“No danger? Weak? You think you are somehow better than us? Your ignorance is only matched by your ego.”
“Well, then, let’s make this interesting!” Fausto demanded. “Give me my knife, and we will see who the better warrior is. I know you all have blades of your own. If I can’t defend myself, how will this be any fun? Now, a ten to one knife fight sounds interesting to me. Or are you all the scared children that you appear to be?” Fausto and his theatrics had taken command of the room. All eyes were on him, and it appeared he would get the fight he wanted. At that moment, it all made sense to Gabrielle, and a small smile peeked out of her thin lips.
“Give the dog a damn knife if it’ll shut him up! All hands prepare. I want this man in pieces!” the soldier yelled.
CHAPTER FIVE
One of Fausto’s captors withdrew a long blade in a sheath from his pocket and threw it at him. Fausto caught it mid-air with a flourish and winked at Gabrielle. The ten soldiers that surrounded him all withdrew their blades and began to bob up and down in place, preparing themselves for battle.
Fausto slowly pulled the blade from its leather sheath and admired the two razor edges that ran down either side. He looked at his weapon like a photographer peers at a landscape, or an artist may look at his brush.
Gabrielle knew, without doubt, every soldier in the room would die.
Fausto had not been acting foolishly. He was playing a game of chess, and this was his checkmate. Of all the warriors in all of the world, the Arditi were known as the “Daring Ones.” They were some of the deadliest soldiers in history…with a knife.
“Inferno con te, cane. La tua morte è qui.” Fausto whispered as he brought his gaze up to meet the Nazi soldiers.
“I want him in pieces!” The Nazi soldier yelled again, and the room burst into chaos.
As the first soldier reached Fausto and swung his blade, Fausto ducked, grabbed the soldier’s arm and twisted him sideways creating a wall between him and the other attackers. Fausto’s blade found its way into the side of the soldier’s rib cage, and as his first attacker’s face went white, Fausto threw him into the rest of the group.
Fausto moved effortlessly from one combatant to another like he was taking part in an elaborately choreographed dance. Each shouted and swung their weapons with rage and death in their eyes, but none seemed the match for Fausto’s quick hands and lethal resolve. One by one, each Nazi soldier fell to the ground, lifeless at his feet.
Gabrielle looked up at the two soldiers that still held her captive, guns pointed directly at her. How was she going to get away from them? Maybe they were distracted enough by the show Fausto was putting on that they wouldn’t notice if she slipped by them, but on the other hand, she wasn’t willing to risk it. Not when she was this close to getting to Arawn.
Only four Nazi soldiers remained. They were standing within arm’s reach of Fausto and circling him like sharks. The Sargent ground his teeth as he spat on the ground at Fausto’s feet. Gabrielle was helpless to watch and hoped that Fausto was good enough to get them all out of this.
With a subtle shake of their heads, two of the men on opposing sides of Fausto nodded to one another. Before Gabrielle could shout a warning, they charged, but Fausto was one move ahead of them. Like a flash of lightning, he darted out of their path and directed one of the soldiers into the other by grabbing him around the arm and shoulder.
One soldier’s knife plunged into the other’s chest, and Fausto slid behind his living marionette, pulling him close to create a human shield. He then reached up with his knife and slit the soldier’s throat, letting his limp body slide to the ground. Only two soldiers remained, still circling him—the Sargent and a younger soldier, who was visibly shaking with fear.
“Well now, down to two. Pride comes before the fall, no?” Fausto teased as if he hadn’t just killed seven soldiers with nothing but a knife and his wit. The remaining men panted shallow breaths as they stood shoulder to shoulder, standing off with Fausto. “I’ll make a deal with you. If you throw down your weapon, strip to your bare skin and flee this structure damning Hitler and your decisions, I will let you go. How does that sound?”
Fausto’s ego truly knew no bounds. Every time he spoke, Gabrielle found herself in awe of the things he said. Gabrielle was pretty sure that if he ever did lose a fight, the failure in itself would kill him. The Sargent ground his jaw again in anger and tension once again filled the room, and Gabrielle, with dread.
