After a 16 hour day of checking, re-checking, and packing equipment for deployment Marisa was happy to retire to the dorm for a shower and some much desired sleep. Muster time for all fratelli was to be 0530 tomorrow morning, so there were few cyborgs staying up late this evening, despite the exciting, keyed up atmosphere that pervaded the whole compound.
________Hitting the Showers________
"Hey, Mari!" called out Triela cheerfully. The older girl was just leaving the showers as Marisa arrived...her long blonde hair hanging free of its familiar twin pony-tails. "Have you seen your handler? I've been looking for him all day."
"Elio?" asked the red-head, with a puzzled look on her face, "We were together all day, loading out for the operation, but I think he's gone to his office to sleep for the night. What do you need him for?"
"Nothing too important" replied Triela, "I'm just gonna kill him."
The hairs bristled on the back of Marisa's neck, as she growled "If you lay one finger on my Elio..."
"You'll do what, twerp?" mocked the Senior Cyborg, "You wouldn't land one punch on my face, even if you could reach that high! I might play with you for a little while, just to see if you'd cry or have an anxiety attack, but in the end I'd pound you so hard that the engineers who built your shrimpy Series 2 body couldn't even tell which end was your face and which end was your butt!"
Marisa took a step forward and stared down her adversary. "You'll never get the chance. You Series 1 gorilla-girls might be strong but I am a stealth weapon. I'd have my piano wire around your neck before you even knew I was in the room, and just before I choked the last glimmer of life out of you I'd cut off your stupid pony-tails and make you watch as I used them for tinder to light the biggest teddy-bear bonfire ever!"
With that, Triela burst out laughing, and Mari soon followed, the two girls attracting confused stares from their fellow cyborgs passing by. "Oh man...you win that round" giggled Triela.
"I dunno," Marisa admitted, "I almost lost it when you said that line about my face and my butt!" It was a private game the two shared; they took turns insulting & threatening each other in the nastiest way imaginable...until one lost the round by laughing. It was a game they could only play in private though. On the one occasion the girls had tried it in front of their friends Claes had leapt from her top bunk to break up a fight, Rico had dashed out to solicit help, and Henrietta had started crying. In just a few instants the room had been filled with concerned cyborgs, and it took Triela & Marisa a half hour to explain they were only joking. Since that embarrassing incident it was strictly a private game.
"So why do you want to kill my handler?" Mari finally asked.
"He had 'Etta & Rico over to his room for a movie night last Monday" growled Triela.
Marisa remembered. Elio was going to show her the 1939 American film, The Wizard of Oz, which he considered a very important & historic piece of work. It was supposed to be just the two of them, like always, but when Elio saw the other two young cyborgs he invited them along as well. At first Marisa had been incensed...'Etta gets more than enough attention from her own handler, why is she horning in on my Elio too!? But then she considered her other friend, and felt horribly selfish for feeling that way. Poor Rico never did anything like this with her handler, and had probably never even seen a movie outside of class. Ashamed of her own jealousy, Mari resolved to control her temper; she did not even growl (much) when the two room-mates gasped and crept closer to her handler during the scenes featuring the Wicked Witch of the West.
"Yeah...The Wizard of Oz." muttered the re-head, "Elio seems to think it's a really important flick, but I thought it was kinda lame. I mean, there wasn't even one battle scene in it!"
"Well Rico & Henrietta loved it" groaned Triela, "they've been walking around, arm-in-arm, singing all the songs for 3 days straight. The worst part is, neither of them speaks English very well so they never get the words right! Every time they sing a song it's different, and makes even less sense than the time before!" Triela's eyes grew wild, like a crazy person, as she continued; "But no matter how badly the two of them mangle the lyrics, they're both perfectly in sync with each-other! I can't figure out how they're doing it! They are driving me crazy!"
Marisa laughed, and replied "Okay, you can kill Elio for that, but just a little bit!"
The blonde cyborg seemed eager to talk; she followed Marisa into the shower-room. "So are you ready for your part in the big operation?"
"I was built ready!" she responded with a grim & determined smile, but then added "I mean...literally, I was built in the cybernetics lab with a mission exactly like this in mind." She untied her braided pig-tails and shook her hair loose.
The older cyborg sat down on the locker-room bench and cocked her head to the side as she spoke; "Team #1, eh?" Triela tried to stroke Mari's already prodigious ego a bit, "You and Mr. Alboreto are the first fratello in on this mission...trying to steal a little of Hillshire & my thunder are you?"
"Well..." teased Marisa, hanging up her towel and adjusting the shower temperature "...you are getting very old."
"Hey!" Triela protested, tossing a wash-cloth at Mari, "We already played that game!"
Information extracted from the hard-drive Elio had stolen from a Padania yacht (one he and Marisa had been tasked with sinking on their interrupted vacation) had proven invaluable. It had revealed the location of a massive P.R.F. staging area outside of Italy's boarders. This enormous safe-house was a villa that sat about 30 kilometers west of Rijeka, along the rugged Croatian sea-coast, and it was rumored to house as many as 60 Padania terrorists at any given time. The yacht had been used to ferry enemy operatives back and forth from Italy...until Mari & Elio sent it to the bottom of Naples harbor.
"Chief Lorenzo told us you and Mr. Alboreto would be diving, and infiltrating through the inlet where they bring the boats in, but he didn't tell us why" continued Triela, as Marisa took her shower.
"We're gonna knock out some generators before the rest of you attack" called out the younger girl, "but it's going to be a tough dive. There's a net that passes across the mouth of the cove...monofilament stuff like fishing line...a real diver killer."
"So you have to cut that?"
"Wish it was that easy..." groaned Marisa, "...intel says the net is laced with wires. If we cut one it breaks the circuit so all kinds of alarms go off, and they'll drop depth charges. If that happens, the SWA needs one new cyborg and one new handler. Instead, we're gonna dive to the bottom and burrow under the net...like you and Kara had to do under the fence that time you snuck into that warehouse in Sardinia."
Triela cringed as she remembered that mission. They'd evaded detection and gotten out with valuable information, but she and Kara had gotten filthy and needed to have all their fingernails replaced. Worst of all, there was no shower on the car ferry home, so they had to wait hours before washing up. "So...you're going all the way to bottom...is it deep?"
"About 50 meters...164 feet if you prefer."
"Brrrrr" replied Triela with a shiver, in spite of the steam pouring from Mari's shower, "nothing but sharks in the dark down there!"
Marisa poked her head out from behind the door and replied "You bet! Like I said...I was built for this mission!" She gave herself a final rinse and shut the water off before stepping out of the shower stall. Triela was still sitting on the bench with an eager, anticipant look on her face as Mari toweled off.
"So...you gonna let me do your hair now?" she finally asked with a broad smile.
"Is that all you've been waiting for?" laughed Marisa, "Piss off!"
The older cyborg tried using her best puppy-dog eyes. "Aww, come on!" she pleaded, "If you get chomped in half by a giant shark tomorrow night you're gonna regret never letting me braid your hair!"
"Maybe I'll get lucky and you'll step on a land-mine" grumbled Mari, tucking her towel around herself. It was obvious that Triela was not going to give up, so with a roll of her eyes she finally sat down on the bench. That drew a squeal of delight from Triela, who snatched up Marisa's brush and went to work on her long red hair.
