“He didn’t say no.”

They were greeted downstairs by three of Lugano’s people, one of whom handed Dino the keys to a Fiat sedan. “Be careful,” he said, “the car’s been tuned up.”

“Great,” Dino said. “Let’s go do donuts in the Piazza del Popolo.”

“Cars are now banned from the Piazza del Popolo,” the man said. “If you want to throw it around, go to the country and find yourself a nice field. Oh, by the way, it’s armored, and it will take an IED, if it has to. Are you armed?”

“I am,” Dino replied. “Stone?”

“No.”

“What would you like?”

“Have you got a smallish .45?”

“How about model 1911 officer’s?”

“That’ll do.”

The man went to the trunk of another car and came back with the pistol and a holster. Stone slipped it onto his belt, crossdrew, popped the magazine, shoved it back in, racked the slide, and put the safety on. He was handed two spare loaded magazines.

“Where are you headed?” the agent asked.

“Wherever we like,” Dino said, getting behind the wheel and starting the car.

The agent handed him a handheld radio. “It’s tuned to channel one. That’ll keep you in touch with the following car.”

Stone got in beside him, adjusted the seat, and put his spare magazines in the glove compartment. “Let’s go.”

“Where?”

“How about Naples?”

“Okay, I guess it’s an hour on the autostrada.” Dino handed Stone the radio, then punched Naples into the GPS and drove out of the courtyard.

—

An hour later they were approaching Naples.

“Anyplace special?” Dino asked.

“Keep to the coast as much as possible.”

“What are we looking for?”

“A tall building under construction with a construction elevator. Oh, and if you see Leo Casselli, let’s stop and shoot him.”

“Anything we should watch out for?”

“I think Casselli likes big black Lancias.”

They drove slowly along the coast, passing the ferry terminal for the Isle of Capri. Dino stopped the car and pointed. “There,” he said.

Stone turned and saw the skeleton of a building, maybe thirty stories. A mass of yellow scaffolding ran up one side.

“Like that?” Dino said.

“Something further along in construction,” Stone said. “That one doesn’t have any walls.”

Dino continued driving, then after a few minutes stopped again. “Nearly finished,” he said, pointing.

Stone looked at the building. “They’ve taken down the construction elevator and started using the interior ones. Too finished.”

They drove on. After a while Dino said, “We’ve pretty much circumnavigated Naples, and no building fits the description.”

Stone pointed. They were on the north side of Naples, driving along the water, and on the other side of the road, lit by the setting sun, was a tall building, apparently under construction, that had been enclosed but still had a construction elevator attached to one side. “What about that?” Stone said.

“Looks good to me,” Dino said.

33