Chapter 12
Cara
That conversation went better than I expected.
Even as our group goes back and forth over our next big plan, happiness hums through me as I watch Dmitri take charge. He’s going to be an incredible father.
But we need to bring our child into a world that’s somewhat safe. Taking out Ferro and his men will make things at least a little bit safer, and that has to be our main focus right now.
“If we can’t find them, we have to draw them out,” my father says as we all stand around a table with an aerial view map of the town. “They’re already looking for us. That’s our advantage.”
Andrei scoffs a little. “How? They’re probably combing the streets for us ready to pick us off.”
“They’re like dogs sniffing around for something to chase and attack,” Luca explains with a thoughtful expression on his face. “We can use their own drive against them and direct them where we want them to be.”
Andrei lifts his eyebrows in realization. “So, what now? We leak a location and hope they go there?”
“That’s exactly what we’re going to do,” Dmitri speaks up as he crosses his arms, his eyes sweeping over the map. “Luca is the bait. They want him most, more than me, more than anyone.”
Luca sighs. “Yeah, I figured something like this would happen. So, I’m the hook. You just need the right water.”
“They might not know how many of us are here,” Dmitri says. “Let’s keep that a secret and put all of their focus on Luca and where he is. I think that’ll even draw Ferro out.”
“Where should I be? And I assume that I actually won’t be there, right?” Luca asks as he eyes Dmitri.
Dmitri smirks a little. “You won’t be there, but we need to leak the intel that that’s where they’ll find you. Somewhere away from most of the public. It’ll get messy.”
Luca thinks for a moment before snapping his fingers. He points to a small area farther up the cliffside. “There are luxury villas up here. Huge and fancy with the best views. You can reserve them online. We’ll pick one that’s empty, one with clean sightlines.”
“On it,” Andrei says as he pulls out his phone to check.
“How are we going to leak the intel to them?” Sean asks Dmitri. “We’ll have to be crafty about it. If it’s too obvious, they’ll know that it’s a trap.”
Dmitri nods in agreement. “It needs to seem like one of his guards came across the information somehow.”
“They use radios to communicate with each other,” I say, remembering watching one of the guards from earlier speak into one. “What if we stole one of them and acted like one of the guards? We could feed the rest of them any information that we wanted to lead them toward the villa.”
Sean grins proudly at me. “That could work, yeah? We would just have to find one of the guards and get his radio.”
“Luca, can you pull it off?” Dmitri asks him. “We’ll need someone who speaks Italian to communicate with them, and you can’t sound familiar.”
Luca nods. “Yeah, I can give it a shot. What should I say?”
Sean, Dmitri, and Luca look over at me and wait.
I blink in surprise, but I think quickly. “You should say that you captured one of our guards. You tortured him for information before killing him, and you found out that Dmitri is moving Luca to a villa to keep him safe.”
“You got all that?” Dmitri asks Luca.
Luca grins and nods. “Every single word.”
“This villa is available to rent,” Andrei says as he approaches the table again, showing everyone a three-story, white villa with multiple balconies nestled on the cliffside facing the water.
“Perfect,” Dmitri replies. “Give Luca the address. Be specific about the location but not suspiciously specific.”
Luca flashes him a confused look, but he still nods and writes down the address on a nearby notepad.
“We should have men posted by the villa to let us know when they arrive and how many there are of them,” I suggest.
“Sean, can you set that up?” Dmitri asks him. “The rest of us will head out to find a guard to ambush. We’ll need to move quickly. Sunset will be here before we know it.”
I glance toward a nearby window, seeing the blue tint of the sky slowly darkening. The day passed by so quickly, and we still have so much left to get done.
“Will do,” Sean replies before heading out of the suite to inform the others of what’s going on.
“Can I go too?” I ask Dmitri.
Dmitri sighs as he tucks a loose strand of my hair behind my ear. “You know what answer I want to give you, especially now.”
If he didn’t already see me as precious cargo, he definitely does now.
“I’m the only way you can figure out who the guards at the farmhouse are,” I point out.
“Stay close and take this,” Dmitri replies before pulling a sheathed knife out of his bag and handing it over to me. “Don’t be afraid to use it.”
I nod and slide the knife into my back pocket, tucking it under my shirt.
Dmitri glances at Andrei and Luca. “Let’s go.”
Together, the four of us leave the hotel and venture through the crowd toward the back streets, keeping our heads down but our eyes open. There’s a good chance that guards will be working in pairs or groups. It won’t be an easy one-person takedown.
As the sun continues to slowly set, shadows drape over the streets, providing us cover as we move from shadow to shadow. All we come across are locals and tourists for what feels like forever, but Luca jolts to a stop.
“Aspetta,” Luca says as he holds up his hand, motioning for us to stop and wait.
We all freeze as two men in dark tactical gear walk onto the street about fifty feet ahead of us. Luckily, they head in the opposite direction as us, but they’re still close. I can also make out the radio pouches on their belts.
Guards.
“I’ll cut them off from the front,” Andrei whispers before hurrying up a small flight of stairs to our left.
“Stay back,” Dmitri warns me before nodding to a nearby entryway. “Hide.”
