajan had already come to the point where he would start acting in conformity to reality and create an uncomfortable atmosphere or be hostile. Being accompanied by Capheus this time, for practical purposes, all she was searching for now was a pipe.
Once bought, she would store in it her next purchase – second-handed explosive material, the first choice being a little cord serving as a fuse – which would be discreetly activated while opening the bonnet of the bus.
She got out with Capheus, heading to the stop, a metallurgy store.
Meanwhile, Wolfgang drove the car... but not terribly concentrated. His mind fantasized about giving Whispers a slow, painful death, but, considering the building, he feared he wouldn’t have such a chance.
Guarded 24-7. That’s what he could remember.
A building fully surrounded by other buildings, major hard access, yet he was tempted to visit the place by himself and end everything in that single night.
And he was almost hit by a bus.
“Wolfie, stop the car.” Felix asked, surprisingly not in a scared, scolding tone as he usually would use.
With eyes opened wide, Wolfgang moved to the closest stoppable street and turned the key.
His nervousness and constant ugly thoughts were costing him his safety.
And he was just thinking about how it would be safer and even less suspicious if he went there alone.
Thankfully, he wouldn’t be left alone with his thoughts. Felix knew – somewhat – what he was feeling, having witnessed him experience this state of mind more times than he could count, coming from many similar events.
With his hands still holding the wheel, Wolfgang kept his eyes closed, passively feeling the weight of the past, present and future take control of his mind. He could feel his friend’s hand in his shoulder, but instead of asking questions or saying things that obviously wouldn’t help, Felix chose just to open the door.
“Come.”
As his friend moved, Wolfgang opened his eyes in confusion. He took a second to open the left door and follow him, and when he did, he was taken to the trunk.
“I have some things that can help you.” Felix said, with optimism in his voice as he opened it.
What was there did indeed surprise Wolfgang.
“You brought my bag.”
Not just any random bag, the one he was taking to Paris before being stopped by the BPO.
“Yeah! And our little friends...” He pointed to a box before opening it.
In it, there were multiple kinds of drinks. Jägermeister, mulled wine, Panaché, Kir Royale, Apfelwein, Eierlikör, Asbach Uralt, Schwarzbier, wheet beer.
Wolfgang looked at the drinks with a light smile. Felix was a great friend, and knew exactly how to cheer him up.
Before he could thank him, Felix started talking again.
“All we need right now is a place to stay.” He said, closing and cushioning the box between the two bags, Wolfgang’s and his own. “We have been driving for half an hour.”
Wolfgang realized he had stopped next to a square, and the other side of the square had a building complex that had a hotel.
“We can go there.” A hasty, tired Wolfgang suggested.
“Hell no!” Felix declined, looking at his friend as if he were crazy. “First, we need this car to meet the others, and in this shitty neighborhood, we can’t be sure it won’t be stolen. Second, the hotel looks like SHIT!”
“Everything here looks like shit.”
“Fine! I’ll show you.”
Felix picked up his phone and moved his head so he could see the place’s number.
Three seconds later, he showed his phone to Wolfgang.
The first pictures weren’t so bad, but soon the pictures displayed a pile of boxes and trash they could see from the street, dead plants in destroyed vases, bed sheets arranged in the crappiest way possible, sometimes even torn, cockroaches, mattresses in awful states, ugly walls, bathrooms with piles of trash and even a man with red spots on his back.
“If we go there, we might get a disease. Even the reviews say this place sucks. I didn’t leave our neighborhood, that’s all full of crime, graffitied and fucked to stay in a place that’s even worse.” He completed his point, closing the truck and going this time to the driver’s seat.
“Good luck finding something different in Naples.” Wolfgang said, shrugging.
As he entered the car, Capheus parked the mini-bus in an isolated space, while Kala on his side just finished connecting the fuse to the pipe. They left the bus and Capheus opened the bonnet, and they analyzed the oil pump and filter.
“Ok. So we just need to put the explosive there, get a lighter, this time the preference is for a BIC, and leave it hidden. We need to tie them so we won’t lose them. When we get there, we pretend there is a gas problem and activate it.” Kala planned, opening her purse and looking for a BIC lighter.
Will visited them.
“Great plan, but don’t leave it there. We need to be careful. Let’s tie it there tomorrow.”
Capheus looked worried.
