Page 61 of Greed

I look at Bruno. “The men need to attack from all sides but concentrate on the front. They need to kill the ten guards immediately and force their way in. They must engage with the men inside straight away and make sure no one runs off or diverts from the fight. Cosimo will move straight ahead once entering, and Francesco will move right while Andrea and I will tackle the left side to search for Giovanni and Gia. They must not be hurt.”

Andrea looks up at Lorenzo, who looks thoughtful. “What do you think?”

“It sounds like the best plan we’ve got,” Lorenzo finally says

Andrea looks at me, nodding. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

Francesco speaks again on the phone. “After dealing with Tony’s men, one thing I can confirm is Tony is fucking unhinged. He has no limits and will do anything. That includes hurting Gia and Giovanni.”

My blood boils at the thought of anything happening to my son, or Gia, but I force myself to remain calm. I need to have a clear head if I’m going to launch this attack and save them both.

Andrea starts to pace. “How long until the men are here?”

“At least twenty minutes,” Lorenzo says.

I look at Bruno, who nods. “Same.”

I feel Andrea’s worry. That’s too long. Too much can happen between now and then. Andrea continues to pace as we wait. I know everyone is going as fast as they can, and as men come in, we guide them to the weapons room where they can load up. I don’t care how much they take as long as we get back what’s most precious to me.

It’s the afternoon by the time we’re ready, and I am freaking out but trying to appear calm. Both Andrea and I are in bulletproof vests, with our guns strapped to us.

The men are all in cars outside, and we’re about to leave. I look at Leroy, who is staying behind. “Remember, once I give the signal, dispose of them.”

Leroy nods and looks at the men. Some of them are praying, some of them are crying, some are doing both.

We split up into groups and drive to the Everglades, where the building is. We meet at the assembly point Francesco and Cosimo made, and from here we walk.

We make our way through high grass and dense vegetation. I ignore the mosquitoes that buzz around me. I watch out for copperheads and alligators.

It’s hot and humid, and we’re sweating under our bulletproof vests in no time. Our brothers weren’t kidding about the building being hard to access. It takes us half an hour to stalk up to the building, and every minute that ticks by kills me a little more.

We spread out as we get closer. We surround the building, and Cosimo waits until everyone is in position before he radios to attack.

The guards are outnumbered but hold their ground behind shelters and fire back. I can hear shouting over the gunshots. Other guards rush out from inside the building, and the shootout continues.

It takes longer than I anticipated it would, and we gain ground very slowly. Finally, we make some headway, and Cosimo, Francesco, Andrea, and I manage to storm the building, with a few of our men coming in to keep the other guards distracted.

What I thought was just a large warehouse actually turns out to be a warren of rooms and passages.

“There are men everywhere,” I shout to Andrea over my gunfire.

“How are we going to find them?” Andrea shouts back as he shoots at more guards surging out of the passages ahead of us.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

ANDREA

Ishoot with precision. I may not be the crack shot that Matteo is—from what I can see, the man just doesn’t fucking miss—but I’m not bad.

We shoot at the men in the room, and Matteo shouts over to me. “We need to find them.”

“Get these guys down, then we’ll move on,” I shout.

We continue to fire, reloading as we go.

Soon all the men in the room are down, and we glance at each other. I nod and lead the way into the next room, keeping my gun trained ahead of me.

I sense our men coming in behind us, covering our backs as we cover each other's. We reach the next room that runs off to various corridors and into a more open warehouse space.