Safe

III

Naomi

Present day

"And that's what I remember." I say closing my eyes so tightly, as if it would help me remember something else. "How did I get here?"

"You made a call to the police. They heard the shot and traced the call. You were very lucky, Miss Bowen. Luca Mancini leaves no witnesses. Never!" Agent Daniels responds.

I open my eyes in horror and ask:

"Am I safe? You think he knows I'm alive? I wonder if..."

"Calm down, Miss Bowen. Please" The agent reassures me. "No one knows you survived. Just the medical staff and the police. And no one's going to tell! Besides," he says pointing to the bedroom door, "there has always been an agent there."

"But how did you come to the conclusion that he's the one who tried to kill me?" I ask confused. Ever since I woke up, I've had a huge headache despite my meds. And the FBI visit only made it worse.

"The first time you woke up and a police officer tried to question you, you kept talking in the skull with a spiked dagger. This tattoo is on Luca Mancini's hand like you just identified. Since there is an ongoing investigation into this man, the agent has decided to call the FBl. Lucky for us. Like I said, he never leaves any witnesses."

"I'm sure there's more people with that tattoo." I say staring at the picture of Luca Mancini still in my lap.

"Are you in doubt, Miss Bowen?"

"No!" I say shaking my head. But I wish I was wrong. I wish this was a dream. Well, a nightmare! "I have no doubt. Now what do I do?"

The agent who was standing up until this moment sits in a chair next to me and starts sighing:

"You need to hide."

I'm about to interrupt him when he adds:

"Listen, I can't give you much information about Luca Mancini because it's classified information. However, I can tell you that he is very dangerous and the man he killed is one of ours."

"What?" How did I forget the man who was killed in front of me?

I take my fingers to my forehead rubbing it. My head hurts a lot and I don't know if I can have this conversation right now.

"The man Luca killed is an FBI agent. We don't know what happened yet. Luca is the son of group leader Mano Nera. Italian mafia."

"What?" - I ask again incredulously.

He goes on:

"Luca's a drug dealer and well... people. And something went wrong that day. We just don't know to what extent our man was involved. You need to hide until we catch him."

" But that may never happen." I say straightening in bed, which causes a great discomfort in the chest. Where I got shot. And I survived.

" We don't have a chance, you need to hide. But I can't put you in the witness protection program."

"Why not? You said yourself I'm not safe."

"Confidential information miss Bowen."

I look at him, incredulous. He didn't just say that!

"My life is at stake. I may not have any family, but I have friends and they could be in danger."

Standing up and heading to the bedroom window, Agent Daniels seems to consider something. I leave him alone trying to figure out what I'm going to do, too.

A few minutes later Agent Daniels goes to my bedroom door and says:

"Rest and we'll talk again tomorrow."

He leaves leaving me with no solution to my problem.