STELLA

This is happening. It's been a long time coming and I can hardly believe this moment is finally here, myself. There's a buzz in room filled with nervous excitement and tension.

"Tutti in posizione?" JP questions. (Everyone in position)

"Affirmative," Topo voice sounds through the comm room. 

"Copy," Enzo follows. 

"Affermativa," The Vitale brothers say simultaneously. (Affirmative)

I stand next to JP, watching the massive divided monitor where each of the guys are on the verge of assassinating the three remaining leaders and a couple of the underbosses of the Albanian organizations in New York, Chicago, New Jersey and New Orleans. 

If this is successful, the only one left will be Jimmy. 

Each of the guys have a team of men with them, with the exception of Enzo. He refused to work with anyone, but he successfully infiltrated the home of the high ranking Albanian leader on his own, in the way only he's known for. 

With stealth, efficiency, and deadly accuracy.

However, he did give in when I told him to take Tej with him to be his extra set of eyes on the inside remotely.

Over the last couple of months, each of the guys have had time to prepare, study and learn their Albanian targets' routines and schedules. As well as analyzing, dissecting, and reviewing the home layouts. The rest of the guys are on standby if needed. 

"Everyone set their timers for seven minutes. Enzo you have a little more time, twelve minutes to get in and get out." Mateo tells them and they synchronize their watches.

The target that Enrico Vitale is with, is waking up to go for his morning swim. I glance at another monitor catching JP's slightly amused eyes watching me, as a naked Enrico, hurriedly puts on a wetsuit just outside the closet where he was hiding. He's taken out most of the guards on duty with the exception of the ones in the pool atrium. 

He's timing his exit out of the room he's in when they switch out guards. He checks his watch and lifts his bag over his shoulder and waits. The guard in the atrium walks out and Enrico slips out of the room and into the pool atrium. He sets his back near the window he came in from and then slips on the tank of oxygen quickly before sliding into the water to lay in wait. 

Topo's target is actually returning from the gym after his morning workout. We watch as he walks back into his bedroom drinking what I can only assume is a protein shake, while Topo is lurking in the shadows of the next bedroom. 

The naked woman on the target's bed stirs and the sheet covering her, exposes the top half of her body. 

"Does Topo know he's not alone?" I whisper to JP. 

"He didn't until he arrived, but you know they're trained to prepare for the unexpected. He knows what he needs to do," JP responds focused on the monitor, he has one arm crossed over his chest while the other rubs his beard absentmindedly. He's watching as Fredo places one of several bombs in the hallway of the home of his target---his field of expertise---well, one of many from what I'm told. 

Fredo then heads to the kitchen stealthily and we watch as he moves towards the fridge then the oven. He pulls the oven forward enough to jump behind the oven and he disappears for a short moment before he hops out from behind the appliance and then pushes it back.

We watch as he makes his way out of the back sliding door to the house. Then jogs through the yard and hops up to climb over the wall. 

"Tutto fatto, stronze!" Fredo says into his comm piece, chuckling darkly. (All done bitches) "È un tempo record anche per me." (That's a record time, even for me)

"A nessuno piace mettersi mostra," Enzo responds. (No one likes a show off)

"That's rich coming from you, Enzo." JP adds.

"We should keep the channel open," I clear my throat.

"Enzo, incoming. Your infrared device should have detected two guards coming your way," Tej states.

"Now you know why I don't trust technology; it's fucking unreliable," Enzo responds irritated.

"Now, now, let's not be too critical, mate, plus to be fair that's your equipment not mine," Tej chuckles. "They are approaching on your left, twenty seconds." 

"Fifteen."

"Ten."

"Five"

Enzo comes out of hiding and takes down the two guards quickly, slashing one in the throat and stabbing him in the chest while the other one he kicks, throws a couple of punches at Enzo but Enzo dodges them and quickly grabs his head then breaks his neck.

My attention is pulled back to the monitor with the pool in the atrium where Enrico is still underwater with an oxygen tank. The target walks in the room, and sets his towel down and slips out of his pool shoes, swinging his arms appearing to warm up. 

The man slips goggles on over his eyes and then dives into the pool. I'm curious how this is going to go. I don't think Enrico would use a knife; that would be too messy. I watch as he does two laps and as he dives down to do another lap going the opposite direction. I notice he doesn't come back up. 

I expect to see thrashing or movement of the water but there's nothing. As the seconds tick by I check the timer in the clock and we are down to three minutes for the guys who initially had the seven minute to begin with. 

