ASCENSION (40 page)

Giuseppe turned in her direction and mouthed, “This is it.
” He peered around the decorative pot to the open door and seeing no movement pointed, “Take up the rear. We must finish.
”

Her gaze drifted down to Nico
who thankfully
breathed despite his obvious injury
and slid up
to lean his back on the wall
. Blood slid from his hair to his trunk pooling at his waist. He was losing a lot of blood; Giuseppe was right, time to finish then get Nico medical treatment.

“
Let’s go.” Giuseppe repeated, “Or I will do this for you.”

Her hand shook slightly but then calmed. No, she started this and it was her responsibility to finish it. She
gripped the weapon tightly then said, “
Okay, I’m ready
.”
She answered with false bravado.

They zigzagged through the corridor until they reached the door. Giuseppe quickly peeked inside then whispered, “He’s there on the bed.”

Selange
nodded
and removed the safety. He
r fingers were
s
haking uncontrollably. She cursed her cowardice and forced herself to move forward
behind Giuseppe who stepped boldly in the room
.

Cocked and locked…what else did
Nico
say?

She
squint
to see an old man sitting on the bed in
expectation.
His voice found her in the
light of the crescent moon
,
“What do you want?”

She responded, “I
’m
here for
Monticelli”

A
n amused chuckle answered
, “You’ve found
me
.”

The shadowed
light
h
ighlighted the wrinkled face.
From what she could see, the man was weak, perhaps sick even and no
t an immediate
threat
. Bolder she
stepped closer.

“They have sent a beautiful woman, how fitting.” He said.

She
fou
nd the platitude
pointless
. Giuseppe watched the old man
and s
poke, “
Get it done
.”

Su
ddenly
t
he
old man
leaped from the bed and made a grab for her weapon. She pulled the trigger
.

N
othing
!

The old man was strong. He grabbed her wrist
and she remembered Nico’s warning
and
pulled the trigger once more.

An explosion from the chamber.

Monticelli fell to the bed smiling, “You are no assassin.”

Giuseppe
pushed her aside and fired twice into his body, “But I am!” Then he grabbed her arm and pulled her from the room or else she would have remained frozen there.

I shot someone!

Nico warned
her
not to panic and she had.
Monticelli was right, she
was
n’t
a killer
. She moved in a fog, following blindly in Giuseppe’
s path. He helped the injured
Nico to his feet and they scurried from the house without interception.

They cleared the property and were rushing through the everglades
,
their pace encumbered by Nico’s wobbly gait.
Giuseppe gripped the injured man tighter, half-dragging him along but at this rate they would not make it
before the
midnight
patrol
. He checked his watch, e
leven thirty. They would not make it
!

They were moving too slow and needed to go swiftly.
He could not risk
Selange
getting caught. He stopped and placed Nico down
then gathered all the weapons shoving them in the backpack.

He thrust the pack at her, “T
ake these. Get out of here,
go
.”

“
I can’t just leave you like
guys. We’re in this together
!”

Giuseppe
shook his head,
“
Nessun
argument,
andare
!”

Sh
e did not speak Italian
but understood the message he sought to relay.
“I put you all in d
anger. I can’t just de
s
ert you
out here
. Don’t ask me to
!”

His eyes blazed
angrily
. Alfonzo chose a very brave but stubborn woman. He admired her loyalty yet he and Nico were trained to evade the police. Sal required his mother and he would not let her sacrifice a chance at freedom
.
He refused to suffer
such
guilt.

He faced her down, “If you do not go I will
kill
il
mio
amico
Nico,” he bluffed.

The feline eyes faltered as she spied the man on the ground bleeding profusely. Nico
w
as hurt and it was all her fault. Her eyes watered, she did not doubt Giuseppe would sacrifice
Nico
to save her. “Okay fine. I’m going,” she rushed to kneel beside the man who
she regarded as a
surrogate
f
ather and kissed his forehead, “I’m sorry Nico.
I’m sorry.
”

A hand reached for hers and she realized
Nico’s
eyes were open
.
A
devilish grin
curved the stern
mouth.
“I love you too kid but Giuseppe’s right.
You have to go, now!
”

She rose and
put on the backpack. She took a step
forward
then stopped.
There was one more thing she needed to do.
She hugged Giuseppe, “Thank you. Take care of him.” Then she turned and sprint through the thick grass before she had a change of heart.

Giuseppe watched as she disappeared
from view then helped Nico to his feet. Nico’s grasp tightened under the younger man’s shoulder, “Threatening to kill me, that’s clever.”

