I get out my phone with the intent to text D. “I don’t have any signal. What about you?” I ask Isa.
She shakes her head. “You can’t get a signal in here. It’s built so that electronics can’t be tracked, but it also means we can’t call out.”
“There they are,” Cosimo says in a grave tone.
My first thought is he means DiAngelo is back, but when I look at the screen, I can tell that’s not right. The men approaching the house have guns pointed at our guards. Gunfire rings out a fraction of a second before the delayed feed shows shots fired. The sound is muffled inside this vault of a room, but gunfire is hard to miss.
My hand clamps tight over my mouth to hold back the horror.
We’re being attacked.
Is this room bulletproof? What if they try to burn the place down? Are Renzo and DiAngelo on their way? What if they end up in a shoot-out?
Nausea hits me with such intensity that my head spins.
“They’ve breached the entry,” Cosimo reports.
None of us makes a sound as we watch the monitors. The different angles make it hard for me to tell how many men there are. Three or maybe four. It’s not a ton, but it wouldn’t take many if we hadn’t had the panic room to hide in. I pray it holds out until help arrives.
I don’t even breathe when I see two of the men enter Cosimo’s office. They’re only a few feet away from where we hide. And while the door is thick, I have no idea about the walls. I’m wondering how soundproof the room is when sweet, tiny Liora lets loose a wail.
Both men whip around to face the bookshelves.
CHAPTER 60
DIANGELO
Present
I’ve calledall of their phones—Terina, Shae, Isa, Cosimo, and even Azzurra. I’ve left messages. Renzo has called. We’ve tried over and over without success. I keep thinking that if I try one more time, maybe I’ll get through. Because if they don’t get word…
I can’t even think about what might happen.
Renzo informed us that Cosimo has a safe room. I can only hope that, if Pasha did go after them, they had enough time and warning to reach safety.
Please, God, let them be safe.
Aside from the phone calls, we’re silent on the drive. The concentrated fear filling the car is so dense that the pressure pushes in on me, making it hard to breathe and pounding against my skull.
Renzo breaks at least a dozen traffic laws. He runs lights. Drives on the sidewalk. He even scrapes the entire side of the new SUV along a light post to squeeze around traffic. After whatfeels like an eternity, we pull up at Cosimo’s house, where the guards are now motionless on the ground near the entry.
The car doesn’t come to a complete stop before I eject myself, gun in hand. The others are close behind me. I run across the large yard and confirm two of the men down are dead—one is ours, the other is theirs. The third man is unconscious but alive.
“Let’s stick to the same plan—Tommy and Sante, your team enters from the rear. D and I will take the others through the front.”
Everyone nods to Renzo’s command and falls into step with the appropriate team. We’re stepping through the front entry when a spray of rapid gunfire bursts through the air in the distance.
“The east wing,” I say.
“That’s where the safe room is,” Renzo adds.
We take a few steps in that direction when two shots ring out behind us.
Tommy’s voice comes over the comm. “We got one.”
That’s one less, but it also means the others are probably aware they’re no longer alone. We move down the hallway as one. A head peeks out from a doorway, then disappears. The door slams shut.
Renzo spits out a curse. “It’s time to give up, Pasha,” he bellows. “We have you outnumbered and surrounded.”