________Calamari________
A single small fishing boat bobbed in the waves just off the Croatian coast, powerful floodlights hanging overboard to attract squid to the bouncing jig lines. It looked like any other fishing boat working that moonless night, dirty, its deck overcrowded with gear & tackle. One noisy generator kept the floodlights burning, but more importantly it covered the noise of a hidden air compressor, churning away under a pile of nets.
Out of a scupper on the starboard side ran a pair of 2" hoses which headed down half a football field to deliver 90 pounds of air pressure to Elio & Marisa on the bottom. This air was not for breathing though...they had their Hammerhead rebreathers for that. The two hoses were plumbed into the bottom of a 12 foot pipe, one foot in diameter and constructed of thin sheet aluminum (Allison, a new cyborg who was talented with a welding rig had assembled it from Elio's specifications). As Alboreto swept it across the muddy bottom bubbles rushed up the pipe, creating a venturi suction which pulled chunks of mud from under the deadly net and blew them clear out the other end. Marisa stayed close behind him in the murky water, tending the twin hoses and holding a battery powered light. That light did little to help though; the "air-lift" (as it was called) worked very efficiently, but stirred up one hell of a mess, and reduced any visibility they might have had to effectively zero.
"Heads up guys...here they come!" warned Ferro, from her station on the boat's wheelhouse. Amadeo & Giorgio were instantly on their guard as a speedboat closed in and cut back its outboard engine.
"Move on" ordered one of the two men, "you're too close to a private cove." He spoke Italian.
"Come on!" protested Giorgio, "We fish here all the time...it's a killer night for squid!"
"I said get the hell out of here" growled the man, brandishing a Kalashnikov rifle.
Ferro hissed from the wheelhouse "Stall for time! Every second we can give Mr. A counts!"
"Look, compagno, maybe we can work out a deal..." suggested Amadeo, "...you let us keep working and we'll cut you in for a couple buckets of calamari."
The boat driver looked on impatiently as his machine gun waving friend yelled. "I'm done fucking around with you assholes! Drag up your anchor and get the hell out of here!" He pulled the cocking lever back and chambered a round to show how serious he was.
"Fuck! Relax man!" protested Amadeo, eyeing his own Benelli shotgun hidden behind the port-side gunwale. "We'll leave...can we at least haul in our lines first?"
"You have 15 minutes" snapped the boat driver, gunning his engine. "If we come back and find you still here we're gonna sink this stinking crate with you in it!"
The two agents breathed a heavy sigh of relief as the enemy patrol boat powered away, but it made a turn, and maneuvered to circle their fishing boat. Ferro dashed out of the wheelhouse and slammed the ball-valve on the compressor shut. There was no time to unhook the crows-foot connectors from the air hoses...any second now the patrol would come around to starboard and see the hoses going overboard...so she grabbed a rigging axe and cut them both. The hoses slid through the scupper & down into the dark water just in time.
"Jeeze...quick thinking Ferro!" complimented Amadeo, "But I guess Marisa & old man Alboreto are on their own now."
"Hmmph!" Giorgio snorted, "At least they're gonna make it into the fight..."
His partner rolled his eyes, "What are you complaining about? We get to spend a night fishing on the Adriatic while everyone else gets their asses shot at!"
"Is that all you're here for?" growled Giorgio, "To screw around? Lazy ass Marine."
"Oh, the big tough Army guy can't wait to get into a fight, can he?" mocked Amadeo.
Giorgio reached for his knife. "Maybe I can't..."
The two agents were ready to draw blades on each-other when they stopped cold. "Wait a minute, we've been through this already..." muttered Giorgio.
"...and it didn't end well." Amadeo replied, recalling their 3 back breaking months together in the damp cold of Hereford.
Ferro broke up the mutual commiseration by stomping over and dropping two buckets at their feet. She looked comical in her fisherman's sweater, oilskin trousers and oversized boots, but she had lost none of her hard-nosed attitude. "Let's get to work you idiots...we've got 6 jig lines full of squid to haul in!"
In Elio's hands the air-lift went dead, and the hoses fell slack to bottom. It was expected...Ferro and her team couldn't avoid the patrol boats all night. He only hoped he'd cut enough of a hole under the net for he & Mari to slip through.
The cyborg swam a short distance to where they had left their vacuum sealed gear bag and 4 extra "bailout" tanks (in case of rebreather failure). "You go first" motioned her handler, pointing his light at the gap beneath the net, still difficult to see in the muddy water. She nodded, rolled over on her back and shimmied through the gap, Elio holding the heavily weighted net as far off bottom as he could. Marisa got through, but even with her small size it had been difficult, which did not bode well for Elio. First priority was the equipment though; Alboreto passed the gear bag and all 4 bailout bottles through to Marisa before considering how he was going to accomplish the tight squeeze himself.
Mari watched in horror as her handler began taking off his rebreather. She waved her light to get his attention, and signaled "No," indicating that they could still dig with their hands, but Elio motioned for her to calm down. He carefully removed his life support unit and switched to his last bailout bottle, a 40 cubic foot tank that had remained clipped to his left side up until now. Marisa quickly pulled his Hammerhead through the gap when he passed it to her, then grabbed the weighted bottom line of the net and pulled up hard to give her master the most possible clearance. Again, Elio had to remind her to stay calm, pointing out a few thin wires in the net. If she pulled too hard and broke those they were both as good as dead, and a massive operation would stop in its tracks.
The old spy rolled over and slipped beneath the net carefully, making it through without incident. His cyborg quickly forced the rebreather back onto him, tightening straps and routing hoses urgently. By the time he switched back to the closed-circuit breathing loop Elio only had 800psi remaining in his bailout tank. It was effectively used up now, so Alboreto clipped one of the 4 bigger tanks onto his left side, to use as his new emergency bottle.
With one crisis overcome successfully, the fratello went to work setting their ascent line. In a lucky break Marisa found a heavy piece of rusty scrap steel on the pitch black bottom. It looked like a chunk of an old floating dock, long discarded, but it fit their needs perfectly. Elio had a spool of 3/8" nylon line & tied off the end to the debris. Connected to the spool was a rubberized canvas lift-bag, which he filled with air, cleverly utilizing the last 800 pounds of pressure remaining in his small tank.
Clinging to their well anchored ascent line the fratello rose up through the water column slowly & carefully, burping bubbles from their drysuits, counter-lungs, and the lift-bag as the water pressure decreased and gas expanded. They halted at their first decompression stop...now it was time to wait.
As she protectively held on to her handler with her right hand and the ascent line with her left Mari had plenty of time to think. Her mind wandered back to the speech given by Section Chief Lorenzo at lunchtime on the load-out day. He had chosen the best time to catch most of his busy handlers, agents & cyborgs in one place.
"Ladies & Gentlemen, tomorrow night we are scheduled to attack the biggest Five Republics Faction target we have ever taken on. For the first time we are using the entire combat strength of Section 2, even our remotely deployed fratelli have been recalled. Even so, we will still be counting on support from our comrades in the GIS.
Section 2 will be attacking with every advantage we need...surprise, firepower, and overwhelming skill. The enemy has made a very stupid error in locating their heavy weapons bunker on a separate compound 500 meters away. Our own bomb squad will make short work of that before it can be of any use to them. Therefore...and I can not stress this enough...I am not expecting a battle, ladies & gentlemen...I am expecting a massacre. I want the score at the end of this to read Padania: zero, us: every single one of them. Attack with aggression, but do not take foolish risks, we hold the advantage. Tomorrow night is our night to take revenge for the truck bomb that took Angelica in Rome...for Silvia & Beatrice in Venice, and for Mario Theuma in Milan. Those Padania bastard's lives belong to us, people, and I trust every one of you will do his or her part to collect. Good luck and Godspeed.
