Page 11 of Savage Little War

Luca groans off to the side, blood soaking the bottom of his right pants leg.

“Really? All of this over a little bullet to the calf?” I ask him as I hurry over to him.

Luca flashes me a glare. “Let me shoot you in the leg and see how you feel!”

I roll my eyes at his dramatics and pull his arm over my shoulders. “Limp as fast as you can.”

“I can run if I have to,” Luca assures me as I help him to his feet. Well, foot.

Together, we hurry away from the warehouse as the fire reaches the roof, roaring out of control already as the smell of gasoline and smoke fills the air.

At least we completed our mission.

I hear a few more gunshots behind us as Luca and I make it to the SUV that we took here. I throw open the door to the backseat and help Luca inside, blood dripping from his pants leg at this point because the material is so soaked.

“Bleed on my leather and I’m billing you,” I tell Luca.

“Ah, fuck you, Dmitri,” Luca mutters as he waves me away.

I shut the door behind him before stepping away from the SUV, my forefinger pressing against the discrete earpiece so that I can hear everyone’s voices better.

“We’re out of here!”

“Us too! Is everyone out?”

“This is Dmitri. Luca and I are out,” I report, my eyes lingering on the warehouse as the fire eats away at it and everything inside. The men guarding it are either dead on the ground or running off on foot.

Good. They should learn a thing or two about loss because after what they did to Cara, we’re only getting started. We’re going to take and take from them until there’s nothing left.

I throw open the passenger door and get inside as Denis starts the engine. “Luca, you probably need a doctor. I don’t need you bleeding out in the backseat.”

“I can’t go to the hospital,” Luca groans. “I’m starting to feel a little lightheaded, though.”

“Get him to our doc,” I tell Denis, who nods and drives back onto the road to follow the other cars back to the main part of the city.

“What now? What are we hitting next?” Luca asks.

“You’re not hitting anything. I can’t have you limping around slowing us down,” I tease him. I’d be more concerned if he was hit somewhere other than the leg, but he’ll be fine.

“Give me some pain killers and a pair of crutches, and I’ll be ready to go, amico,” Luca says with sheer determination.

“You’re going to get yourself killed,” Denis tells him.

“If I’m going to die, I’d rather it be while fighting to destroy Paolo,” Luca replies, sounding serious now.

My expression hardens as I glance in the side mirror, still seeing the glow of the flames behind us. In a world like ours, death is an eventual promise. If I had to pick how to go out, I’d also prefer it to be fighting the enemy to protect the ones I love.

“Don’t die on me yet. We still have a lot of work to do,” I tell Luca. He’s become an important ally to me, and I honestly see him as a friend now.

I already lost Mikhail and Gabe.

I’m not losing anyone else, not while Cara is still learning how to breathe again.

4

Cara

Violence has a way of crawling underneath your skin.