The sun was shining as he exited the car that brought him to his destination. The old cities stones beneath his feet reminded him of how much history surrounded him at this moment and how what he was about to attempt would be just as historic, even if it would not be remembered in any history books...

The morning before....

The man who arrived at his home in the countryside seemed to have an air of urgency about him. He arrived at the house out of breath and bent over to put his hands on his knees. Calimero quickly offered the man a cold glass of water to help him recover.

"What is it? Has something happened?" He did feel a bit of concern rising within himself.

"Don Messina sent me to get you. I was to head here without stopping and make sure you got word to come to the compound. He is in need of your services." The man continued to drink the water he had received. 

It would have most likely been an easier trip for the man, but where Calimero lived was pretty much impossible to get to besides on foot. That way anyone who came to where he lived could not make any sort of quick getaway or arrive too quick for him to act. Yes, somebody may sneak up on him in the countryside. Although that would still take some skill as there was not much cover close enough to his home and being on top of a hill gave him quite the view of the area.

"Well thank you for letting me know, I'll head out at once. You may accompany me if you'd like. Although I cannot make any stops so you may feel better if you just take a bit of a rest here till you want to head home." The young man nodded at Calimero and took a seat next to the front door clutching the glass of water as if it was gold.

So off Calimero went...

Calimero took his bags out of the trunk of the car and then made his way into the building the car was parked in front of. Once inside the dimly lit building he placed his bags upon the kitchen table. One of the bags held his clothing, the other his tools that were needed for this job. Out of it came the piece of a Springfield M1903 that he would put together later on including a scope. 

The next thing that came out of it was an explosive device using dynamite which would be of great use to him. Finally, he pulled out two pistols which he placed into the holsters beneath his jacket after loading a clip into each one. This plane would only have one chance of success and if he failed, the repercussions would be quite severe.

"Hello! I need some assistance." A knocking came at the door. 

Calimero was not expecting anyone. So he quickly pulled one of the pistols from his holster and fired five shots through the door. He heard a scream and then some yelling in Italian before bullets started to be fired from outside creating holes all across the front wall of the house. Calimero tipped over the table sending his stuff falling to the ground and hid behind it. As the bullets continued to fly he grabbed all the parts to his M1903 and began to put it together. He had practiced putting together firearms under attack in order to keep a calm demeanor.

The firing stopped as did the shouting, he heard somebody outside say something about peaking in through the window to see if Calimero was dead. He took a deep breath as he quietly loaded the chamber of his rifle. Then he listened carefully until he heard glass crunching under shoes....

With one quick motion he rose from behind the table, found the man's head in his iron sights, and squeezed the trigger....

The man fell quickly out of sight as blood splattered on some of the shards of glass that still stuck to the window frame. Just as quickly as he rose to take the shot, Calimero retreated back to his cover once more. The bullets began to fly once more from the group that stood outside. All he knew was that one man was dead and another was gravely wounded at the least. Past that he had no idea how many men were still outside attempting to take his life....

The evening before...

The sun had fallen by the time he arrived at the Messina compound and there seemed to be a lot more men guarding it's perimeter. They spotted Calimero coming and waved him forward as they opened the gate. He quickly made his way inside as they almost closed the gate upon him. He was not sure what was happening exactly, but clearly the need for reinforcements became necessary. 

Once inside the house he was patted down and then allowed to continue forward without his weapons to the Don's office. He entered the room and was met by the gazing eyes of about seven men. They were all top members of the Messina Crime Family, some old and some young. It was sometimes rare for a man to reach old age when involved in this life here in the old country. The one man who seemed happy to see him was the Don himself. He came over with arms outstretched and kissed Calimero on each cheek...

"I apologize for the extra security. We have a big problem facing us which will need your skills to help us stop it." He walked Calimero over to the table where he spotted some blueprints as well as some political documents and hand written letters.

"You see, the Abruzzo Crime Family over in Rome has some connections here. They are about to make a move which will certainly strengthen them and possibly put them at the top of the power structure of the Mafia in Rome. This would extend their reach and their influence to possibly make a move here." The Don paused to make sure Calimero was following so he nodded.

"There are a couple reason for the extra security and the limited men in this room. One being that we believe there is a chance they make an attempt on my life even before they accomplish their goals in Rome. Second, there is strong evidence that they have a man on the inside of my organization. Now I cannot tell you what the evidence is, only that I have eliminated the men in this room including you from suspicion. So anyone outside of this room cannot be fully trusted until we figure things out." He quickly moved a few documents out of the way.

"Now. What I need you to do is go to Rome. There you will be brought to a safe house here on the Eastern side of the city. Next you will need to make two things happen. Firstly, you will need to set a bomb to detonate within an hour in the office of Floriano Scalese who is a top official in the government. At that exact hour mark when the bomb goes off, you will need to be here." He pointed at the map, "This will be your best place to take a shot at Don Abruzzo while he has his lunch. He has not altered his patterns of where he eats for months now. He believes that he is untouchable and that his plans are a well kept secret. He shall be proven wrong." 

Calimero was looking over the map and nodding at the plan. It was well put together and if it went correctly. The blast would be close enough to hide the sound of his shot.

"So when do I leave and how are you getting me in there without notice?" He looked up at Don Messina.

"You leave tonight. As for how you are getting in there..." He nodded at the man next to him who went to the door and waved somebody inside. In came one of Calimero's good friends from his teenage years, Almiro Corrado.

"Al here will be taking you into Rome secretly acting as a farmer bringing goods for sale. Once you are dropped off, you will be on your own. There will be no exit plan if you are to fail, but once word has reached Al that you are successful he will be waiting on the Western side of town in a truck to get you out of there and you will return home. If you do fail, you will have to get out of Rome on your own." Don Messina was quite serious and looked a bit worried as his future could rely on all of this being a success.

