Chapter 25

Since the time of the repubblica marinara in which an aristocracy of families related to the overseas trade ruled the destinies of the Serenissima, Venice has had a tangle of irregular and even forbidden secret services that have maintained everything that happens in the city under the control of formal and informal authorities. It is a vast capillary network that spans all neighborhoods and interconnects in a mysterious way. The arrival of modern institutions has only buried this network underground, but it continues to work.

For once more in his life Romain heard the door of his room beaten in the middle of the night when he was fast asleep. He got up grunting and as he opened he found Michel Dupont who was putting on his shirt and pants.

"Hurry up, get dressed." The Frenchman said imperiously. "In a minute Bressan will pick us up. We have to go and wait for him in the canal because he is coming by boat.”