Page 62 of Corrupted Deception

“You do realize I’ve been taking care of myself and dealing with this shit longer than you have,” Deo replied as he shifted and fired out the window.

I shrugged. “Si, I know. It makes me wonder why I’m better at it than you are.”

I smiled, squeezed his shoulder, then took off before he could reply, Carmine and I crouching as we moved toward the back of the warehouse.

“There are three shooters,” I told him as we slipped outside. “Find the one furthest to the left and take him out.”

“Si, Signor,” he said, then obediently took off along the back of the warehouse as I veered toward the other side of the building, clutching my gun in my grip, my steps silent, guided by an innate stealth that had been honed over time.

Nearing the front of the warehouse, I pressed my back against the brown brick wall and peered out, tracking the path of the bullets still flying.

There were only a handful of cars in the lot. From here, I could see the fresh scrapes and dings in my Aston Martin’s paint job and the god damned son of a bitch using my car as cover.

I took aim. Just his spiky, brown hair stuck up above the hood of my car, but I waited patiently. Five seconds… ten…

His head bobbed above the car’s hood, and I pulled the trigger.

The bullet lodged in the side of his head a fraction of a second later, and the asshole fell to the ground.

One down; two to go.

As I scanned the remaining hiding spots, I saw the flash of a steel barrel at the opposite corner of the warehouse, and I could pick out the individual gunshot as Carmine fired. His bullet shattered the window of a navy blue SUV and lodged unerringly into the masked man taking cover behind it.

There was just one left, and I wanted him alive.

But first, I had to find him.

I stepped out from the side of the building and shot wide, just to draw his attention to my location. But there was no return fire, nothing to give away his position.

Vito and Deo stopped firing from inside the warehouse. It was silent, nothing but the thrum of distant traffic.

I scanned the lot; the black SUV toward the center of it hadn’t been there when I’d arrived a few moments ago, and squinting, I could see shoe-clad feet on the ground between the tires.

This is too easy,my gut said loud and clear, but there was no sign of other assailants. Just this one left.

With my finger poised on the trigger, I advanced toward the mysterious intruder, my heart beating a little harder. I half-expected him to fire from beneath the car, but he didn’t. Maybe the asshole was out of bullets.

I was just about to come upon him from behind when Carmine fired at him from the opposite direction, keeping him distracted long enough for me to put a bullet in the back of his shoulder.

The shot left him writhing in pain, and I immediately pounced, twisting his wounded arm up behind his back, forcing him to his knees.

Like one of his fallen comrades, he wore a mask that covered most of his face.

“All clear,” I called out, letting Deo and Vito know the threat had been neutralized, then I pulled off the coward’s mask.

Pablo.

The asshole from the club.

Three sets of heavy footsteps sounded behind me, coming to a stop close by. Out the corner of my eye, I saw Deo rack the slide on his gun, checking the chamber.

“The asshole and I need to have a conversation, Deo,” I told him, shaking my head.

Deo inhaled deeply and let out a heavy breath. “It had better be one hell of a productive conversation,fratello.”

“Oh, I think it will be,” I said while Pablo glared up at me, his lips pressed together and sweat pouring from his brow while he tried to hide the fear in his eyes behind bullshit bravado.

Deo holstered his gun and crouched down in front of him, smiling coldly.

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