AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’ll kill you or any of your men who try to come in here,” I snarled.
“Oh, I’m quite alone, Herr Rosolini. After the rather ghastly scene you left behind, the local amateurs Aurelio hired staged something of a revolt. They refused to continue after you unless Aurelio quadrupled their pay. Your cousin decided, why pay amateurs a king’s ransom – when you can get the best in the world for half the total price, ja? The ‘best in the world’ being me, of course.” Zollner chuckled with false modesty. “By the way, I commend you on your brilliant dispatching of the two unfortunate men! From my analysis of the scene, it would appear that you killed one with the ax – and Fräulein Fioretti took out the other with the shotgun. Oh, I’m being so rude! Continually referring to you in the third person – are you there, Fräulein?”
“Yeah, I am,” Lucia shouted. “And you can go fuck yourself.”
“Hahaha – they told me you were a feisty one! I can see they were not wrong!”
“Come on in and find out how feisty I am, motherfucker!”
“Noooo, I think not. I am more than content to wait you out. You didn’t bring many provisions from town… and I know you have a rendezvous planned for 6 PM tomorrow, ja? Either you’ll make a break for it, or I’ll just starve you out. I have plenty of rations to keep up my strength… unlike you.”
My heart dropped.
Somehow he knew about my conversation with Niccolo. He’d probably bugged the goddamn phone –
“Yes, I installed a listening device in the phone booth,” Zollner said cheerfully, as though he’d read my thoughts. “I wasn’t hired until three days after you killed the men at the barn, so you had quite a substantial head start on me – and it was exceedingly difficult to track you. My compliments on your strategy, Massimo. May I call you Massimo? We’re being so formal. Feel free to call me Friedrich.”
I scrunched up my face in disbelief at how strange this guy was.
“You obviously learned from your mistakes,” he continued, “never staying more than one night in a single place… not using the fireplace… well done! That forced me to track you like I might any other wild game. It was quite entertaining, to tell the truth – but I realized you weren’t going to be able to survive forever on the supplies you were finding in these cabins. At some point, like a thirsty animal, you would be forced to leave cover and approach the pond for a drink. I would merely have to lie in wait for it to happen.
“All of this is a roundabout way of saying that I bugged the telephones and waited for you to show yourself in town… like an animal at the water’s edge, you might say… and from there, I tracked you to your new lair. And here we are.”
As ridiculous as Zollner was, I had to admit I was unnerved.
When a man shows you all his cards, he’s either supremely confident in his abilities to beat you no matter what…
Or there’s another card he’s not showing you.
Or maybe a pistol under the table he’s pointing at your balls.
“Now that I’ve found you, Massimo, I would like to make a proposition. You send out Fräulein Fioretti to me… I will escort her back to your cousin… and neither of you will be harmed.”
“No,” I said.
“I will be taking her one way or another, Massimo. I would prefer not to kill you when I do it.”
I would prefer not to kill you when I do it.
Again, that chilling slip of the cheerful mask revealing the sociopath underneath.
“No deal,” I called out.
“And you can go stick your offer up your ass,” Lucia yelled.
Zollner chuckled. “Stick my offer up my ass… well, I don’t think I’ll be doing that, but I will stay out here and let the two of you make the first move. If you change your mind, do let me know before the shooting starts. I am – unfortunately for you both – an excellent shot.
“Gute Nacht! I WOULD say schlafen Sie gut – sleep well – but I don’t think any of us will be sleeping tonight.”
After that, Zollner went silent…
And there was only the drip drip drip of the rain from the trees.
72
Lucia
I couldn’t believe my ears.
