Three men stood there in the back alley in front of Rachel, but Roberto was off down the alley keeping a lookout for her.  He about flew off the handle when she told him a couple days ago of her plans.  He finally gave in moreso to keep an eye on her foolishness as he called it several times in two days.  The tall one stepped forward at her request.  Despite her lack of height compared to his, she looked him square in the eyes, her voice held no room for arguments as she spoke.

"Luigi's restaurant on Via del Celso.  Be there tomorrow night at 9 p.m. sharp!  This is your target."

Rachel handed over the photo of the mayor's son, watched as the man's recognition to whom the target was wash over his face.  Then he glanced up to her to confirm if she was serious.  She nodded then arched an eyebrow as he passed the picture to the other two men.

"You're only job is to be the backup in case my partner needs it.  Basically you're gonna be the muscle."

She had to stop herself from smiling as she said 'partner'.  Regardless of the interaction back when they had their first meeting at the abandoned buildings, Rachel still couldn't deny how interesting Antonio was.  She was thankful it was dimly lit in the backalley where she was at the moment because she was spacing out even for a brief minute.  She mentally shook herself to focus on the task at hand.  Turning to the man standing in the middle of the trio, Rachel waved him to step forward for his instructions.

Rachel knew the tall one had the muscles to help Antonio, but this man right here had reputable skills as a driver.  That's what she was hiring him to do, drive the getaway vehicle from the restaurant to the warehouse.  Once she explained the details to him, Rachel nodded for him to be ready, such as making sure the car was fueled up, everything checked in order for things to be working properly, just the regular maintenance and whatnot.  The third man present was brought into the mix because of his observant abilities.  Rachel turned her gaze towards him.

"You're the lookout.  Once you get to the restaurant, your job is to make sure we aren't being followed, or anyone paying attention to what goes on once the target is grabbed.  Later you'll be standing guard at the other address keeping an eye on the comings and goings there.  Got it? Good!"

Rachel gave each of the men one last glance as she intended to give them all an incentive to do their jobs with as little fuss as possible.

"You three do this without any hitches then you each will be paid an added bonus on top of the sum you already agreed upon. Don't let me down!"

Once they all took their leave separately, Rachel walked over towards Roberto with a soft sigh.  Hopefully things went well, but only time will tell.  She already gave Antonio the details, and the people involved, so things should go smoothly.

If Uncle Frank could see me now, he'd probably laugh while kicking the shit outta me. I'd try to tell him there would be no need, my better judgement was doing the job for him already. I'm sure that wouldn't stop him none but it'd be truthful nonetheless. This was a risky gambit at best, with a rookie putting together the plan and unknown muscle. I never was good relying on other people but even I wasn't foolish enough to believe that I should be out here doing this by myself. Hell, I didn't think it was a good idea still, but the princess had heart, I had to give her that. Also, she would need someone to stand up to her and not just run along with everything she said in order to guide her straight. That useless guard of hers was in on this job too so that shows she didn't have anybody here to tell her no on things and that would be another problem in the future if it kept up.

I showed up at around 8 PM to scope the place out. I was late, the plan was to be there at 9. That was around the time when the target was getting ready to leave and time had been taken into account for him to leave early. Another point to the princess with that one, but still a lot of other outside factors had been unaccounted for. I should've been here about a half hour earlier way before he got here so I could tell if his father sent secret security that he didn't even know about. Luckily, that wasn't the case. It certainly would've complicated matters.

I had watched the target enter with a pretty little blonde on his arm at about 8:30 PM. So this was why he was coming out without any protection. That and his father either put too much faith in his position and thought that he was safe. It's dangerous to underestimate criminals and their greed and ambition. A price I'm sure the mayor would learn the hard way tonight.  The pretty blonde had stars in her eyes, probably her first fancy restaurant, either that or she was really into this guy. Either way that didn't matter, I'd rather not deal with a civilian on foreign territory but oh well. If she got in the way I guess she'd have to get dealt with.

Around 8:55 another car filled with suspicious looking people pulled up across the streets from the restaurant looking all too obvious to me that they were up to no good. I rolled my eyes at these foolish people but had to remind myself they probably weren't top quality muscle and since things were so lax in Italy they didn't exactly have to be super sharp. I gave one more look inside the restaurant to make sure the target was too distracted with his piece of ass for the night to pay attention to what was going on outside. He didn't have a clue and neither did that girl and that was good enough for me to make my move. I got outta my car and went to the backseat to pull a long bag out and carry it while moving swiftly, but not too quick to draw attention, to the car filled with my 'backup'.

As I approached the car I knocked on the window and ended up surprising the three mooks. I didn't care for their names. Frank told me on big jobs "The less you know about the people you work with the more easy it is to do what you gotta do and not worry about being attached to fools. The less they know about you the better because that's less they have to tell the police when they sell your ass out." Uncle Frank had low expectations in everybody and unfortunately that got passed on to me.

The mook who was in the passenger side rolled down the window. I looked inside and gave a long solid look to all the people in the car's faces. Nothing to stand out and they had no real telling marks. This worked for me because it would be harder for witnesses to identify them later. I looked in the eyes of the one in the driver seat first before speaking.

"Alright, here's the plan. Mook number 1 , you stay in the car and keep it running ready to pull the fuck outta here when we have the guy and dump him in the backseat. You're then gonna take the target and drive him back to the stash location you got from the princess. Then after that take this car and dump it. I don't give a fuck if it's your personal one and if it is then stupid on you. Dump it and use your pay to buy a new one, if you don't I'll shoot you myself and dump you and the car in the fucking river, no questions asked." I said and finished with a hard stare to make sure he got the message.  He'd either be defiant and I'd kill him for it later or he'd listen and he'd live to hopefully see many more days. The choice was his I really didn't care which way it went.

