“I don’t know,” she whimpered.
“On the phone, your brother-in-law described what sounded like contractions. Is that what you’re having?”
“Yes. I think so. I don’t know.”
“Were you under any unusually severe stress today?”
“You could say that,” I replied grimly.
As we entered the hospital lobby, Dr. Aiello said, “It could be premature labor, or it could be Braxton-Hicks contractions.”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“False labor brought on by stress. We’ll get her checked out and figure out what’s going on.” Then his voice became comforting. “Don’t you worry, Alessandra – you’re going to be fine.”
“Thank you, Doctor,” my wife whispered as the nurses wheeled her into the elevator.
The doctor, Lars, and I crowded in with them. Massimo and the foot soldiers headed for the stairs.
As she sat in the wheelchair, Alessandra reached up over her shoulder, searching for me.
I grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly as the elevator doors closed.
102
Cesare
Outside The Hospital
“GODDAMN IT!” I roared.
Lucrezia was right:
They’d come to Florence.
Two of our guys – Mignolino and Scellone – had been parked near the A1 highway on the east side of the city when the Rosolini caravan andfive fuckin’ cop carscame roaring through.
Mignolino tailed them to the hospital. Even though he drove slow to avoid suspicion, it wasn’t hard to follow them. Mignolino said he could hear the sirens from miles away.
Now me and everybody else who’d come from the farm were parked on a side street a quarter mile from the hospital.
I scoped out the situation through binoculars.
The neighborhood was a modern part of Florence, and the hospital was probably only a few years old. The whole front of the building was mirrored glass –
And it made the five cop cars parked out front look liketen.
They weren’t moving. They were just sitting around, not doing shit.
Obviously the Rosolinis had paid them off.
So close…
And yet so far away.
“FUCK!” I screamed as I threw the binoculars into the front seat. I heard the lens crack as it hit the dashboard.
“Calm down,” Lucrezia said coldly.
