Jace was getting ready to head back from his fun little time off with Rubix and Ellie but had a bunch of time to kill before he and DebbyRyan's flight so they decided to take in the city around them, they hadn't been to Chicago really before so they thought it'd be a good idea to familiarize themselves with the city.

They'd been walking around for about thirty minutes and Jace could not shake the feeling that something was wrong, no matter where they went or how crowded the area something inside Jace was screaming "RUN". The young man not wanting to put Debby in harms way or see him freak out if this was merely nothing and paranoia turned to ask her "Hey Debby get a head start to the airport and make sure everything is good with our flight I don't want any bad surprises." Debby looked oddly at Jace as he was normally very shy when talking to people but this didn't seem to be a question but an order so she nodded slowly still wondering if something was wrong before heading to the airport. Jace watched her go and walked in a way he could keep an eye on her for a while noticing the screaming in the back of his mind hadn't stopped which was good that meant he was the one in danger not Debby.

Jace started walking around towards South Side trying to lose whatever feeling was with him but to no avail, he wasn't paying any attention to his surroundings until he looked up and a sad smile came on his face as it seemed fate did have a sense of humor, looking up to see the abandoned Power Ranger HQ. Well if today was his day it looked like it might be in the same place his brother died, he ran in and with a quick look at his brother's journal went to a supply room with some boxes and kept his ears up to see if he heard anything. 

It took a few minutes before he heard some voices muttering. "Never thought of lil ol' Corso as a runner, I'd heard he'd gone soft since being here but I didn't buy it." Another voice spoke up. "Who gives a fuck? This place is creepy let's find the damn kid and bring him back, he has a lot to answer for." Jace's head was spinning....... Soft? Back? These people knew him.....he listened for anything else he could use in case things got violent and heard the "FLICK" of switch blades....hmmm no guns so they definitely wanted him alive. Jace was still more than a little banged up from his fight with William_Bowden but these two (he hoped there were only two) were between him and the door and there was no way help was coming so he had to make a decision. 

Waiting for the two to get close Jace waited as one stepped in front of him and before his mind could even think what to do his body sprung into action, he jumped out from behind the man taking his knife hand in arm and slapping his fist upward at the elbow breaking it before spinning him around and palm striking him in the gun and butterfly kicking the back of his head knocking the man out cold at least possibly more. Jace stared down at his hands in terror wondering how he had done that though it was short lived as the other man shouted "Give it up kid come back with us, you're not catching me by surprise and judging by that clueless look on your face you're not who you used to be are ya?" Seeing Jace had no interest in coming with them he came at him with his knife. Jace ducked and moved around the slashing blade with relative ease before catching the arm in mid swing and giving the man a thrust kick into the stomach, while the man was doubled over Jace took the man's arm and used his momentum to flip them onto the ground with his legs wrapped around the arm putting him in an arm bar till he heard the satisfactory "CRACK" and then kicked the man in the head to knock him out. 

A very scared and confused Jace ran out of the room in disbelief of what happened and knew he had to get back to Philadelphia and talk to Isabella-Luciano.........

Bella had just left a lunch at Dante's with William_Bowden.  She had three hours until Aurora was out of school for the day and another two after that before @GavinAndTaraBryne's plane landed at the airport.  Tara had taken Gavin with her on some business out on the West Coast for the South Philly Godfather.  While none of them expected trouble, Jack had insisted on it. 

In his old age, it seemed that JackMezzo was a bit more protective of those nearest and dearest to him.  Bella wondered if it had more to do with the sudden return of LouisMezzo, but she never would have voiced that.  It would have been disrespectful as hell and who was she to judge, she who had turned her daughter's pre-school into Fort Knox after Tyler Durden's most recent threat.

Bella came around the corner to where her car was parked and instantly bristled.  'Where the hell are Joe and Andy?'  

Dante's was on Race Street Pier, it was at the very heart of Jack Mezzo's power base - the symbol of their unquestioned authority for nearly a decade since the war.  There was simply no way that she had to be afraid here no...

