I look to Johnny and then at Josey, neither one of them saying a word.
“Very well.” Luciano hops out, which triggers everyone from the other two vehicles to disperse, too.
Johnny climbs out of his side, holding his hand to help me onto the ground. He’d rather me not be here, that much is clear, but he knows damn well I’m going to see this thing through with him. We may not have started this journey together, but we’re sure as shit going to finish it side by side.
I catch sight of a familiar face—that kid from the diner, the one with the beanie, who seems entirely too young to be here. We make eye contact, but he carries on without any sign of wavering. He doesn’t seem bothered by the condition of my face, unlike the others, who flinch a little when their gaze lands on me. It makes me wonder what kind of things this kid has seen to make him so blasé.
It’s not that I want his pity—hell, I appreciate the fact that he carried on with no concern. It’s just that I hope he doesn’t lose himself to this kind of life. The darkness that will take over and consume him with no disregard for his humanity. I don’t wish that kind of thing on anyone.
One by one, we make our way over to where Luciano had told us to wait. He does some elaborate hand signals and directs a few of the armed men here and there.
It suddenly dawns on me that I’m the only female here. Not that it’s a bad thing. It just goes to show what kind of world I’ve found myself in.
Luciano takes point at one corner of a building, and Josey makes his way to the other.
“Stay behind me,” Luciano tells me and Johnny.
A silent fury bubbles up within me at the command.
Johnny tenses like he feels the same exact way.
After everything that Franklin has put Johnny through, it’s no wonder we both want to shove everyone aside and handle this situation on our own.
The one thing stopping us is wanting to actually make it out alive.
We’ve had too many close calls, and ending Franklin will be for nothing if we don’t make it through to the other side still breathing.
I hold a pistol firmly in my grasp, careful to maintain trigger control. I say a mentalthank youto my father for those random shooting range sessions we had taken when I was a child. Who would have known that they would come in handy so much in my adult life?
Luciano glances at his watch. “Any minute now,” he whispers back at us.
Like clockwork, we hear the sound of whirring somewhere above us in the sky.
My heart picks up its pace, ready for this to finally be over. In a perfect world, I’d tie Franklin to a chair and torture him until he begged for reprieve, but an ambush and a bullet to the head will do, too.
Just as long as he’s the one who dies when this is all said and done.
A screech comes from the runway as the plane touches down, the brakes locking up to slow its speed.
Luciano holds his hand up, all of us staying in place, waiting for his sign to move.
It’s strange to think that a few days ago, we barely knew this man, and now he’s leading the attack against Franklin, his own brother.
The plane continues to taxi, moving to the exact location Luciano said.
Finally, it stops completely.
I can barely make it out from my spot tucked behind him and Johnny. I strain to peer around them, but Johnny is like a shadow in front of me, moving when I do to block me from harm’s way. I’m not even sure if he realizes he’s doing it, or if it’s just a reflex reaction.
After a minute, the door to the aircraft finally opens with a whooshing sound.
A single man steps outside of the plane, walking down the small set of stairs without a care in the world. Perhaps he’s the pilot? It’s difficult to tell from my vantage point.
Luciano drops his arm, a slew of men running around us with their guns drawn.
The guy immediately throws his hands up in the air and stops in his tracks. “Don’t shoot.”
Johnny and I take off behind the crowd, rushing to catch up with Luciano and Josey.