This story uses characters and locations based on the Gunslinger Girl manga written by Yu Aida and published in monthly shōnen magazine Dengeki Daioh. The characters of Kumari/Kara and Michele are original to myself.
"Escape Square"
A Gunslinger Girl Original Story by Kiskaloo
Franco experienced three emotions in a handful of seconds.
The first was fear as the Alfa Romeo 1750 GT Veloce slammed into the guardrail almost head-on. Designed to shove sliding cars back into the road, it was not engineered to take a direct hit and the steel stretched and then failed with a mighty screech.
The second emotion was exhilaration at the sense of weightlessness the car's ballistic arc imparted as it sailed out over the cliff's edge into space. The engine wailed as the tires turned faster, unbound by the friction of the road's surface. As the car started to fall, Franco went light in his seat.
The third was loss as the car banked to the left and the driver's door swung open. Without a sound, Franca slipped out of his arm and out the door, falling away towards the dark water below.
Before he could shout her name, the front of the Alfa slammed into the water and he was thrown forward, his skull ricocheting off the headliner. The windshield, already weakened from multiple bullet holes, collapsed and cold water rushed into the cabin, inundating him.
Franco turned in his seat and saw Cristiano's head bobbing facedown in the water. He turned and pushed his head back, slapping him awake. Cristiano coughed and sputtered, but took a deep breath.
"We have to get out!" Franco yelled. By now the water covered the entire hood as well as lapping over the top of the doors and he could feel the weight of the engine pulling the nose of the car down. He didn't know how deep the river was, but he didn't want to ride the car down to the bottom to find out.
Franco pulled Cristiano over the driver's seat, aided by the water level and the human body's natural buoyancy. He used his feet to force open the driver's door and half-floated and half-dragged Cristiano out after him. Moments later, the Alfa slipped below the surface with a fury of bubbles.
Franco made sure Cristiano was on his back and the two of them floated downriver, carried by the gentle current. He couldn't be sure the Agency would not have pursued them and he didn't want to be anywhere near where they'd crashed if they did.
As they floated, Franco searched the shore to either side for any sign of Franca, but in the darkness and shadows he could see almost nothing. Soon he saw lights along the shore and he started to slowly kick the two of them towards the shore. Eventually Franco found a gentle sand beach and once his feet found firm purchase he helped Cristiano to his feet and they walked out.
The cool water had lowered their body temperatures and they shivered as they emerged into the air. The cold water had also stopped the bleeding in Cristiano's wound, though he was still very weak and leaned against Franco as the former led them both to a bench.
"Wait here," Franco said.
"Where are you going?" Cristiano wheezed.
"To get us a car."
Ten minutes later, a white Lancia Y 1.2 hatchback pulled up and Franco stepped out. He helped Cristiano into the passenger seat and directed the vents blowing hot air on his body. Franco returned to the driver's seat and moved out.
"What…what do we…do we do now?" Cristiano asked, the warmth starting to dry his clothes and soak into his body.
"We need to find a place to hide," Franco said. "The Agency is going to search for the car and when they don't find us inside, they're not going to assume our bodies were carried off. The problem is, you've been sold out, and so I'm not sure if Milan is safe."
"Spl…Splügen," Cristiano wheezed.
"What?"
"Splügen. It's in Switzerland…just across the border on the…SS36," Cristiano said.
"What's in Splügen?" Franco asked.
"Safe house. In case…the government ever…came after me. There are money…weapons and a car. The Milan faction…doesn't know about it."
"Who does?"
"Only Alessio, and they killed him," Cristiano said, remembering the young girl from Florence who had put his aide's head through the bullet-resistant window of his Alfa 166.
"Okay. We'll head for Switzerland," Franco said, and headed for the highway.
Italian State Highway 36 was more a thoroughfare than an actual divided highway. It ran through both agricultural lands and the center of communes as it wound it's way north in the shadow of low mountains and through dark valleys and by quiet lakes.
There was a small border facility on the Italian-Swiss border, however while Switzerland was not part of the European Union, they were full signatories of the Schengen Agreement which allowed free and unrestricted passage of vehicles between two signatory nations. So the buildings were dark and while a camera normally identified and recorded the license plate of the car, it was out of order, which allowed the two to pass into Switzerland without notice or record.
They continued on up a series of switchbacks into the mountains, finally arriving at the municipality of Splügen. Nestled below a mountain pass that shared its name in the district of Hinterrhein in the Swiss canton of Graubünden, in winter it was a popular ski resort. While German was the predominant language, a minority did speak Italian so they could blend in.
They crossed over European Route 35 and entered the municipality proper. They followed a spur road to a complex of three chalets just off to the east. Franco stepped out and opened the garage and then drove the Lancia inside.
He helped Cristiano out of the passenger seat and into the chalet, placing him down on a leather couch. He then proceeded to close all the drapes and blinds before he turned on the lights.
