Twenty-Seven

SIMI

West Garfield Park. Population: eighteen thousand. Rated as the most dangerous neighborhood in Chicago. The violent crime rate is 943 percent higher than the national average. If you are involved in organized crime and need a place to hide someone you’ve kidnapped, West Garfield is the place to be.

Still riding the high of saving Jack from the clutches of Mr. X and his henchmen, we drove straight to West Garfield to rescue Cristian. We’d left Mr. X with his cigars and brandy and the shame of his smoking jacket. Gage had been all in for delivering the kind of beating Mr. X had given Jack after the last heist, but we didn’t want to attract police attention, and as for getting him arrested, there was no evidence he had done anything wrong, his unfortunate sartorial choices aside.

I was too angry to speak to Jack, although I had given him a quick pat-down to make sure he hadn’t been harmed. If Simone hadn’t recognized the name Jack had given me at the truck stop, if she hadn’t had her extensive social network track him down, if we hadn’t shown up when we did…I couldn’t even finish the train of thought.

Emma pulled Jack’s truck up outside an abandoned building boasting all the features a Mafia kidnapper could want—boarded-up doors, broken windows, iron bars, crumbling brick, and an overgrown yard with grass so high it could have hidden multiple dead bodies.

“I hate to say it, but this truck fits right in.” Emma turned off the engine. “No one’s gonna want to carjack us while we’re waiting for you.”

“It’s got wheels and an engine that works,” Jack said. “I give it thirty minutes. Slightly more if this is Mafia territory. Less if this is gang turf.”

“This must be the bad end of town.” Simone pressed her face against the window. “There isn’t even a doorman out front.”

“We just need to establish if Cristian is inside,” I said. “Then we can call the police. It’s one thing to steal from the mob; it’s another thing entirely to break into a house guarded by armed Mafia enforcers.”

“Um…” Emma raised her hand. She’d definitely been spending too much time with Anil. “The house we broke into during the last heist was guarded by armed Mafia enforcers.”

“Yes, but their sole purpose for being there wasn’t to guard someone they’d just kidnapped.”

“Except they were supposed to make sure the bride didn’t do a runner, which effectively made her a kidnap victim, thereby giving us experience with this exact situation.” Gage pulled out his weapon and checked the clip. “I’ve done more hostage retrievals than I can count. I’ll be in and out of there in five minutes. Don’t need to wait for some city beat cop.”

Chloe pulled her handgun out of her purse. “I’ll come, too.”

“Babe.” Gage shook his head. “There is no fucking way I am going to let you near that place. I don’t care if you never speak to me again. I don’t care if you cut me out of your life. I would rather live without you, knowing you were alive, than take the chance of losing you.” His voice caught, broke. “I can’t live in a world where you aren’t there.”

“I hate it when you say sweet things at inopportune moments,” Chloe grumbled. “But I’m not letting you go alone.”

“Babe…this is what I do.”

“Not anymore. You don’t want me to put myself in a dangerous situation? Well, I feel the same about you. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t lose you. You take backup or you don’t go at all.”

“You don’t want to lose me?” A maelstrom of emotions flickered across Gage’s face, softening his steely blue eyes.

“No, you idiot.”

“She doesn’t want to lose me,” Gage said softly. He reached for Chloe and pulled her in for a kiss. “Never leaving you, babe. Not unless you tell me you never want to see me again.”

Chloe sniffed in derision. “As if that’s ever going to happen.”

“I’ll go,” Jack said. “I’ve got hostage retrieval experience, too, although usually I’m the hostage.”

“What the hell is wrong with you?” The words I’d been holding back since we’d walked into the club finally came tumbling out in a fury. “Is this another case of you trying to stupidly sacrifice yourself when you’ve got people who care about you and would be devastated if you got yourself killed?”

“Uh-oh.” Emma grimaced. “I’d say everyone should take a walk, but in this neighborhood, we’ll be safer in the truck even though the sparks are about to fly.”

“I did what I had to do,” Jack said. “And I would do it again.”

