Page 265 of Marcello

Was it gratitude? Appreciation?

I couldn’t tell. But if she was grateful, she didn’t say a word as she got in beside Cesare.

Most of the other men looked at me in pity or disgust, but a lower ranking guy rushed over and grabbed my arm. “Let’s go.”

He helped me into one of the SUVs at the rear of the caravan.

Luckily, I had the backseat all to myself. The guy who had helped me sat in the front next to the driver.

Which was fine by me – it gave me a chance to contact Fausto.

As we roared away from the farm, I pulled out my cell phone and brought up Fausto’s number.

THEY’RE COMING, I typed.

GET OUT NOW.

“Who are you texting?” the driver asked.

I looked up to see him peering at me in the rearview mirror.

Shit.

I said casually, “My girlfriend. Letting her know she won’t hear from me for a while, and not to call.”

The driver gazed at me like he didn’t quite trust me, then finally resumed watching the road.

But having been caught once, I didn’t feel comfortable texting Fausto again.

I just hoped what I’d sent him was enough.

84

We sped after Dario Rosolini’s entourage but never caught up. Apparently, they were going even faster than we were.

But why? What was so urgent?

The driver got a call. Lucrezia had ordered our guys in Florence to keep watch at all the major highways into the city, and Mignolino had spotted the Rosolinis and tailed them to a hospital.

That bewildered me. Why didn’t they just go to a hospital in the countryside? There had to be one closer to them than Florence.

Fifteen minutes later, our vehicles were parked on a side street in a modern part of the city. I knew the hospital was right around the corner, though I couldn’t see it because our SUV was so far from the main road.

Nothing happened. We just waited in silence.

Ten minutes later, half a dozen cop cars on the main road roared past us, heading away from the hospital.

Seconds later, I got a call from Cesare.

“Yes?”

“Get the fuck over here,” he snapped, then hung up.

I got out and jogged towards the lead SUV.

The entire way, I wondered if Cesare was going to shoot me in the head. It wouldn’t be the most impulsive thing he’d ever done.

Keep it together, I told myself.