They don’t know if I’m a shadow rider or not, do they?For some reason, that amused Amaranthe. They suspected. How could Geno fall so hard so fast if she wasn’t a rider? But it had been known to occur. Riders had found mates outside of riders and made their bond work.I would have thought Stefano would have told the others.
No. Stefano wouldn’t tell them. He doesn’t give away secrets. As far as he’s concerned that’s my business to disclose.
The heavy door swung open to allow the servers, wheeling trays of food, to enter the room. Once again, they split off, the same servers moving to serve from either side of the table, two starting at one end while the other two started at the opposite end.
Amaranthe had been caught up in the teasing and fun of the Ferraro family dynamics, but the moment the servers entered, her attention centered on the servers. They were extremely professional, handpicked to serve the high-end customers who rented out the costly event room. They moved with precision, attending to every need, never running into one another, and serving each person at the table quickly and efficiently. She had to admire them while at the same time every alarm she had was going off steadily.
The most likely targets in the room were Geno, Salvatore, Lucca and Stefano. Her brain analyzed the danger to each of the four men. Why they would be the best target. What the repercussions would be if they were killed. Could an assassin kill them in a room filled with shadow riders and get away? If so, how? That would also determine who the best target would be.
The servers weren’t wearing clothes that would allow them to disappear into the tunnel, so unless they planned to strip naked, they had already mapped out the room, the target and the shadows for the assassin. They had given the exact coordinates to the assassin. And they would cut off, even for a moment, the target from everyone else, so the assassin could make the kill and jump back into the shadows.
Not Lucca or Salvatore. The shadows were close, but not close enough. Their deaths would hurt Geno and the Ferraro family, but the impact wouldn’t be so significant that the family would falter. Geno? She looked up at him. Maybe. Every intuition she had said no. It had to be Stefano. A shadow lay right behind him. Both a female server and a male server had come up on either side of him, one putting soup in front of him while another placed a salad down.
Amaranthe didn’t wait. She launched herself, not caring she was giving everything away, her explosive speed and power, her ability to leap distances; nothing mattered but to get to the assassins in time.
Knees drawn to her chest, she cleared the table easily, throat punched the female server, knocking her back andaway from Stefano, and shot her feet straight at the shadow rider as he emerged from the shadow behind Stefano, knife in hand. Both feet hit the rider with crushing force in the chest right over his heart, knocking him backward. Instantly, he was sucked into the shadow tube. Amaranthe kicked off her heels and followed him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Salvatore made the leap nearly as fast as Amaranthe, catching the male server’s arm as he tried to plunge a needle into Stefano’s neck. Around Geno, the room erupted into chaos, but all he focused on was his woman disappearing into the shadows, feetfirst, after a man with a knife.
Ricco, Taviano and Emmanuelle rushed to cover their older brother with Elie, dragging him out of his chair and away from the two servers. Bodyguards surrounded the other servers, preventing them from leaving the room.
Geno, Lucca and Salvatore raced into the shadow to track Amaranthe and the assassin. Amaranthe left little behind in the way of a print, but the assassin was injured, and it was easy enough to track him. Where he went, Geno was certain, his shadow dancer followed. She was tenacious. She wasn’t going to give up.
Geno, Nicoletta and I are coming in from the other side.Mariko was calm.Tell Amaranthe to drive him this way. He won’t even see us.
Don’t kill him if it’s possible. We need to know who these people are and why they want our riders dead, Geno cautioned.Amaranthe, you aren’t injured, are you?
The Ferraros would have the two servers to take to the interrogation room, and this time no one was going to ask nicely for information. They had attempted to kill Stefano. That was sacrilege. Better Geno. Better Valentino. That might have kept them alive, but nothing was going to save them from Dario. He let few people into his world. Stefano was one of them. He made a bitter, relentless enemy, and he knew more ways than most people to make a human being suffer. He would use every one of them to find out who wanted Stefano dead. Nothing, no one, was going to stop Dario, and Geno didn’t particularly care. He felt the same way.
Danzatrice Ombra. Talk to me. Need to know you’re safe. Nicoletta and Mariko are in the tubes, coming in from the south side. Herd the assassin their way.
He has a knife with a chemical that paralyzes on the blade, Amaranthe reported.The knife is made of a different compound as well. I caught a glimpse of it before I kicked him back into the shadow.
Geno didn’t like the sound of that. Not because he worried about the knife, but because she acted as if she wasn’t going to allow anyone else the possibility of getting injured.
Nicoletta and Mariko are seasoned riders, Amara. They can handle this assassin. Do you think he’s an elite rider far better trained than our riders?
As was Amaranthe’s way, she took her time turning the possibility over in her mind.No. I don’t think that. I think he’s desperate. Desperate men or women can be very, very dangerous.
Salvatore here, Amara.
His younger brother startled him. He had known Salvatore was a strong telepath and Geno had been looping his brothers into the conversation, but he didn’t expect Salvatore to reach out on his own and loop Geno and Lucca in.
I’ll cut him off from the east. Geno will tell Nicoletta and Mariko to make a little noise. He’ll know you’re behind him. He won’t know how close. He’ll run right into me.
That knife is worrisome, Amaranthe protested. One slice into your skin no matter how shallow and you aren’t going to move. He’ll have you. That’s how they’re killing shadow riders. We need to find out who developed that compound.
You know what I am. Same as you. I know what to look out for.Salvatore sounded—and felt—completely confident.
He could have it on his fingernails. On anything, she warned.
Geno didn’t like the sound of that, but it was true. The male server had a needle concealed in his hand, but had the woman? What if this chemical had been on her fingernails? The Ferraros had chemists in their family. Many of the rider families did. They had no idea whose family was trying to wipe out the riders.
Salvatore. Amaranthe. We need this one alive. Drive him toward me.
We need you and Stefano alive, Amaranthe countered.No matter what, Geno, we’ll solve this thing, but they aren’t getting either of you. They put at least three of their people on killing Stefano. It could just as easily have been you.
