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One of my hands rested around the strap of the gym bag, the other hand I kept near my gun. Caution had always been better than indulgence, and I trusted this neighborhood too little to stroll carelessly through the streets to my car.
With a quick hand signal, I instructed the other two to get in and slid into the driver's seat myself. Vince could get his car later. "Do you think we'll recognize this guy if we run into him?"
"You haven't even talked to him in person yet?!"
"Things change, Enzo. That would have been our first conversation."
"And he sends you a woman and a bomb. If I were you, I would have tracked him down and taken him out last night." Vince continued the conversation so that I could concentrate on maneuvering us fast and purposefully through the traffic.
"Neither Natale nor Fiero could find him. So we have to bet on other ways."
"A bit of good old police work," I interjected with a glance in the rearview mirror. I at least had to smile, my two brothers didn't.
I forbade myself to roll my eyes at this, but couldn't resist drumming my finger on the steering wheel a few times. It didn't sound quite like the chirping of crickets, but had about the same, equally funny effect.
It was not too long before we reached the area to which the Frenchman had brought Gia. Emilio knew his name, but believed it to be an alias. Therefore, we stayed with theFrenchmanand thus used the simplest variant of a name.
"Do you want to keep the girl with you until the guy is dead?" Vince asked, leaning forward.
The so-called girl was a full-grown adult and had proven that the previous night, but I wouldn't rub Vince's nose in it.
"I don't plan on putting her out on the street and then hearing two days later that the guy got revenge because she got rid of the bomb and didn't do any of the things he wanted."
"What did he want?"
"For her to blow us up or come back with the money."
"In the end, none of it happened," Emilio interjected. "None of his plans succeeded."
I looked for a parking space, took my smartphone out again and called up the overview of Gia's navigation, which I had photographed. "If I'm not mistaken, it's that building back there. It's rented out as storage space, but there are some rooms in the basement that nobody seems to be much interested in."
"Except for the Frenchman, you mean." I didn't like Emilio's mood at all today, and not just because I had only slept a few hours.
Some days this man was more exhausting than a whole coop full of chickens or an enclosure full of puppies. Not all of it was related to his position as boss, no. A big part of it was also his personality.
"Of course, we could call the hotels and see if he's staying somewhere," I suggested ironically, earning at least a grunt from Vince.
"The warehouse, now," he ordered. Even though he hadn't been the boss for several years, his voice still held enough authority that Emilio, too, obeyed him and started moving.
"I've already called there and made sure we're allowed access into the basement," I informed them both, so that once inside they didn't even aim for the small reception desk, but headed straight for the stairs leading down.
I discovered a few cameras inside the building, but overall it was just as secure as all the other rental services that were on the market. Whether that involved storage space or other properties. Operators didn’t care what tenants were doing or keeping in their spaces.
That was exactly why there were about twenty-five rented storage rooms that held evidence, body parts, and other things that no one was ever supposed to come across. They were paid for years in advance, triple-secured, and were in the name of a person who did not exist at all. They were also located at companies that had absolutely no connection with the family.
Together we trudged downstairs, flicking on the light so that the long corridor gradually brightened up. Water was dripping somewhere, thick spider webs hung from the ceilings, and I thought I heard rats scurrying away.
"It's almost like a four-star hotel," I noted, and moved away from the other two a little so we could all look around at the same time without getting in each other's way.
"Shall we put a bed down here for you?" Emilio returned.
I opened a door, but found only an empty room behind it that smelled of stale air. There were a few scattered tools on the floor, but otherwise there was no sign anyone had been in there recently. The main business took place in the rented storage rooms on the upper floor.
"There's nothing here at the front either," Vincenzo informed us, slamming the door again.
"Are you sure there should be something here?"
Emilio and I met again in the hallway, and I nodded.