As much as I want to protest, I don’t. The last thing that I want to do is get in the way and cause someone to get hurt or killed. Quietly, I creep into the entryway before peeking around the corner to watch Dmitri and Luca slowly follow the guards.
My heart leaps into my throat when Andrei lunges first, slamming into the closer guard, driving him sideways into the second. They all hit the ground, shouts echoing up and down the street.
Dmitri and Luca sprint in. Dmitri tackles the guard on the left. Luca grabs the other and they fight for the weapon.
The guard on the right with a shaved head snaps a boot up into Luca’s stomach. Luca stumbles back, grabbing his stomach as he wheezes painfully.
Andrei jumps onto the back of the guard that kicked Luca, wrapping his arm around the guard’s throat and squeezing tightly.
Luca straightens up and slams his foot against the guard’s stomach in retaliation. “How do you like that, stronzo!”
Dmitri slams the guard he’s fighting against a nearby wall.
The back of the guard’s head smashes against the hard surface, and he immediately slumps to the ground.
“End it!” Dmitri snaps at Luca and Andrei.
Andrei grabs the guard’s head and twists roughly, cracking his neck and letting him fall to the ground. He draws in a sharp breath through his nose, blood trailing down his chin from a cut on his bottom lip.
“Knife,” Dmitri says to Luca as he holds his hand out. “A gun is too loud.”
Luca hands his knife over, breathing heavily.
Dmitri drives the knife in fast, clean, then steps back as the guard goes still. He hands the bloody knife back to Luca, who wrinkles his nose at the mess. “Can’t leave any witnesses to run back to Ferro.”
I check up and down the street before abandoning my hiding place to join them, my eyes landing on the guard that Dmitri killed. After all that I’ve been through, seeing violence and dead bodies doesn’t hit me as much as it used to.
Especially if they’re men who would kill me or torture me without a second thought.
“Sorry. Didn’t give you a chance to listen to their voices,” Dmitri says as he turns to me.
I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it. Even if they were at the farmhouse, they won’t hurt anyone again.”
Dmitri nods before reaching down and grabbing the radio out of the guard’s pouch. “Hide the bodies somewhere.”
Luca and Andrei grab the guards and drag them into a nearby entryway before moving large pots with leafy plants in front of them. Luca dusts his hands off. “That’ll have to do for now.”
“Sorry for whoever lives here,” Andrei mutters.
Dmitri hands Luca the radio. “As we planned.”
Luca nods and takes a breath before hitting the talk button and speaking into the radio. He lowers his voice more than normal, even speaking in a different cadence than he normally does.
My heart hammers quickly as I hear someone else’s voice come through the speaker.
“Sono certo,” Luca says in a firm voice.
There’s a pause. A crackle. Another voice answers fast.
Luca nods once. “They bought it. They’re going to reconvene and then storm the villa later tonight.”
Andrei grins. “Hell yeah.”
Dmitri nods. “Nice work, Luca. We need to head back and get everyone ready. Now, we know where they’re going to be and when.”
“The perfect opportunity to attack,” Luca says, his eyes sharpening in determination.
“We should keep the radio. Just in case they change plans, we’ll know,” I point out as I hear more voices coming out of the speaker.
They all nod in agreement.
“They’re heading back to their base. Wherever that is,” Luca tells us as he listens closely. “Hopefully, we’re not heading in the same direction as them when we go back to the hotel.”
Dmitri glances up at the darkening sky, the sun nearly fully sunken behind the horizon. “We’ll use the darkness to our advantage.”
The four of us go back the way we came, sticking close to walls and avoiding eye contact with anyone who passes by us. Luca keeps the volume on the radio low, giving us updates every now and then. So far, nothing has changed.
Ferro’s guards are going back to their base of operations and so are we.
“Wipe the blood off your face,” Dmitri tells Andrei as we approach the entrance to the hotel.
Andrei hastily drags the back of his hand against his chin. He smears the line of blood across his skin instead of wiping it away.
The hotel doors swing open as an employee steps out with a guest, making us tense and slow down. We can’t look suspicious, and one of us having a bloody face looks pretty damn suspicious.
I wet my thumb and scrub at Andrei’s chin fast, like a mother before a teacher turns around.
“I could’ve said it was pizza sauce,” he remarks.
I smirk at him. “Did the pizza bust your lip too?”
Andrei cracks an amused grin before we hurry to catch up with the others, passing through the busy lobby without an issue to reach the elevators.
When we get to the third floor, we knock on the door of the first suite, faintly hearing my father’s voice inside. The door swings open after a few moments, and we stride inside and shut the door behind us.
“It worked,” Dmitri reports as Sean and the other guards turn to us. “They’ll storm the villa in a few hours, and we’ll be right behind them to trap them inside and finish it. Every single one.”
“Get ready,” Sean tells the guards. “I’ll have our recon team near the villa stay hidden until we get there.”
I quietly take Dmitri’s arm, holding him to steady myself as reality sets in.
This is it. The big plan.
Our shot to end all of this.
If we fail, we may lose Ferro forever. We may all die in that villa. There are so many ways that this plan can go wrong, but if it goes right, we’ll get exactly what we want.
Revenge. Justice. Peace.
And a world our child can survive.