Chapter 32
32
LAZARO
“We go in swift and silent,” I say quietly to the men with me. Massimo is leading the other team at Giovanni’s, leaving me to grab things from Leonardo’s office. My blood hums with excitement at the prospect of taking Leonardo by surprise, but there are only a handful of guards, which tells me he and his sons aren’t here. If I’m wrong, this could get messy, but it’s nothing I can’t handle.
I reach for the sconce and carefully turn it. It’s a bit stiff, but it gives and turns with barely a sound. The right wall of the alcove gives way to reveal a door that swings inward into a dark, musty hallway. It’s not tall enough for me to stand upright, so I have to crouch, but I aim a flashlight over top of my gun and move forward as quickly as I can.
The hallway is surprisingly long, and I don’t hear a sound other than our quiet footsteps and the shuffling of our clothes. Finally, I see the door at the end of the tunnel. I slow us to a stop with a hand signal, then I approach on silent feet, listening for any sounds on the other side. I hear nothing; it’s deathly silent. Carefully, I touch the handle, pressing down slowly with steady pressure until I feel the lock disengage.
There’s no going back now.
I throw open the door, gun raised and ready to fire, but the room is empty, papers and things scattered all around. I pause, waiting to see if anyone comes charging in, but again, nothing. Outside the room, the only sounds are a vacuum and someone singing off key, something I don’t think would happen if Leonardo and his men were in residence. I wave the men forward, making a motion to stay as silent as possible.
We can’t take any chances.
I move to Leonardo’s desk, rifling through the papers on top, but nothing pops out to me that looks useful. I move to the drawers, finding them all locked. There we are. I start picking them, another handy skill Papa taught us all. This desk is old, so it gives way with little effort, and I quickly pull out the drawers.
Jackpot.
There are four files, one for each of the missing girls, including the final one we’ve been looking for. I keep searching through the other drawers for anything else that might be important, and it’s the final drawer that gives me more than I could have ever hoped for. It’s a book, black and worn looking, with papers sticking out of it. One of the papers immediately catches my attention.
Certificate of Birth. Female. DeLuca.
There are three of them. This is exactly what we need. I look at the other men and see they have grabbed a few things, but they’ve mostly finished. “Let’s go,” I whisper. As we move back towards the passageway, I realize the singing from before is getting louder - no, nearer - and the doorknob for the office begins to turn. “Go!” I hiss, and the soldiers rush into the tunnel, with me slipping inside and shutting the door as quietly and fast as I can.
My heart pounds out of my chest as we stand there silently for another minute, waiting for any indication that we’ve been discovered. Nothing. I can’t even hear whoever was in the office. This place must be as soundproofed as the rest of the place. I wave the men on, and we hurriedly make our way back out of the tunnel. When we reach the end, the lead man goes out to check the area, then waves the all-clear.
It takes another twenty minutes of careful movements on our parts to get back to the SUV, and the moment we do, I call Massimo. He picks up on the second ring. “I got what we need,” I tell him quickly. “Do you need backup?”
“I’ll take it. We’re just pulling up now because we spotted a few of Leonardo’s men roaming around and wanted to see where they were heading.”
“I thought no one knew about that place,” I say with a frown as we peel away from Leonardo’s home. Out of the corner of my eye, I notice men rushing for the gate, no doubt finally realizing what’s just happened.
“They never went near it. They went to a coffee shop about half a block away. Far enough that we don’t have to worry about them spotting us, but we wanted to be sure. How far are you?”
I glance at my phone and their coordinates. “About ten minutes. Keep your eyes out. Leonardo’s men just realized we got in and out, so they might be sending those men off to catch us or look for anyone else.”
“Got it. Get here as fast as you can. The sooner we get in and out, the better.”
I hang up, and since I’m not driving, I take pictures of the birth certificates and send them to Papa before calling him. “I found these, and a journal that I believe belongs to Gia and Sienna’s mother,” I tell him without preamble.
“Good work,” Papa praises. “Get back here so we can search them. I’ll have Urso and Zeno work on the certificates. Maybe we can use the final one to finally locate their sister.”
