Louis pulled the tarpaulin sides on the lorry and checked over his shoulder. There was no-one around that he could see keeping an eye on him. It should hopefully not matter, there was a plan. ArturoStrigliori and Charlie__Pavanno needed discretion and anyone following would hopefully not notice anything untoward.  There had been a couple of truck thefts in the last few weeks and it wouldn’t pay to have this one jacked as well.

Louis threw the keys to one of his bodyguards and let him drive off while he jumped in a car and headed in the opposite direction. The lorry had Race Street Distribution down the sides and was instantly recognisable as it wound its way through the city.

Louis’ plan was simple yet hopefully effective. His two guys on the force were pulling random cars and trucks into a lay-by and directing some to a warehouse down the road where they would be allowed to leave after a cursory check was made inside.  

Louis and two guys from the pier had already made it to the warehouse and were waiting beside an unmarked truck.  Some of the bodyguards in fake police uniforms gave it a whiff of legitimacy.

“Ernesto is gonna pull the Race St truck over and send it here. If anyone is watching, we need to have the packages swapped into this truck within about two minutes.”

Two minutes was about the time everything else was taking to turn round so it couldn’t be suspicious.

After twenty minutes the truck still hadn’t arrived and Louis was getting nervous. He daren’t stick his head outside, or any of the others but one of the fake policemen shouted that it was on its way.

As it finally pulled in, the rest of the cars were shooed out.  Louis slid the tarpaulin back and everyone got to work.  A couple of packages were heavier than the others but were fine to move.  It took a little over two minutes to get them all moved, the driver got back in and headed out and the truck continued on its way.  As a couple of cars continued to come in and out, the final securing of the packages was made.    Louis took a look about;

“Let’s wait an hour or so.  Tell Ernesto and Samuel to start packing up and take most of you guys back into town.  Joe and Bozo you stay with me.  We’re going to Detroit.”

The warehouse emptied and dusk started to fall when the truck moved out.  The journey was going to take about 12 hours maybe more so the driving would be split with one guy sleeping and the other on the lookout for the baddies.

As the morning sun started to rise, they hit the outskirts of Detroit and pulled over at a diner.  The roads had been quiet so the distraction plan had been a success.  Everyone got out and made their way inside to relieve all manner of necessities.  Louis asked one of the waitresses the directions to The Tops.  She gave vague directions and while everyone got ready, she served up some bacon and eggs with some coffee.

"You know where we’re going Louis?” Bozo asked. “I’ve never been to Detroit.”

“Me neither Bozo, but apparently it isn’t hard to find once you get into Downtown.  We’ll finish these and head off”

Joe came out of the bathroom finally and quickly ate his breakfast.  Once everyone was done, Louis carried the plates and cups to the counter and handed the waitress $50;

“Thanks for that sweet cheeks.  That was perfect.  Compliments to the cook”

It was a diner, maybe the guy in the kitchen had aspirations but Louis’ thoughts were that saying a chef had made bacon and eggs in a diner was the same as saying Van Gogh had come round to paint the walls in your house; feasible but unlikely.

Half an hour later, after what seemed like driving round and round in circles, they arrived at the back door of the casino to find it busy with croupiers coming in and out.

“Busy joint already” Louis thought.  

“You guys stay here, I’m away inside to see if Charlie is around”

He got out of the truck cab, removed his overalls, threw them in the back of the cab and walked back round to the front of the casino.

Louis left the casino and walked round the back.  The truck was still waiting but both Bozo and Joe had been busy getting themselves something to eat, the cab stank of hot dogs and burgers.

“That’s just lazy guys”

The small amount of kitchen work he had done in Vesuvio meant he was more than a little disparaging about streetside vendors at times.  It wasn’t hard to find something other than burgers and hot dogs but Louis didn’t really care too much.

"What’s the story boss?"

Artie laughed a little.

“Well….back to Philly and then I’m taking them out to LA.  You guys are off the hook for that one.”

Bozo and Joe looked at each other…

“So wait, we have to drive these packages up from Philly and then back down the same road.  And we don’t get to go to LA with them?”

“Them’s the breaks boys.  Them’s the breaks.”

Louis tried to explain that he would obviously have preferred it to be one of them that was escorting the packages but really, it didn’t need three people.  It’s not like anyone knew about the shipment except the three people in the truck…and Charlie, Arturo, Adonis now perhaps Tara, maybe Isabella, potentially Gavin and anyone else around the table when Adonis found out.  Loose lips and all that perhaps…

The truck pulled away from the casino.  The problem with casino back doors was that was where all the interesting stuff happened so it did generally pay to keep a watch on comings and goings.  The lights of a Cadillac switched on in an alleyway and followed at a respectful distance.