Giuseppe shrugged, “What else could I do,
lei é
testarde
?”

Nico struggled forward and touched the blood beginning to stick in his hair. He
c
ould tell the head shot was probably a flesh wound, it was the
bullet wound to his
femur which worried him.
He ripped a part of his shirt and made a tourniquet
then hopped-ran in an effort to keep pace, “Come on, let’s get the fuck out of here before I bleed to death in the middle of
nowhere.”

CHAPTER THIRTY
-FOUR

A
lfonzo
listened as Vincent questioned the b
earded man leaning against
the
car outside an all-night deli
. Within
minutes they were racing along the highway in silence as their driver peered anxiously in the
rearview mirror at his unexpected passengers.

Vincent watched the road as Alfonzo stared straight ahead deep in thought.
They
exited the highway and traveled down dark rural streets going toward the everglades.

Alfonzo popped a pain pill and chewed it,
“How much further?”

The driver sped up a bit. He knew the man in the backseat was very important
and dangerous, “
In t
en minutes we’ll be at the spot where I left the car.”

Vincent noticed tension in Alfonzo, “We’ll get there.”

“We better,” Alfonzo
warn
ed.

The
y
rocketed down the quiet road after the menacing statement.

***

S
inesi’s
car
decelerated when the female
voice instructed h
e
turn right two point three kilometers onto what from his vantage point
was
a dense grassy area
filled with thick palm trees and brush. He hoped the electronic gadget hadn’t got him lost in
no-man’s land.
Women gave the worst directions in his opinion!

He cruised along the
pitch black
road straining
to see any hint of civilization and
thought he saw an animal in the shadows
near the trees.
He
touched the gun on his lap
, in case he had to shoot at a wild animal or something
. His headlights
d
rove past the spot where he believed he saw it but nothing but trees
came
i
nto view.
The long drive
must’ve
take
n
its toll on his vision, now he was seeing things.

In his rearview mirror he not
iced what appeared to be a trunk light
come on then it went off.
He
continued
ahead
a few yards
the
n cut his lights. He sat in the car a minute staring into the mirror, catching sight of a shadow in the night.

Well…what do we got going back there?

He eased out
of
the car
to in
vestigate
,
keeping
out of
sight w
hich was easy in the unlit area. He got within inches of the figure and saw it was a woman standing there looking in the direction of the thick trees. The profile was unmistakable and he smiled. Heck, he could not have any better luck.
Selange Diaz
!

***

S
elange
glanced
anxiously toward the brush.
Five minutes to spare. She’d wait as long as she could, but she’d wait. Hopefully, they’d burst from the trees and she would not have to travel alone. F
ear made her edgy as she
glanced around
for any
more
incoming vehicles.

“Don’t move!” A voice ordered at her back.

She froze.

“Turn around very…very…slow
ly
.”

She turned slowly
and came face-to-face with a
very
familiar face
glowering at her
.

“Hey there, remember me?”

“I try not to.”

“Ah, jokes. Give me the keys.”

She tossed them
in the air and he caught it
.

He tucked the
key
in his pocket,
“ Anyone
else with you?”

“Do you see anyone?”

He
grabbed her by the throat and p
ut
the
gun
to
her head, “Don’t lie to me.”

Selange’s eyes squint
under the pressure and she croaked,
“
Let go of me you piece of shit!
”

“
You’re giving me orders. It seems you’re out of your element
little lady
. You’re husband isn’t here,
to protect you,
remember?”

“I swear if you…don’t…”

He squeezed harder and her eyes
rolled in her head and
her eyes
began to tear at the restriction of
oxygen
.
His gun hand pressed against her stomach then with a sick perversion ascended toward her breasts. She gasped under the assault.

“I can see why Christopher…who you might know as Franky… took a liking to you. He probably got to taste some of this, didn’t he? ” His eyes were on her breasts, his mouth a lust filled curve of self-satisfaction.

His arrogance angered
and disgusted her. She recoiled from the cold
steel rubbing her in an intimate place
. In response her hand
clasp
ed
the
Bowie knife
secreted
at her waist
. Without hesitation she
slice
d
Sinesi’s
gun
hand
and he howled dropping it to the ground. S
he
pressed forward to cut open
his
belly
with such force he shout
expletives
. A left hook
just like Alfonzo taught her
stumbled
the agent and he spat,
“
You b
itch!” Then charged
toward her
like an enraged bull.