“There was another man with Ivan, tall, a bit round, I’ve seen him at the house in passing when Valentina first arrived.”
“That might be her guard, Ridolfo.”
“Sounds to me like they have a lead time longer than my arm,” Micro comments.
I call Dante, filling him in and he agrees, it’s time for a family meeting.
We drive to Sal’s home as Dante is still on his honeymoon.
Marchello looks at Prende, his look is showing more concern than he should in front of her.
“Blood is blood,” Dante says through the speakerphone in the middle of the table. We’re all sitting around the round table and it’s eerie how quickly it’s turned into a war room.
“Sorry to interrupt your honeymoon,” I say.
“Blood is blood, Prende’s father was killed, now Valentina’s, and until we know what Gabriella wants, we’re not safe. We can’t live with this hanging over us.”
“I have to reserve a larger jet; I think we need a tour of Sicily.”
“I’ll check the airports,” Francesca adds, and her fingers fly across the laptop she pulls from her bag. “I can see if a plane flew there.”
“Sal, hook them up with supplies. Sorry I’m not able to help on this run. Marchello, you stay here, run the business and be our liaison.”
“Got it.”
“They flew out over an hour ago,” Francesca announces.
“That’s well timed,” I muse.
“Well planned for sure.” Sal nods to Francesca.
Even though it’s battle time, I get a taste of the chemistry off the two of them and it reminds me that these coward holding Valentina could be cutting or raping her as we play catch up.
We head to warehouses I didn’t know about before and we gather tons of C-4, tranquilizer darts, AR-15s, AK-47s, knives and flash bombs.
“Jesus, Francesca, you guys can take over the world from here.”
She smiles, the light in her eyes-only rivals that which she carries for Sal.
“You know it, I bet we could. We’ll get her back, Massimo.”
“Yeah, blood for blood.” Sal packs items similar to power bars in a bag and refillable water containers. He even has bulletproof vests and camouflage wear.
I’m fucking impressed. My day is starting to look up as I have some control now that we’re pooling our resources.
It isa quick flight to Sicily, and we’ve got bags of gear packed and we booked a house to rent that’s not in Palermo. Francesca and Sal booked it online. We know the streets are crawling with adversaries, and we have no clue who is on who’s side, or the fate of Giovi, or his mother. We need to get eyes on the De Luca castle to find out if he’s under siege.
We assume telecommunications are limited or monitored. Francesca and I head out, having changed into clothing more typical of tourists with a backpack filled with snacks to cover our contraband. I have an idea of the setup of the home from that and what she’s told me over the past months.
We don’t think Giovi is hurt, otherwise there would be no use for Valentina, she’s only important if they need her to get what they want. A new don can’t take over unless he’s dead.
I lead Francesca down a narrow path by the beach and we use the scope in her backpack to obtain visuals if we can. I hope Ridolfo isn’t inside the home, he could open the door and let the enemy walk in without warning.
It just so happens we find Giovi making a hot spot on his computer and using his phone, but Francesca is on top of it and intercepts the call with her encrypted laptop.
“Giovi, are you okay?”
“Yes, but they have my sister, I don’t know where. They want to exchange us.” He pauses. What does one say in light of the grim situation?