Page 37 of Inherting the Mafia

"I'm better with a knife than I am a gun," he explained.

I wasn't sure I believed that, but now wasn't the time to argue. It went against all of my principals to let him use the knife because he'd have to be in close quarter combat to use it. With a gun, you could kill from a distance.

Considering how I was injured, I suppose it made sense.

I still didn't like it.

He was the boss. I was supposed to be protecting him, not the other way around. It didn't sit right with me, but I didn't think I had any other option at the moment. It wasn't like I could defend myself let alone Tony.

It was shocking to me how hard it was to get down the stairs. Every step felt as if someone was slamming a hammer against my ribcage. I was positive now that I had a few cracked ribs.

I needed a hospital and soon. I just had to get Tony to safety first and I wasn't sure how to do that at the moment. I didn't even know where we were.

"Come on," Tony said. "We need to move."

I was all in favor of that, and yet I wasn't because moving hurt like a bitch. Staying would no doubt hurt even more which was why I followed Tony when he started moving down a long partially lit hallway.

I wasn't too thrilled with how many shadows this place had, but it at least helped hide us to some extent.

I sucked in a swift breath when a man suddenly stepped out of a room we were passing. Tony moved almost faster than I could track, swiping out with the knife in his hand. The guy was down before he was aware that we were there. Tony grabbed his arms and dragged him back into the room he'd come out of.

My dumbass followed him.

"Don't worry about tying this guy up," Tony said as he started going through the guy's pockets. "He won't be getting up again."

I was afraid of that.

"Make sure you didn't leave any prints."

It was the best advice I could give him. Since I didn't know where we were, I couldn't exactly have our guys clean up the scene. If the police found a dead body, it could lead back to us if we weren't careful.

I spotted my wallet and cell phone on a table in the middle of the room. I had no idea where my gun was. I grabbed both and put them back in my pocket.

"Hey, keys." Tony grinned as he held them up. "Maybe if we're lucky, they will lead to a car."

I wasn't so sure of that was a good idea. While taking this idiots car would get us out of here, he was dead. If we were caught in a dead man's car, we'd end up behind bars.

On the other hand...

"Someone's coming," I whispered as I flattened myself against the wall next to the door. I prayed it wasn't the police.

Tony grabbed his knife and flattened himself against the other side of the door. We both held our breath as we listened the footsteps growing louder...and then let it out when they passed our door and grew fainter.

Tony waited until they faded completely and then opened the door a crack, peeking out. After a moment, he gestured with his free hand. "All right, let's go."

I quickly followed Tony out of the small room, shutting the door behind me, and then we hurried down the hallway a bit more. We carefully opened every door we came to until we found one that opened to the outdoors.

Fresh air never smelled so good.

"Are we close to the ocean?" Tony asked. "It smells like it does on the docks back home."

"Yeah, I think so." I was curious how we'd gotten fromTortona to the ocean. That had to have taken a few hours at least. Kind of made me wonder just how long we were out cold.

"Any idea where we are?"

I shook my head. "Not a clue."

"Not real helpful, Vito."

---