40. Elio
40
ELIO
“ O kay, it’s a go,” Giada said in my ear.
I was waiting at the back wall of the property for her to remotely cut the power. All the streetlights on the block went dark.
“Very precise work,” I muttered as I climbed the wall and dropped down the other side.
“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…”
I fought a snort but didn’t quite manage it. Massimo was never unarmed.
His head turned toward me, and then he was charging over the half-stall door.
He landed right in front of me as I stood and aimed a punch at the side of his head. I wouldn’t shoot him. He used to be on my team. It was impossible to see him as the enemy, despite the reality of the situation.
The punch glanced off his temple when he spun around and faced me.
“Long time no see, boss.” Massimo smirked at me.
He’d always been able to laugh in the face of death; murder and mayhem didn’t faze him. In fact, it was quite the opposite.
He lunged first, his boot crunching in the straw. I twisted, barely dodging the jab meant for my throat. My back hit the stall door, the horse inside shifting restlessly. Massimo came in again, faster this time, a brutal hook aimed for my ribs. I caught his wrist, twisted, and drove my elbow toward his jaw. He ducked and countered with a knee to my stomach. It wasn’t the first time we’d fought. We used to make a game of it. For a second, it felt just like it had then, until the pain set in.
Pain exploded through my core, but I absorbed it, using the momentum to spin and drive my shoulder into his chest. We crashed to the floor, rolling in the dirt and straw, fists colliding with flesh. He got on top, his forearm crushing my windpipe. My vision blurred. I struck blindly — one, two, three shots to his ribs — before hooking my legs around his and reversing the position. I slipped a knife out of the sheath on my forearm and held it to Massimo’s throat.
Now I was on top. Now I had the advantage. I pressed my blade to his throat, just enough to make the fight go out of him.
“Why are you here, Mass?”
“What can I say? I hate not being invited to a party, so I’m crashing. Good to see you, Colonel Santori. It’s been a while.”
Massimo chuckled. He’d always had that psychopathic edge. A man who thrived on chaos and darkness. I’d felt it even then, when he’d been an up-and-coming recruit and I’d been his first commander.
“Not long enough. Why did you take this contract?” I demanded, pushing the knife harder against Massimo’s throat.
“It was a hell of a payday.” Massimo laughed.
“Try again… and tell me the truth.”
“Why shouldn’t I take it? Should I have let someone else take it and come after you? Besides, Ravelli has something I want.”
“What?”
“A name. An important one. I need it.”
“And so you kill me, and he gives you the name? What name?”
“You wouldn’t know it. The man wasn’t someone you’d know.”
“Try me.”
Massimo sighed. “Unless you have very intimate knowledge of local steel manufacturing around 1988 in these parts, I doubt you’d know.”
“Wait, steel manufacturing around Castel Amaro?” Giada said in my ear. Her keyboard clacked. “That rings a bell.”
“I might know more than you think,” I told Massimo.
“Got it!” Giada said excitedly. “There’s a ton of information on the drive that the prosecutor sent to Georgia, all about the first work they did and who they worked with. A steel business came up, as did the names of the people in charge.”
I told Massimo as much.
He grinned. “Well, fuck me, Colonel Santori, you’ve still got it. Do you mind?” he asked and pushed the knife from his throat.
I let him.
I sat up, and he wiped blood from his broken nose.
“How did you get Georgia here?”
“I twisted Antonia’s arm… stole her partner. Don’t worry, both are fine.”
“Why?” I demanded and got to my feet.
“Because I had to get you here… How was I supposed to know you’d decide to come on your own? I needed to play along with Ravelli to get the name.” Massimo smirked up at me. “I thought we could torture him together… just like old times.”
“Mass…” I sighed with annoyance. “You scared my wife, and Toni betrayed her. I should kill you both.”
“But you won’t.” Massimo was full of confidence. “Give me the flash drive… and I’ll consider my contract canceled.”
“You never renege on a contract, or so your reputation would lead me to believe.”
“It’s true, but I don’t keep contracts with dead men… and I believe Sergio Ravelli is living his last hour of life right now, isn’t he?”
I tucked the knife away, tossed the flash drive to Massimo, and took my sniper rifle from my back. “An hour is generous.”
Massimo nodded, tucking the flash drive away in a pocket. “I like her, by the way… your wife.”
I considered him. “Be careful. I could still kill you, you know.”
His booming laughter filled the stables. I offered my hand to him, and he took it. I pulled him to his feet.
“So, he’s insane,” Giada said, having listened to the whole exchange.
“Undoubtedly. Update on Georgia.”
“In the kitchen.”
“The doors are open,” Massimo said conversationally behind me. “I tried them on the way out.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying, we divide and conquer… lure your wife out here and pick off the men around her on the way. That’ll already make a dent in their manpower. I’ll return to the house and take care of the rest.”
“I want to snuff the life out of Sergio Ravelli myself. I want to watch the light drain from his eyes… for daring to mess with my wife.”
Massimo’s eyes widened, and he looked genuinely shocked, shaking his head.
“So, it finally happened… you care about someone. You’re compromised.”
“One day, you’ll realize how empty a life of vengeance is… Living in the shadows, just existing… collecting contracts and money. None of that matters.”
Massimo watched me then shrugged. “Maybe so, but it’s all some of us have. Until next time, Colonel.” He saluted me sharply, stepping back and melting into the shadows.
“I don’t mean to pry, but I got all of that on tape and I’m totally playing it for Georgia. ‘I want to watch the light drain from his eyes… for daring to mess with my wife. ’” Giada cackled in my ear.
“Focus,” I snapped at her.
She chortled away for a few more seconds.
“So, let’s go with L’Ombra’s plan. But do you think there’s a way to lure Georgia out to the stables?”
My gut lurched as I felt the past and present collide.
“Yes,” I said with perfect certainty. “I know a way.”