“Yep.”
“So—”
“So we got one option. Run like hell.” With that, he slung the rifle strap over his body, grabbed my hand, and we did exactly that.
We didn’t bother to try for quiet this time, taking short cuts here and there where Teo saw them. It had taken us half an hour to get to the fence; it took us maybe ten to get back to the camp parking lot. All I heard the whole way was Teo’s harsh breathing and mine, and the only thing I could think about was whether Teo really would have killed that guard, strangled him there in the woods. Killed that guard to protectme.
I knew that he would have. Of course he would. That was how his job worked: eliminate the threat. And that knowledge was a hot, burning coal of distress in my belly as we ran. This had gone too far. Much too far.
When we got to the car, Teo unlocked it and pushed me in. “Back to the motel?” I puffed, looking back behind us. There were no lights or sounds coming after us. Yet.
“You really wanna die over a new toothbrush?” He was harsh, curt, and I heard again the choking noises that guard had made on the ground. I wondered how many more seconds it would have been before Teo had taken his life. “We go back to New York. Now put on your damn seat belt.”
I turned back around in my seat and put on the safety belt as ordered. Teo reversed fast, and then drove as quickly as he dared back up the path to the main road. I was beginning to breathe more steadily by then, and when we got back onto a main road, Teo’s speed became less alarming.
We drove in silence for ten minutes away from Boston, and I glanced over at Teo. “We should call Finch and Luca.”
“Yep.”
It was cold, curt, and it made my heart clench. “I’m sorry.”
He glanced at me. “What for?”
“I should never have suggested doing that. It was dumb, and—and it meant you nearly had to kill someone, and I hate that. I hate it.”
Teo drove on for another mile before he replied. “Staying with the Donovans in the first place was dumb, and I should never have agreed to it. I should’ve…” He slapped his hand down on the steering wheel in frustration, and I jumped. “Sorry,” he said quickly. “I’m mad at myself. If Messina heard how fucking stupid I’ve been…” He shook his head.
“We really should call Luca,” I said again, as I wondered again exactly what Tara Donovan had planned.
“You think I don’t know that?” Teo snapped, and sucked in a breath. “Sorry, sorry. Like I said, I’m pissed at myself. Not you. I know we gotta call them. I’m gonna pull off as soon as I see a place that’s open and—there.” He accelerated again as we saw a large neon sign for a 24/7 hour gas station a mile up the road.
* * *
Finch wasthe one who answered when we called Luca from the brand new burner phone Teo bought at the gas station. As soon as he heard Teo’s voice, he said, “Oh, thankfuckyou’re okay! And Aidan? Is Aidan—”
“I’m right here. I’m fine. We’re both fine.”
“Where’s the Boss?” Teo asked, and I’d never heard him sound so clipped with Finch before.
“He’s right here, I’m just—“
“I need to talk to the Boss, Mr. D,” Teo said. And then he added more gently, “There’s shit going down that he needs to know about.”
There was a scuffing noise and then Luca’s voice came on the line. “Vitali?”
“You need to get the hell out of that house,” Teo said at once. “Tara Donovan is putting together a whole militia out at—”
“I appreciate the warning, but unfortunately it’s more complicated than you know.”
“More complicated?” Teo echoed.
“Where are you?”
“We’re heading back to New York.”
“Come back to the house in Boston.”
Teo paused, and then said something rapidly in Italian. Whatever Luca’s response was, it seemed to satisfy Teo. He ended the call, started the car, and turned around to face the exit back to Boston.
