In the middle of the day, Stefano, I, and a few of his men arrive in Rome. I just finished checking into my hotel room. We plan to all meet downstairs and start our search for Petrova. She was staying in Sicily but recently traveled to Rome. We are hoping we find her before she travels somewhere else. I walk out of my room and take the elevator downstairs to the hotel lobby. I find Stefano and the guys waiting. I walk over to them.
"I am ready."
"Good, now we can leave, and everyone remember as we discussed back in Sicily. If you see her make sure not to alert her of your presence and call me immediately."
"Yes, sir," They say
"Let s go," Stefano says, walking out of the hotel with me following behind him.
We get into the car together that he rented for our trip here. We arrive in a poor neighborhood after an hour or so of driving. Where we are is really far from the city. We step out of the car and start our search. She was seen around this area a few times. Stefano is checking the house by the left while I check the ones by the right. I have knocked on a few doors, and so far, no sign of her. This is the last door on this side of this, neighborhood and I am praying to God dearly she lives here. I knock on the door, and God has answered my prayer, a woman who fits the image we have answers the door.
"Are you Petrova?"
"Вот дерьмо (oh, shit)" She says and slams the door in my face. She jumps out the window and starts running. She must know we are looking for her. I quickly put in my ear pods that, luckily enough for me, were in my handbag and called Stefano while running after her.
"Hey Siri, call Stefano," I say while trying to catch up with her.
"Did you find her?" He says once he answers the call
"Yes, I did, but she is running away; I will shoot in the air to let you know where I am," I say and quickly remove my gun from behind my pants and shoot in the air. I usually won t do this, but I can t afford to lose her; she is the only lead we have gotten so far. "Did you see it?"
"Yes, I will try to intercept you guys and make sure you don t lose her."
"Okay"
Petrova throws things at my front to block my path, but I push anything I can or jump over it. We keep running till we meet a dead end, thank God.
"Petrova, there is nowhere for you to run to; I promise I won t hurt you, except you deserve it," I tell her honestly.
"So you think, but you should be the one begging for mercy," She says, smirking. Suddenly men step out from a door on the wall. "Finish her boys," She says and enters somewhere through the door the guys came out from.
"Who wants to go first," I say, taking my stance to fight. I am about to shoot my gun at them when someone suddenly grabs me from the neck and flings my gun away. I didn t see him behind me. I use my elbow to hit his ribs, but he only increases his pressure on my neck. Good thing I wore boots today. I dig my shoes in his foot and use my head to smack his, making sure to use the back of my head to hit his face hard. I also try my luck that he is a man and hit him where the sun doesn t shine, and bless the lord he is a man. He loses his hold on my neck. I use this opportunity and pick up my gun and shoot him in the head. I shoot all the men down while barely trying to miss their bullets. More men emerge from the door, and I don t think I have enough ammunition to take down all of them.
"What is going on?" Stefano asks upon his arrival at the scene.
"I lost her, and we need to go," I say, pulling Stefano and start running
"What do you mean you lost her?"
"It means I lost her, now run."
We run as fast as we can but not fast enough away from them. They are catching up to us, and the car is still a little far away.
"Do you know how to hotwire a car?" I ask Stefano
"Yes,"
"Find a car you can because if we don t leave here soon. I think we will lose our lives."
"That one," Stefano says, pointing to a truck in front of us. We both run to the car and get in. I fire back at the men following us while Stefano tries to start the vehicle. They shoot at the windows of the car, and the glass almost injures me.
"Any luck," I ask Stefano.
"This should do it," He says, and the car roars to life. He drives like he always does and gets us out of that place. Luckily for us, they don t follow us in a car.
We drive for a few minutes before the car suddenly stops.
"Why did you stop?"
"I think the tank is empty," Stefano says and tries to restart the car but fails.
"Oh my God, this can t be happening right now."
"It is, and now we have to walk."
"We can t walk; it would take us hours before we get back to the hotel."
"I don t see you bringing a better idea."
"Let s try calling someone to help," I say and fetch my phone, but there is no service. "How is there suddenly no service?"
"Do you think if I could call someone, I will ask us to walk?" He asks and steps out of the car.
"Do you even know where you are going?" I ask, stepping out of the car, following behind him. We came to this area using Google Maps, and without the internet, there is no way we can find our way back; we are doomed.
"I don t know, but it s better than waiting for imaginary help to appear."
"Do you think we should walk back to the car?" I suggest
"If I know something about catching someone, it is to wait for them by their car. So no, we are walking forward not to our death."
"You are right."
We walk for what feels like hours. My feet are starting to hurt from all the walking, and I am beginning to regret wearing boot heels today. I can feel my stomach eating itself due to how hungry I am.
"Stefano, can we rest for a minute," I say, squatting down to rest.
"We can t."
"I am feeling exhausted; let s take a break from the walking, please."
"Do you know you are the reason we are in this situation right now"
"What do you mean by that," I say, standing up to face him
"If you listened to my instruction and did not alert her, maybe all of this would not have happened."
"I did not alert her, I only asked her, her name and she ran. This is not my fault."
"It is, so let s get moving."
"It is not my fault," I say, getting angry at him.
"It is your fau< accept it."
"It is not my fault, and the only reason you are blaming me is because you are hungry and tired. I am hungry and tired too, but you don t see me blaming you for our situation."
"Blame me"
"Yes, blame you for not checking the fuel tank of the truck you were stealing."
"Are you really trying to shift the blame of our situation on me?"
"No, I am not, and can we drop this topic. I am too hungry to argue."
"Better"
"Thank you," I say, closing my eyes for a moment to calm myself. I could feel myself on the verge of getting angry because of his useless accusation, but I don t think we need that right now.
Suddenly a ray of light appears, but before I can open my eyes, I am spun around into someone s arms. I hear a motorcycle pass by, and that is where the light came from.
Stefano has his strong arms wrapped around me. They make me feel safe. I open my eyes and lock eyes with him. Stefano is staring back at me with the same expression I have in my eyes, admiration, and wonder.
I wonder how someone could be so handsome, but I wonder what he is thinking of me. I feel his lips only a breath away from mine. This is not the first time our lips are this close, but I feel like I am not the only one who wants them close together for some odd reason. I see his lips suddenly getting closer to mine; oh my God, does he want to kiss me. Is he going to kiss me? Do I want him to kiss me? I don t have enough time to think about all of these, so I just close my eyes and allow God to decide. I believe God is not on my side anymore because he suddenly opens the sky and pours down rain on us. This makes Stefano remove his arms around me and take a step back.
"We need to find shelter."
"Yeah," I say, barely audible, still thinking about what almost happened.