The truck pulled in for yet another unscheduled stop in a layby so everyone could stretch their legs, have a smoke whatever they wanted to do.  Bozo was acting oddly.  This in itself was not always a concern, he was nicknamed Bozo because he was a little bit simple at times, however he did seem a bit more on edge than normal.

“Everything ok Bozo?”, even Joe had noticed it.

“Erm…yeah…I guess.  I reckon we’re maybe being followed.  The last time we pulled in, a car drove past slower than the rest.  I’m sure the same just happened again.  It’s a light brown Cadillac I think.”

In his head though he was sure he knew the faces going past.

Louis went up to the main road and looked in both directions, there was nothing immediately obvious so once everyone was ready they climbed back in and headed off.  Each road, driveway and layby they passed for the next couple of miles, Joe and Bozo would look down and see if anything could be seen; there were cars but none were light brown.  Certainly it wasn’t immediately obvious but Bozo was tasked specifically to keep an eye in the mirror for anything suspicious.  Louis remained concerned;

“You guys didn’t talk to anyone when we were in Detroit did you?”

Joe looked at Bozo, who shook his head…his eyes though seemed a little less sure as if pleading for Joe to agree with him.

“No boss”

“Nope me neither”

The journey continued in relative peace and quiet.  Joe and Louis shared the driving while Bozo remained staring blankly at the mirror.  Finally, Philadelphia came in to view; the farmland smells would now finally be behind them and the familiarity of the city streets would be a welcome change.  Louis pulled in just outside the old neighbourhood to drop Joe and Bozo off before heading to the airport.

“Right, I’ll see you guys when I get back, I’m off to meet Adonis at the airport”

As Louis pulled around the corner Joe pushed Bozo up against the wall.

“What the hell is going on buddy?  What do you know?”

“I bumped into my cousin’s brother in law when I was at the hot dog stand, he knows I’m never up that neck of the woods.  I said we were in Detroit delivering something to the casino.  Thing is, I’m sure his boss has a brown Cadillac.  I don’t think they’re connected to this thing but I am sure they’re tailing us.”

Joe let Bozo go.

“You’re a fucking idiot…”

A light brown Cadillac pulled round the corner and slowly drove past with its passenger window rolled down…

BANG

BANG

Louis watched as the airport security guards led one of the goons from the car away to a distant hangar as he sat on the plane headed for LA.  The plane was small and the flight was pretty empty.  Louis wasn’t a fan of small aircraft, he had a notion that it was like trying to sail an ocean in a dinghy…big sky, little plane…lots of opportunity to plunge to his doom.  However, for expediency, fly he must.

Louis’ goon sat silently in a seat.  Silence however implied that were he to make a noise someone may take notice, it was obvious that everything would be on Louis’ terms.  It was a long flight and there was information to be gained.  That this package was now a target was not on the original brief from Arturo that the delivery be discreet.  The moral of the story would definitely be that Louis gets more details and not involve other people.  Word had got back to Louis that Bozo and Joe had both been gunned down.

Louis stood up and punched the guy in the face again, the blood from his existing wounds dripping down his face and now across Louis' knuckles.

“For the third time of asking, who the fuck are you?”

Again, silence. Louis was getting irritated by this he motioned for a couple of his guys to come over.

“Just work over this clown for the next half hour.  Don’t go too far, I need information.”

Louis walked through to the rear of the plane so he could not hear the noise.  He was greeted by one of the cabin lovelies and he relaxed with a whisky before closing his eyes.  An hour later Victor, the big burly Russian that Louis had broken out of jail, tapped him on the shoulder.

“Hey boss Louis.  We got something.  He spilled ze beans.”

Louis pulled himself up.

“What’s he saying?”

The two men walked back through to find the goon in a heap on the floor.  They all picked him up and sat him back on the chair, the airline was going to need recompensed for the mess that was being made.  Louis leaned on one of the very obvious wounds on his legs…

“Who is he and who does he work for?”

“He’s saying he’s a low level guy who works for Bozo’s brother in law and they got a tip from Bozo that the packages could be pretty valuable.”

“The other guy at the airport?”…Louis leaned harder on the leg.

The goon moaned…”he’s the brother in law…”

Louis stood up and walked through to the cockpit and leaned in towards the pilot.

“Do we have the fuel to stop anywhere?  Just briefly down and then pretty much straight back up in a quiet airfield?”

The pilot mentioned a small airfield about twenty minutes away so they landed there.  After taxiing to the end of the runway and turning, Louis opened the cabin door, his bodyguards threw the bloodied goon on to the tarmac and the door closed again.  The plane flew off again leaving the nameless guy to his fate.