THE GREATEST BETRAYAL: A romantic thriller with a shocking twist, page 21
The kill shot requires intense focus and concentration, and for him, it was mingled not just with adrenaline but also an exhilarating sense of excitement.
His target came into focus.
The wooded hillside made this particular shot a challenge, further hampered by the wind and the rain.
The sniper tensed.
The man trudged through an area where the forest wasn’t obstructing the sniper’s view of him.
The sniper’s finger rested on the trigger.
Just a little closer.
Now his target was clearly in frame, while still momentarily clear of the overhanging foliage.
Now.
The sniper’s finger pulled back on the rifle’s lever, the recoil was powerful, the shot rang out, and he saw his target spin and fall back to the ground then lie, unmoving, sprawled on the forest floor.
SEVENTY-EIGHT
The wind and the rain had stopped but there was a thunderous roar, like a plane flying low, interspersed with continuous booms. Something colliding? But what? This didn’t sound like the storm. Luisa Toscano went to the window and her gaze was drawn immediately to the slopes of the mountain that rose above the surrounding forest. Enormous rocks were falling and rolling emitting clouds of debris.
She crossed herself. Mother of God. A landslide? It had been a violent storm and she’d grown up hearing stories from her grandfather of landslides, years before, in these mountains.
The roar was deafening. So close. And it wasn’t stopping, if anything it was louder. And closer. Her brother was out there somewhere, with his gun. She wished they had not been called into service, on this occasion, by her uncle. She’d been tasked with looking after a child and following orders from the Australian man who was one of her uncle’s drug ring connections. She did not want any part of her uncle’s criminal activities, unlike her brother, who seemed to revel in becoming involved.
Was she safe here with the bambino? She’d been given no instructions on what to do in a situation like this. She’d been left with a satellite phone, for her employer to contact her. This area had no cell phone coverage. The sat phone lay silent on the table. She had no idea how to use it.
She’d been warned it was imperative no harm should come to the bambino, Luke. When he was awake the toddler had been a handful, crawling everywhere, constantly getting up on his feet, wobbling, walking then falling, snatching at everything. He’d been asleep but now the deafening roar woke him, and he began to cry.
We must get away from here.
Luisa took the baby in her arms, rocked him, and soothed him as she headed out the front door. She could see the larger, three-bedroom structure, further up the slope. The lights were blazing up there, but she’d been instructed not to approach.
She’d been told to stay hidden until contacted. There was no time now to go seeking further instructions. She could feel the spray of mud and stones and looking to the mountain she saw masses of rock and soil and trees toppling, cracking, and sliding like a flowing river, the ripple effect spreading across the mountain range.
She’d never seen anything like it before.
She placed the child in the passenger seat of the van – there was no child restraint in this vehicle – and she gunned the motor and began to drive up the steep driveway that ran alongside the higher rifugio.
The mountain looked like it was a living thing, groaning, breaking, and plummeting.
We must get away.
In that same moment, a chunk of boulder smashed into the windscreen. She heard both hers and Luke’s screams as she lost control of the vehicle, careering off the track and down the slope. The foliage was sparser here and the car crashed through it.
SEVENTY-NINE
It happened in an instant, with no forewarning, a deafening sound that rang in Liz’s ears, and then it was raining again, not water but columns of dirt and grassy soil.
Five minutes after Mac had left the rifugio, she’d heard the gunshot and she knew she couldn’t wait any longer; no matter the danger, she had to follow. She’d donned one of the parkas but instinctively, she’d decided to go out the back door and into the forest. She then circled, under cover of the tree canopy, around the perimeter of the hut and in the direction Bruno and Mac had taken. If anyone was out there watching, she hoped by taking this action she wouldn’t be spotted.
She’d been moving stealthily through the undergrowth for ten minutes, her heartbeat drumming in her ears, when the ground rocked, and a thunder-like roar boomed in the distance.
