Page 57 of Twisted Throne

“Carlos, leave us alone for a few minutes,capisce?” I turned my head slightly toward Carlos, without looking away from Alec.

He hesitated for a beat, then turned and left, the door closing behind him with a slam.

“So what now?” Alec chuckled dryly. “You’re gonna beat the shit out of me and tell Angelo I fell, or what?”

I leaned back into my chair and crossed my arms over my chest.

“What do you know about how Sabitino found out about Gia?” I asked.

“I’ve already told you, I don’t know how in the holy hell that prick found out about anything!”

“If it wasn’t you, then who could it have been? It wasn’t me, or Carlos, or Angelo. So who?” I studied him closely. “Or was the plan to leak the intel, then blame it on me?”

“You think an awful lot of yourself, you arrogant asshole.” Alec snorted. “And for the last damn time, I don’t know who spilled!”

As much as I wanted to smash his face with my fists until he confessed to everything, the notion that he could have been telling the truth all this time was starting to worm its way into my thoughts.

“No matter what my feelings are about you, and your position–” Alec's lips twisted up bitterly. “I would never betrayfamiglia.”

Fuck me. Why the hell do I almost believe him?

The hinges on the old door squeaked as Carlos blew through it at full speed. He had his gun out and looked grim. I loosened my gun in its holster and stood to face him.

“What’s wrong?”

“Capo, there was motion detected around the perimeter of the property. The guys thought it was just a deer or something at first. Then half of our cameras went down, along with two of our soldiers.”

“Sabitino?”

“I spotted Emilio on the monitor of the one cam that’s still working, so it’s a safe guess.” He looked over to Alec, then back to me.

“So what? Did I plan all of this shit with them too while I was locked up down here?” Alec shot to his feet and I had my gun pulled and on him in a flash, with Carlos just behind me.

“This could have been planned already,” I snarled at him.

“They had the codes for the gates,” Carlos said, clearing his throat. “And thoseThey were changed this morning.”

That was after Alec had been put down here. He wouldn’t have known the new codes.

I stared at him for another minute, then dropped my gun and motioned for Carlos to do the same.

A flash of what looked like relief came across Alec’s face, and he nodded at me.

When we opened the door and left the soundproof basement room to go back up the stone stairs to the tunnels, we heard several shots ring out. Exchanging a look, the three of us began to move with more caution, trying not to make any noise. Carlos had handed Alec his spare pistol off his ankle and it took me back to when the three of us were barely more than boys, working our way up the ranks, dreaming of beingcaposone day. Alec moved in front of me, and I stared at his back. All I could do now was to hope that I’d made the right decision.

We moved through the passageway on silent feet, then stopped when we reached the door that led to Angelo’s office. I placed a finger to my lips, and moved to one side of the door, pistol raised. At my signal, Carlos eased the door open and stepped out, scanning the room. He motioned to us a minute later, signaling the all clear.

Alec and I stepped out of the passage into the office, swinging the bookshelf back against the wall with a click. We heard voices, men yelling. I caught the distant echo of shots, but they didn’t seem to be inside the house itself. Not yet.

The three of us went out into the hallway and bumped into Frank as he ran down the corridor.

“Frank! What the hell is going on?” I demanded.

“Shit, Paul! The fuckers had the gate codes! They took out half out patrol and were in the front yard before we knew what was going on. We’ve taken down a few, but they’ve got the house surrounded, and they’ve taken out almost all of the cameras outside.”

“How long until reinforcements get here?” I asked. I tried to mentally calculate how many men were at the house now, and how many were close. The numbers weren’t as high as I would have liked, but we could work with them.

“Ricky already called everyone in. The first wave should be here in about fifteen minutes or so,” he replied.