Chapter 14: Friends and Betrayal

The next morning, the atmosphere of the cafe in Venosa was quiet compared to the previous night. After Luca Ferri's sudden escape, questions were piling up in everyone's minds. Marco was sitting in the corner with his cup of coffee, contemplating everything that had happened. Franco, who was leaning on the table in front of him, was watching the passersby outside as usual, while Salvo was planning a new move in the game.

"Do you believe Luca Ferri was here?" Franco asked, trying to make sense of the situation. "The guy is an arms dealer, and all the Interpol agencies are behind him, but he disappeared as if he didn't want anyone to know."

Marco, who was smiling calmly, said, "I think Luca was testing us. Maybe he was trying to see if we were serious enough to join him. But now he's in a critical situation."

"I don't think he wants to cooperate with us." Salvo said in a mysterious voice. "If he's running from Interpol, is it possible that he can trust us?"

Before Marco could respond, a new person entered the café. He was wearing a uniform, and his face was familiar to everyone. This man was Columbo, who had hacked banks with them in the previous operation.

"Oh no!" Marco whispered as he caught sight of Columbo coming. "Again?"

Colombo quietly entered the café, and walked straight to the table where Marco, Franco, and Salvo were sitting. He placed his mobile device on the table in front of him, and took a deep breath.

"Do you think I don't see what's going on?" Columbo said, looking at them with a sharp look.

Franco, who sensed that something wasn't right, replied, "What do you mean?"

Colombo smiled strangely and said, "I think you've started to doubt everyone around you. Including me."

Marco looked at Columbo warily and said, "You know we don't trust anyone easily. There are a lot of games being played here, and this game isn't easy."

But Columbo didn't care. "I don't mess with you. Luca Ferri isn't someone to be trusted. And I don't mess with people who hide behind masks. As for me… I work alone, and that's better."

The room started to feel tense. At this moment, Marco decided to ask him a crucial question. "What do you know about Luca Ferri? And why is he here?"

Colombo looked at Marco and said, "If I were to tell you everything now, I would be in an uncomfortable position. Luca Ferri isn't just an ordinary arms dealer. He's a big player in this game, and he has many connections in dark places."

Suddenly, a loud voice interrupted them from behind them.

"Are you talking about Luca?" a strange voice said.

Everyone turned to find another person entering the café. This person looked completely different from the others. He was tall and thin, wearing sunglasses and looking mysterious. Before anyone could speak, he smiled and said, "My name is Nico, and I'm here because I know you want to work with Luca Ferri."

Tensions Rising

Everyone stood in amazement, while Nico approached them and said, "I think you need real information about Luca Ferri. But you better know first that this information is not free."

Marco, who was trying to keep his cool, said cautiously, "What do you know about Luca?"

Nico smiled and said, "Luca is not the person he appears to you at first. He is an arms dealer and smuggler, but he has much greater ambitions than that. He plans to control the entire game, and there are many threads revolving around him that you do not know anything about."

Franco, who was starting to feel anxious, said, "Do you mean he wants to control the gangs in this game?"

"Exactly." Nico said, raising his hand as if he was telling a story. "But that's not the worst part. The worst part is that Luca Ferri has a group of ruthless followers. If anyone decides to be an obstacle to him, their fate will be in unmerciful hands."

Salvo, who felt things were getting more complicated, said: "If that's the case, where do we go from here?"

Nico looked at them warily and said: "If you want to survive, you have to keep it secret. Luca knows how to control things from the shadows, and he doesn't like to have rivals."

Everyone paused for a moment, and the atmosphere in the café was tense. However, as is the case most of the time, Marco broke the silence and said: "If Luca Ferri is the one behind all these schemes, we need to know everything about him… and fast."

The decisive decision

The atmosphere was filled with black humor, as everyone laughed, even though they were all shifting between tension and doubts. At that moment, the waiter came over and gave Marco another cup of coffee, which made everyone smile uncomfortably.

"What a great start to the day!" Salvo said, laughing, "First Luca Ferri, then Nico, and who knows who will show up after that!"

But deep down, everyone knew they were on the brink of a great abyss, that the game they were playing had completely changed. Every one of them knew that Luca Ferri was more than just an arms dealer, but a challenge far greater than anything they had anticipated.