“Probably safe to assume Gatti is still in New York,” Locke said. “It’s his home turf. Anastos, on the other hand, is probably in Greece. New York will be one of many projects in hispocket.”
“I thought the same thing,” Damian said. “In fact, I’ve been wondering if he’s making similar plays for some of the other Syndicate territories, manipulating weaknesses in rogue organizations before they can reclaim theterritory.”
Vegas is still a mess. We need to deal with it sooner rather thanlater…
The world was full of cities that either hadn’t had a strong Syndicate rule in the first place, or had spun into disarray in the aftermath of Raneiro Donati’s imprisonment anddeath.
Locke nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised, which means flushing him out is even more important. It sounds like Gatti would be at a severe disadvantage without Anastos. He should be our firstpriority.”
Damian had no idea when he’d gone from being skeptical about enlisting Locke Montgomery to being relieved by the implicit promise of hishelp.
“I agree,” Aria said. “Anastos first. ThenMalcolm.”
Damian reached for her hand under the table. He knew how much she wanted Malcolm, knew she blamed him for manipulating Primo, leading him to his death like a lamb toslaughter.
But she was a smart woman. She understood that they couldn’t afford to be sidetracked by emotion. It was a weakness in a situation like this one. They had to be strategic — and that meant going after Anastosfirst.
“So how do we do it?” Cole asked. “We haven’t been able to find a trace ofhim.”
Locke stood, his eyes returning to the water below, the waves rolling faster onto the beach as the sun dipped toward the horizon. He headed for one of the boards, picked it up and started for the narrow set of stairs that descended to the private beachbelow.
“The only way to kill a rat is to smoke it out of its refuge,” he said, his eyes on the water. “We’ll leave for Greece in the morning. You can spend the nighthere.”