I then looked to the one in the passenger seat.

"Mook number 2, you're on lookout. Here you'll need this." I said as I dump the bag in the man's lap."You'll use THAT after we make the grab to make things easier to get away unnoticed. We're gonna snatch this guy up and as soon as we do, you let a few off in the air. That'll spook the watchers to try and get to safety and what not and flush out any opposition to try and act if that's what they wanna do. If so you put them down, I hope that's not too much of a problem for you? If it is, you might wanna leave now." I said to him.

I then turned my eyes to the one sitting in the back seat.

"Last but not least, Mook number 3. You're with me. You're gonna help me make the grab and when we put this asshole in the car you're gonna drive back with me an play decoy while we look out and make sure nobody's following us. If anybody is following us then you use anythin' you're carryin' on you and you get them off either our car or this car right here that the target is in, understood?" I asked and I received a hesitant nod after a couple of seconds.

Once everybody seemed to understand and realize that I would be calling the shots on this one I tapped my hand on the car and said "Good!" I then took a quick look at my watch and saw it was just a couple minutes before 9PM now.

"Alright it's about the time to start this operation as simple as possible. Everybody do their job and stick to the script and things should go as smoothly as possible. No unnecessary drama or bullshit and we just may get to home tonight and make a little money in the process. Alright men let's do this."  I said and took a step back to see the determined looks in the men's faces. 

I almost smiled approvingly but wasn't about to let that happen on a job. This group of fools just might be enough to turn this thing into something doable. I just nodded slightly and turned my focus back to my unsuspecting target while waiting for those necessary to this job to get out of the car to begin this op.

It practically tired her out for the past week getting things in order for that night.  Because Rachel needed to be gone from the house for several days in a row, she required an excuse for her absence.  Something that wouldn't have attention called to it or thought to be odd, so Rachel pretended she'd been shopping as the princess she was labeled to be.  Some days she'd work for hours finalizing the plans then she'd have to actually go shopping to have a bit of 'evidence' from her ventures.  It was an exhausting week for sure, but she combined some of the efforts from the mission with the frivolous shopping she had to do as a cover.  

Rachel picked up a few items they would need such as rope, lanterns, water, even food.  One of the most important items though were the balaclavas. It wouldn't bode well if the target could see their faces, so the ski masks were imperative to wear the entire time.  It wouldn't be fun and most likely hot and itchy, but this whole thing required as much anonymity as possible.  The less casualties in this the better because this was only set out to make a statement to the mayor to keep his hands outta business that doesn't concern him.

She glanced around the big room they would be using to hold the mayor's son in.  It still contained scattered boxes and layers and layers of dust caked onto everything, but an area had been cleared out and tidied up.  There sat a chair next to a support pole in the warehouse.  Beside that was a table full of various tools to be used as persuasion if they needed to get information, or have the target follow orders.  She brushed her hands then turned towards her companion.

"Okay Roberto that should be good.  Is the office cleared out like I instructed?"

He nodded in reply.  There was an office adjacent to the opened room that any of them could sit in to talk as needed without him hearing.  It would also serve as sleeping quarters for her.  Antonio had laughed heartily when she mentioned the sleeping quarters, and he fully understood the implications that she herself would be staying there to oversee it all in person, not just via her hired goons and from him as well.  Rachel had crossed her arms in defiance when he yet again called her 'princess', and teasing how a princess sleeping on the floor or even a dingy cot would be a sight to see.  

Rachel shook her head looking at the makeshift beds, one for her and one for Antonio since he insisted on seeing firsthand that she could 'rough it' for a few days.  Roberto wasn't thrilled, but she shrugged it off finding it a little amusing herself that he thinks she cannot handle things. She walked around the warehouse feeling the excitement building up inside.  The thrill of the action yet to come, the anticipation of pulling off something to benefit the family, well it all made her smile.  What got to her the most was the chance to prove that she was capable of handling business period for the family, for her father.

All the plans were laid out with precision and detail.  The necessary help was hired, and partially paid then would be paid in full once the task was completed.  The telephone was still working which was a shock to discover the other day, but that was one less hassle to worry about this week.  The electricity took some time to get sorted because Rachel had to call the company and request the electricity be restored.  She didn't wanna use her family name to get things done, but in the end that's what it took to get the lady on the phone to turn it back on the next day.  Now all Rachel had to do was wait.  She wasn't very good at waiting, but after the talks with Antonio, she felt confident in him that he wouldn't screw this up, and he recommended it best for her to be here....just in case anything did go wrong on the grab.

"Simple plans for simple people, always keep things simple. Complicated plans are for those trying to compensate for things, but we don't have to worry about that, do we Toni? We're bulls in a China man's shop." I can remember Uncle Frank's words in my head with a laugh as I checked to make sure my pistol was still ready to go in my holster.

I was hoping that this would be as simple as I had planned it. I was grateful to the princess for letting me handle the things at this point of the situation. I had a feeling my way of doing things at this point was simple enough for the Mook's to pick up and be able to handle themselves and let me grab this guy and pull him outta here.

I locked onto my target and pulled out the burlap bag with a small cut hole for the target to breath through from the back of my waist as I crossed the street and approached the outdoor eating area where him and his date were currently making googly eyes at each other.  Shame I had to ruin this kid's date, but that's the way life works sometimes. I heard car doors slamming behind me and an engine come to life meaning the mooks must've finally begun getting their act together.

