AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“It’ll be expensive.”
“It would be far worse to get assassinated,” Niccolo said with a wry smile.
“True. If you can, get Level 8 protection – it’s made to withstand up to 5 shots from a 7.62mm rifle. If Level 8 isn’t feasible, then get Level 5 at the very least.”
“We’ll go with Level 8,” Niccolo reassured me.
“When you get it installed, start with your father’s room first. Then any common areas where he spends a lot of his time – sitting rooms, the parlor we spoke in earlier, anyplace he eats – dining rooms – ”
“The kitchen,” Niccolo said. “He likes his late-night snacks.”
“Do you have an alarm system?”
“No, and it might be a challenge installing one,” Niccolo said. “Too big a house, too many entrances and exits, too many people coming and going.”
“Then we should install a camera-based security system as soon as possible. Glass first, then the cameras.”
“Any reason for doing the glass first?”
“Because if I were going to kill someone, my first choice wouldn’t be to break into the house. It would be to shoot them from a thousand feet away.”
“Hm,” Niccolo muttered. “Anything else you need?”
“I want to start training your men as soon as possible.”
“Is tomorrow good?”
“That’ll be fine. How many men do you have on staff?”
“Foot soldiers – basically, men with guns – about 55. We have another 20 or so younger guys who run errands and drive the cars but haven’t picked up a gun yet.”
“I want them all,” I said. “Have them meet me on the lawn by the pool, dressed to exercise. I’ll train half from 7AM until noon and the other half from 1 to 6.”
“Wow,” Niccolo said, a little taken aback. “Five hours each?”
“Will that interfere with the household schedule?”
“No, it’s just… that’s 10 hours for you.”
I didn’t tell him that I would basically be running a basic training camp, and basic training in the military was 24/7 for weeks on end.
“I’ll be fine – I want to hit the ground running. I’ll also need guns, by the way. Pistols and rifles. No live ammunition at first, but I want them to get used to handling actual weapons. We’ll do target practice in the weeks to come.”
“Okay.”
“We also need a structure to train in. Something where we can practice clearing a building like a SWAT team – preferably multiple stories with a lot of smaller rooms.”
“There’s an old three-story building out by the winery. As far as I know, they only use it to store supplies. Would that be alright?”
“Sounds good.”
“Excellent. In the meantime, rest up, walk the grounds, whatever you like.”
“Can I go see the building? The one by the winery?”
“Sure.” Niccolo pointed out the glass balcony doors and gave me directions. Then he said, “The tailor doing your suits should arrive around 5 PM. Dinner’s at 7. If you need anything in the meantime, just ask one of the servants or have them fetch me or Roberto. One of us will make sure you get anything you need.”
“Thanks.”
