I don't own Crossing Lines! My native language is Dutch and I'm dyslectic so sorry for any mistakes. Thank you for the reviews, favorites and alerts!

Chapter 9

The Italian countryside rushed by rather quickly. Tommy was in the car with Hickman, Arabela Sebastian and Vincente who was driving. They were followed by Vincente's men and some of the local police.

'Giovanni Vittoria spent a lot of energy on keeping his activities a secret or at least not connected to him,' Vincente told them. 'He was brilliant that way. He managed to keep it from the outside world and his family. To them he was a loving and kind man. A family man and he gave money to charity...but we learned that he was a true ruler within his crime family. A harsh ruler. The initiation of the family was a V being burned into their forearm; a sign that you belonged to the family. Giovanni accepted no failure or defiance. Whoever failed or defied him got punished.' Tommy took a deep breath. That couldn't be good for Eva. She had clearly defied him: she joined the anti-mafia taskforce. The taskforce that was trying to catch him. He voiced the worry within the car and it was silent for a while.

'Eva never felt like she defied anyone,' Vincente said. It sounded a bit defensive to Tommy and he glared at the back head of the detective who continued without noticing. 'Not when she joined, nor when she arrested mafia members. She chose to do it, because she thought she did the right thing.

'I never said she defied her father,' Tommy contradicted, 'but her father would probably see it that way...' Which meant she would get punished. Tommy looked out of the window, hoping they didn't need much longer to reach the destination. He should have come to Spain when she called him, but he was coming now. He just hoped it wasn't too late.

Tommy's leg was moving nervously and uncontrollably and he noticed Hickman glancing at him. It was a glance of worry; worried whether Tommy could keep his head straight. He forced his leg to stop and he gave Hickman a nod. He was going to be okay. As long as they arrived at the house rather quickly.


There were sounds outside. Sounds that Eva hadn't heard before. She slowly opened her eyes and sat up. It was the first real sound she heard from outside: hurried footsteps crossing the garden, and shooting. She couldn't focus on the words they were shouting but it was clear something was going on. She fought to keep her eyes opened. Exhaustion was upon her, creeping up closer and closer. But she needed to stay awake, alert. She couldn't fall asleep now that something was going on. Who knew who would enter the room? Someone to take her away or someone to kill her. She didn't expect her father to come. He had stayed away after the...incident. The look in his eyes in the moment told her enough. It was disappointment. There was no way that he was planning on letting her go. This room that had become so familiar to her would become all she would see for the rest of her life.

Eva's eyelids were heavy and sitting upright became harder and harder. Her head was pounding and she felt the need to rest. When her head touched the pillow she needed to close her eyes. She needed to rest her eyes for just a moment.


It wasn't a very suspicious house. Just a big manor from brownish stone. A place where a rich family could live and children could play in the garden. Nothing from the outside indicated that there was a mafia family inside. Except several cars out front and more cars on the driveway with police standing near them.

'There are twenty people inside the manor,' Vincente informed them. 'There were four men spotted outside, armed. According to Intel Giovanni Vittoria is inside. The hostage is suspected to be there as well. We want the hostage unharmed and Giovanni Vittoria captured alive.' Tommy winced at the word hostage. It was so impersonal. They all knew who the hostage was...but he knew that was the way to brief the team. He just had to deal with the terms.

'...understood?' Vincente asked and Tommy looked up. The members of the taskforce all gave a short nod and they prepared to enter the house. Tommy took a deep breath and checked his Kevlar vest again. He glanced at the manor, waiting patiently for the go ahead. Vincente was talking to his taskforce, pointing and making gestures. A hand landed on his shoulder and Tommy turned around. Hickman was standing behind him.

'You okay?' he asked.

'Yeah,' Tommy answered curtly. 'Ready to finish this.' He gripped his gun when he noticed some of the people moving towards the house. He was more than ready to get this over with and return home with Eva and the team.

'Tommy...' Hickman's worried voice stopped Tommy from moving and he turned to the older man. 'Don't do anything stupid. We're all getting out of here.' Tommy gave him another short nod and headed to his team to breach the manor.


They entered through the front of the house with three teams, splitting up in the hallway. Tommy's team, consisting of taskforce men and Sebastian, headed to the first floor, sweeping every room they passed. The floor was surprisingly empty and Tommy began to wonder if there was a specific reason he was sent to this floor. Then one of the taskforce men signaled that there was someone in the next room. Tommy took a deep breath when he entered the office. In the room he met with Giovanni Vittoria. The way the man was sitting at his desk made Tommy furious. He was calm, his hands resting on the table, a little leaned back in his chair. It was as if he was waiting. Tommy raised his gun and pointed it at the man's forehead.

'Where is Eva?' he asked. 'Where is your daughter?' Giovanni smiled and he shrugged.

'Non parlo ingles,' he answered and rage filled Tommy's mind. He gripped his gun tighter.

