Chapter Ten

~ Vittorio ~

My teeth hurt.

My hair follicles hurt.

My toenails hurt.

Everything hurt.

I didn't want to move, but I could hear the anxiety and fear in Tony's voice and knew we needed to get out of here. Wherever here was.

"Help me up."

Tony grabbed my arm and started to pull me to my feet, but I grunted when agony ripped through my abdomen. I distinctly remember some guy wailing on me, paying special attention to my stomach and kidney area.

I was going to be pissing blood for a week.

"Slowly," I warned Tony. "Pretty sure I have a few cracked or broken ribs." At least, it felt like it.

That was going to make getting out of here a lot harder.

I grit my teeth and then nodded to Tony. He pulled on my arm and I slowly stood. Once I was on my feet, I closed my eyes and took a moment to just breathe.

Surprisingly, now that I was standing, my ribs didn't hurt quiet as much as they had when I was sitting. They still ached like hell, but I didn't feel like my ribs were going to go through my skin anymore.

"We need to find a way out of here."

Tony nodded. "Do you still have your gun on you?"

I shook my head because I distinctly remember getting patted down and relieved of all my weapons. "They took it."

"We need to find some more," Tony stated. "I doubt we're getting out of here without a fight."

He was probably right.

"Is there anything in here we can use as a weapon?" I asked as I glanced around. The room was pretty bare.

"I haven't seen anything so far that could be used as a weapon, not even a chair." Tony blinked for a moment. "There is a guard out there somewhere."

"There's more than one," I replied, remembering the two guys that had worked me over.

"Yeah, I was afraid of that." Tony glanced me over. "Are you going to be up for a fight if we get into one?"

"Honestly, probably not," I answered. "It would be best if we just found a way to get out of here without being seen."

"I'll try, but it's highly unlikely that will happen." He gave me a gentle pat on the shoulder. "Just try and stay out of the way if we run into any guards. I'll take care of the rest."

"You can fight?" I asked, surprised. He had some muscle on him, but I didn't know if that had been produced in a gym or if he truly had fighting skill.

"I grew up in New York. Of course I can fight. It's practically a weekly event in my neighborhood."

All the more reason I lived in Italy.

"Let's go."

Tony opened the door just a crack and peeked out. I would have held my breath waiting for him to make sure the coast was clear, but it hurt too damn bad.

I stayed close to him as he stepped out into the hallway, shutting the door behind me. It wouldn't confuse our captors for more than a few seconds, but those few seconds could mean the difference between life and death.

We slowly made our way down the narrow hallway. I had no idea if we were moving closer to an exit, the bad guys, or both.

The paint on the cement walls was old and fading, cracks showing through in many places. The floor, also cement, was unpainted, but it had just as many cracks.

Between the walls and floor, not to mention the peeling paint on the window frames, I was pretty sure we were in some sort of abandoned warehouse or something.

It was the faint scent of fish and the whisper of a salty breeze that concerned me. Tortona was nowhere near the ocean, which made me wonder where in the hell we had been taken.

When Tony suddenly stopped, I almost plowed into his back. "What is it?"

"Sshhh." Tony held his finger up to his lips and then motioned for me to get back against the wall. I had no idea what he was up to until I saw a shadow start growing larger and realized someone was coming up the stairs right around the corner from us.

I stiffened, ready to go to his defense, but I didn't have to. The moment the shadow became a solid figure, Tony struck out, doing some sort of weird karate chop to the back of the man's neck that send him crashing to the floor.

The guy didn't move after that.

Tony squatted down next to him and began rifling through the guy's pockets. He pulled out a gun, knife, wallet, and cell phone, tossing them all at me.

At least we were armed now.

I opened the closest door and then helped Tony drag the guy inside. For good measure, I took his tie off and tied his hands behind his back. If I had another tie, I would have tied his feet together, too, but they had taken mine when they searched me.

"Hand me the knife," Tony said.

I frowned, but handed it over.

"I'm better with a knife than I am a gun," he explained.

I wasn't sure I believed that, but now wasn't the time to argue. It went against all of my principals to let him use the knife because he'd have to be in close quarter combat to use it. With a gun, you could kill from a distance.

Considering how I was injured, I suppose it made sense.

I still didn't like it.

He was the boss. I was supposed to be protecting him, not the other way around. It didn't sit right with me, but I didn't think I had any other option at the moment. It wasn't like I could defend myself let alone Tony.

It was shocking to me how hard it was to get down the stairs. Every step felt as if someone was slamming a hammer against my ribcage. I was positive now that I had a few cracked ribs.

I needed a hospital and soon. I just had to get Tony to safety first and I wasn't sure how to do that at the moment. I didn't even know where we were.

"Come on," Tony said. "We need to move."

I was all in favor of that, and yet I wasn't because moving hurt like a bitch. Staying would no doubt hurt even more which was why I followed Tony when he started moving down a long partially lit hallway.

I wasn't too thrilled with how many shadows this place had, but it at least helped hide us to some extent.

I sucked in a swift breath when a man suddenly stepped out of a room we were passing. Tony moved almost faster than I could track, swiping out with the knife in his hand. The guy was down before he was aware that we were there. Tony grabbed his arms and dragged him back into the room he'd come out of.

