Chapter 21: Where The Streets Have No Name.
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It's been two weeks and Tammy gets the courage to take her electric bicycle out for a long distance ride outside of the Trastevere area. In the time she stayed in the area, she found almost everyone there to be total snobs, all wanting to kick her out of the neighborhood until they find out that she's related to the Polanccos and then they all want to be her friend.
There was little in the neighborhood of small tight streets except for small stores and delivery trucks blocking the streets when they come. Houses dot the blocks with large back yards, some being the fenced off block itself in some areas. One day in mid-March, dressed in her sweater and jeans, Tammy pushes her bicycle out onto the street. Having it lean against her, she reaches for the door and locks it. Straddling the bicycle seat with both feet on the ground, she grabs onto the handle bars and push off her feet to get rolling. With both feet landing on the pedals, she pushes on them and continues riding on the street.
After a while to get her self stabilized, she reaches for the thumb switch and flicks it on. With a slight twist of the handle, the bicycle picks up speed. She backs down to not go too fast to see and remember what she has past.
For several blocks she goes straight until she reaches a fence that stops her from going into the river. She stops and looks over the waist high fence, pulling out a map from her rear pocket. She looks at it, marking and studying the path where she would want to go. Folding the map and putting it back in her pocket, Tammy continues with her bike ride.
For more blocks than she can remember counting, the streets and sidewalks widen. She looks back at the path she had taken before continuing on her ride. In another few blocks she comes to an arched stone bridge, connecting to the other side of the river. She crosses it and continues for a longer while. There she finds the top of the coliseum over the roofs of the buildings in front of her. She continues her ride until she finds the coliseum fill up a street's end. She turns and heads for it until the streets run out of buildings and she is in its plaza. She pulls out her map and marks it, tracing back to where she met the river.
She gives the area one look around, noting where various landmarks were like lamps, traffic lights, and street signs before riding up to the coliseum and takes a right turn. She circles the huge stone historical artifact a couple of times before stopping just off her mark. She looks about and finds her landmarks and heads back to the street she came from. Not noting the time, it took her over an hour to get to the coliseum, and it's going to take another hour to get back. She manages to find her way home, but goes to the nearby store for a few things first.
With a bit of constant buying and exploring the neighborhood she makes herself a fixture to the area. Helping an occasional elderly lady reinforces her status as a nice girl. The next day she makes it past the coliseum and to the Piazza di Spagna. By the following week she makes it to the tourist center where the Roma Hilton was the center. Soon she was able to ride about Rome on her bike with relative ease.
A couple of times she thought she saw Bink, only to be out distanced by the cars she got into or hid into the crowd. She notices the others from the photographs as well. Eventually she decides to follow them partly, to find a pattern of travel, and then extend that travel once the pattern is found and added too.
She finds out that the cars enter through a gate at the far end of a complex that looks like a university or town hall. The building itself looks like one of the museums in New York, with high steps leading to a pillared foyer entrance. She locks her bike against a utility pole, taking off her helmet. She goes through her student shoulder bag and pulls out a couple of pictures with her together with Bink. She places them into an outside pocket to get access to them faster.
Gathering her courage, she takes a deep breath before starting to cross the street to the building. She climbs the stairs to the entrance and stops at the doors for a moment. She takes a look back to her bicycle before entering the building. The lobby looks like a waiting room, with an information counter at the front by a set of turnstile to the side of it. The only thing is, with the exception of a couple of clerks at the information counter and guards at the turnstile, the place was empty. She walks to the information counter.
"Welcome to the Social Work Agency. How can I help you?", a female clerk at the information counter says.
Tammy stops by information counter. "I want to see my sister. I know she is in here.", She tells the clerk, taking one of the pictures and putting it the top of the desk.
The female clerk looks at the picture, "If that is your sister, she is not here. No children are allowed here."
"I followed her here, to that gate on the side of your building, in a Porsche Boxer with an adult male mouse with black hair.", Tammy tells her.
"I do not know what you are talking about.", the female clerk tells her.
