“Fuck that!” the cop yelled. He and his buddy followed along with our foot soldiers, leaving behind the third cop to save their dying friend.
TheVia Por Santa Mariaintersected theLungarno degli Archibusieri,a street that ran along the Arno River.
And beyond that was thePonte Vecchio.
ThePonte Vecchiowas special because it was one of only a handful of bridges in the world with stores on it. I vaguely remembered Niccolo saying something about the fuckin’ Medicis kicking out all the butcher shops and replacing them with jewelry stores.
I was glad it had all those storefronts, though –
Because they at least provided us witha littlecover as we raced onto the bridge.
It was like something out of a war zone. Three hundred feet of sheer hell.
Bodies littered the cobblestones. Terrified pedestrians crouched inside jewelry shops.
The store windows were all shot out, and broken glass filled the street.
Cops were crouched in the doorways of shops, trying to get off a shot or two.
A hundred feet away, about halfway down the bridge, theCamorrawere firing back at the cops –
And now they started firing atus.
“Tell your guys not to shoot us!” I yelled at the two cops who had followed us from the statue.
“Don’t shoot them!” one cop yelled across the street at his buddies. “They’re helping!”
The police just watched in amazement as me, Massimo, and my foot soldiers took up stations in the doorways –
And started firing at theCamorra.
BANG-BANG-BANG!
BANG-BANG-BANG!
The cops’ pistols weren’t very accurate from so far away –
But our rifles were.
ThreeCamorrawent tumbling to the ground.
They got smarter after that and began taking cover more.
It became a grinding battle, with us trying to jump from shopfront to shopfront so we could get closer –
And theCamorratrying to get to the other side of the bridge.
They tagged Onofrio in the shoulder.
“STAY DOWN!” I yelled at him as he howled in pain and rolled over into the nearest storefront.
Massimo and I were as careful as we could be –
But it was still terrifying with bullets whizzing past.
Then they got Nazario.
Shot him in the head.