“So... the bus will explode. What about us?”
“Don’t worry. This is improvised with a very low explosive and it won’t create an explosion in bigger scale. We just need to be careful to jump from the bus in time.”
Capheus looked up at the bus, trying to get hopeful.
“And we are lucky because the bus at least has no windows...” He said, with the tone of confidence decreasing by every word.
Will smiled hopelessly, almost laughing at the situation.
“May God save us, and I am an atheist.”
Before Kala could ask him how he could still be an atheist after such an experience, and hearing that atheism is not the same as materialism, she thought of a way to induce confidence.
“When I activate the bomb, it will take some time to explode. The fire will consume the cord, which is long, before it reaches the pipe which will function as a shrapnel. We will see smoke coming off the bus without even leaving it. This is when we will jump. As I said, it’s very light. I did not even add nails or broken glass because I didn’t want to add excessive lethality.”
Capheus looked again at the insides of the car, trying to convince itself that the plan was reasonably safe.
“Ok, we can do this.” He tried to close the bonnet.
“Oh, wait! There’s something I forgot mentioning!” Kala announced.
They looked at her, already fearing what she would say.
“In case the pipe gas pressure is not enough, the oil will be. We need it to activate it to potentialize the explosion, so I want you to turn the key after I activate it.”
“You want me to do what?”
Minutes later, Wolfgang and Felix arrived at a hotel in a narrow street, surrounded by all kinds of things. Externally, it was like the rest, but it was very decent inside. There were walls made of onyx, chandeliers and everything was clean.
They walked to the reception.
“We would like to book a room for tonight.” Felix asked.
“There is just one with a double bed.” The receptionist announced, already expecting them to leave.
“We’ll take it.” Wolfgang said indifferently.
The man stared at them with surprise as he gave Felix the keys. The friends went upstairs, laughing about the situation.
When they got in the room, they started drinking, but they didn’t talk much since they were both very tired.
In separate ways to separate hotels, the rest of the group was spread in different corners of the city, only to meet again after sunrise.
The occasion was a meeting.
Lila got out of the car, walking to the palace’s entrance. The door directly led her to a large stairway with a carpet in the center, the stained glass depicting saints in a space many artists would consider too small. Baroque paintings at all sides. But the arts wouldn’t be the center of all attention, not with her dressed like that.
By that time, in the early night, the museum was already closed for visits. But not for the Camorra.
“Bona sera, signora Facchini.” A bald man, with a white tank and lots of tattoos greeted her. “Chesta via, pe’ favore.”
They followed to a room in the end of the first floor, finding three middle-aged men sitting in a sofa and two women preparing drinks.
“Buonasera, signori. Presto, Napoli sarà nostra.” She said, confidently.
The men kept staring at her thighs and breasts, and while she enjoyed the attention, the downside was that they were barely paying attention to her message.
Before she could continue, the man in the middle started speaking.
“English, please. Our conversation is being recorded and shared with our allies. It doesn’t interest just us Neapolitans.”
It annoyed her. Some things she preferred to keep private, between her and her people, especially in their secret locations. But she would benefit from this, in this particular occasion.
“Of course.” She faked a smile. “Naples will be ours tomorrow. But not only Naples, because with the connections I have in over 45 countries, we earn favors by giving them things they want. Next, I can ask for a place just for us and we will get more and more territories.”
“Famme na brindisi a chisto!” The third man carelessly suggested in Neapolitan.
“Yes, let’s toast to that!”
The second guy was being too insistent.
“Girls, bring us a Greco di Tuffo.” He said, knowing Lila’s tastes that were way beyond flavor.
The two women were next to them in a matter of seconds, with cups in their hands and the bottle of wine, that was served professionally.
“What exactly will happen tomorrow?” The first one in the sofa asked.
Drinking, Lila thought quickly. That was not the kind of question she was aiming to answer. Her Camorra partners knew nothing about sensates or BPO and she preferred to keep it that way.
“A delivery.” Her omitted, technically correct answer was skilled because it would entertain their curiosities while still keeping mystery in the air. “As I said, I give foreigners things they really want. And I do less desperate requests in exchange.” She blinked.
The convinced ‘gentlemen’ finished their drinks, and Lila wondered what she could use as an excuse to send them away.
Only the three men, at least.