The grey haired man in his trademark turtle-neck had succeeded in rousing every heart in the dining hall that day, human & artificial. Marisa herself had felt like rushing into battle that very minute. Even though her world was now pitch dark and silent save for the sounds of she & Elio's breathing none of the intensity had worn off.
Carefully, the girl made a scan around them with her hand-mounted light. In the distance, beyond Elio's sight, but well within the range of her own cyborg eyes, Marisa saw the monofilament net swaying in the tide, extending beyond the reach of her narrow beam of light in all directions. This monster was a genuine threat...if either she or Elio lost grip in the ascent line & got blown into it they would become hopelessly entangled. Lost or discarded fishing nets just like it caught and killed divers every year.
As she continued to watch the net a pitiful sight caught Marisa's eye. Limp & dead, a Grey Nurse Shark hung upside-down in the darkness. It had obviously gotten fouled in the net some days ago, and died of exhaustion. Making it worse, this was a female of the threatened species, gravid with a full belly of pups that would never be born. The sad image contrasted sharply with Triela & Mama Galati's negative impression of sharks...this was a largely harmless creature that had only been hunting for a few squid. Marisa considered her another victim of the Padania, just like any human. Sorry girl, she thought I'll remember to kill an extra one just for you...
________10 Minutes________
Elio & Marisa shut off all their lights and abandoned the lift-bag at their last decompression stop, 4 meters below. Side by side they surfaced, keeping their heads low, eyes only above the water. The cove was bordered by 2 short but steep cliffs, and at the end of the valley they formed was the shoreline. The villa was about 40 meters further in, surrounded by lawns & trees.
"2 guards" whispered Marisa, never taking her mouth-piece out. Elio saw them as well, two careless men laughing & joking on the dock, not paying attention. They were both armed with assault rifles though. Alboreto pointed out a decrepit boat house, out of the way and in the shadows, so the fratello submerged and swam to the structure.
It was easy to climb out of the water there, shielded from the sight of the guards. Marisa went first, and cleared the area with her H&K P11 before reaching down to pull her handler to the deck. He took off his rebreather first, and once done covered his cyborg while she doffed her own. They attached a piece of line to the units and allowed them to sink down under the dock...easy to locate and recover in case a fast getaway became necessary. Only the gear bag came with them.
Following a map both had committed to memory, the fratello silently cut through groves of trees, and dashed from shadow to shadow, avoiding the well-lit lawns as much as possible. "Elio, look!" giggled Marisa as quietly as she could. Right along their path was a decorative fountain, sheltered in the dark of a stone arbor. "Could they make it any easier for us?"
One at a time, Mari & Elio enjoyed the small luxury of cleaning the salty crust from their hands, faces, and hair with fresh water. "We must remember to thank the Padans for putting this here...before we kill them" jested the old spy, rinsing out his P11.
They wasted only a little time washing up, and quickly located their first target, a squat concrete building that seemed very out of place amongst the landscaped lawns and decorative gardens. There was only one man outside...unarmed, he looked like he'd only been checking the generators. Marisa took him out regardless, hopping up to the flat roof (difficult in her cumbersome dry-suit) and dropping her piano wire around his neck to provide a gruesome but silent end. Elio dragged the corpse inside by the feet, and Marisa joined him, executing a forward flip through the door like her room-mate did out of bed every morning.
Inside, 3 Aggreko diesel generators roared, so Elio & Mari could make as much noise as they wished without attracting attention. These units provided 480 volts of DC power to the perimeter security system, but not the main villa. That was perfect for the SWA attack, the security system would go down with the generators, but nobody in the villa would realize until it was too late.
Afforded a few minutes of relative safety the pair got out of their dry-suits, happy to be out of the heavy air-tight garments. Elio opened the gear-bag, cutting open the heavy plastic with his dive knife. It hissed as the tip pierced the bag, indicating that the vacuum seal had remained intact. Out came their rifles...Marisa's Kel-Tec RFB, and Elio's much longer H&K G3/SG1. Next they each drank a full liter of water. Rebreathers did not dehydrate a diver as badly as regular open-circuit SCUBA, but once on land the drysuits had been hot, and both of them felt very parched.
"Did you use your internal heaters on decompression?" asked Elio.
"Just a little" admitted Mari. It had gotten pretty cold waiting on that ascent line.
He thrust 2 wax-paper wrapped energy bars into her hand. "Eat...quickly."
"What about you?" she asked, offering one of them.
"I'm human," replied the handler, as he guarded the door, "I can make do with my body fat...you cyborgs crash like a house of cards if you run out of fuel...and you know how much energy your internal heaters burn."
"Sorry" she muttered, taking a bite of her first bar.
"Don't be silly" replied Elio, "that's what your heaters are there for...to use...honestly I wish I had some from time to time. You just need to remember to refuel as soon as possible." The energy bars were not the commercial products sold in stores, but a special creation of the Medical-Technology division. Using protein rich peanut butter & a biscuit heavy in carbohydrates as a base they were packed with the calories, nutrients, and special synthetic acids to power an agency cyborg in a high-stress situation. The downside came from the lab's hapless attempts to add appealing chemical flavors to the bars, some of the girls with more gourmet tastes complaining "why can't they just leave the damn things peanut butter flavor?" Strawberry was universally decried as the worst, tasting like a combination between an old tire and an air freshener.
As Marisa finished her "refueling" Elio made radio contact with the rest of the operation. "Dispatch this is Team 1, dispatch come in."
"Team 1, Dispatch...authenticate please" came back Chief Lorenzo's steady voice.
"Team 1 authenticates Sierra-Foxtrot-Mike...one-seven, one-seven."
"Dispatch authenticates X-ray-Lima-Papa...two-one, nine-three."
Confident that their communications had not been compromised, Elio informed Lorenzo "We are in position for action #6...request permission to proceed."
"Stand-by for final checks" ordered the Chief.
Alboreto turned to his cyborg and explained "Diesel engines don't have carburetors, so as soon as we cut the fuel lines these things are going to sputter and die."
"I know how a diesel works!" groaned Mari, opening up an access panel and choosing which hose to cut.
Lorenzo's voice crackled over the radio "Team 1...roll on action #6...all teams Operation Platinum Fork is a go!" As soon as her own handler nodded Marisa slashed the fuel lines. Elio cut the lines on generator 2, and Marisa finished the third. In seconds, all 3 units chugged to a stop, but the fratello was long gone by then. Free of their heavy diving suits Marisa & Elio dashed across the lawns, straight to the villa. The cyborg hung behind her 55 year old handler according to plan, he waited for her at the side of the house. In a move well practiced by all the fratelli he provided her a boost to launch herself up onto the second story, and she dropped a rope to him, dragging her handler up the wall far faster than he could climb, like pulling in a fish.
