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Now, she didn’t try to escape escape. She didn’t make a run for it. But I could practically see the gears turning in her head as she tried to figure out how to leave the property.
Following Dario’s orders, I kept watch over her from a distance. On that particular day, I was on a third-floor balcony, watching her through the scope of my sniper rifle.
Not to shoot her, mind you. Merely to see what she did when she thought she wasn’t being watched.
And to protect her. Niccolo thought the Oldanis might send their soldiers to attack the compound in retaliation for Fumagalli, so I wanted to be ready in case Alessandra stumbled across an ‘unfriendly.’
She ended up stumbling across an unfriendly, alright.
Just not a human one.
She walked past the swimming pool and the topiary gardens and entered a field that led to the olive groves.
I watched her stumbling across the uneven ground –
When she suddenly froze.
I frowned. I thought about scanning beyond her to see if she’d run across a stranger –
But she wasn’t looking straight ahead.
She was looking at the ground.
I tilted the scope down the tiniest bit and immediately saw the problem.
Coiled in the dry grass about four feet away from her was an aspic viper.
I’d first run across one while I was training our foot soldiers – and I’d jumped backwards about five feet. Tuscany had seemed like an enchanting land of vineyards and rolling hills, not deadly fucking snakes.
Massimo had schooled me on both aspic and meadow vipers (the smaller of the two venomous snakes in Tuscany). Aspics were roughly a hundred times more common than meadow vipers. Even though their bite was rarely deadly, the venom was excruciating – a good way to ruin your week.
I was about 600 feet away from Alessandra. I didn’t have time to grab my range finder, so I would have to wing it.
I calculated the distance… aimed a little high… and pulled the trigger.
CRACK!
The snake’s head exploded in a burst of red.
Bullseye.
I heard Alessandra scream. When I panned the scope over to her, she was stumbling backwards and looking around wildly. Then her gaze settled on the mansion.
I didn’t see the need to freak her out any more than she already was, so I waved at her.
In the scope, I saw the lightbulb go off over her head –
And the immediate wave of disappointment that washed over her features.
I chuckled. You’re not escaping TODAY, my dear.
I used a big, sweeping gesture of my arm to tell her to come back.
She looked glum, but she dutifully started trudging back towards the mansion.
I thought it might be worth having a chat with her, one on one. Just to clear the air.
I slung the rifle over my shoulder – just in case Niccolo was right about the Oldanis sending more soldiers – and quickly descended the steps to the patio.