The hair stood on her neck, instinct as strong as she'd never felt before, kicked in.  Her hand went for the gun under her jacket, but she wasn't fast enough.  She found herself thrashing side to side as she tried to escape iron-like grapple from behind.  

"WIL-"  She was less than a block from Dante's it was a next to impossible hope that William would hear her screaming, but under the circumstances, she would try anything; but the scream was choked off by a large hand coming up over her mouth.  

She refused to killed or worse up against her own damn building in a neighborhood she fucking helped run!  It wasn't particularly 'gangster' - but Bella stomped her three-inch heel into the top of his shoe, piercing the soft leather finding purchase in the flesh and sinew of her attacker's foot.  She dreaded and yearned for what happened next.

The pain was excruciating.  She hadn't been hit in the face that hard in a number of years.  Her ears rung and her vision swam as she spun around and flew away from the man, down towards the hard filthy pavement of the alleyway outside Dante's.  

"FUCKING BITCH!"  The man scowled and simultaneous to her, they both pulled their irons.

Bella flexed her jaw and gave her very best Gavin Byrne smirk.  "Most men buy me dinner first..."  She quipped.

"Where's Corso?"

Bella blinked.  She could have expected this was a rival family coming to rough her up over any number of slights, hell maybe even one of Durden's people or some enemy Gavin had made over the years wanting to hurt him by hurting his wife... but someone looking for Jace-Fucking-Corso?

"Fucking your mom probably."  She said, making a very obvious show of turning the safety off her gun, hoping he'd walk off. 

He took a hobbled step towards her, just out of reach of her foot being able to reach his crotch, sadly.  Being short definitely had its disadvantages at times!

"WHERE.  IS.  CORSO?!?"

"Mrs. Byrne?"  

Felix was thirteen or fourteen.  She wasn't sure, a shoe-shine boy some of the Race Street wise guys looked out for.  The kid was even used as a runner sometimes, to get takeout food, deliver messages, little things... he'd be a goomba inside of five years if he survived that long.  Unfortunately for the kid, he was now staring at a man who had a gun.  If the man took the gun off her, she could shoot.  So, in some regards the kid was a blessing... but if he took the gun off her, depending on how fast he was, he might still kill the boy.

"Run to Don Bowden, Felix!"  Bella screamed, please when the boy broke into a full out sprint towards Dante's.

The man with the gun cursed and began to back out of the alley, not taking his gun off Bella until he'd disappeared around the corner.  Bella pulled herself up to her feet and tried to run after him but her heel snapped sending her tumbling to the ground again, ripping her nylons and causing her to bump her head on the pavement for the second time today.  She'd be picking pieces of gravel out of her for the next twelve hours or so.

Already she could hear men coming out of Dante's headed towards her... silently she wondered as she lay there in the alley, 'Who the fuck would kill men over Jace Corso... and better still, why?'

Louis was back at the pier.  He was on an errand for ArturoStrigliori but was waiting for a truck to arrive back at the distribution centre.  He had spent some time swithering about whether to take on one of the jobs that were available to get himself a little more visible about town although part of him still yearned for a little anonymity at times.  It still didn’t feel right using the Mezzo name here in the heart of his operations so he did tend to simply introduce himself as Louis.

As he exited Hot Shots he heard a commotion and saw Isabella-Luciano sitting in an alleyway.  There was a group of men starting to crowd round her.  As he checked no cars were coming before he crossed, in the distance he could see a man running out of an alleyway and across the road.  It’s unusual to see that he thought.

As he reached Bella he could hear mutterings of @JaseCorso, a name that he’d heard a couple of times in passing on the streets but knew little about the man or his history.

“Are you ok Mrs Byrne?”