“Now, I have business to discuss with Leo that I would rather not have heard, much less recorded.” She turned her face to the man standing at the door. “So, if you all could please excuse us...”
They had no interest in refusing the wishes of the future queen, even though they didn’t see her as one.
The three old men, along with the two bartenders left the room, leaving Lila and Leo alone.
She walked in his direction seductively, raising her stare by every movement. When her eyes met his, she smiled and went straight to her request.
“I want you to do something for me.”
“What, miss Facchini?”
“Follow Gianni. He is hiding something from us. Discover what.”
Leo didn’t seem to care.
“We don’t suspect our partners.”
Instead of mentioning why she didn’t consider the second man trustworthy, she skipped the discussion, focusing in giving him a reason to oblige her request.
Finally touching him, she rubbed her hands over his tattooed arms, using more pressure when they reached his shoulders.
“You should obey your queen.” She said in a tone that was more seductive than threatening, approaching his lips.
Not entertained, he stopped her halfway through by showing her the golden ring in his left ring finger.
“My queen is waiting for me at home. So if you will please excuse me.”
He finally left the room, leaving Lila with a hurt pride, but also with more space to act in secret.
She heard a sound from the sofa.
“Your life will get easier when you accept that not every single man wants to fuck you.”
It was Marta, her Mexican cluster mate. It was not a virtual visit, as Marta had to infiltrate the Palazzo Zevallos Stigliano in secret – by overstaying the working hours, pretending to be just a visitor and hiding – to give Lila something she needed.
In spite of their bond, they didn’t like each other. Marta resented Lila for her desire to outshine everyone, she saw every woman as a competitor and every man either as a temporary ally she would later betray, or, if attractive enough, a lover, whether he was committed or not. It involved Marta’s last boyfriend.
The concept of respect was alien to her.
Lila turned around.
“Do you have what I want or you came here just to whine about your ex?”
Marta, with an angry face, aggressively removed a plastic bag from her purse, throwing it on the sofa. She wondered why she was even helping Lila.
Ignoring the other woman’s outburst, Lila picked it up. It contained a substance that would be very useful to her plans, as shooting people would make her murders more evident, and evidence being linked to her could backfire in certain occasions. The substance, Pentobarbital, had a power to kill someone painlessly in one hour, if used in a high dosage. It was very common in Mexico, and Marta had easy access to it because she worked in a pet shop – even though she would never use it on animals.
Marta wondered what the consequences would be, now that Milton would be going back to the BPO. Most sensates who worked with him ended up paying a high price. Lila didn’t care, because she considered herself invincible and only wanted to get the most out of everything, but Marta did.
“I would use it on Milton if I were you.” She suggested, briefly thinking the Chairman would not even assume that the sudden death would have anything to do with Lila.
The Italian wryly smiled.
“I’m glad you are not the one making the decisions. We would all be dead in one day. You can keep your asinine ideas to yourself.”
The other woman shrugged.
“Suit yourself. I’m leaving. You are the one who dragged me to this shit.”
Before she even got up, Lila looked down on her, expressing her feeling of superiority.
“I already have my weapons, my hostage and my future rione. Maitake, Joshua and Akoni will already be there to help me. You can go back to Chihuahua and stay with your puppies.”
As Marta got up, Lila realized that under her denim jacket there was a stamp of a white Akita.
Leaving, Lila rolled her eyes.
“I hate dogs.”
But she was stopped by a visit, finding herself in an office from another part of the world.
It was Hoàng, her Vietnamese-German cluster mate.
“Tell the Chairman your meeting will need to be delayed. We have been tracked and lost security. Milton won’t be in the Forcella for long.”
Lila frowned.
“Who told you that?”
“Puck.”
The morning birds woke her when the lights were just arriving in the room, warning her that she had slept in the tub, in front of the hotel bed. On the wall above it, there was one set of paintings, each constructed in a way that led to each other’s continuation. In combination, they portrayed a tree with pink leaves, but the focus of the picture was on the darkness of the ground and of the tree trunk.
She was alone in the room. Rajan was gone.
At night, she had seen him leaving. His excuse, accompanied by a friendly smile, was that he needed to refill the car’s gasoline.
With a discreet look from the bedroom’s window, she did see him going to his parked car, the detail was that there was a woman inside.
No hard feelings. It would actually take away some of her guilt.
And make her path to her cherished one unhindered.
