Chapter 4 - THE CHILD'S DRAWING
Agent Russo kept his gun aimed at the glass.
Luca didn’t move. He glanced at Elena. Her hands were still gripping the steering wheel, but her eyes were locked on Russo.
“He’s not FBI,” Elena whispered, her voice tight. “Look at his boots.”
Luca looked down. Beneath the tactical pants, Russo was wearing $2,000 custom Italian leather loafers. Federal agents wore combat boots. Mob fixers wore Italian leather.
“Carmine’s payroll,” Luca realized, the puzzle pieces clicking together in a terrifying picture.
Uncle Carmine wasn’t just a trusted advisor. He was the puppet master. He had orchestrated Adrian’s hit six years ago, forged Luca’s signature, and just now, he had used Marco’s ambition to try and eliminate Luca. Carmine wanted the throne, and he was wiping out the entire bloodline to take it.
Russo tapped the glass harder. “Last warning, Luca. Open the door.”
“Hold on,” Elena said.
She reached beneath the steering column, her fingers finding a hidden switch. She flipped it.
The sedan’s engine roared to life with a deafening, modified scream.
“Hold onto something!” she yelled.
Elena slammed the car into reverse. The sedan shot backward, smashing violently into the FBI SUV parked behind them. The impact shattered their rear window and threw Russo to the concrete.
Gunfire erupted. Bullets chewed into the armored doors of the sedan, spider-webbing the bulletproof glass.
Elena threw the shifter into drive and stomped on the gas. The car surged forward, scraping against the concrete pillar and tearing the side mirror off, before bursting through the closed wooden barrier of the garage exit.
They hit the city streets at eighty miles an hour, tires screaming against the wet pavement.
“They’re going to hunt us down,” Luca said, pulling a piece of glass from his shoulder. “Carmine owns half the police force. Nowhere in this city is safe.”
“I’m not trying to be safe,” Elena said, her voice shaking with raw desperation. “I’m trying to find my son.”
She pulled the car into a narrow alley behind a dilapidated, abandoned strip mall on the edge of the city. The rain was coming down in sheets now, masking the sound of their engine.
Elena killed the lights and slumped against the steering wheel. A choked sob escaped her throat.
“He’s five, Luca,” she cried, covering her face. “He’s terrified of the dark. And Carmine’s men have him. They’re going to kill him just to hurt Adrian.”
Luca felt a hollow ache in his chest. A nephew he had never met, paying the price for the sins of a family he didn't even know he belonged to.
“We will find him,” Luca said softly, his voice carrying the absolute certainty of a man who had nothing left to lose. “I swear to you on my life, Elena. I will burn this city to the ground before I let Carmine touch that boy.”
Elena wiped her eyes. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a crumpled, folded piece of paper.
“When Marco’s men took him from our apartment,” she whispered, “Leo dropped this on the floor. He’s obsessed with drawing. He never goes anywhere without his crayons.”
She handed it to Luca.
It was a child’s drawing on a piece of construction paper. Stick figures. A woman with long hair, a little boy holding a red balloon, and a tall man with no face.
But it wasn't the figures that caught Luca’s attention.
It was the background.
Leo had drawn a massive, black building with two towering steeples and a giant broken clock face. Above the building, drawn in thick black crayon, was a massive wooden cross.
Luca stared at the drawing, his breath hitching.
“Elena,” Luca said, his eyes widening. “Did Leo ever see the men who were watching your apartment before they took him?”
“Yes,” she said, confused. “He said scary men in dark cars were parked across the street.”
“And did Adrian ever visit you in secret? Take you anywhere?”
“No. We met once a year in a different city. He kept his distance to protect us.”
Luca looked at the faded train ticket he had pulled from Marco’s lighter.
St. Jude’s Orphanage. Midnight.
He looked back at the child’s drawing. The broken clock face. The twin steeples.
“This isn't just a drawing,” Luca said, his heart pounding. “This is a memory. Adrian didn't abandon Leo. He’s been watching him. And Leo saw where his father hides.”
“What?” Elena leaned closer, staring at the drawing.
“St. Jude’s Orphanage,” Luca said. “It burned down twenty years ago. The clock tower was destroyed. This is exactly what the ruins look like. Adrian is hiding in the tunnels beneath the old orphanage. And he’s waiting for us.”
May you like
Luca loaded his weapon.
“Drive,” he ordered.
