“Venire!” She made an animated hand motion. “Pronto!”
Matteo was one step behind her, while I was two behind them. Back in the office, a low whine came from one of the screens. The entire thing flashed, making the room seem like it had strobe lights.
Matteo’s eyes lit up with it as he scanned the screen. “Fuck!” He took off. Lockers started to click open around the house. They were going for weapons.
I stared at the screen, unable to look away from it. We were being attacked on the other side. This side was sheltering wounded, and we’d see exactly how much of a decoy it was, or how much the other side could take without rattling the walls.
Guns blasted. Men flickered, some of them fighting hand to hand. Guido had a man up against the wall, a knife stuck deep in his gut. A look on his face I’d never forget. It was imprinted on my memories, like the strobe lights on my eyes.
ZioRocco seemed to crash into the room. He was having a hard time keeping straight. His teeth were lodged into his bottom lip, and sweat poured from his skin. The three of us—me, Evelina, and Mari—had to help him sit in front of the monitors. He closed his eyes for a second before they popped back open.
“That is them,” he said, swaying some.
“The same men?” Evelina asked.
He nodded. “Some of them.”
“How—who?”Who would have told them about this place?I couldn’t even get all the words out. It wasn’t that a man wouldn’t break under extreme circumstances, but our men were not built that way.
I’d spent my entire life around them. Iknewthem.
ZioRocco tilted his head back, looking for a place to rest it. When none came, he popped up like he’d been electrocuted. He growled. “Nino. Oscar.” He leaned on the desk, putting his head in his hands. “Nino might have caved if they were torturing his son for information. Or vice versa. That is all I can think. No one else—”
He stopped there, sitting up abruptly, like he’d heard something. He slowly stood, tilting again, and crouched, like he had a knife in his hands. When Mariano came to the door, he attacked him. Mariano wasn’t expecting it, but he absorbed the hit and somehow gotzioRocco on his back.ZioRocco was grunting, stabbing at him with a hand that held no knife.
Matteo and Salvatore somehow got them apart. A doctor showed up and helped the two of them get him back to where he needed to be. Mari followed.
“Where now, Evelina?” I said, when the room was empty save for us. “Where are they now?”
She had to override something on the screen to get to where the GPS tracker was. The red light lit up and was stationary. “The airport,” she said.
“Can you find out where?”
“Already did,” she said. “If the flight records are true, they’re taking them to Russia.”
“Of course,” I said, spinning in a circle. Of course they were true. They wanted us to know. They wanted me to know. “Get me on a plane, Evelina.”
“Mia—
I held up a hand. “Do you trust me?”
“I—”
“Do you?”
“I do, but—”
“No hesitation, Evelina. Yes or no.”
“I do.” She stood and did something I never saw her do. She started to fidget. “You’ll have to clue me in first, though. I’m not going into this blind.”
“I’ll tell you on the way to the airport. But we need to get out of here.”
“Easy to get a car,” she said. “This side is preoccupied with keeping us safe. The battle is winding down on the other side. More of them down than us. The doctors will be busy. But—getting out? They might catch us.”
I waved that off. “I need a phone.”
“Who are you calling?”
