themselves were worried about getting too close. She felt suddenly dizzy, as if the floor was moving under her, and was only vaguely aware of Tom’s voice.
‘She’s with me, now,’ he said.
‘Why, what do you want?’ Li shot back, flashing Allegra a suspicious glance.
‘Your help.’
‘I thought you’d retired?’ Li’s question sounded more like an accusation.
‘A friend of mine has been killed. We’re both after the people who did it.’
Li paused, glancing at Tom and Allegra in turn. Then he handed Allegra her gun back with a grudging nod.
‘What do you want to know?’
Tom handed Li the drawing of the symbol.
‘What can you tell me about this?’
Li took it over to an architect’s desk on which he had been examining a sheet of freshly printed notes under a microscope and angled it under the light. He glanced up at them with a wary look.
‘Is this who you think killed your friend?’
‘You know what it means?’ Allegra asked excitedly.
‘Of course I do,’ he snorted. ‘It’s the symbol of the Delian League.’
Allegra gave Tom a look. As they had both suspected, far from being a footnote in some dusty textbook, the Delian League, or rather some bastardised version of it, was clearly alive and well.
‘Who runs it?’ Tom pressed.
Li sat back.
‘Come on, Tom. You know that’s not how things work.’ He smiled indulgently as if gently scolding a child. ‘I’m running a business here, not a charity. Even for deserving causes like you.’
‘How much?’ Tom asked wearily.
‘Normally twenty-five thousand euro,’ Li said, picking at his fingernails. ‘But for you and your friend I’m going to round it up to fifty. A little…five-o surcharge.’
‘Fifty thousand!’ Allegra exclaimed.
‘I can get it.’ Tom nodded. ‘But it’s going to take some time.’
‘I can wait.’ Li shrugged.
‘Well, we can’t,’ Tom insisted. ‘I’ll have to owe you.’
‘No deal.’ Li shook his head. ‘Not if you’re going up against the League. I want my money before they kill you.’
‘Why don’t you just pay yourself?’ Allegra tapped her finger angrily against the sheet of uncut notes on the desk.
‘This stuff is like dope,’ Li sniffed. ‘You never want to risk getting addicted to your own product.’
‘Come on, Johnny,’ Tom pleaded. ‘You know I’m good for it.’
Li took a deep breath, clicking his front teeth together slowly as he considered them in turn.
‘What about a down-payment?’ he asked. ‘You must have something on you?’
‘I’ve told you, we don’t…’
‘That watch, for example.’ Li nodded towards Tom’s wrist.
‘It’s not for sale,’ Tom insisted, quickly pulling his sleeve down.
‘Think of it as a deposit,’ Li suggested. ‘You can have it back when you bring me the cash.’
‘And you’ll tell us what we need to know?’ Allegra asked in a sceptical tone.
‘If I can.’
‘Tom?’ Allegra fixed Tom with a hopeful look. Unless they wanted to wait, it seemed like a reasonable deal. Tom said nothing, then gave a resigned shrug.
‘Fine.’ Sighing heavily, he took the watch off. ‘But I want it back.’
‘I’ll look after it,’ Li reassured him, fastening it carefully to his wrist.
‘Let’s start with the Delian League,’ Allegra suggested. ‘Who are they?’
‘The Delian League controls the illegal antiquities trade in Italy,’ Li answered simply. ‘Has done since the early seventies. Now, nothing leaves the country without going through them.’
‘And the tombaroli? Where do they fit in?’
‘They control the supply,’ Li explained. ‘Most of them are freelance. But since all the major antiquities buyers are foreign, the League controls access to the demand. The tombaroli either have to sell to them, or not sell at all.’
‘And the mafia?’ Tom interrupted. ‘Don’t they mind the League operating on their turf?’
‘The League
‘The Banda della Magliana is run by the De Luca family,’ Allegra explained, glancing at Tom. ‘They’re who Ricci worked for.’
‘The story I heard was that the Cosa Nostra was getting squeezed out of the drugs business by the ‘Ndrangheta. So when they realised there was money to be made in looting antiquities, they teamed up with the Banda della Magliana who controlled all the valuable Etruscan sites around Rome, on the basis that they would make more money if they operated as a cartel. The League’s been so successful that most of the other families have sold them access rights to their territories in return for a share of the profits.’
‘Who runs it now?’ Tom asked. ‘Where can we find them?’
Li went to answer, then paused, crossing one arm across his stomach and tapping his finger slowly against his lips.
‘I can’t tell you that.’
Tom gave a hollow laugh.
‘Can’t or won’t?’
‘It’s nothing personal, Felix,’ Li said with a shrug. ‘I just want my money. And if I give you everything now, I know I’ll never see it.’
‘We had a deal,’ Allegra said angrily. Li had tricked them, first reeling them in to show them how much he knew and then holding out when they’d get to the punchline.
‘We still do,’ Li insisted. ‘Come back tomorrow with the fifty k and I’ll tell you what side of the bed they all sleep on.’
‘We need to know now,’ Allegra snapped.
Another pause, Li first centring Tom’s watch on his wrist and then wiping the glass with his thumb.
‘What about the car?’ he asked without looking up.
‘What car?’ Tom frowned.
‘Cavalli’s Maserati,’ Allegra breathed, as she recognized the set of keys that Li had produced from his pocket as the ones that had been confiscated from her on the way in.
‘Do you have it?’ Li pressed.
‘No, but I know where it is,’ she replied warily, his forced indifference making her wonder if he hadn’t been carefully leading them up to this point all along. ‘Why?’
‘New deal,’ Li offered. ‘The car instead of the cash. That way you don’t have to wait.’
‘Done,’ Allegra confirmed eagerly, sliding the keys over to him with a relieved sigh. ‘It’s in the pound, but it should be easy enough for you to get to.’
Smiling, Li slid the keys back towards her.
‘That’s not quite what I had in mind.’
THIRTY-EIGHT
Via Principesa Clotilde, Rome 19th March-8.35 a.m.
Ten minutes later and they were skirting the eastern rim of the Piazza del Popolo, Tom catching a glimpse of the Pincio through a gap in the buildings.
