Bastard’s Baby(51)

“Where are we going?”

“Just come.”

I stood up. “Okay, okay. Hold on.” I quickly went back into the bedroom and got changed. I could hear her pacing around out in the living room while she waited.

“Ready?” she asked.

“Lead the way.”

Without another word she turned and left my rooms. I followed her through the twisting passageways, down a few flights of stairs, and out the back door of the mansion.

We wound our way along the road that twisted through the compound’s center, heading away from the house.

“Where are you taking me?” I asked her.

“This way.” She cut off the main road and across a short field. There was a small outcropping of trees up ahead on top of a small hill, and Louisa took us right toward them.

“Are you about to kill me or something?” I asked her jokingly.

“Just watch.”

We got into the trees and Louisa stopped. She crouched down and looked forward, and I got down beside her.

Just ahead we could see the guard station at the base of the road. There were more people down there than usual, and all of them were heavily armed.

“A lot of guns,” I commented. “Not that weird though, since we’re supposed to be in a war.”

“We?” she asked.

“You, whatever.”

She shrugged at me. “Just wait.”

I sighed, a little frustrated. Louisa wasn’t the best conversationalist in the world, and so we sat there in silence just watching the road. I didn’t know what I was looking for, but I figured I’d know it when I saw it.

After a few minutes of waiting, I caught sight of a large semi-truck coming down the road. It slowed and turned up toward the compound’s gates. All of the men down there were suddenly on high alert, their guns pointed and ready.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Watch.”

“Is this normal?”

She shushed me, and so I watched as the truck pulled up to the gate. It stopped, and for a second, nothing happened.

It was a tense second. The men with guns stared and the truck simply sat there, unmoving. Finally, the driver’s door opened and a man climbed out. I couldn’t see him from this distance, but quickly the Italians swarmed him, pulling him aside.

What happened next happened fast. The Italians tore through that truck, checking every single inch of it. They went through the back, the front, the bottom, the top, every single inch of it. Meanwhile, the driver just stood there and watched passively, smoking a cigarette.

“So it’s a shipment,” I said. “I bet the mansion gets them every day.”

“Not just any shipment,” Louisa said.

“What’s in it?”

“You’ll see.”

“Why are you being so mysterious?”

She stared at me. “Because I want you to see and to understand.”

“Okay,” I said softly. Louisa was strangely intense.

Although then again, she was always strange and intense. Right now she was just being both at the same time.

Finally, the men finished searching the truck. Someone got up front and began to drive it up the road while the driver simply began to walk away.

The men let him go. He got to the main road and just kept walking, eventually disappearing from sight.

“Come on,” Lou said.

She quickly started walking back the way we’d come, but this time going the long way. We followed the tree line toward the mansion, not walking out in the open. Up ahead, I watched the truck pull around toward the back of the building, and I knew where Lou was taking me.

A few minutes later, we were crouched not far away from the truck. I watched them slowly unload the contents without any comment.

The truck was full of guns. Lots of guns. And not the sort of guns you could buy at some store, but military-looking guns. Serious firepower was being unloaded from the truck, thousands and thousands of dollars worth of guns and ammunition and who knew what else. Most of it was packed away in crates, but it was clear what was inside.

After a few minutes of watching, suddenly my heart skipped a beat. Rafa and Vince appeared from inside and began giving orders, inspecting the goods.

Vince. He was involved with this gun thing. These guns must be for the war, for killing my family members. I felt anger welling up in my chest.

“Why are you showing me this?” I asked Louisa.

“You should see it.”

“But why?” I snapped. “What does this prove?”

“You should understand what’s happening.”

“I get it. There’s a war.”

She pointed. “Those guns are meant to kill your family, and they might get my family killed. I want you to see it.”

“And do what?” I asked her, angry. “I can’t do a thing about this.”