Chapter 8: Rearrange Your Face

They were approaching the first stop, and Rome was out of his seat pacing. He knew the attendants would tell him he had to sit down soon, and he would when they asked, but he was nervous. Not only did he have to take care of his wife and make sure nothing happened to her, he had two other innocent people with him as well.

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 moustache or something.”

“I have an extra moustache 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 moustache 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.