*Giovani*
I stood in my office, leaning over a map of Florence on a spare table we’d dragged in there a few days ago. My desk had been pushed against the wall to accommodate, but I hadn’t wanted to sit since then anyway. The map, push-pinned to hell and back, took precedence.
Tallon, Alessandro, and Gabriele had all been rotating in and out of my office for days. I didn’t take etings outside the compound anymore. I couldn’t, not until I knew Lorenz was six feet under.
I sighed and smoothed out a wrinkled corner of the map. Lorenz hadn’t made a peep since we took Sal back. The man clearly had more information than he could’ve wanted out, so Lorenz’s silence unnerved . What was he planning?
Could we have been wrong to trust Sal?
Again?
The door swung open to reveal Tallon with a bag of chips in his hands. I straightened.
“Had to pull the heist of the century to get these without Maria appearing to make sothing ‘more substantial,’” he said.
I forced a chuckle. I’d kept Tallon by my side these last few days, devoting the lion’s share of his ti to parsing Sal’s information and planning, and he’d finally started to loosen up from that stiffness he acquired after I sicced Gabriele on Alessandro’s crew a few too many tis. He kept that razor wit I’d noticed over the last month as well.
He still wore those Easter-looking suits, though. Right now, he only had on a gray button-down and the salmon pants of today’s pick, his jacket abandoned over a chair.
“When will the others be here?” I asked.
We were nearly certain we’d gotten everything we could out of Sal and were running out of further extrapolations to make. It was ti to pick a plan and set it in motion.
I glanced at the video receiver of the baby monitor. Olivia and Elio sat on the floor of the nursery, coloring in a massive coloring book together in the evening light. I hadn’t left my office before midnight since Sal woke up, and this was my compromise to keep from losing my mind. The more days passed without a contact from Lorenz, the more nervous I got.
Tallon checked his watch. “Couple minutes. Got any early thoughts?”
I almost laughed. I’d fallen asleep dreaming of this map, planning entrances and escapes. “A few, but I’d rather not repeat myself.”
He nodded and lapsed into silence.
A couple of minutes, just a couple minutes, and then I’d know when my family could be safe again, when we could let Elio sleep through the night without checking on him every couple of hours... when I could move my gun from the locking holster I’d attached under our bedfra back to its case, and when I could breathe without the weight of the world on my shoulders.
As Tallon casually perused the map and munched, it struck suddenly that a regular operation like this never felt like the weight of the world before. I’d turned myself over to the sa goddamn Russians with less angst.
Olivia’s eyes ca back to my mind, nearly dead with exhaustion, as she asked if I’d ever consider retiring.
Soone knocked on the door once, then opened it without an invitation. Gabriele and Alessandro stepped together into the room.
“Evening.” Gabriele inclined his head.
Alessandro rubbed his hands together. “Let’s plan a raid.”
My lips twitched, but I nodded. “Yes. Co see what we’ve figured out.”
Gabriele and Alessandro walked closer. On all four sides, we leaned over its pocked surface.
There were at least thirty pins in the map, covering every quadrant of the city. Sal had given up every location where he knew business went down, and I grimaced every ti I looked at just how much of a hold the Russians had established in my city under my nose. But most of them were plain tal push pins. Only eight, scattered across the city, bore colored tops.
Gabriele pointed at one and quirked an eyebrow at .
“Hearts of the operation,” I said. “The Russians grew fast, but to do so, they had to be sloppy. Most of these are only half-owned by them.”
“Or less,” Tallon offered. “Intel suggests a lot of the ones near our territory, ” he said as he pointed to a few push pins unsettlingly close to the compound, “are more aesthetic presences than anything official.”
I nodded at him.
Gabriele pointed to a red push pin, then a yellow one. “Do these colors have anings? Should we plan around that?”
I waved my hand at Tallon. I knew, but it had been his idea. He smiled.
“Green is drugs. The only ones that made it to this level are big-ti cookers, so anybody who goes there is going to have to be prepared for explosives,” he said. “Red is warehouses, and yellow is major safehouses.”
Gabriele humd. “We could hit the hearts, then run cleanup when they scatter?”
“One more thing.” I pointed to a black-painted pin in the heart of the city, barely a block from the Questura, the Florentine police headquarters. “That’s Lorenz’s primary safe house.”
Tallon and I were surprised when Sal had that particular piece of information. It turned out that his being a rat who was totally willing to sell out to the highest bidder with no provocation made him desperate to learn a lot of valuable things about the Russians.
