Page 271 of Lorenzo

I listen.

Rain against the windows.

Distant gunfire.

An engine somewhere outside.

Then nothing.

The silence is worse.

“My phone flew out of my hand in the car. Do you have yours?”

She nods as she pulls it out of her pocket.

“Nothing.”

“They may be jamming the area.”

“Great,” she says. “So what's the plan?”

“In light of Greco, our security has been checking in with each other.”

I look toward the front of the store again, trying to calculate how long it will take Mario to realize something has gone wrong. He will know we left his house, and how long it should take us to get to my house.

“So when your security doesn't check in with Mario…” she says.

“He will come.”

That certainty is the only thing keeping me from going back outside immediately.

Donna shifts closer to the shelving and looks at me. “You’re thinking about Rinaldi.”

“Yes.”

Her eyes stay on mine. “We can go back.”

“No.”

She exhales and glances away for a second. “Lorenzo, I can't sit here and wait any more than you can. I'm not built like that.”

“I know,” I say. “But going back out there while they’re still exchanging fire helps no one.”

Donna looks toward the darkened front of the store. “Then we find another way to get eyes on the road.”

I follow her gaze and understand what she means.

“Without putting ourselves back in the open.”

“Exactly.”

She turns toward the rear of the store. “There has to be another exit, a loading door, something. If we can get to the other side of the building, we might be able to see what’s happening without walking straight back into the ambush.”

That is considerably better than waiting here and considerably less reckless than the alternative currently occupying my thoughts.

“Let’s find it.”

But before we can make a move, a car door slams.