Chapter 11 11
“Elena, take cover by your right while I move to the left.”
Salvatore’s voice sounded from a distance as his silhouette lunged toward the door with his handgun raised.
One of his thumbs flicking the safety off.
"Salvatore, no!" Elena’s voice screamed after him.
She scrambled from behind the bookcase, her legs shaking so hard she nearly collapsed. Through the haze, she had confirmed it wasn't the Russian mercenaries.
"Press! Stay back!” she shouted after Salvatore
“It's the police, stay back!" She urged him.
Then a loud crashing sound came on the double walled door.
“Are you in there? Elena! Elena, give us a sign!"
Now that wasn't a one man voice but the desperate roar of a public that thought they were witnessing a miracle.
"Get back, Elena!" Salvatore roared, his voice heavy as he let out his words. He looked at her with wild eyes. "If they breach this room, I won't be able to stop them.”
"They’re not hitmen!" Elena lunged for him, grabbing his shooting arm with both hands. Her weight nearly pulled him over. "Look at the monitors!” She pointed from the small space where the curtains didn't cover. “Those are cameras, Salvatore! Those are my people!"
The screen came to live again. “Reporting live from the Moretti’s estate—”
“Sorry, I've been informed that this isn't a property of the Moretti but the Romano.” “I am Lucia Santio.”
From the screen, the courtyard was filled with people. But between the police cruisers were the news vans. Dozens of them.
"Does it matter if they aren't Russians?" Salvatore hissed, his breath coming in shallow, pained hitches. “If I let them in, I’m a dead man. If I fight them, I’m a monster. Either way, I lose."
“Police order! Police order!” “All occupants of this building should move out with hands raised.”
“Failure to do so after five minutes and you're calling for us.” Panic rushed through Elena's body as she thought of a way out.
“No sign of the occupants of this great fortress but we are assured it isn't abandoned and without recent occupants though we've confirmed that it hasn't been used for a while now.” “Do you think they have moved?” Lucia's straight voice sounded from the screen.
“The police have also announced entering on their own accord if the occupants refuse to comply with their terms.”
"They’re going to sentence you if they finally get in," Elena shifted uncomfortably, her eyes wide as she looked at the blood soaking through his shirt. “I don't want you to be vulnerable to your enemies.”
"Go to the basement," Salvatore commanded her in his own bid to shake her off. "Luciano is waiting. Go!"
"No, I would never.” she screamed.
Elena reached out and snatched the phone from the desk—the one linked to the fortress’s external speaker system. Her fingers flew across the glass for she knew the frequency. Even the back-door codes for the local news affiliates. She had used them a dozen times to file stories from the field.
"What are you doing?" Salvatore asked, his gun lowering slightly as he watched her.
"I'm saving you," she said, her voice cold without looking up.
She tapped a final command, and the massive external floodlights of the fortress flickered blinding the crowd outside. Simultaneously, every news van’s receiver in the courtyard crackled to life with a single, high-priority audio feed.
Elena pressed the phone to her lips.
"This is investigative journalist Elena Moretti," she said, in the manner Lucia sounded earlier.
The shouting outside stopped and a deafening silence followed.
"I am safe," Elena continued, her eyes locked on Salvatore. "I am not a hostage. I repeat, I am not a hostage."
Salvatore stared at her in bewilderment the gun hanging limp at his side. He looked at her as if she were a stranger.
"I have been working," Elena said into the microphone, her brain working at a thousand miles an hour, weaving a lie that would become the truth.
"For the past week, I have been under the protection of the Romano family. I am currently conducting an undercover investigation into a high-level conspiracy involving international human trafficking and the Volkov syndicate."
"Elena, what are you—" Salvatore whispered from where he'd slumped into a chair but she held up a hand to silence him.
"The case of my ‘missing status’ was a necessary cover to ensure the safety of my sources," she lied, her voice gaining strength. "Don Salvatore Romano has been acting as my primary security detail. Any attempt to breach this building will not only compromise a multi-year investigation but will be seen as an act of aggression against a journalist in the field."
She clicked the phone off.
The silence outside lasted for about a minute. Then, a roar erupted. The police stopped ramming the door and the red laser dots vanished from the walls.
Elena slumped against the desk, the adrenaline leaving her limbs in a rush. She looked at Salvatore. He was still standing there, looking at her with a mix of shock and something that looked dangerously like respect.
"An undercover investigation?" he asked, obviously not believing what she just did. "You just lied to the entire country, Elena. You just tied your reputation to a Romano."
"I didn't have a choice," she said, wiping a streak of soot from her forehead. "If I didn't give them a story they liked, they would have turned this room into a slaughterhouse. Now, they can't touch you without looking like they’re obstructing the press. I just made you the most famous bodyguard in Italy."
“You'd better be”/
Salvatore let out a short, dry laugh, but it quickly turned into a groan of pain. He sagged against the bookcase, his hand clutching his bleeding side.
"You're a dangerous woman, Elena Moretti," he breathed.
“You're a lot like me”
"I'm a journalist," she corrected him, walking over and putting her shoulder under his arm to keep him from falling. "And right now, the story is that we're on the same side. So you'd better start acting like it."
She led him toward the heavy doors. "Luciano!" she shouted. "Open the doors! We’re going out there!"
"Are you insane?" Salvatore hissed. "Dmitry could be in that crowd. Your father’s men—"
"They won't pull a trigger while every camera in Florence is live," Elena said, her jaw set. "We walk out, we give them a ten-second statement, and we get you to a doctor. If we stay in here, we’re cornered. If we go out there, we will actually convince them."
Luciano appeared from the shadows of the hallway, his gun tucked away, looking at Elena with wide eyes. "She’s right, Boss. The police have stepped back and they’re arguing with the reporters."
“We need to calm their fears.”
Salvatore looked at Elena. He reached out with his bloody thumb grazing her jawline. "You realized the only way to save the monster was to tell a lie?."
"It's not a lie," Elena said, her eyes burning. "I am investigating. And I’m starting with you. I want to know everything about my mother, Salvatore. And I want the documents you made my father sign. If I’m going to be your 'partner' in this story, I want the full lead."
Salvatore’s smirk returned, even through the paleness of his face. "A deal with the devil, then?"
"No," Elena said, reaching for the door handle. "A deal with me."
Then she threw the doors open.
The light was blinding. A hundred camera flashes went off at once. Elena stepped out onto the balcony overlooking the courtyard, her hand firmly gripped on Salvatore’s arm, supporting his weight.
She looked down at the sea of faces—the police, the reporters. Then Elena saw Lucia standing at the front of the press line. Her friend’s beaming with smiles.
“I really don't know what's going on but I'll soon” she whispered to herself.
Elena leaned into the microphone stand that had been set up on the balcony. She didn't look at the cameras but looked straight at Lucia.
"I'm back," Elena said, her voice echoing across the hills. "And the story is just getting started."
Beside her, Salvatore leaned in, his heat pressing against her side. He whispered so low only she could hear, "Careful, Elena. Once you start the hunt, you don't get to decide when it ends."
"I know," she whispered back.
As the crowd surged forward, shouting questions. Elena felt a cold, sharp hand grip her own leading her away from the crowd. And as she looked out at the chaos she had created, she realized she wasn't sure who was protecting whom anymore.