CHAPTER EIGHT
ROME
––––––––
The lab was quiet when I arrived. Most of the equipment had already been packed away. Cardboard boxes lined the walls, each one labeled and ready to be shipped to the States. A few lab tables remained, along with some equipment I still needed access to before I left Italy for good.
From the outside looking in, the place seemed empty. Yet, I found Terzo leaning against one of the tables when I entered. I’d given him the code a few months ago when I’d returned home to help my brother take over the family and become don.
I’d wanted him to have access to the lab just in case I couldn’t make it back to Italy and needed him to ship my stuff to me.
“I thought you’d be waiting outside,” I told him as the door closed behind me. “Why are you sitting here in the dark, well, semi-dark?” I questioned, gaze moving to the lab table’s light that he’d turned on.
“If I turned the overhead light on, I’d be reminded that I’m in your lab,” he told me.
“That’s why I expected you to be waiting outside. Aren’t you scared the residual fumes will make you pass out?”
I approached him and shook his hand.
“I do feel a bit dizzy and shit,” Terzo complained. “But that’s better than being outside with all those damn bugs.”
I chuckled as I pulled out a chair and sat down at the lab table that was illuminated with more than enough light to get us through this short meeting. Terzo sat down next to me, placing his backpack on the table.
"What have you found for me?" I asked.
"A lead. Not the name of the person responsible, but it’s a lead. Two leads, in fact. So you’ll have to do some hunting when you return to the States.”
I crossed my arms over my chest and waited as he pulled out his iPad. He opened it and turned it away from me so he could type in his password.
“If I wanted in your device, hiding your password wouldn’t keep me out,” I reminded him.
“You hacker motherfuckers get on my nerves. You could destroy the world if you really put your minds to it.”
He was right about that. He turned the device my way. A video popped up. I frowned as he turned the volume up. Screams filled the air.
“Did you record yourself torturing someone?” I asked.
“Nah. That’s not me. That’s my contact. He had to torture a couple of people to get the information I needed. Torture is usually the quickest way to get intel. And he knew I needed information fast, so he skipped the chit chat and went right to torture.”
“What did he learn, or do I have to watch the entire video?”
“I’ll sum it up for you. There was definitely someone feeding Ettori Zucco information about Marcel. And they weren’t from my side of the pond.”
My jaw tightened. I’d known it was someone from my neck of the woods who’d helped the Bianchi family. Still, hearing it made me angry. Who would dare? Who had the balls to go against the Cattaneo family?
"Ettori passed the information to the Bianchi family for a hefty sum," Terzo continued. “Money he didn’t get to enjoy because they had him killed to cover their tracks. However, the Bianchis couldn’t find the person or people who’d provided information to Ettori to kill them also.
But they tried to. And my contact found the person they hired to locate Ettori’s source.
He’s the guy getting tortured in the video.
He was also one of Ettori’s longtime associates. ”
Where was the loyalty?
“Did your contact kill this longtime associate after torturing him?”
“Yeah. He’s already been cremated. But my contact got the information we needed first. Here’s where things get complicated. The guy said Ettori used two dark sites to acquire information on Marcel."
"Which sites?"
"One is called Underground Communications."
That name didn't surprise me. I'd heard of them before. I'd never worked with them directly, but I knew a few people who had. Whoever ran the site considered themselves information brokers. Clients hired them to find people who could find information for them.
“From the way my contact explained it, the people who own the site don’t provide the intel. They connect their clients with people who can provide intel. They’re sort of the middleman.”
I nodded. “Yeah, that’s how they work. They post their client’s request on their site.
Then the brokers, hackers, spies, and stalkers capable of getting the intel submit offers.
The client then reviews the success records of those willing to take on the job and selects one to handle it.
He pays the middleman, Underground Communications.
They take their cut and then pay the person who provides the intel after the job is done. ”
“Precisely. They work in codes, no real names. Which will make it hard for you to find out if Ettori hired someone from that site, and who that someone is. Ettori’s associate didn’t know if Ettori chose someone from that site or the other one. Only that he’d received a few offers from that site.”
"What was the second one?" I asked.
"The Circuit."
"The what?"
"It’s called The Circuit."