My dumbass followed him.

"Don't worry about tying this guy up," Tony said as he started going through the guy's pockets. "He won't be getting up again."

I was afraid of that.

"Make sure you didn't leave any prints."

It was the best advice I could give him. Since I didn't know where we were, I couldn't exactly have our guys clean up the scene. If the police found a dead body, it could lead back to us if we weren't careful.

I spotted my wallet and cell phone on a table in the middle of the room. I had no idea where my gun was. I grabbed both and put them back in my pocket.

"Hey, keys." Tony grinned as he held them up. "Maybe if we're lucky, they will lead to a car."

I wasn't so sure of that was a good idea. While taking this idiots car would get us out of here, he was dead. If we were caught in a dead man's car, we'd end up behind bars.

On the other hand...

"Someone's coming," I whispered as I flattened myself against the wall next to the door. I prayed it wasn't the police.

Tony grabbed his knife and flattened himself against the other side of the door. We both held our breath as we listened the footsteps growing louder...and then let it out when they passed our door and grew fainter.

Tony waited until they faded completely and then opened the door a crack, peeking out. After a moment, he gestured with his free hand. "All right, let's go."

I quickly followed Tony out of the small room, shutting the door behind me, and then we hurried down the hallway a bit more. We carefully opened every door we came to until we found one that opened to the outdoors.

Fresh air never smelled so good.

"Are we close to the ocean?" Tony asked. "It smells like it does on the docks back home."

"Yeah, I think so." I was curious how we'd gotten from Tortona to the ocean. That had to have taken a few hours at least. Kind of made me wonder just how long we were out cold.

"Any idea where we are?"

I shook my head. "Not a clue."

"Not real helpful, Vito."

"Until we find a road sign or something, there's not much I can do about that." And that galled me to no end.

"Well, let's see if we can find a car at least. I'd rather be a moving target than a sitting duck."

It took me a moment to figure out exactly what he said and what it meant, but once I did I whole-heartedly agreed with Tony.

"How many sets of keys did you find?" I asked.

"Two."

"Let me see them." Maybe I could figure out the car by the design of the key.

Once Tony handed over the keys, I looked at each one before glancing up and looking around. "Look for a small car, probably a two door. A Fiat."

I hated Fiats, but at the moment I'd take what I could get.

It wasn't hard to spot considering there were only a few cars parked near the warehouse and two of them were trucks. We climbed in as quickly as we could and when I started up the motor, I made sure to keep the lights off.

"Keep your head down," I told Tony as I put the car in gear and started driving. If anyone saw us escaping, I didn't want him hit by a stray bullet.

This car was a joke. If we were chased, they'd catch us in seconds. It had no go power at all. I was just thankful we weren't trying to go over any mountain ranges. We'd never make it.

I grabbed my cell phone out of my pocket and tossed it at Tony. "Get Vinnie's phone number out of my cell phone, but use the one you picked up to make the call. As soon as you have the number, turn the cell phone back off. I don't know if we're being tracked or not."

"Is turning it on a good idea then?"

"Probably not, but I'm not calling anyone else and we need help." I was quickly losing trust in the people in our organization and that was not a good thing. There was a rat somewhere. We just needed to survive until we found him. "Put it on speaker."

"Who is this?" someone asked in a snappish voice a moment later.

"Vito Antonelli," I replied. "I need to speak with Mr. Borelli. It's urgent."

"One moment, sir."

At least they seem to know who I was.

"Vito?" Vinnie asked several seconds later.

"Mr. Borelli, Mr. D'Angelo and I seem to have found ourselves in a bit of trouble."

Tony snorted.

"What kind of trouble?" Vinnie asked.

"Our car was run off the road and Mr. D'Angelo and I were kidnapped. We managed to escape, but we have no idea where we are or where we can go to get to safety."

"Vito was beat to crap," Tony stated. "He needs medical care."

"We were kidnapped outside of Tortona, but we're by the ocean now."

"Try to figure out where you are," Vinnie said. "I can call my grandfather and have him send some men for you. You'll be safe at his estate until you can recover. I give you my word of honor."

"Well, I just saw a sign for the Pretoria Fountain," Tony said. "Does that help?"

"You're in Palermo?" Vinnie exclaimed.

Maybe?

"Luca is based in Palermo," Vinnie continued. "Let me give him a call and see if he can help you out."

I was fully aware of that fact that Luca Sabatino was based here. I was just a little concerned with the fact that we had been taken to his territory.

"You don't think Luca could be behind this, do you?"

"No," Vinnie replied without hesitation. "While Luca can be ruthless, he's not someone who would do something like this. His only concern in life is the health and safety of his husband. Don't mess with Nico and Luca won't mess with you."

I knew the guy had gotten married. I'd met Nico at the conclave we had awhile back. I just didn't know much about the man, or both men.

"Okay, give him a call."

"Can I reach you at this number?"

"Yes, I don't want to turn my cell phone on if I don't have to. I'm worried that we're being tracked."

"I'm less worried about that and more worried about why someone would dump you in Luca's territory."

Yeah, that was a concern as well.