EDIT: January 15, 2014
Part 7: Cat and Mouse (II)
There was a medium traffic on the streets of Madrid. Antonio could only patiently sit at the passenger's seat of the cab. The vehicle they were tailing was directly in front and the green eyes could see the head of the other passenger who might be Romano.
When the traffic began to move, the cab which was ahead made a dash and stopped at a well-endowed hotel. Antonio told the driver to stop several meters away and gave his payment when he went out of the transportation. The Spaniard slowly walked to where Romano was. However there was something odd.
"Señorito Vargas, welcome to Spain. I hope your travel was good."
"It was a nice ride. Please call me Feliciano; I feel old if you call me Señorito Vargas."
"Please follow me Señorito Feliciano."
Antonio watched from afar and there was (a slight) disappointment in him. He was really hoping that the other person was Romano but maybe this was not all for nothing. The name Feliciano Vargas rings a bell. Without further delay, the man returned to his home and searched on the Internet the familiar name.
There were several results that showed which were mostly from society pages of local Italian newspapers. One result stood out that was about the upcoming art gallery show of the man named Feliciano Vargas.
"AH!"
Antonio finally remembered why the name rang a bell.
Several years ago, he visited a university in Italy and during that visit, a Feliciano Vargas had set-up a mini gallery in one of the campus's buildings.
Slender fingers scrolled down the results and another Vargas appeared. It was a little troubling since the headlines were quite disturbing.
Has the eldest Vargas gone prodigal?
Is Lovino Vargas dead?
Lovino Vargas about to create a miracle for…
Antonio clicked the third headline but the webpage would not load. He refreshed it again and again but only an error would pop-up. Instead of going further the web search results, the man clicked the images result and he was surprised with what he saw. He was unsure how to react.
"Lovino Vargas looks a lot like Romano."
Antonio made a search regarding the name Lovino Vargas.
Most of the search results that were displayed were from schools and universities that had the search key in one of their webpages. At random Antonio clicked one of the results since he didn't know what to choose.
The article was about this Lovino Vargas being awarded the MVP during that season's soccer game. Somehow, a giddy feeling began to spread inside the Spaniard. He continued reading the article and there was a picture at the end with all the team members.
'These are the members of the team. From left to right we have Feliciano Vargas, Lovino Vargas…'
After reading the names and familiarizing the faces, Antonio felt betrayed. Betrayed might be too strong to describe the confusion he was feeling. The different emotions that were stirring inside him were a first.
'Did he lie to me?'
'WHY?'
'What could the reason be?'
Antonio had thought that he had uncovered the mystery about Romano but it seems otherwise. The information that was in front of him was overthrowing the foundation of the belief.
0-0-0
"NO! NO! NO!"
"Why do you say no Comrade Romano when you haven't even heard my offer yet?"
"The last time I did a deal relating to them… there was more trouble that what the money was worth."
"What if I say that I will give a hundred grand?"
"Fuck this. I said NO and that's final."
"My offer still stands."
Romano's glared softened and at this point the young man was seriously reconsidering it.
"Give me one week and I'll see what I can do about it."
When Ivan Braginsky and Natalia Arlovskaya left the abode, Romano mentally cussed.
The Russian's proposition was to patch their syndicate to the Vargas family network. If ever he would be discovered that he was part of the family, he would be dead in no time. Aside from that, chaos will ensue.
"This is so fucking annoying."
The Italian went to his kitchen and poured himself a glass of wine.