Page 54 of Home Team Advantage
Kieran eyes bored into him. “So, it’s going to be like that, huh?”
When Matt said nothing, Kieran exhaled. “It doesn’t have to be me, you know. You can talk to Jake, Ian, Mick, Sean, Shane, even Kane. We’ve all been through it.”
Kieran’s phone vibrated. He took it out of his pocket and looked at the screen. “It’s Ian.” He lifted the phone to his ear. “Hey, what’s up? Now? What—yeah, okay.”
He looked at Matt. “Ian wants us to meet him at the pub. He’s calling everyone in.”
“Did he say why?”
“Only that he’s got news and it’s a game changer.”
* * *
When Matt and Kieran arrived at the pub a short while later, they entered through the back, bypassing the public area and going directly to one of the private upper floors. They found not only Ian, but Jake, Sean, Shane, and Michael as well. The only one missing was Kane.
“All right, everyone’s here,” Jake said to Ian when Kieran and Matt stepped in. “What’s this about?”
“I got a call from Cage an hour ago,” Ian said without preamble, his usual joviality absent. “You know the software that lets us zoom in on satellite images with enough clarity to see a blade of grass? He combined that with a graphic design tool that sharpens images and applied it to the downloaded photo Anna had been looking at in the library. Then, he blew it up even more and ran multiple iterations against every person there until he had a series of high-def close-ups.”
“Uh-oh, he’s geeking out again,” Shane said.
“Fuck, I think he’s going to come,” said Sean.
Ian ignored them. “Bree showed those images to her cousin Toni on the off chance that they jogged a few memory cells. Turns out, they did. Or rather, one did. Toni recognized someone who, for all intents and purposes, shouldn’t be there.”
“Who?” Jake asked. “And why?”
Ian tapped a few keys and brought up the original image on the large flat screen, much as he had at Sanctuary. He used his pointer to circle a guy in the background, barely distinguishable from everyone else. Black hat shadowing the upper half of his face, black coat, collar pulled up against the wind.
Then, he clicked again, and Nick’s refined image filled the screen. The clarity was incredible. The blurry figure now had black hair, dark eyes, and a five-o’clock shadow that didn’t completely conceal the thin scar that ran the length of his jaw, down his neck, and into his collar.
Matt had to admit, it was an impressive improvement.
“This is Luca Bianchi,” Ian said, answering Jake’s question. “And his presence here is notable because he died ten years ago.”
“Pretty solid-looking for a ghost,” Jake muttered.
The name meant nothing to Matt. Judging by the blank expressions in the room, it meant nothing to any of them either.
“Why do we care?” Sean grunted.
“Excellent question,” Ian said. “When Matt and I were at Sanctuary, Bree mentioned that there had been a power shift in the Chicago syndicate about a decade ago. Two prominent families were vying for power: the DiGiorgios and—wait for it—the Bianchis. There was lots of bad blood between them, so the dons arranged a marriage to unite the families. Same sitch as Cage’s parents. Anyway, Paul DiGiorgio—yes, the guy running for governor—was the sacrificial groom, and Giovanna Bianchi, the only daughter of Luca Bianchi Sr., was his betrothed.”
Sean made a rolling motion with his hand.
“Patience, bro. I’m getting there. As you can imagine, not everyone was stoked about the plan. The families had been enemies for years. Even those who wanted peace weren’t crazy about the union. For one thing, Giovanna was barely legal, and Paul DiGiorgio was twenty years her senior. Plus, he had a reputation for not being—shall we say—gentlemanly toward the fairer sex. There was dissent in the ranks, particularly on the Bianchi side.
“Before the wedding could take place, the head of the DiGiorgio family was killed, taken out old-school gangster-style. Naturally, the DiGiorgios believed the Bianchis were behind the execution. To avenge the don’s death, they sent their own enforcers over to pay the Bianchis a visit. Only, instead of the traditional eye for an eye thing, they took out the whole family. It was a massacre.”
More clicks. A series of gruesome crime scene photos appeared on the screen, one after the other.
“Obviously not the whole family if Luca Jr. survived,” Shane said.
“Exactly!” Ian said, nodding in approval. “Here’s where it gets really interesting. The bodies of Luca Sr. and his wife were recovered, as well as those who were in the house that night, but not those of Luca Jr. or Giovanna.”
Sean frowned. “So, why were they presumed dead?”
“Because their bloody prints were found at the scene.”
