Vale laid with her head on a pillow against the window of the plane, eyes closed trying to catch up on some well needed sleep. Sleep wasn't something that came easy nowadays. There was something always going on, whether it was business or well it was all business. Even when she had nothing to do, her mind still was all over the place. Needless to say she needed to get away from it all, take a bit of a break and clear her mind. What better way to do that then a trip back to Detroit, the city she called home after moving from home. It wasn't a particularly long flight from Philadelphia to Detroit but long enough to take a nap and that's what she did. Once the plane was in the air, the humming of the engines put her fast asleep.

It wasn't until the jolt of tires on the runway that woke her up. You know the jolt, it's a big enough jolt that when you're sleeping and not expecting it that it scares the shit out of you. That is exactly what happened to Vale, as the place touched down the feeling of the jolt woke her instantly. As she sat up in her seat, her heart began racing. She gripped up the armrests and quick looked out the windows, it didn't take her long to realize the plane was safely on the ground. Which in turn she loosened her grip on the armrests. She noticed the man sitting next to her giving her a bit of a look, then a smile.

Taking a deep breath in then slowly exhaling she turned to the man and gave him a small smile.

"I guess we are here, huh?"

The man nodded without saying anything. She was expecting him to say something in response to her but nothing, nothing at all. It didn't really matter, she had never seen the man before and probably would never see him again. Vale gathered her immediate things around her while the plane finished taxiing to the gate. Once docked, Vale grabbed the remainder of her things and de-boarded. One of the pluses of sitting in the first class section, meant she was one of the first off the plane.

She made her way through the airport, to her awaiting driver. She had made sure to schedule a pickup for her, it was about the only thing she actually planned on this trip. Hell she still hadn't even booked a hotel, it was something that she figured she could do when she got there. Wasn't overly important, plus the couple hours of sleep she had just gotten on the plane would last her quite some time. 

The driver took her bags and escorted her to the awaiting car, he opened the door for her and waited for her to get seated before closing it. Then made his way to the trunk, placing her bags inside it then making his way to the drivers seat. He got in, closed his door and turned to her.

"Good day Miss Patangeli! I'm Roger, whatever you need or wherever you need to go please just let me know. I will be at your service all day, where would you like to go?"

Vale gave him and smile before speaking up.

"Good day to you as well Roger and please feel free to call me Vale. No need to be formal."

Roger gave her a nod. "Alright Vale, where to?"

She thought on it for a moment, this was a sort of a vacation. What to do, what to do... Having the slightest idea she gave him a shrug. "Do you know any underground places? You know the places where you can get a good drink and perhaps lose a bit of money?"

Roger gave her another nod. "I know exactly the place!" He turned about in his seat, started the car and sped off out of the airport parking lot.  The car ride was fairly quiet, 20 minutes of silence. It was actually rather nice, that was until he pulled down a back alley. "We are just about here, don't mind the alley but it's the only way into this place."

He pulled around the corner, which opened up into a small parking lot. The lot of which was gated off and guarded by a pair of rather beefy guys. The car stopped in front of the gate as the two guys approached the car, one of the driver side and the other on the passenger side. Roger rolled down his window, slipped the man a couple dollars and expressed his reasoning for being there. Mere moments later the two men walked away from the car and opened up the gate. The car rolled forward slowly and into the first parking space that was opened.

Roger opened his car door, got out then opened Vale's for her. Once out of the car, Vale was met by one of the bouncers.

"Welcome! Now, we have a strict no weapons policy inside. So before you enter I will have to pat you down." Vale gave him a rather evil glare before answering. "You will not pat me down and if you place your hands on me to try I will have them cut off." The man took a step towards her, in response she took a step towards him. "Ma'am it's policy for everyone."

Sensing the tension, Roger quickly got in between them. He leaned into the bouncer and whispered something into his ear. The bouncers eyes lite up and he began nodding to whatever Roger was saying. A couple seconds later the bouncer walked back over to Vale.

"My apologizes Miss Patangeli, please follow me."

She gave Roger a look, he gave her a nod of approval. So she followed the man into the club. A club that was quite busy, the smell of the booze and the sounds of the yells from the table games echoed through the place. Vale stood in the doorway and smiled, this was going to be a good little getaway.

Billy had been checking in on the flower shop nearby when he found out about the hall. He was going over the books for most of the day, he picked a different place almost every day, made sure they were paying their protection, and also managing to make him a little bit of money. It was easier when he was a Don, less protection to pay. It was the cost of doing business though, and by the end of the exhaustive day he realizes that, without ether an influx of customers or capital, the flower shop would close.

He had a thought on how to tackle both things at once, but it had been a long day and Mavis had the children. He sent word with Gerald, his new runner until he found Rebecca again, home to let Aurora know he would be late and to tell her he was going dicing for a bit of extra cash. it was rare for her to show up to things like this, it was not her type of thing. She was too competitive to let chance play such a big part in something she cared about. So, Billy went alone.

"Gotta pat you down bud." The guy in front of Billy said. In response, Billy pulled out a stack of cash from his pocket.

"You're sure about that?"

"Damn sure." The guy nodded back to Billy, and so Billy turned and walked back to the flower shop to secure the guns he would only trust two people in the world to hold. Second time around went easier, he was patted down and then made his way inside.

