TWENTY- NINE (Odessa POV)

"This is taking too long..." I grumble tapping on the ground with my heel nervously while feeling a bead of sweat running down my back.

"What? Are you talking to me?" Jay asks out loud gesturing with her hands, I can barely hear her because the full face motorcycle helmet she's wearing is muffling her words.

"No, I'm saying that it's taking to long for Lucky to come back..." I answer almost yelling so she can hear me too, gesturing dramatically.

"But she left 10 minutes ago..." My friend answers pointing at her watch with her index.

"Why don't you turn on the mics attached to the helmets and stop making a fool of yourselves? You're drawing too much attention from the tourists in the avenue..." Sofia's voice whispering in my ear startles me, my friend is calmly leaned on a wall near her scooter with her arms crossed over her chest and the visor of the helmet she's wearing lets me see her eyes sparkling with amusement. I shake my head and sigh frustrated.

"I'm sorry, you're right but I'm very anxious and... it's too hot today..." I apologize quietly after turning the mic on and my friends show me their thumbs up to confirm they agree with me. we're all wearing a long sleeve cotton tee, jeans, gloves, kneepads and black boots in addition to the helmet so those thugs from the Camorra can't identify us, we look like professional racers about to compete in Monza despite we're going to drive Vespas... well, Giorgio promised us they'd be very fast and my girl insisted on getting dressed with protective equipment just in case. Besides, Sofia thought that buying helmets was a better idea than getting ski masks, that would draw unwanted attention since it's summer in Naples, and also would allow us to communicate through the mics. "But I really think Lucky's taking too long to come back..."

"I'm here..." The assassin appears suddenly behind me fixing her gloves before leaning her hand on her Vespa handlebar, I can't see her face hid by the helmet but she seems worried judging by her tone of voice. "As we suspected, there's a group of six armed people hiding in an alley a few blocks away from here, waiting for Winton's car to get closer probably, I think they also have a RPG, I don't know, I was unable to take a closer look... I hope they don't shoot that one... It's a market day and streets are packed with people buying veggies and clothes, there're women and children everywhere, those jerks could cause casualties among innocent people..."

"I don't think the Scorpion cares about that..." Jay shrugs.

"She's more stupid than I thought, then," I answer angrily. "The Company can't afford drawing the attention of the authorities in such a way, no one cares if a bunch of criminals kill each other but the media and public opinion will go crazy if a young child is harmed... That's why we need Winston at the High Table, he understands how important being discreet is when we're doing business and will defend our interests, contrary to that crazy woman... How are they going to stop his car?"

"They won't," Lucky moves closer to me to be able to take a look at the wider street from the alley where we're hiding and points at her right. "Traffic is slow because of the market itself, they only need to shoot while the vehicle gets closer... as simple as that. They've picked out a good position... Are you ready?" Sofia nods and shakes her hand so we can see her phone. "All right, you'll change all the traffic lights to red the moment the Continental manager gets closer to this alley, he'll stop and Odessa will persuade him to leave his car, wear a helmet and jump on a scooter. Jay and you will guide him through the narrow streets to the private airfield on the outskirts of the city while Odessa and I watch your back... Do you have your gun?" I nod and point at the weapon hidden in my waist under the shirt. "And the spare magazine?"

"Babe, trust me... I've trained for this my entire life." I put my hand on her shoulder trying to look more confident than I really feel, I have an upset stomach due to my anxiety but I'm not telling her that.

"I don't know how you're going to persuade that suspicious idiot to leave his armour-plated car... He'll ignore you, most likely."

"Don't worry, I may have my own ace up my sleeve." Lucky can't see me winking at her because of the helmet but I put some pressure on her shoulder with my fingers and she nods before checking her watch.

