Cold & Deadly (Cold Justice: Crossfire #1)(70)

“Emmeleia, jackass. She cleaned your clock in court. Had the jurors weeping in their seats.” He picked up a large knife.

Ava could almost see him vibrate with fury. She’d be lying if she said it didn’t feel good to mess with him. “You ever wonder what happened to little Emmeleia, Gino?”

“I’m gonna find you and gut you and fuck you until you bleed.”

“Well, if you gut me first, it’s definitely gonna get messy.”

“And I’m gonna gut your mother and your sister and little brother.”

She made a tutting sound even though inside she was numb with horror at the thought. That’s how these guys won, by being more violent than anyone else. Brutal. Unfeeling. Psychopaths. Didn’t matter how much money they had, they were monsters beneath the nice suits and expensive ties. Mobsters were animals and needed to be kept in cages.

But he wouldn’t track them down. No links to them existed in her files. They were safe. She laughed. “You’ll have to get out of prison for that, and you’re too stupid. You’re gonna miss your chance because it took you so long to get it up. Need a little blue pill, Gino? To put some pep in your prick?”

Gino walked over and dragged the cook to his feet by his hair. The cook cried out in what had to be excruciating pain. Gino held the knife to the man’s throat.

Ava held her breath. Dominic squeezed her shoulder in warning. They both worried she’d gone too far.

“We’re going out into the yard now, and that chopper better be waiting.” Gino sneered.

Dominic pointed to a line on the sheet.

“If anyone hurts the hostages the deal is off,” Ava said. Cold sweat slid down her back. She had never been in a situation this intense before. Even facing down Jimmy Taylor last week had been less stressful than this—because other people’s lives were on the line here, she realized.

It was easier to risk your own life than barter for the lives of others.

She wouldn’t want this job for all the money in the world.

Everyone in the negotiation room was wired and on edge. She glanced behind her to see the tactical and incident commanders staring holes in her through the window.

She turned back to the monitor. Gino had chosen the cook to be his shield as he was the biggest person in the room. It showed what a coward the man was.

Snake, indeed.

Frank picked another hostage, and they hovered near the exit into the yard.

Helicopter rotors could be easily heard in the distance.

“Is the chopper there yet?” Gino yelled.

Ava had definitely put the guy on edge and reminded him just how much he wanted to get out of prison.

Milo made the third hostage climb to his feet and held him loosely from behind. The warden slid off the counter and crawled out of sight. Good. Finally. They seemed to have forgotten about her, or cared more about their own skins.

Dominic muted Ava’s mic. “HRT agents are set to enter the kitchen as soon as the hostage-takers move down the corridor towards the exercise yard.”

Frank was unlocking the first dead bolt when Milo thrust the kitchen knife into his back, sliding the blade up under the man’s ribs.

Ava’s mouth dropped open in shock.

“Fuck,” Dominic said in her ear.

She knew HRT was scrambling to get into that room as soon as physically possible, but would it be fast enough to stop Milo killing everyone?

“That was for knocking me out, asshole.” Milo turned toward Gino who was now scrambling away from the serial killer, holding the knife to the cook’s throat.

Blood dripped from the end of Milo’s blade, and he laughed as he advanced on the other hostage-taker.

“What makes you think I care about him?” Milo flicked the point of the knife towards the cook.

Gino thrust the hostage aside and screamed up at the ceiling, apparently reconsidering his demands for release. “Get me the hell out of here. This guy is a psycho!”

“Not so brave now, are you, Gino?” Milo laughed and tracked the mobster who kept backing away until he hit a wall.

“Where the hell is HRT?” Dominic asked, resting his arm on the desk so close to Ava’s it was like he was hugging her from behind.

Ava swallowed hard and then decided to try something. At this stage they had nothing to lose. “This is not how revenge works, Milo.” She spoke in Greek. “This man has done harm to my family. I get to decide the price he pays.”

Milo paused in his pursuit of the mobster and stared directly at the camera. The man had known all along they were watching. “What about my revenge? What about the warden’s?”

Gino seemed to sense an opportunity or a weakness in Milo and dashed toward the woman hiding behind the big metal island. Milo stuck out his foot and Gino crashed to the floor, lucky not to impale himself on his own blade. The older man’s face was bright red against the shock of white hair. He no longer looked like a gangster, instead he looked like a fat, bitter, frightened, old man.

“He killed my father. He ruined my life.” Ava insisted holding onto the mic tightly with one hand.

“Then I’ll say this is for you,” Milo declared like he was giving Ava a present.

“What the hell is going on?” Dominic asked, muting the mic.

Ava had forgotten the rest of them couldn’t understand the conversation. “The ancient Greeks were big on revenge,” she explained.