Side by side, they ran over the roof to the front just in time to hear the dull thump of explosions off to the North-West. It was the bomb-squad girls doing their part by taking out the weapons bunker. More thumps followed, accompanied by bright flashes of light; evidence that Agapita was eliminating the perimeter guard-shacks with her trusty 51mm mortar. By now the terrorists in the villa were just realizing something was wrong...Marisa could see them through the skylights, stumbling out of bed and being roused from their card games. A few of them rushed out the front door just in time to be met by a deadly hail of bullets and shotgun slugs. A team of cyborgs blitzed the front walk, led by Triela, bravely out in front as always, her long pigtails and 3 other girls trailing behind. She expended her 6 shots and braced herself to engage the next man with her bayonet, but that man's head burst and he fell dead. Triela looked up and gave a thumbs-up sign to Marisa, who returned her salute by tipping the smoking barrel of her Kel-Tec. The blonde cyborg dropped down on one knee and re-loaded as her team fought their way into the house, supported by rooftop fire from Mari & Elio.
From all directions over the grounds cyborg and GIS teams attacked, all converging on the villa. Once a handful of squads had broken in the dive team got some company on the roof. With her Dragunov slung over her shoulder, Rico leapt up and dropped a line to Jean. As soon as he was up the Field Commander reported in; "Dispatch, this is Team 6, we are in position on the rooftop."
"Copy Team 6," replied Claes' calm voice, "proceed with setting up a sniper position...fishing boat team reports patrol boat targets are headed your way in the cove." She had recently proven her value as an organized and efficient combat dispatcher, and was now seated right next to the Section Chief in the new Mobile Command Center. It was a giant American recreational vehicle, converted with powerful radios, a satellite uplink and its own Israeli built Hermes 450A unmanned aerial vehicle. In back was a 2 bed field hospital capable of treating both humans & cyborgs. The Special Weapons lab (assisted once again by the helpful Allison) had labored on it right up until the last minute, despite constant jokes by the support staff, accusing them of copying an American comedy film from the 1980's.
"How's it going?" Elio asked Croce.
"Very well...our strike team over-ran the bastards guarding the weapons bunker without them even getting one shot off" replied Jean, with a glimmer of vicious pride.
Alboreto nodded and asked "How about you Rico?"
The girl smiled cheerfully and told him, "The bombs were really loud, but not scary like the Wicked Witch of the West!"
"Well, you know what to do if she shows up" laughed Elio.
"Toss water on her!" Rico answered cheerfully.
Jean gave both of them an annoyed glance, the fight was going on all around them and Alboreto was joking with a cyborg. Feeling uncomfortable about yelling at his much older subordinate Jean snapped "Rico! Focus!"
She swung her rifle down and fired one round straight through a skylight without even looking. Her bullet shattered the glass and crashed into the skull of a Padanian who was just running below at that moment. "Yes sir!" chirped the grinning blonde girl.
Just then something flashed across Marisa's peripheral vision. She wheeled around fast and trained her rifle on the fast moving object, but Elio put his hand on his shoulder to restrain her from firing. It was only Monty, taking a quick short cut across the roof on the way to her assignment of attacking the back lawn.
"Team 1, this is dispatch" came Claes' voice over the radio.
"Go dispatch" responded Alboreto.
"Once Team 6 is set up in position, re-deploy to the pool house; provide fire support to Team 3 and GIS Teams A & D."
"Copy dispatch, Team 1 will confirm as soon as we reach new position." He looked to Jean and asked "You two got it from here?"
"Go ahead" replied Croce. With that Team 1 made their way across the tile roof, and nearly to the pool house.
"It's a 5 meter gap" observed Marisa. "Are you ready?"
Elio groaned, and made safe his rifle. "Go ahead..." Marisa lifted him up by the belt & collar and hurled her handler across the distance. He landed hard, but caught himself from rolling down the tile pool house roof. Marisa hopped across easily, and landed lightly next to her handler, whom she helped to his feet. "Jesus Mari, I'm getting too old for this" he muttered. She laughed, and began firing on a group of Padania hold-outs who were hiding in the arbor where she & Elio had washed up earlier. Her cover fire allowed the pinned-down Team 3 to move out...Allison & Henrietta swinging around from both sides and catching their enemies in a deadly cross-fire. Despite the violence, and the sound of dying screams all around her Marisa chuckled when she saw her friend. Even though she was dressed all in tactical black, 'Etta had still managed to wear a skirt into battle.
Beneath them, a team including Kara & Piera had engaged several hostiles in the passage between the pool-house and the main house. Mari turned, and moved to provide some help, but Elio motioned for her to stay in position and keep up the pressure from her side while he handled the corridor. With him firing his G3 from above they pushed through, and joined up with Monty & 2 GIS teams who were engaging patrol boats in the cove, supported by deadly accurate shots from Rico's Dragunov. Already things were beginning to wind down...gunfire became less frequent, and the guttural voices of the Padania men inside the house had been supplanted by the higher pitched sounds of Triela's team clearing each room. Sensing that the battle was lost, the survivors aboard the patrol boats turned and ran, only to have their escape cut off by Ferro and her team, blocking the exit to the inlet with a pair of M60 machine guns.
From the firing of the first explosives, to the last shot, the battle took less than 10 minutes.
________Celebration________
When the forces of Section 2 returned to headquarters the following evening they found a victory banquet waiting for them. Predictably, Jean grumbled about information security "How the hell did the kitchen staff know about what happened in Croatia before we even communicated the news to the Minister of Defense?"
"That's a battle you're not going to win," counseled Alboreto, "those cooks have a better spy network than we'll ever have."
Extra tables were needed to accommodate the entire staff, but nobody seemed to mind being crowded shoulder to shoulder; more like an Italian family dinner than a formal celebratory banquet. They had everything to celebrate after all; the cyborgs and their handlers had succeeded in delivering Chief Lorenzo the total victory he had asked for. 51 Padania terrorists were dead, with another 14 captured, versus zero fatalities for the combined SISDE forces. 3 GIS men had suffered bullet wounds, and one was stabbed, but none of these were considered critical. As for the cyborgs, a few had caught bullets, and there were a handful of cuts, scrapes and bruises, but the injuries were well within the limits of what each girl could endure.
The only notable wound was suffered by Petrushka, who had her left ear blown off by friendly fire. This led to an angry shoving match between her & Ilaria, who she accused of being "trigger happy and blind as a mole." Ilaria responded by calling Petra a "blundering nitwit who doesn't know how to stay clear of a firing vector." It had taken Kara, Agapita & Giada to break them up, but neither girl calmed down until Jean arrived and threatened to have both of them re-conditioned if they didn't grow up. Even that feud turned out to be short though...Petra & Ilaria were seated at the same table now, and laughed about the incident, and how Petrushka would need to get her new ear pierced.
After a champagne toast (Marisa quietly but authoritatively pointed out that as Italians they should have used prosecco instead) the Section Chief got up to take the podium. He did not have a speech prepared like he had before the battle, so he kept his remarks brief.
"Ladies & gentlemen, I'd like to be the first to praise you all on an excellent job, but I'm afraid that honor belongs to my boss." Lorenzo pulled a letter from the inside pocket of his jacket and read: "To all the personnel of Section Two. I would like to personally commend and congratulate each and every one of you on another victorious endeavor. Your continued success does a great deal to ensure the safety & security of Italia, reflecting positively on all your efforts. You have my sincere thanks, as well as those of the Prime Minister, and the Republic. Signed; Signora Monica Petris, Minister of Defense." There was loud applause, mixed with a few cheers from some of the more boisterous members of the collected audience. "I see a few of our adult members have gotten a head start on the celebrations with a few before dinner cocktails" joked the Chief, "at least, I hope those were all adult voices I just heard." That remark got a big laugh.
