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49
It was nothing short of a miracle that I made it to Il Forno alive driving like I did. Cami had wanted to come with me, and I felt terrible for leaving her there alone, but I couldn't bring her into any more danger. I told her to go to a neighbor's house and call the cops. I hope that's what she did.
It had been a relief to find the address for Il Forno in the phone book, because I knew right where it was and it wasn't far from Sam's place. When I arrived at the bakery, I drove past the front parking lot without stopping. It was dark now, and the place looked closed. I drove down to the first street where I could turn right and drove one block around to the back of the place. There was a black Lexus parked beside one door. It could have been the car from my apartment last night, it looked the same in the dark, but I wasn't sure. I drove about another half a block past Il Forno and pulled into the driveway of a house on the right side of the road with a "For Rent" sign out front. It looked empty. Climbing out of the car, I double-checked my pockets to make sure I had everything I needed. I wanted to be prepared.
Closing and locking the door, I went over likely scenarios in my mind. Maybe they were all there. Maybe just one of them. They could use the girls as human shields. They could take one or more of them as a hostages and escape. How far would I be willing to go to stop them? According to the Sheriff, I had orders from the Knight Lord to kill Joseph Mollel. I would have to do that. I had also been charged by the Sheriff to avenge the murder of his son. He wanted me to kill Romeo di Marti. Could I do that? Should I?
"Thou shalt not kill." The words echoed in my head again, and I could feel the muscles in my neck tightening with anxiety. Trying to relax, I made my way quietly through the shadows of the dark, suburban night toward the back lot of Il Forno. Moving secretly was second nature to me. My training with Dad had involved days and days of training games in woods, city streets, neighborhoods, all over. If he found me, he hurt me just enough to reinforce the lesson. I'd gotten pretty good at hiding from him, and he wasn't easily fooled.
Before long I'd made it unnoticed to the shadows of the fence line beside Il Forno. From there I looked out at the back lot and side alley. There was no sign of anyone out and about, and I didn't hear any noise. There would be no way to move from here to the door unseen from watching eyes, but I could at least move quietly. Standing and setting my muscles to proper tension and readiness to react quickly, I moved quickly and quietly out from the shadows and, before long, stood at the back door that said "Il Forno."
Kneeling down so that I was mostly shielded from the sight of the neighborhood by the Lexus, I pressed my ear close to the seam of the door near the hinges and listened with all my skill. I could hear nothing at all. "Damn," I thought. There was no telling what was on the other side of this door, and the walls and door were too solid and thick to try inner sight. I might be able to enter silently. I might trip an alarm. I might walk right into the two men. It could be a trap. I hated having no good options.
Gently, I reached for the knob and gave it a slight turn. It made no noises, luckily, but it was locked. I slipped the tool from my pocket and began working on the lock. It wasn't complicated at all, just a cheap, locking door knob. That was good. That meant there probably wasn't an alarm system. When I felt the tumblers fall into position, I turned the knob again. It was smooth and quiet, no clicking or pinging. I tugged just barely on the door and felt that it was free. I could open it.
I took a deep breath, let it out slowly, and moved to flatten myself against the wall beside the door. After weighing my options, I decided to try for a quiet entry. Flexing and settling into readiness, I opened the door slowly and smoothly. The hinges were quiet. I heard no telltale beeping. Unless someone had seen the door, no one would know I was here. The door was open beside me wide enough for me to walk in. I heard no noise from inside. Leaning out slightly from the wall, I peeked over through the door.
Inside was a utility room with a sink, a mop bucket and a trash can. The light in the utility room was off, but the door to the next room was open, and the lights were on in there. I slipped into the utility room.
"Please, Mr. Sayer, come in here," said a voice I did not recognize.
"Shit," I thought, wondering how they had seen me. I glanced around for signs of a camera, but I saw nothing. Then, as I stood to walk into the room, I felt a sudden and severe sickness and fear in my stomach. I had never felt this feeling before, but I had been taught all about it. My heart began to race, but my training took over. I closed my eyes and awakened my inner sight, a skill only taught to Sword Masters. I wasn't yet in a position to see into the room, but these interior walls were thin enough to see through with inner sight. I couldn't see the room or the walls or the furniture, only the shapes of life. There was a small man on the far side of the room I was about to enter. "Romeo," I thought to myself. There was the shape of a young girl. "Amy." She was sitting as though on a chair halfway between Romeo and the door in front of me. I knew I could reach her before he could, but I didn't know if he was armed. Her legs were positioned as though the chair was facing Romeo, but her face was turned back toward me. Against the back wall, beside Romeo, was a woman. Her hands were behind her and she looked like she was standing on something. She was standing very straight and tall and still. "Darla?" I wondered.
Then I saw the thing I felt. It was a Dread. I couldn't make out its exact shape, but it was taller than me. I had heard that they were extremely fast. "So am I," I thought. It would be about eight feet to my right when I walked through the door, and it didn't know I could see it. That gave me a slight advantage. I fixed its position in my mind and opened my eyes.
"Mr. Sayer, please," the voice said again. "We've been expecting you."
"Simon!" Amy screamed as I walked through the door. She started to get out of the chair and run toward me, but then she stopped and sat back down. She was crying. Looking at the man across the room I saw why. On the far side of the room was a small, gated pen surrounded by chain-link fence that ran from the floor to the ceiling. It looked like it had been intended to protect valuable inventory. The gate was locked with a heavy chain. In the corner of the pen to my right was the small man, Romeo di Marti. He held the end of a short rope in his hands. The other end of the rope was tied to the legs of a little, flimsy-looking wooden chair in the other corner of the pen. On the chair, her mouth gagged and terror in her eyes, was the woman, Darla Montagne. A noose of thick, rough rope circled her neck and ran up over an exposed, steel roof support and was anchored to the next support a few feet away. The rope was pulled so tight that Darla had to stand on the tips of her toes.
"My God," I whispered.
"You will stay right there," Romeo said, "until the song is done. Then, if you want to save your other young friend, you will follow these instructions." He pulled a folded yellow sheet of paper from his shirt pocket and then pushed it back in. "Do you understand?"
I knew he was talking about Sam. She wasn't here, and neither was Joseph. I would have to cooperate for now. "Okay," I said, standing in the doorway and drawing my blade to just below the surface, ready to strike.
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