Donatello, seeing our fatigue, gestured up the stairs. “I’ve got five bedrooms other than mine. All made up. Go on up and take your pick. I’ll stay up. I should have a call from my friend in the next hour or two about the IDs.”
We thanked him again for his hospitality and made our way up to the guest rooms. I took the first door I found, a bedroom that was easily twice the size of mine at home. The four-poster bed looked like the most comfortable thing I’d ever seen. I collapsed onto it and fell into a deep sleep without even taking my clothes off.
Donatello woke us the next morning with a stack of passports, driver’s licenses, and he’d even forged US visas for some reason. After a quick breakfast of pastries and espresso, he took us to a private airfield in Westchester County. The drive was forty minutes, and again, I felt as though we were walking through mud to get there. I was desperate to get in the air.
At the airport, Donatello wished us well, shaking each of our hands as we boarded the plane. I was the last one to say my goodbyes. He held my hand a moment longer than necessary and made sure I made eye contact with him.
I glanced at him curiously. “Yeah?”
He grinned at me. “Go, get your lady, my friend. Go get her and give those bastards hell.”
I smiled back despite myself. “That is the plan.”
“Goodbye, Nicolas Lorenzo. Perhaps we’ll meet again.”
I nodded and started up the steps, looking back over my shoulder once more before stepping inside. “Yeah. Maybe.”
Within minutes, the plane was in the air, and we were making plans about what to do when we got to Germany. The entire day before had the distinct feel of a dream—surreal in some way. At one point, I chuckled to myself and nudged Luis. “So… I’m not crazy, right? All that happened yesterday, didn’t it?”
He frowned at me. “What do you mean? With Don?”
“Yeah. It feltweird.”
Luis grinned. “He has that effect on people.”
It was nice to know I wasn’t the only one who’d felt the bizarre nature of the experience. Maybe Don and I would meet again. It would be nice to have someone like that in my corner in the future. I owed him one hell of a debt, and I hoped to God I’d be able to pay it off. As we soared over the ocean, I kept glancing out the window, hoping to see land but knowing that was still hours away.I’m coming, Maddy. I’ll be there soon.
72
NICO
As the jet descended to the runway below, I felt the pull of the moon. I glanced out the window as we touched down. The milky white orb floated above us. It was one day until the super moon, but already its power seemed to be leeching into my bones.
The plan was for Luis to join one of the daily tours tomorrow morning. We hoped he would be able to locate a possible hiding place of the vault or even Maddy’s location. It was a pretty shitty gambit, but all we had to work with. At this point, we were desperate.
The jet stopped, and the pilot came out to open the door and lower the steps. As he did so, he nodded toward a large, heavy black case sitting directly behind the cockpit. “Donatello wanted you guys to have that. He thinks it will help in your mission.”
Luis and I looked at each other with mirror expressions of confusion. There’d been nothing about a chest or extra equipment in our deal. We stepped over and undid several latches before lifting the top. We gaped at the contents. Several machine guns, magazines, and boxes of bullets sat in foam compartments. There was a secondary compartment withwhat looked like both grenades and plastic explosives with detonators.
“Holy shit! It’s like Christmas for Rambo,” Marcus said, fingering one of the guns.
Luis glanced at the pilot. “Seriously?”
The pilot shrugged. “I don’t ask questions. I just do as I’m told. He did say if you get caught with those in Germany, you’re in deep shit. So, be careful.”
“Duly noted,” Luis said.
We hauled the chest of weapons out of the jet and set it in an SUV that Donatello had arranged for us. My nerves were still too fired up for me to drive, so Luis took over. The Alabama shifters and I sat in the back, loading the guns and getting them ready. It was a good way to keep my mind off wondering what was happening with Maddy and what Luis was going to do the next day.
He’d go in with one of the tourist groups and find a way to peel off from the rest of the group. Then Luis would search as much as he could before finding a spot to hunker down and hide until closing. It was incredibly risky. He’d be, literally, in the lion’s den.
Luis drove us to a hotel that was close enough to the castle that we could see it from our room on the sixth floor. Marcus and Darren went out to grab us dinner, leaving Luis and me to prepare for the next day.
Luis tucked a small block of the plastic explosive into a fanny pack. The detonator went into a small side pocket.
“What’s the plan for that?” I asked, nodding at the bag.
“Well, if I can find where the vial of blood is kept, I can take care of the damned thing in a few seconds.”
