Chapter 8

The gunfire didn't stop. Bullets kept rattling against the sheet-metal roof. Outside, someone was shouting, and someone was starting a car. A few seconds later, glass shattered again. Sofia's people were clearly falling apart.

"Didn't you say nobody was watching this place?" She grabbed the man who had burst in.

"How should I know!" He shook her off. "A bunch of guys came in through the east gate. At least a dozen of them, all with rifles!"

Another man stuck his head in from outside. "We have to go!"

"What about the test?" Sofia asked.

She made me so angry I almost laughed. At a time like this, she was still asking about her test.

"Right now, the only thing you should be thinking about is getting out alive."

She turned to look at me, like my words had stung.

"Shut up."

Another explosion went off outside. The overhead light swung twice. The man guarding me glanced toward the door without thinking.

I dropped my head and felt behind the chair for the metal strip. While I was struggling earlier, I'd noticed that a thin piece of metal holding the wooden chair together had come loose and was sticking out. I started sawing the zip tie against it.

It was slow. The plastic dug into my skin, and my wrists were covered in blood. Sofia's people were still arguing.

"You're gonna have to pay us more."

"Let's get out first and argue later."

"Moretti and Rossi men are gonna be here any minute!"

Sofia suddenly shouted, "We can't leave!"

Everyone looked at her.

"The messages already went out," she said through gritted teeth. "If we leave now, they'll know it's fake the second they get here."

"It is fake!"

"That's not the same thing."

She was pale, but she still wouldn't back down.

"Take her to the south warehouse. I'll go to the north one. As long as we're split up, you can pull out as soon as people show up on both sides."

My hands stopped for a second. She was actually going through with it.

"Sofia."

She ignored me. The man who had burst in was cursing under his breath, clearly done taking orders from her. Just then, a side window in the warehouse shattered.

One of the men dropped where he stood. Everyone hit the floor. I went down too, chair and all.

The metal strip tore a deep notch in the zip tie. I kept pulling. Once.

Twice. It finally snapped. I didn't move right away.

First, I kept my hands hidden behind me. The people outside were already close. One of Sofia's gunmen got up, but the moment he raised his gun, gunfire from outside drove him back down. Another radio fell at my feet.

When no one was looking, I reached out and pulled it toward me. The channel was all static. Then I heard a familiar voice. "We're in through the central passage. Confirm the location of both hostages."

It was Matteo. My breath caught. They were here.

"South..."

The moment I pressed the talk button, the channel exploded with harsh interference.

"South warehouse..."

Only two words got out. One of the men saw that my hands were free, rushed over, and kicked the radio away.

"She got loose!"

I lunged for it, but someone grabbed me by the hair from behind.

"Let go of me!"

I drove my elbow into his ribs. Pain tore through my old wound. He let go with a grunt, and I snatched an empty magazine off the floor and hurled it at him.

In the chaos, Sofia suddenly screamed. A piece of debris from the window had sliced across her calf, and blood was already seeping from the wound. She stared at it, and for once, a little real fear showed on her face.

But it only lasted a few seconds.

She looked up and shouted at the man beside her, "Take me to the north warehouse!"

"You're still going?" I was stunned. She was acting like a complete lunatic.

"I'm going!" She turned to look at me. "Take her to the south warehouse."

Two men hauled me up by the arms. The moment we got outside, I finally saw what was going on. The old docks were in total chaos.

Cars were burning to the east, and muzzle flashes kept flaring between the shipping containers. The men Sofia had hired were a ragtag bunch in mismatched clothes. The other group was clearly more organized, using the container yard as cover to close in bit by bit. I didn't know who they were. But they knew the Rossi and Moretti men were coming.

That alone made them dangerous. I was shoved into another car. Sofia was dragged off in the opposite direction.

Right before they took her away, she was still glaring at me.

"You'll find out soon enough."

I didn't answer. Ten minutes later, I was thrown into the south warehouse. It was even closer to the fuel depot than the first one.

Only two men were guarding the door, and one of them obviously wanted to run. They tied my hands again, but I had slipped a snapped-off bit of the metal strip into my sleeve. The gunfire outside kept getting closer.

As I worked at the zip tie, the radio on the floor crackled to life again.

"North warehouse reporting. Hostage is injured."

"South warehouse, signs of life confirmed."

"East passage is blocked. A heavy vehicle is moving toward the fuel depot."

My head jerked up. The fuel depot. This place was more dangerous than the north warehouse.

Someone on the radio asked, "We can't push on both at once. Which one do we hit first?"

After a brief crackle of static, Matteo's voice came through. "Confirm where they both are."

Someone rattled off coordinates. My hands finally came free. I didn't go for a gun right away. First, I grabbed the radio.

"Matteo."

The channel was nothing but static.

"Sofia... she set this up..."

The rest was swallowed by interference. The guard at the door heard me, turned, and charged. I kicked the radio under a shelf and grabbed an iron bar to fend him off.

At the same moment, gunfire broke out beyond the door. The instant he looked back, I brought the bar down on his wrist.

His gun hit the floor.