"You have good reason to let your hair down. Now that it's my turn I'd like to thank each and every one of you for the critical part you played in our success. As you know, Section Two is constantly under fire from those who see it as only a huge expenditure in our national budget. Operations like this give me something positive to point to when I argue for our very existence." Lorenzo wondered to himself if such budgetary talk was appropriate for a victory celebration, so he carefully moved on. "The individuals who spearhead such operations often get the lion's share of the praise, and while a large amount of consideration is due them, I'd like to take a few moments to thank some of our members who often fade into the proverbial background." He gave credit to the Medical-Technology staff, the intelligence team, and even the grounds-keeping/housekeeping staff who kept the lawns trimmed and the laundry clean. Each recipient of the Chief's praise got their due amount of heartfelt applause from the audience. Next he gave thanks to the Special Weapons Lab, "...who worked feverishly to get our new mobile command center ready for the operation." With that credit, Allison hooted and clapped loudly for her friends in the "Q" division, betraying the fact that she had been among the cyborgs joining their handlers for a few pre-dinner libations. Lorenzo continued "As long as we're on the topic of the mobile command center, special consideration must go to Olga & Priscilla, who drove straight through the night to get it on location in time for the op."
Priscilla (who also had a few drinks in her) threw and arm around Claes and added quietly "We couldn't have done it without you making us coffee and reading to keep us awake!"
"Last, but certainly not least, a special thanks to our kitchen staff, who has prepared a spectacular banquet to mark this occasion...including 28 kilos of fresh calamari caught by Ferro and her team." His final line got another big laugh, and after a final word of thanks, he was set to step down and let the feast begin.
Voices of protest rose up. "The score!" they called out, "Who had the high score?"
With a smile and a sigh, the Chief pulled a folded paper from his pocket, arousing a high-pitched cheer from the cyborgs. "You know...I do not consider this important...as I've said, we operate as a team and value everyone's contribution equally, but if you must know the kill-count..." He unfolded the paper and reported "Sorry, no surprises here: The Princess keeps her tiara. Nine confirmed kills and four assists for Triela."
There followed a chorus of humorous groans, and applause for the Senior Cyborg. She blushed a little when Hillshire patted her on the back, but still wore a grin of smug satisfaction. "My Series One chassis might be getting old, but I've still got the touch."
The banquet followed, together with a lot of good natured socialization & storytelling that went on late into the night. A few hours into the party, Chief Lorenzo sought out his old friend Elio, and found him near the punch-bowl with Marisa, listening to Georgio & Amadeo's hilarious account of squid fishing with Ferro. "Pieri!" greeted Alboreto, "Join us for a drink?"
"I've joined everyone for a drink so far," he laughed, "if I have any more they're gonna take me out of here in a wheelbarrow." In spite of that he accepted a scotch & soda from Elio. "Marisa, you did pretty well yourself..." Lorenzo informed the red-haired cyborg, "you got third on the list...6 kills, 7 assists. Only Triela & Agapita came in ahead of you...Agapita did a lot of damage with that mortar of hers."
"I kinda had a head start" replied Mari, blushing a little, "I had a piano-wire kill on the board before anyone else even got to start."
"Good work nevertheless" complimented Lorenzo, "Eh, Elio, can I have a word with you for just a few minutes?"
"Sure thing Chief."
The two went out into the hallway, Lorenzo shutting the door behind himself to muffle the sounds of the party. "I...probably shouldn't ruin your night by dumping this on you, but I really didn't know who else to tell. We've...had a death in the family."
Elio's festive mood was broken by shock. "One of the GIS guys? But the docs said their wounds were not life-threatening!"
"Nothing like that," sighed the Chief, "while we were away on the operation, old Mrs. Galati passed away."
Alboreto sighed as well, and shook his head. He found it hard to decide what to say. "Aw, that's a shame. You've known Antinisca for much longer than I did...I'm really sorry, Pieri."
"I got the news when we came back home" continued Lorenzo. "Her neighbors found her collapsed in the garden on afternoon, and took her to the hospital. She died 2 days later, very peacefully. She had friends around her the whole time, and didn't suffer at all." He sat down on a bench, and Alboreto took a seat right next to his old friend. "As many losses as she suffered in life, her husband, her only son, most of her family, she always stayed generous & kind. It was great how she opened her doors to all the girls the way she did."
"I know she enjoyed it just as much as they did" replied Elio.
Pieri laughed. "Hey, do you remember the time we took Triela to see her?"
The other man joined him laughing; "I'll never forget that...neither will Triela!"
"I've never seen the Princess so embarrassed!" Lorenzo was laughing so hard he coughed. Both of the men had been there. Dinner had gone splendidly, but afterward, Mrs. Galati sent Marisa out to run an "errand" for her & cornered Triela alone in the living room, proceeding to give her an hour long lecture about how boys her age were only interested in one thing...and then explained in graphic detail what that one thing was. She had apparently decided that the blonde robot-girl was at the age where she needed to know such things, and none of the grim men of the SWA were capable of doing such an important job. Poor Triela's face alternated between beet-red and white as a sheet as she desperately looked to Hillshire, the Chief, & Mr. Alboreto for rescue. None of them could help though; they were all stifling laughter at her expense. Mama Galati just ignored them & went on to explain to the uncomfortable cyborg that a man would never buy the cow if she gave him the milk for free. Triela stayed silent during the whole ride back, and only spoke up when they arrived at the dorm. "You guys..." she had growled "...are jerks."
"That was one of the funniest things I've ever seen" Elio said, "Triela hated us for weeks after that. Why do you suppose Petra, or any of the other Generation 2 girls never got that talk?"
Lorenzo shrugged his shoulders and replied "I'll never know...I guess she figured they were old enough that they knew already, and the younger ones were too young to know." He sighed and added "She'll be missed. Are you going to tell Marisa?"
Elio nodded. "Of course...I have to, she loves that old woman. Hardly a day goes by that she doesn't mention her. But I'm going to wait until tomorrow. There's no reason to ruin the night of the victory party."
"Sorry I ruined it for you" sighed Lorenzo.
"You had to tell someone" answered his old friend, slapping him on the shoulder. "I say we just put a grin back on and not mention it to any of the younger folks until later. Antinisca would have wanted it that way."
The Chief nodded in agreement. "You're right, let's go back to the party."
________Breaking the News________
Marisa was awakened way too early by the telephone ringing in her room. Elio & I aren't alert fratello today...she thought, as she stumbled out of bed, ...maybe it's for Amelia. As the holder of the bottom bunk it was Marisa's customary duty to answer the phone when they were both in bed. On the line was Elio, who asked her to come see him at his office. The cyborg was always eager to go see her handler, but at 9 in the morning on a day off it was odd. "What is it?" she asked.
"We'll talk about it when you arrive; just come on over" he answered. That really worried Marisa. After the official party had broken up, an after-hours party at the cyborg dormitory had gone on until nearly dawn, with plenty of loud music and plenty of contraband items being passed around. While Elio's tone had not been angry she feared that he somehow knew. Perhaps all the cyborgs were getting calls from their handlers this morning. At least if I'm in trouble I won't be alone.
The young cyborg took her time walking to the handler's office building. Along the way she noticed nothing that would indicate that this day was different from any other. Autumn's windy chill was beginning to give the morning air a sharp bite, and it looked as if it might rain later on. The leaves had started to turn yellow, something Marisa had never seen before. It's actually kind of pretty she thought, maybe the end of summer won't be so bad after all.
