Page 229 of Diego

The hedges conceal us for most of the distance, but they end about thirty feet short of the garage. Mario stops at the last section, crouches low, and looks across the gap.

A man steps around the far corner of the garage carrying a rifle, looking toward the house.

Mario glances at me once and points.

I raise my weapon and fire before he can bring the rifle up.

He drops beside the garage.

A second attacker immediately appears behind him and fires toward the hedge. Bullets cut through leaves above us and strike the stone wall behind Ricardo’s group.

Mario fires twice.

The attacker falls backward behind a parked vehicle.

“Now,” Mario says.

We cross the open stretch fast.

Matteo reaches the garage first and presses himself against the wall beside the corner. Tomasso takes the other side, and I come in behind them while Mario watches our rear.

From the opposite side of the structure, I hear Ricardo’s group moving into position.

Then gunfire erupts near the rear terrace.

Antonio’s voice carries through the darkness. “Two moving south.”

Edoardo answers from somewhere closer. “I see them.”

A burst follows, then another. One of the attackers runs across the gap beyond the garage, trying to reach the trees along the southern edge of the property. Dante catches him before he gets there.

The second man makes the mistake of turning back toward the house.

Nico steps out from behind the garage and shoots him before he clears the corner.

We have removed four in less than a minute, but I know there are more. I look toward the house.

A muzzle flash appears in one of the first-floor windows.

My stomach turns cold. “They’re inside.”

Mario sees it too. “Then we stop circling.”

We move toward the rear entrance.

The path between the garage and the house is wide enough to expose us for several seconds. Gunfire comes from the terrace before we make it halfway. We split toward cover, Mario and Tomasso behind a stone retaining wall while Matteo and I drop behind the outdoor kitchen.

The man firing from the terrace ducks behind one of the columns.

Another appears inside through the glass.

They made it into my house.

Something hot and vicious rears up inside me.

The first man leans out again.

I fire.