Chapter 43 Nicolò
Nicolò
I stand over the computer in Cristiano’s office, my heart beating at a million miles an hour.
“It’s here,” Cristiano says, opening the email and clicking the link.
Fiero informed me the second I called him, which was a second after I got the text, that he’d had a tracker put on Orlov’s car.
“Why?” I’d asked.
“Because we put trackers on the cars of all clients of interest,” he’d said. “We put one on yours.”
Obviously. That’s how he knew I’d shot his father.
Another screen appears. A map. A hot red dot throbbing right in the center.
“Where the fuck is that?” I lean over Cristiano’s shoulder. “Can you zoom out?”
Cristiano makes the map a little smaller until we can see the closest main road. “It’s the reserve,” Cristiano says, pointing to a spot on the screen. “Look, here’s the highway. He’s taken her to the forest.”
I’m out the door before he can stop me, almost knocking over Benito and Augie as I make a beeline for my car.
“Nicolò, hold up,” Cristiano calls. “You’re not going on your own. We’re all coming. She’s important to all of us.”
I pause for a second, then nod. “Well, come on then.”
The forest is silent except for the crunch of car tires on frost-covered leaves. I peer again at the red dot pulsing on my phone, then lift my gaze to the dirt track ahead.
“It’s just up here. We should go on foot.”
Benito chambers his pistol. “What do we do about the files?”
My eyes flit back to the screen. “We’ll send them to the Commissioner. I’m sure she’ll find the footage and the whereabouts of some of the most senior chiefs in the Bratva especially useful.”
Benito frowns. “She hates us.”
“Sure she does, but she’s also not the type to let a little petty hatred get in the way of bringing down those behind the spate of attacks across the city. We’re handing her a legacy on a silver platter.” I pull the door handle slowly then push open the driver’s door.
“Shouldn’t we ask for something in return?” Benito asks.
Cristiano’s lips curl in one corner. “She’s bright. She’ll know she owes us one.”
Adrenalin is pumping beneath my skin and I can think of nothing but getting to Bambalina. They took her in the middle of the night. She’ll be terrified.
No one at the house saw anyone come or go, but footsteps across the frosty lawn point to several men, a compromised CCTV system and a badly secured back entrance. “Come on,” I urge. “We can’t waste any more time.”
Quietly and softly, one by one, we all step out of the car.
The forest is peaceful with night still fallen, the only sounds being our feet crunching slowly across the forest floor.
“That’s the van,” I whisper, setting eyes on a large vehicle nestled beneath the trees.
“So that must be where they’ve taken her.” Cristiano points to a cabin just beyond it. There are no other buildings nearby—there’s nowhere else the Russians could be. It’s sub-zero—too cold to sit out.
“Over here,” Benito hisses from the right. He’s hidden behind a thick tree trunk giving a clear view of the other side of the building. We each step closer, keeping to the shadows.
“There are two guards out front,” he whispers. “Another inside, maybe two. I can’t see Lina, but she might be inside another room.”
My heart thunders up my throat. What the fuck have they done with her?