Chapter 10
Cara
I never thought I could feel this on edge somewhere so beautiful.
A cloudless blue sky hangs overhead as Dmitri and I thread through Amalfi’s back streets, trying to look like tourists instead of targets.
We keep checking behind us, fingers locked like someone could tear us apart with one hard tug.
Here, a wrong turn could be a death sentence.
“Not much farther,” Dmitri says, checking his phone again as he leads me up another flight of stairs.
My chest tightens, and pain flares through my calves and the soles of my feet as I keep pushing myself physically. I stop halfway up, palm slapping the wall as I bend over and suck air.
“Hold on. I’m sorry,” I breathe out as I bend over, my lungs burning.
Dmitri immediately turns to me, worry etched into his brow. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m just tired,” I say, swallowing back the truth that’s been sitting in my chest for weeks.
“We’ll stop,” Dmitri says, scanning the street.
I suck in as deep of a breath as I can. “We can’t stop for that long. I just need a minute.”
Dmitri rubs my back. “I will give you as much time as you need. Are you sure you’re alright?”
I need to pull myself together. If he’s too busy worrying about me, he’s not focused on the mission. Distraction could cost him his life.
“I’m okay,” I tell him as I straighten up, fighting through the exhaustion weighing down my entire body. “Let’s go. I want to get to the house.”
Dmitri’s worried eyes linger on me for a moment before he nods and continues up the staircase. “Once everyone reaches the safe house, we’ll work on a plan to find Ferro. We need his location before sunrise.”
“That’s a pretty strict deadline,” I say, trying to keep my voice from wavering from exhaustion.
“The longer we’re here, the higher the chance Ferro hears we’ve landed,” Dmitri replies before stepping into a small clearing in front of a two-story white building—shuttered windows, a balcony, nowhere to hide. “This is it.”
My eyes roam over the building, seeing a small balcony up ahead, along with a lot of shuttered windows. “I wonder if we’re the first ones here.”
“One way to find out,” Dmitri replies before taking a step toward the safe house.
The air cracks, then a bullet slices past Dmitri’s temple
“Dmitri!”
His gaze snaps up toward the terraced hillside above the rooftops. “Get down!”
Before I can move, Dmitri lunges for me, yanking me into a nearby entryway just as another bullet sails over our heads. His body becomes a wall between me and the street.
I grab at the front of his shirt, pulling him close to me as my eyes sting out of fear. “He almost shot you. You almost died!”
Dmitri wraps his arms around me, keeping me as far away from the mouth of the entryway as he can as another bullet hits the ground just a few feet away from us.
We’re trapped in here with a sniper ready to blow our heads off the second that we try to leave.
“It’s okay. I’m okay,” Dmitri assures me. “The house isn’t safe, though. They know we’re here.”
“We have to warn the others,” I tell him as my eyes widen. Everyone else is headed here, and they’ll be walking right into a trap.
Dmitri pulls out his phone and calls my father, grimacing as another shot lands on the ground nearby. “That bastard really wants us dead.”
I replay the moment of Dmitri almost getting shot over and over again in my mind, my heart slamming against my ribs. He almost died. I almost lost him.
Just like that. It would’ve happened in a second. So fast that I wouldn’t be able to do anything to save him.
“Come on, Sean. Answer the damn phone,” Dmitri mutters before looking down at me. “You’re white as a sheet,” he mutters, eyes flicking over my face.
“I almost lost you,” I whisper, the reality of that possibility hitting me so hard that it knocks the breath out of my lungs.
Dmitri holds me against his chest, cradling the back of my head as he keeps his phone pressed against his ear. “I’m okay. It’s going to take more than a sniper that’s a shit shot to kill me.”
Even if this guy isn’t the best shot in the world, our chances of getting killed still aren’t zero. They could make a run for us.
“Finally. What the hell, Sean? Are you with Andrei?” Dmitri says into the phone, his voice urgent. He waits a few moments to listen before speaking again. “Don’t come to the safe house. There’s a sniper in the area that almost took my head off.”
What if the other groups were attacked? How did Ferro even find out that we’re here? Our one place of safety has already been compromised before we even stepped foot inside!
“Luca isn’t with us. He went off to track some guards that we came across.” Dmitri sighs. “Meet us by the cathedral. He won’t fire into a crowd. Hopefully.”
I tilt my head back to gaze up at Dmitri. How are we even going to get out of here without taking a bullet?
“Contact whoever else you can to meet us there. We need to outmaneuver this sniper,” Dmitri says before hanging up and tucking his phone into his pocket. “I have an idea.”
My stomach churns in nervousness. “What? If it puts your life at risk, no.”
“Whatever we do here is going to be risky, Cara. We can’t just sit here. He could’ve called in reinforcements by now,” Dmitri tells me as he grabs my arms, steadying me.
I breathe in deeply, preparing myself. “What’s the plan?”
“He missed twice. He’s nervous, or he’s not as good as he thinks,” Dmitri says. “I’m going to draw his next shot. He’ll be busy resetting his aim. That’s your window.”
My eyes widen. “You’re basically using yourself as bait!”
“I’m not worried,” Dmitri insists as he leans closer to me, his eyes locking with mine. “I need you to do this for me. We have to get out of here.”
I’m so nervous that my legs feel weak, but he’s right. I can’t mess this up, especially if he’s going to risk his life for me.
“I’m ready,” I tell him, squeezing my hands into fists to keep them from shaking.
Dmitri presses an encouraging kiss against my forehead. “Run. Don’t look back. Zigzag. I’ll be right behind you.”
