Fearless: Mob Boss Book Two (Volume 2) (17 page)

43

The house was big but unremarkable, a stucco box with large windows that looked out over the strip of concrete called the Strand. Across the pavement, a lifeguard station jutted out of the sand, illuminated by a spotlight. Beyond it, she could hear the ocean rushing the beach in the darkness.

“Let’s go upstairs,” Sara said softly when they’d let themselves in the back door. “We’ll get better reception up there.”

Angel had no idea how Nico had gotten the key. Like so much about him and the power he wielded, it remained a mystery. She followed Sara up the stairs to a large living area with big windows. Sara set the bag with the laptop on the floor, then reached into one of her pockets for a headset. When both were in place, she handed a headset to Angel.

“It doesn’t have a mic,” Sara said, “so they won’t be able to hear you. But at least you can listen.”

Angel knew why it had been set up that way; they didn’t need her voice in their ear. She tried not to feel stung. She was an observer, and she didn’t have anything to contribute to this kind of mission. She was grateful Nico had relented to include her at all. She attached the headset to her ear and watched while Sara walked to the window and scanned the surrounding areas.

“In place,” she said softly into the headset.

Nico’s voice came through the headset. “Copy. Watch for my signal.”

Sara pointed to the houses north of the one they were in. “Watch over there.”

Angel did, and a moment later a faint blue light flashed near a yellow house two addresses up from where she and Sara would be monitoring the operation. Angel reached into her pocket, felt the weight of the gun. David was right there, only two houses away. Nico would get him out, and if Nico didn’t, Angel would do it herself, whatever it took.

“Ten minutes,” Nico’s voice said in the headset.

“Let’s set up,” Sara said, bending to the duffel bag.

She removed the laptop and several power cords. Angel plugged them in while Sara pulled up the body cams. Then Angel could see the men, their faces still and tense. They must have had their mics off, because she could see their lips moving but couldn’t hear what they were saying. A few seconds later, Mattia and Aldo disappeared from view, followed by Marco and Elia.

Sara tapped some keys on the laptop, then lined up six mini screens side by side. Angel watched as each pair of men moved into some kind of prearranged position. Her heart was hammering in her chest, her breath coming too fast, too shallow. She stood and walked to the window, wrapping her arms around her body, trying to keep from shaking.

She’d been so focused on David, that she’d forgotten something else; Nico would be in there, too. The two people who mattered most to her in the world at risk in the same situation. If Nico saved David, it probably meant they had both made it out alive. If he didn’t, they could be lost to her forever. She almost doubled over from the fear and pain conjured by the thought.

“You don’t have to watch,” Sara said quietly behind her. “No one would blame you. You can stay right there. I’ll keep you posted.”

It was tempting, but that was the coward’s way. David was in there, had lost two of his fingers and suffered god knew what else. And Nico was risking his life for her brother. For her. She would watch, would go to David the minute he was clear of the building. Would hold Nico close while she still could.

“It’s okay,” she said, returning to the carpet next to Sara. “I’m good.”

“You sure?”

Angel nodded.

Sara reached out and squeezed her hand. “It will be okay.”

“Two minutes,” Nico’s voice said over in her ear.

She and Sara turned their attention to the screen in front of them.

44

Nico stood next to Luca, both of them with their backs against the side of the house as they prepared to go in through the back. Somewhere at the front of the building, Marco and Elia were preparing to break in through the front door. Aldo and Mattia would climb in through the second floor balcony. Beach houses didn’t have basements, and most of the attics in Southern California were unusable. Nico was betting that David was in one of the rooms on the second floor.

Normally Nico would be leading the charge from the front where it was most dangerous. But he’d made a promise to Angel that he would get her brother out alive, and he intended to see it done.

Personally.

But he would kill also kill Dante. That was personal, too, and he’d instructed the other men to do whatever they had to do to keep Dante alive until he could get there. They could shoot him to within an inch of his life for all Nico cared, but he would deliver the kill shot, and he would wait with him until the fucker’s heart stopped beating. It was no less than the bastard deserved for what he’d done to Angel and her brother, and it was the only way Nico could be sure she would never have to worry about Dante again.

He checked his watch, then spoke into his headset. “Two minutes.”

“Copy.” Marco’s voice came first. The others followed.

Nico took a deep breath, cleared his mind of everything, even Angel. He couldn’t let himself think about her now. Not if he wanted to help her. She was the one thing that could undo him.

He watched the second hand tick on his watch. When it hit twelve for the second time, he spoke into the headset.

“Go time.”

Luca bent his head to the lock on the door of the garage and went to work with a pick. It was open in less than twenty seconds. He waved Nico in.

The garage held a red Corvette and a black Escalade. A small set of stairs led to the house. Nico moved toward them with Luca on his heels. Sometimes these kinds of missions were grab and go; bust down doors, go in shooting, make a lot of noise to disorient everyone inside.

This was different. This was about getting a hostage out alive. And not just any hostage; the brother of the woman he loved. It pissed him off to be careful when he wanted to tear Dante’s safe house apart, scare the living shit out of him, pull him and everyone in the house out of bed, kill them all while they were just awake enough to know he was the one pulling the trigger. But he would do it for her.

