Novel 543
Chapter 72
I couldn’t believe my ears.
What a WEIRD motherfucker.
Every second I expected him to cackle like Hans Landa and say, Ooooh, that’s a bingo!This content belongs to Nô/velDra/ma.Org .
But when he finally stopped talking, the silence was even creepier.
I looked at Massimo and whispered, “What are we going to do?”
“Get the hell out of here,” he whispered back.
He reached up on a table and grabbed a knife – the one from the mercenary he’d killed in the speedboat in Venice. That had only been three and a half weeks ago, but it felt like a lifetime.
Then he began poking at the gaps between the floorboards, trying to lift them up. He finally gave up 30 minutes later when he pried up one of the floorboards and saw what was underneath.
“Fuckin’ concrete foundation,” he muttered. “I wish I’d picked a shittier cabin to stay in.”
I laughed.
He looked over at me in surprise. “What’s so funny?”
“Who would’ve thought we’d want the worst place possible to stay? And who could’ve guessed we’d get hunted by Elmer Fudd?”
Massimo frowned. “Elmer Fudd?”
“The little bald cartoon guy who hunts Bugs Bunny? ‘Be vewy, vewy quiet…’”
Massimo snorted with laughter, then shook his head. “This isn’t funny.”
“…it’s kind of funny.”
He gave me a sideways look, obviously recalling our discussion three weeks ago about my butt chin.
To his credit, though, he didn’t call me Chinderella.
“What do we do?” I asked.
“We figure out a way to get out of here.”
“Why can’t we just go out the front? I mean, he’s in the back, right?”
“A guy this smart wouldn’t leave something like that to chance. Like he said, he knows we’ll either try to wait him out or we’ll run for it.” Massimo stopped and thought for a second. “But if I distract him…”
“How?”
“I’ll shoot at him.”
“How’s that going to help us?”
“It’ll distract him while you escape.”
It took me a second to realize what he meant – and when I did, I shook my head violently. “NO. I’m not leaving you.”
“Babe – ”
“NO.”
“Lucia… if you get out of this while I keep him pinned down, you can get to town and call Niccolo. I’ll give you the number. Then you can hide out until Lars comes, and he can save me when he gets here.”
“What if Zollner just goes deeper into the woods so you can’t shoot him and then he circles around after me?”
“I’ll know if he does that, and then I can leave the cabin and go after him. At that point, you’ll have a big enough head start that it won’t matter. He won’t be able to catch up with you. Not if I’m coming after him, too.”
“What if he was lying about being the only one? What if there are others out there?”
Massimo got a pained look on his face. “That’s a possibility… and you’ll have to be prepared for it.”
“Prepared how?”
“The one thing they don’t want is to kill you. Which means they’ll be hesitant to shoot at you… but you can shoot at them.”
I got sick to my stomach as I thought about the man I’d killed in the barn.
Worse, I thought about the tailspin it had sent me into for the next several hours.
“I can’t… please don’t ask me to do that…”
“I wouldn’t if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”
“But – ”
“Do you remember what I told you my job is?”
“…to keep me and our children safe.”
He nodded. “And do you remember what I said your job is?”
“…to keep the kids safe. But there aren’t any kids – it’s just you and me.”
He smiled as he gently placed a hand on my waist. “You don’t know that. You haven’t been on the pill for weeks now.”
Tears sprang to my eyes. “Stop – that’s not fair. You’re just trying to manipulate me – ”
“You’re right, I am. Because I would do anything to make sure you’re safe. I’d even try to manipulate you into saving yourself… and maybe our unborn child.”
I started to cry. “Isn’t there another way?”
“If you run for it, we have a chance. If you don’t, he’ll just do what he said and wait until we starve to death. If we go now, we have all our strength and energy. This is the best shot we have – right now.”
“Then come with me.”
“Somebody’s got to occupy him while you get away.” He smiled. “Who knows… maybe I’ll get lucky and shoot the bastard.”
“Please don’t make me do this,” I begged.
“This is the only way. At least, it’s the only way we’ve got.” He kissed me softly, then pulled back to look in my eyes. “Will you do it?… For me?”
I lay there looking at him, tears rolling down my cheeks… and finally nodded yes.
“Thank you,” he whispered gratefully, then kissed me again.