By the time I had crossed the street and almost reached the table that's when I heard the shots from the tommy gun ring out. That was my favorite gun so the goon that I gave it to better not fuck it up in the midst of all this, is what I was thinking to myself at the time. I stayed focus on the task at hand, not looking to the mook I gave the gun to but rather focusing on my target and taking note of the other people scrambling and making sure no one else was looking around in a defensive manner, but that they were looking around, fearful for their lives and what was going on around them.

Good. I put a pep in my step to get to the target and by the time he could figure out fully what was wrong and whether he wanted to hide right there and try to take cover or make a run for it I got to him and grabbed him up, covering his head with the burlap bag. The girl he was with was barely registering what was going on but when she did see me she began screaming the kids name, but didn't try to play hero. Luckily for her sake her screams were drowned out by the other screams and running around from other people that nobody really paid her much mind.

I was able to pull the kid away from the dining area among all the chaos with little to no struggle. The kid was trying to wiggle out of my grasp but he wasn't strong enough. I was tempted to knock him out with the butt of my gun but I decided against it in favor of trying to bring the kid in with the least amount of bruises and abuse as possible. I didn't know exactly what the Princess had in mind for this guy, but I wasn't trying to be the one he ended up remembering most.

I walked him back over to the car the mooks arrived in. Once I got there I threw him in the backseat. I then turned to the mook who had the tommy gun.

"He's in the car let's get the fuck outta here. You get in the back and keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid or hurt himself. We'll be following in the back and making sure that you're not followed. Go on to the location, we'll be there a little bit after you. Dump the kid then do what I told you to do after. Now Go!" I ordered and hit the car with my hand and waited a second or two as it pulled off.

The mook that I had told to stick with me earlier actually stayed and calmly looked to me waiting for me to tell him what to do. These fuckin' goons were impressing me and proving that at the very least they could follow orders. I jerked my head toward my car to tell him where we were going and moved quickly to get over there and get inside.

"Watch our ass" I said to him as I started the car and brought the engine to life. I gave a quick look around into traffic to make sure it wasn't too crazy and to make sure we wouldn't get hit by any crazed drivers still trying to leave the area. Once I was sure I could make it out I quickly pulled into the traffic and begun trying to catch up to our lead car.

While I was driving I wasn't too worried about how far ahead they had gotten. I had the address and knew where they were going in the end so it didn't really matter all that much and was sure I would be able to tell if they had already gotten into some conflict. I was actually surprised by how smooth this was going. I was almost ashamed of myself for letting my guard down a bit on the job but everything really seemed to be working out for this outlandish plan. Maybe the Princess was extremely lucky and I should have her play the lottery for me. Now there's a thought.

 I shook my head and brought it back to focus. We were nowhere close to being outta the wood even though things look good, trouble is always around  the corner in our line of work. We ended up driving back to the warehouse and eventually catching up and tailing back the lead car.

Once we all pulled up it was immediately time to get to work. I hopped out the car and went to retrieve the target. Making sure the bag was still securely over his head, I pulled him out the car and began to pull him to the entrance of the warehouse. Once I got him inside I handed him off to the Princess' useless bodyguard and let him handle the kid. I then turned to where I saw here.

"Well we got em here. Signed, sealed and delivered. Also with minimal fuss and minimal damage. Hope there's extra pay for that." I joked. I then turned to the mook behind me that I believed was driving the car the target was brought here in. "Go dump the car." I told him before turning back to the princess. "So, what happens next?" I asked curiously.

She paced back and forth for a solid half hour before Roberto finally told Rachel to sit the hell down.  She kept glancing at her watch, but time seemed to just stand still.  So much was riding on this night to go right, otherwise she'd be in hot water with her father and family before the night was even over most likely. 

"Things just better go right or else shit is gonna get real."

Roberto all but rolled his eyes as he scoffed.  He'd been trying to change her mind the entire mission before it even got going.  Who woulda thought Rachel would get Antonio on her side working With her faster than her own trusted bodyguard.  Of course Roberto was a lot closer to her father than Antonio was, but her focus was the success of this night.  Her mind rambled on with how everything was planned to go, and her attention was snagged when she heard the sounds of the vehicles pulling into the parking lot then stopping right around the building close to the door.

Rachel waited in the office as planned while Roberto, donned his balaclava then awaited the group by the door.  Once they got inside the warehouse, Antonio sought her out.  The moment she saw him Not wearing his balaclava, Rachel instantly scolded him.

"Che diavolo!  Why aren't you wearing your mask?!  He could see your face ya know, not to mention if there are witnesses at the restaurant!"

Receiving a shrug for an answer, Rachel sighed then began speaking again while answering his questions.

"Bonus huh?  How 'bout I don't slap you and call it your bonus?  Now we get him settled then make the call in an hour to the mayor.  I'm sure by now he knows his son is missing."

Discovering the one hired goon was off handling the car issue, the other two men along with Roberto were getting their guest of honor situated in the main room.  None of them were wearing the balaclavas which had her irritation levels up a bit.  This mission was a delicate one, and she didn't wanna risk the son giving away details of just who his captors were to his father before she was ready for it to be known.  She wasn't deterred though from wearing hers, and after putting it on first before she went into the main room, Rachel gave the men a pointed look once she stood there staring at the target still laying on the floor.

"Get him in the chair."

Rachel heard his soft chuckle as he sat there in the chair, the burlap bag still over his head while he was mumbling.  The men had got him to his feet then hustled him over to the chair.  She tugged the burlap bag up revealing his face to them, but he still chuckled.  His eyes tried to focus around the room, landing his gaze on each of his captors then turned his eyes back towards Rachel.

"Man what kinda shit is this?  Letting a woman run things?  Hah!"

