I’ve never seen my brother happier.
I thought about Massimo’s words as we made our way back to the car.
Part of me was elated…
…but part of me was confused.
Dario was still frightening to me in many ways.
He was also a complete enigma.
He seemed like he was angry with me half the time…
…and the other half, he seemed like he was obsessed.
I started thinking about the second half…
And what he had done to me that morning…
When Massimo put a hand on my back and pushed me gently through the street.
“Go faster,” he whispered.
“What?” I asked as I came out of my daydream.
I was about to ask him why when I noticed that he and Valentino were looking around furtively.
“What’s going on?” I whispered.
“Something’s not right,” Massimo muttered as he looked around.
The street was busy with pedestrians on the sidewalks – but something seemed wrong.
It was like a picture where one thing was out of place. You could sense something was off, but you couldn’t quite put your finger on it.
“Get to the car and open the back door,” Massimo ordered Valentino.
Valentino took off at a sprint –
Which may have been what triggered our enemies to finally reveal themselves –
Like they were afraid they’d been found out.
Two men across the street darted out into traffic, weapons drawn.
“DOWN!” Massimo shouted as he pushed me behind a parked car and drew his own gun from the back of his pants.
The two men shot at us from the street.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
Glass shattered –
Cars screeched to a halt –
People screamed and scattered all around us –
And Massimo returned fire.
BANG BANG BANG!
“STAY DOWN!” Valentino shouted as he fired his own gun over our heads.
I looked to my right and saw a third man collapse. A pistol fell from his hand to the sidewalk.
Massimo fired another shot to make sure the stranger was dead, then turned back to the two gunmen in the street.
He shot one man –
And the other ducked down behind a car.
Massimo pulled me to my feet and shouted, “RUN!”
He stayed between me and the gunman the entire way, acting as a shield to keep me safe.
Fifty feet up ahead, Valentino was shooting at someone else I couldn’t see. He continued to fire as he flung open the back door of the Mercedes and circled around to the driver’s side.
There were gunshots everywhere –
Glass storefronts shattered –
And suddenly we were at the car.
“GET IN, GET IN!” Massimo bellowed.
I scrambled into the back seat.
Massimo shot a final round before diving in behind me and slamming the door shut.
Valentino was already in the driver’s seat and starting the engine.
The window next to me exploded with a spider-web of cracks, and there was a metallic ping ping ping! as bullets hit the car door.
I screamed – then realized that nothing was getting through.
The car was bulletproof.
“GET US OUT OF HERE!” Massimo yelled.
Valentino swerved around stopped cars and took a hard left at top speed.
“Are you alright?!” Massimo asked me frantically.
“Yes!” I said. I was terrified, but I didn’t feel pain anywhere.
“Val?” Massimo asked.
“I’m good – you alright?”
“I got nicked,” Massimo said with a grimace.
Only then did I see the blood on his shirt beneath his jacket.
“Oh my god!” I cried out.
“It’s fine, it’s not bad,” he told me.
“How do you know?!”
He gave a wry smile. “I’ve been shot before. This is nothing.”
“Should I go to the hospital?” Valentino asked.
“Fuck no – just get us out of the city,” Massimo said as he pulled out a phone. “I’ll let Niccolo know what’s going on. He’ll tell us what to do.”
