Chapter 4 Isla

"What did he steal?" I yelled out, as I ducked under Enrico's arms and onto the dash as bullets flew above me through the windshield. Shattered glass rained down all around me like diamonds, tangling in my hair, slicing at my cheek. I grabbed his arm, sinking my nails into the sleeve of his jacket.

"What did Marco steal?" I yelled the question louder this time to try to get his attention.

He had turned to cover my body with his as another volley of bullets ripped through the side of the car. I felt the heat of them, the displaced air, and the death almost touching me. I wouldn't let go of him.

"That's not important," he growled, his breath hot against my ear as he spoke.

"What do you mean that's not important?" I was shaking uncontrollably, and my teeth were chattering as I tried to scream out an answer.

"They're shooting at us over something he stole, and you don't think it's…”

"What is important," he cut me off, his voice sharp enough to drive through me, "is that you need to worry only about you at this time." He locked his dark serious eyes into mine. "The Cincinnatis don't care one iota about Marco's reasons or regrets. They will use you as bait to collect the debt or torture you to motivate Marco to pay them back. To them, you are nothing but leverage."

His words were like being hit in the head with a hammer. My lungs forgot how to breathe.

Leverage.

Torture.

The area was silent now but sound of footsteps crunching gravel and voices calling in weird language began to encircle us again. They regrouped. They were coming for us.

"Can you walk?" said Enrico with both of his hands on my shoulders trying to keep me stable.

I said yes, but when he lifted me up all I could feel was my legs were nothing, they just turned to water.

The world is turned to the side and black spots began to dance in my vision, and I looked like I would fall or collapse and die right there.

He caught me with one of his arms and nothing but strength that was unnatural for a man to be able to do, "I got you. Just brace up and trust me, Isla."

As he carried me away from the SUV, he guided me through the tree line out of the light. I could hear the shouting and the crunching from behind us; and at the same time, there was no uncertainty from Enrico; he moved like someone who had been here forever and knew every bit of the land.

After circling, we came at the cabin from the back where it sat dark and quite, the front was just blown apart and the rest of it was still intact.

Enrico pulled out a key from his pocket and unlocked something that looked like a storm cellar, while also gesturing me to go inside.

"Wait…”

"This room connects to the basement. Go."

I walked down the concrete steps to the darkness , while my hands rubbed against the walls that weren’t smooth at all compared to the usual.

Enrico followed me down and locked the door behind and secured it with several heavy duty bolts.

Then a flashlight clicked on, and I saw we were in a narrow tunnel that smelled of earth and concrete.

"This way."

The tunnel opened into a basement that looked more like a bunker, concrete walls, reinforced ceiling, shelves stocked with supplies. Enrico led me up a narrow staircase, and suddenly we were inside the cabin proper.

It was nothing like I'd expected.

Warm wood floors. A stone fireplace with embers still glowing. Furniture that looked comfortable and lived-in rather than tactical. Books on shelves.

There was a large kitchen with a massive island and lots of copper pots hanging from them.

It had a very cozy and comfortable feel to it, it felt homey.

Enrico locked the reinforced door behind us and began to methodically move around the cabin, checking all the windows, adjusting the 'monitoring' systems that I now realised were simply surveillance cameras inside frames of pictures. I saw outside several thermal images of people moving through the trees, away from the cabin and back toward the road.

"They think we’re gone," I quietly said to Enrico.

"That's what I wanted them to think," he turned to me and the hardness in his face was gone. "Please sit down or you'll fall down."

My legs were shaking so bad I could barely hold myself up; I sat down on the couch; my entire body was shaking so violently I could feel my bones wanting to jump out of my body.

My hands were shaking uncontrollably.

I was breathing hard and gasping for air, no matter how hard I tried to take a breath; there was no air coming into my lungs.

Enrico knelt down in front of me and placed his warm hands on my shaky knees.“Breathe, Isla. You are safe now.”

