Chapter 127
Rachel
Outside The Mansion
Three hundred feet away, one of the mercenaries shouted something in Russian. I could barely hear him over the ground-based helicopter’s noise –
But I got the general idea when he pointed up at my tree.
Shit.
Maybe he’d seen the glint of sun off the glass lens of the scope. Maybe the rifle’s suppressor stuck too far out of the branches.
Either way, it was bad.
The tree trunk was less than a foot in diameter at this point –
Not nearly enough to stop a hail of bullets.
I leaned in close to the trunk, slipped the nylon loop over my head –
And I fell.
Well, it was more like a controlled fall.
I was, after all, plummeting through a thick carpet of small branches –
And I tried to hold on to the trunk with my left hand and gun arm. Anything to slow my descent.
Branches slapped me in the face, stung my skin, and disoriented the hell out of me –
But at least I was behind a much thicker segment of the trunk when the shooting started.
Bratta-tatta-tatta-tat!
I could hear the bark splintering on the other side of the tree.
Bullets buzzed past me like angry wasps.
And then I hit the ground.
OW!
Pain flared through my feet and ankles as I bent my legs to absorb the shock.
I fell backwards onto my ass –
Then quickly scrambled behind the trunk again as bullets kicked up dirt all around me.
SHIT!
I was pinned down.
I had a rifle, but it was totally useless at the moment. If I came out of hiding to aim, they would ventilate my skull.
The one thing I had going for me was that they were so far away –
But my one advantage wouldn’t last long.
All the mercenaries had to do was slowly walk to either side, and eventually their angle of attack would allow them to shoot me behind the tree.
I was trying to figure out what to do when Valentino burst out of the vines covering the ground a hundred feet behind me.
I had to admit, I’d never been happier to see him –
But I held my breath, afraid he was about to get mowed down.
I shouldn’t have worried. He followed Lars’s training to a ‘t’ and dove to the ground.
Lying flat like that, he presented a very small target for the mercenaries –
While they were all standing upright.
Valentino sighted along the length of his barrel –
And fired a single shot.
BLAM!
I heard a scream somewhere behind me.
Good SHOT, kid!
Foot soldiers began boiling out of the vines and diving to the ground –
Including Roberto!
What the fuck is HE doing out here?!
Within seconds, multiple single shots rang out through the air.
BLAM!
BLAM!
BLAM!
BLAM!
There were screams and panicked shouts behind me. The mercenaries had stopped shooting at my tree – but I still couldn’t come out from cover. They would have chewed me up.
Valentino, Roberto, and the foot soldiers continued their deadly onslaught –
And then I got the surprise of my life:
Niccolo emerged from the tunnel, hit the dirt, and began firing.
Holy fucking SHIT!
Within a few more seconds, I heard the helicopter on the ground take off.
I was afraid it might come towards us and fire more LAWs –
But the sound of the rotors seemed to be getting farther away.
In fact, all the helicopters sounded like they were leaving.
I finally took a chance and peeked around the tree trunk.
Two hundred feet away, the ground was littered with black-clad corpses.
The helicopter whose windshield I’d shot out (followed by the pilot’s head) was still on the ground –
But there was nobody inside.
At least, nobody living.
And the other three Bell 412s were flying away.
I guess after losing two choppers and twenty-odd men, they decided they weren’t being paid enough for this shit.
Valentino and the foot soldiers screamed in jubilation.
They came rushing over to me –
“Make sure they’re all dead first!” I yelled.
“You heard her!” Valentino shouted at the foot soldiers.
They all stopped short, raised their rifles, and started putting rounds into the bodies on the lawn.
I watched from behind the tree trunk for any signs of life – for anybody to react or make a run for it –
But nothing happened.
The mercenaries were dead.
But it didn’t hurt to be 1000% sure.
“Go up and put a bullet in their skulls!” I yelled, and the foot soldiers sprinted forward, guns at the ready.
Valentino didn’t follow them. Instead, he ran over, grabbed me, and spun me around in a hug.
I just laughed.
When he put me down, I said, “Thanks – you saved my ass.”
Val grinned. “You’ve done it for me, so I’m happy to return the favor.”
Niccolo and Roberto ran up.
When Val looked over at them, he reacted in shock.
Not at Roberto –
But Niccolo.
“Holy SHIT – you were out here, too?!” Valentino asked.
“Couldn’t let you get all the glory,” Niccolo joked.
“You didn’t lose me,” Valentino pointed out.
Niccolo grinned. “No, I didn’t.”
They hugged each other hard –
Like two men who had finally buried the hatchet.
“Is it okay to come out?!” a woman’s voice yelled from the underbrush. Lucia, by the sound of it.
“Yeah, it’s safe!” I yelled.
All the wives came out – Lucia, Bianca, Caterina, Mei-ling, and Sofia.
Those with husbands here ran to them –
But as they did, their faces looked stricken.
For a second, I thought it might be because of all the dead Russians getting a couple extra bullets to the head –
But then I realized the women were all staring at the mansion.
I turned to look, and my stomach dropped.
In the rush of terror and adrenaline, I’d screened out anything that wasn’t a direct threat.
Now that I actually looked, what I saw was devastating.
The mansion was destroyed.
Smoke boiled from shattered windows…
Fifty-foot expanses of the stone facade were gone, exposing burning rooms inside…
And the flaming wreckage of the helicopter I’d shot down lay in a mountain of rubble where the front doors used to be.
“Shit,” Valentino murmured as it sank in.
At his side, Caterina wept.
And then, comfort came from the unlikeliest of places:
Niccolo.
“None of this matters,” he said.
We all looked at him in surprise.
I wanted to say, Of COURSE it matters –
But he said, “You’re all alive. The family’s alive. And that’s all I give a damn about.
“We’ll mourn what we’ve lost later, but the rest of our family is in danger. We have to go to them – now. We’ll leave half the foot soldiers to search the mansion for survivors, but the rest are coming with us.”
I nodded, then turned to Valentino. “Let’s go to the garage and see if there’s anything left that can get us to Florence.”