Her case of nerves returned when she arrived at the office complex, and walked up the stairs to her handler's office on the second floor. She was usually happy to visit him here. It was where they watched movies together, where they searched the internet for reviews of all the newest diving gear, but today his cryptic phone call had made her nervous. There were no other cyborgs visiting their masters this morning, so Mari dismissed the idea that their illicit party had been discovered. She gave a soft knock on the door marked "ELIO ALBORETO," and found her handler waiting. "Good m-morning Elio" she greeted him, "what did you need to t-talk to me about?"
The grey haired man seemed sad, not angry, and that scared Marisa even more. What could be wrong? "Have a seat, Mari" he replied, motioning toward his bed. She sat down, and waited for what he had to say. Elio took his time, rolling his office chair over to face her. Once he was seated, he took a deep breath and began; "While we were away on the mission, something unfortunate happened. Mrs. Galati fell down in her garden, and her friends had to take her to the hospital."
"Is she alright!?" asked the cyborg, "We have to go visit her...today...right now!"
"No Mari" sighed Elio, "she was old, and her heart gave out. She passed away very peacefully, surrounded by her friends from the neighborhood." At first, Marisa was frozen, and seemed unable to comprehend what he was saying, but finally she responded to what had happened.
"It...it can't be...we just saw her a few days ago. I gave her that picture of all us girls...in that frame we got for her in Pozzuoli." Marisa refused to admit it to herself. "It's got to be a mistake...someone told you the wrong information, or maybe they're just playing a really mean trick!"
"It's no mistake, lass, and Chief Lorenzo would never joke about something like this," her handler assured her, "she was his good friend too."
"Well it can't be true!" snapped Marisa, "Have you actually seen her...her body?" The word was difficult for Mari to say.
Elio shook his head, but replied, "I don't need to. Mrs. Galati had problems with her heart. She discussed it with Lorenzo & I, but she didn't want you girls to know."
The cyborg stood up and lashed out angrily; "It's the goddamn Padania's fault! They killed her husband...they murdered her son! They broke her heart and made her age before her time!"
"Marisa, it's not the same thing..." he argued, "...it's true, Mama Galati suffered a great many losses in her life, but it was just her time. She wasn't suffering at the end; she was comfortable, and surrounded by friends. You and the other girls made her last summer very happy as well...you should take comfort in that."
"I'll take comfort when I've slaughtered every single one of those Padania bastards myself!" she growled.
"Well," sighed Elio, "that is our job." He hoped this would not turn into an obsession like it was with Jean. Cyborgs were certainly vulnerable to becoming fixated on one target, as Triela had done after being beaten by Pinocchio. "But you still have to keep things in perspective."
Her anger fell on him next. "What right do you have to tell me that!? You could have saved her! You knew Mama Galati had a bad heart and you didn't do anything!"
"What could I do Marisa? She was already seeing the best doctors..."
"You & Mr. Lorenzo could have brought her here!" cried the cyborg, "You could have saved her with an artificial heart like I have! Maybe it's not too late! Please...can't we at least try bringing her to the SWA hospital? I'll give any of my parts if they will help her!"
Again, Alboreto was forced to shake his head in refusal. "I'm sorry, it doesn't work that way. Humans & cyborgs are different, and we are still years away from the technology that's inside you helping people in the mainstream."
"Can't we at least try!?" she wept.
"It's already too late for that" replied the handler. "At her age it was doubtful she could have survived the operation anyway. It was just her time, Marisa...please try to accept that."
For the next 2 hours or so, Marisa sat on the floor in the corner. Elio tried to approach her, but she just pushed him away. "Please...just leave me alone for a while." He agreed, and gave her space to grieve, but did not leave the room. She was glad for that when she finally did want to be with someone. Silently, Marisa stood up and walked over to sit down next to her handler on the bed. The cyborg buried her head in her handler's chest, and he put his arms around her. She had accepted that Mama Galati was gone. After another hour of silence she asked "When are we going to the funeral?"
Elio was caught off guard by that "Are you sure you want to be there?" he asked. "Mrs. Galati was Catholic...her funeral will be at a church. You remember how much trouble you had just attending Mario Theuma's service."
"I know" she replied, wiping her eyes, "but I can hold it together for her funeral...we have to be there!"
"This is going to be a lot more emotional for you" Elio warned, "I don't think it's a good idea."
She pleaded with him; "Elio, please! I swear, I won't have a breakdown...I have to say goodbye, I can't just forget about her like she meant nothing!"
"We can do that in our own way" Alboreto tried to calm her, "We'll visit her cemetery together. You can bring flowers and..."
"No!" she snapped, "I won't accept that! You can give me a direct order, I'll disobey it! You can leave me at the compound, I'll sneak out and walk to her church myself! I don't care if it means getting in trouble, or even re-conditioned, I won't let her go without saying good-bye!"
With a great sigh, Elio accepted that she was serious. "I can't promise you anything, Marisa, but I'll discuss this with the Chief. If I do this though, you have to agree to accept his decision, capito?"
"Will you treat my request fairly?" she asked, "Will you really argue my case, even if you don't agree with it?"
She really had him up against a wall here, but the old spy agreed. "I promise...I will do all I can to make this happen."
After making Marisa promise not to brood in her room all day, Elio departed, and drove back home to Lorenzo's villa, where he still stayed in a spare bedroom. His old friend was waiting for him...sitting in the garden, tossing his dog's favorite ball again and again. "How did she take it?" asked Lorenzo.
"Honestly," muttered Alboreto, "it went better than I thought it would. She was heartbroken of course, but she went through the grieving process faster than any normal human being I've ever met." He poured a tumbler of wine from the bottle Lorenzo had sitting out on the table, and sat down. "Must be a cyborg trait...they do everything fast."
"Mari doesn't have 81 years to live" sighed Pieri, "she knows that and tries to cram every experience she can get into what time she has."
"You're right about that" agreed Elio. "So how about the funeral, you're going, right?"
"Of course" replied the Chief, "you gonna come along too?"
"Yes," Alboreto muttered, "and Marisa wants to as well."
Lorenzo looked at him, struck silent for a few moments. He searched the other man's face for signs that this was his idea of a bad joke, but there was no indication that he was anything but serious. The pointer ran back and tried to force a slobber-wet tennis ball into his master's hands. "You're kidding I hope" Pieri finally said.
"Not at all" replied Elio, taking a sip of his wine, "it seems fairly important to her."
Trying to keep an open mind, the Chief asked "And what is your opinion on the matter?"
"My opinion is irrelevant. She made her case and I agreed to present it to you" answered his old friend, "She is convinced that she can hold it together, and expressed her determination to be there even if we do not approve."
"My ass!" growled Lorenzo, "What the hell does she mean even if we do not approve? Since when does an 11 year old cyborg dictate the rules to us?" He accepted the ball from his pointer, and hurled it angrily, but the dog just stared at him with a puzzled look. "Have you given her a direct order to drop this?"
"No I haven't" Elio replied, "and I don't intend to unless you order it. The truth is, while the idea of bringing any cyborg, let alone Marisa, into a high-stress situation like this scares me, I believe that as a human being she has every right to go."
