Page 277 of Lorenzo

Mocha stays tight beside her, alert without making a sound, and I find myself absurdly grateful for every hour she spent training him. Tonight he has already warned us about men we could not see, taken one of them down, searched rooms before we entered them, and obeyed her through gunfire without hesitation.

The farther we move from the first store, the more I begin to believe this might actually work.

Greco knew exactly where we were a few minutes ago. He had all the exits covered, and enough people outside that surrendering myself had started to look like the only way to buy Donna time.

Now we are moving behind the buildings without ever stepping outside, and even if he figures out about this corridor, he has to figure out exactly where we went before he can zero in on us again.

Donna reaches the first bend and slows, leaning just far enough around it to check what lies beyond.

I come up beside her.

The corridor continues another thirty or forty feet before opening into a wider service area with several doors leading into neighboring units.

“That looks promising,” she whispers.

“It looks better than the front door.”

She gives me the briefest smile before continuing.

Behind us, something heavy crashes in the store.

We both stop.

A man shouts.

Another voice answers, too distorted by distance to understand.

Donna looks back toward the concealed entrance. “They’re in the back.”

“Probably.”

“If the shelf fooled them at all, they’ll waste time checking the office and storage area before they realize there’s another door.”

“That was the idea.”

“We have to get into one of these units before they find this corridor.”

“Let's get some more distance first.”

We keep moving.

I hate putting more distance between myself and the road.

My men are still out there somewhere, including Rinaldi. The gunfire has long since stopped, and I have no idea what happened to them.

Before Donna, I would be following my instincts and trying to find my way back there.

But things are different now.

Armed men are searching for us, and Greco has just announced that he intends to take my sons and the woman I love before deciding whether to kill me.

There is no choice.

I will find out what happened to my men, and I will make Greco pay for all of this.

Donna reaches the wider service area and checks the first door. The handle does not move.

She tries the second. Locked again.