"All right, everybody, take your positions, scooters on and ready... Sofia, go and lean your shoulder on that lamppost casually and watch the street till the vehicle arrives... You know the warning signal." We all obey hastily, the truth is that we've gone over the plan a gazillion times and we know it by heart but stress can always play a bad trick even if you're an expert and Naples streets are too labyrinthine: if we make a mistake taking the wrong curve, we'd be lost without knowing where the fucking airfield is till Lucky can guide us again. We intend to stop Winston on this spot so those members of the Camorra don't realize what's happening and we can run away without fighting against them but it's quite possible that we'll find ourselves in the middle of a shooting against expert criminals... and they have a RPG. I swallow hard and try to focus to be able to forget about my anxiety.

"Come on, think of something else, Odessa." I tell myself while controlling my breathing thanks to the meditation exercises my mom taught me. "Think of Lucky's mouth torturing you last night, of the delicious breakfast you ate together in bed or the wedding preparations, how happy dad was when you told him and how excited your friends are waiting for the party..." My boot heel starts tapping on the ground again till I feel my girl's gloved hand rubbing my back up and down, my muscles get relaxed immediately and I smile... Nothing can go wrong because Ares is with me.

"Is that the car?" Sofia whispers through the mic pointing at a big black limousine that moves closer through the avenue.

"Yes, push the damned button." Lucky confirms and my friend obeys, changing all the lights to red while I flinch inwardly waiting for the chaos and the sound of cars crashing or something like that... But I'm only able to hear some horns being honked and curses, someone hits the brakes, and then nothing... "Fuck! Damned Neapolitans..." My girl growls angrily but her tone of voice hides a hint of admiration and I understand our mistake: her compatriots are used to ignore the traffic signs while driving, they follow their own rules and don't care about the lights, she explained that to me the first day we set foot in the city... we won't stop Winston this way.

"What are we going to do now?" I ask scared when I realize that the car is getting close to our alley but, if it goes beyond this point, it'll get shoot for sure and our plan will fail. The assassin gets tensed and moves a step forward ready to jump on the road in front of the vehicle to stop it but a scream to our right startles us. "What the...? Are those oranges?"

"I saw it in a film once... I always wanted to do it..." Jay comes back running and breathing heavily after knocking down the stall of a poor fruit seller some meters away, oranges are rolling all over the ground and the owner has given up and doesn't chase my friend anymore because he's busy trying to stop some rascals from stealing apples and watermelons while he insults them in Italian. "Classics always work."

"Odessa, it's your turn!" I blink coming back to reality and realize that the limousine has stopped right in front of our alley, the driver is sticking his head out of the window and watches bewildered the kids stealing fruit while the owner yells at them trying to stop them and other market vendors join the fight to help their workmate. Suddenly, some police officers come running and the rascals start throwing ripe plums at them turning the incident into a real pitched battle, traffic is blocked and all the drivers are honking while cursing out loud. "Come on, those assholes from the Camorra will rush to find the limousine when they notice it has stopped."

"Winston!" I yell trying to be heard over the commotion while banging the window. "You need to get out of there, the Scorpion wants to kill you... Oh, for fuck's sake..." The Continental manager ignores me and the driver moves the vehicle a few centimetres trying to stay away from me till it stops abruptly unable to drive farther or turn to a side street, the way is completely blocked. "Fuck, Winston, it's me... Odessa!" I yell again pulling up my helmet visor. "We have to go now!"

"Odessa?" The old fox rolls down the window a little, enough for me to see his eyes shooting me a confused look and trying to confirm that's me despite I'm wearing a helmet and black clothes.

"Yes, it's me, you idiot!" I answer angrily pointing at a lock of purple hair stuck to my cheek. "We have to go, there's a group of hired assassins over there ready to shoot at you by order of the Scorpion... They have a RPG..."

"Don't be overdramatic, she wouldn't do something like that... She'd have lots of problems with other members of the High Table if she hurts me..."

"Do you really believe that? You're stupid..."

"Odessa, the Camorra thugs are coming..." Lucky's voice whispers in my ear and I turn my head scared. My friends are waiting on their scooters and my girl holds her gun in her hand while monitoring the movements of people at the other side of the knocked down fruit stall.