“You didn’t trust us. You didn’t think about what it would do to us if you got yourself killed. That’s not how this works. That’s not how family works.” My fear and anger bubbled over as I yelled at Jack, and my vision blurred. “I went to say good-bye to my parents, and they guessed…GUESSED…that I was in trouble with the mob. Dad threatened to speak to Angelini. My Nani was planning to hide me in my aunties’ closets. My mom was going to pack a bag so they could run away with me. THAT is family, Jack. There was no question of me running off alone. The way they saw it, we were in it TOGETHER.”

“This is better than a soap opera,” Simone whispered to Emma, even though we were all sitting right there. “Richard and I never had that type of relationship. I could have run naked down the interstate and his only concern would have been for his reputation.”

“Here’s what we’re going to do,” I said. “Emma and Simone will stay here and the rest of us will go and do some recon. If we can confirm he’s in there, we’ll assess the situation and decide whether we can rescue him safely or whether we need to call the police.”

“What about me?” Simone was still dressed in her flowing orange tunic, matching palazzo pants, and gold stilettos. “I want to come. I brought my mask.”

“Do not put that thing on.” Emma held up her hand. “I still have nightmares from the last time. And look at you. You walk out there glowing orange in your diamonds and pearls and all they’ll see is fresh meat.”

“She’s right,” I said gently. “You saved the day at the club, and we need you in the car with Emma as backup in case you need to save the day again.”

Simone beamed. “I’ll do the getaway drive if she gets shot. I took lessons from our chauffeur when I was a teenager.”

I had only just processed that Gage was no longer in the vehicle when the back passenger door opened and he slipped back inside.

“I found him,” he said. “They’re keeping him in a room at the back of the house. The windows are barred. He’s on a bed and his wrist is handcuffed to the metal frame. His legs aren’t broken so we won’t have to carry him. There are three guards inside, all armed: two in the kitchen and one near the front door.”

“What part of ‘we’ll all go together’ did you not understand?” I glared at him. “You missed the entire plan.”

“Must have been the part after I’d already left the vehicle because there was too much talking and not enough action.”

I drew in a deep breath and allowed myself a moment of relief that Cristian was still alive. “I’ll call 911 right now. I’ll need someone’s phone.”

“I thought Tony’s man said he’d gut us like fish if we contacted the police.” Simone’s hand fluttered to her chest. “Or am I misremembering?”

“I think we should just go in and get him,” Gage said. “Fish gutting aside, if you call the cops, Cristian will have to answer questions, and we don’t know whether he’ll tell them about the necklace and the diamond and our involvement in the last heist. I don’t trust him anymore. Cristian will look after Cristian, and he’ll throw us under the bus without a second thought. Look how easy it was for him to just walk away. He didn’t give a damn about the repercussions, or what might happen to anyone except himself.”

Gage’s words rang true, but the thought of taking on three armed Mafia dudes set all my alarm bells ringing. “It’s too risky,” I said. “Emma needs to be here to drive the truck. Chloe only just learned to shoot. I’ve never even held a gun, and even though you and Jack have experience, the guys in there probably shoot two people before breakfast and three after lunch. Killing is their job.”

“Jack and I can take them,” he said without hesitation. “You just have to walk in and set Cristian free.” Gage pulled his bag of weapons from under the seat. “We’ve got the element of surprise. Jack can take out the one in front, and I’ll deal with the two in the back.”

“Can’t you just wound them?” I asked. “Like maybe just shoot a leg or an arm so they can’t chase us or shoot a gun?”

“They’re bad guys,” Jack said. “They kidnapped Cristian and beat him up. They’re probably the same guys who will come to kill us if we don’t bring Angelini the necklace. It’s kill or be killed.”

“But it was supposed to be a ‘no guns’ heist…” I protested.

Jack shook his head. “It was never really a ‘no guns’ heist. Not since the moment Angelini threatened to kill you.”

I heard the roar of engines, faint at first, then louder, followed by the squeal of tires. A blinding sea of headlights illuminated the street, coming from both directions. I heard the slam of doors and the thump of feet on pavement.

“Get down,” Gage shouted. “I’ll hold them off.”

Too late. We were surrounded.