A man runs through the dark back alleys of Venice, pursued by three men. He breaks into a travel agency and faxes Largo Winch a scribbled message before being gunned down. The message says only: Beware of the doge. Our millionaire businessman hero thinks his friend, gorgeous Charity, could be in trouble and heads for Italy. A Renaissance-era term for the chief magistrate of the former republics of Venice and Genoa.