Tara looked at the floor, her gaze distant and thoughtful.  She didn’t immediately speak. Renato let the other man’s words fade, but he nodded respectfully at Rex.

“Grazie per l'informazione. Mio padre ti avrà subito i soldi. Lo chiamerò non appena partiremo da qui per essere certo che, indipendentemente da come finiranno le cose, sarai ricompensato.”  Brigitte had spoken first, with a bright smile, putting a hand on her younger sister’s shoulder.

“Bene. Resterai e guarderai i combattimenti? "

"Dovremmo davvero b-" Brigitte fu interrotta quando Tara finalmente trovò la sua voce, più fredda di prima.

"Tre combattimenti non sembrano irragionevoli. Come ho già detto, non sono mai stato in un posto come questo prima d'ora."

Brigitte nodded and gave Rex a sheepish smile, returning back to her place in the group, sharing a look with Jo.  

“Vieni,” said Rex,  “ti siederai accanto a me come miei ospiti. Forse sei interessato a una scommessa?”

The first pair of fighters entered the arena, both selecting a spear from the cart of weapons, while was rolled away. 

“Chi sembra più mortale? Il biondo? O l'uomo dai capelli castani?” Rex asked Tara.

Tara looked at both fighters before replying, “Mi piace l'aspetto della bruna. Scommetterei sempre su un uomo con tali cicatrici. Penso che non colpirà duramente, penso, ma durerà più a lungo. Il dolore è un suo vecchio amico, credo. Probabilmente un buon segno ".

Rex laughed. “Non so cosa ho fatto per portare queste donne calde nella mia arena, ma mi piace.” Then the fight began. As they watched the combat, Laurent looked on grimly, while Renato had his eyes mostly on the crowd and the entrances. Jo was enraptured by the combat. Both men fought well, stabbing and lunging at each other with their spears. After circling each other for a couple minutes, exchanging spear thrusts, the brown-haired scarred man swept his weapon low and took the other man’s feet out from under him. He brought the butt-end of the spear down like a club, smashing the man’s face and seeming ending the fight. The victorious fight looked to the crowd to see whether or not they wanted murder or mercy.

Tara watched the crowd then, to see how they were leaning.  She figured she’d know if their want was for blood regardless of whether she could make out their words or understand their actions.  She could recall once reading that the thumbs up sign wasn’t necessarily a good thing, was that it? She couldn’t remember for sure. But in any case, as they say, when in Rome...

The crowd seemed mostly pleased with the fight, so the victorious fighter slammed the spearpoint down into the sand next to the loser’s head. 

Tara applauded the fighters and smiled at Rex.  “La fortuna del principiante. Forse dovrei rischiare di più questa volta?”

“Più rischi, più ricompensa. Tuttavia, troppi rischi sono una cosa negativa. Ad esempio, vorrei invitarti a sedermi sulle mie ginocchia. Ma considerando quello che è successo a Stracchi, probabilmente non vale la pena rischiare.” The large man grinned at Tara as the second pair of fighters emerged. One of the men was nearly as large as Rex, with muscles rippling in the torchlight. The other one was smaller, but seemingly quicker. “E cosa c'è di più micidiale, signorina Mastrosimone? Energia? O velocità?”

Tara looked at the man as if she was considering his offer of his lap and then looked back out into the ring without comment on that topic.  Instead she reviewed the fighters, “Potere. Lo finirà brutalmente. Veloce. O forse lascerà che il veloce si sfinisca sfrecciando dentro e fuori e mantenendo la sua posizione. Ma per questo, scommetterò sul potere."

Her speech ending was like a bell to the fighters as they approached each other. The larger man carried a club, while the smaller one flipped and caught a shining shortsword. The brute swung twice, and the smaller man dodged easily with a confident smile. As the shortsword moved forward to attack, the brute swung and everyone in both the arena and the crowd realized that the brute wasn’t as dumb as he looked; he’d baited the smaller man, swinging slower than he was able to, before unleash as swift and powerful a blow he could deliver. The smaller man was lifted off his feet by the weapon and was smashed into the wall. The crowd booed- the shortsword fighter had not treated them to any spectacle- and the larger fighter crushed the man’s head with his club.

Brigitte and Jo, looked away, as if the might be sick.  Renato looked at Tara and the other women with concern, while Laurent simply watched. “"Intelligente oltre che forte. Come me,” said Rex with a grin, glancing now at Brigitte and Tara.

