“Go up and put a bullet in their skulls!” I yelled, and the foot soldiers sprinted forward, guns at the ready.
Valentino didn’t follow them. Instead, he ran over, grabbed me, and spun me around in a hug.
I just laughed.
When he put me down, I said, “Thanks – you saved my ass.”
Val grinned. “You’ve done it for me, so I’m happy to return the favor.”
Niccolo and Roberto ran up.
When Val looked over at them, he reacted in shock.
Not at Roberto –
But Niccolo.
“Holy SHIT – you were out here, too?!” Valentino asked.
“Couldn’t let you get all the glory,” Niccolo joked.
“You didn’t lose me,” Valentino pointed out.
Niccolo grinned. “No, I didn’t.”
They hugged each other hard –
Like two men who had finally buried the hatchet.
“Is it okay to come out?!” a woman’s voice yelled from the underbrush. Lucia, by the sound of it.
“Yeah, it’s safe!” I yelled.
All the wives came out – Lucia, Bianca, Caterina, Mei-ling, and Sofia.
Those with husbands here ran to them –
But as they did, their faces looked stricken.
For a second, I thought it might be because of all the dead Russians getting a couple extra bullets to the head –
But then I realized the women were all staring at the mansion.
I turned to look, and my stomach dropped.
In the rush of terror and adrenaline, I’d screened out anything that wasn’t a direct threat.
Now that I actuallylooked,what I saw was devastating.
The mansion was destroyed.
Smoke boiled from shattered windows…
Fifty-foot expanses of the stone façade were gone, exposing burning rooms inside…
And the flaming wreckage of the helicopter I’d shot down lay in a mountain of rubble where the front doors used to be.
“Shit,” Valentino murmured as it sank in.
