The Virgin Vagabond

Chapter 6

Luke looked at Kesia and tried to come up with a good plan. Eventually he just shrugged.

”No, there is nothing we can do except keep playing the game. This is just how it is. Sometimes they will have the upper hand, sometimes we will.”

”Ok, well then I guess it’s time for dinner?”

Of course, Luke had chosen a restaurant for dinner as well. When Kesia tried to question his authority he just replied that he had been here before and therefore knew better which restaurants to go to. Kesia rolled her eyes at him but gave up the argument. It was useless anyway. When they arrived at the restaurant it was the exact same procedure as last time, a waiter escorted them to a nice, secluded table at the back of the restaurant, far away from anyone else. At least it felt like it was far away because Kesia couldn’t see any other guests from where she was sitting. 

”So, are you going to decide what I should get to eat as well?” she asked, peering at him.

”No, darling, you can choose something off the menu. Anything really, everything is so good here. Actually you should take the sea bass.”

”All I know now is that I’m definitely not going to choose the sea bass. Thank you for your guidance. What are you getting?” 

Luke smirked and seemed somehow very pleased with that comment.

”God, you’re annoying,” he said with a full on smile.

Kesia smiled right back at him and then the waiter came around with a bottle of water.

”Do you wish anything to drink?”

”Yes” answered Luke, ”two Whiskey sour, please.”

”I don’t want Whiskey sour” said Kesia, slightly offended.

”Good, they’re both for me” said Luke, again with the smirk.

”Ok, in that case I would like two Cosmos” said Kesia to the waiter who nodded slightly and disappeared.

”So” began Luke and leaned forward a little, ”how are you, after todays events?”

”I feel at least one year older than I did this morning” said Kesia and poured some water into her glass. ”How are you?”

”Oh, I’m good. This is pretty much my everyday life.”

Kesia laughed a little.

”Your every day life? That is so sad.”

Luke smiled.

”And obviously and overstatement but you understand what I’m getting at.”

”I believe I do. You have been abducted before, as well as had your hotel room broken in to.”

”Exactly. See, you get me.”

”Yes, I do have a nack for reading assholes.”

Luke laughed out loud and shook his head.

”What am I going to do with you” he said.

Kesia just smiled and took a sip of water. The waiter came back with their drinks.

”What do you wish to eat?” He asked and took out a pen and paper.

”I think I’ll take the sea bass” said Kesia.

”Two sea basses” said Luke and the waiter went away again.

”You are very predictable in your choice of drinks you know” Luke said as she tasted one of her cosmos. She put the glass down at his comment. 

”There’s actually a good explanation. Care to hear it?”

”Yes, please” he said and put one of his drinks to his mouth. 

”You see, there are so many different drinks in the world. Sometimes I simply can’t choose. What I’ve learned from just picking something off a list is that it is better to have a safety drink. A drink that is great wherever you are, a drink that won’t disappoint” she lifted her glass again. ”A cosmo” she added and took a sip to put emphasis on her point. Luke nodded slowly.

”I see” he said, ”but I’ve actually learned something else from similar experiences.”

”Really? What is that?”

”That if you pick different drinks every time, you expand your horizons. Eventually, you’ll have tasted all the drinks and you don’t have to take any chances. Even if you try a new one every time you go out.”

He took one of his glasses and pushed it across the table towards Kesia. She took it hesitantly and just smelled it.

”I’ve never been a fan of whiskey” she said and put it down.

”Will you just try it? It’s not like whiskey, I promise.”

Kesia hesitated but brought to her lips and took a tiny sip of it. She was surprised to find that it was not bad. It was a little bitter, a little sweet and had an aftertaste of whiskey but it was not bad.

”What do you think?”

”Not as bad as I expected” she answered and took another sip before she gave the glass back to Luke. ”But it’s not a new favorite of mine.”

”That’s not the point. The point is that you tried something new.”

