Addie angled the car around the curve in such a manner as to hug it tightly despite the speed she was pushing out of the car. The centrifugal force threatened to push her toward the passenger side of the vehicle and towards SilvioViolante who rode beside her.

“Wahoo!” She looked over at Silvio, her face aglow with delight. “I love this car,” she said with a raised voice to carry over the wind that whipped her hair around wildly. They were heading to her cousin’s house for a bbq. He was trying to keep things looking normal despite the threat that someone was coming for the family. What better way to make things seem normal than a good old fashion bbq?

“Have you ever been to an American barbecue?”

Silvio was praying softly in Italian to every god he knew and a few that he made up. He felt like throwing up. Perhaps if he threw up in the car, she would slow down. But that also seemed like an expensive mistake.

"I know you love this car, but I love being alive! Please slow down!"

Begrudgingly, she seemed to accommodate his request. When he could take a couple quick breaths, his grin returned.

"There are no cars in Venice, you know. I am quite a good driver myself, no lessons, but that fast, no thank you. What is BBQ?"

Silvio relaxed a bit as the car continued to slow.

"Ah, well food sounds eccellente, as long as we wait a little while before driving again, yes? I would not want to stain your car," he laughed, "and I am glad that you have a good taste in wine. These Americans need more good, robust red wine in their lives."

As the car pulled to a stop, Silvio stepped out on slightly unsteady legs. Mio dio, this woman was a witch behind the wheel. She could make the car dance, but, in his limited experience with cars, Silvio preferred a nice, leisurely drive.

"Ah... the beef, I think. What about yourself, Miss Moretti? And who else do we expect here? Anyone else I know?"

"I actually prefer lamb, myself and it is just suppose to be Billy, William, the kids and the two... of...."

As Addie pulled into the driveway it was then that she saw the aftermath of what clearing had been an assault upon the house and grounds. 

"What the hell?!" 

Fearing the worse, Addie pressed the accelerator to the floor board and the car's tires squealed as they try to comply.  Shooting up the drive she slid to a stop just in front of the house.  She barely managed to put the car into park before she started to climb out. 

"There is a gun in the glove box.  Grab it," she stated as she pulled her our gun out from her leg holster and started to rush for the front door.   There were men laying on the front lawn and bullet holes in the window.  Not seeing any sign of Billy she called his name out.  When he did not response she called out for William and the kids, as well. 

Silvio removed his small, shiny gun from his shoulder holster, but he took the other pistol from the glove box. In a brief flash, he appreciated the irony of a man carrying two pistols who had not yet fired one. 

As he emerged from the car, Silvio grimaced. He followed Addie inside as they checked the rooms of the house- no one was inside, and it looked like they had packed quickly and left, so someone must have survived. 

Addie was focused, and Silvio simply followed her as she burst from the house into the backyard, where the guest house had burned down and several bodies remained sprawled out on the lawn. It looked like several guards had been shot.

Silvio grimaced; it was far from the happy scene he'd expected to find.

The scene out in the back nearly did Addie in.  It was only through a strength of her will that she was able to shelve the 'what ifs' that threatened to consume her like a tidal wave force, and instead focus in on the job that needed to be done before her.  She wasn't just Billy's cousin, she was the Right Hand Man to the Don and her Don had been attacked.  The fact that this battle was over and she had not gotten word meant that Billy was either dead or in hiding.  In either case that meant she was at least temporarily leading his crew.  She did not have the luxury of falling to pieces with grief or worry. 

"Check the Don's men first and verify that none are alive.  Then we will search the attackers to see if we find anything to indicate who they are.  After that we will search what remains of the guest house."  Her voice was somber.  The life that seemed to always shine upon her face was gone. 

"Based on what we found in the house I am guessing that Billy has taken the kids to ground.  Charlie is probably with him, however, if you should find him here..." her voice cracked and she tried to quickly cover it by turning her back to Silvio and heading to the body nearest her.  "If you find him please let me know."

Silvio poked each of the dead guards with his gun, speaking to them in both English and Italian. He confirmed their death by holding his shiny gun close to their mouths: breathing would have clouded the metal, but it was still spotless after he'd visited each of the guards.

"These men are all dead. I do know Charlie, and I don't see him here."

