You didn't get to be a man like Carlo Lombardi without knowing that life was a very simple equation.<br/><br/>There were men who were criminals because they were caught up in the romanticism. Men who thought they were Al Capone or Bonnie and Clyde, who kicked in doors and broke knee caps and roughed people up for the sake of good fun and being a badass. Men not like Carlo Lombardi, who knew the cool truth behind the smoke and mirrors--it was all just good business. It was good to keep men like that enamored, men who couldn't deal with the simple truth that it was all a transaction, a<span style="font-style: italic">business</span>like any other.<br/><br/>It was all about the equation: everything had to balance out.<br/><br/>Jack Darrens tipped the scales. Stephanie Blackwater tipped them back. An elegant solution, to Carlo.<br/><br/>"First of all." He said it as though he intended to continue, but he waved the waiter over with his plate of calamari. Still not enough meat for a growing werewolf, but the deep-fried squid in its salted and peppered mound was succulent and delicious, as fresh as promised with the subtle weight that only something fried in fat could provide. The waiter was gone in an instant, not stopping to ask or to hear as Carlo crushed a slice of lemon atop the mound, wetting it only slightly. "He is no longer in my employ. We are no longer associated. I employed him on a contractual basis for very specific tasks--he violated that contract and ended his employment."<br/><br/>Some men would have gathered the tasty little squidlets by the handful, but Carlo was more methodical. He skewered one with a very slight crunch on his fork, dipped it in the violently red marinara, and popped it in his mouth. Chewed, swallowed. "Second, I will be happy to help you find him, on the condition that he not be informed of it and that I am in no way held responsible for his actions." He had very carefully decided his terms and conditions, and had decided that, really, the best thing he could do was distance himself from the scenario. As someone had once told him, you must be very careful what you demand, for you just might receive it, and he had a feeling that whoever it was that sent a woman like Stephanie Blackwater might carry similar sentiments.<br/><br/>"Third," he said, and this was his final point, "I wish for you and your organization to kindly leave me and mine alone. Nothing good comes from dabbling in your world, and I prefer to run mine unmuddied. Once burned," he mused, expanding uncharacteristically over another piece of calamari, "twice shy."<br/><br/>"Though I'm not sure what help you expect me to be." he continued with a slight shrug. "My information on his whereabouts is of the mundane variety, and relatively old for your purposes."