Page 41 of Savage Little War

“Knife,” Dmitri says to Luca as he holds his hand out. “A gun is too loud.”

Luca hands his knife over, breathing heavily.

Dmitri drives the knife in fast, clean, then steps back as the guard goes still. He hands the bloody knife back to Luca, who wrinkles his nose at the mess. “Can’t leave any witnesses to run back to Ferro.”

I check up and down the street before abandoning my hiding place to join them, my eyes landing on the guard that Dmitri killed. After all that I’ve been through, seeing violence and dead bodies doesn’t hit me as much as it used to.

Especially if they’re men who would kill me or torture me without a second thought.

“Sorry. Didn’t give you a chance to listen to their voices,” Dmitri says as he turns to me.

I shake my head. “Don’t worry about it. Even if they were at the farmhouse, they won’t hurt anyone again.”

Dmitri nods before reaching down and grabbing the radio out of the guard’s pouch. “Hide the bodies somewhere.”

Luca and Andrei grab the guards and drag them into a nearby entryway before moving large pots with leafy plants in front of them. Luca dusts his hands off. “That’ll have to do for now.”

“Sorry for whoever lives here,” Andrei mutters.

Dmitri hands Luca the radio. “As we planned.”

Luca nods and takes a breath before hitting the talk button and speaking into the radio. He lowers his voice more than normal, even speaking in a different cadence than he normally does.

My heart hammers quickly as I hear someone else’s voice come through the speaker.

“Sono certo,” Luca says in a firm voice.

There’s a pause. A crackle. Another voice answers fast.

Luca nods once. “They bought it. They’re going to reconvene and then storm the villa later tonight.”

Andrei grins. “Hell yeah.”

Dmitri nods. “Nice work, Luca. We need to head back and get everyone ready. Now, we know where they’re going to be and when.”

“The perfect opportunity to attack,” Luca says, his eyes sharpening in determination.

“We should keep the radio. Just in case they change plans, we’ll know,” I point out as I hear more voices coming out of the speaker.

They all nod in agreement.

“They’re heading back to their base. Wherever that is,” Luca tells us as he listens closely. “Hopefully, we’re not heading in the same direction as them when we go back to the hotel.”

Dmitri glances up at the darkening sky, the sun nearly fully sunken behind the horizon. “We’ll use the darkness to our advantage.”

The four of us go back the way we came, sticking close to walls and avoiding eye contact with anyone who passes by us. Luca keeps the volume on the radio low, giving us updates every now and then. So far, nothing has changed.

Ferro’s guards are going back to their base of operations and so are we.

“Wipe the blood off your face,” Dmitri tells Andrei as we approach the entrance to the hotel.

Andrei hastily drags the back of his hand against his chin. He smears the line of blood across his skin instead of wiping it away.

The hotel doors swing open as an employee steps out with a guest, making us tense and slow down. We can’t look suspicious, and one of us having a bloody face looks pretty damn suspicious.

I wet my thumb and scrub at Andrei’s chin fast, like a mother before a teacher turns around.

“I could’ve said it was pizza sauce,” he remarks.