Page 11 of Wicked Knight 2

“Right here, Boss.” He showed me the map on the nav system.

“Then drive.” I pointed toward the dark road ahead of us. “We have a long way to go.”

I used the rest of the time to review the plan—which was as easy as luring Donata out of the hospital. Slava had already paid a woman to do that for us. She had instructions to make sure Donata came outside alone. The woman was confident she could do that. Once Donata left the hospital, we’d scoop her up. The hardest part of our plan was driving across the bridge into Italian territory. That was a risk I was willing to take.

“Boss.” Tore pointed at his rearview mirror. “I think we have company. They’ve been on my tail since we got on the bridge.”

“Stay the course.” I spotted the SUV in my side mirror. “We’ll lose them once we’re across.”

“Got it.”

The minute we got off the bridge, the SUV swerved out of the lane to get in front of us. “Don’t stop,” I told Tore. “Fucking Italians don’t own this town.”

Tore nodded once and accelerated. At this time of night, the streets were not as busy, so it was easy for him to take a sharp turn and maneuver our minivan through an alley to get away from the assholes following us. Five minutes later, a different SUV caught up to us to ride our tail. Or maybe it was the same one. I couldn’t tell. One thing was for sure, they were after us.

I was about to ask Tore to take a left when the vehicle drove up next to me and started shooting. My window exploded into small pieces. The pain on my face made it feel like everything hurt, but this was a new kind of pain. I cradled my side and came back with bloody fingers. What the fuck?

“This day could not be over soon enough.” I groaned. “How close are we to the hospital?”

“Two blocks.”

“Keep going.” I slammed the back panel. “Shoot them down. Don’t let them get in front of us again.”

“Yeah, Boss.”

Our guys opened the back door and unloaded a whole cartridge on the SUV behind us. In the side mirror, I watched their tires pop before they jumped the curb. Whatever damage the guys did, it was enough to disable their car. Lucky for us, the assholes had come alone.

As soon as we arrived at the hospital, Ivan rushed to my door. “You got hit.”

“We stick to the plan.” I made to open the door, but the pain on my side pinned me to the seat.

“You got hit bad.”

“What do we do?” Tore asked, looking at Ivan instead of me. “Do we take him in? I see three holes.”

“Fuck.” I let my head fall back, trying to think of a way out of this mess that didn’t involve walking out empty-handed. “Give me a minute.”

I was stalling, but no amount of time would help me with the gunshot wounds. Feeling like I was losing touch with reality, I pursed my lips and blinked several times. “Ivan. We gotta go back.”

“We can do this, brother.” He opened the door and hooked his arm around my waist. “Come on. There’s an ambulance there.”

“I don’t need an ambulance.” I leaned on him more than I meant to. “We have to go back.”

“Right, but we can’t go over the bridge again in the same car. We have to ditch the van.” He turned his cap around to cover his face.

“That’s good thinking.” Pulling my hat down, I limped toward the paramedic standing next to our ride home. “Hit and run.” I managed to mumble to the man before I crumbled to the ground.

My head landed on the asphalt as I watched my guys knock the paramedic out. In a blurry of angry voices and talking heads, I was lifted off the ground and put in the passenger seat.

“Sorry, Boss.” Tore climbed in and started the ignition.

“What’s going on?” I asked through gritted teeth.

“Ivan went in.”

“What?”

“Slava found us. The woman he had hired bailed, but he figured out how to page the doctor. She’s on her way to meet us here.”

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