He noticed the direction they all seemed to be facing and noticed another body on a small hill near the property.

"Is that the attacker over there?"

Silvio wandered over to find the body of a middle aged man with close cropped hair. He was dressed in black and a sniper rifle lay by his body. It was hard to tell much from his features, since he appeared to have been shot two or three times in the head, with at least some of the happening at close range.

"Addie, this seems like the man who did this, no? A sniper rifle to take out the guards, but then someone wound up catching him with a bullet or three."

Addie stood above the man and looked at him.  "One man did all this?"  She spoke in a hushed tone in near disbelief.  Her eyes took in the scene below the small knoll in which they now stood.  "The fires were started to draw everyone out of the houses so that he could pick them off one by one.  He had to have know that this would be a suicide run with this many guards.  It takes time to reload and sheer numbers would overwhelm him before he could kill them all.  It would have been a fool's hope that he would hit any of his targets." 

She shook her head in disbelief.  Was this man?  Volkov?  The one that had been coming after Tara and now the rest of her family?  Billy had not told her much about him.  Just that he had it out for the family and was relentless.

She looked down at the sniper again.  No this was not him she did not believe.  A man like Volkov would not hang his hat on a fool's hope of hitting his targets.  This was most likely a trust man of his or someone hired to do a job.  Once again the latter did not make any sense.  A hired man could not spend his reward, if he was dead.  No this had to be a trusted man.  Still what kind of a man was this Volkov to deserved such loyalty?  

"There is a camera in the house, in Billy's office.  Go back inside and call headquarters.  Give them an update of the situation and have them send out some guys and contact our corrupted agents.  We need to start cleaning things up and making sure that this does not draw Fed eyes.  After that grab the photo and come back out here with it."  She nodded to the sniper.  "I will show the photo to a few friends I have at the airport and the bus station.  Maybe someone will recognize him and can tell us if he came into the city alone or not."

She knelled down next to the man and began to search him.  "I will investigate out here and see if I can find anything."

Silvio listened as Addie discussed strategy.

"Non lo so It seems like he took down... seven of them? If he did it at night, hit them when they were tired or stumbling outside, and did so from cover here? It is possible that he could have succeeded."

Silvio shrugged. He wandered inside to do as Addie asked. He was no expert in these matters, so he had no problem deferring to Addie.

_______

Addie knelt down and checked the man's pockets. He had no wallet and no I.D., as expected, instead, he had two business cards: one for a hotel downtown, and one for a taxi cab company with an address scribbled on the back of it. Silvio returned, having done what Addie asked. He was also holding a camera that he found inside, which he quickly used to take a picture of the assassin- framing the shot so one could see the side of his face that was still there clearly, with the wounds not evident. He also had the roll of film from Billy's ingenious camera set up; Silvio assumed it took regular snapshots of the property. It may not have caught the assassin if he'd stayed far away, but perhaps it gave some hint as to what happened.

"Come, shall we go develop this film?"

Addie nodded and handed the cards over to Silvo as they made their way back to the car.  "We also need to check out that hotel and the address."  Pulling the keys out of her pant pocket she noticed her hand shaking.  Using her other hand to hold it, she tried to steady herself.  It did not seem to help.

"Uh... Silvio would you mind driving?  Please?  I don't think it would be wise for me to do so right now."  Asking for help had never been Addie's strong suit.  She was always the fiercely independent woman, but she was wise enough to know when she needed help.  If there was anyone besides Billy she would have been willing to ask to help her it would have been Silvio.  

Silvio nodded and she handed him the keys.  As she made her way to the passenger side of the car she reached into her pocket and pulled out something small that she popped into her mouth and swallowed.  Opening the car door she slide inside and waited on Silvio. 

"They are all alright.  Billy will get word to me and let me know that they are all safe.  I just know he will."   It was obvious that Addie was trying to convince herself of the truth of those words.

Silvio had only recently driven a car for the first time; after all, there were no real roads in Venice. Not for cars, at least. Poor Addie seemed rattled- and she had always given off an unflappable, confident air. Silvio rested his hand gently on her forearm and flashed a reassuring smile. 

