Page 67 of Hired By the Consigliere

Luca spoke without missing a beat, “so the question then is, did they just happen to stumble upon us or the more likely option...”

“Fabbri and Romanoareworking together,” I finished his thought. “I’ve got to get back to Aurora. She doesn’t know.”

“First, we’ve got to get out of here alive. We’re going to run out of bullets soon. We are outmanned and outnumbered.” Teo moved around to the other side of us to take out another of the shooters.

“I’ve got a few more guns and some bullets in the trunk if we can get there.”

“Go. I’ll cover you,” I told Alessandro, and he gave a brisk nod.

We took turns quickly reloading, while other’s continued shooting to keep Romano’s men from advancing. Teo was right. We couldn’t hold out like that forever. We needed a plan.

“The way I see it,” Luca started between shots. “We’ve got two choices. One, we stay here and try to take out as many of Romano’s men as we can before our bullets run out. Or two, we can retreat into the woods, use the trees and brush as cover and pick them off as needed while we try to make it to a more public place, but we don’t know where we are so that’s risky too.”

“We may have one more option,” I responded.

“I’m open to suggestions,” Teo said expectantly.

“We try to hit their gas tank. They’re using their car for cover, one perfectly placed bullet and ka-boom.”

“It’s worth a try.” Teo offered me a nod.

Alessandro nodded in agreement. “Who’s our best shot?”

“Luca.” Teo and I answered at the same time.

“While I appreciate the vote of confidence, this is a hell of a lot of pressure to put on a guy.”

I looked him in the eye and offered a determined expression. “You can do this.”

Luca took a deep breath and the rest of us kept shooting so that the men wouldn’t get suspicious but inside, we were all a little quieter, a little more still as we waited for Luca to take a near impossible shot.

Luca fired his gun, and I held my breath as the bullet struck the car at just the right angle. We ducked as the loud blast ripped through the air and debris rained down on the road above. A couple of the men were still moving when we cautiously approached what was left of the car. One tried to crawl to a nearby gun, but I walked over to him and shot him before he had a chance to shoot at one of us. Teo shot another who was no threat to us. It was a mercy killing as the man lay there bleeding out in the street.

Once we were sure there were no survivors to threaten us, we took cover just off the road in case the explosion drew the attention of any more of Romano’s or Fabbri’s men.

“What the hell are we going to do now? We’ve got no car. No phones. And no idea where we are,” Alessandro said as he kicked a small piece of rubble.

“Maybe one of the guys had a cell phone.” I rushed back to the wreckage and started to pick pockets for a phone.

I pulled a cell from the pocket of the large man I’d recognized earlier just as the sound of another car came from down the road. We took cover, crouching behind the overgrowth beside the road as a town car neared.

“That’s a commercial car service,” Alessandro whispered beside me.

“How can you tell?”

“The plates. They were customized plate covers for the car service.”

The car slowed as it neared the wreckage, and I spotted Aurora in the backseat. My heart leaped into my throat, and I jumped out of my hiding spot to wave her down, but she wasn’t alone. There was a girl with her. The car came to a stop and Aurora jumped out followed by Fabbri’s maid who had taken us to our rooms the night before.

I pulled my gun and pointed it at her. “Aurora, get back, she works for Fabbri. He set us up. He’s working with Romano.”

Aurora’s eyes grew as large as saucers, and she stepped in front of Luna. “Wait. She helped me get away. She’s scared of him too, so I helped get her out.”

“How do you know you can trust her?” I asked as I neared Aurora, keeping my eye on Luna but putting my gun away.

“I just know.”

“Fuck,” I gasped as I spotted the large bruise on Aurora’s cheek. I rushed to her, gently cupping her face in my hand and stroking over the spot with a feather-like touch. “Did that bastard do this to you?”

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