Page 136

“Find cover. Take those motherfuckers out.”

My heart beats at a million miles a minute as I listen to the chaos from the safety of our table. But that’s not going to be the case for long.

I glance at Jerome again, seeing more blood draining from his face in favour of flooding the carpet.

“Fuck.”

Pushing forward, I peek around the table and my eyes widen at the carnage.

The far end of the building has completely collapsed, the room is destroyed, the windows all shattered and there are… I gag when I find a pair of legs sticking out from beneath a chair.

Oh fuck.

“Jerome, we need to get out of here.”

Footsteps thunder somewhere on the other side of the table, followed by close-range shots, and I panic, pulling my gun from its holster.

I raise it, but when the person belonging to the footsteps emerges behind the table, I breathe a sigh of relief when I discover it’s just Jodie.

“What the fuck is going on?” I hiss, although I’m not really expecting an answer I don’t already know.

It’s the Italians.

Pieces of my missing puzzle begin to slot into place.

They thought they’d tricked them.

They thought they’d taken them out elsewhere and that we were safe. How fucking wrong, and how fucking stupid were they?

“Emmie and Stella are fine, they’re over there. They’re gonna head out the side door. They told me to tell you that they’ll meet us at your house.”

“What about the boys?”

Worry darkens Jodie’s eyes before she swallows it down and drags up some strength I really need to fucking latch onto right now.

“This is what they’re trained for, Calli. They’ve got this.”

“And if they don’t?”

“There’s a door over there,” she says, jerking her chin toward the table that’s hiding our sight of it.

We’re trapped in a corner, which might be safe right now, but we’re screwed if the guys don’t manage to get this under control. We’re sitting ducks.

“What about Jerome?”

“Can you walk?” Jodie asks him.

“I don’t know,” he says weakly.

“Let’s just go with no,” I say pessimistically.

A ripple of fear goes between us as the shouts and gunfire get louder.

“We need to do something,” Jodie says.

The three of us jump a freaking mile when something suspiciously close to us explodes.

My hands tremble and sweat trickles down my spine as I try to get my head straight.