Page 248 of Merciless Daddy

Donatella tore the token’s upper housing free. A compact pistol lay fitted into the foam beneath it. She drew it and fired once.

The nearest technician dropped.

The other ran for the steel door.

It would not open.

Donatella kicked his knee from behind, drove him face-first into the wall, and struck him with the pistol.

Then she caught my shoulder and shoved me behind the terminal.

“Down.”

I went down.

Gianni stared at her.

“You bitch.”

She aimed at his chest.

“You can call me Donatella,” she said. “My brothers are exceptionally irritating, but I don’t sell them. I never would.”

My breath left me.

Another explosion struck the far corridor.

Gunfire ripped through the archive level. Short controlled bursts. Men shouting. The blunt crash of bodies hitting shelves.

Gianni drew his pistol.

Donatella fired. He twisted aside. The bullet broke the glass wall behind him.

I crawled beneath the desk.

The blue light from the terminal washed over my hands. The cancellation instrument remained open. No signature. No proxy.

The progress bar had never been the transfer.

Donatella fired again.

Gianni dropped behind a cabinet and shot back. Glass burst above my head. I covered my face as fragments scattered across the carpet.

A voice roared beyond the steel door.

Tonio.

I could not make out the words. I knew the voice.

Hope hit so hard it hurt.

Then another sound rose through the alarms.

Low. Furious. Coming closer.

Sal.

I pressed one fist against my mouth.