32. Nico #2
The casino floor is stripped of life. A few machines blare out promises of jackpot! as the seven of us sneak pass—Salvatore behind me, his men in the middle, and Dom at the rear.
Every sharp sound that explodes from one of the machines has me flinching and flicking my rifle up to shoot. But there’s no one there.
We get to the private elevator without seeing a single other soul.
“We need the keycard,” I say.
Salvatore stands from his crouch and pulls out his phone to type away at the screen.
After a few seconds, my patience is fried. “Did you hear me?”
The elevator doors ping open.
Salvatore smiles.
Fucking show off.
“So we’re just walking into this obvious ambush?” I ask, waving a hand toward the elevator.
Dom holds up a small black grenade, a grin spreading across his face. “Flash-bang.”
He passes the grenade to Camillo, and Salvatore has us split up.
Salvatore, Dom, and I head toward the staircases, and after another moment, Salvatore magically unlocks the electronic keypad.
“How’d you manage that?” I ask as the three of us funnel into the stairwell.
“My wife,” he says.
I guess having a hacker for a wife comes in handy once in a while.
Dom moves to the front of our line, another flash-bang in hand.
“When Camillo gives us the signal,” Dom says in Italian, “I’m going to throw this out. Do not shoot blindly if you see someone. This is a search and rescue. Spread out and look for cover first.”
I glance at Salvatore, expecting him to argue, but he simply nods, deferring to his second-in-command.
We stop at the bottom level, next to the door. Salvatore watches his phone for the signal.
“Remember doing this in Vegas?” Dom asks, a fond grin across his face.
“Try not to shoot me this time,” Salvatore says dryly. A text appears on his phone. “Now.”
Dom pulls the pin, opens the door a crack, and tosses the flash-bang out.
One.
Two.
BANG.
Dom swings the door open.
“Move!” he shouts in Italian, and we all sprint through the screen of smoke.
I dive behind a nearby couch, my rifle at a ready position.
“Nico!”
My stomach drops.
Valeria.
Her voice calls from the center of the room. “Nico, it’s a trap! The pakhan’s here too!”
I strain my ears, trying to pinpoint her location without sight. Is she inside the fighting cage? Every cell in my body screams for me to run to her—to save her—but I force myself to stay in place.
“I am here to talk,” the pakhan’s voice calls out from a further distance. “Your wife is safe. I only want to talk.”
“Val, how many men are here?” I shout.
“I don’t know.” She sounds calm, not a waver of fear in her voice, even though I know she must be terrified. That’s my girl. “I think it’s just him.”
“See?” Yevgeniy says. “Listen to her. This is just me. I am saying truth. We are soyuznik, Nico.”
A hive of wasps are trapped under my ribs. My knee starts to shake.
I can’t fucking wait any longer. I peek around the couch, and when I see her, all logic bleeds from my body.
She’s standing in the center of the fighter’s cage, the track lights shining around her lace robe like she’s the black hole in the center of the universe.
“Nico, don’t!” Dom shouts as I lunge from my hiding place to the cage.
I have my vest. I don’t care what happens, she’s exposed—she’s vulnerable.
Her eyes are wide with horror as I get closer to her.
The cage—it’s locked by a padlock.
“Here is the key.”
I hear the clink of a small metallic object landing on the ground near my feet.
I swivel my gun up, aiming toward Yevgeniy. He stands tall, his palms lifted in the air.
“Why is she in a cage?” I ask.
“So she would not run before I talk with you.”
Even staring down the barrel of a gun, Yevgeniy is calm with the absolute conviction of a man who is sure of an outcome.
Soyuznik, he said. Allies.
“If you’re lying, the other men here will kill you,” I say.
“I am not lying.”
I can’t wait any longer. I drop my rifle from his face and dive down for the key. In seconds, the padlock is open, and I’m in the cage.
“Val!” I lunge at her and wrap her into my arms. “Did he hurt you? What happened?”
“I’m okay,” she half-laughs against my ear. A tremor passes through her body, and she hugs me back tightly. “It was Stefano. He was dressed like the hotel staff. He had chloroform on a rag. I woke up in the trunk of his car, and he took me here.”
That fucking little bastard.
I stroke her back, shoving aside the images of the long and painful torture I have in store for her brother. “It’s okay. Salvatore caught him. He’ll be taken care of very soon.”
Valeria pulls back, biting into her lower lip. She looks so vulnerable without her lipstick. “He said Giovanni was threatening Mom. Please. I know… I hate him too, Nico. Just, please don’t kill him, okay? Promise me. Just, put him in prison, please. He’s my family.”
Only Valeria could hold so much compassion in her heart for someone who doesn’t deserve it.
At my pause, her gaze grows sharper. “Nico,” she says warningly.
Fuck it.
“Okay. I promise.”
“You see she is safe?” Yevgeniy says from outside the cage. “Now, we talk.”