"You're so fucking stubborn..." I growl pulling my phone out of my jeans pocket and putting it on speaker. "You don't want to believe? Okay, but I know someone who can persuade you..."

"Winston! Move your ass, you stupid dork!"

"Nikolai?" The Continental manager rolls the window down staring at my phone in shock with his mouth wide open... I'd laugh my ass off seeing his stupefied face if we weren't stuck in this dangerous situation. "You're supposed to be dead."

"No, I'm not, but you will if you don't get out of that car immediately and follow my daughter so she can take you to safety."

"But this is ridiculous..."

"Don't you realize that the Scorpion wants to take control of your hotel?" The old fox reacts, finally, and unlocks the door jumping out of the car while yelling furiously.

"My hotel? No fucking way! I can't believe this... What a bitch!" I take Winston's arm and drag him to the alley not caring about ruining his flawless Italian suit while he keeps yelling insults at his lover. "She can take my chair at the High Table but my hotel... I'd die rather than let her steal that from me."

"That's the point, killing you. Come on, put your helmet on and get on that scooter," I explain pushing him while Lucky keeps monitoring the street. "Come on, Winston, we don't have all day... Dad, thank you, I'll call you from the airfield." I yell shoving the phone back into my jeans pocket to be able to grab my gun and jump on my own Vespa, my girl gets closer running at the same time the first bullet hits the alley wall. "Follow those girls!" I point at my friends and Winston nods stepping on the gas, I turn my head to check if the assassin is all right and raise my arm when I see an armed man running towards us: I shoot without a second thought. The criminal falls back but I know there're more like him coming so we better leave this place as soon as possible.

"Let's go!" Lucky yells through the mic and we both speed up, I could've sworn they've shot us a couple of times but I can't be sure because of the engine noise... anyway, I need to focus on driving in order to control the scooter while climbing some stairs down and speeding up through a narrower alley. Winston drives his Vespa skilfully a few meters ahead while some shocked women stick their heads out of the building windows. We cross a wider avenue, driving down another alley and we skirt a square but the assassin remains silent which means Jay and Sofia remember the map she drew and we're going the right way, driving away from the city centre very fast.

"Do you think we've got rid of them?" I ask excited speeding up to climb the slope.

"No... they're right behind us..." The sound of a shot confirms her words and I try to lean over the handlebar to dodge the bullets, I can see Lucky driving her scooter with one hand out of the corner of my eye while she shoots with the other one and I wonder if I should do the same but I feel I lose control of my Vespa suddenly.

"Fuck!" I scream grabbing the handlebar tighter before turning to a narrow alley following Winston. "Girls, be careful with the manhole covers! I almost slipped and kissed the ground." At least, the members of the Camorra doesn't chase us anymore, their car doesn't fit in this alley but I bet that won't stop them and they'll keep coming after us.

"Jay, Sofia... faster..." Lucky yells through the mic. "They'll try to block our way down the road... we need to mislead them as soon as possible." The five of us speed up to the limit of the scooters, dodging other cars, bikes, housewives carrying bags with groceries... and we pray not to run into children playing on the street or dogs doing their business, that would be the cause of a serious accident. "Here they're again..."

But this time I'm ready too and hold the handlebar firmly with my left hand while shooting with the right, everything is happening so fast I don't have time to aim straight but I hope I'm hitting those idiots' car and not an innocent passer-by... and I also hope they won't shoot that damned RPG. A loud noise to my right startles me and I see a flashy orange motocross bike getting closer to me zigzagging between parked cars, I don't know where it came from but the guy is carrying a gun in his hand while speeding up with the other one although he can't shoot because we find more stairs and we all have to focus on climbing them down safely, the cobblestones are slippery and Jay slams on the breaks to avoid running over someone but Sofia and Winston keep driving.

"The car can't follow us through these alleys... we need to get rid of Giovanni." Lucky yells in my ear while Jay speeds up again and the noise of her engine echoes against the buildings of the narrow alley, the owners of the souvenir stores for tourists are sticking their heads through the doors scared and I'm worried that someone ends up hurt because of a stray bullet.