“Petulant rodent! You dare mock us? You may have bested these boys, but I will see to it that you and all of your friends are burned alive!” the officer yelled. Fausto’s face went cold, and his arrogant smile faded.
“There seems to be a misunderstanding. When I offered that extremely generous form of mercy, I was only extending it to your remaining men. You, sir, aren't going anywhere.” Fausto gestured at the man with the tip of his blade. If Gabrielle hadn’t known any better, she would have sworn she saw a flash of fear on the soldier’s face, but it was quickly replaced with a snarl. She looked up to her guards, and they looked to one another as if they were considering the deal.
“Kill him!” the officer shouted, pushing the last remaining soldier with a knife toward Fausto. He stumbled a half step and then stopped, his knife shaking in his hand. The soldier, who could not have been more than seventeen stood, trembling as his commanding officer yelled at him to take Fausto down. The kid gripped his knife in his sweat drenched hand, but he didn’t move. After several minutes of the officer yelling obscenities and the soldier not moving an inch, the Sargent plunged his own knife into the young soldier’s back.
His face went white, his jaw slacked as if in shock, but he didn’t drop the knife. The officer then pushed the soldier toward Fausto. As the kid fell forward his arms swinging as if he could take back his decision by killing Fausto, Fausto stepped backward but not before the soldier brought his knife down on him, slicing his arm.
Fausto swung his arm and managed to punch the kid across the jaw as he fell backward. The soldier tumbled forward, landing face-first on the hard ground. The sound of his nose breaking echoed as he hit the floor, but it didn’t matter, the soldier couldn’t feel anything anymore. The two German soldiers guarding Gabrielle shifted in place, and she knew they were regretting not leaving when they’d had the chance. The Sargent calmly gripped his knife and stepped over the bodies of his fallen men to get to Fausto.
The two combatants became a blurred mixture of hands and blades—swinging, blocking, and grabbing. Surprisingly, the German soldier seemed well versed in knife combat as Fausto was not able to put him down as easily as he had the others.
The German officer lunged at Fausto, swinging his knife outward. Gabrielle flinched as Fausto jumped back just before the sharp blade sliced open his stomach. As Fausto jumped, he tripped over one of the fallen soldiers and stumbled. The officer took the opportunity and charged. Fausto was barely able to deflect the charge, and his knife went flying from his hand, clattering to the ground.
Now without a weapon, the soldier seized the opportunity and charged once more at Fausto. He thrust his knife forward, and Fausto grabbed the officer’s hands stopping the knife just as it was pressed against his chest. Twisting the soldier’s wrists away from his chest, Fausto guided the solider up and over his shoulder. Twisting them at the wrists and bringing the soldier around and off of his feet.
As the German soldier rolled over Fausto’s shoulders, Gabrielle’s captors raised their weapons and pointed them at Fausto. Acting on pure instinct, Gabrielle took the opportunity to make her move. She hammered her clenched fist into the groin of the man on her right. As he bent down and wailed in pain, she stuck him in the throat quieting his cries. He dropped to the floor coughing and screaming in a muted tone.
Just as the second soldier turned to see what the commotion was about, Gabrielle rotated her knee and swept his feet out from under him. With a hard thud, the second soldier slammed into the floor, landing on his back and knocking
the wind out of him. Two rounds escaped his rifle and tore a hole through the tattered roof of the silo. Gabrielle leaned back on her elbow and with the heel of her boot, kicked the man in the face. His head jerked sideways, and a faint “snap” followed. Gabrielle didn’t need to check to see if the soldier was still breathing, she knew no one could survive that sort of kick to the face.
The resounding echo of shots being fired in the silo distracted the Sargent just enough for Fausto to get the upper hand. He kicked the legs out from under the officer, but as he brought his combat boot up to deliver the final blow, the Sargent grabbed Fausto’s foot and pulled him down to the ground on top of him.