“Can’t. I’m on my way to lend assistance to Massimo. Leonardo’s men are around so they can’t risk being spotted. I’ll send one of the men back with the documents so they don’t fall into the wrong hands again.”
“Fine. Don’t get yourself killed.” Then he hangs up, and I shake my head. That’s my father, a man of few words.
“I’ll take them back, Lazaro,” Lucino offers as he easily maneuvers us toward our destination. You’d never know that he’s not American, with the way he drives around. He’s one of our many soldiers and one of the few that I consider myself friendly with. “Then I’ll come back in case you need to get out quickly.”
“Fine,” I say with a nod. “Make sure you hand them directly to Don Caruso, my father, or Don Armani. No one else should touch them so we don’t lose them to the wrong people. I don’t trust Armani’s men.”
“Agreed,” Lucino replies. “We’ve been listening and keeping our ears open. They were pretty pissed when that Caesar guy was promoted and started training them. They said they preferred Davide because he was a sucker that didn’t seem to care what they did.”
“Anything else you’ve heard?” I ask curiously.
“Not really. Don Armani and Dante killing men that were involved in whatever the business was that was happening before we arrived seems to have them uneasy. Though, most of them are more scared of Dante than Don Armani, from what I hear. They feel he’s softened with his new wife in the picture, but Dante has hardened,” Lucino explains. “I’m not sure if that’s true, but the men feel it is, so they are trying to be on their best behavior.”
“I say he gets rid of the lot of them and starts over,” one of the other men says with disgust. Tino is a hardened soldier, approaching retirement, but he keeps himself in remarkable shape and refuses to walk away. Says the mafia is his life. He never married and has no children, so he does nothing other than work. I always wondered if he resented our family for our positions, but nothing has ever shown itself, and the Carusos seem to trust him so I have no other choice. Still, he’s one of the best marksmen we have, and going into a situation like this one, I want him with me.
“That would leave him far too vulnerable,” the final man with us, Franco, reminds him simply. He’s in his late forties, and he and I have always gotten along well. He’s an excellent spotter for these kinds of missions. He can see the dangers a mile ahead, and he can also see when the enemy is coming and get them out of the way. Unlike Lucino and Tino, he has a wife and two young children that have mellowed him out when he’s around those he trusts. On any kind of job, it hones his focus, because he’s determined to return home to them alive and unharmed. It won’t always be that way, it never is in this life, but I’ll do my best to ensure it happens today.
“He could call in allies and their men until he has new ones all trained up,” Tino argues. “He is only weakening himself by having weak men watching over him.”
I have to agree. “Once this is over, they can worry about it. I want to go back home,” I tell them. “America is not my home.”
“Amen to that,” Franco agrees.
“We’re almost there,” Lucino announces. I call Massimo to find out where they are and give Lucino the directions. When we finally all meet up, we’re directly across the road from Giovanni’s home in a large parking lot. I hand Lucino the documents and he gives me a solemn nod. “I’ll deliver these directly,” he promises. “Then I’ll be back.”
With that, we’re all out and moving. Massimo has another three soldiers with him, Alfonzo, Ivano, and Titus, and all of them look battle-ready as we make our way across the lot and hustle to the front door. The street is surprisingly quiet, but that can change in an instant.
Titus quickly picks the lock and we rush inside. The house is modern, but not overly large. I motion for Titus and Franco to search upstairs, while the rest of us fan out. The house is silent, with not even a whisper of someone moving around, which tells me they are either in their secret apartment or they aren’t here.
I find the office on the back right of the house, the window facing the apartment building not far from it. A surprising choice, but I have my doubts that Giovanni actually works in here. Wouldn’t want someone seeing something they shouldn’t, after all. I look around the room quickly. Nothing sticks out as the hidden entrance to the tunnel, but it would have to be something not visible from the window, which means it’s not around the desk or directly to the left of it because it’s still in view. I turn toward the right wall, examining it.
“Amara probably would have figured it out by now,” Massimo says teasingly.
He’s probably right, but no way am I going to allow her to be in a position as dangerous as this one. I look around critically until finally I see it. A void in the dust on the bookshelf. “There,” I whisper. I pull on each book in turn, until finally one slides out just enough. There’s a quiet click, and the shelf moves to the right to reveal the tunnel that heads straight for the apartment.
