Caserta is approximately 40 kilometers away from Naples, taking around 30 minutes by car through A1. The drive was relatively uneventful, Silva even found the time relaxing and nodded off several times during the journey, catching small bits of information from the two older men in the car with him, but the talk vanishes when he falls back into dreams of raging fire and torrential destruction.
"Is that..." Gabriel's voice faded away.
In the dream, he shifted in and out, and the story would continue as if flipping through the pages of a novel. He stood, alone, surrounded by burning rubble and charred wood. He could feel the smoke and heat coming from all around him, dizzying him, boiling the sweat off his skin. Stop motion, like a movie made from a flipbook. He was walking. Phasing.
"Naples is heavily guarded..."
Forward. Each step burned his feet. He wondered why he couldn't stay awake, nor stay asleep. He looked forward and saw a dark figure, someone taller, older. His has a black suut6, like his father used to wear. His hair was unruly, and his back was facing Silva. He felt a certain familiarity with the figure, but he can't understand why. Forward, phasing in and out. Closer, the figure was closer now. He could hear 'Him', he was sure it was a man, though there was nothing to confirm that one way or another.
"....10..."
"Excuse me." Silva reached out but the man suddenly turned towards him.
He was shocked enough that his voice failed him. The man had no face! His attention was so focused on the man's face that he barely registered that there was a gun in the man's hand, and it was aimed at his head.
"Arriverdeci."
He felt the bullet hit the center of his forehead, a flash of pain as it ripped through skin and bone, missing brain by less than a centimeter due to its trajectory, exiting through the top of the back of his skull. The brain has no receptors to pain, but the pain receptors around the brain are extremely sensitive. Silva's vision turned white from the pain, his voice contorting to a fiendish scream. He could feel the hollow filled with the burning air, the blood drying out as it flowed out.
He didn't phase in and out anymore. He was stuck in his pain in this burning world. He tried to focus, tried to see the man who shot him, but bullets ripped through him once more, dotting his torso and staining his undershirt in a disgusting black color. He felt blood in his throat, he couldn't breath. He knew his lungs were punctured.
'I'm blinking to death,' Silva thought to himself. He coughed and felt incredible pain, but the ever increasing pain was the only thing he could feel. 'I'm going to die..." He laughed, coughed, and flashed in and out of consciousness.
Then, at the edge of it all, he can hear a piano playing. It was a soft melody, singing his body, riddled with pain nobody has ever experienced before, to a soft death.
He woke up, and saw Naples Airport. He still felt the pain from his dream, as if they were fresh wounds, and for a while he couldn't move. He felt blood drip from his forehead down to his nose, could taste the copper from his blood. There was nothing there. It was just a dream, for now.
"Reilly will meet us here, then she will guide us." Gabriel opened his side of the door and prompted Silva to do the same. "Thank you, Dantalion."
"Godspeed to the both of you. When all of thus is resolved, maybe I can ask my wife to fix us all pizza." Dantalion locked the doors and waved them goodbye.
"I'll look forward to it." Silva gave him a smile. He didn't know if it was forced or not.
A woman in a tight-fitting black dress walkes towards them. She was absolutely gorgeous. She had the perfect curves in all the right places, her smile was radiant, and her hair was a light shade of yellow. Silva recognized her. She was Reilly. He was suddenly engulfed by her embrace, and two thoughts fought for dominance in his teenage brain: 'I need oxygen' and 'This is fine.' but it was over in an instant.
"Come on. Romino led them to a car chase." She spoke to both of them. "We need to walk to the Port. How are you, Young Master?"
Silva smiled at her. "I'm fine. What's happening, exactly?"
She suddenly grabbed Gabriel by ear, which forced the older man to stand on tiptoes, as the normally tall, 6 feet 5 inches tall woman, who was also boosted by 3 inches of heels, picked up one of man's greatest weaknesses. Gabriel was 5 feet 8 inches, which made it extremely painful.
"You didn't tell the Young Master?!"
"Of course not! We were kind of running away! I was going to tell him when we got away."
"Where are we going?" Silva asked Gabriel, who shook himself lose.
"There's an island where we can escape to," explained Reilly. "And by we, I mean the two of you. It's occupied by a different Mafia Family so Ain-Soph-Ur would be hesitant to go there, if they even learn where it is."
Gabriel nodded and continued walking. "I expect it to be a smooth transition for you, but maybe you don't remember."
"Remember what?" Silva raised an eyebrow.
"You spent most of your childhood in La Battagi."
"I don't..."
"I was afraid of that, but I wouldn't worry about it. It's a nice place." Reilly turned to him and smiled, but her smile quickly dispersed. "We're being followed. Don't look behind you, and walk faster."
Silva looked to his right and saw a man lighting a cigarette, and he could have sworn that the man was looking at him directly. He was smiling. He shook his head at the thought, of course the man wasn't smiling at him, was he?
The Port of Naples was one of the biggest seaports, and the speedboat owned by the External Advisors fit right in. They walked to it, careful not to arouse suspicion. Silva and Gabriel were in the boat, but Reilly stayed on the dock.
"This is where we part ways." She said. "I still have to work on your transfer paperwork."
"You'll be okay?" Silva asked. "You'll look out for Romino, right? I don't want either of you to die." He meant that.
Reilly winked at him. "I will. We may not look like it, but we're pretty tough, we being me and Romino. That old fart you're going with, I don't know."
"I'm right here, you know." Gabriel faked hurt.
"Of course, I wouldn't want to talk shit if you're not there to hear it. Take care of him, Young Master. I'll see you real soon." She kissed his forehead as the rumble of the engines of the speedboat grew louder.
As the speedboat moved away, Reilly retrieves a pistol from her dress and cocked it. Two men were on the dock with her, guns pointed directly at her. "Come on, boys, let's have some fun."
Gunshots were drowned by the engine and the waves.
"I'll be going to school, then?"
"Yeah, we're running away but I still want you to continue studies. You're 16, if being a mafia Boss doesn't pan out, you can be a... Something that doesn't die."
Silva yawned. "Great, I'm going to become a cockroach."
"Take a nap, the hangar is a bit far off."
But Silva was already asleep.
Gabriel couldn't rest. Not with so many things in the future to be afraid of.