Angel…

He shook her name from his head and opened the door to the house.

45

Nico must have turned his mic back on, because she heard him tell the men it was time to go. She watched the screen that was projecting his body cam.

A darkened garage. Two cars in the shadows. A staircase leading to the house.

Then they were in, a long hallway stretched out in front of them. It was eerie watching them move down the unlit hall, their even breathing the only sound coming through the headsets. She couldn’t tell if they were at the front of the house or the back, and she watched as they entered a massive gourmet kitchen, cleared it, then moved past it.

They had entered another hallway with several closed doors when Marco and Elia came into view from the opposite direction. She watched as they seemed to return hand signals that Nico must be making behind his own body cam. A few seconds later, Nico moved past them, and Angel caught a glimpse of Mattia standing back from one of the doors in a position that made it clear he intended to kick down the door. He didn’t though—not then anyway—and she watched as Nico headed for a set of stairs.

46

Nico turned to Luca, gesturing up the stairs. Marco And Elia had the downstairs doors covered, but unless they were forced to act, they would wait to go in until Nico gave them word that he had David. If everything was going according to plan, Aldo and Mattia were already on the second floor balcony, maybe even inside one of the upstairs bedrooms. They wouldn’t speak into the headsets now unless they had to, just in case they were overheard.

He and Luca reached the top of the stairs and started down a wide main hallway. He was glad Luca didn’t try to go first. As Underboss, it was protocol for Luca to protect him, but he had to know that Nico wouldn’t have any of it. Not this time.

He started with the first closed door, quietly testing the knob to see if it was locked. It wasn’t, and he continued to the next one without opening the door. He didn’t think the second door would be David’s prison either; if their recon was correct, it was the room attached to the balcony. He couldn’t see Dante locking David up, then giving him an ocean view and a way to escape.

He tried it anyway, careful not to make any noise, and was unsurprised when the knob turned easily. He left the door closed and moved farther down the hall.

They passed a bathroom and came to another closed door. Also unlocked. He felt the first twinge of doubt.

What if they were wrong? What if David wasn’t here at all?

He pushed the thought away. David was here. He could feel it.

There was one more door at the back of the house. He stood to the side, placed his hand on the knob, and turned.

Locked.

Nico looked at Luca and gestured from himself to the door, then pointed Luca to the first unlocked door. Luca would clear that room, Aldo and Mattia would take the second room on his command, entering through the balcony, and Nico would order one of them to the third room as soon as he could use his headset.

He stood back from the door and spoke into the mic.

“On my count; three, two, one…”

47

Angel’s stomach tightened, her chest constricting as Nico’s voice sounded in her ear. She glanced at Sara, staring at the screen with all the fear and intensity Angel felt, and wondered if Sara was as worried about Luca as Angel was about Nico.

She turned back to the computer as Nico counted down, and then the screen was a blur of movement as all hell broke loose, her headset filled with crashing and shouting.

* * *

Nico kicked in the door and simultaneously spoke into the headset. “One of you clear that third upstairs room.”

He burst into a small bedroom with two boarded up windows, a mattress, and an attached bath. It took his eyes a moment to adjust to the room, but as soon as they did, he spotted a figure hunched in the corner.

“Show me your hands!” he shouted.

He couldn’t afford to assume it was David, and he was relieved when the figure lifted his arms into the air.

“Don’t shoot!”

Nico looked around, checking the attached bathroom to make sure it was clear before hurrying to David. The house had erupted into noise around them. Somewhere on the first floor, he heard the muffled sound of one of the silenced guns being fired. He was betting the shot came from Elia or Marco. Dante was too much of a narcissist to use silencers.

“I’m Nico Vitale,” he said as he reached David. “I’m going to get you out of here.” He helped David to his feet, surprised by how light he was. “Come with me and do as I say.”

David wobbled a little on his feet, and Nico put David’s arm around his neck and headed for the door. He tried not to think about the blood-soaked bandage on David’s left hand. Nico had hoped Dante had been bluffing.

“Where’s my sister?” David croaked as they headed for the door.

“She’s safe,” Nico said. “We have to focus on getting out of here.”

He pushed David against the wall by the door, listening as glass shattered from one of the other rooms on the floor. He checked the hall to make sure it was clear, then grabbed David’s arm and moved out.

* * *

Angel almost wept when David came into view. And then his voice was audible through Nico’s headset. He was alive, well enough to speak, and only a few houses down. She watched as Nico helped him to the door. The hall came into view on Nico’s body cam, and Angel could hear other sounds coming from elsewhere in the house; glass shattering, a series of muffled pops, shouting.

Then Nico and David were moving out into the hallway.

* * *

Nico wished like hell there was another exit at the back of the hall, but the only way to get David out of the house was to move past the three rooms currently under assault. He shoved David to his other side, trying to block Angel’s brother with his body, and moved toward the staircase with his gun drawn.

“Where’s Dante?” He asked David as they hurried down the hall.

“I… I don’t know,” David said.