Tara winced with the impact, but she did not let herself look away.  That was the trick, her mother had written, the real ugly truth of it was that you had to see it again and again before it stopped being so hard to stomach.  Once you can accept what men were made of, see it for what it was, then you could cut it out of them or shoot it or bash it… the soul was gone before the body stopped.  That’s what she said at least, and Tara chose to believe it as the smaller man’s muscles convulsed their last.

The final pair of fighters emerged: a well built woman and a man who seemed about her height and weight. The both selected longer swords. Rubbing one of his thighs, Rex said, “Questa è Claudia. Questa donna ha perso con l'altra donna un paio di settimane fa. Claudia voleva combattere stasera, ma non avevamo donna per lei. Quindi ora Claudia combatte un uomo invece. Di solito non lo facciamo, ma era una brava combattente. Chi vincerà la battaglia dei sessi, pensi?”

Tara looked at the man and at the woman.  She wanted to bet on the woman, but the truth was that it was far more likely the man would win.  As with so much in life, there was a way to things and men vs. women generally ended a certain way.  Tara couldn’t change nature. She couldn’t change the world and slowly she was starting to accept that difficult truth.  It did not improve her spirits though.

“Claudia ha qualcosa da dimostrare, ma l'uomo ha tutto da perdere. La vergogna di una perdita per una donna nella sua professione? Vorrebbe morire. Combatterà come un leone e vincerà, ma non la ucciderà.”

Claudia fought well; whereas the other fights lasted for two or three minutes each, this one dragged on for ten. Both combatants were bleeding, but the man’s strength eventually wore down Claudia. When he knocked her sword out of her hand, the crowd immediately leapt to their feet to applaud Claudia’s effort, obviously wanting to spare her, which the victor obliged.

“Hai un'idea delle persone,” said Rex. “Vedi molte cose.”

“Sei gentile a dirlo. I miei nonni avevano una storia in combattimenti come questi ... forse è nel mio sangue."  She knew, of course, she had none of Gavin’s blood and there was a chance her mother shared no blood with Isabella either, but family was more than science.  She believed their spirits guided them still.

The muscular man seemed pleased by the night’s events, and pleased by the two beautiful women at his side. “Forse un'altra scommessa. Intendi dire, penso, di andare a Bari. Conosco un modo per farti arrivare lì in segreto. Scegli uno sfidante in questa arena che pensi possa sconfiggermi in combattimento. Se vinci, ti porterò a Bari in segreto. Se perdi, porterò te e tua sorella a letto e ti riporterò a Bari in segreto.”

“Non giocherò con l'onore di mia sorella. Sono molte cose ma non sono un magnaccia." Lei sospirò. "Tuttavia, posso vederti pensare che questa strada segreta per Bari sia preziosa - per chiederti fino a due donne per questo. E ho molto bisogno del vantaggio della sorpresa, quindi ... facciamo affari." Tara readjusted herself in her chair.  "Non sono mai stato così tanto baciato. Ma se perdo la scommessa, mi porterai nel tuo letto, ma solo io. Abbiamo un accordo?”

“Concordato. Chi è il tuo sfidante?”

Both Crupi and Laurent seemed to have heard the word “challenger” and tried to make eye contact with Tara. Renato… well, he did too, but then he looked away with a grin. There were other fighters spread throughout the arena- men who had not planned on fighting tonight, but who attended to see the results nevertheless.

Tara glanced to the two men who had come here for just this purpose, to fight and die for her if she had needed it.  She could see in their eyes a willingness, eagerness to defend not just her honor but her body from any harm that would come it’s way.  They surely knew what Billy would have to say about all this and defending her from Rex was just as important to them as defending her from Francesco.  The problem was, she needed them still. She needed them strong and able to fight if she was going to save Ori or all of this would be for nothing.

Brigitte reached out and rested a hand on Tara’s forearm, shaking her head once, so emphatically that her golden locks bounced.

She smiled at her sister.  “I’m okay.” She said firmly.  “But I can’t let any of them waste their strength down there in that ring.  Not with what we have ahead of us in Bari.”

Brigitte exhaled. “Hope you pick someone good,” she said under her breath. Anger flashed in her eyes.

Tara looked out into the crowd and considered the fighters she could see, men who hadn’t expected to fight today.  It was possible she could pay someone to fight for her. Of course, she could try to fight herself but being injured on top of having to do something unthinkable with this brute was not going to help her in Bari either. 