A ragged chunk of flying rock glanced off the side of her face. She felt the flow of blood and the throbbing pain as her cheek swelled. Liz put her arm up, a useless gesture to shield her from the falling debris. She glanced at the mountainside.
She could scarcely believe her eyes. Treetops flattened out as mounds of earth and forested slopes rolled down and over them like an enormous and unstoppable steamroller.
Not this. Not now. Please.
She ran forward, no attempt now to keep herself hidden from view. The downpour of small rocks lessened but the resounding crash of crumbling cliff echoed louder and louder. She saw the Calabrian’s rifugio up ahead. Where was everyone? The rain came again. Biting, stinging, driven by sweeping gusts of wind. It was as though hell itself had rolled into the region on a stopover tour.
Why is this happening?
As she reached the front porch she saw the lights of a vehicle, shining through the dark haze created by the clouds of dirt. The car was coming from the rear of the property, up a steep side access road. A rock hit the windshield and Liz gasped as the car, wheels spinning, ran off the road.
She was about to run after it when she heard shouts from inside the shelter and saw the silhouettes of two men through a side window.
Bruno’s voice. ‘You didn’t anticipate this, did you? Where is Luke?’
Mounds of dirt rained down on the hut and a large rock smashed into the side of the roof.
Liz burst through the front door and took in the scene before her; the two brothers, facing off against each other like two boxers in a ring, ready to throw punches. A section of roof had splintered and sagged under the weight of the fallen rock.
Liz saw the shoulder of Bruno’s parka was torn.
Both men glared at Liz.
‘He tried to shoot me,’ Bruno said. ‘And Mac’s been gunned down.’
‘God no,’ Liz gasped, ‘not Mac.’
‘That’s bullshit,’ Raf said.
‘Where is Luke?’ Liz shouted at him. ‘Where is my son?’
Raf gestured to the chaos outside the window. ‘We need to get out of here, that mountain is coming down.’
‘There’s another hut on this property, down the back,’ Bruno said, seething. ‘Is that where you’re keeping Luke, in the care of one of your mafioso helpers?’
Raf exploded. ‘I’ve only been here a few hours, I don’t know anything about–’
‘Bruno! A car from back there just went over the hillside. If Luke…’ Liz’s voice trailed off, her unspoken fear left hanging in the air. She raced out the front door, closely followed by Bruno.
Liz was aware, as she ran, that the rainfall was lighter now, and the sounds of the landslide had stopped. She and Bruno tramped down the hillside, through the undergrowth, sidestepping or climbing over chunks of rock.
Liz saw the van just ahead. It was partially covered by heavy branches.
Bruno grabbed her by the arm, pulling her back from racing forward.
‘What–?’
‘The car is tipping,’ Bruno said. ‘Something’s wrong. We need to approach very carefully.’
They inched forward, just close enough to see there was a sudden, steep cliff; a sheer drop. The van had been halfway over the edge when it had come to a stop. It was teetering back and forth. They could just make out the head of a woman, slumped in the driver’s seat.
‘She was trying to outrun the landslide, with Luke…’ The words trailed as a lump rose in Liz’s throat. She swallowed hard. She saw the passenger side door was open. ‘I’ve got to get him out.’
‘Too unstable,’ Bruno said, looking on in dismay. ‘The whole thing will tip–’
‘I have to try!’
She cautiously tested the ground with the toe of her right foot but as she did the soil beneath shifted and slid. There was the crack of a branch breaking free.
Once again, she felt Bruno’s hand on her arm. ‘Any slight movement…’ He left the rest unsaid.
‘If I can just reach in.’
‘Liz, you’ll both go over.’
‘If Luke goes over, so do I–’
‘Liz–’
Before either of them could say another word or make another move, the ground around them began to slide, the trees toppling as they slid with the soil.
Liz screamed out in anguish as the van bucked then disappeared over the side and into the abyss.
EIGHTY
Bruno held Liz tightly and scampered back up the slope, struggling against the moving land mass. He reached the road and as he looked desperately at the ground around them, the movement stopped again.
