Page 36 of Inherting the Mafia

"We need to find a way out of here."

Tony nodded. "Do you still have your gun on you?"

I shook my head because I distinctly remember getting patted down and relieved of all my weapons. "They took it."

"We need to find some more," Tony stated. "I doubt we're getting out of here without a fight."

He was probably right.

"Is there anything in here we can use as a weapon?" I asked as I glanced around. The room was pretty bare.

"I haven't seen anything so far that could be used as a weapon, not even a chair." Tony blinked for a moment. "There is a guard out there somewhere."

"There's more than one," I replied, remembering the two guys that had worked me over.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that." Tony glanced me over. "Are you going to be up for a fight if we get into one?"

"Honestly, probably not," I answered. "It would be best if we just found a way to get out of here without being seen."

"I'll try, but it's highly unlikely that will happen." He gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Just try and stay out of the way if we run into any guards. I'll take care of the rest."

"You can fight?" I asked, surprised. He had some muscle on him, but I didn't know if that had been produced in a gym or if he truly had fighting skill.

"I grew up in New York. Of course I can fight. It's practically a weekly event in my neighborhood."

All the more reason I lived in Italy.

"Let's go."

Tony opened the door just a crack and peeked out. I would have held my breath waiting for him to make sure the coast was clear, but it hurt too damn bad.

I stayed close to him as he stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind me. It wouldn't confuse our captors for more than a few seconds, but those few seconds could mean the difference between life and death.

We slowly made our way down the narrow hallway. I had no idea if we were moving closer to an exit, the bad guys, or both.

The paint on the cement walls was old and fading, cracks showing through in many places. The floor, also cement, was unpainted, but it had just as many cracks.

Between the walls and floor, not to mention the peeling paint on the window frames, I was pretty sure we were in some sort of abandoned warehouse or something.

It was the faint scent of fish and the whisper of a salty breeze that concerned me.Tortona was nowhere near the ocean, which made me wonder where in the hell we had been taken.

When Tony suddenly stopped, I almost plowed into his back. "What is it?"

"Sshhh." Tony held his finger up to his lips and then motioned for me to get back against the wall. I had no idea what he was up to until I saw a shadow start growing larger and realized someone was coming up the stairs right around the corner from us.

I stiffened, ready to go to his defense, but I didn't have to. The moment the shadow became a solid figure, Tony struck out, doing some sort of weird karate chop to the back of the man's neck that send him crashing to the floor.

The guy didn't move after that.

Tony squatted down next to him and began rifling through the guy's pockets. He pulled out a gun, knife, wallet, and cell phone, tossing them all at me.

At least we were armed now.

I opened the closest door and then helped Tony drag the guy inside. For good measure, I took his tie off and tied his hands behind his back. If I had another tie, I would have tied his feet together, too, but they had taken mine when they searched me.

"Hand me the knife," Tony said.

I frowned, but handed it over.

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