A terrified Jace ran out of the building and thankfully did not have that feeling of dread come back. He headed as fast as he could to the airport to meet a very confused DebbyRyan, she was able to tell that something was wrong but didn't think it was a good idea to talk to him about it as he looked very stressed out. Until they finally got to board Jace could think of nothing but what happened, why were those men after him? Where did they know him from? Most disturbingly of all where did he learn how to fight like that? That wasn't beginners luck or them being sloppy as he was fairly certain he would be a corpse or in their captivity if he hadn't done everything exactly as he did it timed when he did it. The strikes were so precise and well scouted he knew...or his body did anyway exactly how to incapacitate them with minimal use of his own energy, the only reason they weren't dead was something inside him told him there'd be more if they didn't report back in to whoever was looking for him and could possibly put others in danger. 

The trip home was very uneventful or so it seemed, Jace slept through most of it but it was a restless sleep full of nightmares and terrifying images that he couldn't piece together. When he woke up he couldn't remember them well enough they just seemed to kind of blend together into a swirly mess of gibberish just certain words stood out and he wondered what that meant as well. 

Upon arrival back at the Butcher Shop he saw he had a message on his desk "Isabella was attacked" near race st. This could not have been a coincidence no mob family would dare lay a hand on her there unless it was a full scale assault JackMezzo's power was far too great there to risk something so idiotic and a united Philly would never allow something like to happen. Jace checked in with KingOfMeatPopsicles before heading out to see if he could Isabella-Luciano or William_Bowden and tell them what happened and look into Bella's attack, though now Jace worried if they had attacked Bella perhaps Bowden or Rebecca_Ferrari were also in danger!!! 

Bella sat at a table in a now closed down Dante's, next to LouisMezzo, a side of beef held over her left eye as per Will's instructions.  He'd been kind enough to make a friendly joke about her now looking like she fit in with the guys over at their gym and that this was how real men handled a shiner, but Bella wasn't laughing.  Her brain kept going over and over why the hell she was jumped over JaceCorso.  

William_Bowden had cleared everyone out of Dante's except folks from the Philly families.  He had his guys recover the bodies of her bodyguards, one of whom had been dead in the car.  Because it was a bloody mess, the car was off being detailed by two of William's goombas.  Someone had been sent to inform GavinAndTaraByrne of the attack so someone trusted could make sure Aurora was safe.  

"Whiskey, straight,"  Kinzie, the Bartender, said putting a glass in front of Bella.  

"Thanks." despite the attack happening over an hour ago, her hand was still trembling as she picked up the glass.  Bella was not used to being on this side of a beating, nor having been forced to look down the barrel of a gun... not in many years now.

"We got ahold of Tara, she said she'd send someone to fetch Gavin."  Bella nodded and moved the slab of meat.

"How does it look?"

Kinzie tried not to react, but Bella saw the tell-tale flinch.  Clearly, it was bad.  "Just keep that meat on it for now, okay?  Will is in his office making calls, he'll come out when he can.  For now, drink that whiskey and try to relax, we're going to find the bastard who did this."

Bella put the beef back and after the bartender left she looked to the young Mezzo and said, "Corso is a right-hand man, by virtue of that he's surely pissed people off but... hit me up in the heart of Race Street Pier?  Someone is either stupid, or isn't afraid... the later bothers and confuses me a great deal.  Corso is too young to have the sort of enemies that aren't afraid of your grandfather.  Which makes me wonder if these aren't enemies of his older brother the late Godfather Jason Lee Scott."

She took a drink of whiskey, "Jason was a shameless flirt, seen with me often... I'd be a fool not to have enjoyed his company for the perks such a friendship can extend... hell he dated my damn kid sister before his end.  So maybe this is about ending Scott's line before Corso rises to the level of his late brother?"  

She shakes her head.  "Still, it makes no damn sense at all.  We're missing something here and I want to know what... ideally before it costs a member of Race Street their lives."

She breathed the words, "JackMezzo is not going to be happy about this..."  That last thought, while low on her list of immediate concerns was something ever-present in her mind.  The Godfather would want to know why high ranking members of his fucking crew were being hit and by who... and Bella had zero answers.  Worse than having an answer a Godfather wouldn't like was not having one at all.

