Chapter 7: Chapter 7

Ella had filled Gus in on how she had faked her death, though he noted she’d left out some of the details, like how they’d gotten the coroner and the police involved. Gus had thought it was hilarious and clapped his hand on his leg in glee. Now, Gus was busy giving them updates as to what was transpiring back at the train station in Milan. Jacques was doing an excellent job of impersonating Rome, and they’d already gotten thousands of likes, shares, reposts, and other attention. With any luck, the news had gotten back to his father, and he had his goons concentrating on that train station instead of the one they were about to stop in.

“I have another idea,” Ella said, walking up to him where he was pacing between empty aisles.

“What’s that?” he asked, noticing just how beautiful she was, even with her wig on.

“Why don’t the three of us go into the bathroom and mix up our disguises a little bit. If they got a good look at us, and I’m not sure they did, they’ll be looking for two women and a guy, right? Maybe a male driver? What if we become three guys and a girl?”

“Couldn’t we do that just by splitting up?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Maybe. But this wig is pretty memorable. Maybe I can borrow some scissors from that lady back there who’s knitting and cut it off. I could borrow your mustache or something.”

“I have an extra mustache in my pocket,” Rome said, remembering he’d kept that one in case the one that he was wearing came unglued and fell off.

“Perfect. Then, if they do come in, we could all sit around and speak French and just not look at them. If we’re not afraid of them, they might not notice us.”

“But I don’t speak French,” he reminded her.

“That’s okay. Gus and I do. We can teach you enough to make it sound like you understand. Mary, too. Come on, we’re running out of time.”

She took his hand and led him to the bathroom, borrowing the scissors along the way. Mary joined them, and a few minutes later, Rome found himself exiting the bathroom a red head while his wife wore a mustache and her long hair was tucked inside of a baseball cap Mary had borrowed from a little boy. She looked a lot like a guy, especially with an oversized jacket on and that facial hair.

They almost didn’t recognize Gus when they came back because he’d changed, too. No longer wearing his hotel uniform jacket, he was wearing a sweater he must’ve borrowed from the knitter. He also had on glasses.

Ella giggled as she sat down but then covered her mouth, realizing that was too feminine. She’d returned the scissors, and the older woman had chuckled and said something Rome didn’t catch, but she seemed to think they were all up to some shenanigans. Perhaps she was right.

Ella and Gus taught the other two a few key phrases in French--”That’s interesting.” “You don’t say?” “What happened after that?” and gave them some signals so they’d know when to say them, and then the four of them waited.

The train pulled into the station and there was a welcome announcement. They all four fought the urge to look outside because they were trying to pretend they weren’t afraid of anything.

New passengers began to board. Rome only glanced in their direction. He felt Ella tense up beside him. The way she was sitting, she was looking right toward the aisle where new people were coming on. He caught her eye, and she gave him a small nod. He didn’t dare look but he knew what that meant.

His father’s men were on the train.

Ella willed herself not to look in the direction of the men in the suits headed her way, but it was all she could do to keep from lifting her eyes and look at them. She kept her focus on Gus, who was telling them a story from when he was in elementary school. While his French was perfect, he had a bit of an Italian accent. She hoped the men wouldn’t be listening too closely as they came by or that she could take over the majority of the conversation by then. But… would they be looking for her and expecting Ella Sinders to be speaking French? Surely, they didn’t know she was alive, did they?

There were two of them, and they were large. Their slow pace let her know they were scrutinizing everyone. Rome wasn’t touching her since they didn’t want it to be obvious they were a couple, but she could see in his eyes that his muscles were as strained as hers.

A few rows away, the men froze. She didn’t dare glance up and look at them to see if they were studying their group. Her heart was pounding out of her chest. Mary said something that was supposed to mean one thing and was really something else, which had Gus laughing, and telling her she needed to work a little harder on her French, not that she understood. She said, “Oui, oui,” like a poodle on a cartoon television show.

The men were moving again. It was impossible not to see them now as they drew even with the row they were sitting in. Gus’s story continued. Then, one of the men slammed into Rome’s shoulder, hard.

Ella looked up at them. She couldn’t help it.

Tall, bald, with broad shoulders, dressed in a black suit jacket, white button-down, tie, and slacks, it was clear he’d done it on purpose. Luckily, all of those years of wearing costumes in theater and movies had paid off for Rome and his wig didn’t budge.

In Italian, the man said, “Pardon me.”

Rome waved him off like it was no big deal, and Ella said, “He said excuse me,” in French, as if Rome might not understand. Then she said, also in French, “In Italian, you can say, ‘Nessun problema,’ as a response.”

Rome only looked at her because he didn’t speak French, but when she said the Italian phrase again, he caught on. “Oui,” he said, and then turning to glance at the man, he said, “Nessun problema.”

Ella held her breath as she waited to see what the man would do. Did he buy it? Did he know he was looking right at the man he’d been searching for? It took a long moment before he continued on, and Gus praised Rome’s great Italian accent--in French, so he had no idea what he was saying, but Ella laughed and went along with it. Gus launched back into his story, and the two thugs went on down the row.

As tempting as it was to turn and see if they sat down somewhere, Ella fought the urge. She stayed focused on Gus. She could tell Mary was watching the men, though. A few minutes later, she stuck her hand out and grabbed Gus by the wrist. “They got off,” she said.