Page 36 of Marcellus: House of Drakos
“So he’s been in their custody for two long weeks,” said Olivier, “and they never called for a ransom demand or anything at all? Why’s that?”
“Maybe they needed to get their ducks in a row,” said Scottie. “How should I know what those fuckers are thinking?”
“Or maybe they needed a sense of urgency,” said Savannah.
Everybody looked at her. “What do you mean?” Marcellus asked her.
“It can’t be a coincidence.”
And when she said that word Marcellus immediately understood what she meant.
But his children didn’t. “What are you talking about?” asked a flustered Scottie.
“She’s talking about all of our aviation disasters,” said Marcellus.
“Those plane crashes? There’s no connection,” said Olivier.
“You don’t know that,” said Marcellus.
“But why would there be a connection?” asked Olivier.
“Maybe they expected more bodies piling up against me. We’ve had more near-misses than crashes, and all of the crashes, except the one last night, had ten total fatalities.”
“Which is significant,” said Freddy.
“But perhaps not what they had expected,” said Marcellus.
“And the day after your worse disaster to date,” said Savannah, “they notified you that they had your son. That sounds more like a plan than a coincidence to me.”
Marcellus sat erect and let out a harsh exhale.
Freddy looked at his older brother. “You didn’t consider that, Scottie?”
“I considered it, Freddy, of course I considered it. But I dismissed it.”
“Why?” asked Olivier.
“Because nobody in either mafia, Russian or Greek, have any connections whatsoever to aviation. And especially none to Drakos Aeronautics. That’s why!” he said forcefully.
And it was a reasonable explanation. But Savannah still didn’t believe in coincidences. Not on this scale. She looked at Marcellus. “I may be wrong,” she said, “but it just seems too big a coincidence to me. That merger does too, after I started thinking about it.”
They all looked at her again. Scottie frowned again. “What the fuck--”
Marcellus gave him a hard look.
“What are you talking about?” Scottie asked her instead.
“Niko said on the phone earlier today that I knew about a merger he was working on with Saudi Arabia.”
Scottie was impatient with her interruptions. “So?”
“He called it his Saudi merger.”
“Again so?”
It was as if Savannah was still working it out in her own head.
“What is it, Savannah?” Marcellus asked her.