Nico slowed as they approached the third door. Grunting sounds came from inside the room, and when Nico looked, he saw Aldo pummeling a man he didn’t recognize with the butt of his weapon.

He continued down the hall, slowing when they neared the second door. Gunfire exploded through the house. Nico looked at David and was momentarily torn. He needed to keep his men safe, but getting David out was their number one priority. He dared a look in the room as he hustled David past it and was relieved to see that Mattia had disarmed the man inside. They were going at it hand to hand. Nothing Nico could do to help without leaving David’s side. And that he would not do.

He continued to the staircase.

* * *

Angel held her breath as Nico looked into each of the rooms. She couldn’t see the faces of the men fighting, couldn’t tell who was winning, but Nico kept his arm around David’s waist as he eased David down the hall. Just like he promised.

She wondered how many men were in the house. Were Nico and Luca and the others outmatched? The gun was heavy in her jacket pocket.

* * *

Luca was inside the first room, unleashing his rage on Vincent.

The traitor.

Vincent was bigger than Luca, but Luca was strong and fast. They circled each other, Vincent with a wicked looking knife pointed at Luca.

Luca’s hands were empty, and Nico itched to help by unleashing a few rounds on the bastard who had betrayed them. He moved past the room instead, hustling David down the stairs as a voice shouted in his headset.

“Elia is down,” Marco said. “I repeat, Elia is down. And Santoro is getting away through the back door.”

“Go get him,” Nico shouted as he reached the first floor.

“Can’t, boss,” Marco huffed, out of breath. A split second later, Nico heard a wet thwack. “Still got two men down here, and I’m not leaving Elia.”

He heard the sound of wood splintering and continued into the first floor hall, then hurried for the back door with David still at his side.

* * *

Angel dug her fingernails into her palm as Marco’s voice came through the headset. What did down mean? Dead? Or just injured?

She watched Nico head down the hall and burst through a door. A narrow alley came into view, lined with houses. For a second everything seemed to spin, and she couldn’t make sense of anything broadcast via the body cam as Nico looked right, then left.

And then, about two houses away in the alley, she saw the figure running.

Dante.

* * *

“Freeze, motherfucker,” Nico said, shoving David against the garage door and pointing his weapon at the retreating figure.

Dante glanced back, stumbled a little, raised his weapon. Nico lined him up in his sights and was about to fire when he felt the hit to his shoulder from behind. It was like a ball of fire tunneling through skin, tendon, muscle. It went quickly numb, and Nico steadied his arm, determined to finish the job he’d come to do.

He squeezed off one shot just as another arrow of fire shot into his back. And this time he went down, the sky tilting above him as he hit the pavement.

* * *

Angel stood, her heart squeezing as Nico fell. He turned his head, and she got a picture of Dante crawling toward him. He turned his head the other way, and she saw David, huddled against the house.

But that wasn’t all. Another man was there, too. And he was coming toward Nico with his gun drawn.

She was out the door before she was even aware of making the decision.

“Angel!” Sara’s voice sounded behind her as she hurried down the stairs of the empty house. “Angel, don’t!”

* * *

Nico reached for his gun. It was close. So close. He could see Dante inching toward him. He didn’t know how serious his own injuries were, but whatever happened, Dante wasn’t leaving this alley alive.

He dared a glance in the other direction and saw a big man he didn’t recognize coming toward him, one of Locke’s weapons, complete with silencer, in his hands. Nico wondered where he’d gotten it, if any of his men were beyond saving.

But that wasn’t his problem now. Kill Dante. Make sure David made it back to Angel.

Those were his tasks.

He stretched a little farther, his fingers brushing against his gun laying in the shadow of the house. Dante was looking at him with single-minded determination, raising his weapon just as Nico closed his fingers around his own. He got the gun into position in his hand before lifting it into the air, then aimed and fired in almost the same motion.

A flash of light burst from Dante’s gun at the same time. Nico felt the hit to his chest as he watched the hole open up in Dante’s forehead. He collapsed onto the pavement like a wet rag.

* * *

Angel turned the corner of the alley just as Dante fired. She saw the bullet hit Nico, saw his body jerk against the pavement.

“No!” Was that her voice? She couldn’t be sure.

And then she was rushing toward him, the gun somehow in her hand, pointed at the one remaining man who stood between her and Nico.

She was almost there when he spun to face her. She hardly had time to aim before she fired, sloppy and not at all like Nico had showed her. Time seemed to slow down as the man’s bullet made its way toward her body, her finger squeezing the trigger of the gun in her hand over and over again. She was barely aware of the man’s own weapon firing, barely aware of the bullet entering her stomach as the man fell to the ground. Then she was on the ground, Nico only inches away, his face turned toward hers, eyes closed.

“Ange!” She looked up into David’s face. “Ange… Oh, my god… You’ve been shot.”

“I’m fine.” She tried to smile. “You’ll be fine, too.”

He lifted her head into his lap and started screaming. “Help! Help me!”

Angel turned her head, watched as Nico’s eyes flickered open. He moved his hand, reached for her. She felt his fingers close around hers as the world went black.