Gavin pulled his bodyguard's car slowly out of the hospital parking lot, after Kassandra had begrudgingly given him the keys. A dozen bodyguards had flooded to hospital to ensure that anyone coming after Jack Mezzo again couldn't get to him. Some were stationed outside, some were inside, and they both had phones close by to call for more backup if needed. No, Jack was safe. Will and Bella had gone to the Pier to help Tara.

All that was left was catching the fuckers who'd done this and making them pay.

Gavin glanced at Louis Mezzo as he turned the corner; his icy blue eyes scanned the road. Louis had one arm in a sling and the other was holding the revolver Gavin had given him.

"Louis, tell me everything you know about these guys."

Louis sighed.  The re-connection with Jack was not supposed to have turned into a bloodbath and certainly not to the extent of putting Jack in harms way.  Sure the guy had seen enough in his lifetime to fill more than one but to have almost gone out like this was not the plan that Louis had envisioned Fate would have for Jack.  Drooling into a glass of whisky well into his 90s seemed the path intended.  But the ghosts of Louis' past was here in the present, like a shit, gory version of A Christmas Carol.

"I'll start from the worst.  Tony Tempara.  Him and the guys from the Tamburellos are proper round-the-bend crazy.  They are a bit of a nothing outfit from Seattle but what they lose in organisation they make up for in....enthusiasm?  They are certainly bold and fearless.  They will go again and again until they get what they want..."

Louis thought...

"Legend in Seattle is they once took every guy who had ever said anything negative about Beppe Tamburello, sailed them into Puget Sound and threw them in.  I think two guys made it back alive.  Just to prove a point...that Beppe wasn't a pansy basically.  I think they'll be back but I doubt they'll be discrete about Philly.  Someone will know where they are."

"Benny Siegrist is a lanky fucker with big ears.  I can only imagine that when Tempara has been doing his jewellery runs from Seattle they've bumped in to each other.  Similar circles and all that.  Benny is very small time though.  He will be easily found and easy to crack.  He has a thing about celebrity, if there's a place to be seen, he will be there trying to get noticed.  Catch him and he'll give us what we need."

"The key will be the Tambini's though.  Dunno if you know their garage.  Anyway, their boy Joey has always had it in for me because he thinks I abandoned his sister.  He's dimmer than an unlit candle.  If we go to the Globe in Port Richmond he'll be there at this time of night.  They were in his old man's car so he'll know loads.  I'm willing to bet they'll all be there if Joey's the driver."

Gavin's eyes narrowed as he listened, focused entirely on the hunt.

"Okay. We're going to get this done, and we're going to get it done fast and right. My guess is that with Jack in a well defended position and you on the move, they'll be laying low for a while. Port Richmond is closest. We'll head there first, and handle Joey... and are there more of them there, too?"

"After that we'll hit the most exclusive clubs and try to get a read on Siegrist. We'll get him to tell us where Tempara and the Tamburellos are."

"Sound like a plan?"

“I like it Gavin, I know where to go. We’re going to the corner of Aramengo and Allegheny Avenues, the Globe is about there.”

As Gavin headed through the dark streets, Louis’ pulse raced in nervous anticipation. The conversation was limited to an occasional “left here” or “straight on”. Gavin had let Louis have a few swings of the Gato good stuff and that had definitely numbed the pain. Eventually they stopped on Aramengo Avenue. 

“That’s the Globe there. Park in that alley over beside it. We can haul Joey into there if need be I suppose.  I’m happy to get the asshole’s attention”

Louis opened the door and got out of the car.  Gavin followed closely behind as Louis went into the pub. It wasn’t particularly busy at this time of night as most of the more responsible customers had headed home but a few stubborn people hung around. Louis spotted the unmistakable lumpen shape of Joey on a bar stool talking to one of the barmen. Gavin sat on a stool nearby while Louis walked up behind Joey. Using his one good arm smashed a beer bottle over his head, dragged him off the stool and stood over Joey with his foot on Joey’s throat. 

“Surprise Joey!  Bet you never thought you’d see me again. What the fuck have you done you oaf?  Me and my friend here...”

Gavin stood up and stood over Joey...

“...need a word outside”

Louis grabbed Joey by the scruff of the neck and started dragging him outside, Gavin held the door open while Louis smacked Joey’s head against the door frame as he pulled him through. Once in the alleyway, Louis kicked Joey in the head.

”You bastard! What the fuck have you gotten involved in?”

Louis kicked Joey again and again in the ribs.

“Tell us where they are!”