“I’ve never heard of them.”
And that bothered me. I knew most of the major players operating in those circles. Maybe not personally, but by reputation. I'd never heard of The Circuit. Were they new to this?
If so, they may not have known not to cross the Cattaneos. No, fuck that. If they were from my region, they knew not to cross us. Even if they hadn’t known, it wouldn’t change their fate, but it could explain why they’d taken the job.
"What did you learn about them?" I asked.
"Nothing."
I stared at him. "Nothing?"
"Not a damn thing," Terzo stated. "The associate only knew the names of the sites Ettori used. He didn't know which one provided the information on Marcel. He knew the Underground broker contacted Ettori because his post had received some offers. But The Circuit didn’t work that way. He didn’t know how Ettori communicated with them. The man never told him."
“What about the devices Ettori used to communicate with these sites? His laptop, phone?”
“All wiped clean according to his associate. Someone hacked into them and restored them to factory settings.”
“Fuck,” I swore under my breath. “They covered their tracks. I doubt it was the Bianchis, because they needed the info off those devices to finish covering the trail that led to them.”
"Indeed. Whoever Ettori hired must’ve gotten spooked once he ended up dead.
So, they covered their tracks so they wouldn’t meet the same fate.
But if the sites dabbled in code, the person who took the job wouldn’t have known who Ettori Zucco was.
He would’ve just been a number to them. An email to send info to, right? ”
“That’s generally how it works. Especially for those who don’t give a damn who they give intel to.
Then there are some who want to know who they’re working for.
So, before taking a job, they do everything they can to secretly find out who the client is.
If I were an intel broker, it’s what I would do. ”
“So,” Terzo started. “We have two dark information hubs that Ettori contacted. But we don’t know which one he ended up using.
However, whoever took the job secretly investigated their client and found out who was paying them.
And when their client ended up dead, they hacked his devices, making sure nothing led back to them,” Terzo summed things up.
“Sounds about right.” I sighed. “Did you learn anything else useful?”
Terzo's expression darkened. “There’s one more thing.”
“What is it?” I asked through clenched teeth.
“Though the associate didn’t know who took the job, he did state that Ettori commented about how thorough they were.”
My stomach twisted.
"They provided Ettori with pictures of a few members of your family for him to decide which one he wanted kidnapped. It wasn’t only Marcel they stalked. He said there were also pictures of your younger brother, Cas."
I clenched my fists.
"They took photos of at least three of your family members. Tracked their locations, schedules, routines, all of their daily movements."
Every word made me angrier.
Someone had been watching my family. Watching them long enough to build a complete profile on them. And Ettori’s weak ass had gone after the one most vulnerable. The one who looked like the easier target.
My cousin hadn't just been kidnapped. He’d been stalked. He'd been hunted. His privacy had been violated. Then he’d been tortured and almost killed. It was no wonder he didn’t want to leave the house.
"What else?" I asked, voice low, dark, void of emotion.
Terzo rubbed the back of his neck. “He said Ettori showed the photos to the Bianchi don. And it was the don who chose Marcel, because he seemed the easiest to snatch.”
I stared across the room at the packed boxes as rage settled deep inside my chest. I thought about Marcel trapped inside his house. Afraid to go outside. Afraid someone was watching him.
They’d changed him from the carefree spirit he’d once been and made him someone who was afraid of his own shadow. For that, they deserved a few months in our dungeon. A few months of never-ending pain.
"Rome. Rome!"
I looked at Terzo.
He sighed. “If you need help finding these fuckers, I’ll come to the States and help you.”
Clearing my throat, I shook my head.
“You have your own things to deal with here. You still haven’t caught your cousin who betrayed Sienna and Eve.”
“Oro fucking DeLuca. Someone’s helping him evade us. The longer it takes for us to find him, the more he will suffer. But once I’m done with that, I plan to take a trip to the States.”
“You do?”
“I do. The Irish mafia has a new don in Chicago. And though there’s no chatter about him wanting to come after us or Sienna and Eve for what we did to his father and brother, I still plan to go there and end him. He has to die for the suffering he and his family caused them.”
“Careful, or your cousins will truly think you’re in love with their women,” I joked.
