Chapter 6 - BULLETS AND BRACES
The kitchen was a warzone. The air was thick with the acrid smell of cordite and pulverized marble. The Russos had automatic weapons; I had a handgun and a desperate need to protect the two people cowering behind me.
"Anna!" I shouted over the deafening roar of gunfire. "The pantry! It's reinforced steel! Drag her inside!"
"She can't run!" Anna screamed back, tears streaming down her face. "Her leg! The brace is jammed!"
I cursed. When the stool had fallen, the metal hinge of Lily's brace had hooked agonizingly around the heavy iron base of the prep table. She was trapped.
A heavily armed Russo soldier peeked over the island. I fired, grazing his shoulder. He ducked back with a curse, but another man blindly sprayed an arc of bullets that shattered the overhead lights, plunging the kitchen into strobe-lit chaos.
I had to move. If I stayed behind the counter, they would flank us.
I holstered my weapon for a fraction of a second, grabbed a heavy cast-iron skillet from the rack, and hurled it across the room. It smashed into a pile of glassware with a deafening crash. The gunmen whipped around toward the sound, firing at the distraction.
I used the two seconds of cover to dive across the open floor, sliding hard into the cabinets right next to Anna and Lily.
"Mr. Moretti!" Anna cried out.
"Keep your head down," I growled. I grabbed the iron base of the table with one hand and Lily's brace with the other. The metal was twisted tightly. I strained, my muscles burning, ignoring the bullets tearing into the drywall inches from my head. With a brutal yank, I snapped the iron rung, freeing the brace.
Lily let out a sharp cry of pain.
"I know, sweetheart, I know," I said, scooping her small, fragile body into my left arm. She was so light. I pressed her face into my shoulder, shielding her with my body. With my right hand, I pulled my gun back out. "Anna, stay right behind me. We move on three."
"I can't!"
"You can, and you will!" I commanded, my eyes locking onto hers. "I will not let you die in my house. Do you understand me?"
Anna nodded, terrified but resolute.
"One. Two. Three!"
I stood up, firing relentlessly at the island to keep their heads down. "Move!" I roared. Anna scrambled toward the heavy steel door of the walk-in pantry. I backed up behind her, laying down cover fire.
Just as Anna pulled the pantry door open, a Russo soldier leaned out to take a shot at her back.
My gun clicked empty.
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Without thinking, I threw myself violently backward, putting my body between the bullet and Anna. The impact felt like a sledgehammer hitting my left shoulder. Searing pain exploded through my arm, but I kept my grip on Lily. We crashed backward into the pantry, and Anna slammed the heavy steel door shut, spinning the lock just as bullets began raining against the outside of the metal.
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