Red Alert (15 page)

Calvieri nodded.

'A Heckler 8c Koch Py,' Paluzzi said, looking at Sabrina. 'But don't rely on him to cover your back. He never uses it.'

'I've never been known to use it. There is a difference.'

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There was an uneasy silence as the two men stared contemptuously at each other.

'Fabio, you're welcome to wait here for Mike and Sergei,' Sabrina said, deliberately stepping between them. 'They should be back any time now.'

'Thanks,' Paluzzi replied. 'I will. Take care of yourself.'

She smiled reassuringly and followed Calvieri from the room.

The small red-brick house, bordered by a neatly trimmed hedge, was a typical example of a Red Brigades safe house. | An inconspicuous building in the heart of suburbia.

Calvieri pulled up opposite the house and killed the engine. He looked at it. A paved footpath, flanked by well-tended flowerbeds, led up to the front door which was illuminated by a subtle entrance light. The only other light came from behind the drawn curtains in the room to the left of the door. He checked out the garage to the right of the house. An Alfa Romeo Alfetta stood in the drive in front of the closed garage door.

'Why didn't you just ring ahead and tell them we were coming?' Sabrina said sarcastically beside him.

'What do you mean?'

'Whoever's in there will have seen the car the moment we pulled up. Why didn't you park at the end of the street? At least then we would have had the option of using either the front or the back of the house to gain entry. Now we've lost the element of surprise.'

There is no back.'

'How do you know?' she asked suspiciously.

'I've used this house before when I was stationed here. It backs on to the house directly behind it. The only way in from the street is through the front door. The only

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other way out is through the garage. So you see, we don't have any option. We have to use the front door.'

'And get shot before we're halfway up the garden path?'

'A bit melodramatic, don't you think?' He got out of the car and made a sweeping gesture with his arm. This is suburbia. Anything suspicious and the police would be here in a flash. And that would mean the discovery of the safe house. So what use would it be? No, if they're going to spring a trap it will be inside the house, away from prying eyes.'

'What do you suggest we do?'

'Use the front door, what else? I have my skeleton keys with me, one of them is sure to fit the lock. If Ubrino is in there his only way out will be through the garage. You wait out here in case he shows.'

'Why don't I go in and you wait out here?'

"I know the house, Sabrina. It's got several places where someone could hide in an emergency. You don't know where they are.'

Then we go in together.' She noticed the uncertainty in his eyes. 'Let me put it another way for you. Either I go in with you or else I call Paluzzi and have his men go in with me. The choice is yours.'

'Some choice.' He opened the gate and looked at the garage. 'He couldn't get out there anyway.'

'Why not?'

The car's parked against the garage door. He'd have to use the front door.'

They approached the front door cautiously, their hands holding the guns in their pockets. The door was ajar. They exchanged wary glances. Calvieri ran his fingers lightly down the jamb to check for any booby-trapped wires. Nothing. He eased the door open with his fingertips. The hallway was deserted. She took the Beretta from her

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pocket and slipped past him into the hallway. He closed the door behind them and followed her. She pointed to the first door on the left. He nodded and took the Heckler &C Koch Py from his pocket, his eye continually darting towards the other closed doors leading off from the hallway. She pressed herself against the wall and indicated that he should do the same on the other side of the door.

'I'll go in first,' she whispered.

He nodded reluctantly.

She curled her fingers around the handle then shoved open the door and dived low into the room, fanning it with her Beretta. There was only one man in the room. He was seated in an armchair facing the door. It wasn't Ubrino. He was a heavyset man in his forties with black hair slicked back from a craggy face.

She got up on to one knee, the Beretta aimed at his chest. 'On your feet, very slowly. And keep your hands where I can see them.'

He looked past her and smiled when Calvieri appeared in the doorway. 'I'm impressed, Tony. Your new bodyguard?'

Calvieri lowered his gun. 'I might have guessed. What are you doing here, Luigi?'

'You know him?' Sabrina asked.

'Unfortunately, yes. Luigi Rocca, one of Zocchi's more repulsive puppets.'

'I'd mind my tongue if I were you, Tony. My men don't take too kindly to me being insulted by someone like you. Look behind you.'

Calvieri looked round slowly, his nerves taut. Two men had emerged from the opposite room. Both were armed with AK-74 assault rifles.

'Drop the gun, Tony.' Rocca looked at Sabrina. 'You too, bella.''

