Shadow Fire (Shadow Riders 7)

She could see Dario bent over her, someone doing compressions on her chest, Dario breathing air into her mouth. What was it she was supposed to tell him? Her brain just didn’t want to work. It was so important, too. She hovered above her body, looking down at the scene below her, the way everyone moved in a synchronized pattern as if they’d done such things a million times.

The surgeon gave calm instructions, and the nurses moved quickly and efficiently setting up his mobile operating area for him. They could have used Dario’s men, but he didn’t say a word; he just kept breathing when it was his turn to push air into her lungs. Then her heart caught the rhythm and she was forced to return to that freezing-cold body she was so disconnected with.

Dario sank back on his heels and glared at her. “Don’t you do that again, Brielle.”

“I’m going to second that,” Raimondo said. “You took a few years off my life.”

“Let’s get her onto the table,” Dr. Arnold instructed. “I have to find where she’s bleeding internally and get it stopped.”

Dario and Raimondo just picked her up and carried her to the table before the nurses who were sterilizing everything could sterilize them. If Brielle wasn’t so frozen, she might have laughed. Always the bad boys. Suddenly, she remembered. It was important. She needed to tell someone. Ignoring the bags of fluids the nurses were hanging around the table, the ones flowing into her arm, she forced herself to find her voice.

“Tell Elie . . . for me, he was always the one.”

Dario swore. “Don’t do that, Brielle. You’ll tell him yourself. Just make up your damn mind you’re going to stay alive. It’s bullshit to quit breathing. It isn’t that hard to keep it up.”

He had no idea how difficult it was to draw in a breath. For some reason, it felt as if her lungs were frozen, blocked by great chunks of ice. She couldn’t manage a smile for him, even though she wanted to. She was too tired. Her lashes fluttered, eyes closing again.

“Why is she doing that?” Raimondo asked. “You can’t let her go to sleep.”

“I’m putting her out,” Dr. Arnold said. “I’m not about to dig through her body while she’s awake. Go help my assistant with your friend. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

Brielle was fading, but she wasn’t out. She wanted someone to tell her how Leone was doing. Everyone was whispering since the doctor had arrived, everyone but Dario. Usually, he lounged against a wall, so quiet no one noticed him after a while. He wasn’t quiet now. He was like prowling panther.

“Where the hell is Elie?” Dario hissed at Raimondo as they moved away from the dining area to huddle together, leaving the two medical teams to work on their patients. “I know he’s supposed to be back soon. He’s going to lose his shit when he sees this mess. I’ve got a cleanup crew coming for the bodies. They should be here any minute.”

Raimondo glanced out the windows. Dario’s bodyguards were back inside their vehicle, out of the rain and wind. “What’s wrong with you? How could you bring unknown men with you in a lockdown situation? We could have lost both of them. I needed help, Dario, and I was counting on you.”

“I wouldn’t have brought anyone I didn’t know and trust personally.”

“That isn’t the protocol. In a lockdown situation, when we’re under attack, we have to follow procedure to the letter. All of us were counting on you.”

“I came. Your enemies are dead because we killed them. Those men you don’t trust helped me kill them, Raimondo. They put their lives on the line for perfect strangers.”

“They put their lives on the line for you, not for us. I still didn’t know them or what they might do, any more than I knew the legitimate Interpol agent who came to ask Brielle about a report she did. He appeared on the up-and-up as well. Stefano is going to eat you for breakfast for this fuckup if Elie doesn’t do it first, and you deserve it.”

Dario sighed. “I suppose you’re right. It never occurred to me to have his people investigate them, or at least go talk to Stefano about them and introduce them to the family. I’ve always done whatever I want, particularly in matters of security. It’s my business and I like to keep it that way.”

Raimondo shrugged. “It is your business. But those men are your personal protectors, which means they travel everywhere with you. You attend Ferraro family functions. You’re around Francesca. Stefano’s children. Grace. Can you imagine Vittorio if some stranger was around his wife and he had no idea who that man was? These are protective men, just as you are. You would never allow that shit; why would they?”

He wasn’t backing down an inch. Seeing Brielle covered in blood, crashing the way she had, being alone with two people he cared about, afraid he was going to lose both of them, had Raimondo angry with Dario all over again.

“I get your point. I wouldn’t allow strangers around my family, especially if I had a woman of my own. So yeah, you did the right thing. I don’t have to like it, but you’re right.”

“I could use a drink right now,” Raimondo said, looking at Leone as the nurses crowded around him. “Hell, not just a drink, a whole damn bottle.” The second doctor had arrived. Dr. Townsend had begun work on the young bodyguard. “Brielle told me to get a line in their veins. First thing out of her mouth. I was trying to stop them both from bleeding. Even in the shape she was in, she knew to do that in case they crashed.”

“What the hell happened?”

Raimondo shrugged. “Everything looked fine. We vetted him. He checked out. He was the real thing. We’re going to have to make his death look like an ambush somewhere. I don’t know, Stefano can figure it out.” He put his head back against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. “He asked her questions. Nothing pointing to him lying to her. She didn’t signal she thought anything was off. Neither did Leone. Then they walked to the front door. He said or did something that hit her wrong and she reacted fast. He pulled a gun from somewhere he’d hidden it outside. His men were everywhere, firing at Leone and Brielle, hitting both of them.”

Raimondo wiped beads of sweat from his forehead. “She dragged Leone inside with my help, but when I told her to get into the safe room, she didn’t; she went after them.”

“These women,” Dario said. “I told Elie she was like Emmanuelle. She may not be quite as outspoken as Emme, but she’s going to go her own way when she thinks she’s right, no matter what. She likes you too much, Raimondo. You’re not mean enough.”

Raimondo shot him a faint grin. “I hate to give you the bad news, Dario, but she likes you, too. All that snarling you do hasn’t put her off much. She isn’t very afraid of you.”

“She should be.”

“You’re losing your reputation.”