"Then tell me who I see who would.", Tammy tells her.
The female clerk picks up the phone; at the same time guards come out of the turnstile and surround Tammy from behind. "Yes. She says her sister is here. We'll wait.", the female clerk is heard talking on the phone. She then hangs up the phone. "Stay here. Somebody will be here to see you.", the female clerk says before walking away through a door behind the desk. The guards leave, including the ones at the turnstile.
A few seconds later, a female chipmunk in a dress suit carrying a laptop with a female squirrel, a female rabbit, and two male mice of who one wears glasses step out of the door behind the information counter and around the counter to stand in front of her. The female chipmunk takes the picture and looks at it before handing it to the rabbit behind her. The picture gets passed around to the others as the chipmunk speaks as she gives back the picture to Tammy.
"Tammy Polancco I presume.", the chipmunk says as the female rabbit frisks Tammy with a metal detecting wand. She then shakes her head, finding nothing on her.
"Though that is not my real name, how you know who I am?", Tammy asks.
The chipmunk opens the laptop and goes through the a few files. Then she turns on a media file and holds the laptop for her to see.
"This is Julietta Polancco for Taking Action. And I have a story for you to hear, know and take action. First, a little history, as you know, my father married almost two years ago to an American and they moved here, and eight months ago, they were slaughtered, in what we believe to be a political assassination because of his political beliefs. Through that marriage I gained a little stepsister who is also an American and this is her story. Since that time I did not know she has an older sister who stayed in America to live her life but stayed in contact with the family. When she lost contact with the family, she came here looking for them. Only a day ago did I discover that I have a second stepsister in search for our relative, from a criminal action against me that she stopped. You all have seen the news videos of her heroic act from the security cameras of stopping the thief and holding him until the police got there. And since she turned herself in to this TV Station, she collects the ten thousand euro reward. Everyone, this is Tammy Squirrel Polancco, who is a Rescue Ranger in America.", Julietta says from the device from a recording of the show. The laptop gets closed at this point.
"An American Squirrel looking for her sister lost in Italy. A noble gesture at best.", the female chipmunk says, "But she is not here."
"I followed her here. In a Porsche with an adult male mouse entering that gate over there.", Tammy tells her.
"She said your sister is not here!", the blonde male mouse tells her.
"Cool it Jean.", the male mouse with glasses tells him as they all look at him momentarily, then turn back to Tammy.
"I don't know where you got your information, but your sister Bink is not here. Go home.", the chipmunk tells her.
"My sister is in here somewhere and I will not stop until I find her.", Tammy tells her.
"Trespass into this facility and you will be arrested. It would be easier to make an appointment and discuss with us your predicament.", the chipmunk tells her, handing her a business card. "Interfering with government business is against the law. It would be better if we discuss this in a better setting than to be at odds with each other as we are now. Go home. Cool that head of yours down. Then make an appointment with me when you are in a more cooperative set of mind."
Tammy could only return a mean look at her.
"When you come here, check your anger by the door.", the chipmunk tells her. She signals to the group to leave. She stands there facing Tammy before leaving after the last one had went through the turnstile.
Frustrated, Tammy can only stay there for the moment before walking away. She crosses the street and unlocks the bike from the utility pole. After putting on her helmet, she rides away for home. She did not notice that those who she met with step out of the gate area and watch her ride away.
"Well people. We have a problem.", the female chipmunk says out loud.
"Then we terminate her.", the blonde male mouse says.
"She's not part of the Polancco crime syndicate. She's only looking for her sister." The female squirrel says.
"She interferes with our operations, I will have her terminated, by Bink herself if necessary.", the blonde mouse says.
"No, Jean. That is not the answer.", the other male mouse with glasses says.
"Then what is, Marco?", Jean asks in anger.
"She interferes, we capture her and send her home on a slow boat to China."
"That will do nothing. She will return.", Jean says.
"It will take her months for her to get back there. Until then we take care of the rest of the Polanccos and freeze their accounts. She will have no money to access and will take years to return.", the female chipmunk says.