"OK, What the hell is going on?" It was Marco's turn to get pissed. "Did Silvia break one of your computers? You fucking bite my head off for no goddamned reason! I'm out here looking for this damn needle in a stack of needles. I call you and you tell me I'm not working hard enough?! I didn't make this damn deal! If you have a problem with what the fuck is going on, talk to Simon. What did I do?"

There was silence on the phone. Marco didn't really trust himself to say anymore without insulting their resident computer tech. If there was one thing he knew from his military experience, it was that it never did anyone any good to get pissed off at your own team members. That's how mistakes happened, how resentment was built, and how people died, sooner rather than later.

"You want to know what the fuck is wrong?" Sofia's voice was ice and deadly calm. "I'm sick of being cramped in this apartment. I'm tired of this god forsaken shit pile they call a city, and I am fucking tired of being a lackey to that Japanese bitch that Simon got into bed with." Not once did Sofia's voice raise in volume, but as she spoke her voice dripped more and more venom till all Marco felt was malice and hatred that he had never felt from Sofia before, to such an extent that he was getting a little nervous that she might snap and do something really stupid.

Marco took a silent breath and realized that this was Sofia asking for help, and if she didn't get it something bad was going to happen, she had reached her breaking point. "You miss home," he said.

"I miss Rome, yes!" Sofia did raise her voice then, "I'm tired of being here, I'm tired of this hell hole! I miss good food and the smells, Marco, the smells of home. I can't remember the scent of home. I remember how it felt, the warm surroundings, the golds and rich tans, the cobblestones, the sounds, but I can't remember it in detail. I want to go home and I'm tired of working for someone else. What is Simon thinking? I want to go home."

"You know we can't go home," Marco said softly.

"I know," Sofia sounded like she was on the edge of sobbing, "it's been so long."

Marco nodded as he stepped back away from the street into a small alcove and turned towards the darkness as he spoke into the phone, "Sofia, I need you to listen to me, I have never asked you to trust me and I'm not asking now. But what I am going to tell you is that Simon has always done what he felt was right, and he has always done right by us, you know this."

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"Yeah," an almost lifeless voice from Sofia met his ears. At least she wasn't on the verge of hysterics.

"I know that Simon has a plan and this is the best play he could make, of the three houses left in this city, House Himura is the best option for us. House Dukart may have been a new home for us, if Alessandro still lived, but that's no longer the case. Sofia, look, we have to play this out. I have to believe that if that Himura bitch is playing Simon, then Simon at least is playing the same game and has some way out for us. I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm asking you to have faith in Simon. He's gotten us through worse scrapes than this before."

Sofia scoffed, "since when have we been in a worse place than this?"

Marco thought for a second, "Okay, fine maybe not as bad as this, but you remember when we were in Turkey right?"

"Yeah," Sophia barked out, almost a laugh, "I can only imagine what that Turk must've thought when he found our apartment."

Marco smiled at the memory, "So, if Simon got us out of that mess, I know he can get us out of this one."

"So, what?" Sophia asked scornfully, "I'm just supposed to 'have faith'? I thought we ditched faith the night we were turned?"

Marco shook his head smiling, "Oh no, Sophia. Just because we chose to live outside the sight of God, doesn't mean we ever chose to give up on faith."

"Are you auditioning for your new profession as a televangelist?"

Marco had to laugh at that, "No, not at all, I'm a lifer, and I can't think of anything I can do as well as I do this job." Marco paused for just a second, "Are you ok Sophia, really? I need to know, if you need some time, you need to take it, this has been stressful on everybody.."

"No," Sophia cut him off, "I'm fine, I'm stressed out and I hate being here, but you're right, we don't have anywhere else to go. Simon has gotten us this far, and I do know that he will get us through this. I want to go home, but that's not possible, and I know that. I just needed to vent. Thanks Marco, for being there and not shutting down on me, you could have and I would have deserved it."

"Hey, whoa, hold up, I won't ever quit on any of you guys. You and Simon and the rest of us are the only thing I have that's even close to a family, and I'm not going to let that go without a fight."

"Wouldn't matter if you did or not, we're all stuck here with no place to go, and you're stuck with us, whether you like it or not," Sophia replied dryly.

"Can't think of any other people I'd rather be stuck with."

"Okay, okay don't get all mushy on me. Happy hunting."

Marco heard the phone disconnect and looked at the wall in front of him. He sighed as he put the phone away. He knew that Sophia was going to be ok, but if she was starting to show some cracks, then the rest of them wouldn't be far behind. He knew that Simon had a plan as to how they would get out of this, of course he did. Whatever it was, he wished he would let the rest of them in on the secret.

Until then though, he had a job to do and that was tracking this Arab looking guy in a black Mercedes Benz. He wondered what kind of specialty drinks they had at this Skybar.

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