The first thing any good Marine did before embarking on a mission was to gather as much intel on the enemy as he possibly could before making his move and that was exactly what Mac Taylor set out to do first. They had decided to split up Mac and Hawkes where to reconnoitre Villa Rosa whilst Flack contacted a friend of a friend of a friend of Danny's brother Louie regarding acquiring the firepower they would need. None of them particularly liked having to operate this way it went against the grain completely but it was a necessary evil and if it meant Stella came home safely then it was a small enough price to pay in the great scheme of things. Leaving the SUV they had hired along a small dirt track Mac and Hawkes climbed up high above Villa Rosa the warm early morning sun on their backs "Here Hawkes" Mac indicated to a small copse of pine trees "We use this as an observation point it gives us a bird's eye view of Villa Rosa and the trees should be enough to camouflage us both." Quickly and quietly the two men unpacked their equipment setting up their observation post; "Mac come here and see this" Hawkes smiled staring through the telescopic lens of the camera he had just erected. Mac stopped what he was doing and peered through the lens into the garden of Villa Rosa Hawkes watched transfixed as his boss's lips curled into the biggest grin he'd ever seen "Stella" Mac said softly "My Stella."
In the three days since she had woken up here at Villa Rosa Stella had put her time to good use her afternoon's were taken up by Marco they would talk for hours or he would show her family photo's but her mornings she mostly had to herself so once she had eaten breakfast and dressed she had taken it upon herself to explore every inch of both the house and it's surrounding gardens her guards ever present keeping a watch over her .Villa Rosa was beautiful she had to admit that dating from the early 18th century it had ten bedroom's including her own, two reception rooms, a study Marco used for 'Family Business' he said; a library, a huge kitchen and dining room not to mention a ballroom and underneath the Villa it's own set of wine cellars. It was the wine cellars which interested Stella most; all the more obvious entrances and exits to Villa Rosa where heavily guarded by armed men no-one was getting in or out of them however on the lake side of the house a little jetty stood with a small dinghy attached if she could reach it then maybe she could escape. Stella had noticed a grated archway underneath the main garden one morning just above water level true she would have to swim a fair distance but it could be done she was sure of it but first things first she needed access to the wine cellars.
Her chance came sooner than she expected on their second afternoon together Marco presented her with a small blue velvet jewellery box "Open it" He beamed at her like an excited child so carefully she pulled the lid back to reveal a pair of exquisite diamond drop earrings "Oh no…..Marco I can't except these" She shook her head. "Nonsense of course you can …..A father can give his daughter a present can't he? Think of it as backdating for all the birthdays and christmases I've missed over the years………" He started off on one of those mammoth coughing sessions again. "How much time do you have left?" She said softly "Ah…….long enough shoudda known I couldn't fool you for long" Marco sighed "Because I'm a Detective" She offered. "No because you're a Bonasera anyway my dear I'm throwing you a party it's high time you were introduced to the rest of the family and there a few friends I would like you to meet" He nodded. That gave Stella an idea "May I help with the planning? Choose the wine maybe" She suggested helpfully.
Her fact finding sojourn to the wine cellar proved fruitful, the guards she distracted by getting them to search for a variety of wines…. tasters for her and Mr Bonasera to test prior to making a final selection for her party she had told them. Whilst they were busy she looked for the entrance to the tunnel finally she found it behind a shelf of Cabinet sauvignon 67 the bars had rusted over the years and the mortar holding them in place was damp a quick shake proved to Stella that they should be easily removed. So the following morning she settled down in the rose garden by her Mother's rose to go over her escape plan. She had a possible route now and she had the perfect opportunity tomorrow night during the party her guard's attention would be on everyone but her she just needed an excuse to slip away an upset stomach should suffice then she could simply vanish into the crowd Marco had told her he was expected roughly 150 guests. There was one problem she needed the key to the wine cellar door Marco had one the only other one she knew of hung on Louisa's belt she had a key for every room in Villa Rosa she'd told Stella because of her cleaning duties somehow she would have to get hold of it.
"Good morning little cousin" a man's voice shook her out of her revelry and she looked up to find a dark haired, dark eyed late thirtish man of athletic build about the same height as Mac with his arms crossed leaning against a rose trellis grinning at her; even though she had never seen his face she knew that voice anywhere "Joseph Bonasera I presume" She said. "Very good little cousin may I take a seat? Silly me of course I can" He sat down next to her before she could reply, high up above them Mac Taylor tensed "Easy Mac…easy" Hawkes advised him "We'll deal with Joseph Bonasera soon enough you go off lone ranger now and we'll never get Stella back." "What do you want" Stella asked down below them, "Hello Joseph, nice to see you Joseph, how's it going Joseph that's what you're supposed to ask your favourite cousin" He sniggered slipping an arm around her shoulders. Instinctively Stella jabbed her elbow straight into his guts and sprung up to leave "You're not my favourite anything unless you count road kill" She sneered at him.
