Chapter 7

"We need to leave. Now!" Leo ordered, sharing a meaningful look with Angelo who immediately nodded and proceeded to rush around the room gathering their meager belongings and throwing them into their bags. Gabby frowned in confusion and discontent.

"Leo, what's going on?" Gabby asked her younger brother who now looked years older than he should.

"It was Dante who done the hit or ordered the hit, I'm not sure but we are not safe here. He'll be back to finish the job, so we need to leave Gabs." Leo explained to her with a murderous look in his eye.

"We'll be safe if I can just call Antonio-" Gabby pleaded with Leo in concern.

"No, no cops. We will handle this my way!" Leo cut her off sternly with a growl. Gabby's temper flared after being shot down again.

"And what is your way, Leo? Because from where I'm standing, we are on the run again and from your own guys, nonetheless! What the hell are we supposed to do?" Gabby hissed, letting some fear leak into her voice.

"Dante's made a big mistake crossing me and I'm going to make him pay. I'll protect you Gabby, I promise, I just can't let you out of my sight until I see with my own eyes you are safe with Antonio, ok?" Leo told her while squeezing her hand briefly. Angelo chose to ignore the siblings and continued to pack up the limited medical supplies.

"You are going to get yourself killed Leo! Along with Angelo." Gabby retorted, not playing to his soft attempt at placating her again.

"There goes that Dawson temper." Angelo muttered from the corner of the room where the siblings paid him no mind.

"I am going the best I can Gabby! What more do you want from me huh?" Leo said rhetorically.

"I want you to get out of this life! I want you to be happy with an honest full-time job! I want you to live past 30 for gods' sake!" Gabby exploded before turning around, facing her back to her brother, unable to look at him anymore. The room went quiet after Gabby's outburst.

Leo went to open his mouth and retort even with Angelo shaking his head at him and mouthing 'no' frantically when the familiar sound of 'pop' 'pop' 'pop' sounded from outside the front of the house.

"Fuck, get down." Angelo exclaimed when they all came to the realisation of what the sound was. Leo and Gabby crouched behind furniture with the former getting his gun out from his waist band.

The sound of gun fire increased as returning fire opened up from the remainder of Leo's men in the safehouse.

"We need to move. We only have 4 men at the front, and I have a feeling some of them aren't breathing anymore. Back door, now!" Leo ordered while keeping an eye on the closed door that separated the hallway from the room, they were in.

"I'll go first and check it's clear." Angelo told them, before getting up and creeping towards the back door that led to the small garden with a further gate then leading into the back alley that ran behind the property.

"There's no movement out there. If we are going to move, we have to go now." Angelo reported back to Leo who was listening to the firefight with interest, trying to count the amount of men Dante brought with him. Leo glanced down at Gabby who looked scared and was worriedly biting her lip between her teeth.

Leo would have liked to have confronted Dante and fought the man himself even though he knew they were outnumbered and outgunned. Leo knew he had to protect his sister and over his dead body was his sister going to be brought down to his level and killed because he couldn't put her first for once.

"Ok, let's go out the back door. Stay between us Gabby. It will be Angelo first and then you and then I'll bring up the rear, ok?" Leo decided on the spot. Angelo nodded in acknowledgement, checking over his handgun to make sure there was a round in the chamber. Gabby didn't respond.

"Gabby? Gabby?" Leo turned her head with his hand to get her to focus on him.

"Listen to me, I won't let you get hurt, ok? As soon as we are somewhere safe, you can call Antonio to collect you but right now we need to move, ok?" Leo told her softly, forgetting all about their earlier argument. Gabby blinked a couple of times and slowly processed his words and nodded when she comprehended what Leo was telling her. She just needed to get through this and then she can go back to her life away from the gangs and guns.

"Right, let's go." Leo quietly murmured to the pair just before they heard someone cry out in anguish as a bullet made purchase with their body. The group didn't stop to find out whose side he was on.

They made quick work of jogging into the dark alley, the heavy sound of their breathing the only noise they could heard apart from the light taps of their feet hitting the ground. Leo's breathing a bit more laboured than the other two due to his wound and the strain the exercise was putting on his injured body. Gabby glanced back a few times to check on him although there was not much she could do at that moment as they were literally running for their lives.

Angelo slowed down as the alley came to an end and motioned for the others to slow too. Angelo cautiously poked his head around the corner of the brick wall and immediately fell back down just as a car drove slowly past, filled up with four men who were looking out their windows. Looking for someone.

"They are looking for us." Angelo hissed quietly back to Leo who narrowed his eyes in anger that so many Latin Kings have decided to be loyal to Dante over him.

Leo glanced around the damp, dark alley and saw another alley that split down the back of gardens heading west.

Leo motioned at the other alley to Angelo and Gabby and slowly, not wanting to draw attention by moving fast, crept towards the alley when the coast was clear with Angelo and Gabby following.

"We need to stay away from the roads," Leo told the other two when they all reached cover again. "I know someone that lives near here, we can trust him, I think we should head for his house." Leo told the pair.

"Don't tell me you mean Matteo? Are you crazy?" Angelo questioned Leo when he realised where Leo was going with this.

"We don't have a choice, Angelo; we need to get out of the streets!" Leo whispered to him sternly. Angelo didn't look happy but conceded with a sharp nod. Gabby didn't question Leo, she just wanted to feel safe and to have a house to stay in felt like a good idea.

Leo took the lead this time and ushered them in the pitch black through different alleys and even through some people's gardens for around 10 minutes before Leo stopped in front of a detached old house with a chain link fence that had seen better days. They quickly swept the dark road for anyone watching before breaking cover and running towards the house at full speed.

