“Ben, I’m sorry.”

He didn’t stop. “It’s fine.”

“No, really, I—”

“We just need to get back to the…” He heard the heavy steps echo along the narrow road, but he kept walking.

“Should we go back to the train station?”

In retrospect, they probably should have. The street, which seemed busy near the café, was slowly growing more deserted. The few shops they passed seemed to be closed for the afternoon. The rain started picking up again and small puddles formed in between the cobblestones.

“Ben, should we…” Dez trailed off, and her eyes widened. Ben knew she was also hearing the steady footsteps behind them. He risked a glance over his shoulder to see who was following. It was two men from the front of the shop. Both were wearing loose jackets that blocked the rain and probably concealed guns, too.

Shit, shit, shit. They were following them for sure, and Ben wasn’t familiar enough with the neighborhood to plan a good escape, especially considering that the street they were walking up was becoming narrower and more deserted with every block.

“Ben?” Her voice was frightened.

Not good, Dez. Don’t sound scared when they can hear us.

He took a chance and turned right by a closed shop, only to find a dead end.

Shit.

“Hey!” He heard one of the men call from behind them in Italian. “Boy!”

Ben turned and plastered on his most innocent smile when he replied in English. “Hey, do you guys know how to get back to the train station? My friend and I got kind of lost.”

Dez picked up the theme. “Yeah, we just stopped for coffee, and I told him this would be a short-cut.” She forced out a laugh. “Oops! We’re still getting to know the streets here, and…”

The men were still approaching, but one of them was speaking quietly on a mobile phone. His eyes narrowed at Ben and he pulled his partner closer.

“Il ragazzo Vecchio,” one said in the other’s ear.

“E la donna?”

“La amica di la Americana.”

‘A friend of the American woman.’ Well, Ben thought, at least they knew it was definitely one of Livia’s shops. Someone must have taken pictures, or there were cameras he hadn’t seen. More troubling, they knew who he and Dez were. His eyes immediately scanned the narrow alley they found themselves in. There was a fence behind them, but there was no way Dez would be able to jump over it. The men were blocking the exit, and they were still speaking and gesturing. Unfortunately, the one on the phone was also slipping his hand in his pocket.

His senses triggered, Ben quickly skimmed through his options. They didn’t look like they wanted to kill them, but those fingers dancing in the man’s pocket were making him nervous. Very nervous.

“Just scare them,” he heard one say in quiet Italian. “He says to rough them up a little. Send a message to the American woman.”

“Si?”

Ben whispered to Dez under his breath. “When you see an opening, run back to the train station as fast as you can. Do not argue with me. Just run straight to the police.” The man had slipped his hand in his pocket again and was looking at Dez with a smirk.

She whispered frantically, “But Ben—”

Ben sprang on the unsuspecting man, looking at Dez before she could finish her protest.

“Dez, run!”

His fingers slipped in the man’s pocket and pulled out the gun, tossing it as far as he could down the street before the man twisted around and slugged him in the gut. Ben stumbled back and the man kicked his knee, sending him to the ground.

“Ben!” Dez hesitated for only a second before she ran toward the mouth of the alley.

He saw the other man moving toward her; luckily, he didn’t look like he was pulling out any weapons. Just as Dez was about to slip past him, her heel caught in one of the cracked cobblestones that lined the street and the other man caught her arm and dragged her closer as Ben watched helplessly from the ground. The thug drew his hand back, punched the small woman in the face, and Dez crumbled to the ground.

Ben barely registered the pain in his stomach when his attacker kicked him. His eyes were trained on Dez, the swell of her belly where the baby grew, and the man whose foot was drawing back to strike her. His uncle’s voice whispered in the back of his mind.

‘Protect Dez.’

He blinked once and rolled to the side as Dez curled her body to protect herself and her unborn child. Ben grunted when his attacker’s foot met his knee; then he deflected the blow and reached into his waistband, pulling out his hunting knife. In one swift stroke, he reached up and sliced the back of the man’s knee, severing the tendons and causing the man to fall over him in pain.

‘Neutralize the immediate danger.’

Ben blinked and shoved the knife into the man’s stomach as he pushed the heavy body to the side. He didn’t hear the curses of the man he had stabbed. The wet suck of the blade was the only sound he heard as he came up to a crouch and rushed toward the other man who was kicking Dez as she lay helpless on the ground.

‘Do not hesitate.’

He blinked again and reached around the man’s heavy body with the knife. Just as Dez’s attacker began to turn, he struck. Once. Suck. Twice. The blade entered the man’s soft abdomen, angling up under his ribs between the muscles exactly where Giovanni had showed him. Ben gave a quick twist of the knife when his hand met flesh, and he could feel the spurt of warm blood as he severed the artery he’d aimed for.