Take Me, Outlaw(82)

“Yes, and if a fly could talk before it was swatted, it would probably give me a list of reasons not to kill it,” Giovanni replied dismissively. “You still think there's any way I will let you leave this place alive, and you call me crazy. The only peace you'll find will come after you've been taped to this chair and torn apart until you're dead.”



“Fine,” I said. “You want me? Here I am. Let's do it. But now that you have me, you let Lauren go.”



“No, Nic! You can't let them do that to you!” Lauren cried.



“This woman isn't going anywhere,” Giovanni said. “In fact, she's going to be the very first piece we cut off you. We're going to stab her through the stomach to kill your child and make you watch helplessly while they both bleed out on the floor just a few feet away from you.”



“But you said you'd let me and my baby live!” Lauren sobbed. “You promised!”



“What good is a promise when it's made to a puttana?” Giovanni asked. He grabbed Lauren's arms and Rocco seized my shoulders, forcing me down into the chair.



Marie picked up my knife and walked toward Lauren, baring her teeth at me in a demonic grin.





Chapter Thirty-Four



Bard



As Boomer and I ran up the hill, I texted Nic. “Gas leak worked. Get out ASAP.” I waited several seconds, but there was no answer.



I felt a moment of panic and fought to control it. Either Nic is alive and fine but he can't respond or he's captured or he's dead. Whichever one it is, I thought, you can't change it from up here on this hill. You can only do your part and trust him to do his.



As soon as we made it to the top and hunkered down with the other Reapers, I heard loud voices and saw an army of Bonaccorsos coming around the sides of the bunker with their rifles ready. I felt the Reapers' fingers tightening on their triggers.



“Steady,” I murmured. “Let them all think it's safe to come out.”



The Bonaccorsos kept coming until it looked like they numbered thirty in all.



“Steady,” I said again. “Let them get confused. Let them cluster in.”



Sure enough, the Bonaccorsos stopped looking into the darkness around them and started looking at each other, speculating out loud about where we were. I saw one of them glance in our direction and start pointing, alerting the others. They raised their guns.



“Now,” I said, squeezing the trigger on the M60. Around me, the other Reapers opened fire. Bullets rained down on the crowd of enforcers. The ones in front dropped in their tracks while the rest scattered, ducking for cover or firing back wildly.



I kept the Pig aimed squarely at the center of the group. “Work the flanks!” Boomer shouted to the others above the gunfire. “Keep driving them back to the middle!”



About a dozen of the gangsters made it to the outer walls of the bunker. The thick concrete protected them, but most of them were too scared to break cover and shoot back. The few who did revealed their positions and got another barrage.



The rest of the Bonaccorsos died in the dirt as the 7.62 millimeter rounds blasted off their limbs.



Giovanni thought he knew about war, but tonight he'd learn what it really looked like.



I paused to check my phone again as the other Reapers kept firing. Still no text.



Come on, Nic. Get out of there.





Chapter Thirty-Five



Lauren



Gunshots were thundering outside and I could hear people screaming.



“Sounds like World War Three out there,” Giovanni said mildly, as though he were commenting on the weather. “At this rate, your Reapers should all be shot to pieces in the next two or three minutes. Marie, I hope it won't affect your concentration?”



Marie shook her head, raising the blade.



I saw the knife coming toward my belly and shrieked. I felt my insides melting with fright as I pictured the blade going into my body and stabbing the child inside of me, over and over again. I felt Giovanni's hot breath on my neck and his crotch stiffening against my buttocks.



Oh my God. He's going to stand here and hold me while this bitch cuts me open and kills my baby and it's making him hard, this fucking monster. I'm going to die feeling his dick pressing against me while Nic watches. Oh fuck, I'm going to be sick...



I felt a hot flush and opened my mouth, vomiting all over Marie.



Marie pressed her lips together and whimpered. She put the knife down on the table and picked up a napkin, wiping off her face. Giovanni cursed in Italian and for one strange moment, it almost seemed like he was about to let go of my arms in disgust. Instead he held me farther away from him.



At least I don't have to feel him up against me anymore.



