AllFreeNovel
Share Us
From the room the sounds of lovemaking had grown louder, the grunts more frequent. Michelangelo whispered something to Spiro, who translated his comment to Sachs. "He's wondering if we should wait a moment. Just because..."
Sachs whispered, "No."
Michelangelo grinned and returned to his men. He gestured toward the door, his hand making a slicing movement, like a priest blessing a communicant.
Instantly they went into action. One hefted a battering ram and swung it hard into the door near the knob. The flimsy wood gave way instantly. He stepped back, dropped the ram and unslung his machine gun as the others sped in, their weapons up, muzzles sweeping back and forth. Sachs hurried forward, Spiro behind her.
In the bed, in the center of the quaint room, a dark-haired Italian woman, no older than eighteen or nineteen, was squealing and frantically grabbing at bedclothes to cover herself. But it was a tug-of-war for the sheet and blanket with the man in bed with her. She was winning.
Pretty funny actually.
"Allora!" Spiro called. "Enough! Leave the sheets! Stand and keep your hands raised. Yes, yes, turn around." In Italian he spoke to the woman, apparently repeating the command.
His boyish face blazing, hair askew, Mike Hill, the American businessman whose private jet had shepherded Sachs to Milan the other day, did as ordered. He glanced once at Michelangelo's pistol, then at Sachs and apparently decided to keep his hands raised and not cover his conspicuous groin. The woman with him did the same.
One officer had gone through their clothes. He said, "Nessun arma."
Spiro nodded and the officer handed the garments to the couple.
As he dressed, Hill snapped, "I want an attorney. Now. And make sure it's one who speaks English."
Chapter 68
The suspects were in jail.
Il Carcere di Napoli.
Michael Hill was in a holding cell, awaiting the arrival of his "ball-breaking" attorney, who would show them a thing or two about criminal law.
Rhyme and Sachs were in the Questura situation room, receiving updates from a number of sources.
Hill's wife had arrived at the jail at the same time as the prostitute in the pensione was being released. The teenager had received a legal warning. Spiro had reported that "the businessman's spouse's expression, I will say, was a bit like that of fans witnessing a car crash at an auto race. Horrified, yes, but modulated with a certain hint of glee. I suspect the divorce settlement will be impressionante."
Mike Hill's arrest had come about quickly, after Sachs's speculation that the infamous Gianni might, in fact, be the American businessman's chauffeur, name of Luigi Procopio.
What had brought the man to the forefront of suspects was a series of recollections by Sachs as she had stared over Naples Bay not long ago, following Fatima's arrest.
Beatrice had found volcanic soil trace in the warehouse. Which meant someone from Naples had likely been in the warehouse recently. The forensic scientist had also discovered the grease there, the sort used in heavy, outdoor equipment. The Albanian who provided the explosives was a mechanic at Malpensa airport, working on such equipment. He had probably met the person who'd traveled from Naples at the warehouse to deliver the explosives.
Who had a connection with both Malpensa and Naples? Mike Hill. Since he knew about the traffic from the airport to downtown Milan, he had obviously been there before--and on the private plane tarmac, where explosives could have been transferred out of sight of Customs and security.
Hill himself probably wouldn't deal with bombs or paying Albanian smugglers. But his driver might. Luigi--a smoker, clean-shaven, long dark hair, swarthy complexion. And he was a man who traveled a great deal, as Fatima had told them, often driving.
Had it been coincidence that Hill just happened to call Consulate General Musgrave, mentioning that his private plane was headed north, so Sachs could hitch a ride to Milan? Of course not. Hill, Gianni and Ibrahim would have known all about Rhyme's and Sachs's presence here and would have bugged either their phones or hotel room, learning that they had a lead to Milan. Concerned about the progress of the investigation, Hill had immediately contacted the consulate general and let it be known that he had a plane ready to go...so he could keep an eye on the investigators.
Hardly certain, it was, nonetheless, a reasonable theory worth exploring.
To find out, Sachs sent Luigi's picture to her snitch, Alberto Allegro Pronti, the homeless Don Quixote of a Communist in Milan. Ercole translating, Pronti verified that Luigi Procopio was the man who had thrown him out of the warehouse.
Ercole had smiled as he'd listened to the man's words. He said to Sachs, "Alberto asks if the cat-kicker will go to jail." He turned back to the phone. "Si certamente."
Luigi had surrendered to Michelangelo's second tactical team in the parking lot behind the pensione, where he'd been smoking and texting, as he waited for his boss to finish his liaison with the local call girl.
Dante Spiro had been particularly pleased to nab Procopio. Not only was he instrumental in Hill's plot to implicate refugees in the fake terror attacks, but he was an international member of the 'Ndrangheta. Spiro explained that Flying Squad officer Daniela Canton, who specialized in gang work, had learned days ago of some 'Ndrangheta operative active in the area. She'd learned nothing more about it. Now the source of the intelligence was clear.
Mike Hill's involvement changed the entire focus of the plot. It was not an Italian official or member of a right-wing party, like the Nuovo Nazionalismo, who was the mastermind of the fake terrorist plot; it was an American.
Mike Hill's plan had the purpose they'd originally speculated--though not to derail Italian immigration reform. It was to sway public opinion in the United States and turn lawmakers against the pro-refugee bill in Congress, offering "proof" that terrorists were hiding among immigrants like tainted pieces in a bag of candy.
