by Terra Kelly
He pulled up Cooper on his phone. “Hey, we need help getting out of town.”
“What do you mean?” Cooper asked on the other line.
“Well, we’re being shot at by a man in a helicopter. Fuck.” Ricky grabbed his arm. “And now I’ve been shot. Things have gone from bad to worse.”
“Where are you going to be?”
“In the center of town in St. Cloud. We plan to be around people to help avoid any more incidences.” Ricky put pressure on his arm.
“Go to Letizia’s bakery. That is the perfect pick-up point.”
“Got it. See you soon.”
“Stay safe.”
“Excuse me,” Ricky said, walking into Z’s Bakery. “I injured myself. Do you have a couple towels I can have?”
An older woman wearing a hairnet stepped around the counter. “Oh my, that looks bad. You may need to go to the hospital.”
“Yeah, I’m just waiting for someone to pick me up,” Ricky lied. He glanced around the place and thought about the files he read about Letizia. So this was her baby she created. The woman handed him two white hand towels. “Thank you. I’m curious, what does Z stand for on the sign?”
“The owner of the bakery, Letizia. We all called her Z or Zia.”
“She’s not around anymore?” Ricky was fishing for information. He was curious if Finley and Letizia stopped by St. Cloud. If they did, that could answer why Giano’s men were waiting in town. He still couldn’t figure out how Johnny stayed off the radar for six days, though.
“She visited us about a month ago. It was so good to see her.”
Ricky gave a pained smile and put more pressure on his wound. “What is the best thing on the menu here?”
“The Pain Au Chocolat is hands down the best pastry, but just like the sign says, we do make the best cupcakes this side of the Atlantic.”
“Well, I’ll take a dozen of your best pastries to go.”
The woman seemed excited and bustled over to the glassed-in case to prepare a box of goodies to-go. He sat there, waiting by the big bay window. Miles and Johnny were outside in an alley waiting.
His phone buzzed with a text message from Miles. There are three SUVs approaching the bakery. Can you see them?
He quickly texted back. Yup. I’ll be right out.
The woman set the box on the table. “Here you go, sir. That will be twenty-two dollars.”
Ricky handed her a two twenties. “Keep the change.”
“Oh wow, thank you. Here.” She ran over to the pastry counter and grabbed a cupcake that was sitting on a tray. “This is a cupcake recipe we’re testing. Give it a try.”
He smiled and took a bite. “You need to think about serving that here soon.” He raised his hand and waved as he walked out the door.
“You okay?” Miles asked, taking the box from him.
“I will be. It’s just a flesh wound,” Ricky said, holding up the cupcake. “This is helping.”
“Zia will be happy to hear you supported her bakery.”
“They were here a month ago.”
“What? You’re kidding, right?”
Johnny slid into the back seat. “You mean I just missed her?”
“I guess so. She’s probably the reason for the helicopter and sweet Dana Little,” Ricky said, tightening the towel around his arm. He looked over at Johnny. “How were you able to stay under the radar for six days? If I find out you’re still working with them, I will make sure you have a cell in prison with Dego.”
“I have a wig and baggy clothes I wear out. Plus, I stayed in the basement and out of sight.”
“How did you make the ravioli?”
“At night and with minimal light.”
Miles touched Ricky’s arm. “Hey, he’s not the enemy.”
“Sorry, it’s hard to know who to trust these days.” Ricky reached into the box of pastries. “Think Zia will get to open another bakery?”
Miles took a bite of a cupcake and moaned. “She should. This shit is amazing.”
Johnny grabbed a Pain Au Chocolat. “Do you know when she opened the bakery?”
“Around twenty twelve, if I remember right.” Ricky tapped the driver on the shoulder. “You taking us to the airport?”
“Yes, sir. Cooper’s orders were to get you to the airfield and ensure your plane leaves safely.”
Ricky rested his head back. “Perfect. Wake me when we get there.”
“We will be there in twenty minutes, sir.”
Twenty-Four
“Music Man.” Vikki ran over and wrapped her arms around his body.
“Hey, kitten.” He pulled her tightly against his body. “I brought a treat.”
“Oh,” she winked. “Something good, eh?”
“Well, we all know where your mind went fast. As much as I love how your mind works. Actually, we brought back pastries from Zia’s bakery.”
“Shut up.” She pushed at his chest. “I want one of those amazing cupcakes.”
“Here, sweetie,” Preslie said, opening the box.”
Vikki inhaled the scent and reached for one with peach-colored frosting. “Holy mother of all that is holy. She needs to make me a batch of these when she gets back.” Preslie leaned her head in and took a bite of her cupcake. “Hey.” Vikki pulled it away. “Get your own.”
“You should share.” Everyone turned to find Letizia standing in the doorway.
Finley held his hands up. “We got word from Cooper we needed to come home.”
“Holy shit, man.” Miles held his hand out and grabbed Finley’s to shake. “It’s good to see you.”
Vikki noticed the guy, Johnny, that came back with Ricky and Miles stand up from the couch in the corner of the room. She had a feeling this moment with Letizia was a big deal for more than just her friends. When Cristiano stepped into the room, the man gasped.
