Roya Fetova
A Crowdsourced Novel
Read it here – Say what comes next.
CHARACTER SUMMARY TO DATE
FRANK SMITH–St. Louis insurance agent. Lives alone. Former Air Force fighter pilot. Wife, Peggy, divorces him when he’s at war. He still loves her. Straight-edge—won’t get involved with another woman. He gets mistaken for a hit man who has stolen his identity for that purpose. He gets framed for murder and is on the run from both the mob and the police. He kills a mobster during an escape and lands a small plane in heavy weather while fleeing for his life with Roya Fetova.
ROYA FETOVA–Former Federal agent on special undercover assignment to investigate a turf war between the Russian and Italian mobs. Her lover, Sergey, is killed by order of Uomo Grasso, a big-time mobster. She’s taken off the case because of emotional involvement. Looking for justice and revenge, she goes rogue. She finds Frank in the hands of the mob, leaves her weapons behind and lets herself be taken and held with him. She’s using him to get to Grasso. Provocative, resourceful, devious, dangerous. When her abductor claims ownership over her, she strangles his huge gunman, steals a car and escapes with Frank.
TONY FERRAGAMO alias FRANK SPECK alias FRANK SMITH–Hit man. Former Air Force grunt. Takes pay for a big hit and fails to deliver. Keeps the money but goes to the Feds. Placed in witness protection program in Burlington Iowa as Frank Speck. Gets wind that his cover is blown. Steals the identity of Frank Smith who bears a physical resemblance to him. Uses Frank as his surrogate to fool the mob. Plans for Frank to die in his place. Uses connections to keep him on the tail of Frank till he’s sure the plan works. Once Frank is dead, Tony can steal a new identity and live on his payoff.
AGENT STAN HARRIS–FBI agent, Chicago bureau. Hunting Feragamo and knows his false names. Learns that evidence points to a real Frank Smith in a murder.
UOMO GRASSO–Chicago crime boss. Pays for a hit that doesn’t happen. Puts out contract on hit man, Feragamo alias Speck alias Smith.
LUIGI GASTRONI–Italian gangster working for Grasso. Middle aged, cultured, expensive suit. Uses a knife. Kidnaps Frank Smith, mistaking him for the wanted hit man and also captures Roya. Frames Frank for a murder. Frank kills him to save Roya’s life and escape.
GORT–Nickname for Giovanni Ragliani. Physically huge and powerful. Hired muscle working for Luigi. Killed by Roya in a resourceful way during her escape with Frank.
The Gamemaker's Father 
John,
Ferragamo must have picked up the mustang going east bound and would have been caught in the same traffic as Roya and Frank. When she did a U-Turn in the median, it seems she would have noticed another car do the same thing—and being a professional become suspicious of a tail. Perhaps he waited a few minutes before doing the same thing—and then made sure he caught up with her.
Good catch, Lee. I can easily change that. But just as I was about to make the correction, a couple things occured to me. He only saw one passenger–Roya. It took him 5 hours to drive there, so he didn’t show up just after they landed at Joliet–more like after they left the hotel. I’m assuming he saw her on the road after she dropped off Frank 4 blocks from the Metra Station. Does that work or does it raise other problems? If it works, how can we make it clear.
Lee, I’ve gone back to the episode and cleared up the time angle. I’ve added a few words in a couple places to reinforce the fact that it’s already after dark. The reader knows that by that time, Roya has left Frank at the station alone. Let me know if that’s unclear in any way.
Perhaps Tony’s sister, Delores, lives in Joliet. He changes clothes at her house and asks her to drop him off at the Metra station. (He wants to do a little reconnaissance work in Uomo’s neighborhood.) He spots Roya and Frank boarding the train. It blows his mind that they are still alive, but he knows he has to follow them.