Page 18 of La Dolce Vita

"Why did the Triad have this?" Giovanni asked.

Josef looked to Mateo Benicia and then back to Giovanni. "It's also very useful to them in the sex-trade. Women are given this repeatedly in small doses to be abused with consent. I think the Triad got their hands on it and intended to distribute it as a new type of LSD. They were trying to turn it into a cosmetic date rape drug."

"Rape?" Giovanni asked.

"Since the death of the Dragon there's been some change in management," the German said. "The Triad deals in heroine, some of the bestChina Whitein the world, not a drug that is so `unstable' and expensive to make like this."

"Explain to me, what makes it unstable?" Giovanni asked.

"It's made in a laboratory; it takes money and a lot of talent to produce it. If cheapened or mixed the wrong way, it is instantly fatal. It took us months to locate it in its purest strain. Whatever its original purpose was, besides useful to the military, I don't know. I can't understand who the buyer would be."

Giovanni's jaw tightened. Kei Hyogo injected this shit into his wife. And for months they have dealt with the side effects. He watched his Bella go through loss of appetite, sleeplessness to sleepiness, tremors, night sweats, fevers, mood swings and crying fits that exhausted him. He kept her ailments from the family. He'd hospitalized her twice. Control continued to slip from his hands and everyone knew it. Though there were days when she was perfectly fine, in his heart he believed the worst was far from over.

"If a person was injected with this several times, and then tried to get better. Could they?" Giovanni asked.

The doctor cleared his throat. "Better?"

"You know what I fucking mean. Is there a cure?" Giovanni demanded.

The doctor looked down at the vials and then to Giovanni. "Like I said, Don Giovanni, we aren't sure if this is addictive. It wasn't designed to be. But if a person takes it for a prolonged time, years, then like any addiction it would be hard to overcome..."

"Is there a fucking cure?" Giovanni demanded.

"I don't know what the Triad did with people who used this. Other than the sex trafficking, I'm not sure. Too much of it will kill a person, eventually. One shot or two, it's possible it could work its way out of your system with little side effects, eventually. I'm not sure. We'll need more time. And test subjects," the doctor smiled.

Giovanni took a step toward him. He slammed the case shut and flipped down the locking clamps. He lifted the small case with the poisonous vials off the table and held it at his side. "I want the fucking antidote. Do you understand me?"

The doctor's smile was dissolved. His face turned bright as a peach. He nodded his agreement. "I understand. A cure. Yes, yes, of course. Maybe we can find something to counterattack the synthetic strain's effects on the brain once introduced. I will...we will try. I'll need a place to work, materials." The doctor continued to ramble on. And at that moment Giovanni's heart sank. He knew fear in men. He also knew when a frightened man fed him bullshit. There was no cure. And there was no explanation as to what this would do to his wife long term. Why had Kei Hyogo injected her with this poison? To make her a slave to him? It would be the only way he could separate his Bella's heart from her family. The bastard had done this to her, and he'd been powerless to prevent it. No matter the revenge he took in her name and honor, he'd never abandon the guilt he felt over her kidnapping and torture. And now that he held the poison in his hands he faced another hard truth. He could never tell his sweet Bella that the same toxic shit that dragged her mother to her grave, was now flushing through her veins. Heroin, opium, synthetic mix, all of it was ruthless in how it destroyed people's lives.

Giovanni decided on another approach. He looked at the doctor and then Mateo. "Twenty million lira to the man, scientist, who the fuck ever comes to me with a cure. And another ten million as a bounty bonus if the person who created this is brought to me." He narrowed his eyes on the scientist. "You take up my offer to find a cure, be prepared to give me proof of the healing. A woman, same age as my wife." He glanced over at the only woman in the room. For the first time, she lowered her gaze when his met hers. He'd sacrifice anyone for the life of his Bella. And everyone in the room knew it.

A light of interest sparked in the doctor's eyes as he too looked at the woman in the room. The doctor was no longer fueled by fear, but fueled by greed. And that would be the key to saving his wife. It would be the greed of bastards like the one before him. Giovanni turned and walked out. Benicia was on his heels. "Gio, I have other contacts. There is dissension in the Triad after... everything. We might be able to get our hands on the exact source of this. I will do this for you."

Giovanni's eyes misted over; his heart hurt so bad it felt like it was set ablaze in his chest. But he blinked away the weakness and concealed it behind his sunglasses before it could be seen by anyone. He glanced at the men who were all riled up earlier. Now they stood around one man who was on his knees begging for his life. Benicia stepped to his left side and observed.

"A thief. Stupid enough to steal from us."

A gun was put to the man's head. The silencer on the end muffled the blast that blew a hole into his skull. The man dropped dead.

It's what the Benicia clan did to thieves.

"I want to hear something from you before the end of the week. Put my offer out there and meet with only me regarding it. Understand?" he asked.

"Consider it done," Mateo replied.

Giovanni wiped his jaw and stared at the dead man. He felt the familiar numbness return to cover his heartbreak.

"Damnation," he said. He shook his head and walked out.

***

"Avanti,"The inspector said.

Adara Costello entered a bit cautious of the welcome. She nodded to the Chief Inspector and the other two men in the room. "I was told you wanted to see me?"

"This is her, sir, the cadet I was telling you about," another man said, one she did not know. She was not officially a part of theGuardia di Finanza. Women were not allowed into the military or special forces. But an elite secret division for a specially trained undercover unit to combat the Mafia in the southern region of Italy had presented an opportunity for her. She and six other girls were chosen and heavily screened.

"We want you to listen in on something." The Inspector said. He gestured for her to come closer. She walked over to the large two-way window, and her eyes fell upon the man behind the glass. He sat slumped back in a chair as if bored. He drummed his fingers on the top of the desk as twoPoliziaofficers paced and hurled questions at him.

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