I move to the side and return fire.
My shots hit the table and splinter the wood but don't penetrate.
The man's well protected.
Then I hear a click, a sound I recognize immediately—an explosive device being triggered.
"Get out," I shout to Enzo, but it's too late.
We turn and run back down the hallway, but the explosion detonates before we're even a few steps away.
The blast tears through the building and sends debris flying in every direction.
I hit the ground and cover my head as the heat washes over me and the noise deafens me temporarily.
I don’t know where Marco or Rico are, and I can't see Enzo in all the smoke, but I'm coughing and gasping for air as debris rains down on me.
When the ringing in my ears subsides, I push myself to my feet and cover my mouth with the front of my shirt.
The building's on fire and flames lick up the walls and consume everything they touch.
Enzo's on the ground a few feet away with blood running down his arm where shrapnel clipped him.
"Can you move?" I ask, noting the beam lying across one of his feet.
Luckily, I can move it easily, and he pushes himself to his feet.
We stumble out of the building and into the street.
Rico and Marco are already there.
Marco's injured too, holding his side where blood seeps through his shirt.
"We need to leave," Rico says. "That's gonna bring attention."
He's not wrong.
Something that loud will have authorities here in under ten minutes.
And we can't stick around to explain what went wrong.
I drag my injured men toward the cars, limping because my knee feels twisted from that fall.
We get back to the cars and drive away, and I watch the building burn in the rearview mirror until it disappears from view.
The raid was supposed to be quick and clean.
Instead, it turned into a disaster that nearly got my men killed.
Once again, I believe Gerard knew we were coming, which means he has more informants keeping tabs on me than I knew about.
I drive back to the villa with my hands tight on the wheel.
My mind replays the explosion over and over.
The sound of the click.
The heat of the blast.
