“Oh, fuck,” said Giovanni, his eyes widening in surprise. “With everything that happened,” he, too, threw Arko an accusatory look, “we completely forgot.”
“Which means we can tear off the weld and get someone inside.” Caspian broke into a smile, shaking his head at me in disbelief.
“Correct,” I shrugged.
Arko smirked as he inched closer to me and bumped his shoulder against mine. “Thank god we heard you out.”
I smiled back just as my brothers started discussing how to get a man to reach for the trench.
“They might have guards circling the perimeters,” Caspian sighed. “We can’t risk sending someone in. They could get shot.”
“How many do you think there are?” I asked.
“Considering there are six armed men inside that we know of, and the fact that they consider the distillery abandoned, not too many, I’d guess,” said Arko, once again looking at me with curious eyes.
“Okay.” I looked at the map again and grabbed a notebook from the side. “Looking at the perimeter and the average pace of walking, I’d say it takes someone thirteen minutes to take a loop around the place. If you place a spy out there now, and they count how many men are patrolling, we’ll know when there’s a blind spot…”
I did the rough math as everyone held their breath. “If it’s one man on patrol, we have thirteen minutes to reach the trench after the patrol leaves. If we have two, then roughly seven and a half minutes before one passes and the second arrives. Get it?”
“She’s right,” whistled Giovanni, looking at me like I’d just dropped from the skies. “Holy shit.”
“So we have a plan then?” I grinned at them.
My brothers nodded, each of them shifting to widen the circle to make a place for me around the table, before we moved on to the next round of discussions.
***
The plan hatched was pretty simple. We drove toward the compound and parked the cars far away, making way on foot under the cover of the forested region circling the distillery. Dante, Caspian, Federico, and Dante’s brothers Alek and Artyom were to squeeze in through the trench, making way to the utility corridor, then finding a way in.
Artyom had some experience with explosives, so he planned to go find a way to dismantle them, while Alek would find where they kept Anton.
Meanwhile, Gio and the rest of my brothers were to coordinate a distraction at the front to help lure the men out, and Arko’s brothers were to secure the perimeter.
Every man was needed on the front. Before the men began to move, Arko gently pushed me back against the bark of a tree, from where, if I twisted, I could peer out and see what was happening at the distillery.
“Keep the radio on at all times,” he told me. “And whatever happens. Do not come in. The guards patrolling the forests will keep dropping by every five minutes to check on you.”
I sat at the base of the tree, my heart hammering as I watched Arko check his weapon one last time before heading out.
“Be careful,” I whispered, catching his arm.
His eyes softened for a moment. “I will be,” he said softly, leaning down to give me a parting kiss.
I watched the men scatter away and made myself as small as I could under the shadows. “Check?” I asked, putting on my headphones and waiting for the comms to come through.
One by one, each team confirmed they were in position. I sat in silence, the cold night seeping through my bones; the only sound was the crickets. A couple of minutes later, a pair of guards crossed the path, and I waved them on, telling them all was good.
“The patrol just left,” Dante hissed into the comms. “We’re scaling now.”
I looked past the window and watched Dante, his brothers, and mine scale the walls. They stuck to the ground, and I couldn’t see a thing past the boundary walls. I waited, my hands jittery, and I only stopped panting nervous breaths once Dante confirmed they’d broken through the weld.
“Hurry,” I muttered, looking at my watch. “You have three minutes to get in.”
“We’re sliding in now,” Dante whispered. “Artyom wiggled his way through.”
I heard the muffled sound of effort, then a quiet crack. “We’re through. Tunnel confirmed.”
I felt a small sliver of excitement race down my spine. For the first time in my life, I wasn’t just bearing witness to who we were. I was a part of it, helping my family in whatever way I could.
