Shielding You ("The Shadows" Series: Book II)

5.

'Mancini?' Matteo couldn't hide his surprise.

'Yeah. We hadn't even thought he had become so much more powerful. The last time any of us had heard of him was when he was in-'

'America.' Lorenzo completed the official's sentence while sipping his coffee. Matteo glanced between the two before concentrating back on the man. He looked solemn.

'We thought we could get the girls out, so we made a fool-proof plan, checked everything thrice just in case, and then tried to raid the place. We even had local police involved.' Matteo's eyes flickered in recognition.

A month ago, there was news about a shootout in one of the dingy areas of the city. Getting information about the situation was difficult but what they had gotten was that the police had failed to do their job. It was kept top secret, so they hadn't pried further into the matter, although they had been informed about Mancini's victory.

'So the shootout...'

'Yes. It was us.' He replied to Matteo.

'We had no idea how many they were, but as far as I know the details...it was four to one. Only a few had no scratches. The majority of the force had taken a hit or five. A few casualties...it was a big mess and the government had done everything they could to keep it down low. But someone had leaked the information and we guessed it was one of his men.' He looked agitated recalling the failure.

'After this we tried to be discreet and raided the place twice but he had tightened the security so much that we couldn't get past the second floor from below or the fourth floor from above. We couldn't even get to where he had the girls hidden...even when we had these.' He said and passed them a file.

Matteo saw the maps and other layouts and all the schedule he had told them about the men. Flipping through it all, he closed the file and kept it on the table.

They all sat in silence as the woman came with the man's order and left as quietly as possible. The air had dampened further with their sombre mood. Matteo gestured the man to eat and turned towards Lorenzo. He had his eyes fixed on the file. Picking it up, he flipped through it all until the last page, where the plans about how they had attacked was attached.

He read it for sometime before going back to the page where the schedule was written.

The list consisted of names of men and their shifts, the intervals between the changing of the shifts and their clocking in and clocking out time. It was a solid information to start with. But he was still silent. He took mental notes of a few things before putting the file down. The man was done with his food. He was slower while eating his meal, especially after seeing the photos of the girls again, but he knew he had to convince the two people the government could trust and for that, he needed energy.

When Lorenzo noticed the man glancing at him and the file in front of him, he tilted his head a little.

'We'll look into it first.' Lorenzo stood up and straightened his coat. His gaze intimadated the official, but he conjured up the courage in him to ask.

'What should I tell my superiors? Are you going to take it?' He saw Lorenzo leaving without answering and looked at Matteo in distress. Matteo nodded at him in farewell.

'He said we'll look into it. If we take this case, we'll contact you. Until then, do not contact us.' Matteo followed Lorenzo out to see him paying for the meal at the counter. The owner gave him a nod and a smile as he left. Matteo looked at the woman to see her crinkling her eyes at him in fondness.