‘Thank God,’ he said, groaning, ‘but it could start again at any moment, Liz. Totally unpredictable…’
Liz was hysterical, screaming out Luke’s name, pulling against Bruno. ‘Let me go!’
‘We have to get out of here, Liz, there’s another four-wheel drive…’
A figure appeared out of the cloud of dust.
‘Mac!’ Bruno shouted.
‘Raf took the other four-wheel drive that was around the side,’ Mac said.
He rushed forward, talking Liz in his arms and for a moment she was still. She stared at him, as though uncomprehending.
Bruno pointed back the way they had originally come, to where the first rifugio stood. ‘If we can make it back, on foot, to our own vehicle…’
‘Help me with Liz,’ Mac said.
‘I thought you’d been shot,’ said Bruno.
‘So did I.’ As he spoke, he lessened his grip on Liz and she broke free, pushing herself away, turning back towards the cliff.
‘Liz!’ Mac shouted after her.
‘I need to save Luke,’ she shouted as she ran.
‘He was in the van that went over the cliff,’ Bruno said to Mac as both men launched themselves after Liz.
They each grabbed hold of one of her arms, pulling her back from the edge as the ground beneath them shifted. She fought against them, shrieking.
Mac pulled her in close, held her tightly, his mouth against her ear. ‘Liz, please, you can’t do any more here, we have to go.’
‘We need to move now,’ Bruno said. He exchanged a glance with Liz, who had quietened again, her breathing raspy, her body shaking.
The men began moving back up the slope, maintaining their firm hold on Liz.
‘You weren’t shot?’ Bruno asked Mac.
‘I guess the heavy rain made things difficult. The shot knocked me off my feet, but it wasn’t a direct hit’ – Mac lifted his left shoulder where his parka was torn – ‘it only grazed me–’
‘The shooter’s still out there?’ Bruno said.
They’d reached the roadway at the top of the slope. The landslide had stopped.
‘He’s dead,’ Mac said. ‘I saw him. Debris must have hit him in the head. He fell from a tree.’
The dust drifted like a dark mist, the ground was misshapen, and there was now an eerie quiet across the landscape.
Liz was silent. Bruno noticed there was a glazed expression in her eyes, but he also sensed despite the turmoil that must’ve been in her mind, she was listening.
‘This was the perfect place,’ Mac said, breathing heavily from the exertion. ‘Remote, with a mafioso network nearby to call on. Except’ – he held up his finger to make a point, sucking in a deep breath to control his anger – ‘for the unpredictable.’ He opened up the palm of his hand as he motioned to the mountain. ‘If it hadn’t been for the landslide, the woman watching over Luke wouldn’t have fled, and her windshield wouldn’t have been hit by that rock.’
‘Raf would never have wanted this,’ Bruno said, also gasping for breath. ‘But, Mac, there’ll be time for this later… the landslides could start again at any moment. Let’s get back to our car.’
‘We’ll be safer,’ Mac said.
‘Yes.’ Bruno’s voice was a rasp.
‘Except I won’t be.’
Bruno met Mac’s eyes. ‘You said the sniper was dead.’
‘He is.’
Bruno frowned, cocking his head to the side. ‘You think there are others?’
‘I went to the sniper’s body,’ Mac said, ‘and found this.’ He pulled a sat phone out from under his parka.
‘Great, we can call for help,’ Bruno said.
The ground beneath them rocked again and there was a rumble from the distance. A higher shelf of the mountain began to crumble.
Bruno reached for Liz. ‘We’re out of time.’
She swatted his hand away, turning back to face the slope from which they’d just come. ‘Wait,’ she said. ‘Listen!’
* * *
Mac took hold of her arm. ‘We need to run.’
‘Listen,’ Liz said again. She heard it again, the sound that had stopped her, and she saw the surprise register on Mac’s face as he heard it also.
A child’s wail.
A cry coming from further down the slope.
Shaking free of Mac, she ran back towards the cliff, oblivious to the danger. In just that instant, as she heard that wail, she was completely re-energised, alive with adrenaline, her motivation and all her hopes flooding back through her. Anything else happening was whisked from her thoughts, all that mattered was her son.