Calimero and Almiro made their way out of the office and into the hallway, "Well my old friend I suppose you for once will have to rely on my ability to act." 

Calimero chuckled at the joke since Almiro always talked about going to America to be an actor. He then looked sternly at his old friend...

"I need you to make sure I get there. Whether it is your acting skills or if you have to call in some help with your own men. I cannot fail on this one my friend." Calimero referenced Almiro's men since he was actually running his own small crew for Don Messina. 

Calimero crawled with his bag of ammo and supplies along with his rifle further into the house until he was in the living room which was directly behind the kitchen. He hid behind the couch to avoid any stray bullets from finding their mark...

Again, the shooting stopped. This time he heard many footsteps as the approached the door. He put down his rifle and drew both of his pistols out in preparation for what may be coming next. Just as he readied himself, the door was kicked in. He remained hidden as to draw them inside. Quiet footsteps began to make their way further into the kitchen...

It was time, he rose and aimed his two pistols at the center mass of the closest man squeezing the triggers twice each and sending him to the ground in a heap. The others turned and began to fire so he once again too cover. He slide out from behind the couch laying on his side and pulled the triggers three more times dropping another man. There was only one more man left in the kitchen.

He could hear the man's heavy breathing coming from behind the counter which divided the kitchen from the living room. So he rose again and began to fire. Just as he heard a yell, the gun in his right hand was empty. He stopped shooting and dropped behind the counter on the opposite side of his enemy. Calimero had forgotten that he had fired a few shots from his gun previously at the front door. This left him with one bullet in his pistol. So he quietly reached over and grabbed his rifle. 

As he rose and went around to the other side of the counter he found that he was looking straight at his friend Almiro lying on the ground holding his stomach as blood was running out onto the ground. He could not believe it.....Almiro reached for a gun and Calimero fired his last pistol bullet into his shoulder causing him to scream out once more.

He dropped the pistol and walked over to Almiro. Placing the gun up to his chest he spoke, "WHY!? Why my old friend?"

Calimero could feel the rage and sadness rising within him. Almiro spoke, "It was not personal my friend. It was not even for the Abruzzo's. I wanted to see the Abruzzo's succeed so that I could possibly watch him take out Messina and then I could take over in his place and possibly work with them. I did it for the gain of myself and my men. I just was unlucky enough to find out it was you who they were sending and not another."

The rage within him subsided into only pity. It was pity for a man who could not do the work for himself to rise to the top, but to watch others do it and try to grab power from the vacuum that opened up afterwards. He was also just happy to know that Abruzzo still had no idea of what was coming and this kept his plan intact, except for the exit. 

*bang*

The house was in shambles, but there was no time to waste and no time to hide the evidence of the gunfight. So he gathered most of the guns, the ammo, and his supplies before heading out. There was not much time before he had enact his plan. Everything had to go perfectly otherwise he would either have to improvise which would be an even deadlier task, or he would have to return home in shame...

As he approached the office of Floriano Scalese he stepped into an alley and placed one of his bags behind a dumpster. It contained his rifle as well as some of his guns and ammo. On him he kept the other bag which contained the explosive device buried in his clothing. He walked up through the front doors and once inside they asked for his papers and to glance inside his bag.

"Here you go, here are my papers. Sorry, I just ran out of time to check into a place to stay so I have my clothes with me." The man glanced inside and nodded at him so that he could then check his papers.

They were forged and designed by the best men that Don Messina could find so he was confident he would get through. After waiting a few moments the man handed him back the papers and waved him through...

He began to head upstairs to the mans office. He knew Floriano was not in his office and that he would be back in about 30 minutes so he needed to be quick if he wanted to plant the bomb and make it to his second destination. Once upstairs he spotted a receptionist who was sitting outside the office.

"Hello, I am here for a meeting." He paused for a moment, "I know I am a bit early. So would you mind getting me a cup of coffee?"

The woman nodded and she went on her way downstairs. This gave him the opening that he needed so he made his way inside the office. Once inside he quickly took out the explosive device from his bag and then he set up the timer for 1 hour. Once that was done he taped the securely underneath the desk. Step one done, now he had to make his way to the second location.

As he picked up the bag in the alley he looked up to see a few cars drive by and with one glance he realized it was the motorcade of Don Abruzzo. He picked up the bag and began to run as quickly as possible....they were ahead of schedule by about 10 minutes so Calimero would need to get into position sooner to make sure he did not miss the chance to take the shot....

As he reached the top of the building diagonal from the restaurant, he dropped the bag and pulled out the rifle components. In a matter of moments he had it put together and then began to screw the scope into place. He lifted the rifle onto the ledge of the roof and peered through the scope. There he was.....Don Abruzzo sitting at an outdoor table ordering coffee and a sandwich. 

He pulled away from the scope and glanced at his pocket watch.....just 11 minutes until the explosion would occur. 

So he went into "watch and wait" mode until it was time....7 minutes....still eating.......2 minutes and 47 seconds.....still eating.....30 seconds.....

Abruzzo was getting up from his seat and those 30 seconds were a short amount of time when trying to line up a shot....he couldn't wait for the explosion any longer.

It was time...

He aimed down the scope as Abruzzo rose from his seat and began to leave. Too many targets were getting in the way....finally Abruzzo stopped to have a chat with somebody. That was Calimero's moment, he squeezed the trigger....

Don Abruzzo was falling to the ground before the shot rang out for everyone to hear it. Just moments after a large explosion went off nearby. It was time for Calimero to make his escape from Rome and hopefully it would be uneventful.