“Safe?” I couldn’t hold back the hysterical laugh that escaped from my lips. “First, they shot at us, again, I am surrounded by people with guns outside, and the way Marco was kidnapped by the…by the… can’t even say the name. Plus, you won’t tell me what he stole. And, I’m… I’m …”

“‘In shock’, Enrico replied quietly. He got up from the couch, went to the kitchen and returned with a glass of water and a white pill like a Benadryl. “You should take this. It will help.”

I looked at the pill and said, “What is it?”

“Lorazepam. It’s for anxiety.” Since I didn’t make any move to take it, he continued, “I’m not trying to drug you , cara. You are shaking so badly, you may break your teeth. This will help you. You should take it.”

I took the pill because I had no other choice. The ice water felt as though it was shocking my system while the pill just startled my senses. Enrico moved around and sat on the coffee table across from me. Our knees were nearly touching and I could see the expression on his face was unreadable.

“After the past couple of hours, you must be shaken,” he stated as if with such a gentle tone as I began to feel the tears coming to my eyes again.

I looked over at the wall clock and saw that it was 6:00 a.m. The sun would be rising soon and I would see the sky turn shades of pink, purple and gold as everything I ever knew would lay in ruins. 

“Get some sleep,” Enrico continued. “The guest room is upstairs; go through the second door to your right. There are clean sheets and a bathroom.You can lock yourself in if you feel more secure doing so," he stated.

"I doubt I’ll be able to sleep," I replied; it is an utterly ridiculous thought. How can one get sufficient rest after going through what I have experienced?

"You should try to anyway." I noticed that he had blood on his collar and upon examination, I discovered that it was dried blood.

"I will remain awake and watch you."

I wanted to argue but, I am so exhausted due to the night I’ve had and probably the medications he gave me that I could do nothing except comply. I could barely walk due to my arms and legs feeling like they weighed a ton!

I tried to walk towards the stairs and it appeared that with every step, I felt like I was going to fall.

The guest room was exactly as I had imagined it to be ! Simple, clean, and comfortable! There was a large bed with a thick quilt and blackout curtains that were already closed.

I locked the door to my room and placed a chair underneath the handle.

When I lay in the bed, I was wearing all of my clothes and had my backpack strapped onto my back as if it was a life preserver.

I was not going to sleep; there was no way; there was just too much going through my head: Marco in that photo with the black eye and zip tied; the other man's neck break; how Enrico killed the man with no hesitation at all; the Cincinnati; leverage; and finally torture. I could feel my eyes slowly closing.

Just for a few minutes

I awoke to pitch blackness.

Looking at the clock on my nightstand, I discovered it was 8:47 PM. I had slept for approximately 15 hours.

As I sat up, I felt like I was in a really bad car accident. While I had never felt this way before, I could only assume my mouth tasted like it was filled with copper and fear.For a few sacred moments, I had forgotten where I was and my past few hours.

The instantaneous reality of the moment jarred me back into focus and it suddenly dawned on me that my stomach growled and that for several hours now, I had not eaten. Jesus! did I eat yesterday, after lunch? I didn't even know how much time had passed, or what day it was because the concept of time had lost all meaning for me.

I made my way to the door, pressed my ear against it hoping to hear something, but there was nothing, nothing but silence on the other side of me. I finally backed the chair off the door, unlocked the dead bolt on the door, and slowly opened it.

It was dark when I walked into the hallway, except for the light that was on in the lower part of the house. I crept through the hallway with my heart pounding harder with every step towards the light.

As I got closer to the light, I heard Enrico speaking on the phone, his voice low and tense. He was speaking to someone using the Italian language, and as I listened I could easily discern that there was an argument occurring even though I could not understand one word of what he said to the person on the other end of the line.

What I should have done was gone back upstairs, and allowed Enrico the right of privacy.

What I did was creep even closer to hear what he was saying on the phone to the other person.

"No… I’ve not told her yet," he said, his voice full of strain. "She deserves to know the truth about her brother."

A pause occurred after he said that, and I could hear someone on the other end of the phone talking to Enrico in response.

"No…" Enrico cut himself off from the end of the phone call and changed to English. "I do not care what the policy is. This girl has been shot twice, seen me kill 4 men, and she still does not know that Marco…”