Masuk"Show me," Dimitri said.Mike pulled up the files on the encrypted laptop he'd brought. Financial flows. Government contracts. Shell company structures. Spending patterns that made no sense on the surface but formed a clear picture when you understood what you were looking at.The United States government was funding The Covenant."Here's what I found," Mike continued, pulling up the second set of files. "Dante is the primary asset they're currently weaponizing. But there are others. Multiple other proxies receiving support and protection. And the thing is...when I tried to identify the top-level assets, I hit a wall.""What kind of wall?" Marco asked."The kind protected by federal classification," Mike said. "The names are encrypted. The identities are classified at levels that suggest high-level government involvement. My conclusion is that some of The Covenant's top assets are government officials. People with enough power to provide protection and funding without consequence."Di
Webb called at 4:33 AM."I found something," Webb said, his voice tight with the excitement of a journalist who'd stumbled onto real news. "Or rather, I found evidence of something. There are traces of a privately funded research organization that's been operating for at least fifteen years. They have government contracts. They have government protection. And they have funding from multiple sources including defense contractors and pharmaceutical companies.""What do they do?" Mike asked."That's the part that's classified," Marcus said. "But based on the funding levels, based on the contract language, based on the facilities they're operating from, my guess is biomedical research. Advanced biomedical research. The kind that might be considered unethical by civilian standards."Mike closed his eyes."The Covenant," Mike said."What?" Webb asked."Nothing. Keep investigating," Mike said, and hung up.****THIRTY-SIX HOURS INTO THE INVESTIGATION*Mike had compiled everything into a comp
POV: MIKEThe first call came at 8:47 PM.Mike was in his office, the city spreading out below him like a map of all the connections he'd spent years building. He dialed a number from memory, not from his phone, from actual memory. This was too sensitive for digital trails.The phone rang twice."Yeah?" The voice on the other end was gravelly, suspicious. Tommy. A port manager Mike had cultivated for three years. A man with access to shipping manifests, customs records, and the kind of information that flowed through the city's lifeblood."Tommy," Mike said. "I need information.""The kind that costs?" Tommy asked."The kind that costs a lot," Mike confirmed. "I'm looking for financial flows. Large ones. Moving through New York in the last six months. Flowing toward a specific organization.""What organization?" Tommy asked."Can't say," Mike said. "But you'll know it when you find it because the trail will be sophisticated. Professional. Hidden behind shell companies and internationa
"The Covenant," Dimitri confirmed. "They're not just backing Dante, Mike. They're actively treating him. Providing experimental medical treatment that's accelerating his recovery beyond anything conventional medicine could achieve. They've invested in him. Seriously invested."Mike stood and began to pace, processing this."So Enzo was right," Mike said. "When you called him to investigate, when you asked him to confirm The Covenant's involvement, he found it.""Not just involvement," Dimitri said. "Direct, active, resource-intensive involvement. They're using pharmaceutical compounds that don't exist anywhere else. They're testing experimental healing technology on him. They've committed to making him a viable threat."Mike stopped pacing and looked directly at Dimitri."Then we kill him," Mike said simply. "We send someone, we take him out, we remove the asset they invested in. It's not elegant, but it's effective."Dimitri was quiet for a moment."You think that's the solution?" Di
Dimitri's voice shifted, became something harder and more focused."Here's what I need from you," Dimitri said. "First, I need you to continue investigating The Covenant's presence in Rome. Find out everything. Second, I need you to reach out to your contacts in the Russo family. I need to know if Lorenzo knows about The Covenant's involvement with Dante. I need to know where his loyalties lie if this becomes an open conflict.""Lorenzo's going to side with whoever he thinks will win," Enzo said. "He's not sentimental about alliances.""Then we need to make sure he understands that siding with us is the winning move," Dimitri said. "Because if The Covenant succeeds in taking me down, the entire power structure in Italy changes. And Lorenzo's position becomes vulnerable."Enzo understood the calculation immediately."You're going to use the alliance threat," Enzo said. "Tell Lorenzo that his daughter's fate depends on which side he chooses.""Not threatened," Dimitri corrected. "Explai
"I know," Enzo confirmed. "Which is why I'm calling you now instead of continuing to investigate. Because this confirms it. Dante isn't recovering naturally. He's receiving experimental treatment from The Covenant. The kind of treatment that only an organization with that level of resources and research capability could provide.""How advanced is this treatment?" Dimitri asked. "What are we talking about?""Accelerated healing. Nerve regeneration at impossible rates. Muscle recovery that defies conventional medicine." Enzo pulled up the scans on his laptop as he spoke. "If I had to guess, I'd say pharmaceutical compounds. Something experimental. Something they've been developing for years and are now testing on Dante.""Testing," Dimitri repeated, and there was something sharp in his voice now. "You mean they're using him as a test subject.""Or rewarding him for his cooperation," Enzo said. "Either way, they're invested in his recovery. They want him mobile. They want him operational







