We didn’t have time to wait for a driver. Marco has gotten his Corvette out of the garage, and we’re packed in tight to the small space.

He’s absolutely thrashing the little beast. I swear he’s enjoying himself. I call out the turns, and I think Marco breaks every traffic law on the way out of the city.

I start to really get worried as we leave the main city limits.

Why would she come out here? Who could she be meeting?

It’s an old industrial area. Papa used to have factories out here. A lot of them have closed down and abandoned. It’s a hell of a place to be, even for a fit young man who knows how to fight.

Not a place for a sweet, beautiful creature, like Sofia.

I give the final few directions, and Marco wrestles the little car through a side street and into a large concrete parking lot. We get out and look around.

Marco glances at me. “Are you sure?”

“As sure as I can be. I mean, it’s not definite, but—”

“What’s that?” Antonio points in the direction of the door.

Something dark there was fluttering in the breeze.

We run over to it. Antonio picks it up.

It’s a red silken wrap.

“She was wearing this!” Marco screams. “She’s here!”

The door has been locked, and I think I can hear Sofia inside.

She’s crying. Oh god, I never thought I would hear such a woeful sound.

Panic is attacking me from the inside out.

“Get the fucking door open!”

I’m screaming now. We’re all screaming.

“It’s no good!” Antonio’s been studying the lock. “The edges are set in steel.”

Marco takes a step back and examines the edges.

“It’s set in steel, but the door itself is just wood. Old wood too—probably rotten. None of us could do it alone, but if we all hit it at the same time, it should break.”

We glance at each other, nodding.

I can hear Sofia sobbing, and I feel such a sense of urgency. My mind is almost blank.

We take a few steps back for a run up.

Marco counts softly. “One…two…three…go!”

We plunge at the door, all of us throwing our shoulders down as we smash into it.

There’s a splintering sound, but it doesn’t budge.

“Marco!” Sofia screams from inside. “Antonio! Franco! Help me!”

We back up once more like three men in a single mind.

We know there’s no time to lose. Her voice has galvanized our strength.

We lunge for the door again. This time, it splinters and buckles in the center.

“One more time!” Marco screams, and we back up and run at the door again.

Now it shatters.

Marco falls through, and Antonio and I follow him through the crack.

“I’m here! I’m here!”

The sound of her voice drives me wild—she’s so scared, so scared and hurt.

I can’t bear it.

Marco’s ahead, but we catch up quickly and surround her. I just want to take her into my arms and hold her. As I approach, I see her hands and feet bound with tape, and I’m outraged.

Who would do such a thing?

Why would they think they can go up against the strongest brothers in town?

Then I notice the bomb. The little blinking display on her chest clicks down to 180 as I watch, and keeps counting down.

Marco is on his knees, pulling out a pocket knife to free her hands and feet.

“There’s a bomb!” she screams. “He’s attached a fucking bomb to me.”

“No fucking way,” I say, kneeling beside her, feeling a new wave of terror grip my heart.

“May I take a look?” Antonio kneels next to me.

He flips up the display panel and starts fooling with the wires.

“What the fuck are you doing, Antonio?” Marco snaps. “You’ll set it off. We should cut it off her as quick as we can.”

“Try that,” Antonio says calmly, “but from the look of the tape you would need at least five minutes. Maybe three, to cut her free of the explosives. Start cutting, Marco, in case I fail.”

“What are you doing?”

I’m amazed and confused, watching Antonio tinkering with the wires.

Sofia is sobbing so hard her chest is heaving up and down, and Antonio follows the movements deftly. Marco starts speaking to her gently as he cuts the tape, telling her it’s all going to be alright. We’ll get her out of this.

Fucking damn right we will.

“Well,” Antonio listens with one ear as he tugs on a wire. “You know how grandpapa was in the army? We used to get bored some nights, and he would show me the old detonator codes. Most bombs work the same way.”

I watch as the seconds count down. Marco is slicing at the tape, not caring about preserving the dress.

We have less than twenty seconds now.

“Hurry up, Antonio,” I warn him, “there’s almost no time left.”

He reaches in to the detonator with a satisfied smile.

“I only need another five seconds.”

He grins and clips a wire with his knife.

The red lights counting down to doom stop. Three seconds to spare.

Sofia is still sobbing and gasping.

We all try to hold her and comfort her. We pull the tape off her, the dress completely ruined now. It hangs off one shoulder, almost baring her breast, and I shake out the red wrap and tuck it around her shoulders.

She smiles through her tears and stands up.

We all try to support her at once, and she laughs. I put an arm around her waist, and so does Antonio. Our arms cross at the small of her back.

“Well,” Marco grins, standing in front of us. “What’re we waiting for? Let’s get the fuck out of here!”