"We will," Brian said, nodding in my direction.

"Okay, Joao and I will spend the next few days making sure everything is as secure as possible."

"Thank you."

Heading out to the hotel an hour or so later, Joao seemed to be confident that everything would work out for the best. We'd been aware of Tony's plan for months and had put plans in place over the past couple, visiting the hotel nearly each day as we discussed the plan to ensure the place would remain secure for the evening.

It was three days to the new year when we held our final conference in Tony's office. We agreed that,...