Page 309 of Marcello

Luciano…

Francesca and my nieces and nephew…

I pictured Ezio as a baby in my arms, and I lost it. I just bawled uncontrollably.

That was when I heard a distant knock knock.

I immediately stifled my tears and sat up in the darkness.

What was THAT?

I barely moved or breathed…

Until enough time had passed that I was convinced it was an accident. Somebody bumping up against the wood paneling, most likely.

And then I heard a CRACK!

My entire body jolted in fear.

THAT wasn’t a fucking accident.

Another CRACK as wood splintered –

Then another.

My heart leapt up into my throat.

Somebody found the tunnel.

100

Schizzato

It took me another ten minutes to bash a hole in the wall big enough to get through.

While I was doing it, another guy came upstairs to bother me.

“What the FUCK are you DOIN’, Schizz?!”

“Nothin’,” I answered as I ripped out some more wood.

He shook his head and left.

Eventually, the hole was big enough. I stepped through it into the tunnel and held up my Zippo lighter.

The walls of the tunnel were stones with a bunch of mortar holding them all together. The rest of the tunnel was pitch black in both directions.

Freaky.

I squatted down and held the flame close to the ground.

The stones were smooth and caked with dust…

Except for a bunch of footprints.

Some were shoeprints. Those came and went in both directions…

But there was a set of bare feet that only went in one direction.