EDIT: January 2, 2014

Interlude (I): Outside the glass windows

Venice always held a special place in his heart.

The streets of the city held secrets that would take a nonlocal for maybe at least a month to decipher and discover them. The main reason that the place was special is that the city was one of the best locations in Italy to make a drop-off. There were more tourists in than residents in Venice which makes the city a perfect camouflage for him.

The man's name was Romano.

Romano was not his real name but an alias that he used when he was doing business. There was no need to disclose his identity to anyone. The name perfectly suited him since it literally meant someone from Rome and he was from Rome. At the same time, it was a very generic name, making him untraceable by the authorities.

There was no clear-cut description of what he did for a living though he calls himself a "dealer." The dealings were not strictly related to narcotics. However for the past months, Romano's transactions had been centered on drugs.

A curse escaped his lips when a slightly strong wind blew. The man tightened his jacket and thought that sometimes the place could be a bitch. Romano had little tolerance for cold weather and acqua alta or the rising of water towards the city can ruin a travel. Being well-informed can help in avoiding the latter.

Romano continued walking to the wider streets of the city and he saw what he expected. The streets were filled with people from different parts of the globe. There was a group of tourists taking pictures with the canal as a backdrop. A group of students were hurriedly rushing to the port to catch a water bus. There were also people who were leisurely walking, taking in their surroundings.

A sigh escaped the lips of the man. He avoided going further with this route and decided to take a roundabout way to reach his destination. When he was at a less traveled road, the man stopped his tracks as a memory resurfaced about a previous dealing that went wrong.

A few months ago, an idiotic client had overdosed himself with a new brand of street drug. This rubbed off to the dealer since he was a direct supplier of the substance and this meant that the chance of him being traced was very high. After the incident he had to leave Spain earlier that he intended to.

Romano was shaken away from his thoughts when he had noticed that someone was tailing him. The Italian was thinking who could have known that he was here. No name had popped into his mind since he had not explicitly told another living being about his location. It could not be the authorities since he was not in their radar.

Hazel eyes scanned the walls, hoping to find a reflective object that could give him a view to the stalker behind him. Unluckily there was no such thing.

There was only one method left and the man was confident that he could lure the cazzo into his trap.

The first part of the operation was to mislead the follower and then expose the identity after an attack. Depending on the situation the attack could be fatal and he might end up using his gun. With his mind set and the adrenaline pumping into his system, he took a few more turns to different corners. Then he strikes by punching the gut squarely.

When the man had fallen unconscious, the brain of Romano was bugging him that he knew who this man was.

'No fucking way. This is the idiot-looking restaurant crew in Spain.'

At the height of the foregoing event, the Italian took the cellphone of the fallen man and dialed the emergency number. After informing the receiver about the incident, omitting the fact that he was the cause, he tossed the phone a little bit away from the body.

Before anyone else could arrive, Romano immediately left the immediate vicinity.

Unknown to the Italian, someone had also chanced to pass by the street. This person had also called for immediate help.