Page 102 of Little Deer
“You think he’s gone back to Marco?”
“Possible. Especially if things with Giovanni aren’t going the way he’s hoping.”
“Are we sure that he’s not trying to set up his own army to try and take over?” Alessio asks carefully. He glances at us all. “I mean, if he’s talking about taking over, and he gets rid of all the players, any of the men left aren’t going to be loyal to him. He’s not going to let the Russians live, or the Irish, and even if there are some men from his father, or uncle left, or even Nico’s men, I doubt he’d trust them to fall in line. Or if he does, I have a feeling there won’t be many left.”
Unease slivers through my gut.
“Where would he be hiding them, though?” Lazaro points out. “I mean, yes, he has access to all those territories and routes, but even the secret ones are known to the others. Unless he’s trying to hide them in Russian territory, but I would imagine Ivan would have that all locked down tight.” He looks at Dante and Nico for confirmation.
“As far as I know, Ivan has his shit worked out so well that even we haven’t been able to get into it. Or our spies,” Dante says grimly. “I doubt he would share that with Giovanni or Orlando. It’s his ace in the hole.”
“And there’s nothing in the files about it?” Aurelio asks.
“Nothing. Maybe he put it somewhere else in a hard drive or something we don’t have, but he kept everything else together, so why wouldn’t he for that too?” Urso points out.
“Ivan is going to double cross Giovanni the minute this is over,” Nico predicts. “He’s using them as much as they’re using him. I wouldn’t be surprised if Ivan is the one to contact this Chameleon group himself to make sure that Giovanni and his sons don’t survive this. The question would then be would he set them on the rest of us to get us out of the way?”
“Why hasn’t he done that before then?” Alonzo asks slowly, like he’s trying to figure it all out in his head. “They have access to these things, and they don’t try to use them against any other family? Why? If they are as good as everyone says they are, then they would have taken you all out before now.”
“There’s an unspoken code that things like that would never be used unless necessary,” Papa explains. “We have men we could call at any time to do such things as well, but to do so just for power is dishonourable. We handle our own problems until things are so bad that no one can see the end in sight, or revenge must be carried out with a very harsh message. I imagine that the Russians and Irish hold the same thoughts.”
“It also would make them look weak and not able to handle things on their own to go in and ask for someone else to do the dirty work for them,” I add.
Papa nods. “Yes, that too. However, this situation is messy. Families are fighting, a war is brewing over an entire city, and alliances are being struck that could cause significant problems. These are the times that people like this are brought in. Especially if they see that things aren’t going to go their way.”
A loud warning sound came from Dante’s computer, and we all froze. Dante frowns, quickly tapping away on his keyboard. He pulls out his phone and barks, “What the fuck is going on with the system?” Silence. “Check the perimeter. All of it. Now. I want answers in two minutes.” He looks at us. “The system is tripping, but nothing is showing up on the cameras. The men are looking.”
“You think it’s one of the De Lucas trying to get in?” Nico asks tightly.
Dante’s phone rings, and his expression darkens as he listens. “Increase the patrols.” When he looks at us, he says, “They’ve found nothing. No signs of anyone, not even footprints.”
“So the system is just glitching?” Aurelio asks doubtfully.
“Someone might be trying to hack it,” Urso jumps in. He grabs his laptop and starts typing away.
It’ll never get old to sit and watch a man as big as him hunch over a tiny computer. Even now, I see Alessio trying to hide his grin.
See? I’m not the only one.
“It glitched again,” Dante grits out. He dials a number and starts barking orders into the phone, demanding to know what the hell is going on. “If no one is trying to hack in then find out what the fucking problem is. Now.” He hangs up and tosses his phone on the desk in disgust. He looks at Nico. “When this is all over, we’re doing an overhaul of everyone. They’ve all gotten fucking complacent and I’m done with it.”
Nico nods, his expression hard and angry.
“While you’re all figuring that out, we need to get eyes on Esposito and the De Lucas, figure out what the hell they’re all doing,” Aurelio decrees. “We don’t want to be surprised.”
“I’ve already got my spies working on it in Esposito’s house,” Dante assures him. “Same for the De Lucas. I’ve also sent a message to our informant in Seamus’s camp, but he’s still not answering, so I’ve contacted other informants we have. Ivan’s group is trickier, but I’m trying there too.”
“They’re all going to move soon, I can feel it,” Alessio mutters. “I mean, we’ve uncovered a whole fucking bunch of secrets, screwed up some shit for them, and now we’ve got all but one girl under our roof. It’s falling apart around them. They’re not going to take it easily.”
“What the fuck?” Dante hisses, just as Urso does the same.
“What?” I demand.
“Just got a warning on my screen,” Dante says carefully, looking over at Urso who nods.
“Me too.”
Both of them turn their screens and I look at Dante’s since his is closer.
