“Fred Schumer’s out of his office.” Nelson hung up the telephone receiver. “His secretary doesn’t know when he’ll be back.”
Sergio sighed. Fred Schumer was the powerful chairman of the House Oversight Committee, an influential man who usually didn’t care about rumors. Sergio had known him for over twenty years. Schumer had been extremely helpful on several occasions.
“It doesn’t look good.” Nelson looked concerned.
“These goddamn cowards,” Sergio growled. “Gutless opportunists. They can kiss my ass.”
He was tired, and his injured shoulder was hurting, but at least his mind was functioning impeccably again.
“But we need them,” Nelson said, voicing his concern.
“I know!” Sergio’s anger flared. “But what the hell am I supposed to do?”
Massimo and Luca exchanged a telling look. The situation was serious. Sergio could lose his power if he lost the protection of his political connections. The television was on, and the newscast reported hourly about the latest developments in the anthrax case. Then Mayor Kostidis appeared on the screen. He stood on the city hall steps with dozens of reporters and TV cameras crowded around him. Sergio sat up straight. Massimo, Luca, and Nelson also fell silent and listened.
“Mayor Kostidis, what do you think about the terrorist demanding your resignation?” the NBC reporter asked.
“In my opinion, this is nothing but a clever diversion,” Kostidis replied calmly.
He was filled with energy and seemed to be completely in control of the situation, although he had barely slept since Saturday.
“What kind of diversion?” another journalist yelled.
“There was an assassination attempt on Sergio Vitali on Saturday night,” Kostidis said, “after a large shipment of cocaine was seized by the customs authorities at the Brooklyn port on Tuesday. The drugs were discovered on a freighter coming from Costa Rica, which is the drug cartel’s classic transportation route. The police and customs authorities received an anonymous tip. We’ve been monitoring Vitali’s connection with the port for a long time.”
“That goddamn bastard,” Sergio muttered with a stoic expression. The other men were silent.
“A gang war rages between Vitali and the Colombian drug cartel. Three men were shot dead at the port on Sunday evening—three Americans of Italian origin—who likely worked for Vitali. It seems plausible to me that the attempt on Vitali’s life was revenge for blowing the cover of a drug shipment.”
“But the perpetrator has been caught,” one of the reporters argued.
“That’s rather unlikely, isn’t it?” Kostidis smiled. “I assume that the man who confessed to this crime has been paid off by Vitali. He’ll be sentenced to two years in prison, and then he’ll be released again after one year for good conduct. The public is reassured that this is just one lunatic instead of a gang war.”
“How do you know about all this, Mayor Kostidis?”
“I don’t know anything,” the mayor replied, “but I suspect that the sole purpose of this scheme to poison groceries is to distract us from the assassination attempt on Vitali.”
“These are dangerous speculations, Mayor Kostidis,” one reporter said. “Do you have any evidence?”
“Not yet. But I’ll have it soon. I was a US attorney fighting against these criminals long enough to know their methods and ways of thinking.”
“You can’t call Mr. Vitali a criminal!”
“Really? I can’t?” Kostidis’s dark eyes sparkled. “Well, I’m doing it! He may own many serious businesses and donate millions of dollars to charities, but if you could take a look behind his mask of altruism, you’d see that he’s a criminal. Sergio Vitali is the godfather of New York City.”
Massimo, Luca, and Nelson threw covert glances at Sergio, but he kept a straight face.
“You’ve got to give it to this man,” he said eventually. “He’s pretty clever. It’s a real shame that he’s not on our side.”
“He’s dangerous,” Nelson replied in concern, “extremely dangerous. He’s seen through everything.”
“But he has no evidence,” Massimo objected. “He talks and talks, and that’s all he does.”
“Kostidis doesn’t need evidence,” Sergio answered grimly. “Every word he says rattles the people who are on our side. Not one of them will publicly side with us as long he utters such things on television. They can’t afford to because they’d lose their jobs otherwise.”
“Let’s do something about him!” Massimo shouted passionately. “Why don’t we sue him for libel and slander? How can he claim such things?”
Sergio threw a glance at his son and slowly shook his head. “We’ve got to do something,” he said.
“But what do you suggest?” Nelson asked. “I could try to obtain a preliminary injunction that prohibits him from—”
“That’s useless,” Sergio snapped. “Kostidis doesn’t give a crap about preliminary injunctions or libel actions. He’s obsessed with being right. As a matter of fact—he is.”
“We’ll shut him up!” Massimo said.
“Unfortunately, it’s not that easy,” Sergio countered. “He is the mayor of this city. He’s very influential and incredibly popular. There’s only one solution in his case.”
The room was dead silent. Each of the men understood what Sergio meant.
“No.” Nelson broke the silence and stood up. “You can’t kill the mayor.”
“Who said anything about killing?” Sergio stared at the television screen with a gloomy face. “An accident—a tragic, regrettable accident. A human life is so fragile.”
Nelson looked at his old friend and realized that he was serious. Sergio was in a precarious position: he was still recovering from the shooting, and he was distraught because of Cesare’s death and Constanzia’s violent reaction. Old friends were avoiding him, and the house of cards of sensitive relationships threatened to collapse. The trouble with Ortega and the port was the icing on the cake. Kostidis could cause severe damage. This crisis had come to a head. It was time for action. “He must disappear,” Sergio said at that moment, “the faster, the better.”
“We shouldn’t plan on that option right away,” Nelson objected carefully. “We could intimidate Kostidis and tell him clearly that it would be better for him to shut up.”
“Intimidate him?” Sergio laughed and immediately grimaced in pain. “How do you plan to intimidate this man? Kostidis doesn’t fear the devil himself!”
“We could…intimidate him physically.”
Sergio snorted disdainfully and held his empty glass to Luca, who instantly refilled it with whiskey.
“He’d crawl in front of the cameras to proclaim his allegations if he was half dead.” Sergio finished the glass with one gulp. “No, Nicholas Kostidis doesn’t understand threats.”
“But if he dies, they will immediately suspect you.”
“Once he’s gone, I’ll finally have my peace. Remember that the men who will investigate his death are on our payroll.”
Nelson van Mieren shook his head determinedly. He didn’t care if Massimo and Luca witnessed his insubordination.