Page 141 of Brutal Legacy

“Hey, I only blew the grid for this part of town. That’s tough. I’m in another country, don’t forget. If you want to isolate the house, go find a fuse box.”

“Okay, okay, I take it back. Good job.”

“Thank you. Now, there is a man up ahead, judging by heat signature.”

“Got it.” I slipped on the thermal imaging goggles. Thankfully, they’d been stowed away in the car when the safe house had exploded.

Sure enough, there was a man stumbling around. I got close enough to hear him swear and then snapped his neck. He fell to the ground.

“One down, about thirty to go,” Giada said.

“On it.”

I moved systematically, circling the house and picking off the external security.

The real threats would be closer to Sergio, and then, there was Massimo himself. L’Ombra.

I was finishing off the last of the external security when Giada spoke.

“Okay, I can see Georgia… at least, I think I can. She’s the only one the size of a female inside. They are taking her to the kitchen.”

The kitchen overlooked the back garden and stables. It was directly below her old bedroom.

“There’s someone moving toward you. Someone big.”

Massimo.

“I need a place I can fight him without interruptions.”

“The stables. There’s nothing there except a few horses.”

“Good idea.”

I wasn’t far from the stables now, since I’d been working around the perimeter of the grounds. Now, I snuck inside there, keeping low. The smell of hay and horses was immediately familiar.

I hid myself in a stall and pulled a gun, then waited.

“He’s coming your way,” Giada said.

I nodded, staring into the darkness beyond the stall.

Massimo was the real threat. Everyone else was bullshit. They wouldn’t kill Georgia right off. They needed to scare her father. There was still time to get Ravelli Senior. out of jail and get the criminal charges dropped if the prosecutor recanted his testimony.

That alone would stay Sergio’s hand. He wanted me dead, revenge for leaving him to rot in prison… but he knew he couldn’t manage it himself, so he’d hired Massimo.

The real question was why L’Ombra had agreed to a mission like this.

It wasn’t like him at all.

Silence fell that felt deeper than before. It had dimensions, this silence, and I knew he was here.

“Apollo, do you come in, over?” L’Ombra’s mocking call came to me.

Apollo. God of the sun. My old call sign. The scent of hay and sweat thickened the air, the low snorts of horses the only sound between us. Moonlight filtered through the gaps in the wooden walls, casting broken shadows over Massimo’s face. He drew level with me. His stance was wide, controlled — just like I’d taught him.

He pulled a gun from his waistband and held it up.

“I’m unarmed…”

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