A weary and tired looking Jace Corso with very bruised knuckles was brought before Isabella-Luciano, and William_Bowden by some of the guards that were watching over Dante's. He was looking at the floor certain that the attack on Isabella had to do with him and was related to his attack in Chicago and he couldn't look his mentor in the face knowing he put her at risk.

While being flanked by two very big and intimidating guards he spoke softly unable to look Isabella or Will in the eye. "I-I'm so sorry Bella and Will I never meant to endanger either of you, I have no idea what happened or why but maybe I should leave the country or at least Philly and get the heat off I can't put you guys at risk."

Jace's voice was soft but trembled with anger"I was attacked in Chicago by two men who followed me everywhere until....until I lost them but they weren't trying to kill me they want me alive for whatever reason, based on what I'm hearing the same can't be said for you guys. I swear to you don't know what they want or who they're working for but I've decided I'm going to go back to Port Louis and see if I can find the manifest of the ship I came on and maybe find out if there's answers.

Jace bowed respectfully before the two respected Dons of philly never taking his eyes off the floor, his shame ran too deep he couldn't even tell them how he "lost" the two men that chased him as he was so terrified. 

"Don't be ridiculous,"  Bella said to JaceCorso.  "We can't have a right-hand man going into hiding - an attack on any of us in Philly is an attack on all of us.  We need to get to the bottom of this and make these fuckers pay.  Am I right?"  She looked to William_Bowden to back her up.

"What we need to talk about is plans going forward, plans to up security for Philly leadership and plans to figure out what sort of trouble you got yourself into Jace.  I think you're right that the first thing we need to do is backtrack to the ship.  Find out where you got on and who, if anyone, was with you when you did.  Then, maybe we got to the place you boarded and we search for someone who knows your face there.  I will be damned to hell, however, before I sit on my hands while some person or people are out there willing to brazenly hit us in our home turf."

She hesitated and looked to William with absolute seriousness in her eyes, "Anyone in Philly could be next... and maybe next time the losses are even higher.  Oh hell, maybe someone who isn't even one of our friends yet... someone innocent."  She shook her head trying not to think about Aurora and the risk to her.

"Which reminds me, I should go call make some calls and pay some families a visit."  She moved the now defrosted meat from her eye.

"Honest... on a scale from 'needs some make-up' to 'someone lock Gavin up so he doesn't see it' ... how bad is it?"

Jace looks up as Isabella-Luciano speaks and nods appreciating her kind words and ideology of solidarity. "You're right as usual Bella, well if that's the case I'm headed out to Port St Louis to see if I can find any information on this ship I was on. I'm going to make a relatively big deal about leaving town so hopefully news reaches out to the attackers and they try and follow me instead of stay here and attack anyone else."

Jace absently minded was rubbing his bruised knuckles remembering his last altercation when he was attacked, while his body proved he should be confidant that his body will just jump into auto pilot and protect him again this time they might send more or better hunters. He needed to consider bringing back up but who could he even ask to put themselves in such danger with him.................He had few friends and none that he would ask to risk their life for him especially when he had no idea why he was being targeted.

"Bella I'm going to head out as soon as possible to the Port I'll let the King no I'm sure he won't have a problem as long as I bring my work with me. Let's just hope it goes better than my last trip to the Illinois area eh?" 

Louis looked at Isabella-Luciano’s eye and tried not to laugh at her question.

“Ummm….I think it’s definitely a change-your-religion-and-start-wearing-a-burqa type bruise.  If it was me, I’d be going bat-shit crazy at it so you might want to have something on hand to calm him down”

The smile dropped from his face.

“How badly did you get the guy’s foot?  Should we be looking in hospitals for foot injuries? Or are we talking about a flesh wound?  The guy I saw was definitely hobbling quite badly.”

He looked about at his small cadre of bodyguards.

“Could you guys surreptitiously…” he saw blank faces “…without making it too obvious that we’re looking for someone, ask around some of the hospitals if someone has come in with a serious foot injury.”

He offered his hand to JaceCorso.

“Hi Jace, I’m Louis.  Anything else at all you can give us?”

