SCENE XV: JOSE'S APARTMENT AT HQ; THE NEXT MORNING.

After a long and sleepless night, Jose wakes up to a cold sweat. Composing himself, he comes to the conclusion that Henrietta can have a chance for a real future; something Enrica (younger sister who perished in the explosion) never got. He picks up the phone and calls Jean. Jean immediately picks up.

"Jean Croce. What's your business?"

"It's me." Jose replies, "Listen, can I meet you for lunch today? There's something I gotta talk to you about."

"Sure. 2pm at Mama Gina's Grille. I may be late since I'm going over a job for an operation in Sicily at HQ."

"Wonderful. I'll see you there."

SCENE XVI: MAMA GINA'S GRILLE; 2:15PM.

Jose was waiting outside the restaurant for the past 15 minutes as Jean arrives late.

"Must've been some meeting." Jose says, shaking his head.

Jean gets serious, "This operation in Sicily could be the one we've been waiting for. Intelligence has come up with leads that indicate Padania has big operating cells in the area. They may call on all of Section 2 for this one."

"I reserved a table in the back. Let's sit."

The two brothers walk to the back of the restaurant, where an isolated table is waiting for them.

Jose stirs the glass of water in front of him as he opens up, "Lemme ask you something. Do you ever think of anything besides vengeance?"

"I keep my priorities at hand. You know that." Jean says, with his arms folded, "Two-thirds of your family being wiped out will do that to you. Tell me that not a day goes by you don't think about Enrica."

"Of course I think about her," Jose says, nodding his head, "but killing off every last Padania scum won't bring her back, you know"

Jean puts his hands in the air, "So that's what we're here to discuss? You had a moment of clarity and are looking to leave?"

"No….at least not the way you're thinking."

"We've gone too far to give up now." Jean slams a fist to the table, "We're this close to putting the factions out of commission for good."

"I know. And I know how strongly you feel about this too. Enrica was my sister too."

"So then what's the problem?" Jean gets angry, "Spit it out."

"It's the cyborgs. The more I see the side effects of the conditioning, the more I wonder if it's worth it."

Jean always gets annoyed when his brother loses focus; but he still relents, "It comes with the territory. You just have to learn to control your emotions, not to get to attached to your cyborg."

Jose was expecting Jean's cold response, "But Henrietta is so fragile. Sure on the outside she could hold her own in a fire fight, but on the inside she's as dependent as Enrica ever was. I know she's there to protect me, but I want to protect her too."

"Hmmmph...I see what you're saying now. You want a way out along with Henrietta." Jean replies, almost facetiously.

"Not just Henrietta." Jose catches the subtle sarcasm, "Rico, Claes, and the other cyborgs; they don't deserve this."

Jean puts his hands through his hair. He realizes this is no joke.

"Christ man, do you have any inkling at what you're saying? What about the other handlers?"

"They'll be on board." Jose decides to throw a curveball at Jean, "Just think for Rico's sake. I know she's just a tool to you, but is that the best way to honor Enrica?"

Jean realizes he's at wit's end, "I need a beer."

Jose orders a beer for each of them.

Jose looks at his brother in the eye, "I know this is a lot to process, it took me awhile too before I saw the light."

"So I take it you're not the ringleader then. Who is it? Allesandro?"

"Hilshire. Mario Bossi revealed Triela's past to her, and well you can probably figure out what happened next."

"That sonuvabitch," Jean sighs, "When did he get so close to Triela, anyway?"

"Last year when we sent Hilshire and her to get some new info from Bossi."

Jean shakes his head, looking down at the table, "I knew that piece of shit would be trouble. So he squealed to Triela when the team was protecting his daughter?"

"You got it." Jose goes for the reflective approach, "And don't forget how difficult it was to get Hilshire on board with us in the first place."

"Yeah, that's for sure." Says Jean, "It took some heavy convincing by all of us. Those first few weeks I was prepared for him to go all postal on us. Don't repeat this, but he could've used some conditioning himself."

Jose reads into the sarcasm, "So I take it you're not on board. Little Rico's as good as dead, and Claes will be a guinea pig until she collapses and is thrown away."

Jean waves his hands, "I didn't say I wasn't on board. I care about the cyborgs…girls if you will. It's just that if this new job slips away from us, we may never get a better chance to bring down Padania once and for all. I'm not a fan of the Agency any more than you are, but if it gives me the promise of closure, I'll ride the wave 'till the end."

"But there's a chance this can all end in failure. We could take out some of the Padania, but lose many good people too, including the girls. Are you really willing to take that risk?"

"There's always sacrifices that need to be made to achieve the most difficult goals."

Jose is frustrated by that remark, "Sacrifices. If the world knew that we're sacrificing adolescent girls to bring down the mob, they'd have our balls in a vice."

Jean signals to the waitress, "Check please," then turns his attention back to Jose, "On that note, I'm calling it a night. I expect to see you and the other handlers in conference room CA at 8am tomorrow morning."

Jose shakes his head, "You're hopeless. Have a good one, and send my regards to Rico."