It was still dark outside when Black woke up and got out of bed, but that was nothing new. He rarely slept through the night.
Too much on my mind.
There were times when he felt as if the weight of the world rested comfortably on his shoulders. Well, maybe not the world, but definitely the weight of The Family. That morning was no different. Once he came out of the bathroom, he kissed Shy on her forehead and got the satellite phone that Monika gave him and Rain as a precaution. “We’re listening to them; we can’t be arrogant enough to think that they aren’t listening to us.”
“And they can’t with these things?” Rain asked.
“All satellite phone networks use a proprietary encryption algorithm to prevent that.”
“That’s good to know,” Black said as she handed him his.
“But…”
“Why is there always a but with you?” Black said.
“But…,” she paused, “The two algorithms that are used, have been reverse-engineered and both are vulnerable.”
Rain took her satellite phone. “You know there are times when I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about.”
“It’s not one hundred percent,” Monika said.
“But in order for somebody to be listening, they would first have to know that we’re using them and then decrypt the algorithm, right?” Black asked.
“Right,” Monika said and Black thought back to the days when Bobby had banned cell phone use because it was the only true way to be sure nobody was listening.
Black took the satellite phone and went to sit outside on the balcony to call Rain.
“This Rain.”
“Tell me something good.”
Rain laughed. “I haven’t had to kill anybody today.”
“This is a good thing,” Black laughed. “What’s going on there? You get anything on El Decreto de Guerra?”
“Not a word. They went dark on the phones we were up on after they got us to kill Ramón for them, so we got nothing.” Rain paused. “I should have known better, Black. They were dark on those lines for weeks, and then suddenly that dropped in our laps. I should have known that it wasn’t just them getting sloppy.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself, even though I know you’re gonna be. Sloppy of them or not, you had to check it out to be sure. So don’t second guess yourself.”
“Yeah, I get that. But I still hate to get played.”
“It happens to us all.”
“What about you? How’s the working vacation?”
“It’s going.” Black paused and thought about Colonel Mathis’s sudden appearance at Cerasuolo Milazzo’s party and the request he made of Shy. “You seen Nick or Monika?”
“Not lately. I heard that Nick took April on a cruise. And is Monika even in the country?”
“She is. I talked to her before I left. Reach out to her and tell her that her Colonel is in Palermo.”
“Mathis?”
“He was at a party that Cassandra and I went to last night. He asked Cassandra to introduce him to some Saudi Arabian businessman. At the time, it seemed innocent enough, but now that I’m thinking about it…”
“Ain’t no telling what that mutha fucka got her into,” Rain said. “I’ll take care of that.”
“Anything else I need to know about?”
“Jackie said that she thinks some of Ramello’s people, if not Ramello himself, are pushing back against her.”
“She ask for your help?”
“Said she got it.”
“What you gonna do?”
“I’ma sit back and see if she got it.”
“Good. I’m interested to see how she handles it too.”
“Other than that, things are quiet. It feels good to not be at war for a change.”
“Tell me about it.” Black paused. “We’ll talk again tomorrow about this time,” he said and ended the call.
After watching the sunrise, Black went back inside and got back in the bed with Shy, who, as she always did, immediately rolled over and snuggled up to him.
I can always tell when you’re in bed with me.
He put his arm around her, and she rested her head on his chest and went right back to sleep.
Black laid there, holding Shy, and eventually did something that he didn’t usually do. He went back to sleep. When he woke up, Shy was no longer lying next to him and he could hear the shower running. He looked at the clock and briefly considered joining her. But it was after nine and the car that Cerasuolo Milazzo was sending would be there at ten.
At ten o'clock, Shy and Napoleon were in the hotel lobby waiting to be picked up and taken to Milazzo’s factory for her tour. Black didn’t go with them, deciding instead to have lunch at The Donna Franca Florio restaurant on the hotel terrace, and then walk down to the dock and enjoy the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Before leaving the hotel, the concierge gave her a message. “It’s from my Uncle Hugh. He said that he’s in Palermo to do some consulting and he’ll be in touch,” Shy told Napoleon as they walked toward the limousine.
When they arrived, they were met by Milazzo and he introduced Shy to his senior staff. “After you complete your tour, I would be honored if you would join my senior staff and I for lunch in the executive dining room.”
“I would be honored,” Shy said as Milazzo escorted her inside to begin her tour. After passing through the administrative area, Shy was taken to the design area where computers were used to digitally create the patterns.
“Once the sample patterns are created and approved, it goes into production,” Milazzo said as they moved to the next area. “Here, the workers pick out the numbers on the pattern, so if they make a mistake here, it messes up the entire process.”
“So I’m sure that quality control is essential in this department,” Shy said as the tour continued.
When she entered the next department, Shy saw row after row of sewing workstations. There were different production areas for different types of apparel. “When we are running at full capacity, we can produce one million pieces of clothing a week.”
Once the tour was completed, Shy and Napoleon were taken to the executive dining area where a buffet of pappardelle with tomato sauce and fresh thyme, tagiliolini with lemon zest, and a touch of fresh cream. There were spinach and ricotta gnocchi in a butter and sage sauce, maltagliati with veal ragu, and spaghettini with shrimp and zucchini julienne in garlic and oil was set out for them.
Over lunch and more wine than Shy had planned on drinking, a deal was struck and agreed to. “I will send the contract to your lawyer in America.”
Shy stood up and raised her glass. “Here’s to a very long and mutually beneficial relationship.”