Stefano.
He must have followed me here. I imagined he probably had heard about Cooper Industry’s offer and wouldn’t have trusted what Sienna had told the elders. We certainly hadn’t hidden our travel plans, so it would have been easy for him to locate us. He probably had people reporting our whereabouts the whole time. How he’d gotten in, I had no idea, but money talked. Knowing he had worked with Jacob Raine in the past meant he still had people in the United States to keep him in the know.
There were ten minutes left of the fight, so I took the time to hatch a plan and shared it with Trigger.
The fight ended, and Cavendish won, which meant Trigger won, as he called it, ashit tonof money. We rode that high as we slipped through the back door and down the hallway usually reserved for the fighters.
“What I wouldn’t do for one of my blowtorches right now!” Vinni called to me with a delighted laugh. Vinni had a unique hobby and one that was well polished while he worked with the Mexican Cartel a few years back. He and Niccola joined Brick and Rail and another of their members and headed in one direction. Trigger and I headed in the opposite direction. There was only one job to do—grab Stefano. Trigger knew I was to be the one to have the pleasure of killing him. Trigger’s men were going to handle the Coppolas’ soldiers so we would have Stefano to ourselves.
We whipped around a corner, only to be met with a spray of bullets. The sound echoed off the walls and sent the paying guests, who were trying to leave, into a frenzy. We pivoted around the corner, and I took a breath as we fired some rounds down the hall. Again, more bullets flew our way. Trigger gave a hand signal for some of the men to circle around. I stayed close to Trigger as we made our way through a maze of halls. I lost track of where we were going and was glad he seemed to know where we were headed.
“Hold back,” Trigger whispered as he caught sight of something. “I’ll be right back.”
He slipped away, and a round of shots suddenly broke out. I saw a guy slip inside a room ahead of me, then with his back to me, he stepped out and started firing down the hall. I stayed close to the wall and waited until I heard the click of the empty magazine, then in the hair of a second as he reloaded, I drove a single bullet into his neck and then another into the man who appeared ahead of him. I was always taught “Reserve your bullets and aim for the main artery. No kill is pretty.”
I hurried farther down the hall as I heard more shots and a scream of panic. A door behind me opened, and a girl’s face appeared. She had bright red hair and big eyes.
“Shh.” I motioned with my finger and attempted to urge her back inside the room, but she stood her ground and pulled out a gun as she pushed my hand away.
“I’m not scared of a few bullets. Name’s Minnie.”
“Brick’s girl?”
“When he’s not being an asshole, yes.” I couldn’t help but flash her a quick grin as I started moving down the hall with her following.
“By your accent and the fact that you got that fancy suit on, I’m guessin’ you’re Trig’s friend, Elio Capri,” she said a million miles an hour behind me.
“Yes.”
“Who we hunting?”
“Coppolas.”
“Who? Oh, well, fuck, whatever. I’m game!” I glanced back and found myself entertained by her whole attitude in this generally dangerous situation.
We followed the sounds of gunshots and whisked through a room that led us to another series of hallways.
“This place is a maze,” I murmured.
“Let’s get a bird’s eye view, mafia boy.” She grinned and motioned for me to follow her up some stairs then to a skinny metal ladder where she scooted up like a little circus performer. I tried not to appreciate the view above as I followed. We ended up at a very narrow walkway that circled the whole way around the stadium.
“Look, over there.” She pointed to the far corner where Rail and Brick were cornered by two Coppola soldiers. Careful where I stepped, I hurried over and fired straight down, hitting one of them between the shoulders while Vinni took out the other. They both looked up.
“Hey, baby.” Minnie leaned over the railing and waved her gun. “You’re welcome.”
“What the hell are you doing?” he yelled and looked around. “Get down from there.”
“A thank you goes a long—”
Bang!
She flew backward, and I caught her before she fell.
“Minnie! Minnie!” Brick shouted like a wild person. I laid her down on the grate and inspected her wound.
“He just clipped my shoulder,” she grunted. “I’m fine.” She was right; it wasn’t too bad. The force of the bullet had sent her spinning backward but hadn’t done any real damage. “Go and shoot that fucker in the balls for me.”
“You sure?” I hated to leave her, but I knew Brick would appear at any moment. I could hear what sounded like a bull moose coming up the ladder. I needed to get to Stefano before he slipped away again. She pushed my arm to go, and I left as Brick’s head appeared at the top of the ladder.