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“Hopefully it doesn’t go quite the way our meeting did,” she said drily.
“Let’s hope,” I agreed. Then I looked over at Adriano. “Are you okay? You looked pretty rough when you came up the stairs at the bell tower.”
“Eh…” He shrugged as he patted his side. I noticed his shirt was more filled out than usual, like there were bandages underneath. “Got shot a couple of times, re-busted a couple of ribs. Been there, done that.”
“I’m sorry…”
He burst out laughing. “What the fuck are you talking about?! You were the one who led the charge – the only reason any of us walked out alive was because you rushed in like a crazy man and took 17 bullets for us.”
“Ham,” Lucia said.
I looked up, not understanding why she was using the English word for pork. “What?”
“H, A, M. It’s a Jay-Z song. Hard As a Motherfucker.”
“Lucia,” the Widow scolded her – but everyone else burst out laughing.
“I knew I liked her,” Adriano said with an approving grin.
“What about you?” I asked Lars. “Are you okay?”
“I had the easiest job of all,” he said modestly. “I only had to take one shot.”
“Well,” Lucia said, “it was a fucking important one.”
“Lucia!” the Widow said primly. “Language!”
“Nona, give me a break!” Lucia complained as everyone else laughed again.
“What about our other guys?” I asked.
Lars looked grim. “Fourteen dead. The rest were wounded.”
A silence fell over the room.
Fourteen dead…
I thought of poor Lorenzo lying in the gravel, dying from Zollner’s bullet to his chest.
“I would like to contribute to the families of the fallen,” the Widow said to Dario. “And to the others who lived… who helped save my granddaughter.”
Dario bowed his head slightly in a sign of respect. “We’ll take care of them, but anything additional you wish to give them would be a very kind gesture. Thank you.”
“Wait – how did none of us get arrested?” I asked.
The Widow answered. “Once the police found out that the men who kidnapped my granddaughter were Wagner mercenaries, I was able to persuade them to classify the event as a terrorist attack. A few well-placed ‘donations’ persuaded them to look the other way on the elite private organization I hired to secure her safe return.”
“You hear that?” Niccolo joked as he pointed at me. “You’re part of an elite private organization.”
“I thought that’s what we always were,” Adriano chimed in.
“What happened after the bell tower?” I asked.
Niccolo gestured around the room. “Isn’t it obvious?”
“No, I mean… you’re here,” I said to Niccolo. “So is everything safe now?”
“Signora Fioretti has reestablished control over Venice,” Dario said diplomatically, “and invited us here as her honored guests.”