Brigitte sighed and stood up, making her way into the center of the fighting circle.

Tara startled.  “What? BRIGITTE!”  If her sister failed here, if she had to fuck this monster of a man, Brigitte would live to regret it and hate herself.  Tara was horrified. “DON’T BE AN IDIOT GET BACK HERE! YOU DON’T KNOW THE FIRST THING ABOUT FIGHTING A GUY LIKE THIS!?!”

Rex grinned.

Tara moved to go after her sister but found Crupi putting his hand on her shoulder firmly. 

Brigttie shook her head. “You took away my only fun. If I don’t get to fuck him, at least I’m going to be sure he’s going to touch me once tonight.” She flashed a grin in his direction, inviting him to come down to her.

“DAD IS GONNA KILL ME!  BRIGITTE THIS IS MY MISSION!”  Tara trembled with fear at the thought of what Billy would do if ‘petit ange’ got splattered all around a gladiatorial ring.

Brigitte held up one finger. “Our mission. Family.” She then looked at Rex. “You coming, or are you the type to make a girl wait?”

“Mostrami cosa puoi fare. Lo farò bene - per la mia arma, scelgo le mie mani.”

Tara covered her mouth and fell back into her chair staring in horror.

Brigitte nodded. “I know the honorable thing to do would be to choose hands too, but I learned a long time ago honor gets you killed. I choose knives.”

Tara sat forward suddenly, lifting her pant leg, and tore grandpa Gavin’s knife from her calf.  “BRIGITTE!” She tossed the knife into the ring.

Rex jumped down from his elevated chair and landed in the arena; the force from the impact sent a small shower of sand upward. Standing in the ring, he removed his shirt and tossed it to one of the guards. Then he removed his shoes and socks.

“I’m not going to take my clothes off either, you’ll have to do that yourself.” She flashed a smile as she picked up her grandpa’s knife, and said a silent prayer to him, and then to her papa.

“Oh God…”  Tara shook her head.  “What have I done!?!”

“Bene. Inizio.” He relaxed into a combat stance, waiting for Brigitte to make the first move. His chest was scarred; he was a man who had survived many battles.

“Oh good, at least he’s a gentleman Tara, he likes to make the girl come first.” She then readied herself, like her mother taught her before they went to the woods. The last time she stabbed a bigger man who was trying to take her away, she only had a nail. This time, she had her grandfather.

Crupi’s hand remained on Tara, more now to comfort her than hold her in place she thought… though perhaps it was a bit of both.  Maybe the older man expected she might vault the wall and join her sister in the arena if things went badly. Of course, he might not be wrong about that.  Laurent, Jo, and Ren watched the ring intently. Tara wished she’d selected some random person faster. Silently she prayed to God to protect her sister from harm and save her from the deal she’d made.

Rex approached Brigitte confidently, and easily dodged the swing of her knife. Knocking it out of her hands, laughing, he grabbed her hips and tossed her in the air, where she landed roughly in the sand and scrambled for her knife.

Brigitte couldn’t help but feel a flutter as the man in front of her tossed her into the air like a child. The same way her father would toss her mother. The difference of course, he didn’t catch her coming back down, and when she landed she could taste blood. She knew it was not going to go well, she knew he was bigger and she wasn’t her mom. But there was no way he was going to hurt her baby sister. Just like that time in newfoundland when she saw the bear coming. She stood between baby Tara and the bear and yelled until her papa came. This time papa wasn’t coming though. So this time, she reached for the knife again, but this time stayed low. He was big, maybe if she stayed low enough out of his reach he wouldn’t be able to grab her as easily.

He saw her coming, but the ease of his previous victory led him to underestimate her. He dodged two slashes easily, starting to laugh once again, but Brigitte leapt forward faster than expected with her third attack and slashed the knife across Rex’s groin. It wasn’t a deep cut, but she had drawn blood. The crowd, which had been raucous and laughing, fell silent as Rex stepped forward to backhand her- now taking her very seriously indeed.

Tara sat forward and gasped, crying out stifling it only with her hands.  Eyes wide in horror. The man was hurt, humilated, and worst of all very fucking angry.  Tara trembled feeling Crupi’s hand tighten on her.

