Only one guard at the door. Three in the lobby. Three on patrol. We can do this.

As GrapeJam's vesion returns he remembers the last thing he was doing was casing an art gallery with Luxx.

Did she set me up? GrapeJam thinks to himself.

NO! That can't be! I've known her my entire life. She wouldn't do anything like that. GRR! Why am I here?

As if to answer his question a man stands up and faces GrapeJam. He slowly walks towards him as to not alarm GrapeJam. As he reaches the tied up Grape his unloads a fierce right handed hook to the side of Grape's head knocking him and the chair over.

His eye instantly begins to swell and blood drips from his nose. What the fuck was that for?!?! Grape yells

The man laughs and motions Grape to look towards the door.

You son of a bitch. I don't care even slightly what comes through that door. When I get out of this I'm going..

Just then a man walks through the door that catches Grape's eye and instantly the words are frozen from his mouth.

Grape's face becomes as still as stone devoid of emotion but his head is a different story.

Shit. Shit. What do I say? How can I get out of this? Think. Think. Think.

As the man enters the room he looks at Grape with a bitter taste of disgust in his mouth. He spits it out onto Grape just before he delivers a stiff kick to the stomach of Grape.

Where is my money? The man asks. I will give you a clue, I don't have it! He yells.

Grape doesn't move. Fear has grasped him. He can do nothing but bleed and state blankly.

The boss asked you a question. The thug sets Grape's chair upright allowing the boss to be face to face with him.

This is the deal Grape, the boss declares. You get me my money within twenty-four hours or I will kill you and that lousy partner of yours Luxx. Thats right, I know about the both of you. Does your boss know what I do about you? I really doubt it. In that case we better make it twelve hours. You have twelve hours Grape. He motions to the thug. The thug cuts Grape loose and pats him on the back.

The boss and thug leave the room without taking their eyes off of Grape. As soon as the two mean leave the room Grape begins to realize how badly he has been beaten. The pain begins to ravish his body. He feels as if he is on fire with pain. As if it couldn't get any worse Grape's vision starts to fade. He attempts to stand up but his legs give way and he crashes to the floor knocking him unconscious.

Shit!

Luxx said nastily to herself as she leaned over the bathroom's sink. She looked at herself in the mirror, her blond hair tumbled over her shoulders as she leaned forward, clutching each edge of the porcelain rim. For a moment Luxx gazed at herself in the mirror and even though she looked a mess she needed to pull herself and the situation together. Right now.

A polite knock quickly intruded her thoughts. She managed to pull herself away from the sink and put herself back on track of dealing with this situation.

God Damnit.

She swore with frustration under her breath before she left the restroom. A petite dark haired woman stood at the other side, Luxx brushed past her relieved that it wasn't anyone but a civilian. The marbled floors and walls echoed her walk down the corridor that opened up into a large gallery. Plenty of Picasso paintings hung on the wall, to bad Luxx was no longer interested in them.

Just last night GrapeJam and herself were plotting out the whole deal, tonight they would scope the place out, the next night they would raid. Luxx hadn't even thought she'd be staying in New York, but running into Grape had changed all that.

Running through backyards and hopping fences, Diego stops behind a bush to catch his breath. He can hear police officers trailing behind off in the distance. Then he hears a dog barking, the sound starts to get louder as he feels the dog getting closer. Diego is too tired to continue running and it's only a matter of time before he is caught. Running out of options, he immediately reaches for his gun. At the last second, looking in between the houses surrounding him, he sees a car streaking down one of the side-streets. He quietly sneaks around to the side of the house to get a better view of the car. As he moves closer towards the street, the car flies right past his face. He notices the driver, a tiny kid named pablo who recently became an associate to Diego's sponsor. In an act of desperation, Diego pulls out his gun and fires a shot in the air trying to get the attention of the driver. It worked. The car comes to a screaching holt and Diego sprints up to the passenger side, jumping in, and sternly tells the driver to drive off.

What the fuck took you so long!? This was way too close this time. Your very first assignment, pick me up after the job is done. I told you 15 minutes, and you come 45 minutes later!?!? I oughta put a bullet in your fuckin head right now!

The kid quivers as he starts to speak. Diego asks for an excuse, but as the kid speaks his excuse is drowned out by Diego's thoughts. "I can't keep doing this shit, it's time for me run my own shit. That way I sit on my ass and send these senseless goombas to make ME money."  Day-dreaming has become a huge part of Diego's life. He can't help but think of the ways things should be. And just as he snaps out of his inner thoughts, the car pulls up to curb out in front of an associate's house. Both Diego and the goomba get out and continue to walk up to the house. The kid turns to Diego and begins to apologise. Diego brushes it off, letting the kid know that he once made a mistake in his younger days; his sponsor, Adrian, let it slide telling him "It takes a little bit of luck to make it to the top. In the sense that when you mess up, hopefully if you're lucky you get a second chance. Well here is your second chance, don't fuck up again."

The kid smiles, and promises to never screw up again. Diego nods and the two make their way to back of the house, entering through the back door. Upon entering, the kid continues on through a door leading to the basement where music and laughter can be heard. Diego continues into the kitchen, opens the fridge and grabs a brew. He cracks it open and slames it.  He then makes his way through the same door leading to the basement where he sees some familiar gangsters drinking, having a good time dancing with some females. These particular men were associated with Tanner's family. Some of which Diego has been working with recently. 