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Calvieri let the Py fall from his fingers. One of the men retrieved it. Sabrina stared at the two Kalashnikovs pointing at her and reluctantly tossed her gun on to the floor. The same man picked it up.

'You never answered my question, Luigi,' Calvieri said, coming into the room.

'I will, in time. Aren't you going to introduce me to your beautiful companion?'

'Her name's Sabrina Trestelli. She's a graduate of Trento University.'

'Beauty and brains. Pity you chose to join the wrong cell, bella.' Rocca beckoned the two men forward. 'Entertain the lady while I talk to Signore Calvieri.'

'Whatever you have to say to me can be said in front of her,' Calvieri said, looking round as the two men approached her.

The first man grabbed her arm. She brought her knee up sharply into his groin. He shrieked in pain and crumpled to the floor.

'Touch me and I'll break your arm,' she snarled menacingly at the second man.

He looked hesitantly to Rocca for instructions.

'Leave her,' Rocca said, then gestured dismissively at the man gasping on the floor. 'Take him away. Wait outside for me. I'll call if I need you.'

The man helped his colleague from the room and closed the door behind them.

Rocca got to his feet and crossed to a side table. They both refused his offer of a drink. He poured himself a whisky, then resumed his seat and pointed to the couch behind them. Obediently they both sat down.

'This has gone far enough, Luigi. What do you want?'

'Answers,' Rocca replied, and took a sip of whisky.

'Answers to what?' Calvieri demanded.

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Rocca ran his palm over his greasy hair. 'I'm in charge | now that Signore Zocchi and Ubrino are allegedly indis-J posed. I use the word "allegedly" because the city's been J rife with rumours, counter-rumours and accusations ever ] since the breakin at the Neo-Chem plant on Sunday night. I I have to reassure my Brigatisti, Tony, that's why I lured I you out here. I need answers, and I need them quickly.' I

'Then I suggest you make an appointment to see Signore j Pisani and discuss your problems with him.' J

'Credit me with some intelligence, Tony. Pisani's dying. I He's nothing more than a figurehead now. You've been ] running the show for the past few months, not him.' J

'Who told you that? Zocchi?' Calvieri could see he was | right by the look in Rocca's eyes. 'I thought as much. And I you're the one complaining about rumours ? Signore Pisani ] is dying, we all know that, but to say that he doesn't play } an active part in the running of the Red Brigades any more j is complete nonsense. Who do you think sent me to Rome 1 to find Ubrino? I certainly didn't send myself. I'm here on j his specific instructions. Signore Pisani will tell us when | he wants to stand down. But until then he is still our j leader. So that's one rumour quashed already.' |

'What about the rumour that Zocchi's dead?' Rocca t said, then drank down the rest of his whisky. 'That's why I the prison's been sealed off.' jj

'The prison's been sealed off because of an outbreak of acute conjunctivitis. I know for a fact that Signore Pisani spoke with one of the doctors who went to treat the prisoners. He saw Zocchi. That was yesterday afternoon. It's possible that Zocchi could have been killed since then, we've no way of confirming or denying that. But look at it logically. If something had happened to him, I think the committee would have heard about it by now.'

'What's the doctor's name?'

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'Are you questioning Signore Pisani's word?' Calvieri demanded angrily.

'I just want to talk to the doctor myself,' Rocca said defensively.

'So you're calling him a liar.'

'Of course not, but how can I be expected to answer these rumours unless I have the facts at my disposal?'

'I've told you already, call a meeting with Signore Pisani. He'll understand your predicament.' Calvieri stood up. 'If that's all, I've got a busy day ahead of me.'

'Why are you looking for Ubrino?' Rocca asked suddenly. 'What did he take from the plant?'

'That doesn't concern you.'

'I have a right to know!' Rocca snapped, banging his fist angrily on the arm of the chair. He waved the guard away when the door opened. 'You're in my city, Tony. That makes it my concern.'

'Signore Pisani will call a committee meeting early next week to discuss the implications of the Neo-Chem affair. I'm not at liberty to say anything until then.'

'If you survive that long.' Rocca reached for his cigarettes on the table and lit one. 'There's a lot of ill-feeling among the younger Brigattsti who resent the way you're hunting down Ubrino like some wild animal. A contract's been put out on you. I can't guarantee your safety here in Rome any more.'