“You better be,” I warn him.
Dmitri smiles a little before turning toward the opening of the entryway. He takes a deep breath before launching himself forward, keeping his head down as he steps out.
A shot echoes from far off, and a bullet zips right next to Dmitri’s right arm.
“Go, Cara!”
I hurry out of the entryway and run to the left, fighting the agonizing aching in my feet. I don’t stop. I don’t turn around.
I run.
“Hurry!” Dmitri shouts from behind me.
I can’t go any faster! But I sure as hell don’t slow down.
I hear another bullet strike the exterior of a nearby building, the wall chipping from the force. I duck my head and cut left, stumbling down a short staircase and landing on my hands and knees.
Was this even the right way? I don’t remember the exact turns we took!
Pain sears through me as I weakly push myself to my feet, my muscles protesting every movement. But I move regardless and dart down the back street that I’m on, knowing that I have to keep heading west to reach the cathedral.
My heart pounds so fast making me so dizzy I can barely see straight. I can’t hear anything either. I don’t know if Dmitri is shouting for me. I can’t hear the rifle going off if the guy is still shooting.
There’s nothing but my own heartbeat, tired breaths, and the soft slap of my shoes on stone.
Until there’s a sound that steadily seeps into my attention. It grows louder and louder as I keep painfully jogging.
A crowd of people.
I exhale shakily in relief as I take one more staircase down and turn another corner to break out into the main square. Sweat rolls down my forehead as I look every which way, trying to spot familiar faces throughout the slowly moving crowd as they filter from attraction to attraction.
As badly as I want to backtrack and make sure that Dmitri followed, it’s not safe. I have to find someone on our side and stick with them until Dmitri reaches us.
I force my breathing to slow and melt into the crowd. Keeping my head down, I make my way toward the cathedral steps.
Sweat stings my eyes, briefly blurring my vision. I wince and rub them, closing my eyes for just a second, but it’s enough to make me run into someone.
“Oh, sorry,” I say as I quickly open my eyes, only for them to widen. “Luca!”
Relief flashes over his face as his eyes sweep over me. “Good. You’re okay.”
“You heard about the sniper?” I ask him as he puts his arm around my shoulders casually and steers me toward a nearby café.
“I did,” Luca replies. “I already lost the guards at that point, so I rushed back here to meet everyone. Where’s Dmitri?”
I shake my head as cold fear douses my entire body like ice water. “I don’t know. We got separated. He should be heading here.”
Luca rubs my arm. “He’ll get here. I’m sure he’s close.”
“Where are we going? Shouldn’t we wait by the cathedral?” I ask him.
Luca doesn’t even have to answer my question because I spot my father and Andrei sitting at a nearby table, cloaked in the shadow of a large umbrella and looking like any other tourists.
They made it.
Now that I really look around, I see some of our other guards spread out among the square, blending in.
“Thank God,” my father breathes out when he sees me. He stands from the table with Andrei and walks over to me, pulling me into his arms.
I stiffen at first, not even able to remember the last time that he hugged me. This is all still so foreign, but I’m relieved to see them. I let him hold me for a few seconds before we break apart from each other.
“Are you okay?” Andrei asks, inspecting me for injuries.
“I’m fine,” I assure him.
Andrei takes my hands and flips them over, exposing the blood staining my scraped-up palms. “Damien, go get some napkins and vodka. I think this place is a bar and a café.”
His man nods and heads inside.
“It’s nothing, Andrei,” I insist, even though my hands sting. We have far bigger issues to worry about than scuffed up hands.
Andrei merely shakes his head. He won’t argue. He’s doing this whether I want it or not. “Did Dmitri get hit?”
“God, I hope not,” I say quietly. “He used himself as bait to distract the shooter so that I could run here first. He should’ve made it here by now!”
Andrei frowns as he hears my voice waver. “Dmitri’s a tough bastard. He won’t go down easily.”
“I can’t lose him,” I reply, my throat aching.
Damien shows up with the shot of vodka and napkins, handing off the shot first.
“He’ll do everything in his power to get back to you,” Andrei assures me before guiding me to hold my hands out with my palms up. “This will burn.”
He wasn’t lying.
As soon as he pours the vodka on the tiny cuts and scrapes on my palms, burning pain sears all the way to my fingertips. I tighten my jaw to keep myself from hissing in pain, my hands threatening to shake as the vodka seeps into my wounds.
“There. No infection,” Andrei says as he dabs at my palms with a napkin until they’re dry. “If only we had some gauze.”
“Thank you,” I tell him. I think he’s just trying to keep himself busy, but I appreciate the thought and effort, regardless.
“Dmitri isn’t answering his phone,” Luca says as he walks back over to us with a grim expression on his face. “We should probably send some men looking for him in case he’s pinned down or injured.”
The thought of Dmitri stuck somewhere and hurt makes my heart rate spike in panic. I’m here getting scrapes tended to, and he could be dying right now.
“Send someone, and I—”
“No, Cara,” Andrei cuts me off with a firm shake of his head. “You can’t go.”
I narrow my eyes at him. I’m tired of people telling me if I can or can’t do something. “Yes, I can.”
Andrei steps closer to me, easily towering over me. “Dmitri will kill me himself if I let you go.”
“Dmitri might be hurt,” I bite out, anger radiating through me as we stare at each other.
“Wait. There he is!”
My father’s words make me whip around, my eyes landing on Dmitri as he emerges from the crowd. He walks stiffly, like he’s hiding a limp, but he’s alive.
I finally feel like I can breathe again. I don’t hesitate. I launch myself into his arms.