Page 51 of Marcello

On the right, another alley connected to a busy road full of pedestrians and traffic. I doubted he’d gone any farther than that.

I darted down the alley, reached the busy road, and looked around frantically, trying to spot him amongst a sea of people –

But I’d lost him.

Shit.

However, now that I knew I could tail him, I vowed to do it again.

And I did – the very next day.

But something went terribly wrong.

After work the next day, I went out to the street –

And there was the Camorra drug dealer, slouched against a column. Today he was wearing a mustard-colored track suit.

YES!

You’re not getting away from me TODAY, asshole!

I spied on him from the shadows as he smoked a couple cigarettes and made a few sales –

Then followed him as he crossed the road and traced the exact same path as yesterday.

He eventually reached the courtyard.

I’d thought about it the night before, and decided I had to take a calculated risk.

I’d worn an outfit specifically for this moment. I pulled my sweatshirt hood over my head, then slipped on a pair of sunglasses.

If the thug happened to see me, hopefully he wouldn’t recognize me from the other day when I’d botched the drug buy.

When the Camorra started walking diagonally across the courtyard, I was 300 feet behind him.

I immediately sped up.

By the time he was halfway across the courtyard, I’d reached the corner –

But I didn’t stop.

I just kept walking straight instead of diagonally.

If the Camorra looked back, he wouldn’t see a guy following him – he’d see me walking in an entirely different direction.

Once he disappeared around the corner, I planned to run over and see which way he went.

I would have to stick closer to him this time, which wasn’t ideal, but I wasn’t about to lose him again.

The plan went off without a hitch.

He kept going diagonally across the courtyard.

I walked straight ahead –

And as soon as he was out of sight, I jogged over to the corner and peered around it.

He didn’t go all the way to the busy street.