Delgano: The Intro - Page 100

Mora.

He started for the door, but the friend named Paoli, momentarily free of Barnes and Lee, blocked his path. Spettro stood behind Paoli, gun raised, but if Spettro pulled the trigger, they were all dead.

Paoli looked him up and down. “Are you Gano, by any chance?”

“Gano?” Novi called. “The enforcer from Brazil? Hi, Gano. I’m Abraham Novikov, but you can call me Novi.”

Adrían glanced at Barnes, who nodded. Back when they first started training, he’d been against the tactic. Now that it meant getting to Sayeda, he fully embraced it.

“Especially if you’re on home turf,” Barnes added. “If someone enters your home, someone who’s never been there before, you have the environmental advantage. Now, say it: retreat and regroup.”

A shot tore through the space, clipping Paoli’s shoulder and narrowly missing Novi’s neck. Several more followed, and they scrambled, headed where they knew was safest from the rifle Trevor had set up on an automated mount.

All five met up at Trevor’s truck, and Trevor wasted no time tearing out of the villa’s lot. Lee continued to fire shots until they exceeded their range, and he and Barnes remained in the truck bed to alert them if they were being followed.

Adrían checked the tracker on the vehicle Hannah took. Then, his heart stopped.

“It’s still at the house,” he said. “Hannah never made it to the car.”

CHAPTER

TWENTY-SEVEN

Sayeda strategically placed herself between Mora and Hannah in the back of the van. The minute they stepped outside the villa, Mora showed up and shoveled them inside so fast that she didn’t get the chance to tell Hannah not to trust the witch.

Hannah held a folded towel against her midsection. Sayeda removed one of her scarves, tore off a piece, and dabbed at a cut on Hannah’s lip.

“What the fuck just happened, Aunt Mora?” Hannah asked. “Paoli and Novi came after me. Me. Then Novi said he ‘had to,’ and Paoli said something to the effect that he was just doing his job? What job?”

Mora smoothed a hand over her close-cropped hair but didn’t offer a response.

Sayeda shot her mother a look. “Are you going to tell her, or should I?

Hannah looked from her to Mora. “Tell me what?”

Mora remained silent.

Sayeda ground her teeth so hard, they skidded. “There’s a list,” she said. “You’re on it, along with another name: Aron Price. When Novi showed up at the safe house, he asked about Aron Price and then four other names, all with the last name Wolfe. I think they’re connected, I think it has to do with the list, and I think she knows.”

Hannah grimaced and pushed harder on the towel. “They all had the last name ‘Wolfe’?” Then, her eyes rounded. “As in Steven, Anne, Tyler, and Zachary Wolfe? That’s the family from Novi and Paoli’s assignment in Australia. What the hell is going on?”

“You’re on the same list,” Sayeda said.

Hannah’s eyes went even bigger. “No. No, Aunt Mora.”

The van’s back doors opened.

A man peered through the grate separating the driver’s area from the back, and Sayeda heard her mother say, “Lavigne,” seconds before she felt two sharp blows to the chest.

Hannah screamed her name and reached for her, but Mora repeated the command, and a series of bullets sent Hannah flying out through the open back doors.

CHAPTER

TWENTY-EIGHT

When Adrían noticed the body in the road, icicles created dams in his veins.

Trevor barely stopped the truck before they hopped out and sprinted over. Trevor pulled Hannah into his arms, but she screamed Sayeda’s name and pointed. Adrían followed her finger, and the icicles migrated to every last one of his blood vessels.