( to be continued...)

Two days ago Luxx had boarded a plane to New York, she planned on returning that same night, but after hearing Grape was in town at his sisters she couldn't turn down a night with old friends. She'd catch a plane out the next day and stay with Melissa for the night. Melissa had been in the same business as her, they had actually done a few jobs when they were younger, much younger, kids stuff. But now with a family of her own to take care of, Melly lived a pretty straight laced life, her brother on the other hand, did not. After Luxx deposited of her coke and picked up some barbs she stopped over at Melly's where GrapeJam was listening to baseball on the radio with his nephews sitting beside him. One could always count on finding Grape with his sister and her two kids. Even though he was a criminal junkie she let him come over the spend time with her two boys. He was a good father figure for them.

After the kids were put to bed Melly, Grape and herself sat around the kitchen table with a few beers. One thing let to another and soon Grape was telling Luxx about the art gallery. Said the gallery was open this whole week and he was going to go check it out tomorrow night. Asked her if she would be interested, said he'd split half of whatever the paintings they got their sticky hands on went for to a guy he knew. Luxx was enjoying the hospitality of old friends and the seasonal fall change of the big city. It was still hot and bikini clad weather back in L.A. A few more days in the city would do her some good. She was in. They worked out the plans that night and everything seemed to be going well, perfectly pleasing.

The gallery was right down town on the upper west side. You could smell the money on the people upon entering the gallery. A smile twitched on Grape's face. The orderves were tiny, the champagne was bubbly, the room was bright and the paintings were almost begging to be taken off the wall. Crammed into the back of a truck and sold to the highest bidder. As Luxx looked at each one, musing over their beauty, she promised them she'd be back.

The night was a smash up until Luxx noticed a few people enter who were obviously out of place and that's when the night became smashing. She quickly, without drawing attention to her actions, made her way to the back of the gallery as Tanner's thugs entered.

'What were they doing here?' She asked herself and just as the thought crossed her brain two men walked over to Grape who was talking to an older gentleman and whispered something into his ear. Grape shrugged them off, but Luxx who had a straight shot of all the action saw the knife one of the thugs pulled out, he pressed it against Grape's side. Grape excused himself from the conversation he was having and walked with the two men out into the street. When Luxx got outside a black car was pulling quickly away from the curb. That's when she excused herself to the bathroom.

Now she was back outside, on the curb hailing down a taxi as her hair whipped through the chilly autumn wind. Maybe she should have gone back to L.A. when she planned, but then again maybe she was suppose to be here. Someone had to find Grape.

Walking through the dancing people, Diego acknowledges his acquaintances. He makes his way to the corner of the basement where a group of men are huddled around a table playing poker.

 "Where's Diego?" a gangster says.    *laughter from the poker players

 "The fuck you been up to all night? You look like shit.  Ya know when you fuck a whore, you're supposed to beat the pussy up. Not let the pussy beat you up..."

 Diego smiles, knowing the men are giving him a hard time due to his appearance...and his insatiable appetite for hookers. He then pulls out a bag full of cash and plops it on the table.

 I've been working, something you bums don't know shit about.  *Cracks a smile

 So am I gettin in this game or what?

 Diego sits down and begins to play. The men have a good time drinking, playing poker, and joking around with eachother. As the night continues, the men begin talking about business and various events going on around the country with the familly.  Diego plans a few jobs for the crew over the next couple of weeks. Once everybody was on the same page...it was 3 a.m. and many of the girls and new associates had either left or passed out. Diego begins to say his goodbyes, and starts to head for the door. Right before he hits the stairs, he hears one of the guys mention a name very familiar to him.

 What was that? Who did you say?

 He turns and looks in the direction of the voice. An older man speaks up...

 "I heard that Tanner sent out some thugs trying to find GrapeJam and Luxx.  Word is that they've been workin off the books, not sending up their dues, and that they have been greenlighted."

 Diego's eyes narrow. His heart rate increases. His joking manner instantly changed to a more serious tone. All of a sudden, his daydreams filled with questions and insecurities have become so clear to Diego. I've been skipped over many times for my button. Puttin in work for years, with nothing to show.  Now, Tanner had greenlighted his childhood friends. It was all to clear to him what his future held.

 I'll see you guys later. I gotta take care of something.

 Diego rushes out the door. All his past motivation has left him empty with only a sick feeling of rage. He hops into a cab, ordering the driver to take him to the airport. Sitting in the back of the cab, Diego's mind races with evil thoughts of what will be done to anyone touching his friends. He sits in the back, looking into the front mirror....he sees a man with a twistedly blank gaze staring him in the eyes.

Grape shakes his head as his vision starts to return. He pulls his face away from the ground. There is a terrible taste of metal and blood in his mouth. He looks around unsure of where he is and how he got here. Suddenly his memories of what happened hit him as quickly as the punches did. He slowly stands up and begins to make his way to the one place he knows he can be safe.

I've got to find a way to get into contact with Diego and Luxx. We are going to finish this here and now.