Gavin had a slow fire burning within him- rage over Jack being in the hospital- but he still grinned to see Louis drinking some of the old Gato whiskey. The stuff was fucking priceless, but the kid needed a little Gato in him tonight, so Gavin held his tongue as Louis drank about 300 grand worth of swigs from the bottle.

Gavin parked in the alley as recommended, and they stalked over to the pub in question. Gavin was thinking that he'd quietly stick a gun in Joey's side and get him outside... but Louis was a bit more direct. After the fifth or sixth kick to the ribs, Gavin stepped in.

"Look, asshole. You've fucked up royally. I can't promise you anything, but I can guarantee that you've got no chance of surviving this unless you talk."

Gavin dropped down to a crouch, his M1911 clearly in view.

"Tell us where the rest are. Now. Or we'll just shoot you and try someone else."

Joey coughed. 

“...the Excelsior...the tall one wanted dropped off there...cough, cough...but the other three got out and went over the road...I think”

Louis shaped up to kick again...

”I swear, that’s the truth...tall guy in the Excelsior and the others in the restaurant across the road...I didn’t like them...I’d just suggested frightening you, they wanted more”

Louis was tempted to keep at Joey to teach him a lesson but Gavin’s intervention was a sign that Louis was not being ruled by his head...

”Excelsior Gavin?”

Gavin nodded slowly. Seemed like this would be a quick job after all. He stood from his crouch, gun still in his hand, looking down at the wounded man on the ground.

"Louis. Finish him off. In this business, killing your enemies isn't always the best move. But in this case, we need to send a message to anyone thinking about coming after the Godfather again. We've got the information we need now."

He nodded at Louis's revolver. 

"Two in the chest. Then one in the foreheard to make sure the job is done. Don't make him wait for it; he helped us, so he's earned a painless death."

Louis stood over Joey. This was new. He’d beaten men, half drowned them and maimed them but actually taking a life like this...of someone he knew...was a task he’d managed to avoid. He took the safety off, that much he knew about and aimed at Joey’s chest. 

“...Louis...plea”

BANG

Louis pulled the trigger. The pain in his shoulder came back as the recoil shot through him. 

“You crossed a line Joey. You should have known what would come”

Louis steeled himself for the upcoming pain

BANG

Another shot in the chest, he aimed at Joey’s head...

BANG

Louis stood briefly, amazed at the mess on the ground beneath Joey. Nobody ever described the effect of shooting someone in the head, probably because no words could adequately do so. But the odd thing was the feeling of nothing inside Louis. He felt no regret or compunction that he had crossed a line. That line was crossed when Joey brought the Tamburellos to the Pier. 

“Lets go Gavin”

As they got back in the car, Louis took one last look at Joey. There lay number one. 

Gavin nodded at Louis when the business was done as they walked back to the car. As Gavin pulled out into the road, he glanced at the young Mezzo.

"It's not fun. Only sick fucks kill for fun. It's not easy, and you shouldn't do it lightly. But it's what we do to protect our family. We can talk more later, if you want to. But for now, focus on the job at hand. We'll hit... Siegrist, right? He'd be the one in the Excelsior by himself. And we'll do this one quietly. I'll go up to him, stick a gun in his ribs, and get him outside. We get information from him, same as before, and then we put him down. After that... well, the larger bunch will be tougher. We might need to go in guns blazing there, but if we've got the element of surprise it should be doable."

The rest of the journey was made in silence as Louis thought about what was going to be happening and his relationship with Benny Siegrist. The pair had bonded over a mutual appreciation of shiny things that belonged to other people, like magpies. The raid that saw him put away was extortion of a corner shop, the first time they’d tried it. Benny stood out like a sore thumb, a good nine or ten inches above everyone. There weren’t many people in the area that size so had been pinched on account of that. To his credit he didn’t rat on the rest but had held grudges. 

The Excelsior’s neon front rose out of the gloomy night, the hotel and club were one of the hottest venues in town and probably the last big name that wasn’t controlled by the mob.  The queue on this cold and snowy night was minimal so once Gavin had parked the car, they were inside quickly enough and out of the cold. 

The crowds in the club were busy and the hubbub of chattering, shouting and singing made it almost impossible to talk quietly.  Louis scanned the room and saw nothing untoward; nobody stood out. Suddenly in the corner of the room two women stood up.  Benny, ever the gentlemen, stood out of politeness and that was it...his six foot seven frame towering over everyone. Louis tapped Gavin’s shoulder and motioned towards Benny. Gavin led the way moving people apart as he made his way across the room. As he got towards Benny’s seat Louis saw Gavin surreptitiously drew his gun and pulled up beside Benny. 

“Hey buddy, move, this seat’s...”

Gavin’s gun was poked into Benny’s side in the blink of an eye.

