Chapter 10: Sighting
Caterina sat next to her sister and in front of Triela in the back of one of the Agency's white, unmarked vans, twirling her machine pistol like a cowboy twirling a six-shooter. At the same time she tapped her foot on the floor impatiently – with anticipation – staring blankly into a space in the corner of the van. No one said a word and the only sounds in the vehicle were of Caterina's boots on metal and the clicking of the parts of her gun as it spun around her finger over and over again.
Triela stared uneasily at the rotating Tuma, leaning away from it instinctively. "Don't do that," she finally said to Caterina, sounding concerned and uncomfortable.
Caterina continued to twirl her pistol but looked up from the empty space that she had been staring into and asked somewhat defiantly, "Why?"
"Because," Triela explained, getting firmer, "It'll go off and kill all of us."
Can you believe how much of a baby she is? Caterina commented to her sister as she caught her weapon mid-swing and holstered it under the leather jacket that Triela and Hilshire had given to her last night. Triela had gone out the previous night and come back bearing gifts of men's clothing similar to the kinds that she wore. The Twins were not exactly thrilled, commenting dryly on the fact that they were, in case Triela didn't know, girls. However, they needed a place to conceal their weapons and with their usual silk dresses and flowing gowns, there were no such places.
If you're so annoyed by it, Celestina responded with sly undertones, Then why did you put your gun away?
Caterina was slightly flustered when she realized that she had obeyed an order as if it had come from her real handler. "I, um…" she trailed off vacuously, forgetting to internalize her thoughts.
"Hmm?" Triela said inquisitively, "What was that?"
"N-nothing," Caterina answered hurriedly and unconvincingly, shaking her head.
Celestina smiled to herself and shook her head, pretending to be preoccupied with checking the sights of her Zastava pistol. I won't say anything, she reassured her sister, Because I've got bigger game to shoot. I can't waste my energy making your life hell, when there's someone we're about to meet that deserves it so much more than you do.
Shouldn't we be a little more cautious? Caterina warned her sister, After all, we have a mission. We have objectives that need to be taken care of. If we get reckless, Hilshire and the Princess aren't going to make it out of the casino alive.
Celestina frowned thoughtfully. Her sister was right, and she knew it. She didn't even have a problem with admitting it, although it was rare for Caterina to act as the voice of reason in any situation. Their first and most important goal was to keep Triela and her handler alive if their cover was blown. Getting at Lino would have to be a bonus. Nevertheless, it was a bonus that Celestina planned on earning that day.
"Hey," Triela suddenly said quietly, "Both of you seem a little distracted. Is something wrong?"
Wow, Celestina thought to her sister, I think she's actually starting to understand us. And then, out loud, replied to Triela's question with a curt and unconvincing, "No, not really."
Triela looked hard at the faces of the Twins, looking for anything to tell her that this wasn't the case. There was not a line, nor a furrow that indicated something to be out of place. Nevertheless, she sighed contemplatively, almost as if she was speaking to herself, "If you're thinking about Baldassare, I don't blame you. This is a rare opportunity, after, all. Maybe even the first of its kind for any of us cyborgs. But, and I'm telling you this as a sister, you have to stay focused."
Both Twins were stunned into silence. Somehow Triela had managed to pinpoint their exact thoughts. However, they decided to play dumb. There was no way the Twins would let Triela know that she was hitting anywhere close to home. After all, they had to keep up their appearances.
"What are you talking about?" Caterina scoffed in mock ignorance, "We don't care about him."
"We don't even know what he looks like," Celestina added.
Triela raised an eyebrow and examined the faces of her trainees again, and again there was no sign of deception in them. Regardless, she offered this to them, "He's tall, ugly, and brutish-looking with black, slicked-back hair."
The Twins shook their heads in confusion. "Why are you telling us this?" Caterina questioned, perplexed.
Just as confounded, Celestina said, "Didn't you just tell us to forget about Lino and stay focused on our mission?"
Triela replied, smiling at the fact that she had thrown the girls off of their game, "I never said to forget about him. I want you to kill him. It'll be good for both of you. Just remember that when the shooting starts you have to get me out of there."
Caterina and Celestina exchanged a glance and argued in their heads over which of them should say what needed to be said. Finally, they relented, and both turned to Triela and sighed reluctantly, "Thank you…Princess." The last word was spat out in disgust by both girls in an attempt to retain their pride. It didn't work, though.
Triela laughed sweetly, like a mother laughing at her children's mischief. "You're both very welcome," she replied smiling, "But I didn't tell you all of that just for your benefit. After all, Baldassare is the bastard responsible for dropping you monsters into my lap. I just want to make sure he's properly rewarded."
