Page 146 of Savage Don

So, that’s what I do.

Still, I’m not expecting what I see when I step outside.

Nothing.

The horseshoe driveway out front is empty and completely quiet.

The stillness is so intense that it stops me in my tracks.

There are usually a dozen guards patrolling these parts, every hour of every day.

Where the hell are they?

He’s cleared a path for you…

Then, I see the first body.

It’s only half hidden behind the fountain in the middle of the driveway. Dark blood stains the grass at the upturned feet.

Wait, is that blood?

I’m still lost in a daze as I take a step forward, squinting as I try to get a better look.

I don’t know what’s come over me, but before I can think to turn around and slam the door shut behind me, my bare feet hit the cold pavement of the driveway.

That’s when I see the second body, and the third, and the fourth…

Suddenly, I feel a frigid hand wrap around my mouth.

I try to scream, but the grip is too tight. I can’t even bite down on the frozen flesh.

Not that I’m given a chance to.

A second later, a heavy bag is ripped over my head. The lace pulls so tightly around my throat that I gag, but not before I’m sent to the ground with a brutal kick to the back of my knees.

No one saves me from hitting the cold pavement, and my cries of pain bounce right back in my face as I shout into the suffocating material wrapped around my head.

“Shut up, girl,” a muffled voice curses through the black fabric. “This is for your own good.”

With a violent tug, I’m ripped back onto my feet and pulled into the cold, unforgiving darkness.

32

Ray

“Did you hear that?”

Leonid already has his gun out, but he clicks up on the safety when a metallic clang echoes through the darkness.

“It was probably one of the pigs,” I joke, pushing past another row of hanging carcasses.

We’ve come all the way out to Domenico Galli’s meat packing plant in New Jersey to string up our rat once and for all.

Well, rats. Plural.

Because even if Domenico was ignorant about Sonia’s treachery before last night, he wasn’t after she confessed everything to him on their car ride home.

The listening devices paid off in a big way.