Page 55 of Love Me (Touch of Death 3)
I get to work, sliding the rucksack off my back. I set the blocks of C4 and the charger, wiring it all the same way I’ve done a hundred times before. Nicholai used to make us wire bombs blindfolded before we were even teenagers.
Once the charge is set, I move farther into the building, placing another block on the next corner, and the next until there are four charge points. I palm my gun as I step away from the building and jog back across into the open, exposed space to the fence. The silence here is eerie and unsettling. I haven’t seen a single person, though I know there is a guard on the main gate at the opposite end of the airfield. It seems too easy. Or maybe Enrique is just that arrogant.
I sprint back to the fence line and through the undergrowth to where Tommy holds open the small hole in the chain-link fence.
“All done?” he asks.
I nod, and we wait. The long grasses of the scrubby land around us catch in the wind, rustling gently. I narrow my eyes when I spot the glimmering blink of a flashlight. A single guard walks right past the front of the hangar. Were he looking for it, he’d find the C4 straight away, but of course, he won’t be looking for it.
Una texts to say that her port is set before Jackson does the same. We could just blow all three, but Una wants to wait. Her information is that Enrique’s uncle, Roberto, will be handling this shipment himself. Enrique has tightened his operation, only trusting his most loyal men. To lose a port is a blow, but to remove his circle of men, that’s possibly a harder one. Una won’t miss an opportunity to take out Roberto.
And so, we wait. And wait.
“Is…is Adelina okay? You know, since her sister died?” Tommy asks.
It’s a stupid question, but I imagine how she is: grieving and alone in that place with the very man who killed Gabriella. “I don’t know,” I whisper, and I hate that I don’t know—that I can’t even be there for her.
Tommy falls into silence for a moment. “You and Una will get him.”
I almost smile at the naïve kind of innocence that Tommy manages to possess despite years in Nero’s inner circle. No wonder Adelina liked him so much; he’s how she used to be.
My phone rings, Una’s name flashing across the screen. I answer it. “Yeah?”
“The uncle showed up here. He’s dead. Blow it.” She hangs up, and I glance at Tommy.
He already has the phone in his hand, an eager grin on his face.
“Do it,” I say.
His fingers fly over the manual buttons of the old-style flip phone. The first bang tears through the night, sending a ball of fire high into the air. Tommy flinches before throwing his head back on a laugh. The other three go off almost simultaneously, and I turn my head, shielding my face from the wall of heat that hits us. The darkness is now non-existent, consumed by the blazing inferno in the night sky.
The building collapses, revealing the burning corpses of small lanes within. The hangar next door soon catches fire, and several further explosions take place as fire meets jet fuel. It’s carnage. It’s exactly what we wanted.
“Come on.” I grab Tommy’s arm and drag him to his feet. “We don’t want to be here when that reaches the fuel store.”
We get into the car and drive across the rough terrain until we reach a small road. The flames from the airstrip can still be seen a good few miles down the road.
“Do you think it’ll work and he’ll retaliate?” Tommy asks, his gaze fixed on the flames that are now an orange dot in the side mirror. I don’t answer, but that doesn’t deter him. “I thought you wanted him dead. Why not just kill him now?”
I sigh. “These things take time, planning. This time, when Enrique Bianchi dies, he will stay dead.”
“I hope he doesn’t hurt Adelina.” He genuinely fears for her, even after she smashed him on the head with a lamp and ran away. Poor kid. He’s too soft for this life.
I can’t imagine Tommy killing someone. I’ve often wondered why Nero keeps him around, but since meeting Adelina, I can see the reasoning more. Men like Nero and me, we’re governed by cold, ruthless decisions. We do what needs to be done. We lack humanity in our judgment. I used to think it was a weakness, but I no longer believe that to be true. In a family of cold killers, Tommy is the humanity, perceived as the weakest link, but in fact, a vital part of the equation.
“She’s tougher than she looks.” It’s all I can say because he’s voicing my own fears, but I can’t think about it. If I do, I’ll go into that hotel and take her, killing anyone who gets in my way.
