CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EIGHT – GATHERING INTEL FOR THE ENEMY

In the days that followed, she moved with an almost preternatural focus, doubling down on her efforts within Antonio's organization even as she silently made preparations for her clandestine meeting with Caporelli. The streets of Palermo became her hunting grounds, the city's serpentine alleyways and shadowed corners affording her ample opportunity to lay the groundwork for whatever schemes might arise from the parlay. She cultivated sources, gathered intelligence, and meticulously constructed a series of exfiltration routes and bolt-holes, all while maintaining an air of utter nonchalance in her dealings with Antonio and his capos. The night of the meeting arrived like a thunderhead on the horizon, its charge electric and undeniable. Joan made her way through the winding backstreets towards the designated rendezvous point, every sense attuned to the slightest potential threat. Caporelli had chosen the location well – a decaying basilica cloaked in the perpetual gloom of the city's