He crossed the room to the bed where Angel and his partner sat eating ice cream and drinking champagne. They faced the sea, looking out the window as they fed the ice cream to each other. The shadow spilled across the bed behind Angel’s partner. Elie stood in the mouth of the shadow, a grim reaper going through the motions in his head.
He stepped out, kneeling behind Angel’s partner and grasping his head, all in one motion, delivering the killing wrench. With blurring speed, he was on Angel, forcing his head forward and quickly breaking his neck. “Justice is served,” he said quietly.
He found the key to the dog crate hanging beside the leash and spiked collar. There was a long scarf he could use as a blindfold. He couldn’t allow the child to see him, but he wasn’t leaving him there. He awakened him as gently as possible, extracting him from the crate while Ricco tied the blindfold around him.
It was Mariko who kept reassuring the boy that they were there to rescue him. They would have someone coming for him, but he had to stay very quiet, there were armed guards on the estate. Elie and Ricco had to clear a path for them to take the boy out. They were breaking protocol, and no doubt, Marcellus would be furious, but Elie wasn’t leaving the kid. They pulled a dark T-shirt over his head after removing the offending tail.
Mariko took the boy down in the elevator and continued to reassure him. She used the phone in Angel’s house and coded in the emergency number for their bodyguards. The phone the bodyguards used would be disposed of as soon as they hung up. She told them she needed a pickup and gave coordinates, but did so in code then hung up. The phone call lasted under fifteen seconds.
Elie and Ricco went first, ensuring the guards were out of the way as Ricco leapt to the top of the wall, Mariko handed the boy to Elie and he all but tossed him to Ricco. Mariko was already on the other side as was Elie. They brought him down fast and Ricco was with them. The three stayed in the shadows with their charge, avoiding cameras and light, keeping to foliage as much as possible. When a car glided up and a door opened, the boy was thrust inside with murmured reassurances and then the car was gone. In all, the rescue operation took under three minutes.
Elie turned his attention to Guillem Toselli’s home next. Like Angel’s, Guillem’s and his father’s villas were built overlooking the Mediterranean Sea and both commanded extraordinary views from what would be the living rooms, gardens and pools. Elie had been told Guillem and Claudia were home. They had returned from a night out to dinner when news of the freighters exploding at sea had come in. Then the ones in the harbor had exploded. By now, Guillem had to have been told the crews of the ships were all dead.
Elie, Ricco and Mariko took the shadows into the living room, where the pair were alone. Security patrolled the gardens and around the villa. All were heavily armed and on alert. Guillem was armed and continually admonished Claudia to stay away from the windows.
“We’re at war, Claudia,” he hissed at her. “I’m aware you’ve never been through this before, but do what I say if you want to come out of this alive.”
“Who would go to war with our families, Guillem?” Claudia wrung her hands together. “It doesn’t make sense. None of this makes any sense. If you know why this is happening, I want you to tell me.” There was suspicion in her voice.
He stalked across the hardwood floor straight to her, slapping her hard. “Don’t talk to me in that tone of voice. If I knew what was happening, I’d tell you.”
Claudia shrank back from him, turning one palm to cover her cheek. “I’m sorry, Guillem, I’m afraid for the children.” She edged a little distance from him and fell silent.
He closed both hands into tight fists, staring at her for a couple of minutes as if he wanted her to say anything that could allow him to take out his frustration on her. “My father is coming over to talk to me about the situation. If you can keep your mouth shut, you can stay in the room. But I’m warning you, Claudia, one sound out of you and I’ll take you up to the bedroom and beat you within an inch of your life. I’m tired of your constant whining about going home to see your daddy. I treat you like a damn princess and all you do is whine about New York and how great it is and how you want to go home.”
“Because you promised me,” she whispered. “You said we’d go there on our honeymoon if I married you. But we didn’t. Then if I got pregnant. We didn’t. Then again, and I had another child. We didn’t go. I figured out all the shipments for us. How to lure the children in the parks away from their parents, the ones you wanted. You told me if I did those things, we would go. You won’t even let me plan a trip.”