"Consider what you're saying;" Lorenzo muttered, standing up and pacing across the lawn, "if she has an anxiety attack in a church full of mourners it would be bad. If she has a violent attack, it could be a disaster. Draghi would use it to rake Section Two over the coals and he'd be right to do so. Worst case scenario, we could both end up behind bars for taking a stupid risk like this."
Alboreto nodded and said "Antinisca always had a calming effect on her..."
"And we're going to be burying that calming effect!" snapped Pieri, "Jesus Elio, if any other handler had come to me with this request I'd have thrown him out of my office. Why the hell am I even considering this?"
The two men were silent for a long time, with the Chief's dog tensely watching them both. Slowly, Lorenzo sat back down, and poured a glass of trebbiano, full to the brim, and drank it in one mighty swallow. He pinched the bridge of his nose as if he was suffering from a headache, and said "I want both of us to carry sedative injector pens...hell, you should have a dart-pistol. We sit on either side of her; never let her get too close to the other mourners."
"How about the body itself? Do we let her approach the casket?"
"We'll see how she's doing and play it by ear" said Pieri. "You understand of course, this has to be an absolute secret until after it's done. Marisa can not tell any of the other cyborgs where she's going or word will spread and this will turn into an enormous debate."
"Agreed" said Elio, "I'll telephone Mari and inform her that this is beyond top-secret, and it's deal off if she opens her mouth to anyone. As crazy as this idea is, I think we're actually doing the right thing."
The Chief refilled his tumbler with wine and raised it. "Salute..." he toasted, as their glasses clinked together, "...and may we not end up in prison for this."
________Saying Goodbye________
The cold, dreary day seemed to fit Marisa's mood perfectly. It had poured the night before, and it was still overcast & windy, with a few residual raindrops continuing to fall. The young cyborg stared out the back window of Chief Lorenzo's Maserati, and decided she didn't think the beginning of autumn was pretty anymore.
In the front seat, her handler & the Chief (who was driving) made small talk. "I noticed this back at Mario's funeral too...you didn't wear your British Army uniform. Any particular reason?"
"Other than the fact that I haven't fit into it for decades?" he chuckled, "I left the 22nd SAS when I was 24, that's more than half my lifetime ago. Besides, all those other guys who did wear their uniforms were officers. Mancini...Pagani...both Croce brothers...hell even Priscilla. I think I'd have been the only enlisted-man there, and I am not saluting that bunch of wankers."
Lorenzo laughed, and asked "So why did you leave the SAS when you did?"
"I'll tell you later" replied Alboreto, motioning toward the back seat, "I hardly think that story is appropriate on the way to a funeral. Let's just say a woman and a lot of poor choices were involved."
It was easy to find parking in Mrs. Galati's old neighborhood in the suburbs of Rome. Most of the mourners were her age or close to it, so they either walked, or had their grown children drive them. Lorenzo maneuvered the big Quattroporte into a spot on the side of the church, and they all got out. Marisa was wearing the same dark blue dress with white lace collar (borrowed from the Section 2 "mission closet") that she had used on her first visit to Mrs. Galati. While not specifically a funeral outfit it was sufficiently traditional & somber for the occasion. A girl her age would not be expected to own formal mourning attire anyway.
Both men were on high alert as they entered the portico. "3 nuns, straight ahead" whispered Lorenzo. The 2 had Marisa sandwiched between them.
"I see them" replied Elio in an equally low tone.
"And I can hear everything you're saying!" groaned Marisa, "I've got cybernetic ears, remember?" It would be useless to try to maneuver without her noticing.
"Are you okay with this?" asked her handler.
She took a deep breath and nodded. "I spent a whole mission surrounded by nuns...I'll be okay as long as I know where they are. They can really spook me if I get snuck up on though."
"Just keep us informed on how you're doing" said Elio, "that's a direct order." The girl nodded, but was still tense to the point of trembling a little. The other mourners did not see anything abnormal about the scene. Poor dear, Mari heard some of them whispering, this is probably her first funeral. As they walked into the main hall of the church, and joined the line waiting to pay their respects at the casket Marisa felt a chill like she had never felt on even the most dangerous infiltration mission. All around her were carved statues of the saints, and 14 stained glass windows depicting the Stations of the Cross. Lifeless eyes of stone & glass seemed to follow her...somehow knowing she did not belong.
You are different. Your life has already ended. You have no place among the living.
"Mari!" Her handler's voice snapped her back into reality. "Are you okay?"
"Yes" she replied quickly.
"Well you're crushing my hand" he pointed out. Marisa had not even realized she'd grabbed her master's hand. "Do you want to take a step outside...get a breath of fresh air and try again?"
She relaxed her grip, but did not let go. "No...I'll be fine." I can do it for her.
By that time they had reached the front of the line. Somehow, seeing even the lifeless body of her friend was a great comfort to Marisa. She might feel uncomfortable and unwelcome in this forbidding place, but Mama Galati would never make her feel unwanted. She looked peaceful in her satin-lined casket, hands folded as if she was only taking a nap. Around her neck she wore a chain, and on it hung her husband & son's ring...the rampant unicorn emblem with an emerald eye. Chief Lorenzo, who still carried the vestiges of his Catholic upbringing, crossed himself and said a prayer, and even Elio seemed to be in deep contemplation of things bigger than himself.
Thusly distracted, both men missed Marisa's move. She dashed away from them, faster than either set of hands could catch her. Elio reached for the dart gun hidden in his jacket, but hesitated...hoping he would not be forced to open fire inside a church, right before a funeral mass. Mari had not lost control though. Both of the men breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she went straight to the altar, and collected a chunk of puddled wax from the base of a candle. She returned quickly, reached up into the casket and gently lifted the gold ring. Carefully, the young cyborg pressed its face into the soft wax and made an impression. Checking her work, and finding it to her satisfaction, Marisa polished the ring off with a handkerchief from her purse, then wrapped the wax in that same handkerchief, depositing it in the purse next to her Beretta.
"Jesus Mari, that scared the hell out of us" scolded Elio in a quiet voice (it did not even occur to him that he was blaspheming, inside a church, in front of a casket), "warn us when you're going to do something like that!"
"Sorry" she replied, "I just got this idea and..."
"It's okay" interrupted the Chief, "let's finish up and move along." Marisa nodded, and with a deep sigh she turned to look on Mama Galati's face for the last time. The "robot-girl" reached out and held the old woman's hand for a minute that seemed too short, letting go only when she felt Elio's hand on her shoulder.
There was still almost a half hour until the funeral mass began, so the fratello and their chief walked over to a memorial that had been set up in a corner by some of Antinisca Galati's friends. It was decorated with flowers, and photos from her years of albums. On a table was a guest book, and a few more framed photos...Antinisca when she was young...on her wedding day...with an infant Doriano, and with her son grown. There were also photos of her friends, and the two men were shocked to find among these the group photo of the SWA girls, still in its seashell frame. It had obviously been placed there by friends who had no idea of its significance, and there was nothing in the picture that would compromise the Agency, but Chief Lorenzo played it safe and pocketed the item when nobody was looking.
The rest was a blur in Marisa's mind. The funeral began, mass delivered in Latin and seemed to her like a confusing ritual of standing, sitting & kneeling according to cues she never seemed to catch. The choir sang, the priest completed his ritual, and a white shroud was pulled over the casket, which to Marisa seemed to be the saddest part. Finally, it was time for the casket to be borne out of the chapel. Unfortunately, there seemed to be a shortage of young men...most of Antinisca's male mourners were close to eighty years of age. Mari immediately jumped up to offer her service, but Lorenzo placed a restraining hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry...it would attract too much attention" he told her.
