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11
Damian leaned backin the chair opposite Farrell’s desk and focused on the map on the monitor. New York City and its surrounding areas were magnified, red and blue dots scattered across the island and suburbs — red representing Fiore’s assets, blue for theGreeks.
“You can see the territory is about evenly split between Fiore and Anastos,” Farrell said. “Fiore had the edge when we approached you a couple months ago, but Anastos took advantage of your hit on the Fiore assets following the fire at theshelter.”
Damian could picture almost every location on the map — every restaurant, night club, bodega, liquor store. He knew the territory like the back ofhishand.
Farrell was right: the Greeks had gained ground over the past two months while he’d been preparing to getAriaback.
He couldn’t bring himself to regret it. Not with Aria safe instead of in the apartment in Athens. He would do it again a hundred times over, would sacrifice any asset, any amount of money, to have her inhisarms.
“What do we know about the weaknesses in Anastos’s operation?” Damianasked.
“Not as much as we’d like,” Farrell said. “Their men are more tight-lipped thanFiore’smen.”
It didn’t surprise Damian. You couldn’t scare people into being loyal. If you didn’t inspire them, any loyalty they showed you would bedisposable.
Farrell tabbed through some pictures on the computer and a series of photographs emerged — dark-haired men with thick faces and hulking shoulders, their eyes either downcast or hidden bysunglasses.
“So I need to dig,” Damian said, looking at the men on the monitor. “Find out more about his top guys, see if we can push some of theirbuttons.”
Even the most hardened criminals had weaknesses. Even fucking Farrell Black had a weakness — and she was somewhere in this veryhouse.
Hell, Damian had one of his own in the same house, much as he hated toadmitit.
Damian didn’t like using innocent people, but there were always other weaknesses to beexploited.
“I’ll have my guys get on it,”Damiansaid.
He felt clear-headed for the first time since Aria had disappeared over the edge of the balcony two months earlier. He couldn’t expect Farrell and the others to help him from here on out. They’d helped him get Aria back. It was more than he’dexpected.
Retaking the New York territory was hisresponsibility.
He had acquired an impressive team of hackers since he’d established his business. Brute force was an option, but there would be heavy casualties. If they could establish the identity of Anastos’s top men, they could start looking for ways to pull the operation apart. At the very least, it would make the brute force portion of the takeovereasier.
“We got a jump on that in Paris,”Farrellsaid.
Damian looked at him. “Paris?”
“That’s where Christophe’s cyber lab is located,” Farrell said. “He’s expecting you. You should be able to find everything you need there — about the men and about the locations they’re using as strongholds. That should help you plan yourassault.”
Damian sat back, studied Farrell for a minute before speaking. “I don’t expect you to help me anyfurther.”
“Good,” Farrell said, leaning back in his own chair. “Because expecting me to help you is about the time I stophelpingyou.”
Damian nodded. “I appreciate what you did for Aria. What all of you did for her.” He hesitated. “Forme.”
Farrell seemed to choose his words carefully. “Are you sure about this?Abouther?”
Damian checked his instinct to be defensive about Aria. He’d heard stories about the men who now ran the Syndicate. They’d all taken risks for their women. Farrell wasn’t out of line to ask the question given what he’d done for DamianandAria.
“I’m sure,” Damian said. He opened his mouth to say something else, then decided against it and shookhishead.
“Care to add something?” Farrellasked.
Damian sighed. Why the fuck did he have the urge to be straight with FarrellBlack?
“I was just going to say it wouldn’t matter even if I wasn't sure about her,”Damiansaid.
