Page 99 of Little Dove

“Then he probably has a way to get to the other apartments, or another way to get back over the line that doesn’t go through his home, so that no one can catch him,” I point out.

“Giovanni won’t risk being seen here,” Nico says firmly. “My men would be all over that. I have every part of my territory under surveillance. What’s on the other side?”

“Giovanni’s area is a mix of businesses that surround the house,” Urso replies after a moment. “It could be any of them.”

“We need to get into that house, handle this now,” Nico says fiercely. “He doesn’t know that we know where it is, and the rat said it’s not guarded. We get in and see what we find.”

“We also need to get into Leonardo’s place,” Pietro adds. “The more information we can get, the better. Get on the phone with the others and let them know the developments. We’re going on the offensive.”

Fear grips me, knowing that Lazaro is about to run headlong into danger. He better come back to me in one piece.

32

LAZARO

“We go in swift and silent,”I say quietly to the men with me. Massimo is leading the other team at Giovanni’s, leaving me to grab things from Leonardo’s office. My blood hums with excitement at the prospect of taking Leonardo by surprise, but there are only a handful of guards, which tells me he and his sons aren’t here. If I’m wrong, this could get messy, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.

I reach for the sconce and carefully turn it. It’s a bit stiff, but it gives and turns with barely a sound. The right wall of the alcove gives way to reveal a door that swings inward into a dark, musty hallway. It’s not tall enough for me to stand upright, so I have to crouch, but I aim a flashlight over top of my gun and move forward as quickly as I can.

The hallway is surprisingly long, and I don’t hear a sound other than our quiet footsteps and the shuffling of our clothes. Finally, I see the door at the end of the tunnel. I slow us to a stop with a hand signal, then I approach on silent feet, listening forany sounds on the other side. I hear nothing; it’s deathly silent. Carefully, I touch the handle, pressing down slowly with steady pressure until I feel the lock disengage.

There’s no going back now.

I throw open the door, gun raised and ready to fire, but the room is empty, papers and things scattered all around. I pause, waiting to see if anyone comes charging in, but again, nothing. Outside the room, the only sounds are a vacuum and someone singing off key, something I don’t think would happen if Leonardo and his men were in residence. I wave the men forward, making a motion to stay as silent as possible.

We can’t take any chances.

I move to Leonardo’s desk, rifling through the papers on top, but nothing pops out to me that looks useful. I move to the drawers, finding them all locked. There we are. I start picking them, another handy skill Papa taught us all. This desk is old, so it gives way with little effort, and I quickly pull out the drawers.

Jackpot.

There are four files, one for each of the missing girls, including the final one we’ve been looking for. I keep searching through the other drawers for anything else that might be important, and it’s the final drawer that gives me more than I could have ever hoped for. It’s a book, black and worn looking, with papers sticking out of it. One of the papers immediately catches my attention.

Certificate of Birth. Female. DeLuca.

There are three of them. This is exactly what we need. I look at the other men and see they have grabbed a few things, but they’ve mostly finished. “Let’s go,” I whisper. As we move back towards the passageway, I realize the singing from before is getting louder - no,nearer- and the doorknob for the office begins to turn. “Go!” I hiss, and the soldiers rush into the tunnel,with me slipping inside and shutting the door as quietly and fast as I can.

My heart pounds out of my chest as we stand there silently for another minute, waiting for any indication that we’ve been discovered. Nothing. I can’t even hear whoever was in the office. This place must be as soundproofed as the rest of the place. I wave the men on, and we hurriedly make our way back out of the tunnel. When we reach the end, the lead man goes out to check the area, then waves the all-clear.

It takes another twenty minutes of careful movements on our parts to get back to the SUV, and the moment we do, I call Massimo. He picks up on the second ring. “I got what we need,” I tell him quickly. “Do you need backup?”

“I’ll take it. We’re just pulling up now because we spotted a few of Leonardo’s men roaming around and wanted to see where they were heading.”

“I thought no one knew about that place,” I say with a frown as we peel away from Leonardo’s home. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice men rushing for the gate, no doubt finally realizing what’s just happened.

“They never went near it. They went to a coffee shop about half a block away. Far enough that we don’t have to worry about them spotting us, but we wanted to be sure. How far are you?”

I glance at my phone and their coordinates. “About ten minutes. Keep your eyes out. Leonardo’s men just realized we got in and out, so they might be sending those men off to catch us or look for anyone else.”

“Got it. Get here as fast as you can. The sooner we get in and out, the better.”

I hang up, and since I’m not driving, I take pictures of the birth certificates and send them to Papa before calling him. “I found these, and a journal that I believe belongs to Gia and Sienna’s mother,” I tell him without preamble.

“Good work,” Papa praises. “Get back here so we can search them. I’ll have Urso and Zeno work on the certificates. Maybe we can use the final one to finally locate their sister.”

“Can’t. I’m on my way to lend assistance to Massimo. Leonardo’s men are around so they can’t risk being spotted. I’ll send one of the men back with the documents so they don’t fall into the wrong hands again.”

“Fine. Don’t get yourself killed.” Then he hangs up, and I shake my head. That’s my father, a man of few words.

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