Brigitte swiped at Rex’s arm, but the larger man easily ducked back. Then he put all his weight into a blow to the side of her head, sending her sprawling in the sand once again with a yelp. He walked over to her intently, intending to finish her off.

“STOP!” Tara called out shooting up from her chair pushing off Crupi’s hand violently. The cheering crowd and angry Rex ignored her. He walked over to her and stood over her like a conqueror for a moment, looking down dismissively before lifting his foot to stomp her down into the sand.

Brigite heard her sister cry out. She could feel a pounding headache and the light around was blinding. The only thing she could make out at this point were flashes and blurs of light, and she could feel everything. Every grain of sand was grating against every bit of exposed flesh she had. There was nothing in the world in this moment except pain and tears, and blood. And fear. She thought she was going to die. She thought there was nothing left after that kind of blow. Then the shadow passed over her and she could make out something above her, something big…

“Papa?” She asked innocently for half a heartbeat as she looked toward the figure. She reached up to touch her throbbing head as everything came rushing back to her, and into her hair. As she pulled the nail out and thrust it toward the thing in towering above her her hair fell and melted into the sand, the colors mixing as if this is where she had always belonged. Laying on a beach somewhere in the sun. She felt the nail bite into flesh then, and she let it go as her hand fell back to the ground. Wherever she got him, it would have hurt.

Rex lurched back, staggering as he pulled a hunk of metal from his knee. He couldn’t put weight on it; whatever the bitch had done, it had limited his movement. Roaring in rage more than pain, he shuffled toward her, pulling back to deliver a devastating roundhouse punch to the now standing woman. Rex didn’t usually hit women this hard. But for this one, he’d make an exception.

Tara cheered when she saw her sister stab the bastard with the nail.  The thing had, perhaps, redeemed itself but the fight wasn’t yet over.  As Brigitte pulled herself up against all the odds, and Rex moved towards her Tara felt like she might vomit.  She’d never before felt so many powerful emotions and she feared that if Rex got that close again, he would not be stopped.  Her hand went inside her coat to the gun there. She could not, would not, watch as the man killed her sister.

Brigitte was still dazed as she stood watching, the lights still flashed in her eyes, so she did the only sensible thing she could think to do. She backed away. She felt the air move in the place she had just been, as if she really were standing on a beach and a nice breeze had blown by. A nice, deadly breeze. She almost shook her head, but instead just squinted her eyes and focused. He was still much bigger, and much stronger. And she had nothing left, no weapons, the knife was scattered somewhere, and she couldn’t use her nails. They were for show, not for anything useful. So she ran forward and kicked the man in the knee he was leaning on, forcing him to put weight on his wounded one.

Rex roared, this time in pain, and fell over clutching his knee. As the echo of his cry reverberated around the arena, all other noise ceased. Normally, at this point, the crowd signified whether they want the defeated combatant spared or killed. This case, though, was anything but normal. Their leader had just been defeated by a girl- a girl who looked like she’d done it without much training or ability at all. So they simply stared.

Jo didn’t wait for Tara to say anything; she jumped down to the ring to attend to Brigitte.

“I think,” said Renato. “That we should leave. You could try to kill him, I suppose, but I don’t think that would make things easier for us.”

Tara nodded leaping after Jo racing to her sister’s side, “It’s alright, Ange, we’re getting you out of here.”  Her words were for Brigitte alone but she looked to Rex and spoke loud enough for the crowd to hear, “This fight is done!”

Jo looked up at Tara. “We should get her back to base.” A couple men had gathered around Rex.

“Laurent!  Crupi!” She called out to the men to help her sister.  “Fastest way out of this place, Ren.” Tara put her hand inside her coat again, prepared to do whatever she had to in order to get her sister the fuck out of that hellhole.

“The way we came in.”

Once the guys had Brigitte Tara lead the way towards the door.

“Non fare un altro passo!” shouted Rex. He was helped to his feet and leaned on one of the other men for support. He addressed the crowd. “Che lotta! Non ti diverti? Diavolo biondo. Un affare è un affare. Mi devi ancora dei soldi. Ti devo ancora un modo a Bari.”

Tara stared at the man, baffled.  She looked at Brigitte and then back to Rex and nodded, “Un affare è un affare.”  She looked over her shoulder to Jo, “Take care of her. I’ll call my dad for the funds and get our way to Bari and rejoin you.  Crupi stay with me. The rest of you keep her safe.”  