Walking out of the tub, she remembered the moment she wished for the displacement of another kind of obstruction, while considering her marriage a distant problem. Her imagination had painted Ganesha emerging from the water and initiating his obstacle destruction work.
Now, emerging from the water was she, getting in her way to contemplate her no-longer-fully-virtual lover, who had woken up to visualize her getting dressed, only to stop her.
His firm hands weighing against her thighs reminded her of bondage restraints she had only fantasized about having, and she submitted to him while laying in the bed. Despite the intensity of the touch, the kiss was light and she closed her eyes, almost wondering what he would do next.
Wolfgang slowly moved his hands up, slightly lifting her in an embrace while his right hand touched her head, playing with her hair. Almost further deepening the kiss, he moved his mouth before even opening it.
Kala stayed mostly silent, with very low vocal reactions while he kissed her neck, and smiled when he gave her a light bite.
Finally moving her arms, she tried to use her weight to turn him around, but he liked being in control. With the gratification aroused by his touch, it wasn’t costly to give in, especially not when his mouth grabbed her right breast and he started playing with her panty – the only piece of cloth she got to wear.
With her right nipple and the region around it left all wet, the next region to be explored was the biggest pleasure point, in pressing motion. The sensation got her to close her eyes, and Wolfgang took advantage of her lack of vision to finally pull down his underpants and bring her the next surprise.
His glans pressed her G spot, making her practically scream. It was a pressure feeling that her cluster-based knowledge compared to the male sensations of thrusting.
Without moving, he decided to use his hands again, this time holding the ends of her lower hip, allowing her not only to feel a new sensation while he pressed the region but also the contrast of both powerful feelings. Still moaning, she finally opened her eyes and looked at him in the eye.
This was the moment when she heard and felt the piece of fabric tearing. He first did it from the left side and then from below, once more making her feel under control, but in fact she did not even remember she was wearing what used to be that black lace panty he had just thrown away.
With a silent command, which was sent partly by his almost angry eyes, and partly from their mental connection, she started contracting her inner muscles as he carefully went deeper. The moans intensified – including his, which were rare but music to her ears – and so did the pleasure, as for him the contraction brought the additional feeling of tightness, and for her, the sensation of taking pleasure in.
When he finally reached the end, she stopped contracting, feeling her canal expand, moving upward into her body. He felt increasingly more volume to reach, which led him to insert everything.
Before he started moving, Kala placed her hands on his shoulders, embracing him, and brought him closer by wrapping her legs around his lower back.
He changed the position, with her sitting on him, and repeated the light kiss.
The movements were slow but passionate and each time she felt the urge to be filled again, and it felt more than real, except the pleasure they felt was not from this world. In the end of it, he held and pulled her down, only fully kissing her when they reached the ultimate ecstasy.
When she laid down tiredly and remembered this was a visit, he looked at her with a claiming stare.
And then he started wondering why he was feeling and acting like that. Notwithstanding his frequent tendency towards rough touch, with an addition of care and love that weren’t absent this time, he was judging this intimate act too dominating and rough even by his standards, especially towards her.
Wolfgang imagined that his stress and additional trauma caused by the recent tortures, waiting and near-death experiences – once self-inflicted, and repeated by her – and being saved made him cling more than usually to life and to sensations, and he feared what his future actions could be.
Accessing his thoughts, she finally broke the silence.
“You are being too self-conscious. It was amazing.”
Kala’s eyes were tender, and she was smiling warmly.
With the back of his hand, he caressed her face, realizing that she was his relief that wasn’t caused by numbness.
The meaningful emotions he now felt were everything to him.
She held his hand.
“Maybe it will be better if we slow down. You have been through a lot and I want to have a relationship with you. Not just hiding and sneaking out.”
He now felt the need to discuss it.
“You always say that. But you never tell him about us. You never tell him you want a divorce.”
Kala felt a bit hurt because it ruined a great moment. However, she couldn’t blame him. He was right. All the times when she felt the pain of seeing him trying to move on, he was always quick to abandon everything and come back to her.
Always unilaterally.
Though she tried.
But she wasn’t going to justify herself.
“That’s the next thing I will do.”
She got dressed, putting on light beige jeans and a pink top, wondering how exactly she could ask for a divorce.
Again.
When Wolfgang left the bathroom, he met Felix, already dressed.