“This seat is now vacant. Get yourself out the back of this hotel now. You have explaining to do Mr Siegrist.”    

That Gavin knew his name visibly unsettled Benny as did the sudden appearance of Louis on his other side.  Louis motioned with his right hand that he also had a gun and there was no getting away. 

“Come with us Benny.”

Benny and Gavin stood up with Gavin’s gun firmly wedges against his side. The corridor to the hotel kitchen was empty enough as they made their way to the back doors. Benny looked behind him to Louis,

​​​​​​​“Louis, come on. What’s going on?”

Louis and Gavin said nothing but kept walking him out.

As the door closed behind them, the cold wind whipped around blowing snow around. Gavin was the first to speak. 

“What is your involvement in the events at the Pier?”

Benny denied knowing anything or indeed knowing where the Pier was. Louis’ blood started to boil.

”Don’t fuck us about Benny.  Bruno was in the East Cat so obviously you’re involved.  He’s dead in case you were concerned about him.  Now, do you want to rethink your answer?”

Benny started to flap.  His answers were making little sense.  

​​​​​​​“Benny, basically you’re too thick to do this by yourself.  Why are you involved with Tempara?  And how many Tamburellos are there?  We know of three.”

”Tony came to me asking if I’d help.  I don’t know why he wanted me.  I didn’t think want any of this really.  I just wanted to give you a fright, let you know that I hadn’t forgotten about you...”

Benny’s voice started to quiver and he didn’t notice Gavin moving more behind him.

”Five of Tony’s guys came with us.  You and Jack managed to get a couple of them.  Only three of us came here and they headed over to Umberto’s over the road.  They’re going to go again after their mea...”

Having all the information needed was enough for Gavin to hear.  Louis was was only briefly aware of the shot after Benny already started falling into the snow.

”Louis let’s go.  Check your gun before we head over. We’ll see what we can make out from the sidewalk before we go in.”

Louis made sure his gun was full and the pair of them headed out of the alleyway and across to Umberto’s. There was nobody around on the sidewalk in front so they both stood outside as if they were talking.

Gavin put two more quick shots into Siegrist to confirm the kill, then reloaded. As he did, he was listening, but eventually spoke to Louis.

"If you're going to shoot someone, do it as quickly as possible- group the shots together. People here loud noises all the time- heavy things tipping over, cars backfiring... they don't want to hear gunshots. They'll convince themselves they're hearing something else if it's over quickly. But if they hear gunshot, silence, gunshot, silence, gunshot... they wind up actually believing it, ya know?"

His gun reloaded, he led Louis across the street. A few people had paused, looking concerned, but no one seemed alarmed enough to do anything yet. That would change shortly. 

Gavin helped Louis prop up his collar to cover his face more, knowing the younger man had his arm in a sling, before fixing his own collar and leading him past the window of Umberto's, glancing inside as he pretended to talk to Louis, who he'd instructed to face away from the restaurant just in case his face was recognized.

When they reached the other end of the building, Gavin and Louis ducked down an alley.

”Okay. Sometimes, a hit requires a ton of planning. Long range riflework. Poison. Whatever. In this case, we're going to keep it simple. These three don't have bodyguards around. They don't seem particularly bothered, either. To them, this is a celebration. These three small timers just killed a Godfather and burned his HQ. I wouldn't be shocked if they're half in the tank already. If they were real threats, we'd plan this shit all day. Get me a job as a waiter or something. But here? They're sitting right next to each other and they're not on guard. I'm going to go in and chat up the hostess for a bit- they shouldn't recognize my face. After a minute, you come in and blast away at them. I'll do the same. We empty out our guns- and you don't stop walking as you head out the back door. Got it?"

Louis nodded, and Gavin had a strange sense of deja vu, as if he was having a conversation with Jack. With a grin, Gavin headed inside. After a minute of flirting with the waitress and setting up a private party, he heard the door open behind him and tightened his grip on the gun in his pocket.

The Tamburellos glanced up, one of them frozen with his fork halfway to his mouth as they recognized Louis- and saw the revolver in his hand. Gavin was standing slightly behind Louis as both men unloaded. Three targets at once was nothing easy, but these three died scrambling for their guns. Gavin switched targets quickly, ensuring that no one got a shot off at Louis... the younger man had admitted he wasn't much of a shot, and Gavin had no intention of taking another Mezzo to the hospital. Still, by standing behind Louis, the young Mezzo couldn't know for sure who had killed who. 

Louis froze just for a moment as their guns went silent, before a light push from Gavin sent him towards the back door. Amidst the screams of the waitstaff and customers, they moved through the chaos out their car. Tara would have to spend a small fortune "fixing" that investigation... but it was worth it to send the message they needed to. Gavin glanced over at Louis with a subdued smirk.