'So that's what this is all about. You can't control your minions and you're scared that if anything were to happen to me before contact's made with Zocchi, it could jeopardize your chances of ever reaching brigade chief.'

'It's got nothing to do with that!' Rocca snapped indignantly. 'I'm warning you. Get out of Rome, you're not welcome here any more.'

'I'll get out when I know Ubrino's not here. Not before.'

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Calvieri paused at the door and looked back at Rocca. Jj

'I'm right, though. If something were to happen to me it I

would reflect very badly on you. You'd never make brig 1

ade chief. You'd be lucky to remain a cell commander.' j

Rocca waited until Calvieri and Sabrina had left, then i

stubbed out his cigarette angrily and reached for the |

telephone. ^

The armed guard approached the fifteen-foot wrought iron gate and shone his torch through the bars at the Alfa Romeo Alfetta outside. Rocca made no attempt to shield his eyes from the glare of the torch, and activating the driver's window, he shouted to the guard that he had an appointment to see Nicola Pisani. The guard contacted the house on his two-way radio to confirm the appointment then used a remote control to open the gates. Rocca drove through and the guard immediately closed the gates behind him.

J Whitlock and Young had seen the Alfa Romeo Alfetta \

enter the grounds from their Seat Ibiza parked at the end >'

of the street. |

'What now?' Whitlock asked. \

'It doesn't change anything,' Young replied, stubbing ;

out his cigarette among the half-dozen butts already in

the ashtray. 'I'm still going in.' I

Whitlock stared ahead of him. Whose house was it? I

Young had refused to tell him anything, saying the less he \

knew, the better it would be for him. He could only <

assume the house belonged to a senior Brigatista. Possibly >

even Pisani. But he couldn't be sure. It left him feeling |

helpless and frustrated. And he still hadn't managed to J

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contact Kolchinsky. That worried him. What if Young was about to blunder in on Ubrino's hideout? Not that he could do anything about it, not without compromising his own cover.

'Let's go,' Young said, getting out of the car.

Whitlock climbed out from behind the wheel and pocketed the keys. He looked at Young who was dressed completely in black, a sinister figure. Young pulled a black balaclava over his head then took a silenced Heckler & Koch M?5 submachine-gun from the back of the car and slung it over his shoulder. Whitlock followed him to the eight-foot-high perimeter wall and after glancing the length of the deserted street he cupped his hands together to give him a foothold to reach the top of the wall. Young hauled himself up on to the wall, careful to avoid the tripwire alarm, and looked down into the garden, choosing the spot where he wanted to land. He dropped the submachine-gun over, then jumped nimbly into the garden, rolling with the fall as he hit the ground. He retrieved the gun and sprinted to the nearest tree where he paused to catch his breath. Then, taking a night-vision scope from the pouch on his belt, he surveyed the house and its surroundings. Where were the guards? A moment later he spotted one close to the house, an Alsatian at his side. Young moved forward cautiously, darting from tree to tree, until he was within twenty yards of the house. The dog suddenly stopped and looked towards him. Had it sensed him? He screwed up his face as the sweat burnt into his eyes but he made no attempt to wipe it away. Any sudden movement would certainly alert the dog. The guard looked from the dog to the trees but was unable to see anything in the darkness. He spoke softly to the Alsatian then reached down and unleashed it.

Young unslung the submachine-gun as the dog bore

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down on him. He swallowed nervously and curled his finger around the trigger. It wasn't so much killing the dog as stopping it. Even if he did kill it, its momentum could carry it forward on to him. He could be knocked out. Stunned, certainly, and that would give the guard time to open fire. He aimed low, taking out the dog's front legs. It yelped in agony as it fell, face first, to the ground. The guard was still raising his Kalashnikov when Young shot him twice in the chest, knocking him back into the flowerbed bordering the porch. The dog was trying pitifully to stand up, its bloodied legs buckled grotesquely underneath its chest. He shot it through the head. Its body jerked, then it fell heavily on to its side. He remained on one knee, waiting for any sign of the other guards. When none appeared he got to his feet and dragged the dog behind the nearest tree. He crossed to where the guard lay j and picked up the Kalashnikov, ejected the clip, and tossed I them both into a bush. He rolled the guard underneath { the steps, then tiptoed up on to the porch. He crouched f beside the window and peered discreetly through the net curtains. The television set was on but the room was ^-- j empty. '