Page 78 of Niccolo

And an excellent sniper, to boot.

The only name given was Diana.

I was assuming it was a code name. Maybe the Latin version of Artemis, goddess of the Hunt.

Or perhaps a mononym – the assassin version of Madonna or Cher.

To be honest, I was surprised Fausto had chosen a female assassin.

On the other hand, hehadchosen a femaleconsigliere.

“She looks fine,” I said.

Fausto giggled with delight. “What if I told you I believe she’s the former lover of Lars, my nephew’s Enforcer?”

I stared at him in shock. “What?!How?!”

“I told you Lars worked briefly for MI6. During our initial meeting, he mentioned a woman named Rachel Bauer whoalsoworked for MI6. They were estranged, though he obviously still harbored feelings for her. Love of his life, that sort of thing.” Fausto beamed as he tapped the paper. “I believe this Diana and Rachel Bauer might be one and the same.”

“Are you sure?!”

“No – we’ll have to meet her to be positive. But think of what it means if I’m right!”

I stared down at the paper. “That would beperfect!”

“What would be perfect?” a familiar voice asked.

I looked up to see Aurelio striding through the door to the library.

“Your father’s found the ideal assassin,” I replied.

“Remember when I told you Lars was in MI6?” Fausto said to his son. “I believe his ex-lover, also from MI6, is now a contract killer.”

“So why’s that perfect?” Aurelio asked, annoyed that he didn’t see why.

“If she manages to kill Dario and get away,” I explained, “we can reveal afterwards that it was Lars’s ex who killed him. That will cast suspicion on Lars. They might even execute him – or try to, anyway. Best-case scenario, they all kill each other when Larstries to escape. Even in the worst-case scenario – just Dario and Lars die – their forces are cut by a third.

“Say the assassin fails. Doesn’t matter. If Lars kills her before she gets away, he realizes he killed the love of his life. It’lldestroyhim and make him absolutely worthless as an Enforcer.

“Say she fails but escapes. Doesn’t matter. We arrange it so the brothers find out it was Lars’s ex, casting suspicion on him once again. No matter what happens,we win.”

“…oh…” Aurelio said, less than overwhelmed.

“Don’t you see?!” Fausto cried out. “Both psychologically and militarily, it’s utterly devastating!”

“What if she won’t take the job because of Lars?” Aurelio asked defiantly.

“We don’t tell her about him,” Fausto said with a grin.

“But what happens if she spots Lars before she kills Dario?”

I shrugged. “Even if she does, everything else I said remains the same. The only other option is she withdraws without being detected, in which case we just try again with a different assassin.”

“Why not hire somebody else and get it right the first time?” Aurelio snarled.

“Because the odds of her fucking them up are significantly higher no matter whether she succeeds or fails,” I snapped.

“Exactly,” Fausto agreed.

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