Page 122 of Niccolo

We were monitoring the news out of Venice when a reporter appeared live at the Università Ca’ Foscari. A group of heavily armed attackers had killed several unidentified men, none of whom seemed to be students. Several of the attackers had been shot and killed as well.

Fausto whipped out his phone and dialed. When Aurelio didn’t answer, Fausto left a rage-filled voicemail.

“Massimo Rosolini had better be one of the dead men I’m hearing about on the news right now!” he roared, then hung up.

“You think he is?” I asked.

“No, I don’t,” Fausto fumed. “My son isn’t that competent.”

Half an hour later, Aurelio hadn’t called back –

But someone else did: the mole inside the Rosolini household.

Fausto put him on speakerphone.

“Roberto and Niccolo are driving to Nice, France, and will fly from there to Hong Kong,”the mystery man said in a hushed voice.

Hong Kong?!I thought in surprise.

I was supposed to fly there for the poker tournament in Macau…

“Why are they going to Hong Kong?” Fausto asked in confusion.

“I don’t know – no one’s said anything except they’re leaving. I have to go.”

After the mole hung up, Fausto got a distressed look on his face. “Shit!”

“What?”

“For years, Roberto’s been obsessed with investing in an online gambling operation out of Hong Kong, run by a man named Lau. It’s a money laundering front, basically – a legal business whose primary investors are Southeast Asian organized crime groups. The Yakuza, the Chinese Triad, that sort of thing.

“Roberto pitched it as a way to go fully legitimate within five years. But his father and I had no interest in getting out of theCosa Nostra.Plus, the Hong Kong profit margins were smaller than everything else in our portfolio, so we never let him pull the trigger. But as soon as he became don, Dario gave Roberto permission to invest a sizable chunk of money.”

“How sizable a chunk?”

“Fifty million euros.”

“How long could 50 million euros keep them afloat?”

“Six months,” Fausto said grimly. “At the veryleast.”

“That would erase the one advantage we have over them.”

“Iknowthat!” he snapped.

Shit.

The assassination attempt had failed, and Aurelio had botched Venice. Reducing them to paupers was the one huge thing we had going for us at this point.

If that was taken away –

“So you think they’re going to Hong Kong to get the money back?” I asked.

“That’s the only reason I can think of.”

“Why don’t they just call Lau and have him wire the money?”

“Maybe they’re afraid Lau won’t release the funds, so they’re going to try to persuade him in person.”

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