Tara walked towards Rex, “Avrò bisogno di un telefono per chiamare mio padre in modo che i soldi possano essere collegati a te.”

“Bene.”

Tara and Rex spoke for a few moments, making the arrangements. Rex had a connection with a train company, and he could get them onto a train and into the city without being spotted. She and her team would retire back to their new ‘base’ a small hotel they’d found to leave the doctor at while they came here.  From there she’d call Billy, and tomorrow they would reconnect and travel to Bari.

Chapter 7: The Widow

Tara watched as Laurent laid Brigitte down on a bed and stood silent as the doctor came to her side and began looking over the wounds which Jo had begun treating at the fight club.  Once she could tell the doctor didn’t think Brigitte was dying she walked away from the group to find the phone. There was no time like the present to get the worst of the way. No.  Nothing could be worse than what nearly happened back there and if Tara had any previous doubts about how serious this whole thing was - the delusions were gone now. Brigitte had most certainly, very nearly, been killed.  

She picked up the phone and then put it down again.  She took a moment to compose herself, finally allowing herself to feel what she tried to bury in that place.  The fear, the anger, the sadness, the guilt - Brigitte would have died for her and what had she done? The gun under her coat felt terribly heavy at that moment and so she slid off the coat and the holster, hanging it on the bedpost beside her.  This trip’s price had already been so damn high and they hadn’t even seen Oriana or Francesco yet.  

Tara reached for the phone again and slowly dialed the numbers, listened to the emptiness of the line and the clicks of connections being made.  Again she tried to bury her emotions, though she was sure she was doing a shitty job of it. She, clearly, was no actress.

“Effie, it’s Tara.  Please put my father on.”

Billy slowly wheeled himself from the kitchen to the den. Thankfully the over was the only thing that was on, and he had not put anything in yet, so it could just heat up for now. “Tara? Tell me something good hun. What’s going on? You haven’t had much to talk about in a while. I’m baking cookies for you you know.”

Tara rubbed the bridge of her nose, “That sounds really good, I wish I was home right now …”  She hesitated and swallowed the lump that was rising in her throat. Lord but it was true. She did wish she was home right now, so badly.  New York, Canada, anywhere but this horrible place!  

“... to enjoy them with you.  Um, the good news is that we think we know where they are.  Found a guy who can get us there without being seen. Sent the plane to another city so they don’t know where we are.  I just need some funds to close the deal. Two million. I have an account it can transferred to.”

Billy stopped and took the over mitt off, placing it on his desk. “I don’t want to pry too much hun, but two million dollars, that’s how much I sent the both of you with. That should have been more than enough to track down one guy and then some. What do you need another two million for? Your sister didn’t decide to buy a villa or something did she?”

Tara chuffed.  “I almost did, but then the bullets started flying and I figured I didn’t really much care for Tuscany anyway.”  It was a bad joke, a dark one fitting her mood. “I know I’ve cost us too much already.”  

More than you know, Dad, but thankfully less than I might have.  

“I promise nothing has been spent that both Brigitte and I didn’t agree on first, and nothing frivolous or fun.  The later most certainly. Nothing about this has been fun. I promise.”

Billy shook his head. “Well that’s a shitty promise.” He chuckled and nodded then. “But I know what you mean, Italy was never very fun for this family. Although, maybe we can buy some land upstate and I can show you what our family did for generations before you and me huh? We can start olive farming right here in the states. Do you know New York has a bit of a wine country?”

Tears filled her eyes and she nodded.  She realized then he couldn’t see her response so she managed to eek out, “Yeah.  That sounds nice.” She exhaled and tried to control it so it didn’t sound like she was crying.

He could hear it in her voice then. She was quieter, meeker than normal. “Hey hey, no crying kiddo. Two million is nothing, promise. Long as you and your sister are ok, and Oriana is next on that list. All three of you come home safe and sound and I’ll gladly hand over two hundred million. You matter more than anything Taa. Wish I could give you a hug right now and show you.”

Tara sobbed quietly, “Me too, Dad.  More than you know.”  

This is so hard.  So much harder than I thought it would be.

She paused, rejecting what she wanted to say and instead going with what she knew she had to get done.  “Do you have a pen? I’ll give you the number.”

“Of course I have a pen. I also happen to have a great memory for numbers, so you know, there’s that.” He smiled and continued. “Now, do me a favor? Tell me about Oriana for a minute.”