Alessandro smiled viciously. “Maybe we hit there tonight, scare ‘em for whatever cos next.”
Gabriele glared at him. “And give them a chance to flee? We need to finish them this ti.”
“Sorry.” Alessandro put his hands up. “I just don’t want him running around any longer than necessary.”
I breathed out slowly through my nose, trying to stay the Don rather than the furious, vengeful father. I nearly left as soon as Sal gave that up, but I knew it would be stupid. If we didn’t do this right, we might as well not do it at all.
“Nobody does,” I said through gritted teeth. “But early strikes are exactly the sort of fuck-up I won’t be having this ti around. Last ti, he slipped through our fingers.” I t Alessandro’s eyes, then Tallon’s. “Not again.”
They nodded in unison.
“I think Gabriele has the right idea,” I said more calmly. “We’re not going to get enough impact from a single hit, so we’re going to have to spread thin and be ready to scatter. The placent of his safehouse is obviously a taunt, but we can’t know whether he actually has enough polizia to pose a significant threat in that sector.”
“So we need eight team leaders,” Alessandro said. “At least.”
“I’ve considered that.” I’d considered everything. “For a while, I thought it would be smartest to assign each of us a team and give four to other n I trust, but I’ve changed my mind.”
I paused. All three n paused with , waiting for my pronouncent. I’d gotten into the habit of little tricks like this when I first beca Don, just testing how much other people were really willing to listen to , but I’d given them up over the years. I didn’t need them when I knew this would happen every ti.
This ti, I did it as a different sort of test. I wanted to see if it gave the sa rush it used to, knowing I was the only thing holding three extrely dangerous criminals in check, and they would wait as long as it pleased .
Instead of the sharp rush of power, I just kind of felt like an asshole. These n were my family and old friends. I didn’t need to hold my silence over their head to feel important.
“Gabriele and I will go together, and lead the team on Lorenz’s safe house.”
Tallon blanched and Alessandro made a small, disgruntled noise, but I put up a hand.
“Part of making sure there are no fuck-ups is putting the best people in the best positions to do the best work.” I looked at both brothers. “He knows your weak spots already, at least well enough to escape you once. I know you’re both very different people now, but I can’t take that risk.”
Tallon dropped his head. “That makes sense.”
Alessandro scowled at the map but didn’t say anything.
I looked at Gabriele, who shrugged. I shook my head. I could deal with Alessandro’s sulk later.
“Gabriele, can you draw up a list of the five best, imdiately available people?” I asked.
“It’s basically already done. I guessed sothing like this was coming.”
I nodded. “Alright. Now let’s get into the weeds. How do we get in–” I began, pointing to a random colored pin, “there?”
Hours passed in a blur. Ins and outs, police patrols and street nas raced through my mind like tape in a tape player. I argued back and forth with my n, hamring out every detail of the perfect assault on the Russians.
When I looked up, it was late again. Olivia rocked a pajamaed Elio in her arms, clearly preparing him for bed. And the plan was done.
I stared at the map, now scribbled all over with little black and red arrows.
“We’ll be spread thin,” Tallon said.
“Not thin enough to screw us,” Gabriele replied. “And that’s all that matters for an attack this massive.”
I nodded. “Can we have everyone ready by tomorrow night? We’ve already waited long enough to set all this up.”
“They took your son.” Gabriele’s gaze grew hard. “You say jump, and half our n’ll take flight.”
Alessandro crossed his arms. “I’m ready now, and I doubt I’m the only one.”
Tallon nodded. “I’ll make sure they’re ready.”
I looked from them, to the map, to my wife on the tiny receiver.
“Tomorrow night,” I said. “Go tell everyone.”
The three of them trooped out, and quiet reigned over my office. I sighed heavily. Our plan was good, good enough that I shouldn’t be worried. But sohow my mind kept straying back to Sal on the floor of that warehouse, bleeding and staring at us as we fled. Nothing should’ve gone wrong then, either.
I ran a hand through my swiftly graying hair and realized with a shock that it was trembling slightly. I was scared, scared of going out tomorrow night, triumphant already with this stupid plan, and getting hurt.
I slumped against the table. Did I ever think of retiring? Yes, all the goddamn ti these days. How could I not, when I knew every step out my front fucking door could leave Olivia widowed and Elio fatherless?
The portraits of all the Dons before stared down at . Most of them had wives, and several had families. They endured the life despite the danger. I always thought I’d be able to when my ti ca.
I took a deep breath. I needed to go see Olivia.
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