“Caleb is right. It’s all too obvious.” I scrub a hand over my smooth jaw. “We now know that Liam has someone on the inside. Someone inside ourfamigliais helping him. It’s got to be someone with beef.”
“Everyone has beef over something.” Mazzone taps his pen on the table. “Just because we’re all united under The Commission and we’ve had relative peace and prosperity for years doesn’t mean everyone is happy.”
“We need to stop allowing non-Italian Americans to join oursoldati,” Caleb says. “They’re not as invested as we are. It would be easy to turn them. I bet the traitor is one of them.”
“Only five percent are outsiders, and we only use them in certain circumstances. Most are kept on the fringes, and I dispute your loyalty contention. All are carefully vetted before initiation. We don’t let loose cannons into the fold.” Ben straightens his spine as he turns a blistering look on my brother. Ben’s security company hires staff for legitimate clientele and to bolster our ranks when needed. Most of oursoldatido time with the security firm as part of their training as it invokes discipline.
“You’re forgetting I know these men too.” Caleb narrows his eyes at our uncle. “I train them, and I know them better than you. I agree most are commendable and trustworthy, but not all. I’ve already raised objections with our president.”
“We’re getting sidetracked,” Massimo says. “There is merit in discussing your concerns, Caleb, but this isn’t the time. The traitor in our ranks couldn’t have come from thesoldaticorp. Only acapoor a higher-levelmafiosohas the authority to access the container rooms and tap into the security systems to disable the camera feeds. Whoever this person or persons is, they aretechnologically savvy because the detection warnings were also disabled, and that’s not something we train any of ourcaposto do. It requires knowledge of programming to achieve.”
“He could have hired someone,” Cristian suggests, and heads bob around the table.
“The immediate issue is the missing shipment.” Fiero stands and stretches his arms over his head. “We can’t meet our deliveries. O’Hara will be up shit creek too.”
“Unless he’s the one who stole from us,” Mazzone says.
“I really don’t think he is.” I take a sip of my water before continuing. I voiced similar concerns to Fiero earlier, and I’ve been thinking about this ever since. It doesn’t make sense he was involved. I believe he’s innocent and telling us the truth. “Loyalty matters to O’Hara. He has proven it repeatedly over the years. He is the last person who would risk the wrath of the entire Italian Americanmafioso. I think it’s Liam. He wants to usurp his brother. He is working with a traitor, or traitors, within our organization and possibly others outside it too. He wants us to point the finger at Diarmuid so we do his dirty work for him.”
“That is a plausible scenario and reason we need to tread carefully,” Ben says. “I trust your instincts, but I’d still like to meet with O’Hara and have him say it to our faces.”
“I agree,” Massimo says, eyeballing his best friend. “Set up a meet for tomorrow.”
“Consider it done.” Fiero pulls out his phone.
“Could we use the chip-tracking software to find our rat?” I direct the question to Ben. One of his IT companies developed the technology. “If we ran a report on location and time status, we could pinpoint who was on the ship earlier this morning. I’ve already emailed you the roster for men who were assigned on this run. Logic would dictate it’s one of them, but it would be unwise to assume.”
“We can run that report for sure.” Ben removes his suit jacket and hangs it on the back of his chair. “But only sixty percent of all New Yorkmafiosohave a chip. Mostfamigliedon’t insist on them, leaving it a voluntary choice.”
“Even if the perp did have a chip, I’m guessing he removed it,” Cristian says. “This all points to someone who is tech savvy. They wouldn’t be that stupid.”
“Valid point,” Massimo says, “but it’s worth looking into it. As is looking at who wasn’t in the area during the crucial time. It could help us to eliminate those people.”
“We don’t know if this is an individual or a group. I don’t think we can discount anyone,” Fiero says. “And we still haven’t resolved the current supply issue.”
“We have some backup supplies,” Massimo says. “Use those and contact Juan Pablo at the plant to determine how much stock is on hand. Tell him to hire more workers to produce double our next shipment.” The president turns to look at me. “How fast can you get a ship to Buenaventura?”
“Our regular schedule is operational, but it’ll be six days before the next liner docks in Colombia.” We have ships sailing all the time because it’s a seven-day trip each way, and it’s the only option to ensure we receive biweekly deliveries. “We’ll have to look at other transportation options.”
“Vegas has their own airline now,” Cristian says, but it’s not news to anyone sitting at this table.
Massimo shakes his head. “I don’t want Cruz anywhere near this.”
No one contests his assertion. None of us trust Cristian’s older brother—the residing don in Vegas—and our suspicion is warranted. Cristian is a good man, but the same cannot be said of Cruz DiPietro.
“Leave it with me,” I say. “I’ll see if I can come up with some transport options.”
“Let’s put that issue aside for now. We are back to square one with the main issue, and we need to find evidence to pin this on Liam so Diarmuid can deal with him officially.”
“I say we just take him out.” Caleb shrugs while inspecting his nails. “I’ll do it. You need to keep your hands clean,” my twin tells our ex-gun-for-hire president.
“We can’t take action without evidence, and it’s not our responsibility to handle.” I turn in my chair to face my brother. “It’s O’Hara’s. If we step on his toes, it could ruin the relationship we’ve spent years cultivating and fuel the entire Irish operation to act against us.”
“Let them. We outnumber them in all areas. It would be their funeral.” My brother is the only man around this table who will celebrate if we end up at war.
“We’re not assassinating McDermott,” Massimo says. “At least not yet.”
“I have another idea. One I think has a greater chance of success.” Every pair of eyes in the room settles on me. “We send in a female informant this time. Liam is a known ladies’ man. Let’s send someone to seduce him into giving up his secrets.”
