Cold Brew and Bullets (Part 1 of the Syndicate Series)

Chapter 28- The Forest

Eliana:

The call came early, early enough that it was still night. No matter how tired we both were, Alessio and I couldn't seem to truly fall asleep. We took turns in short, fitful naps and anxious tossing and turning. Twice I woke up and rolled over to see Alessio staring at the ceiling, lost in thought. Both times I reached out and held his hand, but neither of us could seem to say anything.

My cell phone rang around 2 am, by the second ring I already had it against my ear. "Hello?"

"Lily?"

"Yes," I glanced at Alessio, who was already attentive at my side. The hushed voice on the other end was a man, so I knew it wasn't Scarlette. "Is this Violet's friend?"

"Yes," His whispers were hurried, but I knew it had to be Dimitri. "How quickly could you get here?"

I glanced at Alessio, who was sitting close enough to overhear the conversation. I held it out and put it on speaker so that he could answer. "We're about an hour away from your new headquarters, but we can make it in 30 minutes."

I leaned forward so that we were looking down at the phone together, "What happened to November 12, 6:00?"

There was a scuffle, and finally a response. "Plans changed. I can't find Violet anywhere, something's wrong."

"Do you think they know?" Alessio was already out of the bed, pulling on real clothes while I talked to Dimitri.

"Can't be sure. It's not normal for her to fall off the grid like this, I've checked pretty much every room. It's time to worry."

"We're rallying the troops now, we'll be on our way shortly. Is it safe to call you when we get closer?"

"Safer to text. My line is supposedly secure, but it'll take them longer to unscramble encoded messages than getting a call and overhearing us."

"Got it. On our way with backup."

I hung up, yanking on my darkest pair of jeans and sliding my phone in the pocket. Alessio was already digging through the gun safe under the bed and strapping his favorites to his belt and holsters.

He glanced at me as I looked for a dark colored shirt that wouldn't be too conspicuous, "Eliana, I know that we agreed-"

"Don't start, Alessio. I agreed to stay away from anything risky, I'm at least tagging along."

He nodded, frowning but knowing it would do him no good to argue with me. I followed him out of the room as he started speaking in rapid Italian into his phone, much too quickly for me to understand what he was saying

As we hurried down the hall, Leonardo caught up, "I've gotten the others up, they'll be assembled within five minutes."

"The other leaders have been contacted, correct?" Alessio asked in pure business mode, so I focused on blinking the last of the darkness from my eyes and keeping up with their long strides.

Angelo was already at the bottom of the stairs, looking so awake that I wondered if he had gone to bed at all. He fell in step next to me as we passed, making me jump slightly as something cold and metallic was pressed into my hand.

I looked down, surprised that he was arming me with a gun. His voice was low, right behind my shoulder so that Alessio wouldn't overhear, "Don't go looking for trouble, but I also don't want you going in without any protection."

The holster fit perfectly at my waist, and I couldn't help but grin. We were almost to the garage before Lucia caught up as well, struggling to carry a couple of bags while typing on a laptop. I grabbed one from her and tugged it onto my back, "You alright?"