The Rome Prophecy

115

‘I know what you’re thinking.’ Shooter has a cocky smile on his face. ‘And you’re right.’ He gestures towards the other cells. ‘We can’t let you go after you’ve seen this.’

He’s a few paces away from Valentina, almost at the back of the three women who’ve come down with them.

As he walks towards her, she wonders what’s happened to Trench Coat, the man someone called Attis. He must have stayed above ground for medical treatment.

‘Life down here is not so bad.’ Shooter is now so close to Valentina that all she can see of him is his piercing blue eyes. ‘Let’s put it this way, it’s much better than death down here.’

Behind her, Valentina hears the sound of someone unlocking one of the cells.

Her cell.

‘How we treat you is entirely dependent upon you.’ He takes her arm and pushes her towards the dark opening.

She resists a little. Digs in her heels. But it’s more instinct than serious resistance.

Shooter pushes her hard and she’s not strong enough to stand firm. Not unless she fights him, and now’s not the time for that.

‘We’ll let you cool down for a while, then you really do have a lot of explaining to do.’

She stares defiantly at him.

No sign of weakness.

No hint of fear.

Shooter is plainly one of the top dogs. What he says goes. The others take their lead from him and ask his permission before acting, but Valentina isn’t going to give him an inch of ground. Every second that she stands up to him increases the chance of Verdetti, Federico or even Tom bringing help.

Shooter goes through the pockets of her coat, pulling them inside out and leaving them dangling, like he’s playing some childish game. ‘So who exactly are you? And more importantly, where is Anna?’

Valentina knows her cover as Verdetti’s assistant is blown. It was exposed the moment she picked the gun up from the floor of Santa Cecilia and it evaporated completely when she shouted out that she was a police officer.

‘I’m a Carabinieri capitano,’ she says with pride and defiance.

Shooter doesn’t look impressed.

She smiles confidently. ‘You know that by now there will be troops all over Rome looking for me.’

He steps away and closes the cell door. ‘You’re right. They’ll be up and down the streets, asking questions in the shops and bars, in the houses of known criminals. They’ll be assembling roadblocks on the autoroutes and maybe even stopping people at the train stations and airports.’ He smiles back at her as he turns a big old key in a big old lock. ‘But they won’t be coming down here. This is the one place you can be sure they won’t come looking.’