Spider - Michael Morley [72]
The lights in the basement come on again and her eyes burn with pain as she blinks into the brightness above her head. Upstairs, another digital clock triggers another device. A recording machine is activated.
The cameras around her start to pan, zoom and focus.
A digital hard drive whirrs into action to capture what Spider is sure will be the last hours of Lu Zagalsky’s life.
44
San Quirico D’Orcia, Tuscany
Nancy King ducked as the stranger threw the flashlight at her. It missed, shattering into several pieces as it crashed into the wall behind her head. She screamed as he pushed his way past her and thundered down the stairs and out into the dimly lit garden.
‘Paolo! Giuseppe, help!’ she shouted from the bedroom window. ‘Stop him! Stop him!’
Paolo whirled around from the table where he was slicing up the cake, just in time to see the heavy-set figure dressed in black burst into the garden area.
The intruder spotted the two men, and saw the knife in Paolo’s hand. He stopped so quickly that he slipped on the damp grass, then, scrambling to his feet, ran straight into the back door of the kitchen. For one moment Paolo thought about throwing the knife at him, but then dropped it and gave chase.
The masked man bolted from the kitchen, through the restaurant and down the hotel’s narrow corridors, barging guests aside, as they abandoned the last of their drinks to see what all the commotion was. The corridors automatically guided him to reception, where Maria made a brave attempt to hold him up by raising a chair in front of him to block his way. Grabbing the other end, he pushed her into the wall and escaped through the front door as she slumped to the ground like a rag doll.
Maria was crying in pain and holding her stomach by the time Paolo appeared in reception. He had no choice but to give up the chase and check she was all right. ‘Are you okay? Stay still, Maria, show me what hurts.’
‘My stomach,’ she said. ‘My stomach and my ribs, they hurt like crazy. What happened?’
Giuseppe and Nancy arrived seconds later, followed by several guests.
‘It’s okay, folks. Please don’t be alarmed,’ said Nancy, flapping her hands at them. ‘We seem to have had a nasty incident but it’s all over now. Please go back to the dining room and allow us to sort things out here. Thanks for your help.’ She shut the connecting door from the reception to the rest of the hotel and joined the others as they helped Maria to her feet.
‘Are you all right, Maria? Did he hurt you?’ asked Nancy.
‘I am okay, Mrs King, I think,’ said the receptionist, still tearful. ‘I picked up that chair to try to stop him with it, but he, he just knock me over and run away.’
‘Sit down,’ said Paolo. ‘Have a drink of water, and get your breath back.’
Giuseppe grabbed a carafe of water from behind the reception desk and poured a glass.
Nancy stood for a moment biting her nails, taking stock of what had happened. It was at times like this that she missed having Jack around. Paolo and Giuseppe had been wonderful in chasing the intruder off, but if Jack had been here, well, by now the guy would have been wishing he’d picked any other hotel in Italy to burgle.
‘Shall I call the police, or will you call Signor King?’ asked Paolo.
‘Ring the Polizia or the carabinieri,’ answered Nancy. ‘Jack has bigger things to worry about; I don’t want to bother him with something like this.’
Paolo made the call and talked for so long that Nancy thought he’d discussed the case with every member of staff at the station. Maria gradually recovered and insisted there was nothing