“Your father is right,” Massimo mutters. “This secret room bullshit is fucking annoying.” I’m starting to agree. I enjoyed it with Amara in the bunker, but this is getting ridiculous.
We move quickly, Massimo signalling for the soldiers to get into position. Tito and Franco follow us while the others stay above, ready to handle any issues that might come from behind us. Can’t be too careful.
Unlike the tunnel into Leonardo’s, this one is well lit and has stairs. We hurry down, moving quickly as we can. I have no doubt that Giovanni has cameras down here, which means we don’t have much time to get in and get out before he and his sons or men come for us.
When we reach the end of the tunnel, it opens into an apartment full of papers, maps, computers, and old cans of food. Whoever has been staying here has been living like a pig. I curl my lip in disgust, but I don’t stop moving. We clear the bedrooms until we find Giovanni’s actual office. I don’t bother trying to pick the lock on this one. I kick in the door, and Massimo does the same with what must be Orlando’s computer space. “Get everything you can,” I call out to Massimo. “Papa and the others can search it.”
“On it,” Massimo calls. “Franco, get in here to help me. Tino, watch our asses.”
“Copy,” Tino calls back.
I move quickly around the room, opening drawers and tossing aside anything trivial. Giovanni’s desk isn’t as organized as Leonardo’s, so it takes me a few minutes to find a matching journal, brown this time, and certificates. I tuck them into the inner pocket of my jacket. I search through the papers on the top of Giovanni’s desk, and stop when I see the words Ivan and хамелеоном .
I don’t know what it means, but I know it’s important, so I grab it.
“Incoming!” Tino yells as the shooting starts.
“Shit,” I hiss. Guess our time is up.
From the hallway, I can see Giovanni’s younger sons running down the tunnel, firing at us, but their shots go wide. Tino and I both hit the floor, but Tino is already moving and I watch as one of the sons falls to the ground with his head blown apart. His brother freezes in horror, and that’s all I need. I kill him instantly. “That’s two out of the three,” I yell back. “We need to get out of here. Massimo!”
“We got what we needed,” Massimo calls back. “Let’s go.” We rush back down the tunnel and back into the office.
I can hear gunfire outside, and we have to shoot our way out of the house. Giovanni sent his men in his place, and there’s at least a dozen of them. We’re outnumbered, but they are nowhere as skilled as we are. A bullet whizzes past my head, a little too close for comfort. I ignore the burning sensation, and kill the fucker who tried to kill me.
It’s another ten minutes but finally, the other men are dead, and Alfonzo is the only one with a wound, though it’s superficial. He hisses in pain as we run for the SUV, sirens shrieking in the distance. Lucino isn’t back yet, so we all throw ourselves into the one vehicle we have and Tino rushes us back into Armani territory.
I call Lucino to tell him to turn around, and then I call Papa. “We’re coming in hot,” I warn him sharply. “We got what we needed, but Giovanni sent his men and two youngest sons after us. All of them are now dead, but we need to be ready. Giovanni isn’t going to take this well, and Orlando will be pissed we took his hard drives and computers. We need a doctor for Alfonzo. Superficial wound on his arm, but he’s whining like a bitch.”
“Fuck you, Lazaro,” Alfonzo bites out, making Franco laugh.
“Got it. Get back here quickly and we’ll get the doctor here to patch you up. Good job men.” Then he hangs up.
“What did you find?” Massimo asks me from his seat in the back.
I pull out the journal, certificates, and papers I took. “We got the names of the other girls, and what I suspect is Bianca’s diary. It looks the same as the one I found in Leonardo’s office. And I found notes that have something to do with Ivan, and another Russian word. I can’t read Cyrillic but it’s in bold red ink so it must be important.”
“What’s the word?” Massimo asks. I find the paper and hand it back to him. After a moment, he frowns. “It translates to ‘chameleon’ . What the fuck does that mean?”
“No fucking clue,” I say with a shrug. “But it means something to Ivan and Giovanni if it’s written down.”
“Urso and Zeno will be able to figure it out.”
I nod. “If anyone can, it’s them and Papa.”
Whatever it is, I worry it will be something that truly fucks us over.