“What are we doing to them?” the man answered, slowly taking off his sunglasses. “The same thing that we're about to do to you!....Officer,” he continued, turning to Massimo, “call off your men upstairs. And feel free to get up, don't be ridiculous; whether you're standing or crouching makes no difference to us.”

Massimo understood that he was telling the truth and that it wasn't the moment to make any suicidal moves…at least not yet. He slowly rose to his feet and asked his colleagues upstairs to come down, lowering their weapons. “What exactly do you want?” he asked.

“We want all the files and papers related to Giuseppe Liogi's research,” the man answered calmly. “Then we'll kill you. But we'll be quick about it and not cause you pain if you don't make this troublesome for us.” And while he was speaking, one of the energumen moved toward the corner where the computer was, and another gave a blood-chilling jump, brutally breaking through the ceiling and disappearing onto the floor above.