She resisted the urge to just shoot him at first, but her hand lingered on the gun at her side.  The temptation and anger gave way to Not react in some kind of way, so she removed the gun from its holster then reached up with the hand holding the gun.  She smacked his face with the butt of the gun, leaving a blood trail oozing down from his cheek to his jawline.

"That's right.  A woman is in charge!"

She nodded to Roberto then pointed to the burlap bag on the floor.  He told the guys to put it back on the target's head.  Rachel headed back towards the office, jerked off the balaclava from her head revealing a scowl on her face.  She glanced over to Antonio who himself looked as if he was fighting a smile.  She huffed quietly then sat down, reached for the phone.

"Time to get this show on the road before I kill someone."

She glared at Antonio who then actually did smile as he crossed his arms, leaned back in his chair while Rachel began dialing.

"Salvatore Di Marzo residence."

"I need to speak to Signore Di Marzo.  It's about his son."

Rachel could hear the scuffling sounds as the phone was placed down hurriedly as whomever answered then ran off to fetch the mayor.  He answered the call with a gruff tone.

"Who is this?!  Where is my son??!"

"I'll ask the questions mayor.  Such as, do you wanna see your son alive again, if so listen up?  Good good. I will take your silence as a yes."

When Rachel paused briefly, the mayor interrupted angrily.

"Look here you filthy piece of scum."

The mayor then smarted off something about this was all just a farce to strong arm him into some kind of game, and then proceeded to mock Rachel indicating that she probably didn't even know where his son was.  The mayor thought it was all a bluff, and humored her by asking about his son.

"Stop this game right now young lady, and put my son on the phone."

She laughed into the telephone.  

"You wanna hear your son? Okay."

Rachel placed the phone down briefly before fixing her ski mask, picked the receiver back up as well as the entire telephone.  She then went into the main room, dragging the telephone along with her gun.  She stood before the mayor's son, removed the burlap bag then aimed the gun at his forehead.

"Your father doesn't believe I have you here, so say hello."

He grumbled out a retort as his eyes steadily focused on the barrel of the gun aimed at him.  Rachel jerked the telephone back to her ear as she headed back towards the office.  Roberto went over to replace the burlap bag on the son's head then stood guard.

"Now that I have your complete attention mayor.  Your beef with the locals families in organized crime.  End it.  You have two days to give a public speech rescending your initiative on the stance to remove any and all organized criminal activities.  You will give your full support to the Di Salvo, Constanzano and Lorano families, as we all know have several officers on the force in their pockets.  I'll be listening, and you'll be watched so tread lightly on how you proceed."

Rachel paused to let all of that sink in for a minute.

"If you don't fulfill your end of this, your son will receive a bullet for every day past 48 hours until I hear for myself that the speech was given.  You'll be hearing from me in 48 hours, so use your time well, or your son may suffer for your incompetence."

"You harm one hair on my son's head, I will see to it you and ALL of organized crime will be put down. The end. Finito.  Capisci?"

"Mayor Di Salvo.  You have the power to decide if your son lives or dies.  The choice is yours."

Without giving him a chance to rebuttle, Rachel disconnected the call.

The dull roar of the radio echoed across the warehouse the tail end of the first evening there.  The announcer commented on the fact the mayor's son was missing, and authorities were available if any information should come forth.  Rachel had snapped the radio dial to off when she heard the low rumble of laughter from the main room.  The mayor's son thought his luck was going in favor of him being rescued, but both him and the mayor had another thing coming then.  Rachel smiled as she leaned back in her chair.  It was getting about time for the first shift of night watch, and the hired help that finally returned from dumping the car was granted the first shift.  

Antonio made a joking comment about if the princess would be able to get any beauty sleep having to sleep on the floor.  She shook her head then sucker punched his arm before storming off into the office that night.  She grumbled softly giving the sleeping arrangements weren't ideal, but then she had gotten an idea.  Getting the men to help while Antonio sat idly by interested to see what she'd come up with, Rachel had a brilliant idea of gathering enough sturdy crates, dusted off somewhat then placed the blankets over them so she wouldn't be sleeping on the floor.  The small 'Hah!" she gave towards Antonio made him chuckle even more.

The second day had started off with aches and pains, but she damn sure wasn't gonna give Antonio ANY satisfaction in knowing that at all.  The day was so mundane and boring as they all sat around shooting the shit waiting for the deadline to approach.  Their were talks of bets on when the mayor would give in, if before the deadline, after the deadline.  Hell there were even bets on how many bullets their hostage could endure before losing too much blood.  That conversation had the smartass hostage clamming up his nonsense for a while.

The third day waking up was no better, but it began the countdown as they kept an ear listening to the radio.  Antonio and Rachel discussed times to be making the phone call to the mayor.  They ventured outside off and on to get fresh air, and to make sure no signs of lurkers nearby. They did have the guys swapping out on shifts, but you never knew if someone might slip up.  

By the time 11:30 p.m. rolled around, still no news on the radio of a speech was heard.  Rachel thought the mayor wasn't comprehending the full seriousness of this situation, or he thought she was indeed bluffing.  Rachel went into the office, picked the telephone receiver up, began dialing.  After another short pause when the other end fetched the mayor, she heard the gruff voice.

"Yeah whatta want?"

Rachel smirked at his irritated tone.  It sounded as if someone was getting lack of sleep.

"Well is that any way to speak to a person in my position?"

"Where's my son at cagna?  Lemme speak to the person who's in charge!"

She scoffed and gripped the telephone receiver tighter as the rage coursed through her veins.

"You're talking to the person in charge signore.  Why hasn't there been a speech given?  Guess you don't care about your son as much as he was spouting off the past two days."

He made a snorting sound.

