I know he’s taken even more damage than me, but his shoulders are tense and his gun is drawn, posed for a fight.
“When I go down, you keep shooting. They likely won’t try to kill you right away. They’ll want to hold you over Giovanni’s head for a while.” He turns around to look at me and it takes a while for me to even realize he’s casually talking about his death. “Whatever you do, don’t take your shoes off,” he tells me. “As long as they’re on, Giovanni will be able to find you.”
He peeks around the dumpster and swears as footsteps enter the alleyway. “Take my handkerchief,” he mutters.
“What?” I ask.
He lets out a sigh, taking the little red handkerchief out of his pocket. Before I can react, he’s stuffing it down the neckline of my shirt and into my bra. “It has a tracker in it too,” he mutters before turning back around.
A shot pings off of the side of the garbage can and Vito lets out another curse. He leans around the side, letting off rapid shots before ducking back behind.
A shiver moves through my body when another shot flies past the garbage can.
The footsteps are closer now. Vito rises slightly and he turns enough to push me back before he’s moving all the way from behind the trash can.
The whimper that passes my lips is not of my own accord as I watch him stand out in the open like a target. He raises his gun shooting and I know it’s only a matter of time before he goes down.
When his body jerks back as a bullet lands in his side, I close my eyes not wanting to see the rest.
Tears stream down my face and my hand trembles as it closes around the gun.
Shots continue to ring out and my breaths stutter in my chest.
Fuck, get it together, Vito said to keep shooting.
But I can already feel myself hyperventilating. The shots continue to ring out and I’m just wondering why they haven’t already grabbed me when a hand wraps around my shoulder.
I lift my gun as my eyes open but it’s swatted right out of my hand. Blindly, I lash out, my hands connecting with flesh.
“Winter! Winter! It’s okay.” It takes far too long for me to recognize Diamond’s voice and my mouth drops open as I stare up at him. There’s strain on his face as he holds onto my arms and I instantly relax, remembering that he was just shot a few days ago.
“What…” I can’t come up with my words and I shake my head.
“I told you I wasn’t your enemy once before, hopefully it’ll get through your thick little skull,” he mutters, his voice annoyed.
I realize the shooting has stopped and I gasp. “Vito,” I say, the image of him getting shot flashing through my skull.
“Come on,” Diamond says, pulling me up.
“Vito,” I say again, my gaze moving around him to where I lost saw Vito, but he isn’t there. I look up at Diamond in confusion. “Vito was… shot.”
Diamond grimaces and he looks away from me. “Yeah, I know. Come on,” he says, giving me a tug.
My heart races in my chest, but I follow him and instantly stop as I take in the bodies littering the alleyway. “Holy shit.” I try to step over each body, not peering too close at the faces.
As I continue to follow Diamond down the path that we came through there’s more and more bodies. Most of them clearly belong to the cartel and the others I’m guessing, from their dark skin, belong to seven quad.
When we finally come to the entrance of the first alley, my gaze goes straight to our wrecked car. There’s a huge black van parked just beside it. More cars with tinted windows line the street.
Diamond leads me over to the van and he pulls the door open,
The entire back of the van is clear of seats and it looks almost like the inside of an ambulance. There’s two people inside, a short black woman and a taller black man with wide shoulders who only peers at me for a brief moment. Between them is a stretcher and my heart almost stops in my chest when I find Vito lying on it.
He isn’t moving.
Bile rises in my throat.
My knees go weak and Diamond lets out a curse as he grabs my elbow.