“What’s our exit strategy?” The large man next to Olivia had been with her for years; he had been her mother’s bodyguard before her passing and was one of the few men to live through the massacre that night. She knew he had done his best to try and protect her mother and when he had offered his life to her protection, she’d accepted.

“Our what?”

“We’re all going to die, aren’t we?” He said this with a smirk, clearly teasing the younger woman.

“I sure hope not, it’s your job to make sure we don’t.” She pulled her weapon and double checked that it was fully loaded before nodding to Charmain. “Let’s do this.”

Olivia had been sent downtown to intercept a rather large drug shipment that was being moved through their turf. Detroit was well known for its high cocaine prices so it was a profitable route that had often bee fought over. Given Detroit’s unstable criminal history of late, others had been able to sneak in and make a pretty profit off their routes. Since moving to Detroit, the Hired Muscle had been working to take back those routes for themselves and Don Serana.

Today, Olivia had brought some of her best men down to this abandoned warehouse in the industrial district. She knew the coke was inside, she just had to get in there, scare off the bad guys and confiscate the coke. Shouldn’t be too hard, right?

They’d been sitting on this particular warehouse for a few days and had never seen more than three or four men coming and going at one time. Olivia made sure the numbers were stacked in her favor and brought a group of ten. Charmain gave the signal, three long whistles, and the ten of them entered the warehouse from every door.

It was going exactly as planned. There were four men and they were killed before they could cause any real damage. Just when they thought the job was done, they heard the sirens. Cops! Could they have been tipped off to today’s shipment as well?

“Everyone out, now! Back to headquarters!”

Her men scattered and Olivia waited to see that they were all gone before she went running. The sirens were close and evading arrest would mean finding a cover and fast. She ran in the direction she knew would lead to a more populated area of town, keeping her eyes open for anything – or anyone – that she could rope into helping her today. Once the cops found those dead bodies, they’d be on the hunt for anyone involved. Olivia needed an alibi, and fast.

Haruki had just finished conning his third man for the day. Who would have thought selling faulty toasters that looked brand new would be such a lucrative business. These piece of junks looked just like the top of the line toasters so people thought they where getting a steal. He was looking around for another potential buyer when he heard the faint sounds of gunfire. "Great, just what I needed. The cops will be all over this area soon" he mumbled to himself cursing his bad luck. Figuring he was not going to make any more sales here Haruki packed up his supplies and started heading off to another district when something caught his eye. A beautiful woman only slightly splattered with blood was heading right for him. He stopped to ponder the situation, should he run before she got to him or dare he risk an introduction? In what seemed like a split second the woman was on him giving him no time to make a decision. With a slight smile and a wave he said hello to her and introduced himself.

“Your jacket, give me your jacket.” Olivia had no time for pleasantries, the cops would be here soon enough and she needed to blend in. “Please?” The man looked awfully confused but handed over his jacket, which Olivia quickly slipped on to cover the blood that had splattered onto her clothes. She hooked her arm through his and whispered to him “Just walk with me, for a few minutes. I promise I’ll make it worth your time.”

Sure enough, Olivia and her new found friend had managed to make it about a block before being stopped by some cops. The way the cops blocked the street the two of them had no choice but the stop. Out of the car climbed a man that Olivia was very familiar with, a sly smirk on his face.

“Well well well, I had no doubt I would see your pretty face again.”

Olivia had no choice but to smile, as disarmingly as she could, when all she really wanted to do was wipe that smile right off his face. “Officer Hansen. To what do my friend and I owe this interruption?”

“I think you know very well why you were stopped. There was a shooting at a warehouse a few blocks away.” The officer approached Oliva and Haruki, looking them both over, as if looking for signs of a battle in them. He eyed the jacket she was wearing suspiciously, and Olivia fought the urge to pull it closer around her.

“I have no idea what you’re speaking of Officer. My friend and I were simply taking a walk. Silly me, I forgot to bring a sweater and so he allowed me to wear his jacket to keep me warm. Surely you cannot fault a couple for taking a stroll?”

The officer laughed, shaking his head as his hand rested on his gun, which was still in his belt. “As if I believe that for a moment Ms. Olivia. But, as usual, I don’t have enough to bring you in on. But rest assured I’m keeping an eye on  you.”

He tipped his hat to her and her new friend before getting back into his car and driving off. Olivia looked at Haruki with a relieved face. “Thank you for that. Really.”