Leo urgently knocked on the door but not loud enough to draw attention to themselves, the seconds of being out in the open and no one answering the door caused Gabby's heat to pound uncomfortably before another Latino man answered. Matteo looked to be in his mid- thirties wearing a loose oversized shirt.

Matteo's eyes widened comically when he saw Leo and he frantically stuck his head out the front door to check the street before dragging Leo in with a fist tightly caught in his shirt, Angelo and Gabby quickly followed behind. Nobody saw the 14 year old boy standing on the corner of the street with a phone in his hand.

"Leo, what the fuck?" Matteo started in a panic "Do you know everyone is looking for you man and not in a good way?" Matteo exclaimed.

"Yeah, I got that impression when my safehouse got shot up." Leo dryly retorted before wincing slightly. Gabby narrowed her eyes, missing nothing when it came to her brother.

"You have a big bounty on your head dog! Angelo too and also a woman you may be travelling with which I assume is you chicka." Matteo told the small group. Gabby winced at the information being shared.

"How much?" Angelo asked before Gabby slapped him over the back of the head.

"What?" Angelo whined, looking offended at Gabby. "I just want to know my worth man!"

"You, 50g's man," Matteo told the younger man "Leo on the other hand is worth 80g's and your lady friend is currently worth 100g's." Gabby, Leo and Angelo all frowned for different reasons.

"Only 50g's! what?" Angelo said in outrage "That's not even worth getting out of bed in the morning dog. What an insult!" Leo rolled his eyes at his best friend, while eyeing up Gabby who paled at hearing there was a hit out for her.

"And a higher bounty on Gabby's head? Not cool man." Angelo continued his rant.

"It's Dante playing games again and trying to get under my skin." Leo furiously glared at a wall, imagining strangling Dante's neck. Gabby then saw his top start to soak some blood and she tugged him over to the couch so she could take a look wordlessly with her best stern paramedic face on.

"Matteo, this is my sister Gabby." Leo introduced his sister, forgetting to introduce her.

"Nice to meet you and everything Gabby but Leo I have a problem here. You can't be here." Matteo told the group nervously. Leo sighed in annoyance but understood Matteo's position.

"I'm sorry Matteo but we have nowhere to go. We won't be long…" Leo told his old friend.

"I need to stitch Leo up and then we can go." Gabby tries to appease the men who were wound up tighter than a spring. Angelo sat by the window, keeping watch, still angry about only being worth 50k.

"Ok, but then I really need you to go. This is dangerous for me, you being here." Matteo tells them. Leo nods in understanding while Gabby gets started on re-doing Leo's stitches that had been ripped open again.

"Dante must have been planning this for a while. There are men patrolling the streets watching for us. His plan has been meticulous." Leo told Matteo while breathing deeply as Gabby worked on him.

"Leo, I warned you months ago about him. He's ruthless and he hates competition which unfortunately is you." Matteo told the younger man. "You can't beat him, Leo."

- Line Break-

"Oh this is not good!" Detective Mann exclaimed while listening on his headphones into live chatter on the Latin Kings.

"What is it?" Voight immediately demanded stalking towards the detective. Antonio and the rest of the team gathering around not far behind.

"There has been a huge increase in chatter with Latin King members. It sounds like they are looking for something. Whatever it is they are all mobilising and I have a feeling when they find what they are looking for it will not be pretty." Detective Mann told the team. Antonio frowned and crossed his arms.

"It could be about Gabby and Leo." Antonio commented, his whole body itching to do something and move.

"It could also not be about them." Voight countered, not wanting to jump the gun but all the same concerned about the increase in chatter.

"The weird thing is that I checked with my buddy who is investigating the Black Disciples, he said there has been no talk of a hit or a war with the Latin Kings and their chatter has been kept at normal levels." Detective Mann told the group in confusion.

"What does that mean?" Ruzek questioned, the rest of the team wanting to know also.

"It could mean that either it was a lone wolf style attack or splinter group of the Black Disciples who acted on their own or…" Voight theorised before trailing off and sharing a meaningful look with Antonio who paled at the second theory, they were both thinking.

"Or it wasn't the Black Disciples who done the hit." Antonio finished with a sigh and the rest of the team caught onto their train of thinking.

Suddenly after that revelation, Trudy ran up the stair's half out of breath.

"Voight turn your radio on, we've got officers under fire on Ryback and Smith." Trudy told the team who immediately began gathering their gear.

"Ryback and Smith? That's Latin King territory." Upton told the group unnecessarily.

"Something big is going down and we are going to find out what and find Gabby. Gather your gear and let's move!" Voight told the team as they quickly filed out into their cars when they were ready.

-Line Break-

"Thank you for sheltering us, Matteo, I appreciate it dog." Leo thanked Matteo who was holding the back door open for the now packed up group.

"Don't mention it. Seriously. I might get killed for this." Matteo told him in a joking manner before patting the younger man on the back in comradery.

"I'll repay you for your kindness, I promise." Leo told him while Matteo brushed him off.

"Not necessary, now go." Matteo told him urgently, Leo nodded in understanding before leading the way out the back door and through the yard so they could reach the alley at the back of the house. Gabby and Angelo trailed behind and gave Matteo a grateful nod as they left the house. They didn't get too far when they heard loud angry shouts coming back from where Matteo's house was and then the sudden noise of a single gunshot echoed through the suddenly quiet air. Leo's face hardened as he realised his friend was gone. He didn't have time to mourn though. Leo grabbed Gabby's arm and pushed her frozen body forward ahead of him.

"Move!" Leo told her as they began running again into the darkness.