Franco returned to the garage and removed a heavy-duty first-aid kit. He'd studied advanced first aid and removed Cristiano's jacket and then ripped open his shirt and pushed it back to expose the wound. Rico had intentionally aimed to miss any vital organs or major blood vessels so the damage looked worse than it actually was. Franco cleaned the wound area and applied a local anesthetic before moving in to remove the round. He then used butterfly stitches and gauze to temporarily protect the wound and helped Cristiano into the master bedroom and laid him out on the bed, covering him with a quilt.
Before he went to sleep Cristiano gave Franco the number to a private and trusted physician located in Chur. Franco called him in the morning and he agreed to come and see Cristiano that afternoon. In the interim, Franco thoroughly cleaned the interior of the Lancia and drove it to the municipality of Thusis where he ditched the car. He met the doctor at the train station and drove him back, the physician being blindfolded during the trip. The doctor properly sutured the wound and gave Cristiano antibiotics. He also left a supply of medicines and then had Franco drive him back to Thusis, Franco returning via bus.
Cristiano operated under the (correct) assumption that the Guardia di Finanza would seize all his known assets. Therefore, he drew from his "unknown" assets, which totaled about €3 million. Franco desired to return to Italy to look for Franca, however Cristiano forbid it, noting that even if she lived, she either had been captured or was herself in hiding. They rested while Cristiano used trusted sources to secure for him and Franco new identities and try to learn who sold him out. The Agency made that search irrelevant on September 9th when they attacked a meeting of the Milan faction heads in Castelverde, killing them all. Cristiano's sources delivered him the news the following Monday, along with information that all three of them had been killed trying to escape. At that point, he felt more comfortable in moving and two weeks later they settled into a rented and furnished apartment in Locarno in the canton of Ticino on the northern tip of Lake Maggiore. The population there predominately spoke Italian so again they could easily blend in under new identities created for them.
Eventually, Cristiano relented to allow Franco to travel to Italy to try and determine Franca's true fate.
As Franca had done the previous month, Franco watched the farmhouse in Frascati for a day prior to making contact. The fall harvest of wine grapes was coming to a conclusion, but plenty of temporary workers still worked the fields as others destemmed and crushed the grapes.
He'd come across the border in Milan the week prior to visit the villa he shared with Franca. Finding it empty, he decided to risk coming down to Frascati.
Dominico rode a tractor hauling a load of grapes towards the processing warehouse when a tall figure dressed in a t-shirt and jeans stepped out from behind a tree and onto the path before him.
The figure removed the dark sunglasses and it took Dominico a moment to recognize Franco behind his rough beard. Franco came forward, putting the tractor and cab between him and view of the house.
"Franco! I'd heard you were dead!" Dominico exclaimed.
"Have you heard from Caterina?" Franco asked without preamble.
"Caterina is dead," Dominico lied. "The government killed her up north over a month ago. They showed us pictures of her body. Where were you? Why didn't you protect her?" he accused.
Dominico's words slammed into Franco like a physical force, crushing his heart. Combined with the empty villa, they were patent confirmation that Franca had been killed and the government had discovered and seized their home.
Dominico's voice broke through the fog smothering his brain.
"You need to get out of here," Dominico insisted. "The government found out Caterina owned this property. They sent their goons to tear it apart looking for you both. They may still be in the area. It's not safe for you to be seen here."
Franco nodded, his features slack and his demeanor that of a beaten man.
"Take care of yourself, Dominico," he said and walked back into the fields, disappearing amongst the tall rows of grape vines.
As he watched him go, Dominico almost called out after him, but didn't. During the four months they'd stayed at the farm, Caterina had confided in him that Pinocchio was a Padania assassin and that she and Franco were notorious bombers. She explained that how after her father's death, she'd become consumed with the need to avenge him and had found Franco and compelled him to teach her to make bombs and become a terrorist. He'd said nothing, feeling it was not his place to tell her how to live her life, but he'd known her since she was a girl and it pained him to see her become twisted by revenge into a killer.
He knew Caterina loved Franco and he clearly loved her, but he believed that in lying to Franco, he was giving Franca the chance to start her life over again on a less violent and destructive path.
While Franco was in Italy, Cristiano started complaining of chest pains and running a high fever. The doctor from Chur again made a house call, though he could not arrive until the weekend. When he did, he discovered Cristiano was suffering from a severe case of pneumonia. The doctor coordinated with a colleague in private practice in Lugano and Cristiano was taken by ambulance to a private clinic for treatment.
Franco went back to Locarno, his heart heavy with grief and hatred. As her father's death had fired the flames of revenge in Franca's heart, so Franca's death now did the same in Franco's. Cristiano also feared that without new and strong leadership, the internal faults now spreading through both Padania and the Five Republics could fracture both movements into scores of small, ineffective splinter groups unable to stand up against the government forces arrayed against them.
They both felt that the movement needed a strong leader and this leader needed to strike a serious blow against the government to make his name and draw the movement's leadership to him and heal the rifts. They both knew they could not fill this role, but they knew of someone who they thought could. Cristiano sent out feelers and when he received a favorable response, Franco boarded a plane for Egypt.