“Not in love. But I love them. They’re family. Like sisters who offer the worst advice and threaten to kill me if I don’t take it.”
I chuckled, but I could tell how much Terzo enjoyed having such sisters in his life.
“My cousins can’t leave the country to handle the Irish don,” Terzo continued. “But I know they want to. So, I’ll do it for them. Once it’s done, I’ll hang out with you, Cattaneos, to see what you all do for fun.”
“When you come to the States, let me know. I’ll help you with the Irish mafia as a thank you for this intel.”
Truth was, even if he hadn’t provided the intel, I still would’ve helped.
“What’s your next move?” Terzo asked.
"When I get back to the States, I'll start with Underground Communications. I already know several people connected to that site. If they know something, I'll find out. One way or another.”
"And The Circuit?" Terzo asked.
I glanced toward the boxes waiting to be shipped home.
"I've never heard of them. And that worries me. First, I need to figure out how they operate and what kind of jobs they accept. Then I’ll sign up as a client. My profile must seem legit enough to fool them during their client investigation. I’ll lure them out with a fake job post pretending I need intel. ”
“That could work. Since you’ve never heard of them, they’re either a very small organization or they’re very good. Don’t underestimate them.”
“I won’t. Before I act, I intend to learn everything there is to know about them.”
I didn't care how many people I had to question. I didn't care how many people I had to hurt. Someone had helped put Marcel through hell. I wasn't going to rest until I found every last one of them and showed them what true hell was.
A chime sounded from somewhere near the door. Terzo and I both looked up. Another chime followed a few seconds later. I frowned. The security system only alerted when it detected movement outside.
Most of the time, it was nothing worth investigating. Not many people knew about this location. Sometimes a stray dog triggered it. Hell, considering all the bugs Terzo had been complaining about, maybe they were the movement being detected.
However, a third alert made me push away from the table. I strode over to the monitor mounted near the door and pressed the center button. The security feed appeared on the screen.
Fuck! Someone was coming. Two vehicles were speeding down the road that led to the lab. Terzo stepped up beside me.
"You expecting someone else?" he asked.
"No."
His gaze remained fixed on the screen.
"Well, ready or not, someone is coming. And they're coming in hot."
The vehicles reached the clearing surrounding the lab and skidded to a halt in front of the building. Dirt and gravel sprayed into the air as all four doors opened almost simultaneously. Three men climbed out of each vehicle. Every one of them was armed.
Damn.
"Why is it that whenever we're together, people try to kill me?" Terzo asked.
Honestly, that was a fair question.
"Want to bet on who kills the most men?" I asked.
Terzo snorted. "The last time we bet, you had to buy me a motorcycle."
"This time I'll win."
He shrugged and reached beneath his jacket, pulling out his weapon.
"I'll be in need of a new motorcycle when I visit the States. So let's bet,” he replied.
I drew my own gun before turning away from the monitor.
"Guard the door. I have something that'll even the playing field. You're going to need a mask and goggles, though."
"Damn you and your knockout drugs."
His eyes never left the security feed. I hurried toward one of the cabinets and grabbed two masks. I then moved over to the boxes, looking for the one containing my night-vision goggles. Found them.
I ripped through the packing tape, opened the box, and pulled them out. There was one more thing I needed. My experimental knock-out drug. I hadn't perfected the formula yet, but tonight seemed as good a time as any to see how well it worked.
I ripped open another box to find it. Once I had it, I moved to the lab table and turned off the switch, killing the lights. My arms were full like I’d been grocery shopping by the time I returned to the front of the lab.
My gaze moved to the security screen to find that the men were already moving toward the door. I tossed a mask and goggles to Terzo.
"Keep one of them alive," I told him. "I need to know who sent them."
Terzo caught the items and nodded, slipping the mask on. I followed suit, putting on my mask and goggles. I adjusted my glasses so the goggles could fit right. Once I had mine on, I patted Terzo on the shoulder.
“Move to the back of the room,” I whispered.
He headed toward the back. Facing the front door, I pulled the lever on my canister and set it by the wall. A slow hiss sounded as the drug started releasing into the air. I rushed toward the back of the room to get behind a lab table.
A split second later, a bullet slammed into the front door.