Tara paused again, “Dad?”  Confusion in her voice becoming more clear than her sadness.  “What about Oriana?”

Billy shrugged as he got out his pen an paper. “I don’t know. Tell me about her face, or her eyes, or her hair. Tell me about the way she walks, or about how cute her butt looks in your favorite pair of jeans. Tell me about how ‘she’s too tall to fit in my jeans dad’ or about how well you’ve been learning to shoot a gun from her. Just tell me about Oriana.”

Tara grit her teeth.  She closed her eyes. She tried not to think about Ori.  She didn’t want to think about Ori, not now, not when she was so upset but her father’s questions called up all the things he mentioned and behind her eyelids she saw each thing and a thousand more.  He could hear her voice, over a line just like this, distant and sleepy.  

“When I shot at the sniper,”  She said softly. “I swear I could feel her correct my stance.  Its stupid but every time I pull my gun I feel her there, guiding my arm, squaring my shoulders...”

Tara’s voice trailed off, her mind wandered.  She was exhausted. Emotionally she was torn asunder, she’d never felt anything like this in her whole life.  Shooting someone was easy by comparison. Seeing her father broken and crying… easier. Seeing Gavin bleeding, wondering if he was going to die, that was as close to how she felt in this moment as anything had ever come.

“I’m sending Brigitte home.”  She said softly. She knew she couldn’t take her sister the rest of the way.  Between her injuries and the fear of losing her, it was too much. She could reconcile anyone else who was with her dying - though it would pain her - but Brigitte?  No. She just couldn’t and she knew she’d be afraid of it now for the rest of the trip if she didn’t.

“You shouldn’t do that. Not until you have Oriana back. Now. Tell me something else. Anything you want that has nothing to do with the mission. Tell about how the coffee is over there. Stronger right? I always thought it was stronger. The wine too. Good though.” He paused, knowing that she was about to hang up on him, and while that would have been fine, because she would have called back, it was not the point. He sighed before he continued. “Tara…” He let her name linger in the air, giving her time to compose herself before he continued.

Tara scrubbed her eyes and tried to banish the emotions again, but hearing her father’s voice made it nearly impossible.  She covered the receiver so he could not hear her breathing, hoping he’d make his point before she just said fuck it and hung up.  She could send Brigitte back whether he thought it was a good idea or not. Brigitte surely wasn’t going to argue, out of it as she was.  She knew if her father had seen what she saw today, he would be the last person to want Brigitte to press on. He just didn’t understand. And it didn’t sound as though he wanted to and so, she’d bear it.  She let silence be her response.

Billy sighed and reached to his left pulling out an old, tattered notebook. He flipped through the two pages that had anything written on them. Only two. “Day 3. I actually wrote day one, but it’s scratched out, you’ll understand why in a second. I was going to write down day 1 today, but I realized it's not really the first day, it's the third. The past couple of days all got strung together, so I couldn't write too much down. I'm sorry. I'll be better at this from now on. I don't know if you know this, but Integra is pregnant! Isn't that great? I think it is.” He took a pause and sipped at a glass of water for a second. 

“You do have a journal…”  Tara gaped. “But you said you didn’t.  Integra… that was your right hand in Detroit?  You friend who helped you survive the war?”

Billy nodded. “Yes she was. She was one of my best friends and my sister. And this journal of mine? It’s got two total entries. Not much you can learn from that is there?” He sipped at his water again. “If you think that, we’re both liars. There’s one thing, and one thing only I need you to understand. I wrote this journal when your mother thought I was dead. When I had to be in hiding in Europe. When every day all I wanted in my life was to run home to her and hold her in my arms. It took me less than a week to decide I wasn’t going to hide. But it took me three days to realize that if I only ever thought about getting your mom back in my life, and I didn’t try and be a little bit happy, knowing that she was out there, and knowing that I would find her and we would be together again…” 

But she might not be alive. Even if she is, she might be so brainwashed she can’t be fixed and won’t come back to me.  In any case I may get everyone, including Brigitte and myself, killed just trying!

“Well, the point is hun, that if you don’t think about anything except Oriana and what’s wrong, you’re not going to be in the right headspace to actually save her. I need you to know that. I need you to know that your dad is here for you, and that the hard part is smiling, not fighting. Fighting is easy. Being happy, or at least pretending to be happy, so you don’t jump at the first thing that is going to get you killed, that’s the hard part. You’ll get your Orin back. Know it, and know how happy you’re going to be when that happens.”

