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Chapter 15
The flight was a ten-minute hop to the other airfield. While in the air, Neo was unable to pick up a signal on the tracker. He made a mental note to have the app upgraded to include air travel, perhaps something his father hadn’t considered. Chances were that if he was on the ground and his mother being transported in the air, there would be no signal as well.
Once on the ground again, Neo was able to pick up the signal, thus informing the team on a precise location which was an old lighthouse off the coast of Santa Catarina which was in Aci Castello. Neo silently hoped that this was not another dead end or trap. What if that woman discovered Melody’s ring and made preparations for their arrival? These were all questions which bombarded his mind. But the foremost question was, why did she murder Giannino? If she was coming after their family as revenge, why didn’t she take him instead?
The turmoil inside him raged like the waves of a storm on the high seas. A movement beside him made him turned his head to see Neeky nestle closer to him. Like Jesus calming the raging storm, he felt a peace begin to settle over him as he looked at her with her eyes closed and her head on the backrest.
Reaching over, he took her hand and twined their fingers together. Without opening her eyes, she placed her other hand over his and squeezed it reassuringly. That’s when he realized that she was his anchor and he didn’t know what he would have done had she not been there.
Meanwhile a few minutes away …
“Welcome to your new abode,” Eunice’s sing song voice dripped sweetly to Melody.
Melody’s eyes wandered around. The old lighthouse had been transformed into a loft with two levels separated by a winding staircase inside it. It was apparent at first glance that the lower level was where Eunice’s team congregated and the upper level was her private domain.
There were paintings of the ocean on the circular wall, with a sofabed in the center of the room and portable furnace. A table and two chairs were sat on the right hand, and an item about ten feet tall covered in a dark sheet over on the other side.
She spun around like a gig as she inhaled deeply. “You know, my father talked about the woman who was feisty as she was beautiful. I never imagined it was you until later. Sicily’s queen of hearts.”
“Who the hell are you talking about?”
Melody was getting weaker as she refused to eat the food Eunice provided for her. She was hoping that Neo would find her before she ended up dead. This crazy woman kept talking about her father and Melody wracked her mind to figure out who he was to no avail.
“Oh, where are my manners?” Eunice replied walking over to the sheet covered item. “Say hello to my father, the man who truly loved you.”
With a sweep of her hand she removed the sheet to reveal a glass tank, something akin to what you would see in a science fiction movie. Melody gasp and almost gagged at what she saw. It was the badly preserved body of Balthasar. She wasn’t sure what gas was in the cylinder using to keep the body intact, but it was clearly not working well. Even though a part of his face was almost completely eaten away, she recognized him still.
“Balthasar?” she uttered. “You sick freak! You kept your father’s dead body all these years?”
“Oh yes, it was his wish,” Eunice replied sweetly as usual. “He made me sign an agreement and everything. And if I didn’t keep my end of the deal, I would inherit nothing. Plus, he wanted you all to himself, so I thought I’d honor his last wishes.”
“Your mental. What do you plan on doing?” Meldo shrieked.
“There’s another tank like this one I plan to put you in. It will arrive in the morning. That way, you both can be together forever.”
Melody turned her head away as dizziness assailed her. Her stomach had started to ache and she felt just nauseated looking at her former arch nemesis. A loud racket from below had Eunice running to the staircase and shouting to her men. A shout returned to her and she raced over just as Melody doubled over on the floor with shooting pains in her abdomen.
“Shit,” was the last word Melody heard before she passed out.
* * *
The place was swarming with Columbian gangsters with guns, machetes, knives and baseball bats. These didn’t seem like an army but more like a gang. There was one dude with a ball and chain, a few more with steel bars and one with a Morgenstern.
With Neo leading the charge, he picked out the first three with his mother’s Glock while his men faced off with a few more, and that was just in the yard. Neeky found herself fighting a guy obviously trained in Capoeira and was kicking his ass.
Neo led the way into the lighthouse where a group of armed men greeted them. He came close to one who kicked the gun from his hand and he had to defend himself with a kick to the man’s face. Since he had no intention of leaving his mother’s gun behind, he went to retrieve it, with Frankie giving him cover amid shots zinging past his ear.
He could hear a woman’s shout from his vantage point and realized that there was a staircase leading to an upper level.
“Cover me Frankie,” he directed. “Stay close to me Neeky. Where’s uncle?”
“He’s over there,” Neeky pointed across the space where his uncle was letting off a round of shots with a semi-automatic rifle.
“Marco, stay with Uncle!” Neo shouted. “If anything happens to him, you’re dead.”
“Yes Boss.”
It took eight minutes to shoot through the rebels in order to climb the stairs. Frankie stayed in the rear to keep them at bay while Neeky sped past him and confronted the woman. When Neo reached the upper level, Neeky and a dark haired woman dressed in a chic beige skirt suit and stilettos were in combat. Her hair was waist length with curves that would make any man’s head spin and a face that looked like it jumped out of a beauty pageant.
