Chapter 4 - The Hostage in the Carriage House
"Don't go alone," Lorenzo commanded, gripping my shoulder.
"She will kill my sister!" I yelled, tears streaming down my face.
"You have your mother back! I need Lily!"
"You won't go alone because I am coming with you," Lorenzo said.
He turned to his capos.
"Surround the carriage house. Cut the power lines. Nobody fires until the girl
is clear."
Baron pushed past my legs.
His ears were flattened.
His scarred lips were pulled back, showing long, yellow canines.
He knew the scent of our enemy.
We sprinted through the flooded rose gardens.
The carriage house was a two-story brick building near the bayou canal.
Smoke was already curling from the ground-floor windows.
The smell of gasoline hit my nostrils.
"Bianca!" I screamed, kicking the side door open.
The interior was illuminated by flickering orange flames.
Straw bales were burning near the wooden stalls.
Tied to a heavy cypress pillar was Lily.
Her mouth was taped with silver duct tape.
Her eyes were wide with sheer terror.
Standing behind her was Bianca, holding a lit road flare and a snub-nosed
revolver.
Beside her stood two Delacroix cartel enforcers with submachine guns.
"Step back, Evelyn!" Bianca shrieked, pressing the hot flare inches from Lily’s
hair.
"Tell Lorenzo to bring the Geneva vault papers and a boat, or this whole place
goes up in ash!"
Lorenzo stepped into the doorway behind me.
He didn't raise his guns.
He held his hands in plain sight.
"The papers are in my coat, Bianca. Let the child go."
Bianca sneered, her eyes wildly dilated.
"You always thought you were untouchable, cousin! Uncle left everything to you
and that old hag! My father got scraps! SCRAPS!"
"Your father stole ten million from the union pension," Lorenzo replied evenly.
"He was lucky I let him die in a bed instead of the swamp."
"Shut up!" she screamed, her hand trembling.
"Guards, take his coat!"
One of the Delacroix enforcers stepped toward Lorenzo.
Baron didn't wait for a command.
With a low, demonic roar, the crippled war dog launched himself across the
burning floor.
His jaws clamped directly onto the enforcer's throat.
The man shrieked, collapsing into the flaming straw.
The second gunman turned his weapon toward the dog.
I drew the heavy steel revolver Lorenzo had tucked into my waistband.
I leveled it with both hands.
I pulled the trigger.
The recoil kicked hard into my wrists.
The bullet struck the gunman in the chest.
He fell backward into the bayou canal behind the open doors.
Bianca panicked.
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She dropped the flare straight into the gasoline puddle at Lily’s feet.
Fire exploded upward in a wall of blinding heat.