Bella nodded.  "Agreed.  Having some of our guys look into the hospitals isn't a bad plan.  I did get his foot pretty damn good.  I wouldn't go to one having done what he just did but not everyone thinks about such things.  Let me give Doctor Ilaria_Santoro call and ask her to have her people keep an eye for a punctured foot coming into the ER."

She smiled at LouisMezzo "Good thinking."  She winked her good eye and stood up to go make the call letting Jace talk with Louis and the others a bit more.

Jacen took the young man's hand and shook it firmly. "Louis huh? LouisMezzo? I'd heard Jack's grandson had arrived here and was making some waves and a good name for himself, I've also heard you're not coasting on your family rep that's something I can also respect it's an honor to meet you!" 

Jace looked to William_Bowden who nodded as it seemed he was reading Jace's mind, Jace looked back to Louis. "The only other thing I can tell you that's new is when I was attacked I left the two unconscious with ease but still have no idea how I did it. I need to find answers, Louis I don't want to ask Isabella-Luciano to come with me to Port Louis it could be dangerous and she needs to protect aurora if they're already attacking her, but going alone seems unwise as well if you can fight and are willing I'd like you to accompany me on this little side adventure and that way you can learn first hand any information I gain as well."

Louis nodded at JaceCorso

Really nice to meet you.  That sounds fine Jace.  Happy to help in any way I can.

He was sure that Isabella-Luciano could do without him for a little while.  Anyway, it's not like he was visible enough to even really be on anyone's radar so his presence anywhere was more likely to raise a shrug than alarm.  Louis stifled a smile at the thought of Louis on the road to St Louis, it wasn't exactly a joking matter.

Just say the word Jace and we can head off.

Jace went over to William_Bowden and Isabella-Luciano to speak briefly with them with LouisMezzo at his side. "Alright while you guys check the hospitals for suspects and maybe see if anyone came through the airport that would raise suspicions, me and Louis are going to head to where The Raza docked and see if we could find where it came from or why I was there. All ships have to have a log or manifest to make room for dockings or something so the port has to have something right?"

Jace motioned over to Louis "Louis I need you to go pack whatever you need to bring including a gun for sure, and then I need you to make a big deal and a lot of noise that you're travelling with me somewhere out of town. We want the whole city to know that I won't be here which will hopefully draw away fire and targets from Isabella and Will, this unfortunately will put a bigger target on us so before we go I ask you are you sure you're willing to do this? You've been to the gym and learned at least the basics of fighting as well right? If you're good with all this then we leave as soon as possible because we need answers and we need them now I can't have people be at risk because I exist." 

“Ok Jace, no problem.  Give me a couple of hours, I’ll get that together and try to get word out that we’re on our way.”

Louis patted JaceCorso on the back and walked briskly out the door.  The chill outside the gym hit him with a bit of a shock as the adrenaline started to wear off.  He was now embroiled in something that was not on his to do list at the start of the day.  Running to Bella’s aid was the right thing to do obviously given who she was but the reflex to stay and defend the people that were looking after him was quite overwhelming.  Jace was very persuasive; Bella and Will seemed to have no issue with his plan so here he was about to go on a road trip.

He headed back to his apartment, changed into clothes that were more comfortable for some long distance travelling, through some more into a small bag and grabbed a small gun.  He checked it over and threw it in to the bag.  With it slung over his shoulder, Louis trotted down the dark stairs.  The first place he would head to would be Breads and Spreads with a couple of his guys.  It would be busy at this time of day and people there were known to gossip like fishwives discussing the nocturnal wanderings of the village trollop.

Louis opened the door and held it for a couple of women carrying bags of bread then found a seat at a table near the busiest area.  His guys sat down while Louis organised drinks and something to eat;

“Have you heard what happened to Isabella?  She got caught by a guy looking for JaceCorso so Jace and I are heading to Port St Louis to get this sorted.”

He noticed some ears pricking up, tales of Isabella-Luciano were always good currency.  Since her glamorous wedding, both her and Gavin were celebrities around here whether they liked it or not.  The drinks came over and Louis guzzled his quickly.