“Cristiano?” Johnny whispered.
She watched Cris turn toward the man, but he never moved.
“Cris,” Miles said, stepping closer to the boy. “That’s Johnny. Do you remember him from the Italian restaurant?”
“Yeah. He also tried to kill me.”
Vikki knew Cris was only thirteen, but he sounded like he was thirty. She couldn’t image what it must have been like to be thrown into an unknown world.
“No, that’s not true,” Johnny said, stepping closer.
Letizia wrapped her arms around her cousin’s shoulders. “You sure about that? He had a concussion and still has nightmares.”
Ricky cleared his throat. “Hey.” Vikki noticed he was uncomfortable intruding on their conversation. “Johnny has been trying to find you to help you both.”
Vikki glanced over at Preslie. “How much of that do you think they both will buy?”
“Hopefully all of it because it’s true.”
Ricky grabbed a file out of his bag. “Here. This will tell you more of what you need to know.”
“He had Letizia’s dad killed,” Finley said, taking the file from his outstretched hand.
“That’s not true,” Johnny insisted. “Lando insisted we hide the money we both took. We knew we took a chance but honestly, it was worth it.” He put his hands up in surrender. “Hear me out. Lando wanted you and your mom to be safe. He knew the money he took would ensure that.”
Ricky scowled. “Lando knew he may die?”
“Yeah, I should be dead, too. When I told Lando I would cooperate with Giano, he agreed. It took the target off me completely, so he made me promise you all were cared for.”
“So what went wrong?” Letizia asked.
“We never expected him to kill your mom,” Johnny admitted. “Alessandra took you and ran.”
“But Ella?”
“Yeah, Ali didn’t have time to take her, so she left Ella with me.”
“And.”
“And Giano found her at my place. I was technically still on the shit list with Giano, because I was at the drop off with Lando when he fucked up.”
“So,
he just took her from you?”
“Yeah, I couldn’t say a word. When I did work for him a few more times over the years, I had to act like I didn’t know her anymore. She was raised to believe Giano was her father,” Johnny said, sitting back down. “Everything was fucked up.” He covered his head with his hands.
Ricky sat down next to him. “Ella is not someone you would want in your life.”
“She’s a fucking bitch now,” Vikki said from the other side of the room.
“I know.” Johnny lifted his head. “I knew I lost my daughter forever the moment Giano walked out of my house. I lost everyone.”
“Not everyone,” Cris whispered. He stepped up beside Johnny. “You’re the one mom missed all the time?”
Ricky watched as Johnny stood up. Both men were facing each other but rooted to their spots. Then Cristiano lunged forward and wrapped his arms around Johnny’s waist.
Ricky reached for Vikki’s hand and pulled her close to his body. “Hey, Zia. I have a treat in that box.”
She gasped. “Are they doing okay?”
“They’re fine. The short woman with a hairnet helped me.”
“Awww, Stacy. God, I miss them.”
Vikki moaned. “Honey, you need to open a bakery here in Toronto. I’ll help you run it.”
“You don’t want to help, you just want to eat all the goodies,” Preslie said, nudging her friend’s side.
“That may be true, but I’m an amazing cheerleader.”
Ricky tickled her side. “What? Cheer for the croissants on Monday and the Pain Au Chocolat on Wednesday?”
“Exactly. Plus, cupcake cheering all weekend long.”
The room erupted in laughter. Then there was a light knock on the door. Ricky opened it to find a young officer holding a box. “This was dropped off about ten minutes ago. It’s been inspected and safe to open.”
Ricky held up the box. “This is odd.”
“What part of this adventure has not been odd?” Vikki teased.
He pulled open the top of the box and found a video camera resting at the bottom. A sticky note was attached to the side. While you were all celebrating.
“What the fuck is this supposed to mean?” He held the note up. “Who else knows we’re in this room?”
“No one,” Cooper said.
“Well, someone does.” He pulled out the camera, opened the view finder, and hit play. “Fuck.” He handed the camera to Cooper.
They watched on the camera as their partner, Erickson, had something placed over his head and was carried out of the building.
“We have a fucking mole in this building,” Ricky said, throwing the box across the room.
“Are you surprised?” Johnny asked. “It’s Giano. He knows how to get his hands on everyone and everything.”
Cooper closed the view finder on the camera. “Miles and Ricky, I need you in my office now.”
“Need my help, boss?” Finley stepped forward.
“You sure you’re ready?”
“More than ready.”
Twenty-Five
“Daddy, you did it.” Ella pushed the cop into the backseat of the SUV. “They really are stupid.”
“An eye for an eye, right baby?” Giano turned in his seat. “So, Erickson. Think they will be interested in rescuing you anytime soon?” The cop stayed silent, so Giano nodded to Ella.
She quickly hit him hard on the side of his head with her gun. “Daddy was talking to you.”
“They’ll come for me soon.”
Giano let out a maniacal laugh. “They need to find our hiding place first. After all these years, I doubt they will succeed.”
“Daddy, can I play with him when we get home.”
“He’s all yours.”