"Who?" I ask perplexed.

"The guy on the motocross bike, it's Giovanni, I'm almost sure..."

"Are you talking about your ex-boyfriend, Giovanni? That asshole..." I growl furiously speeding up the Vespa dodging tourists and vendors by some miracle. Lucky turns around to shoot a couple of times and people scream scared but I don't dare to do it because I'm not as good as she is and I'd kill an innocent girl, for sure, or I'd crash against something after losing control of the scooter. We're very close to the highway, if I remember correctly the map the assassin drew for us, and we should get rid of our pursuer now before he can guess where we're heading to... I raise a leg without a second thought and kick a table full of small fridge magnets that fall on the ground. "I'm sorry!" I yell when I see the owner running out of the store shaking his closed fist.

"Good idea!" The assassin yells too before kicking another table that displayed mugs with Naples name printed, glazed earthenware shatters when crashing against the cobblestones.

"I'm sorry!" I scream again kicking another table and one more, all kinds of souvenirs land on the ground: tambourines, nativity scene figures, ship models, porcelain plates with the city landscape, carnival masks, books... Finally, I hear someone braking suddenly and a loud bang, more curses and screams from the vendors and police car sirens in the distance.

"Well done, Odessa... now speed up, we need to reach the highway before the cops arrive or those Camorra idiots driving the car find us." Fortunately, there's no heavy traffic on the highway at this hour and we don't run into any other problem, it only takes us 15 minutes to arrive to the private airfield and we stop the scooters in front of a small building where a familiar figure is waiting for us.

"Hello, Val... I'm happy to see you." I greet my friend after taking my helmet off, relieved when I feel the fresh aircon one my face and wet hair. "Is everything ready?"

"The jet is waiting to take Winston and me to Rome, are you all right?" I nod while watching my friends pushing the Vespas to hide them inside the building and starting to get rid of their black clothes in order to wear the summer clothes they're taking from our bags that are piled up in a corner.

"Have you heard that, old fox? You have to go with Val..." The Continental manager is using a silk handkerchief to wipe the sweat away of his forehead and fixes his hair looking at his reflection in a glass door, he looks pretty good even after a chase, the truth is that few things can make Winston lose his poise and he always keeps his elegant dandy air despite a crazy woman wants to kill him.

"Okay, thank you, darling... I can't believe Nikolai is alive, you know, I suspected it, of course, but never found evidences and I gave up finally..."

"Let's get things straight, Winston, my dad is waiting for you in Rome and he'll make sure you arrive to New York safe and sound... and you'll forget he exists, you won't remember he's alive or how he looks like now..." I stare at her with squinty eyes, getting angry.

"Odessa, please, I'm a criminal but I have honour... Of course I'll forget about it, I owe him my life after all... and this isn't the first time it happens, believe it or not. I respect your father and really like you, I've seen you growing up and wouldn't do anything to harm you... As strange as it may seem to you." The Continental manager sighs, fixing his jacket in front of the glass door before turning around and looking at my friends, frowning. Lucky keeps a safe distance while changing her clothes and speaks in English with a thick Spanish accent with Jay. "You know what's strange too? That girlfriend of yours, the one with the green hair, she looks a bit like your former bodyguard."

"She's my fiancée, Winston... What can I say? I have a type of woman..." I shrug smiling and remaining calmed till the old fox nods.

"Congratulations, darling. I'll be waiting for the wedding invitation... Anyway, remember you'll always be welcome to the New York Continental. Why don't you come with me now and we celebrate your engagement?"

"I'm going to Sicily, my friend, to lie on a beach because I'm supposed to be enjoying my holidays, do you remember? I need to follow my plans or certain Scorpion could suspect that I'm involved in your escape... Your type of woman gives the creeps, honestly, I prefer mine." I tilt my head pointing at Lucky and Winston chuckles before shaking my hand and follow Val to the airstrip.