Then we see Enrico come out of the water and pull his target out; his body limp. Enrico sets him on the pool chair and poses him like he was reading and fell asleep with the book on his chest. 

Enrico runs to the window and throws his bag up on the sill and then lifts himself up, opening the window and throws the bag out the window before he slips his feet out and slides out. 

"Topo, you're losing your touch, old man," Enrico teases. "I'm guessing Fredo is done, yes?"

"Yes, he's finished," I answer. 

"Buongiorno, bella Stella, I had no idea you were joining us this morning," Enrico states and I can picture the cocky smile on his handsome face. (Good morning, beautiful)

"Good morning, Enrico," I respond. "I'm impressed by yours and Fredo's efficiency. You'll have to share your techniques when you visit next week."

"It would be my pleasure," He states. JP clears his throat loudly.

"How's it looking for Topo and Enzo?" Enrico questions. 

"Topo's about to make his move, and Enzo is going to hit his first target soon, too." JP informs him.

We watch as Topo slips into the bedroom while his target is in the bathroom. He moves towards the bed and then stops abruptly. He steps closer to the bed than pulls back and we watch as he looks towards the bathroom and then back at the bed, and then I watch confused as he walks into the closet of the room. 

"We have a fucking problem." Topo says enraged.

"What is it?" Adonis questions moving towards the screen. 

"The woman in the bed---I was just going to make sure she wouldn't wake up," He tells us and I'm curious what that means exactly. Does he mean permanently? I wonder. "But as I approached, I recognized her." He curses under his breath again. "It's Katalina De Luca." 

"What?" JP questions angrily. "Did you know about this, Donny?"

"Of course, fucking not!" Adonis responds. He grabs his phone and hits a number. I'm sure he's calling her father Angelo De Luca.

"Hey!" I grab their attention to stop them from squabbling. "Topo, do you think she'll recognize or remember you?" 

"Yeah, with a fucking mask on my face, who wouldn't?" He responds childishly. I sigh heavily as I pinch the bridge of my nose. "I mean, take your damn mask off, wake her up. Get her out of there. If you finish off the target while she's there, it'll look suspicious and could lead to her getting killed."

"We don't have a choice. Get her out with you now, Topo." JP orders. 

"Katalina is trained, I'm sure she can pull her own weight," Cristian chimes in.

Topo grunts and curses again as he slips the mask up on his head. He walks out of the closet and glances back at the bathroom. 

"You don't have a lot of time, Topo, the security program is going to come back up and once the bombs go off with Fredo's target---calls will start coming in," David tells, Topo.

"I know dammit!" Topo growls into his comm piece.

Katalina stirs on the bed and moves her head to the side towards the direction of Topo and she sits up startled. She grabs the sheet to cover herself. Topo talks to her, but she doesn't seem to be accepting what he's saying and then he pulls his comm piece out of his ear and hands it to her. 

She reaches out unsure and then takes it slowly, putting it in her ear. "Katalina? Can you hear me? It's Stella Bracco---Toretto." I correct myself catching the smile playing on JP's lips.

"Stella? What is this? What is happening?"

"No time, to explain. You need to get out of there, now." 

"Tell me what is going on?"

"Katalina!" JP fumes. "You went rogue, on your own without telling us about your continued fraternization with the Albanians. Topo is going to kill your Albanian lover and unless you want to get blamed and killed for it, get the fuck out of there now!" 

She pulls the ear piece out quickly and hands it back to Topo. Both of their heads snap towards the bathroom. Katalina stands quickly, wrapping the sheet around herself and runs to the closet. 

Just then the bathroom door opens and a man walks out with a towel wrapped around his hips. He stops when he notices Topo. His head moves towards the bed and then back at Topo. He reaches quickly for what I can only assume is a gun on the dresser but Topo is quicker and shoots the man down. 

"Topo, get out there, times up." Mateo tells him. 

Topo drags the man back into the bathroom and then runs to the closet and grabs Katalina. She's now in a white dress shirt and sweat pants. He pulls her out of the room and is now waiting on instruction from Mateo and David. 

"Four men are coming in from the main floor, you need to go out from the bedroom window and climb down the terrace." Mateo tells him.

"Fuck!" Topo grunts angrily. 

"Mi dispiace," Katalina is heard saying repeatedly. (I'm sorry) "He's not my lover, I was trying to get more intel. I'm sorry."