“Wolfie, are you hung over? I have been waiting for you for an hour!”
“No, I’m fine.” He opened his bag, throwing all clothes on the bed.
“You know that we are staying here only until this morning, right?”
“I don’t care. I can throw them all back in one second.”
He quickly picked a light grey shirt and similarly colored jeans.
When he was already dressed, he saw Felix holding a denim pink shirt.
“That receptionist definitely thought we were gay.”
Wolfgang chuckled, shaking his head.
“It got me inspired, if we are going to pretend to be tourists, we can be the Napoli gay tourists.” Felix suggested.
Nomi nervously stared at the street view of the Forcella.
It was a building fully surrounded by other buildings. Major hard access.
To make things even harder, the image – old or new, temporarily accurate or not – displayed a fair of clothes fully covering the entrance.
Before she could access a more resourceful application and visualize the street view in real time, she was visited by Sun.
“We don’t need to worry about that right now. We know how to create a distraction.”
The blonde woman was hesitating to follow her advice, but Kala was the next one who visited her, wanting to brainstorm.
“Let’s talk about your wedding!”
Nomi realized that in that month she had so many worries she could not even think about that.
Kala opened a page in an unknown browser, searching for bridal gowns. She expected to see a variety of beautiful dresses, but the first page was a bit disappointing.
“They are all white.”
“That’s not even the only detail. They don’t even have interesting formats. They are so bland and boring.” Sun opined.
“I have seen some beautiful ones, like mermaid dresses, but I’m not sure I am going to marry in white either.” Nomi said.
Riley visited.
“I married in white. It was a very beautiful long dress. But if I were to marry again, I think I would pick blue.”
Blue was really her favorite color.
“A light blue lace dress would really match your hair.” Kala said, and then turned at Nomi. “Maybe a red dress would be nice, or a white dress with red details.”
“Or a black dress.” Sun suggested. “You would slay in it.”
“I like exploring options. But I’m not sure what I am going to do with my hair either.”
Nomi hadn’t discussed it with Amanita. They would rather not know what the other would wear. Not because of the bad luck claims, but because things would be made nicer by the element of surprise.
However, before they could discuss the hair, Kala was distracted by a door sound.
It was Rajan. He came ready to go, wearing a hat with the word Napoli.
Nomi closed her laptop.
“I would love to keep talking about my wedding, but we are kinda late. We need to go now if we want to arrive before 10.”
Wolfgang and Felix were leaving the hotel. During breakfast, multiple people kept staring at them, few ignored them, and Felix chose to annoy them multiple times by sucking a piece of uneaten bread.
Arriving in the reception, the same receptionist attended them, this time with an unfriendly face.
“Are you two leaving already?” He asked when Felix delivered him the keys.
Felix and Wolfgang shared a brief glance.
“Yes.” Felix answered in a neutral tone.
“Good.” The receptionist said when he typed something on his keyboard. “We don’t accept faggots here.”
This caught them off guard, but it was just an idiot, so Felix decided to respond accordingly.
“Why don’t you suck my dick, rompicoglioni?”
The receptionist looked very offended, much to their amusement, and Felix made sure to show him a middle finger before leaving.
Wolfgang did not even know his friend knew Italian insults.
A man of culture.
On the street, they heard a honk from the end of the other side. The bus had arrived.
Capheus was in the driver’s seat, Diego, Riley and Will were in a row of single seats, the left side had dual seats with Sun with Mun, Kala with Rajan, Lito with Dani, and Hernando alone in the end. As Wolfgang and Felix walked in, Hernando got up, leaving the seat for them.
Kala was visibly avoiding to look at him, not out of resentment but because the mood between them was weird and it was embarassing and guilt-inducing to be seen by him with Rajan just after she had promised – again – that she would do what she could so their marriage would be over.
Wolfgang sat with a disturbed expression, partly feeling like a dick, partly feeling it was necessary, but before his friend could ask him what was wrong, Hernando grabbed a microphone and started speaking, interrupting all conversations.
“Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the danger line.”
His introduction was as epic as it was disquieting, though not as much as the things he would say after lowering the microphone.
“We don’t expect the locals to accept us with open arms, so the plan is to blow up the bus and we will have to get off by the windows in less than 30 seconds. Before you cling to the window, pretend you are here to enjoy Naples. This invasion will depend on our acting skills. Meanwhile, I will tell you the story of Virgil.”