"They are alright, of course. Look at the facts: seven dead guards, yes, but also one dead assassin. I suppose it is possible that they weren't working alone, but Charlie and Oscar would never have been captured alive. No, I think the only likely scenario is that they are hiding out somewhere, no?"

As they drove, he continued to try to reassure her, although he wasn't sure how much it was working- or what kind of pill she'd taken. After lurching to a stop at a photograph shop, Silvio snuck inside and developed the pictures, which he handed to Addie on the way out; she was staring down at a couple business cards.

"More leads?" asked Silvio. "What would you like to try first? Go try your contacts at the transportation hubs? Or check one of those?"

"With these photos, I think our best bet is to try out this taxi company first.  There is a better than fair chance someone there might have drove him somewhere and will remember him."  

Back out to the car she slid into the driver's seat again.  When Silvio looked at her questioningly she said with a smile, "Your little encouragements appeared to have done the trick. I am back to my old self again."  She extended her hand to him with her palm up, "Besides the way you grind my gears I will have to have a new transmission put in the next time I let you drive."

Silvio acquiesced and gave the keys back to her.  She wasn't for certain, but it almost sounded like he groaned when he let go of the keys.  How odd.  Addie hoped he was not getting ill.  She needed him.

Starting the car she revved it to life and threw the car into gear.  As she pulled back onto the road several other cars honked their protest as she pulled out in front of them.  As she drove them towards the taxi company she asked about the photos. 

"I saw you had two rolls of film.  Anything on the other one?"

Silvio grinned, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

"It is never my intention to grind your gears, Miss Moretti."

He swallowed his next comment about lubrication before it could escape from his mouth; after all, he was a married man now. Silvio sent a quick, silent prayer upwards as Addie's lead foot hit the gas once again. Mio dio. 

"As for the second roll of film, some good news that I must share with you immediately: Billy is alive, so is Oscar and Charlie. The regular snapshots of the backyard reveal them. Apparently, the man shot several guards from a distance. Billy appeared to charge the sniper and was injured in some walk, but he was walking under his own power. But both Charlie and Oscar helped him back into the house. Nothing else was evident from the film."

Silvio reached into his pocket.

"I also have the photos of the man's face we can use to try to locate him."

As she drove, Addie felt a reassuring pat on the knee from Silvio that didn't linger.

"You are strong, Miss Moretti. In my experience, people consistently underestimate what they can deal with. And when you say 'felt that way', does this mean you have romantic feelings for Charlie? You don't have to talk about it, of course, but if you do... well, we have a little bit of a ride here before we reach the taxi hub."

“Things have always been different with Charlie. He is not like the others. No offense of course. Charlie, well he never responded to me like the others. I mean he responded. There were looks and things, but it was never a game with him. I am sorry. I did not mean to say anything that might hurt you.”

"No offense taken, of course. And no hurt, I assure you. It is not an insult to speak your heart. And you have heard I am a married man now, yes? The heart wants what it wants; how could I be offended that your heart seeks Charlie?"

Silvio grinned, reassuringly.

"And he is okay, as I said. This is good news."

Still driving quickly, though not quite as frantically as before, Addie pulled into the taxi hub. 

"If you want to go speak to the dispatcher or owner inside, they may have records of the man. Perhaps have the check the address of both the hotel and the other one written on the back? I will go show his picture to that group of drivers over there- perhaps one of them will remember him?"

 

Addie nodded and grabbed one of the photos of the attacker, "That is a good idea."  

Despite Silvio's protest, he had a good head on him.  He devised who needed speaking with and had deducted who was likely to have the best outcome with those people.  The drivers were working men.  They would be more comfortable talking with Silvio than with Addie.  Management, however, would be more favorable to a woman... especially a woman with money.  That reminded her, she would have to raid Billy's emergency funds once she got back to headquarters.  

Walking inside she looked around.  It did not take long for her to find an office and the dispatch stand.  Making her way over to one of the men that seemed the most approachable she smiled and asked, "Would you be willing to help a woman in need out?"  She causally held a $20 bill between two fingers.  "I am needing some information."

The guy snagged the twenty and it disappeared before any of the other men could notice. The man, who seemed somewhere in his late 20s, Italian, and with a mustache, raised an eyebrow at Addie.

"Okay, toots. I'm listening. What can I do forya?"