"Ouchies……" He rubbed his stomach "Never mind I can be patient I like it when a woman plays hard to get" He snickered "See I even brought you a welcome home gift so to speak" With that he withdrew a book from his jacket pocket. "Sofia's diary" Stella was amazed "Catch" Joseph called out tossing it to her "Since you were enjoying it so much I thought you might like to read the end." "What's in this for you" Stella questioned catching hold of the Diary "The times they are a changing little cousin you and I we are the next generation of Bonasera's your pops and mine are on their way to extinction" He stood up bridging the space between them in one stride "After tomorrow night you and me we are everything play your cards right I might even marry you" before she could stop him Joseph grabbed a hold of her arms and pinned her to the rose trellis he'd been leaning on earlier then he shoved his lips against hers trying to pry her mouth open with his tongue. Simultaneously Stella did two things firstly she bit his lips as hard as she possibly could till she could taste his blood and then she raised her knee jack hammering it into Joseph's groin. It had the desired affect making him spring back groaning in pain "That's it little cousin you keep fighting me that way it'll be all the sweeter when I have you and I will have you" Joseph sneered wiping the blood off his chin "Your pops can't protect you anymore." "You'll have to excuse me I feel the sudden need to rinse my mouth out with bicarbonate of soda" Stella called back over her shoulder as she strode back to the house smirking all the way.
Mac Taylor very rarely could say he felt truly scared, annoyed, anxious or apprehensive maybe but scared no …..He'd been scared earlier though, scared for Stella alone down there where he couldn't protect her. It had taken every iota of self control that Mac possessed to stop himself from running headlong down the hillside and hurling himself through Villa Rosa's gates armed guards or no armed guards when he saw Joseph Bonasera's attempt to kiss Stella "She's Ok …..He came of the worse she's ok……" He silently repeated to himself over and over again. "We can't wait we need to get her out of there Joseph Bonasera will harm Stella if we don't move quickly" He said out loud; "We may have a way in look" Hawkes pointed to the main gate of Villa Rosa where a series of different colour vans had started to arrive "Caterer's, Marquee, lighting I'd say someone is planning a party." "Good ….. Get your tux out of moth balls Hawkes we're going dancing" Mac nodded.
They met up with Flack back at the hotel "At least we know she's still alive" He said when Hawkes filled him in on what they had seen "The party though that fits in with what I've been hearing it's the talk of the town and it's happening tomorrow night 7.30pm start …..Rumour has it that something big is going down." "Did Adam get back to us with the blue prints for Villa Rosa?" Mac asked "Yep already downloaded them to your lap top" Flack answered flipping it open to demonstrate "Good this is the kitchen area here see" Mac indicated "Place is going to be crawling with hired help so no-one is going to notice two more waiters that's you and me Flack, Hawkes I want you high above us in the observation post we set up earlier….How did you get on with your shopping list anyway Flack?" "I will never complain about 5th Avenue again…..Louie's contact did good though take a look" He opened a holdall up to reveal several handguns, a sniper's rifle, some two way ear pieces for communications and a pair of cruel looking hunting knives. "Hawkes you take the rifle and one of the hand guns we need you to cover us once we get Stella out…..there's a dinghy tied up at the back of Villa Rosa I intend to take us out that way it's too risky to try for the front gates" Mac instructed "Just as long as you don't expect me to actually hit anything" Hawkes grinned "Just don't hit us" Flack quipped "All I need is for you to cause a distraction and buy us time" Mac assured him. "Which just leaves you and me" Flack smiled "We take the other handguns and a knife each …..We grab Stella and then we get out ASAP don't take any chances Flack shoot to kill but leave Joseph Bonasera to me he is mine understood?" "Absolutely" He agreed wholeheartedly.