After a few seconds of disorientation, both Fausto and the Sargent noticed the knife lying on the ground next to them. The two grappled back and forth, vying for control of the knife. As they rolled and fought on the ground, Fausto dug his fingers into a wound on the Nazi officer’s leg causing him to yell and stiffen beneath the pain. In that instant, Fausto grabbed the weapon and forced it into the chest of his attacker while the officer still held it.
“Don’t move!” a voice shouted from behind Gabrielle. In all of the chaos, she had forgotten to deal with the other soldier that was clearly no longer dealing with the pain of being hit in the throat and groin. He now stood several feet from Gabrielle and fanned his weapon back and forth from Fausto to Gabrielle. He was too far out of reach for Gabrielle to be able to do anything.
“The commander said that the girl lives, and you die, but I think she’s earned her death! In fact, I will start with her…” The man brought the barrel of his weapon around and pointed it at Gabrielle. Thinking this would be it, Gabrielle damned herself for not hitting him harder. She wondered if she would even hear the shot.
Gabrielle squeezed her eyes shut. A dull thud, a spray of pink, and then a sharp crack broke through the pounding in her ears. Gabrielle opened her eyes just in time to see the German soldier fall backward, lifeless. As Gabrielle shot her eyes from side to side to see who was shooting, Fausto let out a cackling, manic laugh.
“You’re a little late, Lyudmila!” Fausto yelled at the top of his lungs as he thrust himself up and wiped the smears and speckles of blood from his face with the hem of his shirt. He walked to the half-demolished wall that opened to the adjacent field. He put one arm in the air and made circles with it toward the distant tree line that ran along the road. With his gesture, Gabrielle saw a small figure rise from the ground next to a tree and began to make its way toward them.
“Was she there this entire time?” Gabrielle shouted, relieved that her friends were still alive, but immediately pissed that Lyudmila had let things get so dire before she stepped in. “How long was she going to wait?”
“Well, it isn't like she could have “addressed” the entire room with that bolt action rifle of hers, now is it? They would have just killed the two of you and then brought their focus to us. We saw you moving up the line after the volleys started, and I know my father. So, she set up, and I made myself available for capture.”
A groan came from behind them. The two threw themselves around ready for another attack and noticed that Gianni was trying to sit up. Fausto and Gabrielle ran to his side as he shot up shouting, ready for a fight.
The older man scrunched his face like he’d just eaten a lemon and then looked around the room, pausing when he saw the group of dead soldiers. Gabrielle and Fausto tried to stabilize Gianni and help him stand, only to have the old man slap their hands away. Gianni rolled to his knees and then slowly stood up on his own. For his age, Gabrielle was always impressed by how strong and stubborn he was.
“That’s how it’s done,” Gianni croaked out, rubbing the back of his head as he looked around the room. Fausto puffed out his chest like a proud peacock, walked over to the nearest German soldier and tapped him on the head with the tip of his boot.
“I taught these Germans a thing or two,” Gianni continued, kicking the boots of a man that was at his feet. “Damn falling wood knocked me out before I could make sure they were all done with. The fact of the matter is, my bomb worked.”
Fausto turned, slack jawed and looked at Gabrielle.
“What are y—” Fausto opened his mouth to reply but stopped when he looked at the pride in his father’s eyes. That hit to the head must have done more damage than they’d thought. Gabrielle looked at Fausto, and they both shared a silent agreement. Gianni could have this one.
After his moment of confusion, Gianni paused and looked at Fausto. In a flash of emotion, he stepped up to his son and hugged him. Gianni wasn’t much of a hugger, and the shocked look on Fausto’s face forced a bout of laughter to burst through Gabrielle’s lips. She threw her hand over her mouth, trying to push the giggles back down.
“I am glad you’re alright, Son,” Gianni said, releasing Fausto from his grasp. This was followed by an abrupt slap to the back of the head. “Next time I say be quiet, you listen! You could have gotten us all killed!” At this, Gabrielle couldn’t keep the laughter down any longer, and she burst into a fit of childish giggles reminiscent of her fifteen-year-old soul.
