Page 66 of Something Like Summer
The all-too-familiar sightof the highway receded into the distance as they barreled down oneof the exits. There was good reason for the universal stereotype oftaxi drivers being demons behind the wheel. They zipped past asmall village in the blink of an eye, entering farmland, the roaddark and empty except for the illumination from their headlights.The two men in the front seat, who had up to now been chattingrapidly in their native tongue, grew silent. Jace tensed up as thevan pulled over to the side of the road. Ben reached over, his handcrawling along the seat in hope of finding Jace’s.
The driver’s brother turnedto face them, his brow furrowed angrily. “How much money you have?We need more money to go.”
Jace said something inItalian, causing the other man to look surprised, but he recoveredquickly. “You give us money, you have no problem.” He raised a handand wagged a flat metal object at them. A knife. It was stillfolded shut, but his meaning was clear enough.
Ben felt cold panic. Had hetraveled all this way just to die in some remote Italian field? Ifall these guys wanted was money, that was fine with him. He shiftedto reach for his wallet, but Jace’s left hand stilled him. Hisright hand was already holding a wallet out. The man took iteagerly and turned forward again to examine its contents. Benwanted to say something to Jace, comfort him or discuss some sortof cunning plan that would get them both out of this mess, but thedriver’s eyes in the rearview mirror were locked onto themboth.
“This all?” the brotherdemanded.
“That’s 200,000 lira!”Jace replied.
“That nothing!” thebrother spat back.
“Well, it’s all we have,”Jace said. “Everyone uses credit cards these days.”
The man looked skepticallyat Ben, who shook his head in what he hoped was a convincingmanner. He did have money on him, and he was more than willing togive it up, but he didn’t want to prove Jace a liar. Who knew howthe men would react then?
“Get out,” the driversaid.
“Fine.” Jace nodded to himthat they should exit, but Ben faltered.
He didn’t like the idea ofbeing abandoned in the middle of nowhere any more than he likedbeing robbed. The audacity of the suggestion incensed him, causinghis panic to recede as he slowly saw red. “You can’t leave ushere!”
“Your hotel not far,” thebrother said in friendly tones, as if he were performing a publicservice. “You walk that way. Half hour, you there.”
“You just took all ourmoney,” Ben retorted. “You can at least drive us the rest of theway there!”
“Ben--” Jacetried.
“No! I’m not getting outof the car. Go ahead and cut us up! Stain your upholstery with ourblood and go through the hassle of hiding our bodies. I don’t care.Or you can take us to the hotel. You decide!”
Ben could barely breathe bythe time he was finished. The two brothers yammered at each otherangrily for a few moments before finally reaching aconclusion.
“We take you,” the brothersaid moodily.
Ben wished he could feelrelief, but at this point he could only suspect the worst. Maybethey were being driven to some mafia hideout where the professionalcleaners would make short work of them. His muscles remained tenseand his pulse throbbed until the neon hotel sign finally came intoview. The taxi pulled over before reaching the u-shapeddriveway.
“Get out,” the driverordered a second time.
Ben wanted to, he reallyreally wanted to, but another thought had occurred to him. Thesecond they stepped out of the vehicle, it would drive away, takingtheir luggage with it. There was something he had worked very hardon in that luggage, and he wasn’t willing to give it up.
“Take our bags out,” heinsisted. He wanted to look at Jace, but he didn’t dare take hisattention off the two men up front.
The driver’s brotherappeared about to snap and carve his initials all over theirbodies. The muscles in his jaw tensed as his eyes bored into Ben’s,but the unblinking gaze that he received in return broke him down.He stepped out of the car, slamming the door loudly behind him. Heopened the rear hatch of the van and took their luggage out,tossing it carelessly to the side of the street. As soon as it wasout, both Ben and Jace followed suit.
“Crazy Americans!” thebrother spat, literally this time, at Ben’s feet before reenteringthe taxi and speeding away.
A cool breeze blew acrossthem as they watched it disappear around a corner.
“You were amazing!” Jacesaid, grinning and picking up Ben in a hug. “Jesus! You should be ahostage negotiator!”
“Well, that was bullshit,”Ben said, his voice trembling. His braveness had fled along withhis adrenaline, returning the fear he had been ignoring. His legswere feeling shaky, too. “Come on. Let’s go,” he said, removinghimself from Jace’s embrace and picking up his luggage. He justwanted to get into the hotel where they were safe before the thugscame back to gun them down or something.
Check-in went by in a blur.Ben repeatedly looked out the lobby windows for any sign oftrouble. The receptionist barely blinked an eye when Jace explainedhow his credit cards had been stolen. A couple of calls had to bemade to cancel the cards and to secure the reservation. Jaceswitched to Italian again and must have found some way to work itout because they got their room.
Ben sat down on the bed andtried unsuccessfully to hide his trembling hands. Jace noticed andkneeled before Ben, taking them in his own. “It’s okay,” hesoothed. “We’re safe now. We just got into the wrong taxi. I shouldhave known better and been more careful.”
“It’s my fault,” Ben said,refusing to let him take the blame. “No, screw that. It was theirs.That was really fucked up.”
