them to move to the wall in a standard interrogation lineup.
Massimo signals for us to join him so we do.
Me first then Dominic at my side. Viktor and Aiden come to my right. We all aim our guns at the men standing by the wall. Men who look afraid.
Fear ripples from them and sadness at what might come next.
They both look afraid, and sad, both are signs I always take to mean something for good or bad. The guilty never tend to look the way these men do. Either they’ll jump straight to terrified when they’ve been caught out and beg for their lives, or they’ll have a nonchalance about them as they continue to lie about their innocence.
“I want to hear what dealings you have with Mortimer Viggo,” Massimo demands and they look shocked.
“The leader of the Circle of Shadows would not converse with men like us. You know how he feels about Italians. It’s obvious he swayed Riccardo because they both needed each other,” Lucca says.
“You might have needed him too,” Massimo replies. “That man will work with whoever can benefit him the most and he’s always been seeking to eradicate the Syndicate. Tell me now what part you had to play in helping him, or you’re fucking dead.”
“Massimo please don’t do this,” Lucca says.
A chorus of begging begins but I hear something strange against the background of conversation.
It’s a chopping sound…no. That’s not it.
Thrip, thrip, thrip.
Blades slice through the air, beat against the air. Dominic hears it too, then we all do.
It’s too late when that happens because we see what’s making the sound.
A military helicopter hovers in front of the floor to ceiling glass windows with a man dressed in full black carrying a machine gun.
No one can just walk into D’Agostinos Inc without being searched, so it makes sense for our enemies to fly.
Fuck.
As the bullets spray smashing the glass, I dive to my left covering my brother. I knock Dominic to the ground getting him out of the way and we both flip the table to cover ourselves.
Panicked I look for Massimo and see he’s shooting back from behind the pillar near where he stood. He’s covering himself as best as possible but he’s in the open. The pillar isn’t wide enough. it’s not going to be enough to shield him from all those bullets. Franco is shooting from the ground.
Lucca and Viktor got hit. They’re on the ground with bullets all over their bodies. Dead. They’re dead. This is shit, more shit we never saw coming. There’s never been an attack on the company like this before. How the fuck did this happen?
Aiden is behind the desk with the overhead projector shielding himself the way we are.
Franko rushes to Massimo but both are too exposed. Franco gets hit and that’s when I know I have to do something or I’ll lose another brother today.
I turn to Dominic who looks as freaked out as I do. “Don’t you dare move. You fucking hear me?” I tell him and I thank God when he nods.
I look back to the shooter. I have just one shot but I have to get in the right position to take it, and quick.
On three I run out and fire one lone bullet that gets him in his head and he falls from the helicopter.
I continue shooting hitting the pilot as he tries to get away and the helicopter spirals out of control. It flies off at first then comes down hard over in the park, crash landing with a loud explosion that shakes everything like an earthquake.
A hollow takes residence inside me as I watch the flames go up and the people around scramble for protection.
This was planned. Someone knew we’d be here.
I turn around returning my focus to those in the room both the living and the dead.
A rush of sadness washes over me as I focus on Aiden holding Viktor’s lifeless body. Tears stream down his cheeks. Tears he tries to hold back but they flow from the pain of loss. They force through until he caves and breaks down.
I see Viktor’s face and grit my teeth. He was a good guy, one I felt I could trust. He loved his father the way we loved ours. In our world it’s not often to get supportive fathers who love their sons the way ours did.
The work he and Aiden did helped us to find out the extra information we needed to have about Mortimer.