"But somebody has to..." she pleaded.
Her handler nodded, and accepted the task. "Stay with the Chief" he told her, "I'll meet you outside." Marisa watched as Elio, a few brave souls in their mid-seventies, a single family member and two members of the choir hoisted Mama Galati's casket to their shoulders and joined the procession out of the church. The young cyborg would have gladly carried the entire load by herself, but was forbidden from even helping by foolish notions of tradition. At least seeing her handler amongst the pallbearers was a comfort; as a fratello they had done their part to honor their friend. In turn, Marisa & Chief Lorenzo fell in behind the pallbearers, and exited the church in time to see the casket loaded in to the hearse. Mama Galati would be laid to rest with her husband & son in his small town in Apulia, so this was the last Mari would ever see of her.
After the hearse had departed the funeral party slowly broke up. Some of the neighborhood friends were going back to Antinisca's house for an intimate wake and dinner, but these were strangers to Marisa, so she had no reason to go. The thought of being in Mama Galati's house without her there was heartbreaking anyway. Without her smile, her stories, the clapping her hands when she was happy, the world seemed like an emptier place.
Soon only Elio, Marisa, and Lorenzo were left in the square. "Are you ready to head back to the compound?" asked the Chief. "I'm afraid I still have a meeting with the technical staff and orientation for the new handlers."
Alboreto regarded his cyborg, who was silently kicking stones around the small piazza, and replied "I think we'll take a walk first...you go on ahead, we'll find our own way back."
"Just give me a call when you're ready" Pieri offered, "I'll send Olga or Priscilla to come fetch you...maybe Avise, he seems to like borrowing my car."
Marisa was puzzled when she saw the Chief depart without them, but Elio told her "I told the boss we might like to take a walk around the neighborhood first. We can go back home anytime you'd like." She nodded, but said nothing.
Together they walked around the neighborhood with no particular agenda. Elio tried to make small talk a few times, but his cyborg only gave one word answers, or none at all, so he eventually gave up and just decided she'd talk when she was ready. Finally, after about 3 hours of aimless walking, she was.
Marisa sat down on a park bench, with Elio right by her side. "Do you feel like getting some lunch?" he offered.
The girl sighed, "Not really." She took the impression of the ring out of her purse and examined it from all sides. A few raindrops fell down from the trees above, and splashed against the now hardened wax. "Elio, I'm not a very good friend to Mama Galati. I can't even cry for her...I feel like it, but the tears won't come. The worst thing is, any time I think of her being gone, all I can think of is myself. How I won't ever look at her photo albums again, how I won't be sitting in her garden next spring-time, how I will never taste her cooking or hear her laughter again."
"But Marisa, that's perfectly normal...that's how we all grieve, there's nothing to be ashamed of!" argued her handler, "Mama Galati would be happy that you remember the good things she shared with you."
She was not convinced. "I should be thinking of her...not myself."
The old spy took a deep breath and asked, "Do you remember the movie I showed you a few nights before the mission to Croatia? Do you remember what the Wizard of Oz told the Tin Man near the end?"
Mari rolled her eyes and threw herself back against the bench, "Oh, god Elio, why are you bringing that up at a time like this?"
"Just roll with me on this one kiddo, I'm going somewhere with this." He explained, "The Wizard told the Tin Man 'a heart is not judged by how much you love, but by how much you are loved by others.' You loved Mrs. Galati very much, and thinking about how much you will miss her only proves that."
She gave a sniffle...released from the guilt she was feeling, the tears finally started to come. "Do you really think that's true?"
"It must be," replied her handler, "the Wizard himself said it."
She laughed, and wiped away a single tear. "You are such a dork." It was the first time she'd laughed since the victory celebration days before.
"Hey, I thought the conditioning prevented you from saying that!" he jested. "Now what do you say about a late lunch?"
"It is pretty late..." she said, "how about an early dinner?"
A few hours later, after dinner and just as it was beginning to get dark, Elio called headquarters for a ride. "It's going to be about an hour" he reported, closing his phone.
"Can we walk over and take one last look at her house?" asked Mari.
Alboreto agreed; "I think that's a great idea." It was a short walk from the church where the funeral had been held, and soon they were standing side by side on a familiar street. There were still some people inside, but neither Elio nor Marisa really wished to join them. Instead, one of the strangers came outside and joined them. He lit a cigarette, and was startled to see the grey bearded man and a young girl standing, looking at the house. "Oh, hello...you surprised me. Say, I recognize you...you were both at the funeral."
"Yes," replied Elio, shaking hands but not introducing himself, "we were friends of Antinisca Galati."
"I'm Giovanni Bautista" the young man replied, "I'm the grandson of her cousin. I came down from Padua...it's my first time in Rome."
"Inauspicious circumstances," commented Alboreto, "but I hope you have time to enjoy the city before you leave."
As the 2 men released each others hands, Marisa noticed something. "That's Mrs. Galati's ring you're wearing!" she observed with excitement.
"Oh yeah," replied Giovanni, fanning his fingers and looking at the gold ring "I'm told it was an heirloom of the Galati family, but since my Uncle Doriano died there are no more heirs. They were going to bury her with it, but at the last minute it was decided that I should take it. My Uncle and his Father were in SISDE, and the GIS respectively, so the family said a Carabinieri member should have it."
"You're in the military police?" asked Alboreto, observing that he wore no uniform.
The young man explained "I'm joining up at the end of the year, after Christmas."
"Very good" complimented the older man. "We are well acquainted with that ring, as you may have already noticed. It has always been owned by heroes of Italia, and only once was it worn by a dishonorable man. He struck down by another hero though, who cut it from his hand and avenged the Galati family." He gave Mari a glance...she was smiling at his interpretation of the story, which was also the story of her first kill.
"Wow" observed Bautista, "I didn't know all that." He regarded his ring solemnly and said "I promise you I'll carry it with honor, and pass it on in my time."
Elio nodded approvingly, and Marisa added "Mama Galati would have liked that."
Giovanni had finished his cigarette, so he hastily invited them in. "We have friends & family inside, won't you join us? There's plenty of food, and wine."
"Sorry, we have a ride coming to pick us up soon" apologized Elio.
"Mr. Bautista," ventured Marisa, "do you mind if we take some cuttings from her garden before we leave?"
He shrugged his shoulders. "Take whatever you like. A new owner takes possession of the deed tomorrow."
"So soon?" asked Alboreto with surprise.
"She sold it 10 years ago by reverse mortgage. That meant she got income from the new owner's payments, but she got to stay in her home until she died." explained Giovanni, "The new gentleman and his family move begin moving in a few days from now."
The two men shook hands again before Bautista left them. "It was a pleasure meeting you" said Elio, and Marisa added "Be careful in the Carabinieri."
"I will" laughed Giovanni, shaking her hand as well, "Have a good night."
Peppermint is a perennial plant, which reproduces itself by sending out runners. For that reason it must be kept isolated, or it will easily take over an entire garden. A patch of it grew on the grounds of the agency, in its own round brick garden, and was still growing, years and even decades after the time of Marisa, Claes, Elio Alboreto & Pieri Lorenzo. All those years later, no one could explain how it originally got there, or when it had been planted.
END