Page 64 of Niccolo

“And an excellent one, too,” Fausto consoled him. “We just needed the final piece to make it work.”

I grimaced.

Mediocre menalwaysseemed to want to steal the credit due a woman.

I reminded myself that credit didn’t matter. All that mattered was the 10 million euros waiting for me when those mafia assholes were dead.

“This girl from the café,” I said to Fausto. “What’s her name?”

“Not that it matters… but it’s Alessandra.”

26

Fausto immediately called the Turk and explained the plan.

He loved it.

Arrangements were made the next day. The Turk contacted the Oldanis and got two more operatives from them. It wasn’t difficult to convince them; the Oldanis were frothing at the mouth about their dead Enforcer.

The Turk promised that if they just lethimhandle it, Dario Rosolini and his brothers would be killed within a week – and their deaths would never be traced back to the Oldanis. Unless theywantedto claim responsibility for it, of course.

The plan was for the Oldanis’ operatives to wait in a nearby village until Alessandra escaped from Dario’s estate. They would scoop up the girl and deliver her to the Turk.

Then Fausto called the old Sicilian woman on her cell phone. She kept it hidden in her room, along with a small pistol.

Aurelio and I were present during the call, which Fausto put on speakerphone.

“Get the girl to trust you, whatever it takes,” Fausto ordered the old woman. “Then get her out of the house through thetunnel. That part is crucial: itmustbe through the tunnel. Understood?”

“Understood,”she said dourly.“And THEN you’ll finally let me kill them?”

Fausto rolled his eyes at me, like it was ridiculous to think she had a chance against Dario and the others. “No – ”

I held up a finger.

“Hold on,” Fausto said to the old woman and muted the call. “What?”

“She could be our contingency plan. If the Turk fails – ”

“He’s not going to fail,” Aurelio scoffed.

“IF he fails, then she can be our backup.”

“She can’t kill all of them,” Fausto pointed out.

“She only has to kill the king,” I said. “And even a pawn can do that.”

Fausto looked at the chessboard for a moment… then took the phone off mute. “Filomena.”

“Yes?”

“Sometime in the next week or so, we’ll be sending in people to help you. You’ll know when it happens – it will be obvious. Wait for the right moment… and then, yes, by all means, take your revenge. But shoot Dario first. That’s important – shoot him first.”

“You’ll tell whomever it is you’re sending?”she asked doubtfully.

“Yes, of course,” Fausto said in a bored voice.

“Thank you,”she replied. I could hear the gratitude in her voice.

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