Page 89

I looked up as Slash hit one guy hard, bringing him down. Unfortunately, two others got him from behind and wrestled him to the ground hard, hitting him.

Time to act.

I pulled out the gun, made sure the safety was off and ran out from behind the shadow of the tree with a determined stride.

“Hey, jerkwads!” I yelled.

The guys looked up and stepped back from Slash when they saw I had a gun pointed at them.

“Move away.” I waved the gun to the side in case they didn’t understand. They hesitated, then the sound of sirens wailed and they abruptly took off running, two of them hooking an arm under the armpits of their unconscious buddy and dragging him along.

The second they were out of sight, I ran to Slash, skidding to my knees on the grass beside him. “Slash, are you okay?”

He gently pushed the gun away from his chest and took it from me, struggling to a sitting position. “Good timing.” His bottom lip was split and bleeding, his left jaw bruised. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t look fine.”

“You called the police?”

“No.” I pulled my phone out of my pocket and turned off the siren. “I pulled up a European siren on my phone and put it on a timer. I didn’t know the Italian version of 9-1-1 and even if I did, I had no way of explaining what was happening or where I was. So, I improvised.”

He came to his knees, then winced. “A siren on a cell phone. Clever thinking,cara.”

“More desperate than clever. I’ll be honest, Slash, I was kind of afraid I’d shoot you by accident if they forced me into it. You know my aim isn’t great when I’m nervous. Are you bleeding? Should I call an ambulance?”

“No.” He touched my arm. “They weren’t trying to kill me. They only wanted a souvenir.” He rubbed his scalp.

“A souvenir?” It took me a minute to get there. “Wait. They took some of your hair?” I let out an angry hiss. “For DNA?”

“Apparently Lazo has reached the desperation stage.”

“They sent five guys to take you down?”

“Fivewell-trainedguys. What happened back at the house? Is Nonna okay?”

“Nonna is fine. Slash, you should know she’s a complete Italian badass. If we ever get into a fight again, I want her on my side. Two guys strolled into the house from the back door, looking for you. She clocked one guy with her oxygen tank when he was about to shoot me. Took him out completely. I bashed the other guy with an iron skillet off the stove. One small downside about the skillet thing—our lunch was still inside.”

He looked at me as if he weren’t comprehending what I was saying. “You and Nonna took out two guys?”

“Yes,” I said a bit impatiently. “Principessa attacked one of them. Now I owe that stupid cat for saving me.”

Slash looked at me in disbelief. “The cat?”

“Yes.” I threw up my hands. “The cat.Don’t start with me on the cat again.”

He blinked as if making sure he was actually lucid, then stood up. He touched his ribs and flinched. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine. You’re the one who’s banged up. Let’s go home. There are, like, twenty neighbors crammed into Nonna’s house, helping her out and hopefully the police are on the way. I left a gun for her, just in case.”

“You left Nonna with a gun?”

“Are you going to repeat everything I say and put it into a question?” It wasn’t like we had a lot of time here. The bad guys were getting away.

“I might. How did you find me?”

“Nonna said you went to the market. The car was in the driveway, so I knew you went on foot. I didn’t know what was happening to you, so I ran all the way here to find you. I heard some yelling, so I came to investigate and that’s when I saw you.”

“You came to my rescue all by yourself?”