Chapter 16: The Night Attack

Viola's POV

By dusk Santo had moved every man in the house.

The night guard who would have stood at the grove wall went up to the roof, and the two who should have been asleep were in the cellar with shotguns.

"They paid for a rota," Gaspare said, "so we give them one that isn't."

He handed me a heavy kitchen knife and a cup of coffee, and I took the coffee.

"You stay in the kitchen with the cook," Santo said. "Away from the windows."

"And you?"

"At the door."

"That's the first place they'll shoot," I said.

"Yes," he said, and almost smiled.

The lights went out at ten.

I sat on the flagstones with my back against the cold oven and the old cook's hand in mine.

Nothing happened for a long time.

At a quarter to one, the iron bell outside gave one dull knock, and went quiet.

Then the first shot came through the kitchen window and took the lamp off the table.

Glass fell across the floor.

Santo was across the room before I had breathed.

"Down," he said. "Viola, down."

The grove went white with muzzle flashes, gunfire echoing from all sides.

The men on the roof answered, and somebody screamed in the trees, and it was not one of ours.