"Listen lady.  I don't have time for your childish endeavors.  Release my son at once.  Do you even know how powerful I am?  Do you?!?!"

Rachel laughed at that.

"Well mister mayor, it seems like one of us has more power at the moment.  Especially being one of us has a gun pointed at your son. Now once again ima ask.  Why hasn't there been a speech made?"

"Young lady I don't have the authority to rush things like that, connections and details have to be taken into account via meetings and schedules and the inner workings of people and..."

All Rachel heard was excuses and a lot of bullshit talking which made zero sense.  She took the telephone with her into the main room while he continued on blathering.  Her hostage was sitting there with the burlap bag over his head, but his hands were still free from earlier this evening when he ate dinner.  Rachel stood about ten feet away from his chair, and she placed the telephone down on a nearby crate.

She nodded to Roberto and he spoke in a low tone to one of the hired men.  That man walked over towards the mayor's son, reached up with his gun in hand, aiming at the hostage's leg.  Rachel interrupted the mayor's monologue.

"As much as I hate to interrupt your meaningless drivel, but since you didn't hold up your end of the demands let me show you what happens when you ignore me."

Rachel nodded towards the man still aiming the gun towards the hostage's leg, watched him cock the gun ready to shoot.  Everything that happened next seemed to pass in a blur.  The mayor's son heard the gun, reached up with his unbound hands, struggled with the gunman then a shot was fired.  Rachel dropped the telephone, and aimed her gun all in a matter of seconds once she saw the hired man fall to the ground as blood began oozing from his abdomen area.  He was groaning in pain, and the mayor's son removed the burlap bag and glanced around the room.

During the scuffle, the mayor's son confiscated the gun.  His gaze kept traveling around the room, and none of them at that moment were wearing their balaclavas, a stupid and over-confident oversight on their part.  It was when his gaze turned back to Roberto and the other man beside him that the mayor's son raised the gun aimed directly at Roberto.  Rachel felt her heart beating rapidly in the second.  Without giving it a second thought, Rachel fired her weapon, sending a bullet directly into the hostage's chest. 

She stood there stunned for a moment then placed the receiver back onto the telephone base.  Her actions seemed to be working on automatic pilot, shocked inside but the panic took over as she disconnected the call.  It was that fight or flight instinct warring within herself, and she somehow knew that whatever would follow wasn't going to be good, and letting the mayor get an earful would doom them all for sure.  

She could hear faint mumblings coming through the receiver but didn't bother listening to what was said.  Her blue eyes traveled across the room where Antonio had rushed out of the office and into the main room.  The mayor's son was clutching at his chest wound as his eyes widened then fell to the floor.  Her gaze collided with Antonio's as he took in the full ramifications of the situation.

Hanging around an abandoned warehouse with a hostage and a couple of goons, one head goon, and a princess wasn't how I was planning on spending these last few days in the country but ehhh it's been said that well laid plans never work out and none of that. I was also having a nice little laugh at the princess who must've been used to fluffy pillows and too many covers and sheets to count by the time she was old enough to walk, having to sleep on the floor, or better yet the crates she had pushed together for a makeshift bed. That alone almost made this whole experience worthwhile.

This was nothing new to me. Many a times had the families "gone to the mattresses" back in the states, which was just a fancy way of saying they had worked themselves into a mob war. Whenever that would occur it would be called the mattresses because the first thing that would need to be done is for a man to head to one of the family's safehouses, which would be an abandoned and hidden away apartment building where all the soldiers and capo's would stay so they would be free to operate and carry out orders at a moment's notice and also so that they could stay away from their families to keep them unharmed, and fill them with beds for the men to sleep in. Wars would drag on for awhile and stuffing a bunch of grown men in a small apartment for weeks on end got really uncomfortable really fast.

Having experienced that many times over my current situation wasn't much of a bother to me at all. Other than the rodents running around still there wasn't much to complain about. The kid wasn't bleeding badly or anything so it wouldn't be too bad for him at the moment or us having to worry about any of said rodents getting overly ambitious on him either. Speaking of the kid, it was a surprise that his father didn't call already. Three days in and the deadline was approaching and he still hadn't made a speech nor has he tried to negotiate. Hell, according to the news his son was still "missing" and not kidnapped. I understand not wanting to look weak and all that but family is supposed to be a big deal especially out here so it was shocking that this politician was allowing his son to stay in the clutches of criminals, unless he wasn't taking the princess seriously. It was crazy how much these men underestimated women around here.

'Ahh well.' I thought to myself as I  turned the radio over to a baseball game.

I had my own since Rachel would always either have hers on the news to keep up with things or have it off while she paced around angrily. I don't know what she thought was gonna happen but even I couldn't see the lack of care from the mayor reaching this level. This was absurd. We even made bets on how fast the mayor would give in. I gave the sonnuva bitch a day before he caved, I obviously was out of a few thousand bucks. I had played with the idea of how to rob mook number two but then figured that wouldn't be honorable at all. Boy, was I getting soft.

I let out a soft snort as I thought about that. I kicked my feet up on a crate as I seen another one of the mooks walk past with a tray of food to go bring our prisoner. He wasn't eating all that well and certainly wasn't eating what he was used to with his status here but the princess wanted to keep him alive and keep him healthy for the time being. I wondered to myself time to time if she would really shoot him or not if it came down to it. I doubted she'd ever shot a gun before with the way she held her's so close to her all the time.

I shook those thoughts off and went back to listening to the game and looking over a 5 day old newspaper that I was reading again for the third or fourth time. I had lost count. Too many people were on guard duty to get another card game going at the moment. Growing bored of the paper I pulled out a cigarette and started to smoke it when I heard a lot of movement going on from the room. I chuckled lightly as I figured they'd finally moved on to throwing the kid a beating. I was wondering how long it would take the kid to continue smarting off before the princess told one of her mooks to teach the kid some manners. Guess she finally hit her breaking point.

