Page 67 of Game of Love
“A rat,” Ethan surmised.
“A fucking rat,” I corrected. It was one of the things I’d thought of but wasn’t sure about. I still wasn’t a hundred percent, but I thought I needed to factor in that it could be a possibility.
If there was one thing I knew, it was that in situations like my present debacle people had prices and could be bought if the price was right. In this set up I didn’t know who the rat could be.
Wes chuckled. “Fuck, this just keeps getting better and better. Now we have to determine who the rat is.”
I shook my head. “The rat will reveal him or herself eventually.” That was the point of trusting no one. If you were always mindful that people had prices, you had that part covered. “The focus is who those other guys are and why they were there.”
“Well they obviously must have come to kill Giovanni,” Ethan answered.
I looked at him because I wasn’t so sure. The bullets flew and I didn’t see much after I grabbed Jia but what got me was the issue of timing.
I looked to Wes and knew he could tell what I was thinking.
“If they were there for Giovanni why didn’t they kill him the minute he entered the room. There was a delay,” he surmised.
“There was a delay indeed.” I nodded. “They took that shot moments after The Chameleon came in. The meeting started, Giovanni asked where Armand was and the shooter made himself known. What if they came for him - The Chameleon specifically?”
I thought the order of what had happened was significant. Ethan however did not seem to think so.
“It’s too speculative, Xander. There’s no way of knowing that. You know how that man operates. The only person who would have known he was going to be at the meeting would have been Giovanni himself.”
“What if it wasn’t? What if someone else found out? The rat.” I raised my brows.
“Sure, that could have happened but I’m not sure our thoughts should be directed to that.”
“Ethan, if these people want the prints and no one knows where Giovanni is keeping them, why would they want him dead?” Wes asked. His words were an echo of my thoughts.
“Exactly.” I raised my palms. “But if they’d got The Chameleon, they would have cut off whatever plan is brewing in the bigger picture. He’s the link to the big picture. Get rid of him and you get rid of the middle man.”
The Chameleon was probably more than the middle man because he had his fingers in so many pies. The even bigger thing about him was that he kept secrets.
Getting rid of him would sever the link to the bigger fish and anyone of that level associated with them.
“I hear you, I do and I don’t think we should cast off the idea but I just think it’s too airy. It’s like starting with A and jumping to W.”
“Isn’t that what we do?” I cut in.
“No, it’s what you do, Xander. It’s fine to do that when you’re in the moment and you need to make a decision, but not when it comes to shit like this. We need to keep focus and be sure. Whatever their mission was last night failed, so the focus is still on Giovanni. Find out where he’s keeping the prints. That’s what we need to do.”
I didn’t like being side-stepped when I was onto something. It pissed me off and in this case there was so much going on.
I nodded agreement, seeing that Wes looked uneasy too, but I only agreed because I had an idea.
The door had opened for me last night when I saved Jia.
The act meant a lot to Giovanni. Maybe he’d be a little more trusting of me.
Maybe he’d be willing to talk to me a little more, tell me a little more.
Like if the prints really were being kept at the Marchesi.
Chapter 17
Jia
I was soglad to see the back of Armand.
