The Maid’s Toddler Drew Two Stick Figures on the Mafia Boss’s Car

At ten o'clock that evening, Alessandro, Marco, and Special Agent Raymond Callahan descended the reinforced steel spiral staircase to the subterranean vault beneath the carriage house.

In the center of the concrete room sat the mercenary commander captured outside the estate gates four hours earlier—a scarred, cold-eyed operative named Viktor Cole, his hands bound in heavy transport chains.

Alessandro sat on a steel stool opposite the mercenary, setting the red-spider transponder on the table between them.

"You have two minutes, Viktor," Alessandro said, his tone conversational and devoid of human warmth. "Tell me where Marcus Vance’s primary communications server is stationed."

Viktor Cole spat blood onto the concrete, trying to summon a mocking sneer. "You're too late, Romano! Vance has eighty men stationed at the Red Hook terminal right now! The cargo ship carrying forty million dollars in unregistered defense hardware docks at midnight! Once that freight hits the highway, Boston controls the entire Eastern Seaboard!"

Special Agent Raymond Callahan stepped forward, tossing a stack of certified federal search warrants onto the table.

"The Red Hook container ship was seized by the United States Coast Guard and federal tactical teams thirty minutes ago, Viktor," Agent Callahan said coldly. "Every container has been impounded under Title 18 of the Federal Racketeering and Maritime Piracy Statutes. You are looking at life without parole in ADX Florence."

Viktor’s face drained of every drop of color. He slumped against the steel chair, trembling violently.

"Vance is at the private airstrip in Teterboro," Viktor choked out, his voice cracking in total defeat. "Hangar 4. He has his Gulfstream fueled and ready to take off for Zurich at 1:00 AM."

Alessandro stood up, buttoning his black overcoat.

He looked down at the broken mercenary with the vast, quiet indifference of an apex predator.

"Marco," Alessandro commanded.