The evening only got better from that moment. Kesia really enjoyed herself and had a good time. She was almost surprised at how pleasant Luke was and had to remind herself of Anne several times, so that she wouldn’t get too flirty with him. After all, the blue eyes and his smile easily got a little distracting.

When they got back to the hotel, their room hade been cleaned again. Kesia felt a little dizzy from all the drinks and went straight to the balcony to get some fresh air. Luke laughed at her a little and went into the bathroom to take a shower. Kesia leaned against the railing and enjoyed the view. It was dark but the city was full of lights and she could even see the ocean, reflecting the moon. It was beautiful. She went inside again and poured herself a big glass of water.

”Oh, will you pour me one too?”

Kesia looked up and saw Luke. He was fresh out of the shower, still wet, with just a towel around his waist. She realized that she hadn’t really seen him like this before, except for when they were swimming together but it didn’t really count, he was a douche then. Now, they just came from a very pleasant evening together where they had flirted and had a good time. 

”Sure” she answered and picked up another glass.

The airport was cluttered when they got there the next morning. Or rather, in the middle of the night. The flight departed really early and they had to get up at 3am. Kesia found a nice bench where she could sit down for a bit, lean her head on her bag (which was the one thing she had that was most similar to a pillow) and shut her eyes for a bit. 

”Kesia, there’s no time for sleep” Luke said and took her hand to help her get up. 

”Why? When is there going to be time for sleep?”

”On the plane” he answered and pulled at her arm to get her moving towards the gate. ”Now, we are all checked in and the gate is this way.”

Kesia followed him obediently. He let go of her hand and offered her an arm instead, to give her more support. Kesia gladly welcomed it.

”Not that I can’t walk on my own” she said.

Luke said nothing, he just smiled at her and she rolled her eyes. They were coming up on the tax free and Kesia let go of Lukes arm to look at the sunglasses. Assisi was most likely going to be a little warmer and a little sunnier. When she started thinking like that, she had to get some other stuff as well. By the time she was done with the tax free she had bags from four different stores. She went over to Luke where he sat, by the gate and sat down right next to him. 

”About time you showed up, the boarding is about to start” he said and closed the book he was reading. ”Good god! Did you buy everything you laid your eyes on?”

”Oh, haha” she said sarcastically, ”obviously not. Didn’t you get anything?”

”There is nothing I need. Besides, everything you buy only means you have more to carry around.”

”Good point. Although that is not true for me. I have you” she said and looked at him with a sweet smile, designed to make him melt. He just snorted at her.

”So, are there any stopovers?”

”Yes, two. One in Johannesburg and one in Amsterdam.”

”Oh, great. But when we get there…”

”We still have to drive three hours to get to Assisi.”

”Wonderful.”

Kesia took out her phone to send a message to her dad. She had completely forgotten to stay in touch with them as she had promised. For a couple of minutes, she thought about what to write. She never used to do that. She always knew what to write. It was one of her qualities. People even turned to her when they needed someone to proofread. Yet, here she was, searching for words. 

”Hi dad, moving on from Cape Town now. I’ll call you when I get to Assisi” said Luke.

”What?”

”That is what you should write. Don’t apologize for not being in touch as much as you promised, don’t ask questions, don’t write unnecessary words. Be short and to the point. That is almost always the way to go.”

Kesia thought for another two seconds and then typed in the exact words Luke had suggested, but added ’hope you are both well’ at the end.

The sleep that was lost the night before was definitely compensated for on the plane. Cape Town - Johannesburg didn’t take long but Johannesburg - Amsterdam was 11 hours long. They first watched a movie together and then Kesia fell asleep on Lukes shoulder. When the plane started descending she woke up, just in time for a smooth landing. Amsterdam - Pisa just took barely two hours. Kesia wanted to go see the leaning tower but of course Luke said no. She was grumpy for a few minutes after that but the mood changed when she saw the car Luke had reserved for them. It was a dark red Mazda Miata. Luke seemed very pleased. 

”If we’re going to cruise across the Italian countryside, this is definitely the right way to do it” he said to himself and smiled. It was like he had forgotten Kesia was even there. 