I continued to pay it the minimal amount of attention until I heard a loud bang. The cigarette fell from my mouth as I knew that wasn't a good sign. I got up figuring I'd better see what the fuck was going on. I made sure to stomp out my cigarette that'd hit the floor before leaving the room. I heard another bang as I was heading to the room and that caused me to pick up my pace.

As I entered the room I slowly took in the situation without my gun drawn. That was my own overconfidence showing. I wasn't too worried about being shot. I had a bad feeling in my gut but it wasn't one of danger but one of something bad happening and sure enough when my eyes fully processed what they were seeing it was definitely something bad going on.

On the floor was one of the mooks, number two or three I couldn't quite tell which one, also on the floor was the mayor's son and his shirt was a lot redder than it was supposed to be. The bullet lodged in his chest seemed to be the one at fault for that one, and the one at fault for the bullet being in his chest seemed to be the princess if the smoking gun she was still holding in her hand and the shock look on her face was anything to go by. Honestly this situation was pretty serious but I had to fight very hard to not let out a sigh of exasperation. I scolded myself. I should've known better. Things were going too smoothly, I should've known that things would hit a snag somewhere.

I also had to fight from shaking my head at this whole situation. Instead of letting myself lament over this situation and my lack of foresight to see this being mucked up this bad I decided to put my brain to work on a plan to try and get us out of this alive. I shot a glance at Roberto and he looked almost as shaken as his ward. Boy, this guy was completely fucking useless. I then looked to the mayor's kid. He wouldn't make it. We couldn't take him to a hospital and by the time we got him to someone to help him he would've bled out. That's the cost of running a secret operation without proper resources and being in the middle of nowhere. The same could be said for the mook who was shot. He wouldn't make it either. With those pieces of information in my head a plan began to form.

With my face void of emotion, I walked over to the princess like a wraith, or what I imagined a wraith would be. Quickly, but not too fast. No wasted motion and no emotion. I took the gun out of her hand, she offered little to no resistance and didn't say a word. If I wasn't trying to be serious I would've patted her on the head for handling that so well. I then walked to and stood over the mayor's son who was groaning on the floor. The gun he must've taken from and shot the mook with, was a little ways out of his grasp. He'd never experienced extreme pain in his life before and his adrenaline must've just gone to wallowing in pain. That worked for me, as I raised the gun slightly and shot him in the head and watched the life fade from his eyes.

It was at this time the useless bodyguard decided to ask me what I was doing in a loud voice that would normally get him punched. For now though, I didn't have time to pay him any mind. Focusing on the next part of my plan I walked over to the mook who was also on the ground and moaning. He wasn't completely out of it but he seemed to be trying to do his best to stay conscious. He didn't have long. I crouched down next to him.

"What's your family name kid?" I asked him.

It took him a bit to find the strength to reply as I'm sure he was focusing all he had on surviving but I knew better than he did.

"Gambetti" He replied.

I nodded and muttered the name to myself so I could remember. Mook number two who took my bet money was a Gambetti. Guess he would get to keep it as there was no way I was gonna take my betting money from a deadman who I didn't kill. I placed the gun I took from the princess and put it in his hand and forced his hand to close around it. He didn't have the strength anymore to lift it. He did follow me with his eyes though. Once I made sure he had the gun in his grasp I stood up and went back to the gun the mayor's son had taken from mook number two. I picked it up and stood over the mook once more before raising the gun and firing two more shots in his chest. I made sure the second shot was the one that hit his heart. I had to make it look amateurish or like someone got a lucky shot so it wasn't a straight shot but it was enough to put him out of his misery in his weakened state. Once I saw the life leave his eyes I then let out a sigh.

I wasn't the religious sort but even I had to fight myself not to do the signs of the cross for this kids death. It was a stroke of misfortune that ended his life. Damn was I getting soft. I didn't cry for my uncle dying who was also my mentor, nor did I feel sad but I could feel a twinge of sadness for this kid who I didn't know beyond pulling this job with and losing some money to. I stood up shaking those thoughts out of my head. I then turned to Rachel and Mr. Useless to see one look at me with shock, not being able to understand the situation and the other looking at me with anger not being to understand why I did what I just did. Boy was this Roberto guy some piece of work.

"When the cops get here and investigate the scene, they'll think the mook shot the kid and the someone else took out the mook. They won't find out who because you're gonna dump the gun." I said looking useless in the eye. "It's also gonna be up to you to take care of the princess and get her far away from here. It's risky but it's probably best to leave the bodies here. Make it look like the kidnapping was botched. The mayor heard your voice twice but you're not affiliated so you should be fine, he wouldn't think to look for you and this was hopefully just some hired muscle that can't be traced back to you." I explained.

I looked back to the scene to make sure everything was in place like I needed it to be. The mook had the murder weapon for the mayor's son, while the weapon used to murder the mook was in Roberto's possession to be dumped. There was another mook who was set to come back for a later shift. I thought about how to handle him. The simplest way would be to kill him but I wasn't trying to come off as completely ruthless here. Or at least I didn't wanna be but this is the Mayor's kid we were talking about. With that in mind I turned to the other mook who was looking on at the scene in shock and silence this whole time and pulled my gun out quick and shot him in the chest quickly three times.

As I was thinking about whether it would be more off throwing if I finished the job by shooting him in the head, Mr. useless apparently had enough. His course of action was to get in my face. I heard him approaching but instead of turning on him I took that moment to try and compose myself, which was a fail once he spun me around forcibly.