Holding her breath, Riley tried to read a book she brought, and Will did the same. Diego started filming the city streets, Lito and Dani looked up towards the sky through the open space where it should be a roof, Kala smiled nervously, Sun started taking pictures with her camera while Rajan and Mun looked at the streets, seemingly without fear. Capheus, while driving, felt a bit paranoid, with the feeling increasing by every now and then people giving them the stink eye from the streets, but he soon focused on Hernando’s words, who started talking about Virgil’s birth and early life on the microphone.
The sun of the morning was bright as he finally entered the village, praying to the ancestors for the plan to succeed. As Hernando mentioned one of Virgil’s poems, Capheus sighted Sutra in a short black dress, being catcalled by two previously irritated men.
As he advanced, two other men tried to stop him, but he pretended not to understand the risk, smiling like the rest of the group. He stopped it on the center of the patio, when the entire bus was well beyond the gates.
In a small tech-van, hidden somewhere beyond the occupied streets, Nomi announced to Amanita and Bug the conclusion of the first part of the plan.
“We have come in search for Virgil!” Hernando said while he left the bus, leaving the rest of the group to improvise their moves.
Unable to control the influx, the Italians kept verbally insisting for them to leave, only to be completely ignored. Lito mentioned Virgil to one of the criminals while Dani felt his leather jacket, Sun held one of them, posing for one picture taken by Mun. The rest mostly talked between themselves and got very noisy, worrying Will.
But all the conversation noise was replaced by the sound of a gun.
“Get back on that fucking bus! Get back on that fucking bus! Now!”
This time they obeyed the man, while others kept yelling at them.
Capheus sat, with the man with the gun right in his face.
With this long trip, stopping at various places to pick the others up and bringing them to the spot after driving long distances – without bothering to refill the gas - after turning the key, besides the car running low on energy, a visible amount of smoke started coming off the hood due to overheating.
He had an advantage.
“Phase two.” Nomi announced.
“Operation gas...” Bug said.
“And oil.” Capheus completed, with Nomi nodding to him.
It would be easy to pretend it was either a gas or oil problem.
Carefully leaving, he apologized and excused himself, going to the hood. As he approached it, he started coughing and fanning the smoke away.
As soon as he opened the hood, Kala came to ‘help’.
While speaking to Capheus in Hindi and restraining the view from the Camorra members, Kala quickly took the BIC lighter off the insulating tape, lighting the hidden cord in one second.
“You should have said that from the start!” Capheus said while the fire started consuming the cord.
She kept repeating “now we try”, displaying nervousness but in a polite manner, and Capheus told them he had a good feeling about this, with them rushing him to leave.
They were running out of time, so they rushed to the bus.
Nervously, Capheus turned the key.
Repeated noises.
More and more smoke.
“Ok... ok... EVERYONE OFF THE BUS! OFF THE BUS!”
The group rushed to throw their bags away before leaving, and Wolfgang kicked one of the members while jumping out.
Barely with everyone off, the explosion happened.
With the noise and danger, even the guards got down in an attempt to protect themselves. Out of time to even wonder if they were hurt or to be glad they were still alive and whole, the group reached out for their bags.
Time to get advantage of the situation.
Before the enemies could even recompose themselves, Wolfgang, Felix and Will took multiple down with their guns. Sun and Mun handled some more with manual combat. The rest of the group kept down, hidden behind a black car.
What they did not know was that they were being watched. The watcher was in advantage if he wanted to attack them from an initially invisible spot, but that was not what he had in mind.
He had someone to warn.
“Shit.” Jonas cursed.
He had traveled to London for hours, only to have to travel to their location less than one day later. And worse, he could not even do what he tried successfully.
Through Bodhi, he had just discovered that Lila was planning to give Milton to no one less than the Chairman.
He had promised Nomi, who maybe had not been notified, that he wouldn’t interfere in their plan. That promise he could fulfill. But Milton getting back to the BPO was something he could not let happen.
To make matters worse, he received a message.
Mr. Secretary – or whoever you are – I fear you are completely wrong.
Not only this cluster is in Naples, but they are trying to get Milton.
Our Chairman, who is indeed very skilled, has just arranged an exchange with Miss Facchini.
We are getting Milton back.
