Emmanuelle nodded and handed Nicoletta a weapon. “Amo? You armed?”

“I am now,” he said and pulled a shotgun from behind the watercooler. Lucia gasped but he ignored her. “These thugs after you or our girl?”

“Don’t know. Don’t care,” Emmanuelle said. “They don’t get either of us.” She had them all move as far back as they could when she opened the door. Mostly it was to keep them from seeing as she chose a shadow, one that led right up the side of the building and stretched to the roof. She would have to take out their marksman first. Two men with rifles. Four in a car. Two more on foot and at least two plugging the back entrance. Whoever the enemy was, they were serious to bring that much manpower.

The pull of the shadow was strong, so much so that it felt as if she were coming apart, her insides flying out of her. She concentrated on seeing everything around her, no matter that she was moving fast. Two men were under cover near the Dumpsters toward the far end of the alley.

Between the attackers and Lucia’s Treasures was Giordano’s, the butcher shop. A van was parked in the alley unloading. She recognized the Saldi insignia and her heart nearly stopped beating and then began to pound. Could the Saldis be making a move on the Ferraros? The feud dated back centuries. The Saldis were an acknowledged crime family, indicted numerous times, but then the Ferraros were thought to be a crime family and they weren’t. She couldn’t think about that now. If the first group out on the street decided to attack the shop, they’d catch the Faustis and Signora Moretti in a squeeze. Enrica could only do so much.

Emmanuelle rode the shadow to the roof and spotted the marksman. He had set up shop at the very edge of the railing closest to the fire escape. He had his eye to the scope and kept checking the window. The shadow stopped just short of him. She had to be in the open for one moment before she could step to the next one. She would have to time it perfectly.

She waited until her body felt whole again right at the mouth of the tube, planning her moves so that she proceeded with absolute confidence and no hesitation. The marksman was good. He never took his eye from the scope, watching for her group to come out of the store. She worried for Enrica, who had to keep everyone from being impulsive and trying to leave immediately. Especially Signora Moretti. Who knew the woman carried a gun? She was always leaving her purse in stores. All that time, the high school teacher was carrying a lethal weapon. Emmanuelle would have to have Stefano talk to her. Half the time she forgot her purse all over town.

Emmanuelle took a breath, let it out, stepped decisively out of the shadow, took the three steps to the next one and was in it just as the marksman turned his head, sensing movement. She stayed still, hidden inside the shadow, her heart pounding. She waited for it to settle and for him to put his eye to the scope once again.

She came out directly behind him and caught his head, and using the move she’d been perfecting since she was a child, she wrenched, breaking his neck. She left him there, riding the shadow to the back entrance to Lucia’s Treasures. Using a low whistle to signal Enrica she was back and all was clear for them to come out, she studied the van partially blocking the alley about halfway to their destination. There was movement there as someone unloaded large quarters of beef and carried them into the butcher shop.

Emmanuelle knew she faced at least six assailants. They were waiting at the front and back of the alley, boxing them in. The street entrance would be the most dangerous because she had no way to get to the sniper they had on the roof across the street from Lucia’s Treasures. That meant taking her group all the way down the alley past the Saldis’ van. If the crime family had initiated this attack, that meant the van could hold more shooters.

Signora Moretti pushed close to her. “I’m a very good shot,” she whispered. “I might act a doddering fool, but I’m not. No one is going to hurt you or anyone else while I’m around.”

Emmanuelle loved her in that moment. She loved her home and every single person in the Ferraro territory because all of them would back her family and one another. They might have their idiosyncrasies but when push came to shove, they stood with one another. She took a deep breath and nodded. “Thanks, Signora Moretti, I think we’re going to head down the alley toward the Saldis’ van. We need to keep that van between the entrance and us at all times. There are more of the shooters at the entrance. They’re working their way down the alley toward us.”

She would have to get to the van first and clear it. If the Saldis were part of the attack, she’d confirm with her family and then try to kill anyone waiting to get them. “Enrica, keep everyone together, quiet, and moving toward the van. I’ll get ahead and see if I can figure out just where the enemy is.”

She didn’t wait. They were running out of time. Emmanuelle stepped back into the deeper shadow that ran along the side of the building. At once the pull was there, a strong magnet dragging her into the tube, swallowing her arms and legs and torso. The tube was extremely powerful and she was moving fast. She caught sight of two gunmen making their way along the opposite side of the building, trying to angle around the van to see the back entrance of Lucia’s Treasures.

She had to step out of the tube to keep from moving past the van, and that meant exposing herself to the two gunmen just for a moment. She took a breath and dove for the shadow leading under the van. Gunfire erupted. Bullets hit all around, skipping off the pavement, splintering brick and stone. She felt the bite and sting along her left leg and arm. She rolled, desperate to get away from the bullets.

Heavy boots hit asphalt. Valentino Saldi burst from the back door of the butcher shop, his gun roaring as he did so, providing covering fire for Emmanuelle. He reached down and yanked her to her feet, and then thrust her behind him. She cried out as a bullet slammed into her left shoulder, driving her away from Val and back against the wall. She nearly blacked out from the agonizing pain. Her arm was useless. There was no lifting it or fighting with it. No breaking necks. She swore, trying not to shed the tears swimming in her eyes. She’d never felt anything like that pain.

Val kept his body between hers and the gunmen. So much for thinking he was involved. He returned fire, pinning the two men down. She heard running footsteps as the other gunmen broke away from the entrance to the alley, hurrying to join in the firefight.

“Get inside Giordano’s,” Val ordered.

She shook her head, fighting back nausea. “Give me a gun.” She could barely breathe through the pain. The bullet had gone right through her, but it had done a lot of damage along the way. She wasn’t certain how much help she was going to be, but she could shoot with either hand.

“Damn it, Emme,” Val snapped. “Who the fuck are these jokers?”

He fired off three more rounds and someone yelled. A body dropped. He’d scored two hits, one injured and one most likely dead. Lethal. That’s what she needed right now.

Enrica and the others hurried up the alley, forcing Val to turn back to the firefight to cover them. The moment Enrica was close enough, she slapped a compress on Emmanuelle’s wound. Fire raced down Emme’s arm and to her belly, making it roll. She wasn’t about to get sick in front of Val Saldi.