Page 36 of Shattered King

Luca

I scream into the parking garage and barely miss crashing into a truck as I grab a spot and jump out of my car. My gun’s tucked in my pants, and I’m running toward the elevator that leads to the hospital lobby. I try calling Leo’s phone, but he doesn’t pick up.

“Luca!” Stefano’s voice from my left echoes off the concrete. He’s running toward me. Goddamn, that big bastard is fast. I’m grateful he got here so quickly. “What the hell’s going on?”

“I think Corrado’s making a move on Raf. Leo called and said some shady doctors were asking around about him.”

Stefano looks grim. “What’s he doing now?”

“I told him to get out of there, but he’s not answering his phone.” I try it two more times as we ride the elevator and again when we reach the lobby. The fourth time, it goes straight to voicemail. “ Fuck! ”

“I’m calling Davide.” Stefano lifts his phone to his ear. “Brother, listen to me. Track Leo’s phone right now.” He pulls me aside and puts the phone on speaker. We’re alone in a little alcove. It’s dark outside, and there aren’t many people in the building this late.

“All right, looking into it,” Davide says, and I hear the clatter of him typing. “Give me a second. Dialing in… looks like the GPS on his phone is still active… and there he is.”

“Well? The fuck, man?”

“He’s still in the building.” More typing and a frustrated grunt. “But the signal’s weak.”

“What’s that mean?” I ask, frustration burning in my guts. If Corrado gets to Raf, everything’s finished. Adriano will cut a deal and I’ll be fucked. We’ll have to leave the city if we want any safety at all, but how can I turn my back on the Famiglia like that?

“Seems like his cell service is bad or he’s underground or something.”

I exchange a look with Stefano. “Basement level?” I ask.

He shakes his head. “Can’t be that.”

“Basement of that hospital is mostly surgical suites and a morgue, so let’s hope he’s not down there,” Davide adds helpfully.

It hits me then. I curse as I turn back to the elevators. “Parking garage.”

We run, and this time, we ride up to the top of the structure. When the doors open, we step out together, guns drawn and ready. But it’s quiet. There’s not even an attendant in the little glass booth.

“Plan’s simple,” I say quietly as we head into the maze-like building. There aren’t many cars, but still, a lot of the spaces are taken up. A hospital of this size has a lot of employees, even late at night. “We start up here at the top and work our way down.”

“Then what?” Stefano asks, scanning around as we go. “We’re fucking exposed.”

“Hopefully, we get the drop on them.”

“That’s a lot of hope.”

“I know, but we don’t have any better options. Davide can’t pinpoint exactly where Leo’s hiding, but he’s definitely in here. And if he’s here, I’ll bet anything those fake doctor fucks are hunting for him.”

Stefano nods grimly and moves faster. “We’d better find him first then.”

We set off together, walking slightly staggered and spread out.

He takes the left and I take the right. When there are cars, we use them as cover, moving quick and low and quiet.

There’s no conversation. Stefano knows his business.

My heart’s racing, and a thousand worries tear into my mind, but I have to keep my head straight.

One wrong move and we’ll both be dead, and I owe it to Stefano and Leo to focus on the mission.

I can’t let my personal attachment to this shit get in the way of keeping my people safe.

They’ve already done too damn much, and I’m going to ask more of them in the near future.

There’s a noise a level down. Stefano catches my eye and signals ahead. He rushes forward, the bloodthirsty bastard. That man’s like a bloodhound for violence. I chase after, keeping steady, and we descend the ramp together.

Around the bend and onto a more heavily populated section of the parking structure. I grab Stefano’s shoulder and hold him back, listening carefully. There’s nothing, only silence, until?—

Someone yells just ahead. It’s a primal sound, no words, just fear and anger.

Then we’re sprinting. Stefano’s just a step ahead of me. We break down the next row and ahead are three men, all of them wearing scrubs with surgical masks covering their faces.

And at the far end of the row is Leo. He’s using a car for cover, gun aimed at the three bastards, ready to open up like a motherfucker.

Stefano beats him to it. The big man kneels down and starts shooting. The doctors were already in the process of scattering, and only one goes down easy. Blood sprays from his body as bullets rip into his chest and send him flying sideways.

