Page 70 of Little Dove

“Was there anything else?” Nico asks, cutting off any further disclosure.

“Nothing until we meet at Esposito’s. Marco will be busy with the girl, but I’ll have more of my men keep an eye on that situation. Seamus told him they will attack Leonardo’s home in the next few hours, but I’m sure they’ll hold off long enough to talk to Leonardo before they do anything stupid.”

“Alright. I want to know what’s said in that meeting,” Nico orders, and Eion nods his agreement. Nico stands and we start to move toward the door, with me and Dante protecting Alessio and Nico by falling in behind them.

“Oh, one more thing,” Eion says, halting us. Dante and I turn carefully, still shielding the other two men. “One of my men heard that Marco has been bragging to his own men that Giovanni has no idea he’s getting information from someoneright under his nose. I’ll leave you to figure out who that is, but thought you should know that in case it’s important.”

We leave the library and return to the SUVs. I’m on edge for the next few minutes until I’m sure we’re not being followed. Then I ask, “How much do we trust him? Did he tell us all that to throw us off?”

“He’s given us good intel so far, so I tend to believe him,” Dante answers simply. “As for the rat in Giovanni’s camp, that has to be Orlando. He’s their tech expert, and he’s the only one who has the balls to go against his father to tell his cousin.”

“You think it was Orlando who gave Marco the tip on this other girl?” Alessio asks.

“Still doesn’t explain why he would tell his cousin over his own father, if they did find one of the other girls,” I argue, trying to work all the angles out in my head. We’re missing something. I can feel it. “I mean, he might supply Marco with information, but he’s not going against his father openly. It could be that he doesn’t give a shit if Marco finds his sister, but they will care about the second girl, Orlando’s own sister. He won’t want Marco having access to her.”

“Especially not if they have a deal with Ivan,” Alessio agrees. “Even if he doesn’t agree with his father, you said he’s a wild card. Maybe he has grand plans of his own, to overtake his father and side with the Russians if he gets the chance.”

“The way things are, that wouldn’t surprise me,” Nico agrees darkly. “That whole fucking family is broken, right down to the youngest, which means if they see a way to jump ship to what they feel is a winning side, they will.”

“If they found the other daughter, why the fuck is Leonardo not going after the girl?” I wonder aloud. “I mean, he’s not going to want his son to get his hands on her. Seamus calls and says ‘I think it’s a hoax’ and that’s the end of it? He just believes him?”

“Could be Leonardo sent men to get her, too, and we just haven’t seen them rush in,” Dante points out. “They might wait until Marco nabs her before they step in, take her from him, and dispose of him and the men with him. Let him do all the hard work.”

“That does sound more like Leonardo’s style. The issue now is Giovanni. Where is he and what is he going to do?” Alessio queries. “He wants the power, and if there’s a chance he can get to this new girl before any of us, then I can’t see him hesitating. But if he works something out with the Russians, it’s more likely that he won’t send his own men to try and take her, he’ll get Ivan to. He’s already lost too many, and other than his own sons, he’s got little options. And with Lorenzo gone, he’ll probably want to keep them close.”

“I want to know more about the girl,” Nico says. “How is it that they found this girl and we haven’t? Something’s not right.”

On cue, my phone rings. “You’re on speaker,” I announce to my father.

“Girl’s a diversion,” Papa says briskly. “The woman at the club they’re talking about is a plant for the Russians. Her name is Priscilla Titova, and she’s one of their best assassins.”

“So it’s an ambush,” Alessio remarks gravely. “Pull back our men; we don’t need any losses, but tell them to keep an eye on things in case anything important happens. Don’t engage, intel only.”

“Already done,” Papa replies. “Another thing. The calls to Marco and Leonardo came from a cellphone that we’ve been able to link to Giovanni and one of his sons. They tried to make it look like the call came from some burner in the middle of the city, but their tech guys are amateurs. Urso determined that the call was made from the middle of a park near Giovanni’s home. On a burner, of course, but it’s still showing as active, so they probably just dumped it and walked away.”

“They don’t care if it’s traced,” Nico agrees. “They know that Marco won’t question it, especially not if it’s Orlando feeding him information anyway. Leonardo probably had his men look into it, but I doubt they looked very far.”

“It was deep in there,” Urso calls out. “I had to dig for it, and it took me and Zeno a few minutes to follow the trail. It’s a set up if I’ve ever seen one.”

“If Giovanni is laying false trails, he’s planning big moves,” Nico states grimly. “Get us back to the house, Dante, now.”

“If he’s planning big moves, wouldn’t he have let us know too?” I ask as Dante pushes the SUV to go faster. “Why is he only going after Leonardo and Marco?”

“Maybe he figures they’re smaller and weaker than us, and wants to take them out first,” Alessio suggests.

“Or it’s a distraction to get us to send our men out, leaving us weaker,” Nico suggests grimly. The tension in the vehicle increases. “He blames us for the death of his son, and we have his daughter and two nieces. He’s not going to go after his brother and nephew with everything he has yet. Maybe he wants them out of the way to avoid having them interfere with his plans.”

“You think he’s going to hit us again so soon?” Urso asks, skepticism lacing his voice.

“He has a whole new backer, so he has nothing to lose. Especially if he’s expecting Amara as part of the package. Help him get her out, he marries her off, they have an alliance, and Ivan gets a chance to take out all the big players. It’s a win-win for him,” Dante replies grimly. My gut becomes a raging inferno at the suggestion. “Ivan isn’t as cautious as Seamus; he’s got a thirst for bloodshed. If he was waiting to make a big move, now’s the time.”

“He’d be stupid to hit the house again so soon,” Alessio argues. “Giovanni will know we’re on the lookout now, and we’llhave sealed off any and all entry points that Tommaso could have told him about.”

Dante’s phone rings and he grabs it from the dash and puts it to his ear. “Speak.” Silence. “Fuck. We’ll be there soon. Not one inch, you fucking hear me? You don’t let them get one inch away before we get there.” He hangs up and grits out, “Or he’s going to create another diversion that affects all of us. Ivan’s men just hit four of our warehouses at once, and has opened fire on one of the nightclubs downtown.”

“Lock it down, Aurelio!” Alessio barks. “Secure the women. No one in or out until we get there. There’s no fucking way they’re not going to try and use this to hit the house too. Send men to help Nico’s with their issues, but make sure we have enough to handle anything that might come sneaking.”

“Incoming!” Urso suddenly screams. “We got a whole convoy of SUVs heading our way, and I see some men trying to come in through the back of the maze.”

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