Sydney Moya

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(c)2016

Synopsis

Interpol working with a multinational taskforce of Anti-Organised crime agencies is closing in on Mario Di Michele and his ‘Ndrangheta crime family, His father, uncles and his three brothers and two sisters have been arrested or killed. He is a wanted man in North America, Europe and Latin America. There seems to be only one way to evade capture or certain death and it is by being true to his nature.

Chapter 5

Ava looked in the mirror.

A wave of distaste washed over her as she looked at her body, now mostly feminine because of months of intensive oestrogen therapy that had left her quite pleased except in her groin where the parts she so detested hung, limp as a cut vine.

Papa would be turning in his grave she thought.

Ava sighed and tears formed in her eyes.

"You disgrace your family," Luciano had said.

A large part of her believed he was right. She would never have transitioned had Luciano not been taken, had there been a chance anyone she knew would know about it.

The knowledge that everyone who would be disgusted by her transition was dead had spurred her on. Especially Papa.

Now he loomed larger than ever in her mind.

She remembered the beating he'd given her all those years ago when he'd found her dressed up with Marta.

She blinked rapidly so that she wouldn't cry.

"Che diavolo!" Papa exclaimed.

Ava had frozen at the sound of her father’s booming voice. Everyone in the house knew that tone was to be avoided at all costs.

"Mario come here."

A shaking Ava had walked up to her father.

"Why are you dressed like that?" Papa demanded.

Mario was still innocent and naive to the ways of the world. She didn't think to lie.

"I'm a girl Papa," she whispered.

His eyes narrowed.

Marta who was older and knew the implications of her siblings statement spoke up quickly.

"No Papa it is my fault. I was just wanted someone to play with so I asked Mario to dress up. It wasn't his idea."

"Please Papa can I be a girl all the time?"

The ten year old heard a sharp intake of breath from her sibling as her father swore up a storm. He removed his belt and locked the door before proceeding to thrash them within in an inch of their lives.

Ava had cried until she couldn't cry. She would never forget the red welts all over body, in her face, her back and legs which were mirrored on her sister.

Her father’s rage had resulted in all the kids being beaten that day. Stefano, Luigi and Olivia had taken a while to forgive her. It didn't help that their mother had disappeared some weeks later.

They had taken it out on her for years, taking turns to one up her and be mean to her. The sad thing is she thought she deserved it.

Marta had remained her closest friend and protector from the rest of their siblings. She was the one person who’d remained kind to her despite what had happened. Though they had never dressed up again Marta had always been there for her, a shoulder to cry on, someone to run to when it all became to much. It was only because of her that she had stayed a decent person who didn’t believe in hurting people. Sure she could pretend to talk the talk but she’d never bought into it

Ava had never spoken about being a girl to anyone until Dr. Ross again. She'd been the good son devoted to her school work and making her father happy even if she was miserable on the inside. She was no Luigi or Stefano but she liked to think her father had grown to appreciate her. Being brilliant with numbers helped quite a bit.

Marta had remained her closest friend and protector from the rest of their siblings. A kindred spirit, knowing she was dead had nearly destroyed Ava.

She sighed again. The plan would have to be changed. She wouldn't have the surgery today.

‘Soon,’ thought Ava but not today.

Luciano and his wife's surgery were successful. Both or them had their faces altered slightly so as to beat any facial recognition software.

It wasn't radical enough that their young children wouldn't recognise them but it was hoped they would have a slight edge over law enforcement which increasingly relied on software to identify wanted persons.

Ava hadn't been moping too much. Taking a trip down memory lane hadn't dulled her razor sharp mind. While Luciano and his wife recuperated she was hard at work preparing for her next move.

It involved setting up a new life for her henchman and his family. Italy was out of the question as they were still headlining the news channels there. She was glad to note that the international news cycle had moved on to the latest disaster in the middle east.

An arbitrage opportunity? Ava briefly wondered.

She put aside that thought for later.

They could stay in Spain for while. Luciano had the basics of the language. Maybe he could run a bar or something for a while.

However Ava was loathe to live Luciano behind for some reason and she didn't fancy staying in Spain much. It was fine if you were on holiday but she couldn't see a future for herself here.

Taking back the Marciano's with her to London was another possibility. Natalia and children had no English however which was not helpful.

Her house was large enough for all of them to live comfortably but it would be hard to explain why a single British girl now had an Italian family living with her.

She realized would have to get another place.

Moscow, Russia

Anna Shevchenko looked at her husband and frowned. The imbecile was drunk again.

She couldn’t help wonder how someone like him had ended up so wealthy. It boggled the mind, Antonin spent every day drinking himself to death.

She sighed, why did she always end up with the wrong types of man?

She shook her head and walked to her room.

Anna gazed into the mirror. A tall, lithe woman, with flashing blue eyes and blonde hair stared back at her. Anna placed her hands on her cheeks before running one hands through her hair. She was 59 though she could pass for a woman twenty years younger. No one could ever think she’d given birth to five children in ten years.

As she thought of her children, her face darkened. She was tempted to go and join Antonin’s drinking spree. She shook her head, to chase away the morbid thoughts. She didn’t want to go back to the dark place she'd been in for years.

She had sworn she never to allow herself to fall that low again.

Even so, she wondered about her babies. She had not seen them in 18 years.

Where were they now? What were they doing?

Anna had been a naïve young model straight out of Yugoslavia when she met Carlo in Milan. He had seemed sauve, charming and sophisticated. He was the embodiment of the Italian man in her and she’d fallen fast for him. Against his parents’ wishes, he had married her. Carlo’s father had been mad but when she delivered a grandson, Luigi all was forgiven. They had been happy at first until she began learning of her husband’s less than savoury business activities.

She thought of Luigi, her oldest, stoic from a young age. Even as a baby he’d never been one to make a fuss. Stefano, her second child had been a happy go lucky kid, with a silver tongue that could charm anyone. Olivia her oldest girl was sassy and outspoken, Anna had always believed she thought too much of herself but she’d spoilt her nevertheless. Marta her sister was a sweet, kind girl. Anna had considered her the favourite until Mario was born.

Mario was nothing like his siblings, he had her eyes and the same reddish blonde hair she had had as a baby. Her baby was a precocious child, so innocent yet so intelligent. So curious, he asked impossible questions but she adored it and him.

Anna had instinctively known he was different and had wanted to protect him from the world and her father. She sighed remembering his words at a tender six.

“I’m a girl Mama,” he’d announced when she found him and Marta in her clothes, lipstick on their faces.

Anna smiled at the memory. She had thought nothing of it after all they were just kids, so she’d hugged them both and fixed their makeup, telling them it was their little secret. Maybe she shouldn’t have encouraged them.

She didn’t doubt Carlo had initiated them into the ‘Ndrangheta. They were his children, a fact he’d made clear from day one when he’d named each and every one of them without so much as consulting her.

When he had caught Mario cross-dressing and beaten the kids she had confronted him. He had beaten her within an inch of her life. He considered it her fault for perverting Mario. Their relationship had turned to ice when he had told her to stop taking her birth control pills. Anna loved children but she felt she couldn’t have another one.

Carlo’s eyes had narrowed and he’d left the house in high dudgeon. Isabella Marciano, his henchman's wife had come in hours late with a warning from her husband. She was to leave asap as Carlo had put a hit on her. Anna had fled with the clothes on her back, without even getting a chance to say goodbye to her kids.

Tears filled her eyes.

Dammit she thought.

The hole in her heart was still as big as the day she’d left.

She went to her desk and opened her laptop, feeling that she had to know what her kids were up to.

Anna started up the search engine.

To be continued