The other two killers take cover and start returning fire.

We’re out in the open, and I’m forced sideways behind some poor asshole’s Tesla.

The fancy electric car eats up more than a few bullets.

Stefano comes up beside me, and together, we lie down, covering fire steady enough to keep the attackers pinned down behind their vehicles.

“Keep shooting,” I order him before slipping away.

“Wait,” he snarls, but I don’t give him time to argue. If someone’s taking a risk here, it’ll be me.

Leo seems to get the idea too. Either that or he’s going crazy down there with bloodlust as he fires off magazine after magazine.

The noise is deafening in the concrete parking garage, but that’s a good thing.

I use the chaos to distract our targets as I sprint out in the open, heart racing wildly, angling for the other side of the narrow road.

I keep waiting for a bullet to smash into my skull; one second here, another lights out, but I manage to reach the other side, gasping for breath.

The two men are leaning up against a truck. I go slow, walking crouched so they can’t see me easily, and I manage to make it within a couple of cars before one of them finally looks over. He shouts, ripping down his mask and turning his gun on me, but much too fucking late.

I blow his brains out. His skull splatters his friend in the face as two bullets rip through his forehead.

At this range, I can’t miss even if I tried.

I turn on the second, and he tries to dive away, but my bullets take him in the chest. He hits the ground with a dull, wet thud, splattered with gore and covered in thick, sticky blood.

“Hold!” I yell over the shooting and wave a hand in the air.

Stefano’s firing stops, but it takes Leo another few seconds to realize he’s not in danger anymore.

I rush over to the two downed men. I kick aside their guns.

One’s clearly dead, considering he’s missing most of his skull and his brains are painted all over the floor, but the other’s still sucking at air.

Red foam bubbles on his lips. I kneel on his chest, one hand jabbing a thumb into one of his open wounds.

“Where’s Corrado?” I snarl in his face.

He moans in agony. “Don’t… know…”

I twist my thumb, opening the wound even more. “Where the fuck is he?” I rip the surgical mask off, but I don’t recognize his face. He’s young though, probably in his early twenties. “Where’d your orders come from?”

His mouth works, face twisted in pain, but his breathing is erratic. I watch the fucker die, and I don’t get a thing from him.

“Holy shit!” Leo comes pounding over, staring at me with wild eyes. “Where did you come from?!”

“We got here fast as we could.” I get up off the dead killer’s body, shaking my head. “Where’s Raf?”

Leo lets out a shocked, happy laugh. “I can’t believe my fucking luck. I thought we were dead.”

“You will be if Raf doesn’t make it.”

He nods grimly and gestures for me to follow. Stefano goes through the pockets of the attackers in case they have any ID that might help figure out where Corrado’s hiding.

I follow Leo over to a little nook between a big passenger van and a massive pickup truck.

Tucked back there near the concrete wall is a rolling hospital bed, the side gates both up, and Raf lying under a few sheets, his face pale and sunken.

Beside him, a pretty young nurse is checking his vitals and holding up a couple of IV bags, her face greenish pale like she wants to puke.

“I want you guys out of here,” she says, voice shaking. “I mean right now.”

“You helped him?” I ask in surprise.

She nods, glancing at Leo. “He said they were going to kill my patient. I couldn’t just let them.”

“Thank you.” I go over and gently take the bags from her. “But next time, let the patient die.”

“Trust me, I will.”

“You have no idea how perfect you are.” Leo grabs the girl and smashes his mouth against hers. She struggles for a beat but seems to sigh into the kiss.

“Don’t call me,” she says, staring at him. She shakes her head and shoves him away. “If I never see you again, I’ll die happy.”

“Do me a favor and don’t mention what you just saw until after we’re gone, alright?”

She gestures toward the corpses. “Not sure what I’m supposed to do about this.”

“We’ll handle it. Just go back to work like nothing happened."

“You people are fucking crazy.” She walks away, shaking her head and talking to herself. “Raf needs real care!” she shouts over her shoulder before taking one look at Stefano and dashing the hell away.

“I think I’m in love,” Leo murmurs, watching her go.