Jonas closed his eyes with nervousness, rushing to the plane.
He had 2 hours and 40 minutes. Maybe he wouldn’t arrive in time.
“Ready. Phase three.” Nomi said as most of the cluster had entered the Palazzo.
“Extraction.” Bug said with a smile, before starting the van, leaving the hidden spot.
By then, all the others were inside the Palazzo and just close the door. As Bug approached the entrance, the tech-van started to get machine gun shots. Whether or not they knew they were part of the group – which was probably obvious – no one who wasn’t from the Camorra was welcome on that street.
However, very strangely, the shots suddenly stopped by Sutra and Puck, as they physically fought two of the guards.
As Wolfgang and Felix separated from Riley, Will and Diego after killing a few guards, Sun and Mun took others out mostly manually, while Kala went upstairs with Rajan, whispering to him to hurry up.
Nomi visited her.
“This staircase leads to the top floor.”
“Got it.”
“Was that Nomi?” Rajan asked.
It was strange for him to guess so accurately, however logically, when she was one out of seven. But they were in such a state of urgency that she didn’t even have time to question that.
“What’s happening?” He asked.
“Didn’t you listen to the plan?” She whispered impatiently. “We don’t know where exactly they are holding Whispers. We’re all covering different sections.”
“Yeah, but what if...”
Before he could complete the question, Kala met another guard, holding his wrist, the one whose hand had a gun.
Wolfgang rushed to take her place, punching him and firing the gun once, following to fire several shots to take another guard upstairs down.
As the newly dead guard rolled downstairs, Kala was distracted by her husband in awe.
“My wife...”
She turned around, worried about his scared expression.
“You’re a killer!”
Maybe he was getting desillusioned. Not what she wanted, in spite of her plans.
“I’m sorry...”
However, he looked at the ground, picking up what he thought was a gun, now smiling at Kala.
“Can you teach me?”
Wolfgang found the situation funny. He chuckled, shaking his head, staring at his lover’s husband with a not so friendly look.
But his voice remained chill as he held the ‘gun’.
“Ok. First, this isn’t a real gun. It’s a taser.”
The threw it on the ground.
“This is a real gun.”
“All right.”
“Here is the safety.”
“All right.”
He left.
“Do not point unless you are sure about the target, okay?” Kala warned him.
In a semi-external area, Wolfgang killed one more guard on a balcony, hiding himself again behind the stairway’s wall. Sun and Mun were now counting on the guns in the palazzo’s lab, and when Wolfgang and Felix were going up with Capheus, they saw three or four guards coming from the other side.
They shot them but only got two.
“Fuck, shit! This is serious!” Felix whispered while hiding behind a wall.
Wolfgang nodded.
By now, the group had already taken most guards.
But there was a problem.
In another room, Diego was shot while they took down one guard.
Gladly, he was ok though, even playfully complaining that he should be in Pensacola.
“Come on! Let’s go!” Wolfgang kept moving, but was met by no less than four guards.
He tried to get away, but one of them shot Felix.
He was groaning in pain, but at least it was superficial, nothing like in the other time.
Capheus had found an empty room and was calling them. As Wolfgang ran with his friend over his shoulders, Felix returned the shot, but missed it.
When Capheus closed the door, he laid Felix down on the mat.
“Will you get him to Bug?” Wolfgang asked. “I’ll go this way.”
Capheus held a frustrated Felix in his arms, preparing to leave, while Wolfgang went upstairs.
While alertly holding Diego, Will was going out, but a not so happy Nomi visited him before he could even approach the door.
By her face, he could tell the news would be bad.
“Lila is entering the palazzo.”
“Goddamn it.”
It was frustrating, because they were already busy trying to find Milton and getting rid of many guards, he had hoped at least he wouldn’t have to deal with her.
“We need to clear this floor.” He added in the same breath, wondering what he was going to do.
Nomi looked away for a second, fortunately being able to find something helpful.
“He’s got to be upstairs.”
“Ok.” Will kept moving.
He was more hopeful, however Diego needed help and he was carrying him, so it would be riskier than otherwise.
Nomi saw her entering, going upstairs with some guards and visually followed her until she reached a point where it was dark and, past that point, any possible rooms had no cameras.
Behind a door, Kala and Rajan saw Lila and the guards passing by.
Drawn by the danger and looking forward to the next action, Wolfgang immediately took her place.
