Along theVia Pellicceria,dozens of arches formed an enclosed walkway. Onofrio, Nazario, and I raced down the hall, using the columns of the arches as cover.
At the end of the walkway were a bunch of kiosks that sold to tourists.
Tchotchkes and stuffed animals were scattered across the cobblestones…
And in the middle of them, an old man who’d been shot in the chest, his blank eyes staring up at the ceiling.
TheCamorrahad obviously been through here –
And I could hear their automatic gunfire. It was loud, so it had to be nearby.
BRATTA-TATTA-TAT –
BRATTA-TATTA-TAT –
As I reached the intersection withVia Porta Rossa,I heard footsteps running towards us.
I swung my gun over, finger on the trigger –
“Don’t shoot!” Massimo roared.
He was followed by five of my Florence foot soldiers. He must’ve met them along the way.
“Let’s go!” I yelled as I led the way down theVia Porta Rossa.
The streets were empty except for the occasional body. Everybody else had fled.
Two hundred feet away, at the corner ofVia Porta RossaandVia Por Santa Maria,was theMercato Nuovo –the New Market.
I think it was 500 years old – but that passed for ‘new’ in the old part of Florence.
It was an open-air market made of columns and arches, filled with displays of cheap leather bags and belts that the merchants pawned off on tourists.
TwoCamorrathugs crouched behind the arches, engaged in a shootout with a lone cop.
They looked like the guy Giorgio had caught: big, ugly fuckers in jeans and black leather jackets.
The poor cop (never thought I’d saythat)was pinned down on the opposite street corner. He was behind a stone column that was slowly getting whittled away by hundreds of theCammora’sbullets. He couldn’t even move because of the constant barrage.
BRATTA-TATTA-TATTA-TAT!
TheCamorrawere focused on the cop.
They weren’t looking our way at all –
And they were completely exposed.
“Take the one on the right,” I hissed at Massimo.
I put my gun into single-shot mode –
Stepped into a shooter’s stance like Lars had drilled into me –
Sighted over the barrel –
Breathed out –
BANG!
