Page 30 of Sicilian Savior

Knox glanced around the quiet parking lot filled with cars but lacking any other people.

“Get in the car,” he said again, his tone lower now. “Lock the doors.”

I opened the door, dropping inside and pressing the lock button down. The black tinted windows concealed me from the outside and gave me the chance to look at Mario closer now. He stared straight at the car, whispering something to the man beside him.

“Scusi,” Knox said to him, walking casually in his direction with a smile. “Parla inglese?”

“Yes,” Mario answered in English. His eyes left the vehicle that held me inside and moved to Knox.

“Oh, good,” Knox said on a smile as he continued his approach. “My wife and I are a little turned around. I’m wondering if you can help me?”

Closer.

My heart pounded.

“I’m not from around here, either,” Mario said, then gestured to the well-dressed Italian man beside him. “Just here for a business meeting. Don’t know how much help I can be since I don’t know my way around here.”

“Oh, I see,” Knox answered.

Closer.

“Did you say your wife?” He glanced past Knox to the car.

Knox didn’t answer, instead saying, “Well, I’m sorry to have bothered you.”

He closed the last few feet between himself and Mario. My heart hammered in my chest. What was he doing? Why was he getting so close to—

Knox’s hand flew forward with the speed of a snake. I saw the metal glint in the sunlight, followed by a red spray of blood spurting from Mario’s throat. The man at his side didn’t even have time to utter a sound before the knife plunged into his neck as well. Both men dropped to the ground, and I covered my mouth to stifle my scream.

Shouting voices came from a black SUV parked just down the way. The doors flew open, and five men jumped out.

“He killed Franco!” a man shouted, and I saw him lift his gun. “Kill him!”

Knox looked to them and then to me, then dropped to the ground behind a car when the bullets started flying.

“Knox!” I screamed, laying lower in the car and covering my head.

“Stay down!” he shouted back.

I did as he said, terror coursing through me as I heard the gunfire continue. Was he shot? Was he dead? Not knowing what was happening out there was more terrifying than the sounds of the battle surrounding me.

Please don’t die, Knox.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Knox

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I pressed my back to the car and used it as a shield while taking round after round of incoming fire. This wasn’t going to be a quick, silent kill and a fast getaway. Not this time. Of course, Mario and his friend hadn’t been alone. They were fucking mafia guys, and I should have expected that they had backup with them. Those guys never travel alone. Where there’s one, there’s a dozen. Like fucking cockroaches.

Another bullet missed me and smacked the car Lucia hid in. With the tinted windows, I couldn’t tell if she’d heard me and ducked down. Anxiety shredded my insides as I worried about her safety, and I tried to think of the best way to protect her. I reached down into my ankle holster and drew out my Glock 19.

Fifteen rounds. That was all I had on me since I hadn’t planned on getting into a gunfight at the fucking market. God, what I wouldn’t give for a grenade right now. I made a mental note to always bring a grenade wherever I went from this day forward. Running to the gas station? Grenade. Picking up dry cleaning? Grenade. Going to the carwash? Grenade. Yep. Never leaving the house without one again.

Since I didn’t have any explosives to take them all out quick and easily, I used the reflection in the car window to assess the men hunting me down. I’d seen five for sure, but that didn’t mean there weren’t more.

One of the men shouted something in Italian, and from the pieces I put together, he’d called in backup. Fucking great. Now I had to move faster because I had no idea how long it would take backup to arrive. Five minutes? Two minutes? Thirty seconds? As always, as I was trained, I assumed the worst-case scenario. And in that case, it meant backup was almost here. Not to mention the gunshots would have cops screaming in any second. At least this parking lot didn’t have any innocent civilians milling around in it. Avoiding people getting caught in the crossfire was one less thing to worry about as multiples plans for our escape flew through my head.