"You did good, kid. Real good. Why don't we get back to the hospital and see Jack?" 

Once they stepped outside, the cold and the adrenaline hit Louis harder than the punches Gavin had thrown at the gym.  In his head he felt as if he was screaming “fuuuuuuuuuuck” throughout the mayhem but no sound was coming out.  Shot after shot came out of his gun and his whole body tensed with pain after each one and Louis was sure he saw at least one puff of upholstery from missing.  The accuracy would come when his shoulder was better though, there wouldn’t be an empty tin can on a wall that would be safe from Louis shortly.
Louis smiled once they were sitting in the car, not a smile of amusement but as a release of nervous energy and anticipation.

“Holy shit Gavin.  That was…”

Louis hesitated to use the word fun.  It certainly wasn’t fun, that minimised the enormity of what had just happened and it hadn’t been particularly enjoyable.

“…insane!”

As the car started up the relief washed over Louis.  Jack was going to be ok, maybe a bit more cantankerous than normal for a while, and everyone involved in this was now out of the picture.  Gavin pulled he car out of the alleyway and headed away from the sound of sirens then it was straight into a warren of side streets that took them further and further away from the scene.  Louis had no idea where they were but Gavin’s years of ducking and diving had given him some sort of mental map of all these streets that suddenly had them appearing on the road to the hospital while never once passing another car on the road.

“That’s how to avoid the law kid.  You’ll need to get better acquainted with the back alleys around here to keep yourself out of trouble in the future, your friends in the force can only help you out so far.”

The car spluttered to a halt in the car park and Gavin wiped a couple of mud stains off the sides of the car.

“Do the same that side Louis, Kassandra will be unimpressed if her car’s dirty.”

Louis wiped it down and they both headed back in to the hospital. 

Gavin’s bodyguards milled around Jack’s room waiting for news about the successful completion of their efforts.  Dale Ford had remained at the hospital as a courtesy to Louis on the pretence of questioning Jack.  The fact both men returned was enough for Dale to know, his role would now be to help keep the heat off of both Gavin and Louis.

“I’ll head back to the station now Louis.  Smooth things over, obviously you both were here assisting me with any enquiries I’ve had for the last couple of hours.  I have all these witnesses that will state the same.”

“Thanks Dale.  Appreciate your help with this.”

Gavin entered Jack's room quietly with Louis. He opened the bottle and poured a small, small amount of whiskey into a cup for Jack. He placed the cup in front of Louis, and then patted the younger man on the shoulder.

"If he wakes up, give him this. And if he starts dying? Well, give it to him anyway. He deserves to go with the taste of the old Gato stuff on his lips. Good work today, kid."

Looking back at the Mezzos, Gavin closed the door on his way out.

The door to the room closed behind Gavin and Louis sat swirling the whisky in the cup; it was fine quality stuff the way it coated the inside briefly before falling back down.  The couple of mouthfuls he had taken on the way into town had gone down extremely well but it was way too sophisticated for Louis.  He’d probably be far happier with paint stripper, certainly more to his budget that’s for sure.

Over the next couple of hours, the occasional doctor and nurse came in and fussed about JackMezzo; poking and prodding him, making sure he was comfortable.  All the while just letting him rest.  The doctor who had set Louis’ shoulder in the sling stuck his head round the door to ask whether he needed anything for the pain but it didn’t seem worth it at the moment.

“Maybe if things get worse doctor, thanks, but it’s all ok just now.”

As the doctor left, Louis turned quickly.  He’d not given a thought to the Pier in all the excitement.

“Doc, has there been anyone else come in from the Pier fire?”

“Not alive Louis, I’ve heard of at least one body in the morgue but nothing else”

Louis thanked the doctor and stood up, starting to pace about.  It was either that or tap his feet like some bored, fidgety teenager.
Jack started to stir so Louis put the cup to his lips and let him drink a little sip.

“Here you go Jack, this’ll set you up nicely.  You gave us quite the scare.”

Jack drank. 

Initially surprised by the bite of liquor on his lips again, though it soon passed and he swallowed gratefully. He shuffled in his bed, finding a comfortable position where he could feel a little less helpless. His face was drawn and pale, bloodshot eyes flickering as he recounted recent events and orientated himself to the present situation. The old man's wandering gaze found Louis and he eased. 

A wavering hand raised and grasped the side of his grandsons face, aged fingers gripping the back of his neck. He shook slightly, eventually releasing and patting Louis's cheek affectionately. 

Mezzo nodded to him, letting his eyes fall closed again and returning to his rest.