Chapter 4 - The Tunnel Beneath the Hotel
Enzo killed the light and whispered, “Into the passage.”
Matteo knocked again.
Luca pulled the metal panel wider.
A folded hotel blueprint was taped behind it.
One corridor had been marked in red.
It ended beneath room 307.
Someone had prepared our escape before we arrived.
Or our trap.
Enzo saw it too.
“Luca.”
“I didn’t put that there.”
Matteo knocked a third time.
“Enzo, I know Sofia is with you.”
My blood chilled.
Enzo’s face hardened.
“Move.”
We entered the passage.
Luca went first.
I followed.
Enzo came last and pulled the panel shut.
Darkness swallowed us.
The flashlight beam shook in my hand.
Not because of the cold anymore.
The stairs descended steeply.
Water dripped from overhead pipes.
Behind us, muffled through walls and stone, came the crash of room 307’s door being forced open.
Matteo had stopped asking.
“Faster,” Enzo said.
We reached a narrow service corridor.
Water covered the floor to our ankles.
Luca turned left.
Enzo caught his shoulder.
“The blueprint marked right.”
“That’s exactly why we go left.”
Enzo studied him.
Then released him.
We continued.
I tried not to think about what might be moving in the dark water.
After fifty yards, Luca stopped.
Voices.
Men.
Ahead.
Enzo pushed me behind a concrete pillar.
Two flashlight beams appeared around the corner.
Matteo’s men.
There was nowhere to go.
Enzo looked up.
A maintenance ladder climbed toward an overhead platform.
He pointed.
I understood.
Luca climbed first.
I followed.
Enzo remained below.
“Come on,” I whispered.
He shook his head.
The footsteps grew louder.
“Enzo.”
“Go.”
“No.”
His eyes found mine.
“Sofia.”
There was something in his voice I had never heard.
Fear.
Not for himself.
For me.
I climbed.
Enzo disappeared into the darkness below.
Seconds later, two men entered.
I heard a struggle.
A body hit the wall.
Then another.
A flashlight rolled across the floor.
Silence.
“Enzo?”
Nothing.
I started down.
Luca grabbed my arm.
“Wait.”
“Let go.”
“Sofia—”
“Let go of me.”
He did.
I descended.
Enzo stood against the wall.
One man was unconscious.
The other had fled.
Blood ran from a cut above Enzo’s eyebrow.
“You’re hurt.”
“It’s nothing.”
I pulled the towel from my bag.
“You kept that?”
“I’m a secretary. We keep useful things.”
Despite everything, he almost smiled.
I pressed the towel against his forehead.
He looked down at me.
For a moment, the tunnel disappeared.
The mafia.
The storm.
The danger.
Everything.
His hand lifted as if he intended to touch my face.
Then he stopped himself.
“Sofia.”
“What?”
“This is exactly why I didn’t want you involved.”
“You think I wanted this?”
“No.”
“Then stop making decisions for me.”
His eyes narrowed.
“You’re arguing with me in a flooded tunnel while armed men are looking for us.”
“Yes.”
“That might be the most unreasonable thing you’ve ever done.”
“You hired me.”
“That might be the most unreasonable thing I’ve ever done.”
Luca coughed loudly from the platform.
We separated.
“Perhaps survive first,” he said.
We continued through the tunnel.
Twenty minutes later we reached a steel door.
Luca unlocked it.
Cold rain hit us.
The maintenance building stood fifty yards away.
Beyond it, barely visible through the storm, was a black SUV.
“Whose?” Enzo asked.
“Mine.”
We ran.
Halfway there, headlights appeared behind us.
Another vehicle.
Matteo.
Enzo grabbed my hand.
“Run.”
We reached Luca’s SUV.
He started the engine.
Enzo pushed me into the rear seat and climbed beside me.
The vehicle tore down the service road.
Matteo’s headlights followed.
The road curved along the ridge.
Mud slid beneath the tires.
Luca fought the wheel.
“Bridge ahead!”
“Is it open?” I shouted.
“It was an hour ago.”
We rounded the bend.
The bridge was there.
So were two black vehicles blocking it.
Luca slammed on the brakes.
Matteo’s car stopped behind us.
Trapped.
Enzo looked at me.
“Whatever happens, stay in the car.”
“I’m getting tired of that sentence.”
“Sofia.”
The rear door opened before he could finish.
A gun pointed inside.
“Out.”
Enzo slowly raised his hands.
I did the same.
We stepped into the rain.
Matteo approached under a black umbrella.
He looked nothing like a villain.
Elegant coat.
Silver hair.
Gentle smile.
The kind of man who remembered birthdays.
I had served him coffee dozens of times.
“Sofia,” he said warmly. “I’m sorry my nephew dragged you into this.”
Enzo stepped in front of me.
Matteo smiled.
“There it is.”
“What?”
“Your weakness.”
Enzo’s body went rigid.
Matteo looked directly at me.
“I spent years wondering what could make Enzo Relli careless.”
He lowered the umbrella.
“Now I know.”
One of his men opened another vehicle.
Someone was sitting inside.
Hands bound.
Face bruised.
I recognized him immediately.
Enzo did too.
His father.
May you like
Matteo smiled.
“Now,” he said, “we can finally discuss the real reason I brought all of you here.”