“Now I'll have to get this suit cleaned,” Giovanni said.



Marie slammed the soiled napkins down on the table and picked up the knife again, speaking in a thick accent. “Better to throw it away. Blood stains don't wash out.”



“Wait,” Nic said. I turned to look at him, desperately hoping he still had a way out of this. His eyes were full of fear but he was clearly trying to hide it.



“No more waiting!” Marie yelled, the blade inches away from my stomach. “Now! Now!”



“I just have one question for Giovanni,” said Nic. “It'll just take a second. Believe me, it's one he'll want to hear.”



Giovanni looked amused. “You still think you can talk your way out of this, you arrogant boy? Very well. Ask your question.”



“Okay,” Nic answered. “My question is this. Do you let your guys smoke in this bunker?”



Giovanni blinked with surprise, then threw back his head and laughed. “That's your question? Why? Are you offended by the smell? Are you worried the second-hand smoke will be harmful to your baby before we kill it?”



I stared at Nic, wide-eyed. Come on, I thought. Whatever you're trying to do, just do it and get us out of here before they cut me, please.



“No, actually,” Nic said. “But you should be pretty worried about one of your slimeballs lighting up a cigarette and setting the whole place on fire, what with the gas leak and all.”



Giovanni stopped laughing and peered at Nic. “Now you're just making up silly lies because you're desperate. If there were a gas leak you'd have said so by now, instead of waiting until the last minute.”



“Maybe,” Nic agreed. “Or maybe I just had to stall you long enough to give the other Reapers a chance to fuck up the gas line you've got outside that leads into this bunker.”



Marie stood holding the knife and gnashing her teeth with rage. Giovanni continued to search Nic's eyes for the truth. “You're bluffing,” Giovanni insisted. “You're a stupid child who thinks he can trick me by telling me fairy tales. It won't work.”



“I gotta admit,” Nic continued, “when Bard texted me to say he was rigging a gas leak outside, it threw me off a little. Why would you even have a gas line piped into this place when you already had a generator? But when I found this room and saw the stove in the corner, it made sense. Because it's not enough for you just to have a secure fucking bunker, is it, Big G? No. You would need to make sure it had a working gas stove and oven for you to cook your fucking bowls of pasta and sauce, you fat fucking hog.”



Giovanni's face was starting to turn red. For a strange moment, it reminded me of Jared.



“No more games!” Marie screamed. “No more tricks! I cut her now!”



“No game,” Nic said. “No trick. If you don't believe me, you can ask the short guy with the big suspenders out there. I handed my phone over to him. The text from Bard is there. You can see for yourselves.”



“Shut up,” Giovanni hissed. A vein was pulsing at his temple and I knew Nic had rattled him.



“Unless, of course, that guy with the suspenders was one of Philly or Bam-Bam's guys,” Nic added. “In which case, he's probably already been shot to shit by the army of Reapers we've got out there in the hills. All while your stupid fucking hideout fills with gas one square inch at a time, just waiting to blow.”



I inhaled and smelled the thin odor hanging in the air. I was sure it hadn't been there before. Am I imagining it? Or is Nic telling the truth?



“Shut up!” Giovanni roared, his collar damp with sweat. He was breathing rapidly, and his nose was twitching.



“Take a deep breath, Giovanni,” Nic said. “You can smell it, can't you? It's the smell of everything you've built falling apart around you. If you stay, you'll die. The only thing left for you to do is run. Go on. Smell it for yourself. Then tell me I'm lying.”



Giovanni howled with rage and tossed me aside, lunging at Nic. Rocco let go of Nic to get out of Giovanni's path and Nic was on his feet with lightning speed, grabbing the metal chair. He pivoted to let Giovanni crash into Rocco, then raised the chair and brought it down on Rocco's head. Rocco hit the ground, unconscious.



As Nic grappled with Giovanni, Marie stabbed at me with the knife, screeching. I darted back to avoid the blade and grabbed the heavy cooking pot from the top of the stove, swinging it around and slamming it into Marie's face. It hit with a hollow sound like a gong and Marie fell to the floor, dropping the knife. She tried weakly to pull herself up and then slid back down, passing out.