"Stop fucking apologizing," He tells her angrily.

He yanks her behind him as they go back into the bedroom and then the angle switches so we see him walk out onto the large terrace. Topo runs to one side and then to the other side but before he can begin to climb down we see the flashes coming from the room. I hold my breath knowing they're being shot at. 

Topo hands Katalina gun and they begin shooting back at the men, taking cover behind the furniture.

I look over and see as Fredo's target rubs a towel over his head and walks to the kitchen, he starts his coffee maker and then grabs a cigarette pack on the counter. He taps the pack on his hand a few times before placing a cigarette in between his lips and when he snaps at the lighter an explosion goes off, the screen goes back immediately.

"Boom," Fredo chuckles into the comm piece. "Musica per le mie orecchie!" (Music to my ears)

Then I watch as Enzo wraps an electrical cord around one of his targets, the second in command, of the Armend's unit. They roll around on the floor of the bedroom. The man's kicks his legs quickly but is also trying to get leverage on the wall, but Enzo moves them further away, and then the mans legs movements slow down, they jerk slightly before they finally still. 

"You have three minutes for your time to be up, Enzo." David notifies him. 

I look back at the monitor with Topo and Katalina. More men have arrived now; they're outmanned and outgunned. 

Katalina looks at the gun she's using; she's out of bullets. She throws the gun at the man coming at her, hitting him in the head, but he keeps coming and she also runs at him, launching herself over him. She maneuvers her body quickly grabbing a hold of one his arms and pulling him down to the ground. 

She yanks at his arm and from the angle, it looks like she broke it and then she heel stops on his face. She picks up the mans gun and shoots another man that was coming up behind Topo. Topo slashes at the man he was fighting with and twists around him, stabbing his slide and dragging the knife up, then quickly stabs the man in the throat to finish the job.

Katalina impressively takes on two men at the same time, but I can tell she's tiring out quickly. She gets hit in the face twice but seems to recover quickly and moves in to throw her own combination and does a spinning back kick, knocking one of the men's gun away. Then comes back with a round house kick knocking the man out. 

But she doesn't see the man coming behind her; Topo's engaged with three men at the same time and won't be able to get to her in time. 

"Fuck," JP mutters next to me, knowing there's nothing we can do as the man hits Katalina over the head. She staggers forward, and stumbles over her own feet falling to the ground. The man grabs her by the hair and back hands her and then kicks her in the stomach repeatedly. 

"JP," I grab his arm. 

"Dispatch the teams," JP order Mateo. 

Katalina attempts to crawl away but the man taunts her. Allowing her to move for a bit, before he pulls her back. She still has some fight in her as she tries to kick at him and even punches him, but he hits her back harder and with each blow he delivers I watch helplessly as her arms lose their strength and fall to her side, dangling as he continues to beat her. 

But then we see Topo tackle the man down. They trade punches back and forth for a while before the man pulls a knife and begins slashing at Topo. Topo out maneuvers the man's hand movement and disarms him taking the knife from him and plunges it into the mans chest driving it in further as he pushes him up against the wall. 

Topo rushes over to Katalina. "She's still alive." 

I close my eyes relieved. Topo picks her up but before he runs back in the house. "Topo, you need to get down the terrace. More cars are pulling up from the entrance of the house. The team is coming from the back to come help." 

"Down the fucking terrace?," Topo responds, unhappily. 

He moves Katalina over his shoulder and then carefully begins his ascent down the terrace from the lattice structure attached to the wall of the house. A couple of our men rush towards him after climbing over the wall surround the home.

We watch as one of them helps Topo over first, then the second guy pulls himself up and over, but hangs down with Topo holding him from the top of the wall. The man hanging grabs a hold of Katalina and with Topo's help lift her up and over the wall. The last man takes a running start towards the wall and climbs and over easily. 

I turn to the monitor with Enzo. He's the only one left to make it out safe. 

He's still moving through the home he's in and then stops to put a silencer on the tip of his gun. His hand is on the door handle and he turns it but what he finds inside surprises us all. 

Sitting in the room in two chairs already tied are Samira and her father, Armend. 

"Gotta say, I was expecting a little bit more of a show from you Lorenzo Romano. This whole thing was very anti-climatic. You definitely do not live up to your fame."

Jimmy steps out from the shadows of the back of the room. He smiles at Enzo pointing two guns at him. 

~~~~~

Damn, Jimmy always seems to be a step ahead doesn't he?

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