“This is what I tried to tell him!” grunted Lyudmila as she hopped over the side of the fallen wall and into the silo with the rest of the group. “He could have gotten us all killed with his childishness…” Lyudmila paused for a moment and looked at Gabrielle.
“Then again, it was his idea to get up here and save the both of you. So, I suppose he is not as dense as I would have thought. Gabrielle, are you alright? I saw you tending to those…” Lyudmila nodded to the two former guards on the floor. “It looks like my lessons in self-defense are treating you well.”
“I’m fine, thank you,” Gabrielle said with a smile and a nod. Relief washed over her as she realized how close they had all come to death yet survived. A sinking feeling replaced her relief like a slap to the face. They were all so happy that they had survived what should have been a death sentence, that they had forgotten a key detail. There was still one more officer and the Commander that had left before the fight began.
CHAPTER SIX
Gabrielle shot a worried glance to the doorway where the one surviving man had been unconscious.
“Damn! He’s gone!” she shouted, running to the area where there was still a blood stain on the dirty silo floor. She looked around half expecting, or maybe just hoping, that he had only rolled out of the way during the fight, but his body was nowhere to be seen, and the door to the silo was wide open.
“Who’s gone?” Gianni moved quickly to her side. She had clearly succeeded in startling the group as they now all looked at her with concerned faces.
“There was one soldier left here. I uhh…he…he wasn’t dead, only unconscious. He was lying right here. Look you can even see the blood stain from where…there was also the commander, who left before Fausto was even captured. We aren't out of this yet, there’s more in this area, and they’re near!” Gabrielle ran to where her weapons were thrown and scooped up her things.
“Wait, Fausto was captured? Unconscious soldier?” Gianni asked, swiveling his head from Gabrielle to Fausto and back again. Gabrielle ignored the question and continued to collect her things.
She slung her satchel over her shoulder and checked that her weapon was still loaded. The rest of the group did the same without question. Fausto swept his knife from the floor, Lyudmila loaded another round into her rifle to replace the spent one, and Gianni found his supplies and wiped the blood from the back of his head.
Lyudmila walked to the doorway of the silo and looked out, scanning the tree line for potential threats. She whistled for the rest of the group to join her. Gabrielle slid in front and peered around the large door. Off in the distance, the outline of a man appeared roughly two hundred yards away running toward a large farmhouse. Gabrielle looked up at Lyudmila who already had her rifle trained. She shook her head and lowered the rifle.
“It is too far with the sun in my eyes,” Lyudmila responded.
; Gabrielle watched the soldier disappear into the farmhouse, and she knew there must be more men there. The fight had only just begun.
“We have to go after him and quickly! Especially if there are more soldiers in that house! We cannot let them have the drop on us,” Fausto demanded, saying the words Gabrielle was thinking.
“He is right, we move now! Keep low, but move as quickly as you can and be ready to get to cover if they fire on us,” Gianni barked. Gabrielle shot a glance to the path they had to travel. There were several old plows, a tractor, a few large carts, and other assorted masses they could use for cover.
Lyudmila took point, her rifle trained on the distant building. Fausto followed her out, then Gabrielle, and then Gianni exited the silo, and they made their way toward the house. The same deadly silence fell over the group as they did their best to both keep quiet and run just as Gabrielle and Gianni had done when keeping to the fence line.
A brisk breeze danced in Gabrielle’s ears making it difficult to hear any sounds of a possible attack. She needed all of the senses she could get, but her ears were still buzzing from their recent battle, so Gabrielle kept her eyes sharp and her weapon out in front of her, pointed at the house and ready. She counted five windows on the first floor and five on the second as her gaze bounced from one to the next.
Making better time than she had thought possible, the group closed half of the gap between the silo and the farmhouse. Up to this point, nothing seemed to be moving inside the old house from what she could see. No shots had been fired, and no soldiers had been spotted. Gabrielle knew something wasn’t right. It was too quiet. After several more steps with only a third of the way to go, all hell broke loose once again.
The Gabrielle Series Boxed Set Page 46
