“You’re him,” she muttered nervously. “Alessandro’s bother.”
“Yes, yes,” Nick grumbled impatiently. “Listen to me. Samuel turned on the Family. Somebody threatened to harm you and your girls if he didn’t carry out a mission. He told the feds about it. We’re here to get you somewhere safe, but we need to go now.”
Mia looked back and forth between Nick and me, her mouth agape and shock clear in her eyes.
“I-I need to peak with Samuel,” she stuttered.
“You can’t,” Nick replied through gritted teeth. “He’s being held in protective police custody right now. Look, the Family almost certainly knows by now that he squealed. We don’t have time to stand here talking about this.”
“Okay.” She nodded slowly after another moment of hesitation. “Okay, I’ll go wake up the girls.”
She rushed off toward the back of the house.
“Stay here and keep watch.” I looked at Nick. “I’ll go help her get ready.”
Actually, I needed to make sure that she wasn’t back there trying to call someone in her panic. I moved down the hall in the direction I’d seen her heading and spotted her through an open doorway, bent over a crib.
“Do you need any help?” I asked as I entered what was clearly the two daughters’ room. Toys and crayons were scattered all over the floor, and a colorful, animal-themed mural was painted along one of the walls of the room. “I’m Agent Park, by the way.”
“Hi.” She smiled awkwardly in response. “Could you hold her for a second while I get Jenny up?”
She thrust the baby into my arms before I could answer and moved to the other side of the room to wake up the little girl sleeping in bed there.
“Come on, cara mia, we need to go,” she crooned softly.
The little girl groaned and rubbed her eyes before looking up at her mom.
“Where are we going?” she asked curiously.
Mia turned to look at me before answering.
“We’re going on a little trip.” She smiled down at the girl. “It’s a surprise, so we’ll find out when we get there, okay?”
“Okay.” The girl nodded sleepily as she got out of bed.
“Here,” Mia whispered as she snatched a backpack up off of the floor in front of the bed. She went to the closet and stuffed it full of random clothes before coming back to sling it around Jenny’s shoulders. “Wear this, okay?”
She took her daughter’s hand and looked at me with trepidation before leading the way out of the room and back down the hallway.
“Are you ready?” Nick snapped his head around to look at us as he heard us approaching.
“Yes.” Mia nodded shakily.
“All right,” Nick replied before moving quickly to the front door and throwing it open again. Just as she did, a car pulled off of the road and onto the driveway. I squinted as the bright beams of its headlights illuminated the front of the house.
“Crap,” Nick hissed. “Get back inside!”
He’d barely managed to slam the door back shut again when the first barrage of bullets came streaming through the front window. I dove to the ground, careful not to crush the baby I still had cradled in my arms. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nick shove Mia to the floor as well.
Mia and Jenny were both screaming now, but I could barely hear them over the sound of gunfire. I clenched my jaw as I racked my brain and tried to figure out what our next move should be. We could try to escape out the back, but we probably wouldn’t get very far on foot with two hysterical kids in tow.
I was so focused on trying to come up with a solution that I almost didn’t notice when the gunfire suddenly stopped. I was tempted to take a peek outside, but I forced myself to stay still. It might be a trap, and I was also holding an infant civilian.
I could hear what sounded like voices arguing outside. Then the gunfire started back up again a moment later, and it relieved me that I hadn’t given in to the temptation to look out at what was happening. To my surprise, though, the bullets didn’t seem to come through the window anymore. I turned to look at Nick, and I knew by the expression on his face that he’d noticed it as well. They were definitely shooting out there, but not at us.
After another few seconds, the gunfire came to a stop yet again. I held absolutely still, unsure what was going on or how I should react.
“Yo, Nick!” A voice called from outside the house. I snapped my head around to look at my partner, who seemed just as confused as I was. “You still alive in there?”
The voice didn’t sound hostile. In fact, it almost sounded as though whoever was speaking was trying not to laugh.
After a few seconds of silence, Nick got to his feet slowly and walked toward the window. I could see the look on his face melt from one of apprehension into one of relief as he looked at whoever was standing out there.
“Hey, he is alive!” The voice called again cheerfully.
“It’s fine,” Nick sighed as he moved back to help Mia up off the ground. “We can go out now. You should probably cover her eyes, though.”
Mia blinked at him before lifting Jenny into her arms.
“Close your eyes, baby,” she whispered softly into the little girl’s ear. She was still crying, and she clutched onto her mom’s shoulders like a lifeline.
I wasn’t any less confused, but I decided to trust Nick and follow him outside as he stepped through the door. Once I was out on the front lawn, I understood why he’d told Mia to cover her daughter’s eyes. There were four bodies littered across the grassy lawn, riddled with bullet holes and surrounded by dark blood spatter.
“Looks like we got here right in time, huh?” I looked up and finally saw the man who’d been speaking the entire time. He looked young
