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I settle back in my pillow and into a deep sleep.
I'm awakened by my phone again. Cursing, I reach for the phone to discover it's 5:15 in the morning. Expecting Niko, I'm about to put the phone back down when I realize it's one of my men.
"Pronto."
"We found what appears to be a bum skulking around the port. But Paolo recognizes him as one of Enzo's men. He's not speaking at the moment. We were going to kill him but were thinking you might want to talk to him. Maybe even just knowing you're on the way will make him talk."
I get out of bed. "Hold on. I'm on my way." By the time I arrive at the port, the sun is rising. I make my way to the office building of our legitimate shipping business and then down into the basement where the more unsavory acts happen.
There I find Paolo and Matteo talking together as they stand next to a man tied in a chair, passed out.
"Is this him?"
Both men straighten as I enter. "Si."
"What's wrong with him?"
Paolo shrugs. "Sometimes, I don't know my own strength."
There are times when a line like that can be funny, but this isn't one of those times. I need to find out who this guy is and why he’s skulking around my business. I poke at him, but he doesn't react.
I turn to my men. “What was he doing?"
“He was acting like a drunk and wandering around."
I study the man. He looks like a bum except that he doesn’t smell bad or like alcohol, suggesting it’s an act. “Did you check him for any sort of devices?"
"Yes.”
"Any chance he's just a bum that's lost?"
"I'm pretty sure this is Antonio Cetta. He's one of Enzo's. Low level, but maybe he's trying to work his way up,” Paolo explains.
"Paolo, stay here and watch him. Matteo, I want you to show me everywhere you think he was. I also want the surveillance pulled."
Matteo guides me along to where they had found our little friend. I scan the area looking for how he might have entered and what he might have seen.
Next we go to the office, and I review the surveillance video, noting that I couldn't see how he entered the area, which means there’s a hole in the security, something I need to address right away.
"What are you doing here?" I ask rhetorically to the image on the screen.
Matteo and I return to the basement to find my intruder is awake. His eyes show the fear one might expect at seeing me, but he remains closed-lipped about his true purpose. He continues to tell me that he got lost, but now that he's sober, he'll be on his way.
“Interesting thing here, Antonio. I don't smell any alcohol on you. Surely, Enzo told you that to pull off a little stunt like this, you need to dab some liquor behind the ears, maybe pour a little bit on the front of your shirt. Perhaps go without a shower for a day or two. You smell way too fresh to be a drunkard bum."
His eyes flash with fear, and I wonder if it's of me or Enzo or both. Either way, this man is well and truly fucked. He decides to take his chance with me, staying loyal to Enzo by not revealing anything. I don’t blame him. Enzo is a psychopath who will likely punish Antonio with torture, like ripping his fingernails out. Me? When a man needs to die, I find a shot to the head faster and easier.
I turn to Paolo and Matteo. "We need to check everything and get a sense of what he might have seen."
"If we kill him, he can't bring any information back to Enzo,” Matteo says.
"But we don't know if he's already transmitted information to Enzo. Just because you didn't find anything on him doesn't mean he didn't dump it somewhere when he saw you two coming." Some might call me paranoid, but I like to think of it as careful and meticulous. I've already had one breach, so clearly, careful and meticulous are what I need to be, maybe even a little paranoid.
By the time I investigate all my offices, my shipping containers, and products, I don't have a sense that anything is missing or has been planted. That’s some relief.
I check my watch and note that Aria landed nearly two hours ago. She'll be arriving at the villa any time, and I’m not there to greet her. That pisses me off.
"Load him up and take him to the prigione,” I say of the medieval underground dungeon back at my estate.