Twenty-Six
“How the hell did they manage to exit the building unnoticed?” Ricky watched the footage on the camera for the third time. He was trying to find any clues that could help them.
“Here’s the security camera footage,” Cooper said, setting a laptop on the desk.
They watched Erickson sitting at his desk, working on his computer. A man tapped him on his shoulder, and then they watched as Erickson followed the man out of the room. Cooper clicked to the next camera where they watched Erickson open a door to the back dock area. There were two large metal trash bins against the wall; otherwise, the area was wide open. A man in jeans and a T-shirt approached Erickson, and from the video, it looked like they were just talking. Then someone from behind the trash bin reached out and placed a cover over his head. He was dragged into the backseat of an SUV. The driver was smart and stayed at an angle where you couldn’t read the license plate number; until the last shot when the SUV turns out of the back dock area, and you catch a glimpse of the first four digits.
“Can we zoom in to get a better view of the license plate?” Miles asked.
“It may be difficult,” Ricky said, trying to manipulate the screen and get the area in focus.
“We just need it enough to where we can work to make out each letter or number.”
“Here, that should be enough.” Ricky leaned back.
Miles pointed at one of the blurry objects. “That’s definitely a Z.”
“That’s a five,” Cooper tapped on the screen.
“Is that a zero or the letter O?” Ricky scowled. “Okay, so first is an A, then Z, five and possibly a zero or an O.” He looked over at Miles and Cooper. “Agree?”
“I agree.” Miles nodded.
“Okay, I’m going to have the first four numbers searched with all SUVs that match the one in the video.” Ricky dialed a number. “I’ll have the technical analyst do two searches to look at zero and also one for O.”
“Good. I’m going to go look at what he was last working on, on his computer,” Cooper said, heading out of the room.
The guys headed back downstairs. Ricky turned to everyone. “Okay, we are still going to stay in lockdown here in the precinct. I definitely don’t want you all chancing it by staying home alone.” Ricky stepped closer to Vikki. “I know this is not ideal. I get it.”
“Where should Letizia, Cris, and Johnny stay?” Finley asked, wrapping his arm around Letizia’s waist.
Vikki raised her hand. “I’m alone in my room. Why don’t you take mine? I can stay with Preslie while Ricky and Miles are gone.”
“That works for me.” Preslie nodded.
“Cooper worked his magic to get the two rooms for us. I don’t think there is a way to get a third,” Ricky said, standing up and reaching for Vikki. “I guess we all just have to get to know each other a little more now.”
“It’s been a long time coming,” Letizia said, looking at Johnny.
It took about an hour to get everything settled and figure out their first action plan. Ricky knew Giano would not use his normal homes; that would be too easy. He probably had a new place to hide out. After careful research, they all agreed even with a new place, there could be an underground tunnel that connected all his places.
Miles mentioned the basement at the home where Cristiano was held. Somehow, Giano had managed to disappear that day.
“Let’s look at the home where he usually stayed first.” Miles pointed on the computer at the list of places. “Can we get the floor plans from the city for the place?”
“I don’t know if it works that way?” Ricky scowled. “Plus, Giano would’ve kept all the plans, so his hiding spots always stayed a secret.”
“Let’s check. I don’t want to assume and miss something.”
Ricky kissed Vikki’s temple. “Stay safe.”
“You’ll come back soon?” She pouted.
“I’ll try. It’s Giano we’re talking about.”
“And he probably has some plan for Erickson,” Johnny said from the other side of the room. “I can help if you want?”
“No, you’ve been through enough.” Miles walked over and placed his hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “I think you need to stay here and play catch up.” Johnny
nodded and reached for Cristiano’s hand.
Ricky looked around the room. Every one of them had been through some challenge. When did they finally get to catch a break? He was determined to find Giano and Dego to end this once and for all. Then he had plans to take the most gorgeous redhead to his house and never leave.
Miles took the lead and Ricky followed behind him. He glanced back one more time and noticed everyone watching as they exited the room.
“Think we can find Giano’s hideout?” Ricky asked, brushing his hands through his short hair.
“Yeah, I do.” Miles turned a corner. “Giano has left a good enough cookie trail this whole time. I think this last scene will be the easiest round yet.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Miles slapped Ricky on the chest. “Hey, you know I’m always right.”
“You just keep believing that, my brother.”
“This is the house where Giano normally stays.” Ricky pointed to the four-story mansion just on the outskirts of town. “From what we gathered with intel, most of his meetings were held at this house.”
“So, the chances of them coming here have to be slim.” Miles opened the floor plan they were able to get from the city. “Do you remember me telling you about the basement in the home where we rescued Cris? How it had floor plans for a basement but Letizia confirmed it was double the size it showed on the plans.”
“We need to assume the same here.”
“I think so, too. We need to see if we can find any hidden doors.”
“Is Finley on his way?”
“Yeah, but he will stay in the truck to monitor the premises for us.”
“Yeah, this place is going to be lit up with men.”
Ricky checked his hand gun and put extra magazines in his pockets. Then he grabbed his Colt AR-15. “They may be lit up with men, but I’m ready to take every one of them down.”
“Let’s try to go unnoticed for as long as possible.”
