17 Countermeasures

The fight that'd taken place overnight had police officials scrambling, trying to find answers. However, no matter how much they tried, they were unable to find anything. They were the first to give up, though, as they were happy with bad guys taking each other out.

But what about the bad guys? The fight had happened in Hell's Kitchen, which was under the control of the Rosettis. And during the fight, a stray fireball had just so happened to hit one of their storehouses and burned it to the ground along with all the goods inside.

Naturally, the Rosettis were alarmed, to say the least. They weren't worried that a fight had taken place, what they were worried about was the fact that they couldn't find any clue about who was involved.

Generally, anything that people did was bound to leave traces behind, no matter how small they may be. However, last night's fight had left none whatsoever. That was shocking, considering the sheer disturbance the fight had caused.

Therefore, all the capos had decided to hold a meeting to discuss countermeasures. After the war with the Buccantis, they had become much more proactive in their approach to gathering intel.

After all, in the last war, the main reason for their downfall was intelligence; or to be more precise, the lack thereof. Although the higher-ups now knew that their lack of intelligence and the subsequent attack of the Buccantis was due to the work of a spy in their midst, courtesy of the consigliere, Marcel.

That was why, the moment they'd found out that such a loud battle had taken place in their territory and one of their storehouses had been involved, all the capos gathered at Nico's house.

David left his apartment wearing a black suit and tie. He massaged his temple as he walked down the sidewalk. After all, he was still feeling a little hungover after drinking excessively the night before.

The reason why he had started drinking yesterday was in order to celebrate. He was happy because he'd found out that all the girls that had ghosted him in the past, hadn't done so because of his shortcomings but because they'd gone missing.

However, his happiness soon turned to misery when he realized that it would continue happening to any girls he met in the future as well. He really needed to find whoever was doing that and put an end to the whole charade.

He would have preferred to sleep in until later, but was notified by Nico that he needed to come to his house as soon as possible. Thus, he unwillingly got out of bed and hailed a cab, all while thinking of how to capture the person that was targeting him.

About an hour later, he finally reached Nico's place in Queens. After the cab dropped him off, he made his way over to the backyard where six people were sitting around a large table. And behind each of them, a couple of their men remained standing.

As David approached Nico, who was seated, everyone's eyes landed on him. He had a fierce reputation in the Rosetti family, after all. Considering the number of people he had killed that fateful night, everyone either feared or respected him.

He stopped right behind Nico and saw that the other five capos were looking at him with approval, while their henchmen behind them were casting nervous glances at him. It couldn't be helped; even a few of the capos could be seen involuntarily gulping.

When Nico noticed the amount of recognition, whether it be fear or respect, that David was getting, he had complicated feelings. On the one hand, he was glad that he had such a capable person as David working under him.

But on the other, he was overcome by jealousy and hatred. David's rise in the family was alarming to him. If it continued, he feared that the youth would soon surpass him. Thus, he decided he would do everything in his power to put a leash on the boy.

A few minutes later, after everyone had arrived, Nico announced, "Let's begin." He looked around the table at all the capos and solemnly added, "Gentlemen, you already know why we're here."

One of the capos added, "Looks like there's a new player in town."

An overweight capo in a brown suit nodded. "But the question is, which family do they belong to? Or are they someone outside the mob?"

The remaining capos had pensive expressions as they wondered about the person's backing. A few moments later, Nico spoke up. "Regardless of who they are or where they're from, the fact that they were able to cover up their tracks so flawlessly tells us they're professionals."

Once again, everyone turned silent as they mulled over Nico's words. In order for them to come up with countermeasures, they needed to first identify whether whoever it was was a threat or not.

Nico continued, "We need to investigate them first before making any decisions. What do you all think?"

All of them nodded. One of them asked, "But how are we to find them? We don't know a thing about them. And you already know how well they've covered their tracks."

"We'll let David handle the investigation. Unless any of you have any objections?" Nico looked at David, his lips curling up into a faint smirk. The reason he had made that suggestion wasn't out of some sense of goodwill. No, it was quite the contrary. He wanted David to fail miserably and remove some of the limelight from him.

David was quite taken aback, but he didn't voice his opinion. If his boss wanted him to carry out a job, he would do it. The rest of the capos also had no objections. After all, David had quite the reputation and a solid track record, even though he was just a soldier and relatively new in the family.

Suddenly, David raised his hand, asking for permission to speak. After seeing Nico nod at him, he said, "Since this is gonna be an extensive operation, it's gonna take quite a lot of time. I hope everyone can be patient."

"Oh?" One of the capos who had a fair impression of the youth was amused. "You already got a plan of action, eh?"

David simply nodded. After being made, he had already taken over Nico's team, since capos don't lead teams themselves. They have soldiers under them who do the legwork on the front lines. Thus, David thought it would be better to lead an existing team with whom he had already built a good rapport.

All of the capos at the table approved of David's quick thinking. Some even praised him, hoping to get good results out of his investigation. Nico followed along but secretly clenched his fists under the table.

One of the other capos asked, "You already have a team, yeah?"

David nodded and succinctly replied, "I do."

"Good," the capo replied, "I hope your investigation's fruitful, kid."

Everyone nodded; they all hoped that David would be able to find the identity of this new party as soon as possible. All of them except Nico, that is. He was the only one praying for the kid to fail.

After hammering out the rest of the details, David set out with his team, which included Roberto. As they were heading out of the house, Nico approached him and patted him on the shoulder. "If you do end up finding this person, see if you can forge a relationship with them on behalf of the Rosetti family."

"Understood, boss." David smiled at him, then turned and instructed his team, "Alright boys, let's go."

Nico watched David's departing back with narrowed eyes. He prayed that the kid would fail and become a disappointment, as well as a laughingstock in the eyes of the higher-ups. One small mistake would be all it would take for David to fall from his high horse.

[Countdown: 326 days…]