Page 115 of The Medici Return

He returned to the rifle and refocused through the scope.

Waiting for the order to fire.

COTTON STARED UP AT THEHOTELDUOMO.

The tracking dot showed that Dewberry was here.

Stefano had described a black Stealth Recon Scout rifle he’d seen inside the Palazzo Tempi back in Siena, which had been removed from there by a priest and delivered to Ascolani. That was a high-tech powerful weapon, also equipped, as Stefano reported, with a high-pressure sound suppressor. Dewberry had apparently used that weapon during the Palio, killing a jockey in the process. In another really public place.

A window on the fourth floor opened.

About halfway.

“You see that,” Stefano asked.

“I do. That hotel is air-conditioned and nobody else has a window open.”

They both continued to stare upward.

The blue dot still pulsated right over the hotel.

“This is getting too risky,” he said. “Go get Casaburi out of the piazza.”

“And you?”

“I’m going inside.”

CHAPTER 77

ERIC WAS TIRED OF BEING PATRONIZED.SO HE SAID, “THE CHURCHneeds to seriously consider my proposal.”

“Why would we do such a thing?” Ascolani said. “Even if you achieve a majority in parliament your party will never last. Eventually, all populists grow tiresome on the people, especially once they realize that nothing ever is done.”

“Our party will be this nation’s salvation. Every poll shows that the people favor our message. The president will have no choice but to offer us the prime minister’s seat.”

“Only after you win thirty-eight additional seats in parliament.”

He resented this man’s condescending attitude. “When I retrieve my family’s copy of the Pledge of Christ, the situation will be different.”

“Do you truly think that a five-hundred-year-old document will carry any legal weight?”

“It is not just a document. It is a solemn pledge of Pope Julius II, sworn before Christ, in perpetuity. If that carries no legal or moral weight, then what does?”

And he believed that.

“Anna Maria Luisa left writings,” he continued. “Many. She detailed how she felt about her life and her child. Contrary to whathistory says, she did birth a son. A legitimate royal Medici heir. She wrote of the pledge and wanted her child to have, as she said, thatsacred promise. It is only a matter of time before I have the Medici copy.”

“I assure you, we will have no problem ignoring it.”

Eric had made a career out of reading people. And he was good at it. How they carried themselves. Gestures. The way they stood or sat.

And above all, the eyes.

The promise given was a necessity of the past. The word broken is a necessity of the present.

More Machiavelli.

And on target.