Luke?
Could it be?
Mac ran after her. ‘Liz! Stop!’
‘The passenger door was open,’ Liz shouted back at him. ‘If Luke was thrown out before the car hit the edge…’
Was it possible? Was she being rational? Or was she delusional, was the shriek something else that simply sounded like it could be a child? Just as the cry of the curlew sounded like the shriek of a woman. She came to a stop, listening intently, hoping against hope. Where was the cry coming from?
Silence.
There was no crying. She’d been mistaken after all.
Her heart sank.
Delusional.
Mac reached her. She stared into his eyes as though there could be some answer there. She was broken, ready to drop to her knees. What the hell did anything matter now?
The cry started up again and her heart leapt.
Mac pushed past. ‘This way,’ he said.
Then Liz saw her baby boy. Lying on his back on a thick sheaf of leaves, covered in mud and shards of branch, terrified, screaming. Liz snatched him up in her arms. ‘Oh, dear God, thank you, thank you.’
There was an ear-splitting crash. Liz and Mac looked back up the hill as a wall of earth slammed into the remains of the hut. Like something alien, the fragments of forest and rock sluiced across the road towards them.
There was nowhere to turn, nowhere to run.
EIGHTY-ONE
The sliding ground came to a stop again. Positioning himself behind Liz as she held Luke close, Mac manoeuvred them sideways, across the slope to a point further along where the rise met with the twisting road.
‘Give him to me,’ Mac said, easing Luke from her grasp. ‘Now follow me and run!’
They’d no sooner scampered along the slope, up the rise and back onto the road, when the earth shifted again. The rocks and crushed trees rolled down over the side of the cliff with a deafening roar.
They didn’t look back. They ran as fast as they could.
Then the mountain was silent again.
After a while, their run slowed to a brisk walk.
‘I think the worst of it’s over,’ Mac said, in between heavy breaths.
Liz didn’t respond at first, her head was spinning, her focus was on the ground beneath to ensure she didn’t fall. She was consumed with a newfound strength, beaming inside that both her son and Mac were alive, but fearful at the same time they weren’t out of danger. And where was Bruno? Had he managed to run free of the landslide or was he buried somewhere back there? Her pulse pounded in her temples.
In the distance, through the haze, they saw the outline of the rifugio.
‘Mac,’ Liz said, ‘what on earth was all that back there about the sat phone… are there other snipers?’
‘Sorry, but I didn’t tell you everything in the text message from Vickerson,’ Mac said. ‘I needed some time to digest.’
She stopped walking, catching her breath, and looked at Mac. ‘Digest what?’
He turned to face her. ‘The Feds’ analysis showed Raf’s signature on those documents had been forged, just as your signature had been.’
‘That’s what Vickerson wanted you to call him about?’
‘Yes.’
‘But they don’t know who did forge those signatures?’
‘Not yet. But it means it wasn’t Raf who shipped those drugs or arranged my imprisonment.’
She simply stared back at him, speechless. How could this be even remotely possible? She resumed walking, Mac falling into step beside her.
As they reached the hut, they saw that neither the four-wheel drive Raf had sped away in, nor the vehicle Mac, Liz and Bruno had originally arrived in, were there.
‘Someone else’s been here ahead of us and taken off,’ Mac said. ‘Let’s get Luke inside and see if we can dry off.’ He brandished the sat phone. ‘And we can call for help.’
The wind had died but the rain still came in random bursts. They reached the front door and Mac handed a weary Luke over to Liz. He swung the door open then stood aside for Liz to go through first. As he did, he caught a glimpse of movement from the side of the building.
A dishevelled Bruno came limping around. ‘Thank God you made it. And with Luke…’ He bent over, catching his breath, then straightened. ‘I got clear of the rocks but couldn’t see where you were…’ He stepped toward Mac, reaching for the sat phone. ‘We can call for help.’
