“Shut up,” the woman hissed. “You know what? I’m out. You’re going to get us both caught if you keep running your mouth like this. Just stay quiet and don’t talk to the feds. You know none of this can be traced back to you.”
There was a sound like a chair scraping and then a rush of footsteps.
“We need to move in now,” I declared. “She’s about to flee.”
Jase nodded, and we both got out of the car at once and began to make our way quickly across the street. A car blared on its horn at us as we stepped into the path of traffic.
“What are you doing, you stupid--” One of the drivers stuck their head through the window to scream, but I ignored him and continued to weave my way through the slowly moving lines of cars.
We stepped through the door of the cafe just as a woman wearing a grey hoodie was about to step out. She stopped and glanced up at me. She had the hood of her jacket pulled up over her head, so I couldn’t see clearly what her face looked like.
“Excuse me,” she muttered as she attempted to walk around me and to the door. I stepped into her path to block her from getting to the exit.
“Why don’t we just sit down and have a calm discussion?” Jase suggested quietly. He probably wanted to diffuse the situation as calmly and peacefully as possible. The restaurant was small, and it was filled to the brim with people. It would be difficult to have a fight in such tight quarters.
I glanced up at the other patrons in the restaurant. No one else seemed to be paying attention to our conversation, aside from Ryan, whose face was ashen white as he stared directly at us.
I looked back down at the woman and witnessed the moment that realization flashed through her eyes.
“All right,” she replied quietly as she hunched her shoulders and buried her hands in the pockets of her jacket. To anyone else, it might have seemed like a sign of guilt or fear, but I immediately recognized it for the ruse it was.
“Gun!” I yelled even before I saw the metallic glint emerge from the pocket of her jacket.
I moved instinctively, years of mafia training coming in handy as I dove to the ground just as the shot went off. There was a split second of stunned silence as everyone in the restaurant froze in reaction to the gunshot. Then, chaos broke loose as everyone began to panic.
Some people shot up from their tables and tried to run for the exits. Others threw themselves to the ground for cover. This resulted in a stampede of people tripping and trampling over the ones cowering on the floor.
I cursed internally as I shot to my feet and looked frantically around the restaurant. I spotted the woman’s gray hoodie immediately as she made a break for the back of the building. I lifted my gun, but there were too many people in the way. If I fired now, I might accidentally hit one of the civilians instead.
I began to shove my way through the swarm of people attempting to make their way to the exit, but she was smaller and thinner than I was, and was able to slip past people more easily than me. I’d only made it halfway through the restaurant before the woman ducked out through the rear fire exit.
“Damn it,” I growled as I continued to make my way after her. I was nearly there when I caught a flash of movement out of the corner of my eye. It was Ryan, clumsily scrambling over a table and attempting to escape through the front entrance. I hesitated for a moment as I tried to decide who to pursue. Ultimately I decided to turn around and go for Ryan. I’d already lost sight of the woman, and if I tried to go after her, we might lose both of them.
“Where do you think you’re going?” I yelled as I gripped him by the arm and yanked him back forcefully. He lost his balance, and I used the opportunity to push him over and pin him face down onto one of the tables.
“Stop!” he coughed as I pressed his ribcage onto the rim of the table, compressing his lungs and making it hard for him to draw a full breath. “This is police brutality!”
“Too bad for you,” I smirked. “I’m not the police.”
“Nick, there you are,” Jase called from behind me. “Sorry, I got pushed back as soon as people started rushing the door. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” I grunted as I eased off Ryan so that Jase could take over handcuffing him. “The woman got away, though.”
“We’ll get her,” Jase replied reassuringly. “The restaurant has security cameras. I’m sure we caught her face on one of them.”
“Yeah,” I muttered without confidence. She’d been wearing her hood up the entire time, and she’d clearly been on the defensive from the moment she entered. Somehow I didn’t think our odds were very good now that she had slipped away from us.
“Was anyone hurt?” I asked.
“I don’t think so.” Jase shook his head as he pulled Ryan up off the table and guided him toward the entrance. “It seemed like everyone got out safely. I’ll call for backup just to make sure.”
“All right.” I nodded as we stepped out of the restaurant.
The crowd gathered outside watched as Jase pulled Ryan along. Many of them were holding their phones out in front of them to document the event. I pursed my lips together, half amused and half concerned about the idea of what would happen once those videos got back to my brother. As fun as it was to annoy him, logically, I knew it wasn’t a good idea to irritate the mafia, and being caught on camera assisting a fed in
