Penthesilea's Wish [Vol.2]

Chapter Thirty-seven

(Present-day villa on the outskirts of Padua, Italy)

At four o'clock in the morning, outside on the empty street it was still and peaceful. Somewhere far in the distance of this Italian bedroom community, a dog could be heard barking. Two rented vans quietly pulled into an alley behind the string of large, white homes. The two female drivers, dressed in black military fatigues waited behind the wheels of their vehicles, leaving them running. The five women passengers in the first van, wearing ski masks and similar uniforms, threw open the side door and ran toward the back wall of one of the estates. The second van was empty and remained waiting. The leader of this all-female team skilfully threw a rope ladder over the top ledge of the stone wall, allowing the lithe, athletic women to scale it effortlessly in sequence. Their black crossbows were slung over their backs via a wide-band nylon sling. Attached to this utility belt were also several clips of poisoned darts, cameras and powerful spot lights. Sliding their night vision goggles over their eyes, they moved quickly and stealthily across the dark lawn area, adjacent to a large pool. They all quietly moved toward the back door of the two-story villa and positioned themselves for their mission.

Suddenly two large dogs charged out of a small enclosure, barking and growling viciously as they approached the assault team on the lawn. As planned carefully, the first two archers knelt on the grass allowing the animals, a Rottweiler and a Doberman, to come within closer range. One of the women now standing behind the kneeling shooters accessed with a switch her seal beam spotlight, momentarily blinding the dogs and allowing her fellow commandos to make accurate shots with their bows. The embedded darts planted a strong and instant tranquilizer into each animal, causing the to stagger silently then fall onto the lawn motionlessly. The kneeling archers mechanically clicked secondary, more sturdy shafts into the slots of their crossbows and ran forward to join the others. They remained poised at the rear entry of the house. Using a large, wedged crowbar carried by one of the women, they sprang open the backdoor and entered the darkened villa, moving precisely with their goggles toward their well-planned objective-a stairwell leading down to the basement.

There was, by this time, no resistance from the inhabitants inside the stately neoclassical house, attesting to the team's accurate planning and skilled execution of it. Kneeling and waiting at the base of the stairwell on the ground-floor level, two of the women planted themselves in a defensive position while the other three ran down the stairs to the subterranean level of the villa. Again the crowbar was employed to break the series of chains and locks which secured any unwanted entry or exit from this basement chamber.

As the women rushed into the damp room with their powerful lights shining, the screams of girls could be heard. The women quickly aimed the lights up to the ceiling, illuminating the entire room. They tried to calm the frightened teens by speaking to them in both a Romanian and Bulgarian dialect. They told them in gentle voices that they were being rescued and not to fear. One of the women commandos quickly slid off her mask, exposing her female face and long, brown hair. The girls, six in all, and ranging in age from thirteen to sixteen, instantly reacted to her looks and nurturing words. One of them spoke up quickly and warned the others to be calm. While this transpired another of the women quickly took several photos of the girls, huddled together in their chambered living quarters and recorded the dire conditions of the cell they had been confined to. They had been huddled, asleep on several dirty mattresses spread out on the floor. There seemed to be no visible light sources in the room, save for the women's spotlights. All of them did their best now to abate the girls' earlier hysteria and tears. Once calmer, the youths were given directions as to how to escape with them. The two lead women assured the teens of their imminent release if they followed the directions and remained calm. They quickly positioned themselves for the critical run back up the stairs and out the back door to safety.