The evil she had done and what she had put him through needed to return to its origin.
“It’s her.” Rajan whispered.
“Listen... shh... go around...” Kala whispered back, spinning her finger in case he couldn’t hear her.
“Ok.”
Rajan went back to the direction they had come from, leaving Kala alone. She looked at the other way, where was another door.
Wolfgang moved cautiously, always with the gun in front of him.
Moving past the door, Kala briskly, yet silently turned around, hiding behind the last blind spot.
They heard sounds of metallic movements combined, meaning the bars were being opened.
Wolfgang noticed there was another open door in the right side, and the last ‘wall’ between the last doors was not a wall, but a window.
As silently as she could, when there was no sign they could see her, Kala entered the last door.
Physically, he kept going up, intending not to leave Kala alone in any sense.
In that place that was almost a labyrinth, Kala was led to a place where there were bars.
Milton was there.
Seeing him, and managing to be unseen, Kala kept moving and Wolfgang stopped on the left end of the gate.
“Time to go, Milton.” They heard Lila say.
Kala carefully looked in.
Seeing another man from the stairs, Wolfgang was taken away, shooting the machine gun several times, making a lot of noise.
It startled Kala, who grunted quietly. But maybe not quietly enough for them to perceive her presence.
She hoped it was...
He only stopped shooting when the man fell down, analytically looking up and preparing to go upstairs.
Seeing them leave with anxiety, Kala rushed to walk past the gates, again unseen. Then, she walked again through the door, stopping on the left end of the next one.
One guard came.
Milton.
Second guard.
Kala hid further.
Third guard.
That was it.
The one opportunity to take all of them down.
Especially her .
Enough waiting.
Enough hiding.
There was a bullet sound. So silent it wouldn’t be heard by a distance, but for Kala it was close enough.
An unknown shock crossed Wolfgang’s abdomen. It wasn’t as strong as the shock waves from the torture or even the taser, it was only painful enough to make him grunt.
However, Sun released it loudly, feeling more pain.
So did Riley, as Will bent 45 degrees, almost letting go of Diego.
Wolfgang took his hand off his belly, not seeing blood.
“The fuck?!” Diego asked, seeing Will and Riley falling down on the ground, breathing heavily.
Sun felt on the ground, thinking she was about to faint, but her eyes were still open wide as Mun reached for her, desperately inquiring what was happening.
In another room, a dark one, she felt herself releasing an object, with blood on her other hand.
With a deep burning sensation, Lito was there, trying to pass through a door and bumping into the left corner.
Nomi felt the pain of the collision.
Riley, Will and Capheus managed to go through the door, running out of air as they almost reached the center.
Wolfgang kept looking for a place to sit or lie down, still failing to see blood upon his hands, hoping for the feeling to stop.
Running out of air, he collapsed on the floor... in that separate room.
It was then when he remember the shot. The silent sound of the bullet.
The bullet hadn’t come from Kala’s gun...
No... not her...
With his widened eyes under frowning eyebrows, his face was covered in a shock that this time was not physical.
Having only now realized that he had come upstairs and entered the last door, he rushed to the next room, with a third-part memory of struggling to walk away, feeling the shock and inflammation, wondering where was the pain, when the feeling would start to erupt.
The next thing he visualized was a lot of blood on her left hand, coming out of her navel, and then her hair on the ground, her beautiful dark eyes staring at the void.
Reaching the room, he realized what he saw was not a nightmare in the form of daydream.
Her body was no longer moving, her hands were on the ground, no sound of her breathing.
As he knelt down and lifted her, her widened dark eyes closed.
His mind screamed in denial every second, running out of hope further as her lifted arm kept suspended on the air as he held her.
“Kala...” Touching her face, he called her name, silently, almost out of breath.
This was the first time he had called her by her name. And she wasn’t conscious to listen.
He irrationally moved his hand from her cheek to her lips, hoping there would be a sign of life.
The despair increased. No motion... no breath...
The last interaction they had was ruined. And to add to his despair, he wasn’t sure he could even fix it...
“Kala... I love you...” He whispered, closing his crying eyes with strenght, close to her.
Not knowing whether it would be a desperate request or a goodbye, he moved his mouth to her cheek, and then to her lips.
He caressed her hair, as more tears fell.
“Please... don’t leave me...”