"What the fuck are you doing? Will you stop shooting people you fucking maniac?!?" He asked angrily.

He was right to him and possibly the princess I did seem like a maniac but this is how I been taught from the age I started doing this shit so I had no time to waste, not even on him. I reached my hand back that wasn't holding the gun and let it go in a swift hook that knocked the princesses guard to the ground.

"The fuck are you still doin' here useless? Didn't I tell you to get the princess out of here? If you dilly dally here much longer people who aren't supposed to see the two of you are gonna see. Get lost, or I'll do to you what I did to them and take care of the princess myself. Your only worry right now is to do your fuckin' job not worry about what I'm doing." I said in a tone as calm and cold as ice.

I then put my gun in my holster and looked at the scene. The princess was still in shock while her guard was nursing his sore jaw on the ground looking like he was debating on if he should jump up and try to take me on, use the gun by him on the ground to try and shoot me, or get his ward as far away from me as possible. I was hoping he settled on option three but he seemed content to continue his internal warfare while glaring holes through me.

I rolled my eyes and looked to the shocked woman hoping she could come back down to earth and talk some sense into her useless guard.

"Could you order your useless employee to do his job and take you the fuck away from here princess? It would be a lot more easier on us all if we could get this show on the road after all." I said to her hoping she could accomplish this for me.

Rachel stood there stunned at what she had just done.  It had been so easy, so natural to raise the gun and fire off a shot whenever Roberto's life was in danger.  It made her stand there in a frozen state wondering if she was truly as cold blooded a killer deep down as her father was known to be.  The scene before her didn't phase her any either.  Rachel watched as Antonio put bullets into the heads of the wounded, laying there dying and suffering greatly, but she felt nothing.  No remorse no guilt, she just watched as their lives were snuffed away. 

She kept her gaze focused on their lifeless corpses while Antonio hustled around speaking.  Her attention for what it was anyways was drawn to the sounds of yet more gunshots.  Another lifeless body now cluttered the floor.  Rachel slowly turned her gaze back to the mayor's son, focused once again on his lifeless body.  How did things go so wrong so fast?  Where did things go from there?  Everything was becoming a blur of nonstop events.

Rachel didn't really hear a word Antonio was saying, but heard him talking off and on.  She barely registered Roberto's voice either.  There was a bit of yelling, but she was accustomed to tuning out all that because of her father and brothers.  It wasn't until Antonio got directly in front of her, blocking her view from the happenings in the room that she was able to finally focus on what he was actually saying.  He wanted her to leave?  Wait.  What?  Her voice cracked a little.

"N-no.  No.  This was my mission, and my mess.  I'm staying to take care of it."

Her blue eyes glanced around to land on Roberto, who was currently rubbing at his jaw with one hand, and the other hand was wrapped around his waist.  Rachel arched an eyebrow realizing apparently she missed quite a bit of things going on for some reason.  Antonio and Roberto both agreed on her leaving from here, but she was determined to see things through from beginning to end.  She was going to take full responsibility for the mishaps, yet they both wanted her to flee.

Roberto grudgingly admitted that Antonio was right about the fact she needed to be away from this chaos, and that they needed to get a move on things.  Rachel wasn't quite sure how much else could go wrong, but she honestly wasn't in any rush to find out either.  Roberto came over to her, made an attempt to rush her outside, but she still held he ground as she looked towards Antonio.

"You don't need to handle this alone..."

My head was beginning to ache. It would seem by trying to get the Princess to see reason and leave that I had pulled Mr. Useless around to seeing that he they needed to go, and that had woken the lifeless princess up and made her wanna stay to tough it out and see things through. That wasn't gonna happen, even if I had to knock her out and put her in the car myself. She had already spent as much time here as we had and her father must be looking for her, the last thing we would need is for him to send out people looking for the two of them.

I looked her square in the face and was debating on being more mean than normal to her to drive the point home, but she was a stubborn one. The more I put her down the more she'd probably try to show me why she should stay, and with time not being a luxury we couldn't have that.

"No, I do need to handle this alone. You're right, this is your mess. You being here will only make things more messy, your mission ended when the goofball over there got shot in the chest. Now it's MY cleanup and your watcher is gonna make sure you get back home safe and sound with an alibi of why you've been missing for the last few days.  Either that or you can play ice queen with your father. Show him how tough and woman you are when you tell him that you're grown and can do whatever you want. That'll probably make him ask less questions than anything you guys can come up with. I got it from here." I said and turned my back on her. 

I could tell she was starting to come back and realize the situation the more and more I told her to go. It also served to make her wanna rebel more and more. I didn't have to worry too much about it as I heard Useless finally drag himself off the ground. He was getting up and walking over to the Princess. Paying him the least amount of attention I heard him tell her that they should leave and he had to get her home. I almost smirked but this wasn't the time for that and I was beginning to feel worn out from this whole ordeal and the quick downturn everything had taken.

It took him a bit more of convincing but I'd figured I should keep my mouth shut on this one and let the man who was supposed to know her best, work his magic. It would seem he was able to get her out of there with minimal kicking and screaming as they began to make their way to the exit. I once again felt Useless shoot me a heated look that I again paid no mind. I found the lifeless bodies on the ground more interesting anyway. It took them about 10 to 15 minutes to finally leave but once I heard the car outside pull off I realized I was finally alone, well if you weren't counting the rats, and I let out a long and deep sigh that I'd been holding in since I seen the mayor's kid was shot. I also wiped a hand across my weary face. If I was the superstitious type I'd feel like this ordeal had taken 5 or 10 years off my life but I was sure I wasn't gonna live too much longer if I started thinking like that anyway.