The Twins exchanged a worried look. Triela had definitely learned how to deal with her trainees. After this mission, the Alvise daughters swore to each other, the ante would be upped.
Lino Baldassare sat in the security office of the Casinò Regio staring listlessly at the rows and columns of monitors overlooking the tacky, overbearing casino floor (complete with fake marble columns and arches) filled with flashing slot machines, crowded roulette tables, and innocent meat-shields-to-be. The ex-mob-henchman-turned-radical-terrorist/casino-security-guard propped his head up with one fist as the fingers of the other drummed the table repeatedly in a fight to stay awake. It was a fight that his entire body was losing.
"Hey, Lino!" a friendly, teasing voice called suddenly, snapping him to attention, "Stay awake, brutto!"
Lino swiveled around in his chair. On the monitor watching the casino's entrance, behind him now, four people entered. Three young girls in expensive leather jackets and a man in a designer suit walked in step to each other, their heads turning this way and that, taking in everything around them. Lino, of course, did not notice.
"You here to relieve me, Nino?" Baldassare asked the man that had approached him. The man, Nino, was tall, lean, and had a face with weasel-like qualities. His eyes were small and beady, his nose was a long and pointed snout, his mouth was a grinning line.
Nino laughed and answered, "Well, no, I came to give you this," he handed Lino a paper cup and the smell of freshly-brewed coffee escaped from the small slit in the lid. "You're shift's not over yet, you lazy fool." Nino laughed again.
Lino sipped the hot coffee, pursing and licking his lips to get every last drop, before he retorted egotistically, "Very funny, but I don't think you have the right to call me lazy. After all, it's only because of me that this piece-of-shit of casino is still open."
"Get over yourself!" Nino scoffed good-naturedly, "That robbery was almost a week ago. I haven't seen any of those brilliant plans of yours since then."
Baldassare sipped his coffee again, and then set the cup down roughly at his desk, shaking his head. "Maybe if Carlo would hurry the hell up and launder the cash we'd be out of here and getting real work," he spat bitterly, "But instead he's sitting with his thumb up his ass and keeping us here running security for a tourist trap!"
On the casino floor the quartet had split up. The older girl went with the man to the back of the room and loitered next to the restrooms. The younger girls were standing next to a blackjack table, watching intently as if waiting for some kind of opportunity. Again, Lino was completely oblivious to these suspicious activities.
"Patience, Lino," Nino said soothingly, "We'll be out and bombing politicians in no time. You just have to – oh, great, it looks like some kids are trying to steal something for Mommy and Daddy."
"What?" Lino turned back to the monitor as one of the girls at the blackjack table reached under an unknowing player's arm and pocketed several chips. "Perfect, now I'm…baby…sitting…" his speech slowed and eventually halted as the girls turned toward the security camera and he caught sight of their identical faces. He was so fixated on the two girls that he didn't notice when the man and the eldest girl slipped into the "Staff Only" section of the casino.
"What's wrong with you?" Nino demanded, "Are you feeling okay? Are you going to make a call or what?"
Baldassare shook himself to attention as a thought occurred to him. He checked the monitors overlooking the streets outside, and grew pale when he noticed several white vans scattered about, each with tinted windows. Knowing that he had to act, Lino turned away from the monitors, opened a drawer at his desk and removed a pistol from within, checking the chamber, switching the safety on, and finally holstering it at the small of his back. He stood from his post, grasped Nino by the shoulders and said in grim earnestness, "There's going to be trouble. Get the entire security force armed and mobilized."
"Why?" Nino questioned, looking at his friend strangely, "For two little girls?"
"These aren't just little girls, Nino. What's that story that those Padania veterans were telling us? The one about that government agency that trains little girls as assassins?"
"You think they're here?" Nino was starting to panic. He never wanted to believe those horror stories, but they were so widespread and so widely acknowledged that he knew they had to be true, "Do you think they're after the money?"
"I don't know, just get ready for a fight."
Nino thought for a second, trying to decide what the Republican Faction would order them to do. "I'll load up the cash in a truck," he finally decided, "You get down there and lead the men. As for civilians…"
"There's no time to worry about them," Lino interjected, "We have to hurry and get out of here so we can report to the Faction. If there are any unarmed and unaffiliated casualties, well, too bad."
Nino suddenly sneered. "That's exactly what I was thinking," he said maliciously, "I'll call you when the truck's ready to go." He then left the security office and went down the hall in the opposite direction of the casino floor.
Lino exited the room as well, but went the other direction from there. He was shaken up, to be sure. After all he didn't see ghosts every day. In fact, he hadn't given a single thought to the Alvises since the night he murdered them. Nevertheless, they had caught his attention now, and, sure enough, the opposite was true as well.