”Great!” she said to remind him of her presence. ”Let’s go then”.

They both got in the car, Luke behind the wheel and Kesia right next to him. Luke drove on the Italian streets like he had never done anything else. Kesia thought to herself that he must have been here before, maybe done exactly this, with the other Kesia. It suddenly hit her that Luke still thought ’Kesia’ was just her code name and she wondered if they were ever going to find out each others real name. Maybe not. She was soon distracted by the beautiful view that appeared before them as soon as they left town.

”We will head to Siena first, make a quick stop there and then continue towards Assisi, ok?”

”Sounds good” Kesia answered, trying to hide the fact that she didn’t know anything about Italian geography. The view was breathtaking with the hills and olive groves. Here and there a few white houses in clusters, forming a little village or community. Kesia had always had a very romantic notion of the Italian countryside ever since she saw Under the Tuscan sun for the first time. What was now flashing by her eyes was in coherence with that romantic picture. At that moment, she was happy. Siena turned out to be almost two hours from Pisa and Luke drove there like it was in his own back yard.

”Do I dare ask why you seem to know these cities so well?” she asked when they had parked outside the city walls and were getting out of the car.

”Oh, I grew up here. Partially anyway” he said with a shrug, like it was obvious. 

”What!? You’re Italian? You never said!”

”You never asked” he answered and walked up to a door that he knocked on without saying anything about who’s door it was. An old man opened and seemed very happy to see Luke. They hugged and exchanged phrases in Italian and then Luke turned to Kesia.

”This is Don, he’s my dad” he said.

Kesia din’t have time to react because Don embraced her intensely. She had a hard time breathing. Luke said something in Italian and Don backed off.

”Nice to meet you” said Kesia in an effort to be polite.

”He doesn’t speak any English” Luke explained and translated what she had just said so that Don would understand. They talked with each other for a while before saying good bye and Don went back inside.

”Don’t you want to spend more time with your dad?”

”That’s not really what we are here for” he answered. ”We need to get to the hotel and wait for the clue. Our head start will soon be to an end anyway, we need to get out of the public eye.”

They went back to the car and kept driving.

The hotel room in Assisi was just as nice as the one in Cape Town, if not better. They didn’t have the penthouse this time but it was still spacious with a social space and a bedroom. There was only one bed, a kingsize, and Luke immediately offered to sleep on the couch. 

”So, what do we do now? Do we wait for the knock on the door like in Cape Town?”

”I suppose so. And if there is no knock, we go out for dinner when we get hungry.”

”Just like that? Don’t we need to be careful?”

”Yes, we do, but these seekers we have on our tail, they revealed something about themselves in Cape Town. The let us know that they are not afraid to get their hands dirty. We need to send them the same signal back.”

”Ok. How?”

”I don’t know but we are in my backyard now I they can’t get the best of us here. Our focus needs to be to find out what they look like, and I think we can.”

They were interrupted by a knock on the door.

”Who is it?”

”Just the valet, a letter arrived for you, sir”.

”Leave it right outside the door, thank you!”

The valet put the envelope down and as soon as he had gone away Luke opened the door and picked it up. There was a new quote for them inside.

”It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen” Luke read aloud.

Kesia thought it sounded familiar but had to google it to find out why.

”That is the first line in the book 1984 by George Orwell” she informed him. 

”Ok” he said and turned the envelope upside down. Another piece of paper came falling out.

”Rocca Maggiore” Kesia read after picking it up from the floor. ”What is that?”

”It’s this old medieval fortress outside of town. I guess that is where the key to the clue is.”

”And that is also where we should leave the footprint?”

”Yes, exactly. There should be a safety deposit box or something. Let’s go there first thing in the morning.”

”Or, we could go right now” Kesia suggested. ”Think about it, Luke, we still have a bit of a head start, our seekers are probably not here yet, if we go now, we can avoid them.”

”We can’t know that for sure. They might be close.”