'Tommy...' Sebastian warned him and Tommy took a deep breath, lowering his gun. He kept his eyes on Giovanni, who didn't do anything as a taskforce member handcuffed him. The officer guided him out of the room and Tommy followed. From his ear piece he heard the word 'clear' being called repeatedly. They weren't finding Eva. He looked at the man who he knew was holding Eva somewhere and something snapped. He grabbed Giovanni out of the officer's hands and he pushed the man against the wall, holding his gun next to Giovanni's head.

'Where is Eva?!' Tommy demanded and again Giovanni smiled. Tommy gripped his gun and pressed it against Giovanni's forehead. 'Do you understand this, huh?! Where is Eva?'

'Tommy!' Sebastian shouted. 'Put the gun down.'

'No!' Tommy yelled at the German tech. 'He is the one who knows where Eva is! He will tell us. I will make sure of that!' From the corner of his eye he saw the taskforce members with their hands on their still holstered guns, ready to raise it when needed. Tommy couldn't care less whether they shot him. They just needed to know where Eva was. He pressed the gun barrel more into Giovanni's forehead. 'He needs to tell us!'

'Tommy!' Sebastian repeated, but his tone was softer this time. Thoughts were raging through Tommy's mind. Was he really going to shoot Eva's father? Without a location? How else was he going to find her? Hickman's voice gave him the answer to keep his mind from raging.

'I found her! Tommy, I found Eva! She's in the basement!' Tommy looked at Giovanni and Tommy smiled. The man could do nothing anymore.

'I'm on my way!' he said and he let Giovanni go, racing down the stairs towards the basement. The house was big and he had to get to the other side.


Tommy jumped over a dead body that was slumped against the wall, blood dripping from the hole in his chest. He didn't give the man much thought as he ran through the corridor. Two officers were standing in front of an opened door and Tommy slowed down. The small room was already quite filled with Hickman, Vincente and another officer standing inside. The officer stepped aside and Tommy saw Eva sitting on the bed, hugging her knees and mumbling words he could not understand. Her left hand was bandaged and the part Tommy could see of her was bruised. Hickman grabbed his arm as he walked towards her.

'She doesn't seem to respond to us,' he warned him. 'Be careful.' Tommy nodded. He hadn't planned other than treading carefully. He didn't want to cause her more pain. Tommy crouched in front of the bed, clearly visible if she lifted her head. Gently he reached out and put his hand on hers. She was trembling and his heart sank a little. What had she been gone through?

'Eva?' he whispered but there was no response. She kept her head bowed down, rocking herself. Tommy turned to the others in the room and motioned them to leave the room. It was crowded and Eva had been locked up here; she must have gotten used to the empty room. To not seeing so many people. Maybe she would snap back in reality. Tommy rubbed small circles on her hand, but nothing seemed to get her attention. He ran the possibilities through his head. How was he going to get through to her? He tried to hear what she was mumbling but he couldn't make sense of it. It was like she was speaking in...He closed his eyes. That would make sense. Digging in his memory he tried to remember Italian.

'Ciao, bella,' he whispered and to his relief Eva looked up. Tears were in her eyes and she blinked several times. He smiled at her, glad to see her face. It was bruised and cut, but it was still Eva.

'Tommy...' she stumbled and he saw her lip tremble. Her eyes didn't leave his face, as if she didn't believe he was real. He squeezed her hand and Eva began to cry. Tommy pulled her into his arms.

'It's okay,' he whispered to her. 'We got you.' Holding her was all he had wanted these last couple of days and now that he was, everything felt good. Stress and worry were leaving his body, being replaced by pure relief. She grasped his shirt tightly, as if she feared he would leave her again. Tommy stroked her hair and rested his chin gently on her head. 'You're safe.' At the door he saw Hickman looking into the room and Tommy gave him a little nod. Then he pushed Eva a bit back so he could see her face again.

'Are you ready to go?' he asked and Eva nodded. Tommy stood up and held his hand out to her. She grabbed it and with his support she managed to stand up. He felt her shake and he held her tighter, giving her a moment to find her balance. This was going to happen at her pace. She was in charge in this moment. Slowly she raised her foot to take the first step, but it didn't go as she wanted. She lost her balance and fell into Tommy's arms. Tommy watched her and then scooped her in his arms. Eva didn't resist and he knew she felt weak herself. Any other time she would have told him to put her down. That she would to it herself. Her head rested against her shoulder.

'Follow me,' Vincente said when Tommy walked out of the room. 'The ambulance is waiting outside.' When they got upstairs, Eva winced and she shielded her eyes. The sun was shining brightly, filling the manor with light. However, inside the room it had been relatively dark.

'Are you okay?' Tommy asked worried. 'It's not much farther.' Eva nodded. He tried to shield her somewhat from the light as he carried her to the ambulance. Sebastian and Arabela stood next to it, seeming worried when Tommy came towards them, carrying Eva, but they didn't say anything. They let them through and Tommy put Eva down on the stretcher.

'They are going to take you to the hospital now, okay?' Tommy informed her and Eva grabbed his hand.

'Stay,' she whispered hoarsely and Tommy didn't need anything more to get into the ambulance with her. He held her hand tight and rested his forehead against it. Finally she was back with him.

TBC.