Boston, Massachusetts

1929

“How do we keep getting into these situations?” He asked, his chestnut brown eyes staring down the street into the darkness, squinting slightly to try and spot their target.

“Eleven years of friendship and I still don’t know,” Olivia responded, taking a slow drag from the cigarette in her fingers. Her eyes were closed, enjoying the sensation of the nicotine as she slowly exhaled.

“Eleven years already? Doesn’t feel that long.” He glanced over at her, a smirk on his face as he watched her.

Without opening her eyes, she spoke: “Eyes forward mister, we have a mark to find.” He grinned, shaking his head as he looked back into the darkness.

“If he ever shows up.”

“He’ll show.”

They had been eight years old when they met; Olivia was a tomboy boy, running the neighborhood with her brother’s friends instead of other girls her age, much to her mother’s chagrin.  One day, a new kid arrived. His name was Leon Adimari and over time, he and Olivia became the best of friends. So close, in fact, that her parents were convinced she would marry the man. But Olivia never saw Leon as a romantic interest; he was the person she learned how to shoot with, who she pulled pranks with and who taught her how to crack a safe.

She couldn’t quite speak to how Leon saw her. She’d seen hints of it sometimes but she tried to avoid it and luckily for her, he never pushed the issue. Instead, they’d gotten into the world of crime together, starting with trivial things and then working their way upwards, earning money to support their families while the country struggled.

Recently, they had been sent out on their first real hit. The boss had told them that this man they were chasing had stolen a huge shipment of drugs and sold it for his own profit. Their job was to find the man, rough him up a bit, get the money back and then kill him. Or, if they couldn’t get the money, just kill him. Seemed simple enough, except the man had gone into deep hiding and they’d been hard pressed to find him.

Olivia had gotten a tip that the man had made a makeshift shelter in the warehouse district, using an abandoned warehouse to hide out while making plans to get out of town. If they didn’t get to him before he got away, they’d likely never see him – or the money – again. So tonight, she and Leon were sitting in a dark car hoping to catch him exiting or entering one of the warehouses. They’d been here for hours and so far, there was no movement.

“Maybe we should just start searching, warehouse to warehouse.” Leon had never had much patience.

Finally opening her eyes, Olivia looked down the long street and shook her head. “Too risky. If we were spotted, we’d give away any advantage.”

“And we’re not just as likely to be spotted sitting here? Come on Olivia, we’re better off on the offensive here. I’m losing my mind just sitting here.”

She frowned, weighing the odds. It was true they weren’t getting anywhere just sitting here. But there were half a dozen warehouses on this road and if they were spotted they’d lose any advantage the element of surprise might give them. Still, she had to admit they had been here for hours and it was rather boring.

“Ok fine. We’ll search a few but quietly. And I take the lead.”

Leon grinned and nodded in agreement. “Whatever you say, as long as we can get out of this car.”

The two of them both checked their weapons and quietly exited their vehicle. Olivia stuck to the shadows, approaching the nearest warehouse first. One by one they searched until they finally came upon the one they were looking for.

But what they saw inside surprised them. It wasn’t just their target sitting in the warehouse…there were others! People Olivia recognized as a rival family there in Boston. This man hadn’t stolen their drugs just for himself, he’d stolen it for the Biancis!

“Shit.”

Leon’s voice startled her into the present. She glanced at him and nodded towards the car – there was no way they could take on all these people by themselves. He nodded in agreement and started to back up - just to trip over a metal pipe, causing a clattering mess of noise.

She froze, her emotions flashing from anger to annoyance to acceptance. Inside she could hear the startled voices of the men they’d spotted earlier, chairs pushing back as they got to their feet.

“To answer your question from earlier, this is how we get into these situations.”

She grabbed his hand, helping him to his feet. “Now run!” She exclaimed as she darted towards the car, waiting for the inevitable sound of gunfire as they men inside the warehouse stumbled out and spotted her and Leon. 

They made it to the car with seconds to spare, bullets bouncing off the walls next to Olivia as she wrenched the door open the passenger side door and threw herself into the seat. “Go go go!” Olivia shouted, watching as Leon fumbled with the keys.

“I’m trying woman, shoot back!”

Right, of course. Olivia rolled down the car window and sent off a few shots, causing the men chasing to dive behind cover. The car started moving and she sat back into the seat, letting out a deep breath as the car picked up speed.

“Where are we going?!”

“Headquarters, of course, we have to let the boss know what’s going on.”

“No, that’s a bad idea. We’d lead them right to it and our men would be ambushed. We need to hide out and get word to them.” The car sped up and she glanced behind her to see if anyone was following yet. Hopefully, they’d get away before the bad guys got back to their cars.

“The club, we can head to the club. The security is tight and we can ditch the car a few blocks away. It’s our safest option.”

He nodded in agreement and picked up speed, taking the long route through the city streets. He stopped in a darkened side street and together they walked the rest of the way to one of the many fronts run by their crew in Boston. The nightclub was busy given the time and a line wrapped around the corner as the security guards controlled who was allowed entrance and who wasn’t. Disheveled from their run and dressed for a stakeout rather than a nightclub, Olivia and Leon certainly stuck out. But they were waved inside the moment they got the entrance. Leon took a moment to whisper in the ear of one of the big burly looking men standing watch and she watched as that man hurried off, undoubtedly to increase security around the club. After a few moments, Leon returned to Olivia’s side and together they headed towards the back.

They found a quiet booth to slip into and Leon quickly ordered them some drinks, whiskey on the rocks. Olivia sipped it slowly, her adrenaline coming back to normal levels. She was angry, however, and he’d known her long enough to know exactly how she was feeling.

“I know you’re still upset with me about that thing we don’t like to talk about, but –“

“That thing we don’t like to talk about was five years ago. Oddly enough, there are other reasons why I’m upset with you right now. Like, I don’t know, your two left feet causing a ruckus and getting us shot at?”

He smiled that sort of roughish “who, me?” smile that would disarm anyone, and she knew she’d never stay mad at him for long. “Not everyone can be as light on their feet are you are my dear.”

“Olivia, Leon, I heard you two were here. What happened?” An older Italian man who served as their family’s Right Hand approached their table, his voice low but firm.

“Consigliere Markus,” Leon quickly straightened up, moving to stand before being waved off by Markus.

“Sit, sit. Just tell me what happened.”

The two of them quickly explained the situation, with Olivia trying her best to smooth over how Leon had tripped over a metal pipe (although really, how else could it be explained?!). Their Consigliere sat in silence for a few moments, as if taking it all in.

“So the Biancis are behind all of this huh? They think they can roll up in our area and steal our drugs? Take the money for themselves without even a tribute to our Don? You two did well; I’ll send the word out and we’ll plan our retaliation. They know we’ll be coming now, they’ll be waiting for us. Are you two ready for a fight?”

Leon and Olivia looked at each other, their eyes wide. They knew this would be the start of something but they hadn’t expected to be launching a full out war. Finally, Olivia stammered out “Yes boss, of course. Whatever you need from us.”

“Good. We move out tomorrow. Get some rest while you can.”

After a few hours, Olivia caught a ride home with one of the security guards. They made a show of checking out her little apartment before saying they were going to be on watch outside. She protested, obviously - she was far too independent to want security - but she was told it was on the orders of Consigliere Markus.

She needed to shower at least and clean her weapon. She was sure she would get little to no sleep that night, but it still felt good to be home. Whatever tomorrow brought, it was sure to be a long and messy day.