Their wedding had kept them on the radar.
Once I finished my water, I set my hands on my knees and took a deep breath to even myself out. “Okay. I’m ready to head back in.”
He was on his feet quickly, looking relieved to get out of the cold, and I couldn’t blame him. I’d been shivering in my pilot’s uniform the whole time on the bench. I stood and headed toward the door, and as I dropped my bottle in the recycling bin, a doctor moved to pass us. His white lab coat fluttered in the breeze, and he abruptly stumbled, falling into Markus.
There was a grunt of pain from him. As if he’d been hit much harder by the doctor than I’d realized?—
Not a doctor.
Carlo.
“Gun inside my coat.” Markus said, almost inaudible as he grabbed my arm, using me for support. “Use it.”
I froze. The metallic smell of blood was thick.
As soon as his command registered, I tried to go for his gun, but Carlo was too fast. He disarmed Markus and helped him collapse on a bench that was just a step away.
A dark stain was rapidly spreading from his side, a hand clenched over a stab wound, and the knife was bloody when it disappeared into Carlo’s pocket. His hand reappeared a half-second later, brandishing a gun. He jammed it in my spine just as I was about to scream.
“No,” he warned. “It’ll be much worse for everyone if you do that. Go with me now, and it gives this man a chance to live.”
Markus’s face was pale, stricken with pain, taking what appeared to be only shallow breaths. He wouldn’t last much longer unless he got help. And since Carlo and I stood in front of Markus, we were blocking the view.
I was sure he was dying.
“All right,” I whispered.
Carlo shoved the gun’s barrel harder against me, digging it into my skin. “The exit to our right. Straight out the front doors without a word. Otherwise, I kill you and go upstairs to finish the job I came here for.”
My stomach was lined with lead as I followed his orders. There was at least a shimmer of relief when we were halfway out the door and I heard someone yelling, followed by commotion. People probably helping Markus.
Carlo put metal handcuffs on me when we reached his car. “Giovanni told me not to hurt or mark you yet. He wants me to leave you as a blank canvas to start with, but understand something, you bitch. If I have to kill you, I’ll do it, and he’ll understand.”
Acid churned in my stomach as he drove back to the airport. We entered at a different security checkpoint, one that seemed to be for freight vehicles, and the guard in the booth barely looked at us once Carlo swiped an ID and the gate opened.
The Abramos’ Bombardier was parked on the tarmac, looking like it was in the final stages of preflight. I was pulled from the car and up the stairs into the cabin.
Riding in the passenger section instead of the cockpit added to my trepidation. The O2masks had been stowed, and I assumed the blood of my friends and Renzo Librizzi had been hosed out of the luggage compartment.
This wasn’t my plane anymore, so I wouldn’t know for sure.
At least I was good at surviving.
Surviving—and fending off attacks. I’d cut my teeth on that mountain fifteen years ago. I could do this, I told myself, over and over, forcing myself to believe.
“I saw you,” Carlo said, “kissing the enormous American. Giovanni wasn’t happy to hear that.”
“I don’t give a fuck about what makes Gio happy.”
His smile was evil. “You will.”
I bit back the desire to spit in his face. No, I’d wait on that.
Survive.That is your mission.
35
ETHAN
