He nodded. “I believe so and we’re heading to God knows.”
I tapped my wire to speak to Wes. “Wes are you there? Can you see what’s up ahead?”
I narrowed my eyes when there was no answer.
Giovanni widened his.
I looked at the wire clipped to my collar and checked the connection. It seemed fine.
“Wes, come in Wes. Come in.”
“EMP. They’ve sent some kind of electromagnetic pulse to fry the connection.” Giovanni growled. “I use something similar when I suspect undercover cops and feds at the Marchesi.”
“Fuck.”
“Yes, we are fucked. What the hell are we supposed to do now?”
My God, we were fucked.
I closed my eyes and thought. This required raw skill. It required raw balls to the wall skill and it meant I had to focus above the fucking rim. It meant I had to push Jia out of my mind and get the damn job done.
Giovanni rested a heavy hand on my shoulder and my eyes snapped open.
He moved his hand away but continued to stare at me.
“All things aside … if none of this shit had happened, I would have chosen you for her. It means nothing for me to say that to you now, and I still would have killed you because that’s who I am, but if none of this had happened and I was thinking straight things would have turned out different. This was what I feared and when it comes to my daughter I can’t think straight.” He pulled in a haggard breath. “When my wife was killed Jia was seconds away from death too, that stayed in my mind. It stayed there and I never forgot that a few seconds could have taken her from me. It was what I had in the forefront of my mind when shit hit the fucking fan with the Ra. It’s why I treated you the way I did.”
All I could do was stare at him. I didn’t know what he expected me to say to any of that. I understood it, but I wasn’t about to brush all that happened under the rug.
“What’s the point of telling me this now?”
“It’s not an apology Xander. I’m not saying sorry because if I had another chance I would do the same thing. All over again. What it is, is an explanation. And it’s to let you know that Jia needs you. You must have been damn good at whatever it is you do for the Ra to get you to steal from me. Maybe you need to be that person now.”
I agreed wholeheartedly with that.
Fuck… I absolutely had to be that person.
“Yeah,” I answered and I had a really bad idea. “I need you to cover me. I need you to be you too.”
“Well Ace, I’m gonna need something a little better than this.” He held up the knife.
I handed him a Berretta and he smiled.
“Better?” I asked.
“Much.” He positioned it.
“Let’s go.”
We started walking again and that was when I saw a mist ahead. Instinct made me stop. I’d seen that before on one of my missions in the Middle East.
It was absolute confirmation that they could fucking see us, because since when did the inside corridor that separated meeting rooms mist up like we were in the middle of the forest on a dark night?
“Back this way,” I shouted. “It’s poison. We have to go up.”
As in up on the next level up.
Giovanni was on the move. I was surprised how fast he could run.
Those motherfuckers really knew how to drop shit.
Fuck.
We ran back the way we came looking for a way up .
There was nowhere. The only other way was to keep going until we got to the stair well and that was a big no. There was no elevator nearby either.
And fucking hell the damn mist of shit was starting to pour out now like someone turned it up. Going in one of the rooms we passed wasn’t even an option. That was perhaps what they wanted us to do, then get marooned inside unable to do anything about it then die like vermin or the pests they thought we were.
Fucking bastards.
Fuck them.
Giovanni stood back and started shooting at the ceiling. When it gave, I started shooting up too in the same spot. The only way was up.
Up.
A small crack formed and Giovanni stepped back lacing his fingers together so I could step on to his hands.
“You’re lighter, move quickly,” he bellowed.
I didn’t argue. I was lighter than him and more agile. I moved, hoisting myself up to the ceiling by stepping on to his hands. I tore away at the plaster in the ceiling , coming in contact with all the wooden beams. Latching on to one I grabbed on to it and pulled myself up, then rebounded to lower down and reach for him.
The mist was just nearing him now. a few seconds and it would surround him.
He looked to it as if contemplating to stay. Then I realized he actually was.
“Go, get her and get out of here,” he cried looking back to me.
“Giovanni, don’t you fucking tell me shit like that. Get here now,” I balked talking to him like we were out on the battlefield and he was in my command.
When the mist started surrounding his legs that was when the bastard decided to reach up.
I was still weak from his torture but I homed in on all my strength and pulled him up. Once he got to a height he grabbed on to the wooden beam too and lifted himself the rest of the way.
We both moved away from the mist as it started rising and ran to a safer distance away from it. The floor we were on was similar to the one we’d just come from but had wider corridors.
I glanced across at Giovanni and noted the stern expression on his face.
He was serious back there. He got me first and would have stayed there and died. He may have been one evil bastard but when it came to Jia no one had to guess that the man would do anything for his daughter.
Anything, anything at all.
“Xander,” Giovanni called out when we turned the next corner. He grabbed my arm, pulling me to a stop.
“What? We have to keep moving,” I urged.
The wildness in his eyes got to me. “If I don’t make it out of here, and you get to her, you take care of her. Just make sure she’s safe. That’s all I’m asking. You don’t owe me anything, but you love her so I’m asking to just make sure she’s safe.” His eyes pleaded with mine. It felt like and extension of his previous talk. But with more heart since he nearly did just die.
I leaned in close and wrenched my arm free of his grasp.
“You know I will,” I told him.
“Thank you.”
I nearly told him he didn’t have to thank me but I let it go. I humored him because I knew what it meant to him to have my word. It was just like when I started working for him. He’d told me Jia was the most important thing to him and if anything happened I was to protect her.
We continued out to the atrium an there we were greeted by the company we were expecting.
At a glance I counted about fifty men all armed and ready to end us.
Yes, it had been quiet.
Now it was time to make noise.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Xander
Bullets started flying.
They didn’t give us any warning.
Why the fuck would they?
I pulled my two Berettas and started firing forward.
Just like I asked Giovanni had my back.
As the first bullet came our way he slipped behind me and we were back to back, shooting at the men that surrounded us as if we planned it that way.