”Bit it’s more likely they’ll be close tomorrow. They could be waiting right outside the hotel tomorrow morning as far as we know.”

Luke thought for a few seconds.

”Ok” he said, ”let’s go!”

When they arrived at the fortress it was about to close in a couple of minutes. Kesia and Luke ran to the door and stopped it just as the curator was about to close it down.

”Please give us a couple of minutes!” he said and the curator let them in.

”I think we are supposed to leave something here as well as pick something up. Do you know anything about it?”

”What are your names?” he asked and looked at them, still with a little suspicion in his gaze.

”I’m Kesia and this is Luke” Kesia answered and the man immediately went behind the desk.

”Then I do have something for you, if you have something for me” he said and unlocked a safe in the back. He took out a small envelope that looked too small to contain the key to the clue and Luke gave him one of the black cubes in exchange. Just as they were about to leave the building a car pulled up outside. Luke quickly put the envelope in his bag and grabbed Kesias hand.

”Is there anywhere we can hide?”

The man looked at them like they were crazy.

”Eh, sure” he said and pointed to the door that led to the fortress, ”go through there and hide in the closet to the right.”

”Thank you. We weren’t here, remember that, we were never here.”

He pulled at Kesias hand and they went through the door two seconds before the other guests knocked. Kesias heart was racing. The curator opened the door a little to inform the people outside that they were closed.

”Wait” Kesia whispered to Luke and let go of his hand. ”This is our chance to see what they look like. That would give us an advantage.”

”That’s true. How do we do that without letting them see us?”

Kesia looked around for a window. The fortress didn’t offer a lot of windows but there were a whole in the wall, probably made to aim rifles through. She went up to it and tried to get a peek of their seekers, but without any luck. 

”Let me try” said Luke and got into position. ”Do you have a small mirror in your purse?”

”Yes!” Kesia exclaimed excitedly and took out her compact. She gave it to Luke. He held it in the small opening in the wall and tried to aim it in the direction of the entrance. 

”There they are!” he whispered, ”take a look”.

He backed up a little and gave the mirror to Kesia.

”Ok, so our seekers are a man in his thirties and a woman in her late twenties. He is very dark, short hair, brown eyes, no beard. Quite tall. She is blonde, blue eyes, fair skin, tall to be a woman but shorter than the man.”

”Yes, all that is very general. Do you see any marks that can help us single them out from a crowd?”

”The man has very characteristic eyebrows, I would probably recognize them anywhere. As for the woman… she has kind of a crooked nose… Oh! A mole, right by her left ear, quite big.”

”Good, now get down from there!”

Kesia stepped down and put her compact back in the purse. They waited until they heard the car drive away and then they went back. 

”What did they want?” Luke asked the curator.

”They asked if you guys had been here and I said no.”

”Did they threaten you or anything?”

”No, they were persistent but they weren’t threatening. They asked about the car outside but I said it was mine.”

”Ok. Good. Thank you for your help. Is it okay if we linger a while before we go? Just to be safe.”

”Sure. I’m gonna go lock everything up.”

The curator went through the door and disappeared into the fortress. Luke looked at Kesia.

”Are you ok?”

”Absolutely. That was kind of thrilling!”

Luke laughed a little.

”I’m glad you think so, there is going to be a lot of situations like this. Let’s see what’s in the envelope he gave us.”

”Yes, it looked too small to contain the key” said Kesia as Luke brought it out. He opened it and poured the content out in his hand. 

”It is a key, just not the kind we expected.”

The key was small and looked like it could open a safety deposit box somewhere. Attached to it was an adress. 

”Via del Torrione in some kind of cathedral?”

”Damn” he said, ”they want us to move around in the open more. Of course they do, those bastards!”

”What are you talking about?”

”They are forcing us to move around in populated areas where we can be seen. I promise you this place will only be open in the middle of the day so we will have to go in daylight. It would have been too easy if we got the key to the clue here. Then, we would just go back to the hotel and find out where we are going next.”