“Got to head guys, I’ll see you both later.  Jace and I need to get to work quickly”.

Louis rose quickly, popped $30 on the table and headed out of the door and towards Purgatory

The trip wasn't entirely eventful though Jace wanted to give LouisMezzo as much information as possible so that he was in the least possible danger. "Alright so this is all I know so far, a day before my ship docked was when I woke up with no memory and have had no link to my past whatsoever until these guys ambushed me in Chicago and then attacked Isabella-Luciano in Philly. I have no idea why they want me or even who I was before but I know that I am more than competent in combat which suggests some form of combat training so intense that it's in my muscle memory.

Jace looked out the window before continuing "As far as I know they want me alive for whatever reason, maybe they were enemies of my brother who even The King but I don't know, the problem is based on how they were with Isabella they don't really care about bystanders. I need you to always have your gun on you and stay alert at all times I can't be the reason something happens to you bud, the other thing if it's going bad and I tell you to run and get back to philly and be safe you have to listen I want your word that you will go back and warn Isabella and William.

The rest of the trip was bland and uneventful they landed in Chicago, and proceeded to get the arranged car to drive them into Port St Louis. Upon arrival Jace ran up towards the area where they would have records of all the ships that docked there as well as their itineraries, he nodded to the guard and handed him 20$ to take an early break so Jace and Louis could look around uninterrupted. After about 45 minutes a frustrated Jace knocked over a box. "ARGH! There's nothing here! Nothing!! No Raza, no me, nothing! What could get permission to dock in such a prominent place without papers or verification?! We have two potential problems here one would be that whatever is messing me is so high up they don't need permission, or option number two is we were beaten here and it's my fault for taking so long to get here!!!"

Jace paced around the room annoyed before looking to Louis. "Louis go see if anyone has been around here unusual and find any information you can, then meet back here remember to keep your gun and alert up. I need to see if I missed something here!" 

Once alone Jace began to look around the room more hoping and praying to God he had missed something or in his rush he had just simply overlooked an obvious statement when he heard a noise down the hall. Jace started walking towards it when he heard cursing and someone running, "Oh no you don't, not this time" Jace said before he sprinted after the person who based on their tone was a male and based on the impact of their running was a bigger man and Jace had no idea how he pieced these together but was happy he did.

Jace was one story up on the man as the man was exiting and had an.....idea it wasn't a good one and definitely not one most of his friends would approve of but the guy was bigger than him and it would take a serious amount of force to take him down anyway and he had a head start. Jace waited till he heard the exit door open and timed it with when he ran and jumped through the window from the stairwell, and he landed on top his quarry. Rolling off Jace saw a man who was easily 6'4 and not lanky like him at all, the man was shaking the wooziness off and starting to get up.

The big man got up and smiled "Well well well, little Corso still got some moves, I heard you went soft and left Morales and Cain alive that's not the Jace we know. So are the rumours we're hearing true? Did little Jace have an accident and forget who he is? I thought sending me here to watch out for this stupid little station was a waste of time but it turns out they were right something is wrong with you isn't it kid?" 

Jace eyed up the man and was trying to think how in the blue hell he was going to deal with this guy, he assumed Morales and Cain were his little stalkers from Chicago he wiped some blood from his mouth before speaking "Why was Isabella-Luciano attacked? How long have you been following me? And I'm assuming you're to stupid to go through the files and remove the manifest so how did the Raza get here without proper authorization? I am done playing games you either answer me now and get the easy way or I knock your ass out and get it out of you the hard way, your choice either way I get what I want!"

