Escape Read Online Free PDF Page B

Lisa. That changes a man.’
    ‘What about the two
carabinieri
who “happened” to be coming out of the bank at that precise moment. I don’t buy that.’
    ‘Who would have engineered the whole show? The people who helped him escape? With three dead, that’s a bit much, don’t you think? But more importantly, why?’
    ‘To kill the declaration that the original Red Brigades leaders have just published.’
    ‘That’s a bit of a sledgehammer to crack a nut, isn’t it?’
    ‘The stakes are high for us, Roberto. Don’t underestimate them. That open letter could be the starting point for acollective analysis. We need to read it and discuss it, together and with other left-wing organisations. So we need time, and we need calm. If we don’t analyse our defeat, each of us will be left to our own individual solitude and despair. Our generation will be airbrushed out, our history will be erased, and the traitors and scumbags will triumph.’
    ‘Nobody wants that debate, neither the left – or what remains of it – nor the right. Definitely not with us. We’re terrorists, outcasts.’
    ‘Exactly. A few days after the publication of the Red Brigades’ open letter, one of their former leaders raids a bank and kills a
carabiniere
. On the front page of all the papers, “Red terrorism from left-wing extremists, still a threat, is now pure gangsterism. Why should we open a dialogue with these people?” Don’t you find it too much of a coincidence that this sabotages all our chances of entering into a political dialogue?’
    ‘Carlo could very well have lost his head all by himself. And I think we can be certain that some of our former comrades will continue to attack and murder without really knowing why, and kill off the Red Brigades’ declaration without the need for dirty tricks to push them into crime.’
    ‘The right can’t just blame the violence on a bunch of gun-toting individuals as they always do. They’re bound to try, I grant you, but it could well be too late. There are good reasons to hurry.’
    ‘What reasons?’
    ‘Two months ago, in January, the ultra-right extremists who planted the bomb in Piazza Fontana were cleared. Seventeen dead. No culprits. Insufficient evidence.’
    ‘I don’t see the connection.’
    ‘The Piazza Fontana massacre was the first in a long series, carried out with the backing of the secret service, whose aim was clearly to destabilise the country.’
    ‘I know it, you know it, everyone knows it.’
    ‘That’s all very well. But when they start clearing the namesof known killers, authors of such a historically significant massacre, twenty years after the event, the right needs to divert attention while it gets its house in order.’
    ‘Operation whitewash has been underway for a while. Nothing new there.’
    ‘Yes, but it’s very much in the news because, after the Piazza Fontana killers in January, it’ll be the turn of the
Italicus
train killers in September, then those of the Brescia massacre before the year’s out. Same protagonists, the Ordine Nuovo fascists, same victims, same aims. And the same outcomes to the trials: they’ll all be whitewashed. If the farce is repeated too often, it’ll end up by not being funny any more. A distraction has to be found, and immediately. Give the press and public opinion something else to think about.’
    Roberto looked out of the window, a big square of blue sky, so blue, so calm. He speaks without turning round.
    ‘I admire you for your ability to think and rationalise. I have to say that I’m not able to. Not yet. Right now I’m too stunned by Carlo’s death. I feel as though I’m at the bottom of a hole.’
    ‘Don’t you know the Roma saying? When you’re at the bottom of a hole and sinking, stop digging.’

10 March
    It is dark by the time Lisa arrives home, exhausted after a stressful day at work. She had to make up her four days’ absence, four days in mourning. Piles of reports to type, appointments to