Page 72 of The Broker
Valentina immediately turns to her computer. “Got it,” she says after a minute. “Cecelia Girelli. I’m sending the address to your phone.”
I’m already moving to the door. Valentina’s voice stops me. “Dante,” she says. “I want to come with you.”
Fuck. “If I find Andreas and Angelica isn’t with him, I’m going to have to make him talk.” I don’t want Valentina to see what I’m capable of when someone comes after the people I love. “It won’t be pretty.”
“I don’t care,” she replies, her eyes glittering with tears. When she was hacking into the camera feed and looking for Cecelia’s address, she had something to do, something to keep her mind off her daughter. “I can’t wait here not knowing what’s happening. Silvio was stabbed in front of her eyes, Dante, then Andreas sprayed something in her face to make her unconscious. What if she never wakes up?” She makes a jerky, convulsive gesture in my direction. “Please, Dante. I’m begging you. She’s my daughter. She’s all I’ve got.”
No,I want to say.You’ve got me, sparrow. Now and forever.
When Valentina watches me torture Andreas, it’s going to change the way she sees me. There are some things you can’t come back from, and this will be one of them. But I can’t deny her now. If it’s a choice between my needs and Valentina’s, I will always pick hers.
Even if it means the end of us.
“Let’s go.”
35
VALENTINA
The only thing keeping me from falling to pieces is Dante. I can see the rage in his eyes—the same rage I’m feeling—but he’s not letting it get the better of him. The Broker is calm, controlled, and terrifyingly competent.
I load up my supplies. I shove my laptop into a backpack, add a code breaker, some drones, and finally, the most effective weapon in my arsenal, an EMP generator. One pulse from this baby and every electronic circuit in a hundred-meter radius will get shorted out. It’s not exactly a hacker tool, but it’s extremely effective.
While I’m doing this, Dante readies Antonio’s helicopter so we can get to Bergamo. A stray thought strikes me. “Will Revenant be able to find our flight plan?” Neil Smith, not Revenant. He’s not a faceless adversary any longer. He’s real, he took my daughter, and we’re going to make him pay. There is no safe place on Earth for him anymore. If even a hair on Angelica’s head is harmed, I will make it my life’s mission to hunt him down.
“Helicopters don’t need to file one,” Dante replies. “We fly using visual flight rules.” He glances at the phone in my hands. “He touched your phone,” he says, frowning. “When you were walking Angelica back from school, remember? Could he have planted a tracer on it?”
“No. I wipe it down to the factory settings every week.” Leo gives me an astonished look, and I shrug. “What? It’s just your average everyday paranoia. The two of you should probably take burner phones, though, just in case.”
“You wipe your phone every week.” A half smile touches Dante’s lips. “That’s my sparrow.” When I hear him call me sparrow, my heart pangs. I push it deep down inside. I need to talk to Dante, but not now. Not when my daughter’s life hangs in the balance.
We rush back to headquarters in Giudecca, where the helicopter is on a landing pad, its rotors already whirling. Leo, who’s been with us the entire way, hangs back. “I fucked up,” he says, not looking at me. “Andreas was one of my guys. I hired him; I vetted him. I’ll understand if you don’t want me to come along.”
What? Leo thinks this is his fault? I’m the one to blame here. I hacked into the Verratti computer and stole their money.
Dante’s gaze meets mine. Our thoughts must be running in the same direction because he turns to the other man and says, “For fuck’s sake, Leo, we don’t have time for this. Just get in the damn helicopter.”
The next thirty minutes are a blur. The only thing anchoring me to reality is the reassuring warmth of Dante’s hand over mine. We arrive in Bergamo, where an armored SUV is waiting. More of Dante’s competence. We navigate to Cecelia Girelli’s house, parking the vehicle a hundred meters away so Andreas doesn’t get wind of our presence.
The house is small but cared for. The exterior is freshly painted, and the wooden window shutters gleam. Somebody— Cecelia, probably—loves this place.
Leo glances at me, his expression concerned. “Valentina, I don’t think you want to come inside.”
This man took my baby. Leo thinks Dante wants to hurt Andreas? He has no idea what I want to do to him. “You’re wrong. I need to be here.”
36
DANTE
There is not a damn thing I can do to stop Valentina. She wants to see Andreas hurt,and I get it.But the truth is, she’s not bloodthirsty. The moment she sees me stab a knife into Andreas to get him to talk, she’ll see me differently.
And there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.
“It could be an ambush.” I point to a spot to the right of the door, where she’ll be protected from stray gunshots. “Stay here until we give you the all-clear.”
“Okay.”
I smash the door with my shoulder. It’s solid oak and doesn’t yield, not even a little. But the frame is another story. It gives way, and I kick my way inside, Leo at my heels.