“Gianni,”Carlo says,“and Davide is operating a surveillance drone to keep an eye on any movement close by.”
“Good,” I said, cracking my neck. We paid the shop owner across the street a hefty sum to close his doors for the day so we could use it for surveillance. I haven’t attended church in decades, but somewhere in the back of my mind, all the prayers to St. Jude, the Patron Saint of Lost Causes from my childhood repeat themselves, praying that Cora is brought to this location.
There’s a little flurry of people heading into the bank. “Carlo, do you have eyes on the people who just entered?”
“Yeah, boss, five men and one woman.”
“Could she be Cora?” I asked urgently.
“I didn’t get a good look,”he said apologetically,“but if Schmidt arranged a group of people to enter at the same time, it’s great camouflage.”
“Send someone in,” I said, barely controlling myself from sprinting across the street. “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon…” I mumbled.
“Boss? Antonio here. There’s no one in the lobby or by the tellers that looks like Mrs. Toscano or the other two women. I’m going to walk by the office area.”
There’s static as a new voice chimes in, it’s Davide.“I think I’ve spotted Cora and Hilda Schmidt on the drone’s camera. Schmidt is dressed like a man, they’re in the General Manager’s office on the second floor, and he’s scanning the tattoo.”
“Yes!” I roared, fighting back the savage sense of exhilaration. I don’t have Cora back yet. “Okay, everyone listen, we’re still looking for Marietta - Lina - look for a car circling the block. She might be waiting to drive them out of here. The men who entered with them are probably theirs, so this position is very sensitive. Try to move civilians out of the area without drawing attention if you can.”
Cora, my Cora is right fucking there,I think, teeth gritted.
“They’re coming back down,” Davide says urgently,“the GM is walking them to the door. Do you see the gray Mercedes that just pulled up?”
“Got it,” I said, cocking my pistol and holding it under the cover of my jacket. “If for some fucked up reason they get out of here, you do not let that drone lose them.”
Carlo’s rapidly issuing orders and we all move toward the car where Hilda is pushing Cora in before her. There’s a man driving, which means Lina’s probably in the back.
Casting a quick look around, I see the street is as unpopulated as my soldiers can make it and I give the signal, racing across the street and ripping open the back door as three other men do the same.
“Get out of the car!” I shout. I see Cora’s green eyes in the dim interior, light shining from them as she reaches out to me and then the street rocks back and forth as I’m thrown backward by a car blowing up behind us. Rolling back onto my feet, I squint against the blood pouring down from my forehead. Another car detonates across the street. There’s screaming, flaming bits of metal, and the smell of burning oil. The memory of Schmidt’s helicopter exploding into a thousand pieces over the pine trees hits me, and I stagger, trying to keep my footing.
The Mercedes races away from the curb, nearly flattening Carlo and two of my soldiers, trying to shoot out the tires. Wiping the blood out of my eyes, I shout into my headset, “Get Davide in a car, do not let the drone lose them!”
Gianni and Carlo squeal to a stop in front of me as the bank alarm starts blaring. Throwing myself into the front seat, I slap the dashboard.
“Go!”
Whoever’s driving the Mercedes knows what they’re doing, their evasion techniques almost leave us behind a couple of times until Davide corrects our direction.
“I’m flying the drone high enough that it would be difficult to spot,”he warns me over the headset,“but they’re heading for the beach where the drone could be more noticeable. I’ll keep it as high as I can without losing them.”
“Davide, you’re a good man and I am doubling your salary,” I said fervently. My phone vibrates, Giovanni is calling me.
“You’ve got her?” The urgency in his voice reflects my own.
“Davide’s following them with the surveillance drone, we’re close behind. That bitch Hilda had two nearby cars rigged to blow if we got too close. The explosions were powerful enough as a distraction to let them escape while we dragged our asses off the street,” I said.
“I hate that woman and I’m looking forward to seeing you put a bullet in her head, but that is very clever,” Gio said with reluctant admiration.
“Join her fan club later,” I said, “I’m sending you the coordinates.”
I try to put the phone in my jacket pocket and realize my suit’s covered in blood.
“Oh, shit, sir,” Gianni said, “you’ve got a piece of metal sticking out of your shoulder.”
Carlo’s cursing under his breath as he rips open a med kit. “Really, boss? You don’t notice a chunk of metal twelve inches long sticking out of you?”
Now that I’ve noticed the wound, it hurts like a bitch, and I can feel the fingers on my right hand going numb.
