Chapter 39: Columbo Enters the Game

Café Venosa – 3:00 AM

The café was strangely quiet, despite the tension in the air. Marco was sitting in his usual corner, contemplating the cup of coffee in front of him as if trying to read the future between its drops. Franco was fiddling with his spoon, while Salvo was playing with the handle of his knife, ready for any emergency.

As for Luca, he had returned minutes ago after sending his men to fetch Carlo, but he did not sit down… Instead, he stood leaning against the wall, watching everyone with the look of someone ready to commit violence at any moment.

Amidst this tension, the door to the café slowly opened, and Columbo entered, wearing his usual black coat, carrying his bag containing all his electronic devices. He sat quietly at one of the tables, opened his laptop, and began typing as if nothing in the world mattered to him except the screen in front of him.

Franco muttered in a low voice to Marco: "Is this man even human? I swear he's more like a robot programmed to hack and ignore."

Marco ignored Franco, then looked at Columbo and asked, "Can I ask you something?"

Columbo didn't take his eyes off his screen and said, "I already asked."

Salvo laughed and said, "Oh, there's Mr. AI talking!"

Columbo paused for a moment, looked at them blankly, then said, "I have news... and it might change your plans completely."

Carlo is not the only enemy

Columbo finally closed the laptop, then put his hands on the table and said, "I've hacked encrypted messages between some big names... and I found something interesting."

Marco clasped his hands in front of him and asked, "What did you find?"

Columbo took out a small flash drive, placed it on the table, then said, "One of the people you trust is not only a traitor... but he's working for a party bigger than you can imagine."

Luca slammed his fist on the table and said, "Don't beat around the bush, who is he?"

Columbo smiled strangely and said, "Carlo... he's just a puppet. There's someone else pulling the strings from behind the curtain."

Franco raised an eyebrow and said, "Man, this sounds like a plot from a spy movie, who is he?"

Colombo turned the laptop towards them, and displayed an image on the screen. It was an image of a man they didn't recognize at first, but seconds later, they were all shocked.

It was one of the ten masked men who created the game!

Marco narrowed his eyes and said slowly, "If that's true… we're playing a game whose rules we didn't know from the start."

The game gets more dangerous

Colombo pointed to the screen and said, "The person you see here is the real mastermind. He's been monitoring your movements since the beginning. Carlo? Just a pawn. And if you think you're in control of the game… think again."

Franco wiped his face and said, "Great! As if that wasn't complicated enough… now we have a secret organization, traitors, and official madness."

Salvo slammed the table and said, "That means Carlo isn't the real enemy… he's just a bait!"

Marco took a deep breath, then said, "This changes everything. We need to rethink our plans. If we're being watched all the time, we need a counter-plan."

Columbo took out his phone, sent a file to Marco, then said, "This contains everything I've learned so far. But be careful... the person we're facing isn't just a gang leader. He's a man who moves the whole game."

Marco looked at everyone and said, "So... from now on, we're no longer just playing to win. We're playing to survive."

End of Chapter