Page 19 of The Honeymoon Heist

“How are we going to do that?”

“I’ve done my due diligence on them. They own an archeological consulting firm called Grolier Recovery Services, but that’s probably a lie. It’s a cover to get them here to follow you. To keep the lie going, they’re going to see the new Roman excavations, and they have a meeting this morning, which is perfect for us.”

“Perfect how?”

“They’ll be in the bowels underneath the church, all by themselves, completely alone.”

“Yeah? So what? I’m not going to kill them down there, if that’s what you’re thinking. Number one, I’m not a killer. That’s not what I do. Number two, you just told me they killed your best guys. I’m not going up against that. I don’t care if it’s in a jail cell with them handcuffed to a chair.”

Salvatore gave a little smile and said, “Can you handle the child? Is that outside of your feeble skills?”

Buck shifted in the booth, not liking where this was going. He said, “What does that mean?”

“When they go under the church, my two men here will follow you. Don’t worry, they’ll do all the hard work. All you have to do is take the child.”

“Take her where? What for?”

“I’m due to receive an award at the art gallery at eleven today. A small token for my contribution to the Caravaggio exhibit. I’ll be attending that with the two Americans. You will make that happen. I need them compliant, and if you have their child, they will be. Can you handle that?”

Buck looked at Miles, then said, “Yeah, we can do that, but why? What are you going to do with her?”

“No harm, I promise. I just want her as leverage. I’ll do the reception, receive custody of the painting, and then I’ll deal with the Americans—away from here, back in Naples. When I’m done at the gallery, I’ll meet you at the vehicle with the girl. You’ll get paid, and you can leave the rest to me.”

Buck felt his palms sweat, not liking what he was hearing. Not wanting to be part of kidnapping a child. He said, “You give me your word you aren’t going to hurt her? I’ll just watch her for an hour?”

“Yes, of course. I don’t want any more investigation on the matter than you do. There is no reason to eliminate her or the other Americans.”

He said it with such sincerity that Buck almost believed him, but deep in his heart, he knew that Salvatore had every reason to eliminate them. Get rid of the thread to his culpability with the painting. But he chose to believe anyway.

“Where is this car?”

“It’s a van, actually, and it’s at a parking deck on the way out of town, about a ten-minute walk from here.” Salvatore flicked his head to one of his men, and a key fob was passed across the table.

“You just keep her there for a few hours, and we’ll meet you. My men will take her off your hands, and you’ll get your money.”

“And if I don’t agree?”

“Besides not getting paid, you’ll be two more people in the van, only instead of being in a seat, you’ll be in back with duct tape over your mouth.”

Chapter 12

Our walk down the stairs—which most likely would be our last—wasn’t nearly as frolicking as the other ones had been, with each of us subdued over the events of the night before. That, coupled with the lack of sleep, had put a damper on today’s activities to say the least.

Amena seemed unsure of what to make of the events, which was unlike her. She kept looking up, first at me, then at Jennifer. Eventually, she settled for slipping her hand into mine.

Jennifer said, “What do you think is going on? I mean, this is crazy even for you.”

I said, “I have no idea. You know what I think about coincidences, but honestly, this might be one. I think they mistook us for something we’re not and tried to short out the problem. It all came from that altercation at the White Grotto.”

“Why would that matter?”

“I don’t know, but I think they thought we were doing something to cut into their business and were going to interrogate us for information before killing us. If we had information, they’d get it. If we didn’t, we were now a loose end to clean up.”

Amena said, “It’s the paintings. That’s what it is.”

“ThatTaking of Christpainting? Why on earth would that matter?”

“I don’t know, but that’s what it is. We saw that painting in the cave, and then the two bad men. We saw the same painting in the gallery, and that guy in the picture with the bad men in the restaurant was with us in the gallery. That’s it. That’s the common denominator. That painting.”

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