The massive man spat on the ground and with one swing of his arm caught Jace on the side of the head knocking him down and the tall guy grinned "Bring it on little man, let's see if you still got it" Jace did a handspring back to his feet glaring angrily at his oppenent and again before he could think his body went back to action, Jace dodged the next few big blows the man tried to connect with it became much easier getting the timing as he was going for power so his speed lacked though if he connected again it could be real bad. Jace decided it was time for big dumb and ugly to come to his level, after dodging a few hay-makers Jace delivered a series of fast swift kicks to the inside of the mans leg slowing him down more. The man growled in frustration trying to speed up his punches seeing as nothing he was doing was even landing, but Jace continued to weave around them occasionally deflecting them using his own momentum. Jace finally saw an opening as one punch was completely wild and out of anger sidestepped and then hit his back with the palm of his hand with all the power he had to use the man's force and make him hit the ground. The kid pounced on top of him putting him in an arm bar and once again hearing the crack kicked the man in the head as hard as he could to knock him out. 

When LouisMezzo returned Jace stood with a completely bound muscled up man at his feet. "Don't know how we'd drive this back to philly so I think we're in for a long drive what do you think? Either way this guy is going to give us answers. Help me load him in the car and then we'll stop out of town and let Bella know we got something and we're gonna get some questions answered."

Louis left JaceCorso and put his gun in his pocket and headed in to the centre of the docks towards some admin buildings.  There were a couple of guys going in and out one of the side entrances so he removed his coat, held it like he had just come in from upstairs and walked in.  It was a changing room of sorts, the two guys were sitting down having a chat when he walked in and they both looked at him.

“Uuhhh…hey….ummm…I’m Bobby.  I was told by…ummm…I forget her name in the office upstairs…”

“Vera?”

Louis took a chance that an immediate affirmation might be suspicious,

“Not sure.  Smaller than me, a little older?  Is that her?”

The two guys looked at each other and one agreed.  Louis was surprised at how vague he could be and get where he needed.  He smiled at them.

“Anyway, she said to come down here and talk to Jimmy Conroy I think.”

“No Jimmy here kid, I’m Ray and this is Chuck but we don’t know about the guys over at the north wharf.  You could try there”

Louis thanked them.  Still carrying his jacket he headed upstairs where he found an office full of people.  He walked over to the first desk he saw.

“Hey, I’m looking for a Vera? Ray said I should talk to her.  I’ve hurt my shoulder and I was told to come get a clipboard so I could still be useful”

The woman looked up at the interruption, she did not look best pleased, “Ray who?”

“I dunno, I’m just down from the north wharf and bumped into Ray downstairs and he said to come talk to Vera about getting a clipboard.”  Louis smiled, “I’m sorry, I’m kinda new and just looking to make myself useful”

“Don’t worry about it, give me two seconds.  Vera is busy just now.” 

Louis looked about and saw a grey haired woman talking inside an office.  She definitely looked like a Vera.  The woman came back with an empty clipboard.

“Ummm, do you have a piece of paper and a pencil?  Sorry, I feel like such a pain!”

The woman reached into her drawer and handed Louis a piece of paper and pencil and ushered him away with a dismissive wave of her hand.  Louis went outside and put his coat back on.  Nobody in the history of anything would stop and suspect someone with a clipboard; people with clipboards ruled the world really.

Louis walked about the docks with an air of someone new to things, introducing himself as the new bureau assistant and asking about the comings and goings at each of the loading bays.  Nobody mentioned anything voluntarily about a Raza, except when he threw it in randomly.

“Chuck in bay 6 said the Raza sailed past but he didn’t see where it ended up.”

The conflicted look on the guy’s face was enough for Louis to tell there was more to this ship than people were letting on.

“It pulled in here for a few hours, nothing was ever done with it.  Think it ended up on the south wharf.”

Louis sighed and dropped his shoulders,

“South wharf?? Nobody said anything about the south wharf.  They give the crappy jobs to us lowlives, I tell you!”, Louis grinned, “and here was me thinking my day was almost done!”

“Don’t worry about the south wharf kid.  Ain’t nothing over there except the goombas and the mayor.  I wouldn’t touch any of that with a barge pole kid.  Do yourself a favour and just finish up here”

Louis grinned again.  “Are you sure?  I was asked to make a list and I’ve got it almost done except this Raza.  I should just leave it off?  I don’t know, it doesn’t sound like the sort of thing I should be doing.”

