Chapter XX: Next Of Kin
Florence, Italy
The flashing lights and loud techno pop reverberates through the spacious dance hall. Partiers of all kinds pack the house of the impressive four tiered building whose style reflects classic Greco-Roman architecture complete with lavish balconies that overlook a main dance floor. This is the swanky Passerella or Club Catwalk in English , one of the foremost premiere hot spots of the Florence night life. Out amongst the party goers is attractive twenty two year old Allison Morales, dressed to the nines as she sips a cocktail in one hand and holds her phone with the other. The beautiful young woman takes turns dancing with several young men as she snaps selfies with each one of them.
Another youthful young man, twenty five year old Carlo Vicente, handsome and tall, taps Allison from behind "Ali, it's getting late amore. Think you might wanna call it a night?" he says, his thick Italian accent ever apparent.
While still dancing with someone and with her back still turned towards Carlo, she asks "What time is it?" sounding as if she only half heard what he said.
"It's almost four in the morning." he responds.
Allison casually waves off the guy she was dancing with, turns around and throws her arms around Carlo with abandon "Oh Carlo, I could always count on you to be my Mother Hen. Maybe we should get married?" she says sarcastically.
"Yea maybe." he says with a longing in his eyes as a romantic slow tune begins to play.
Allison rests her head on his chest "Just one more song, ok? Than I promise we'll leave."
"Whatever you say love." says Carlo, placing his hands ever so gently on Allison's waist as the song continues.
As the young pair stumble their way up the steps of Allison's apartment building, Carlo is extra careful to keep her steady. The night club wasn't far from where Allison lived and being that Carlo's own villa was nearby in and of itself, the duo simply walked the route back. Before too long they were at the door to her flat and the young woman drunkenly fumbles through her various keys, finally finding the right one.
"Well this was fun." says Carlo with a hint of nervousness in his voice.
Allison smiles warmly at her friend as she squeezes his face "I love you Carl, your like the big brother I never had." she says, kissing him on the cheek.
He grins sheepishly "Anytime Ali, you know I'm always here."
"I do…" she says slurring her words as she opens her door "Call you tomorrow, kay." she says as she struggles to maintain her balance while walking into the apartment before abruptly closing the door in Carlo's face.
Left standing in the hallway at a slight loss for words, the young Italian just looks towards the ground and whispers to himself "Sure, tomorrow." he says in the most defeated tone as he slowly walks back down the stairs.
As he exit's the apartment building, Carlo looks over and notices that the sun is just about to break over the horizon, signaling another morning in Florence. A grin crosses his lips as the dawn of another day seems to reassure him "C'e sempre un altro giorno."(Always another day) he says to himself as he begins the trek back to his small flat.
As Carlo walks along, he passes several alleyways and about half a mile into his walk, he hearsthe sound of a female voice call after him "Mi scusi giovanotto!(Excuse me young man)"
Carlo turns around to see a well dressed woman with short dark hair coming out of the alley and holding a map "Mi dispiace, potresti auitarme a trovare qualcosa?(I'm sorry, could you help me find something)"
Carlo smiles, thinking this woman to be some kind of lost tourist. He gingerly walks back to aid his assistance "Certo singnorina, cosa stai cercando di torvare?(Of course miss, what are you trying to find)"
"Sto cercando visitare la Loggia dei Lanzi.(I'm trying to find Loggia dei Lanzi.)" she says in friendly manner.
Carlo chuckles a bit as he wipes his mouth "Temo che tu sia dalla parte sbagliata della citta"(I'm afraid your on the wrong side of the city").
The woman places her hand on her chest as if frightfully embarrassed "Oh solo la mia fortuna, ma forse puo auitarme."(Oh just my luck, but maybe he can help me).
Carlo looks puzzled for a moment and glances behind him to see who the woman is talking about. A split second later, he sees a fist flying towards his face which connects with such force, that Carlo could hear his jaw almost dislocate from the rest of his mouth. The punch sends the young man tumbling into the alleyway and he crashes into some trash bins before landing on the ground with a hard thud. Given no time to recover, the male assailant grabs Carlo by the collar and violently backhands him, which results in the young man being knocked out cold.
The woman joins the assaulting man in the alley and smiles, looking down at the unconscious Carlo "They're so gullible aren't they?"
The man tries to wipe away some of the tiny spurts of Carlo's blood that had gotten on his shirt "Always."
