Chapter 10: The Same Cage

Dario lowered the gun.

His mother's voice had not done it.

The helicopter overhead had, and so had the red light blinking on its nose.

He dropped the pistol into the sea, took Ilaria by the arm, and ran for the speedboat tied to the stern.

Nobody stopped him.

The older man with the grey moustache watched them go and did not lift a finger.

The engine roared, and the boat tore out of the ring of black ribbons with my sister sobbing in the back.

Ilaria did not look at me once.

Ettore stood at the rail until the white wake was out of sight.

Then he went below without a word.

I followed him down into the little cabin and shut the door.

"You are Ettore Castellani."

"Yes."

"Santo Riva does not exist."

"He does on my dive license."

"You let me sit in your kitchen. You let me cry in your truck. You let me hold your hand while a doctor listened to my baby."

"I did not lie about anything else."

"You lied about your name!"

"I kept it back."

I hit him.

I slapped him across the face as hard as I could.

His head turned with it, and he did not lift a hand to stop me.

It was not enough.

I hit him again.

"You were already in the water," I said. "You told me you saw a woman go in with a man who came out alone."

"I did."

"You swam up to the cage at the end of that dive. You were there before he locked me in."

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