“Kid, nothing good will come of looking for anything about the Raza.  It’s a load of trouble for you, why do you think I’m saying to end your list here.  They parked up, a couple of guys came off and drove away.  After a few hours they were shifted to the other side once the Axolotl headed back to Mexico.  That was it.  If it involves the mayor of this place, you do not want to be involved.”

Louis smiled, “Thanks for that.  I’ll maybe go grab me a cup of coffee and hang about a bit until it’s time to go home”

Louis popped the pencil under the clip and walked away again and headed back to where Jace was waiting.

“Good news and bad news Jace.  The Raza was over at the south wharf.  Bad news it’s got the mayor’s fingerprints all over it.”

"Ugh of course, explains why we couldn't find anything and even if we go to the south wharf what we find will be tainted, if the mayor wants to cover it up it's going to be covered. Good thing we found our not so little friend here, we're gonna have to drive back to philly which'll take a while but this may be our best lead."

Jace and LouisMezzo toss the massive body bound in the car and began the long drive back to Philadelphia, Jace had plenty of questions in mind for this massive man but knew he wanted Isabella-Luciano and Louis there when he questioned him as they deserved answers as much if not more than he did. At least he was being attacked for something he supposedly had done, they were being attacked for merely knowing him. 

The drive was fairly long and the only real events were having to make their little road trip companion.................cooperative for lack of a better word which really meant Jace or Louis knocked him back out and it was generally whichever of the two were more frustrated at the time.

On arrival back home they met in at a closed Dante's like before as they had stopped to let Isabella and William_Bowden know around when they would arrive, before opening the car doors they knocked out the big man again so he wouldn't know where he was being taken and even put a sack over his head as they brought him downstairs and tied him to a chair waiting for the arrival of the others to finally get some long awaited answers.

Bella had gotten Tara to take Aurora for the night.  It had been a very long time since she practiced the art of making a guy talk, something her father excelled at and she once strove to similarly master.  Jace having someone who could sing for them was only the first half of the project.  Oh sure, the young man could no-doubt beat the other man until he gave something... but knowing if you got everything from a person who feared for their life after singing like a bird, now that was a totally different matter.

And so, she went to the storage unit where she kept some gear she dare not have in the house for her daughter to stumble across.  This particular set of useful tools was kept in a large black case.  Linval and Neil came with her tonight, and had Gavin not been out of town she was sure he would have come too.  After the attack on her, she'd stopped fucking around with her guard detail and started taking some of Tara's good advice.  While Neil might have once been a soft-hearted midwesterner, these last few years had toughened him up and Bella felt confident the man was finally ready to see her do some of her more skilled labors.

Coming down the stairs of Dante's she nodded a the sight of both JaceCorso and LouisMezzo "Race Streets young up and comers make good."  She praised them with a small smile.  "I shouldn't be surprised but I am.  He's a big one... hope you guys didn't have too much trouble bringing him in."

She nodded to Linval.  "I need a small table, a bucket of water and a lamp."

Her bodyguard nodded and began gathering the necessary items.

"You guys want to bring me up to speed before I get started on this piece of shit?"

Jace rubbed the side of his head where the man had struck him when they met as it still hurt, before answering. "The main wharf was a bust thankfully LouisMezzo found out it came through on the southern one which is rarely used and all information about the Raza was covered up by the mayor of all people."

Jace's brow furrowed at the lack of answers still and how they almost could've made that trip for nothing if Jace hadn't caught chuckles over here and Louis hadn't found out about the south wharf. "This guy definitely knows me even taunting me about still having "moves" whatever the hell that means and calling me "Little Corso" I'm not gonna lie knocking him out on the drive back here was much more satisfying than it should have been. But all that aside we don't know much other than wherever the Raza is from or whoever sent it has enough clout to get the mayor to cover shit up and not have to do their paperwork and as lovely as thinking it's government business would be something tells me with this lovely employer that's a pipe dream. We need answers Isabella-Luciano I can hurt him all day but I won't know if he's telling the truth and I won't know when he's given up all he's got but we're getting answers tonight!"