“You’re right.”  She said, rubbing her eyes dry again.  “I just need some sleep. If I sleep then everything will be better when I wake up.  It won’t feel so bad. Maybe Brigitte and I can talk.”

Billy nodded. “Good, get some sleep then, and call me after you’ve talked to your sister alright? I’ll stay up all night for you.”

“Dad don’t do that… she’s… she’s unconscious.  She won’t likely wake up for a while. She took a big blow to the head.  Rung her bell really good. I can hear the doc in the next room, I heard him say something about a concussion.  She’ll be okay but she probably needs more than a little rest. I’ll call tomorrow if you need me to, but after that I don’t think you’ll hear from me again until I have Ori.”

Billy sighed. “Well, it’s about time.” He laughed then. “Someone was bound to punch her one of these days. I love my daughter, but she thinks that talking can get her out of everything. Not only that, but she almost always gets her way. I know I spoiled her, but the world didn’t have to follow suit…”

“Dad!”  She snapped to cut him off.  “Dad she won the fight. She… she really fucked the other guy up bad.  He was as big as you and she did it to protect me, it wasn’t anything she did.  She… was brave and strong just like when she screamed at the bear when we were little.”

Billy nodded. “Of course she fucked him up. She’s a Mastrosimone isn’t she?” He took another sip of water. “You, your sister, your brother, the twins. You’re all brave, always have been. Don’t tell you mother that you get it from me though huh? She thinks you get it from her.”

Tara smiled through her sadness, “I know.  Thinks it’s a Byrne thing. I won’t tell. You should know… that nail… it saved her life again today.  Damnedest thing. So… yeah, it’s better luck in her hands it seems. I’ll give her a kiss for you.” Tara rattled off the routing number then, making sure her father had it down correctly.

“I love you, Dad.”  She said after. “However things play out here, I hope you know just how much you and mom and everyone means to me.”

For the first time in Billy’s life he took a deep breath before saying the words. “I love you Tara.” He said nothing else, with no inflection, with every bit of love and passion and hope he had in him he told his daughter what she meant to him, and that she had better find her fucking way home. He looked up to the ceiling of the house in Deyker Heights, Brooklyn then, and for the first time in a long while hoped he was like Bella Byrne in that moment. Then he hung up the phone.

Hanging up the phone Tara rolled back onto the bed and without undressing or getting under the covers, she pulled her knees to her chest and fell fast asleep.

***

Rex met them at the train station; it was very late- or perhaps more accurate to say very early. Either way, the world was asleep. Rex looked strange, out in civilization, like a lion who’d escaped from the zoo to take a stroll down the sidewalk. He greeted Tara by saying “Ho i soldi.”

He then led them to a private car; it was near the end of a long train, and it could comfortably fit a dozen people in comfortable chairs and couches. Limping over to Tara, Rex said, “Mio cugino aiuta a guidare questi treni. Guidi qui a Bari. Aspetta fino a tarda notte, poi sgattaiola fuori. Nessuno ti disturberà.” He then handed her two pieces of paper.

The first paper had a phone number on it. Rex shrugged. “Se tua sorella vuole un secondo appuntamento ... è bella e feroce. Per favore, dai questo a Brigitte.”

The second piece of paper had a name, an address, and a phone number. “Queste sono le informazioni per il partner Bianchi. Adesso è morto. Forse puoi trovare informazioni dalla famiglia dell'uomo? O nei suoi file?”

Sleep had done for Tara what she hoped.  Much of her dreams were forgotten in the haze of exhaustion and now she was ready to go once more.  Finding Rex waiting was a great relief and for a brief instant she thought maybe their luck was turning.  Instead she was disappointed to find that once again they were chasing a breadcrumb, a dead one. She accepted the pieces of paper and regard the one to Brigitte with only a slight smirk.  She doubted sincerely that her sister would want to call the man who nearly stomped her skull open, but she wouldn’t say that just now.  

“È qualcosa. Trasmetterò il tuo messaggio a mia sorella. Grazie per l'aiuto Rex. Ti auguro successo con il tuo club di combattimento."  Tara offered the man her hand to shake, trying to express that despite nearly killing her sister she wasn’t going to be sending anyone to slit his throat in his sleep.  At least not anytime in the near future. Rex took her hand, shaking it and nodding before walking away.