It would be the obvious thing to doifyou were dealing with regular people.
They know they aren’t.
They don’t know me. They think of me as the accountant with the sex club. But they’re not stupid. They’re not as stupid as they look. I’mcapoand we’re no run of the mill crime family. They know Pa and they know Vincent. He’s one of the most feared capos on the street.
They know that even though we don’t have guns they can’t just fuck with us by killing Mimi and taking the files. Not without us ending one or two of them with our bare hands.
The reasoning floats into my head. At the same time conflict fills me when Vincent takes a step forward to hand the files to Lawrence.
“Salvatore,” a voice sounds in my ear piece. I don’t recognize it but I’m guessing it’s one of our men. “Step to your right. I have a clear shot on Marc and I’m going to take it. When I do get ready to move. Back up is on the way but they won’t be with you for another few minutes.”
Jesus…
Hope… the thing I know I dare not dream of fills me, it fills me and I look to the left at the guy with the machine gun. I’m heading to him first.
“On two,” the voice says.
One. Two.
I step to the left. Marc smiles and that’s the last thing he gets to do in this life.
Marc Fontaine drops down to the ground like a puppet loosened from their strings as a bullet wedges between his eyes.
Then instead of handing the files to Lawrence, Vincent hits him with the case and grabs his gun.
I move into action, heading for machine gun guy at the same time Mimi kicks one of the men coming for her and runs to the safe alcove beneath the stairs.
I get to machine gun guy just as he was about to fire at me. The other two men next to him start shooting but Vincent fires back, taking them out and one of the guys on his side.
In the meantime machine gun guy gives me a good fight seeing what I’m after. He holds on to his weapon for fucking dear life so I use brain and brawl and beat the shit out of him.
I manage to knock him over with his own weight and we fall hard. The minute we do I shove the gun around and load his stomach with bullets.
I grab the gun and take out another two guys with it.
Around us there are twenty guys firing at us, including Ricardo, Lawrence and Stephanou.
Stephanou is shooting from inside the room they came from, and Ricardo and Lawrence are behind the pillars near the stairs leading to the upper deck.
I move behind a pillar near me and shoot back as bullets come my way.
Riccardo and Lawrence come for me while Stephanou goes to Vincent.
Them with their men and artillery are too much.
I step out firing, miss, then have to jump back behind the pillar to shield myself.
They’re coming closer.
I jump out again at the same time seven men in wetsuits run out from the back. Guns blazing.
One bullet to the back of the head takes out Riccardo and suddenly all hell breaks loose on board The Maiden.
The men whip off their masks and I see it’s Claudius and his guys along with three military looking guys.
Bullets fly everywhere and I take out who I can fighting for my life, fighting to get closer to my girl. She’s still too close to danger. Still too close and where she is she can’t move, if she does she risks getting hit.
I just have to keep fighting to get to her. Keep going.