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“So, she came to you. Out of the blue, most likely. And I expect she said, ‘Here’s how you can steal all the treasure in Fortuna Island and have it all for yourself. And what did she want? A share, I would think. But probably a modest one. She’s not a Bugattis and diamonds kind of a gal, is she? Be honest. No, she will have spent a long evening calculating the biggest number she could demand that you wouldn’t even blink at.Wouldn’t give it a thought. Am I right? I wonder what that number would be. Chump change to you. A fortune for her. That would hardly be enough to cover the tip for the treasure map to all of our crown jewels. What would you guess? Well, sorry. Rude of me. You can’t play can you. Not when you already know. I’m going to say… Half a mil. Just tell me if I’m way off base. Am I near?”
I ask, “Carlo? What did he say? When I said, ‘Half a mil’ what did his face tell you?”
“On the nose.”
I laugh. “This is all a bit like poker, isn’t it? And you really went all in. You bought her map, you ponied up her share. Probably gave it to her in parcels. So it felt even more like a lot to her. Two fifty, a hundred, fifty, then another hundred.” Then I realize… “Oh! She won’t have collected the last installment yet, will she?”
Interesting. I hadn’t thought about that angle. There’s an outstanding payment still due.
I press on. “So, you went all in. Got me out of the way. Jago will have liked that part a lot, I bet.” And then the penny drops. “Was that the cherry?”
Don Romano’s face pales, whitens over his cheekbones.
“Was that the real prize for her?” An icy chill runs down my spine. “Were you planning to make her a gift… of me?”
I hardly dare ask. “What did his face tell you, Carlo?”
Carlo’s voice is a soft, flat whisper. “Right on the money, kitten.”
My blood runs cold. I have to take a breath. “Now. I’m sorry but at this point, I really do have to insist. I will need to know now.”
“What?
“Your favorite son.”
His face looks as pale as mine feels. He says nothing.
“Well, okay. Never mind. If you can’t pick one, don’t worry. I will choose for you. They are without doubt both useless, dumb, idle, and in every way inept fools. And they have horrible manners. But I suppose they are quite pretty.” I look in his face. “Must take after their mother. But pretty has been enough of a yardstick to measure the worth of girls and women for centuries so, you care about them because they are yours, and you don’t need any more reason.”
I narrow my eyes. “Still, wouldn’t it be better if you chose one, rather than me?”
“Choose? Pick one? For what, Donna Fortuna?”
“Carlo? Would you patch Catlin in on the call, please.”
An image appears on the screen.
A wide ocean horizon. A long, heavy metal beam is horizontal in the center of the frame.
Off each end of the beam, hanging by his hands, a man dangles. I turn the phone to show Don Romano.
“Catlin, can you give us a couple of close-ups of the faces, just for clarity.”
The picture switches to a close-up of one of the twins, Dario or Ettore. I can’t tell them apart. Then it cuts to the other, on the far end.
“And close-ups of their hands, if you would, please.”
The frame is filled by a pair of hands, gripping onto the beam. A red dot flickers on the wrists. Then the screen flips to the other pair of hands, facing the other way, also with a red dot, wavering on the wrists.
Don Romano yells, “Trace that call!”
“Good luck with that. You’ll be able to locate this end easily enough, but you already know where we are. The other end is a satellite phone.”
“Where are they?”
“I have no idea. Nobody does. We told our snipers to choose the location and to keep it to themselves.”
“This is unbearable. You can’t do this to me.”
