Chapter 12 - THE TIDE TURNS
The crowbar struck the operative square across the shoulder, sending his pistol clattering across the floorboards.
He bellowed in pain, stumbling backward into the bookshelf.
Luca didn't hesitate, following up with a brutal right hook that knocked the man out cold.
"You alright, Miss Romano?" Luca panted, wiping blood from his forehead.
"I'm fine! Help Matteo!" I shouted.
In the kitchen, Matteo and Richard were trading savage, bone-crushing blows.
Richard, despite his age, fought like a cornered animal, driving his elbow into Matteo's ribs.
Matteo grunted, spitting blood onto the linoleum floor, but grabbed Richard by the collar.
With a roar of pure fury, Matteo hurled Richard through the glass window of the living room.
The glass shattered into a thousand glittering shards as Richard plunged outward.
He landed hard on the metal fire escape landing below, groaning in agony.
Matteo stood over the smashed window frame, breathing heavily, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
He wiped blood from his lip and looked down at me.
"Are you hurt?" he asked, his voice rough.
"No," I whispered, rushing forward. "You're bleeding."
"It's nothing."
Luca kicked Richard's discarded pistol away and looked out the window.
"Boss, police sirens are getting closer. Federal units are flooding the block."
Matteo turned away from the window and picked up my mother's leather briefcase.
He handed it back to me.
"We have to move. Now."
"Where?" I asked.
"To the federal courthouse downtown," Matteo said with a chilling smile. "If Vance wants to play by the book, we'll give him the entire library."
We scrambled down the fire escape just as red and blue flashing lights illuminated the entire South Philadelphia block.
Officers swarmed the front entrance of the building, shouting orders through megaphones.
We slipped into the shadows of a narrow alleyway, ducking into the back of a waiting delivery van.
Luca slammed the rear doors shut.
The engine roared to life, and we sped off into the rainy night.
I sat in the dark back of the van, clutching the briefcase, looking at Matteo.
"You're actually going to turn the evidence over to the DOJ?"
"Not to the corrupt agents," Matteo replied, his eyes gleaming in the dashboard light. "To the Federal Prosecutor General. Personally."
"And if we get caught?"
Matteo looked at me, his expression softening just a fraction.
May you like
"Then we burn it all down together."
THE END OF CHAPTER 12