Haruki watched as the woman approached him. She immediately demanded his jacket, he was at a loss for words. Still being fairly new to the underworld it didn't click for him right away what she needed it for, however, he had enough sense to hand it over. He figured worst case scenario she might owe him later and he could collect on that somewhere down the line. After pulling his jacket on and tieing the sash she immediately put her arm around his and almost dragged him along down the sidewalk in the direction she had been walking. After the new shock of being dragged down the street by a pretty woman with blood splattered clothes he snapped out of it and fell into step with her. He was about to introduce himself when he noticed the looming confrontation with the police ahead of them. Haruki immediately fell silent with trepidation wondering what he had landed himself into by helping this woman. He was beginning to consider the option of just bailing on her but something held him back from this choice.

The mystery woman whose arm was wrapped around his handled the situation fairly smoothly and on they went walking along. When they were out of sight of the police and the sirens had long since died out Haruki finally spoke, "Name's Haruki, and yours is?"

They walked for a while before he spoke, and Olivia was surprised he waited so long to say something. She wondered if she’d scared him or if he was simply used to the chaos of the underworld. Once there was zero sign of the police, he introduced himself to her. She stopped walking and peeled off his jacket, which wasn’t quite so clean anymore. “Olivia. Thanks for the help, I’m sorry to just get you involved like that.”

She handed him the jacket back before pulling out her weapon and checking to see how much ammo she had left. “Now I’m off to go get my drugs back from those damn policemen who so rudely interrupted my job.”

Olivia was about to walk off, ready to call in some reinforcements and hunt down the drugs she’d just lost when a thought came to her. If she used her own people well, the cops here in Detroit were starting to get to know them a little too well. But this man, he was new around here. Maybe he could come in handy.

Looking back at Haruki, Olivia put a charming smile on her face. “You wouldn’t happen to be looking for some extra cash, would you? I sure could use the help.”

Haruki reached into his suit pocket looking for his piece. He mumbled to himself realizing he had left it at home, what a stupid thing for him to have done in his line of work. Thinking quick on his feet though he had another plan, a way to help his new found friend that might still net him some cash. He knew a guy in the area, pulling his hand out of his pocket he shrugged at Olivia and said, "I have an inside guy, he works a beat near here. Give me your digits and I'll ring you with the location of your drugs soon as I get it." Taking Olivia's number he slips it into his coat pocket and walks away from her heading off to meet his inside guy on the police force. An hour later he had a location, stepping up to a nearby payphone he rang Olivia and gave her the location of an impounded warehouse where the local police were storing their confiscated drugs. 

Olivia raised an eyebrow slightly when the man said he could get her the location of her drugs within the hour. She shrugged and handed him her phone number after fishing a scrap of paper and pencil from her bag. It could hardly hurt, really; if he were going to turn her in he would’ve done it when the cops were right in front of them. “I appreciate your help, really I do.” She gave him one last smile before they parted ways.

She decided to head home so she could shower, change her clothes (after all, she still had blood splattering on her from the earlier fight) and get her men back together. She hoped none of them had been busted, but if so she’d need to arrange for them to be broken or bailed out of jail sooner rather than later. And she’d wait for this gentleman’s call and see if it paid off.

It took her a little longer than usual to get home because she took several back-alley routes to shake any tails that might be following her. When she finally arrived, she had just enough time to shower and change before the hour was up, and sure enough the phone rang. Her new-found friend was on the other end, giving her the location of an impounded warehouse where the police were keeping her drugs. Moved from one warehouse to another, how not surprising. The local police were becoming horribly predictable these days.

“Sal,” she said, once she’d gotten off the phone, addressing one of her oldest and most trusted bodyguards. “Find out what you can about this Haruki Tanaka and who he works for. We’ll need to send out thanks if this tip pays off; and a new coat, as I’m sure he won’t want to keep the one I covered in blood.” The man nodded and headed out to do what she asked. 

Olivia would wait until dark before she went after her drugs. And this time she’d bring more than enough back up to make sure it didn’t go south, no matter who showed up.

A week or so later @HarukiTanaka would receive a rather large package with a sizeable amount of cash and a brand new coat, exactly like the one he'd given her that day. Attached would be a note that read:

Thanks again for your help, Mr. Tanaka. You were in the wrong place at the wrong time, but lucky for me it paid off big time. I hope that makes up for our rather unusual meeting and I am even more hopeful that the next time our paths cross we have a better chance of getting to know one another. 

All the best,

Olivia