I looked over the scene one more time to make sure that upon first look the investigators, when they finally found this place which I was sure they would, would see everything the way I wanted them to see it. It would look like mook number two had shot the hostage who was the mayor's son and that another person ended up shooting mook number two along with the other one. That person would come into question and it would lead to a manhunt to which it would go inconclusive hopefully seeing as the only people who knew about this job couldn't cross the boss for their lives and the lives of those who are important to them, and another mook who was about to be dealt with.

With the mook to be dealt with in mind I figured I'd better head out and go wait in the car. The rats were already growing more bolder, trying to begin their feast on the dead bodies and who was I to disturb them. I pulled out my carton of cigarettes, my last one since I always walked around with two, and took out the last one in the carton. It looked like this little shindig fell apart just in time as an Antonio with no cigarettes is an Antonio nobody wants to be around. Not even me. I lit up the cigarette as I walked out to my own car and got inside, rolling down the window so that the smoke could escape out. It was getting to be in the evening and the mook wasn't coming back until later that night, which meant I had a few hours. I finished the cigarette and decided to take a nap leaving my hand holding my gun in its holster in case someone should get the drop on me, but I wasn't too worried.

I dozed off for a few hours before being woken up by the sound of car tires slowly pulling up. I decided not to jump awake and remain calm using the reflections to make sure it was just one car pulling up and not the cops happening on this place much sooner than expected. It was instead the one I was waiting for. I immediately thought how best to play this. I could shoot him outside and make it look like it was a big brawl that went on and even expanded to outside the building, but in the end I decided it was best to not over complicate things here.

I got out of my own car to greet the other mook myself, feeling a little bad for this guy having to die just because he was apart of something like this, but that was the way this life went. Wrong place, wrong time could fill out many headstones if people were honest about why someone died in this line of work, but they weren't so there would be some other excuse if or when these fools got a funeral.

He greeted me and I returned the greeting acting like nothing was wrong at all. I even told him that I was taking a nap in the car and that it was probably best if we checked out what was going on inside. I knew this would have to be quick and I was expecting the element of surprise to be on my side to get all this done quickly.

"It's pretty dark in here. Did the lady boss forget to pay the light bill for a few more days. Fuckin' women, can't depend on them for shit but cooked food." The mook said with a little chuckle to himself, thinking I'd join in.

I stayed silent, thinking that if the Princess were here, she might not have a problem taking care of this one. I also wondered where he grew the balls to say something like this since he didn't know she wasn't here. Maybe he thought she was outta earshot which at the time and by his low tone of voice she would be, but he didn't know where Useless would be lurking about. It was a risky move on his part that showed his carelessness and also how little these people underestimated women. The first part of that was the reason these mooks had to die, but the second part was a reflection of all these people and why I couldn't wait to get the fuck outta here.

The mook fiddled around until he found the light switch. Once he did he was instantly in for a surprise.

"What the fuck?!?" He shouted in surprise which also helped to clear out the rest of the rats that were scurrying away from their meal of dead flesh, due to there being light shining on them.

I wasted no time. I pulled my gun from its holster and aimed it at him. By the time he turned to me looking for answers, he was in for his final surprise as I had my gun aimed at his throat. I wasted no time in pulling the trigger giving him no time to react or do anything other than gasp and gurgle for air as the bullet lodged itself in his throat. My lip twitched but it wasn't to hold back a smirk, but rather of irritation. I hated that I had to fuck with my marksmanship to make this look circumstantial. It went against my training but this was for the better part of my makeshift plan so it had to be done.  

The mook had finally hit the ground, the last of his breaths being taken. This was another cruel way to die but it would have to be done. This mook would only be receiving one bullet so it looked like he was shot in the escape. With that I turned and shot two more bullets near the entrance to actually make it look like there was some type of resistance and the people escaping didn't just slaughter everyone. Good thing they wouldn't be able to tell when the bullets were fired since this all happened relatively around the same time, and by the time they find it the evidence will be tampered with anyway. It was the only usefulness these rodents served in this whole scenario.

With that, I gave another heavy sigh and turned to finally exit this place. If I never saw it again it'd be too soon. Hell, I could say that for the whole country. I'd have to plan my exit from this country carefully. Make it look like I gradually came to the decision. If I left too hastily it'll look like I had something to do with this or something to run from, depending on when the news of this came out. I'd give it like a month or so and then begin talks about leaving. That sounded like a decent amount of time. Hopefully the news of this broke soon so it looked like I stuck around for a bit and then decided all this heat wasn't worth being around. I'll take the title of being a coward over being dead any day of the week. Plus it was also better to be underestimated as well.

I looked back at the warehouse as I finally got in my car and brought my engine to life. I thought about what went on here for the last three days and couldn't help but shake my head. While doing that and thinking over the plan I made to clean all this shit up I couldn't help but remember the rest of Uncle Frank's words where he called us both bulls in a China shop. I remembered what else he said.

"But not you Toni, you're more than a bull in a China shop. You'll never be like me kid. You were cursed with your father's brain. I picked the wrong student and you picked the wrong teacher." He said and he laughed a hearty laugh after that.

Thinking back on that now I can't help but think that he was laughing at my future. He always gave the same laugh when he talked about how soft I was as well. I wanted to look up to the sky and give it the finger but I knew damn well Frank wasn't in no place called heaven.

"Bull in a fuckin' China shop my ass Uncle Frank. A goddamned jinx and a future seer is what you were." I said in weak anger. I almost wanted to laugh at myself.

I settled for blowing an exhausted breath through my lips and hauling ass from that abandoned warehouse, hoping that tonight I could find some booze to drink enough to forget this shit ever happened.