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“Zachery did,” Nicholas said. He leaned down, took her hand, studied her face. “Louisa tells me you and your father are great chess competitors. Cutthroat games should keep you occupied.” Nicholas lightly touched a finger to one of the sterling silver studs on her left ear. “What does your daddy think of these fashion statements?”
Louisa said from behind Mike, “Her dad, who, let me add, is a Lutheran minister, says he wouldn’t have minded if she’d rebelled when she was a teenager, gotten it over with, piercings included—but not his Lia, she had to wait to adulthood.”
Lia whispered, “I figured I’d have more money, buy better accessories.”
A nurse came in. “Mi scusi, you need to leave now. She needs rest.”
Nicholas paused a moment. “Adam, you and Louisa go back to the hotel. Mike and I need to speak to Zachery again about the local Carabinieri and this Major Russo. No reason for you to stay and hear the fireworks.”
Louisa leaned down, kissed Lia on the cheek. “You sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Adam said, “I’ll find you some good websites for accessories.”
Lia’s voice was fading out. “Maybe I can put it on my expense account.”
Louisa and Adam left, Louisa saying, “I’m so tired I could fall asleep right here.”
Nicholas knew he had to give Zachery a heads-up about Russo, and called him on his private cell. He got Zachery’s voice mail: “Piper is a princess in her school play this year, and not a tree. She makes progress in her acting career.”
He grinned. “A bit of whimsy from Zachery. Who would have thought?”
She punched his shoulder. “I met his wife. She told me he is a real jokester, drives her and the kids crazy with his stunts.”
They stepped out of the hospital into a dark Venice night, the air soft against their faces. It was quiet, stores closed down, restaurants finally empty, tourists tucked into their beds.
“It feels good to be outside. I want to clear my head.” She stopped a moment, looked around the deserted square. “It’s so quiet, Nicholas.”
She could see multiple alleys extending like arms from the piazza, and the water flowed heavily beside them in the canal and back into the lagoon.
From the corner of her eyes, she saw a shadow. It didn’t move. Her hand went to her Glock.
He was close in an instant, whispering, “What is it? What did you see?”
“Not sure, a shadow, but the thing is, it’s not moving. I think someone’s standing there, watching us. I don’t like it, Nicholas.”
And the sky lit up in front of them.
They were in the open. He grabbed her hand and they ran toward the passageway next to the canal and ducked under an overhang. Bullets whizzed by them. “I can’t tell the angle,” Mike said, but she returned fire, then ducked back under the overhang. “I only have one extra magazine, how about you?”
“Same here,” Nicholas said. “Shoot in short bursts, pray for accuracy.”
They were on their own, no comms, no backup, facing an unknown number of thugs shooting at them. She took two fast shots, didn’t hear any yells, only more gunfire. “You’d think someone in the hospital would be yelling their heads off. Where are the polizia? Nicholas, I gotta say it, I’d sort of hoped we?
??d mowed down all the bad guys in the piazza today.”
“Have you ever heard of a shortage of criminals and guns?”
More shots, bullets striking the wall and the overhang, too close. They went down on their haunches, backs pressed against the wall. “I hate this bloody town, everyone wants to kill us.”
Nicholas pointed. “There’s one.”
She sighted and pulled the trigger once. The man who’d been crouched atop a building twenty feet from them fell silently, splashing into the canal.
He squeezed her shoulder. “Good shot. How many more? I wonder.”
The piazza was deadly silent, as if Venice were holding her breath. So were Mike and Nicholas. Nicholas let his breath out slowly, centering, eyes roaming. “There can’t be only one shooter. I mean, confidence is one thing, but there are two of us and we are FBI.”
She had to laugh; he sounded so insulted. “I know, and we’re the toughest dudes in the universe. There are more, don’t worry.”