Unfortunately it turned out that Joseph was staying at Villa Rosa till the party the following night "Keep your friends close and your enemy's closer" Marco had told her cryptically. Thankfully other than having to share a dinner table with him he'd kept out of Stella's way the rest of the evening claiming he'd walked into a cupboard door when Marco had asked about his swollen lip but for the first time ever Stella was actually grateful to the guards outside her room she knew not even Joseph would risk taking them on. So she had spent the rest of the evening finishing her translation of Sofia's diary it had been a real eye opener now she knew understood what must have really happened all those years earlier and when she got out of here and she was getting out of here with Mac's help Stella swore she would make sure her Mother's killer was brought to justice oddly though the diary ended just after Sofia arrived in America feeling along the spine Stella realized several pages had been torn out.
Parting Louisa from the key to the wine cellar was easier than she had thought it would be, when Louisa had arrived with her breakfast tray the following morning as had become customary Stella arranged to accidentally on purpose spill her coffee all down Louisa's dress and onto the carpet. She then insisted Louisa take her dress off whilst she sponged the stain for her and despite several protestations of "It's alright Miss Stella, It doesn't matter Miss Stella I will take care of it later Miss Stella" from the Maid 'Miss Stella' would not take no for an answer. Leaving Louisa alone in the bathroom to finish cleaning herself up Stella insisted on making a start on the carpet closing the bathroom door behind her she hurried over to the wicker chair where Louisa had left her belt when she'd undressed flicking through the pile of keys Stella unhooked the one for the wine cellar door and slid it under her pillow then she knelt down on the carpet with a small towel in hand just in time for Louisa to find her mopping up the coffee "Everything alright?" Stella smiled a cheery grin up at her "Yes Miss Stella but leave that I'll clean it up later" Louisa insisted. Once she had left Stella lay back on the bed and sighed in relief sliding the key out from underneath the pillow "Ok so not the most original plan ever but it worked all the same" She grinned to herself but more importantly it brought her one step closer to Mac…..Mac she wondered what he was doing right now was he thinking of her because other than getting out of Villa Rosa all she could think about was Mac ….He would never stop looking for her Stella was certain of that but maybe just maybe she could surprise Mac and find him first.
"You look beautiful" Marco told her as she walked into the sitting room Stella had very carefully chosen her dress for the evening it was a black sequined ankle length number with a slit that ended just above her left knee, the skirt was loose fitting and billowed when she walked. Underneath she had slipped on a pair of sweat pants rolled up to her hips and a ribbed vest as soon as she got into the wine cellar she intended to ditch the dress and heels she could hardly walk in the damn things let alone swim in them. "You're wearing the earrings I gave you I see" He beamed "Thank you that means a great deal to me" "Your welcome" She replied "Marco…..I before the party gets started I just wanted you to know that in another lifetime I think you would have been a wonderful Father" She genuinely believed that in her conversations with him she'd come to rather like the man despite his profession and before she left Villa Rosa for good she wanted him to know it. "Does that mean I may get a hug?" Marco asked "I'd like that" Stella grinned allowing Marco to wrap his arms around her "After this evening Stella everything will be well you will never need worry again" Marco whispered into her curls "What do you mean by that?" Stella was curious but she never got her answer because behind her the sitting room door swung open "Oh goody group hug time can anyone join in?" Joseph interrupted.
"Well Mr Bond shall we synchronize watches" Flack joked he and Mac dressed in Tuxes with white jackets were waiting for the catering companies van to arrive at Villa Rosa. They had staked out a spot just out of view of the Villa to watch "Its coming" Flack announced "Yes I can see that thank you" Mac replied through gritted teeth driving the SVU onto the road completely blocking the Caterer's path to the Villa. He then climbed out of the vehicle popping the hood as he went Flack for his part ducked down out of sight ; two minutes later the caterer arrived to find Mac 'fixing' his engine swearing in Italian the driver of the van jumped out and approached Mac who just shrugged . The driver bent over the engine to see what was wrong and Mac slid his gun straight into his ribs "Don't make a sound" He hissed betting that the man understood his instruction in English or not. Flack crept behind the van and waited whilst Mac marched the driver into view gun firmly pressed to his head beckoning to the other people inside the van to get out. The back door slid open and the tip of a gun pointed out Flack grabbed the owners wrist quickly and snapped it back sharply causing the man to shriek out in pain releasing the gun in the process "I said quietly Flack" Mac muttered under his breath. Altogether there were five of them three men and two women Mac and Flack bound and gagged them leaving them in the SVU which they hid alongside the road. They then calmly drove the Caterer's van straight through Villa Rosa's gates nodding politely to the guards as they passed by. From his vantage point high above them Hawkes smiled so far so good the plan was working they just needed to find Stella and get the hell out of there…….but behind him something stirred in the cool night air.