"Alright, let's get him up to the staging room. We don't have a lot of time to get this done." says the woman.
The man nods as he follows the woman deeper into the dark alleyway, dragging Carlo's body in tow…
Allison had only managed to make it to her sink, bending over it for support. The drinks had really caught up with her and she found herself dry heaving. She splashes some cold water onto her face before taking a few sips. Feeling a little better after having the water she slides down the side of the cabinets coming to rest on the kitchen floor. Her phone goes off with the notification of a text message and she opens it.
Adri Sis: Ali, please call me! I'm worried about mom, I think something's up!
Allison just sets the device down without responding. This was the tenth text that Adrianna had sent, but Allison hadn't replied to any of them. Another text comes through.
Adri Sis: Love you…
The text is accompanied by a little heart emoji and this seems to send Allison over the edge. Whether because of her inebriated state or her own repressed emotions about her family, the young woman breaks down, sobbing profusely. She hurriedly gets up and this time vomits into the sink, a guttural cry of sheer despair escaping her lungs. After wiping the excess bile from her mouth, the desperate young lady stumbles to her bedroom, where she collapses onto the bed. Grabbing a small photo on her nightstand, one depicting a happy scene of her and her father Marcos swinging at a park, Allison is almost blinded by tears. She runs her thumb over the glass "Why…" she says "Why!" she yells as she suddenly hurls the picture across the room, smashing it against the far wall "Fuck you! Fuck you and everything you did to us!" she screams. She begins to stomp the picture as it lay on the floor with such rage that before too long, the image is reduced to mere fibrous shreds when she is finished. But this seems to bring no relief to her pain as she cannot stop her tears. Every single emotion she had ever had seemed to flow through her all at once. All the pain, frustration, grief, anguish and sadness all took hold at that very moment. The horror of finding out her father was a serial killer, all the lives he had so mercilessly stolen; how the media demonized herself, sister and mother…and to top it all off, getting the news of his gruesome death. It was all too much for Allison to bare. She threw herself onto the bed once more and just continued to sob, her cries transforming into agonized whimpers, much like that of a child who had lost something dear to itself "Daddy…I miss you."
Carlo suddenly flinches awake as he feels a cold and calloused hand lightly tap against his cheek. The young Italian finds himself strapped to a chair, with dried blood trialing from his nose. Both he and his abductors are situated in a sparely furnished hotel room that sits just across from Allison's apartment building.
The man who had attacked him stands looming overhead as he crouches down to look Carlo in the eyes "Fucking finally. Thought you'd never wake up."
"Cosa sta succedendo aqui?(What's going on here)" asks Carlo, obviously shaken and frightened.
"Yea I don't do the whole Italiano bullshit ok pal, English por favor." says the man.
The woman who had lured Carlo in is also present as she makes an appearance "Forgive my friend little one, he's just a bit to high strung sometimes. Didn't mean to rough you up so bad, but we're on kind of a tight schedule here." she says wiping some of the dried blood from Carlo's face.
"Look just take my wallet and let me loose, you don't have to do all this." says Carlo, his voice breaking.
"That's not what this is about Carly, not even close. Sadly your just a useful prop that we're gonna use to lure your little friend out." says the woman.
"It's pretty simple Luigi, your gonna make a phone call to little miss Allison and engage her in a small conversation of what exactly we tell you to say, otherwise we're gonna put a bullet in your head." says the man.
"What do you want with Allison?" asks Carlo.
"That's not really your concern son, we just need you to do what we tell you to do, understand?" says the woman.
A look of anger suddenly flashes over the young man's battered face "No! Your not gonna hurt Allison. Do what you want to me!" he says defiantly.
"I told you this was a waste of time! Why don't we just burst into the apartment and shoot the bitch? No questions asked." says the man.
"No, don't hurt her!" yells Carlo out of reaction.
The man cracks Carlo across the face with the butt of his pistol, causing the young man to spit out a wad of blood "Shut up, will ya!"
"For fuck's sake Boyd, calm down! Now you know we have our orders. Father Emmett specifically wanted it done this way." retorts the woman.
"Oh c'mon Charmaine! This girl's father has already killed four of us! Brothers Lawrence, Corden, Ferris and Father Davenport! Who cares how it's done! The message will be sent regardless and our brothers will be avenged!" shouts Boyd.
