Between Master and Slave (Manxman, Mature)

Valletta

The dark sky is a reflection of the Inspector's mood. He landed yesterday in Valletta with Giovanni in tow. Russo insisted on it after the fiasco in Asia. DeLaurentis is actually glad of the presence of the other, even if he would have preferred an officer more experienced. At 26, the young officer promises a brilliant career. But, he has never been outside the office, and he is now on a major international case, operating outside Italy. How will he react if it gets bad?

Almost as if reading his thoughts, Giovanni breaks the silence.
"I am sorry that Russo forced you to take me along." Dark brown hairs and eyes. Giovanni wears glasses and could be called easily a geek if it wasn't for his built, clearly a result of years at the gym. With his strong arms, wide chest and well defined jaw line he could be a model and not an IT geek. Finally he replies,
"I am worried about your inexperience. Russo should have started you on a stakeout or low key case, so that you can learn the ropes. But, I am glad I have some form of back up, and I am glad it is you. I actually asked for an officer in Asia, but he refused citing budget. Having you there might have made a difference."

They walk along the old storage buildings on Lvant street with the view of the sea at their back. The many years of paint coats ruined by the sea give the area an abandoned feel. After awhile, the younger continues,
"This morning was a waste of time. The address they gave us for, supposedly, Stenski's place was just an empty store room."
"Even, if the address on Lvant is empty, the morning was not a waste. We now know his real name is Petrov. We know that the address he is registered under the local authorities is a fake. It just adds to our cause that something fishy is going on. And, when eventually we bring them something tangible. They will be more prone to act."

"I still don't understand why we did not try to enter the premises. Maybe we could have learned something. Maybe they keep the slaves there. The abandoned look is only a facade."
"First, without a warrant, that would be breaking and entering. That would make us bad guys and passable to go to jail. Even assuming we did find something. Also, there is no chance of them operating from there. The space is too small. They need a space to keep at least 10 slaves. That is how many they sold the night Mr. Romano was in London. These are not slaves from the imperial times, chained and starved. Packed by the hundreds in a small galley. They are well trained and fed individuals. These people get their own identity removed so that they can fill the fantasies of their masters. This requires training of a sort. It requires them to be in isolation so that they can be broken. They probably have a room for each slave in training. Isolating them allows for them to be molded easier. Add to that, the fact that they have to operate them to install the controlling system, feed them, etc. That place was way too small."

They walk in silence as the empty storage doors of different faded colors line the street both right and left. Finally Giovanni carries on,
"I can't believe the local police will not do a thing."
"Mhm, what do you mean?"
"They will not start looking for Stensky or Romano or the organization headquarters. We have to do all the work. Find out where they are and bring them proof before they will issue the necessary warrants."
"Actually, I think our meeting went rather well. Rules are made to respect the rights and privacy of the citizens. Honestly, I am even surprised that he gave us so much authority based on a third party investigation. I think, the only reason their chief of police even lets us do our investigation, and promised to act if we bring him profs, is because the plane actually landed here many times always unscheduled. As you know, they always stopped on the way to somewhere else, which is obviously suspicious. And, even if we cannot prove any wrong doings, Petrov is knows to us under a false name. Which is not surprising given what he does."
"So it was a good meeting."
"On a scale of 1 to 10 it was an eleven. I just hope that when we find the information, he will be able to get all the authorizations quickly. It is usually difficult to convince the prosecution to issue warrants without having been involved in the investigation directly."

"Yes, let's hope so. Otherwise we will have to face the entire organization alone without support."
"No, otherwise nobody can do a thing. Unless we witness somebody in imminent danger we cannot do a thing. And even then, we can only do what is necessary to save whoever is in danger. If we act in any way without a proper warrant, we will be accused of power abuse and we will be the ones facing the judges and they will walk free. Even if they are guilty.
"Remember, they may respect us for being police officers, gave us some authority, and help to conduct our investigation. But, right now we are not better then any other citizen. Our badges do not carry any weight outside Italy. Any action without the proper authorization from the Malta officials can easily result in an international dispute and us being jailed in Malta."

"Oh boy, the way you describe it, it sounds like these guys, these murderers, have almost more rights then us."
"Not almost, they have more rights then us. Not only they are Maltese residents, but they also act above suspicion. Mr Petrov is very active locally with non profit organizations. He is almost a philanthropist. To the Maltese, they are whiter then fresh snow.
"If we intervene, unless we can prove without any doubts that we saved someone from grave and imminent danger, we will be prosecuted without mercy.
"All we are authorized to do by the local police is to stay back and document. From not too close, and especially without entering any private property. If we have anything substantial, we bring it all to the local police, and let them act. Once they get the proper warrants."
"How are we going to do that?" The younger officer asks demoralized.
"I don't know yet. We will have to cross that bridge when we get there."

"So, what do we do now?"
"We go to the airport and wait for that bloody airplane to land."
"What?" Exclaims the younger officer baffled, "Mr. Romano and Francesco may be in danger and be killed at any moment. And, all we do is sit around and wait?" He is clearly frustrated.
"Welcome to field work. I have reassurances from the airports we targeted that they will let us know as soon as our aircraft files a flight plan from or to their airports. That should give us a heads up. But right now our best lead is the Valletta airport, so we go there and wait."