Chapter 5 - The Blue Bucket
The elevator doors closed, leaving Marco behind to hold off the advancing mercenaries.
Aleandro slammed his fist against the steel wall in frustration.
The elevator descended rapidly toward the underground garage.
He knew Marco was right about the security breach.
The penthouse system required a rolling digital key that only five people in the world possessed.
The doors opened, and Aleandro rushed Rosa and Mia toward a dusty, unmarked sedan he kept for emergencies.
They sped out of the garage and vanished into the chaotic evening traffic of Manhattan.
Aleandro drove them to an abandoned shipyard in Brooklyn that he owned under a fake corporation.
He parked the car inside a dark, rusted warehouse and locked the heavy metal gates.
Rosa collapsed onto an old couch in the corner, holding her chest in pain.
Mia sat on the floor, quietly playing with the handle of her small blue bucket.
Aleandro pulled out a secure burner phone and began making calls to locate the traitor.
He realized the mercenaries had moved too quickly, finding the penthouse with zero hesitation.
"How did they know exactly which room she was in?" Aleandro muttered to himself.
He looked over at Mia, who was humming a small song.
He walked over and knelt beside her, his eyes focused on the blue plastic bucket.
"Mia, where did you get this bucket?" Aleandro asked softly.
"Mr. Tommy gave it to me," Mia answered brightly.
Aleandro felt the air leave his lungs.
Tommy was the head of security for the Romano estate.
Aleandro picked up the bucket and twisted the hollow plastic handle until it snapped open.
A tiny, blinking red GPS tracker fell out into the palm of his hand.
Tommy had not just given Mia a toy; he had turned her into a walking homing beacon.
Aleandro's burner phone suddenly rang in his hand.
He answered it, expecting to hear Tommy's voice.
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"You have something that belongs to me, Romano," Don Vincenzo Caruso rasped through the speaker.
"And now I have something that belongs to you."