"Boyd, enough! The Church's vengeance will be had. But we have to do it right and by Father's Emmett's instruction. "
"He's all about his goddamn poetic flare isn't he?" says Boyd staring out the window.
"Are you questioning the authority of The Church and by extension the will of The Old Ones, Brother?" asks Charmaine, her voice taking on a menacing tone.
"No, I am not. I just question the logic of going through this entire charade when we can just…" Boyd starts to say.
"Good! Than we proceed as planned, correct?" says Charmaine cutting him off.
Boyd looks down as if put in his place "Correct…" he says reluctantly.
Charmaine than turns her attention back to Carlo "Now as we were saying, you do what were asking and we promise not hurt Allison. But if you don't, my friend here is going to knock her door down and shoot her while she sleeps. You don't want that do you?" she says as Boyd cocks back the slide on his gun in full view of Carlo.
"Oh God no." says Carlo, his false face of bravado having fallen away as his eyes begin to tear up.
"You gotta little thing for her don't you?" asks Charmaine in a mocking tone as Carlo whimpers "Now like Boyd said, it's real simple. We'll tell you exactly what you gotta say." says Charmaine as she begins to scroll through Carlo's phone.
Back inside the apartment, Allison had somehow managed to get to sleep when the shrill ringing of her phone causes her to slowly open her eyes. Reaching for the device, she doesn't even check the I.D. and immediately answers "Hello, sis?" she says expecting it to be Adrianna on the other end.
"Ali, it's me."
"Carlo?"
"Look Ali, I don't have a lot of time, but I need you to meet me at my villa, now." says Carlo.
"Carlo, what's wrong?" says Allison, worry splashed across her features.
"I don't have time to explain Ali, just please do as I ask."
"Carlo I don't understand what's…"
"Ali please, it's about your father! He's alive Ali and if you want to see him you have to do exactly what I'm telling you! Please, this isn't a joke!"
"What do you want me to do?"
"Meet me at my place as soon as you can. I'll explain everything." says Carlo as the line goes dead.
"Hello, Carlo…hello!" shouts Ali as she drops her phone. With nothing but instinct and adrenaline coursing through her, Allison grabs her keys and bolts out of her apartment without a second thought.
Charmaine takes the phone away from Carlo's ear and powers it off "That was perfect Carlo, really well done."
"What now?" asks Carlo.
"Well I really don't think your gonna like the answer to that question." says Charmaine.
"I did what you asked and you promised not to hurt me or Allison!" yells Carlo.
"Oh here she comes. Slide him over, he's gonna wanna see this." says Boyd as he stands by the window.
Charmaine drags Carlo over, still bound to the chair until he is situated directly in front of the window. Boyd unfurls a length of duct tape and jams it tightly over Carlo's mouth.
"You like fireworks Mario? Well get ready, cuz your about to see something we in the States like to call the grand finale!" says Boyd as Carlo struggles against his bonds.
A few seconds later, Allison runs out of her building and jumps into her car, which is parked on the side of the road in direct view of the hotel room in which Carlo is being held.
"Wait for it." says Boyd with sadistic enthusiasm.
Carlo tries to scream through the tape in a vain attempt to get Allison's attention, but too late. As soon as the young woman turns the key in the ignition, the vehicle explodes in a violent fireball sending flaming debris in all directions and sends shock waves a few feet around. Carlo just let's out a helpless gasp as tears run down his face as his sobs reach a manic and uncontrollable pitch.
"Oh don't feel so bad Mussolini, cuz your next." says Boyd as he coldly shoots the young Italian in the head, silencing him "I do believe that's a wrap." he says addressing Charmaine.
"See what I mean, poetry." the woman says as she picks up the phone to dial in another call "Father Emmett…Brother Boyd and I have completed the task. Our Brothers are avenged."
"Excellent Sister Weiss. Be sure to apprehend the body of young Miss Morales and The Church will proceed with our retrieval plans for the Colonel. Very well done, both of you." says Emmett on the other end.
"Yes Father." says Charmaine as she hangs up.
Emmett lowers his phone with a look of triumph on his face and turns to Lundy "All according to plan."
"According to plan? I really fail to see how killing one of his daughters is bringing us any closer to finding the Colonel. After this he'll come after us even harder. He's going to want…" says Lundy.
"Revenge?" says Emmett finishing her sentence "Exactly. You see the Colonel will be so blinded by rage that'll it'll make him careless. He should come right to us."