The smell of alcohol, real alcohol, hit him like he was walking into a thick ooze. He didn't mind it, but it was certainly surprising. For one thing he was glad they did not water down their drinks here. For another, he could see the tables he was looking for. Billy lived to dice. It was his bread and butter, and he enjoyed it far too much. Thankfully, he knew when to cut himself off, and when to push his luck. He had a reputation in Detroit of shutting down smaller establishments, this one should be able to pay him out without going belly-up though.

"Can I get a glass of your finest whiskey? A double actually."

He put a bill down on the bar and watched as the bartender poured a glass. he did not lift his hand off the twenty he placed there until the bartender had slid him the glass, and then he just left it there and walked to the table slowly pulling out a cigar along the way and placing it into the corner of his mouth.

"Well well, what do we have here boys?" He looked at the table and then nodded to a man he knew. Mack as most called him, backed away from the table then and let Billy slip into his spot. He knew that Billy would be there all night, and he also knew Billy would thank him for giving up the spot.

As Billy moved to take his new space he noticed a woman standing there, not unusual surely, but this woman he knew. At least he thought he did. His thoughts, of course, were confirmed when she stepped into place next to her.

"Well well if it isn't my dear friend Miss Valencia!"

He leaned in a whispered into her ear for only her.

"Do these ruffians know who you are, or should we stick to Miss for the night?"

Vale was already a couple glasses of whiskey in before she made her way to the dice table. Dicing was something that she usually stayed away from while sober but once the liquor started flowing it was game on. It was probably why she hardly ever won, drunk gambling was never a good idea. It was quick to show too, her stack of cash was dwindling slowly. Not like it truly mattered, she was pulling in so much money back in Philadelphia that if she wanted she could retire now and live the good life.

That wasn't her though, making money and running her whiskey operation was what she did best. There was nothing else that she could see herself doing. Hell, she was pretty much married to the life. It was her love, her passion. Didn't help that her father was who he was, it helped give her a bit of a step ahead but still everything she got she worked for.

So if she wanted to blow a bit of cash, there was nothing going to stop her.

She was about to take a couple twenties when she heard her name coming from beside her. It was like she knew she heard it but second guessed it. Fumbling around with her cash, the sound reverberated in her head. It was her name that she heard, at least she could have swore it was. She quick whipped her head around, who she saw she wasn't expecting. 

"Billy.... what in the hell..."

The guy taking the bets, yelled out last call for this toss. Without looking Vale grabbed some money and tossed it in front of her.

"What are you doing here? Well not here, cause I know how you like these places but more so Detroit. Last I heard you were in Las Vegas, I think..."

Billy shrugged an nodded.

"Yeah, I was. Then again, I was in Italy for a little while too. I was born and raised in New York. Doesn't really matter where I call home, seems like there's gonna be a new home somewhere else soon enough."

He sighed at that and watched the result of the roll come out before pulling out his own cash and laying it down.

"I could ask the same of you though. What are you doing out here in Detroit? Last I heard you were running the show over in Philly with your dad. You haven't come to muscle in on my measly little cigar place have you?"

He winked at her and then looked to the table.

"Well you made out nicely on that last throw, you gonna let that ride?"

He took a sip of his whiskey then and glanced around. One man was watching him like a hawk, but just one. Which likely meant that Vale had two bodyguards here, one to watch her, one to watch the room. Billy would have figured a woman with her kind of power and influence might want to grab up a bit more protection, then again, he only even kept two guys at most himself.

Vale leaned in towards Billy as he spoke, the place was loud and crowded. Hearing him from any sorts of distance was a challenge, which was why she had to lean in towards him. He spoke about where he called home, it was something that she knew all about. She had bounced all over until finally calling Philly home, well for now at least. Who knows where she would be next week, next year etc...

She could see his eyes glare towards the table as the dice were thrown, it was second nature to him. Those little white cubes were like a drug to him. She followed his eyes to the table, watched the results then looked back towards him.

"I've got my hand in a couple things out there in Philly, I wouldn't say I'm running things but I'm doing well for myself. It keeps me busy, that is for sure."

She glanced back at the table from his comment. It may have been the first time she had big all night and go figure it was right after she ran into Billy. Perhaps he was about to bring her a bit of luck...

"Uh, what should I do? I'm not what you call a professional dice player."

The dealer guy called for the last call on bets again before Billy could answer. So she just went with it, motioned with her one hand to keep the bet on the table. That's when out of the corner of her eye she noticed the man. He looked quite familiar like she had seen him somewhere before but she had no idea who he was. She kept on looking at him out of the corner of her eye as the dice got thrown again.

"The lady wins again!" The dealer guy yelled out as he slide her a stack of cash. Which made her look down for a moment, by the time she looked back up the guy was gone. Something wasn't right, something just didn't feel normal. She leaned back in towards Billy with a bit of a curious look on her face.

"There was just a guy over there." She nodded in the direction he was standing. "Not sure what it was about him but something didn't seem right, I looked down for a moment and he vanished. Am I just being paranoid?"

Billy nodded.

"Yes you are, but anyone in your position needs to be, or else you don't live very long."

He reached out and took his bills off the table.

"I would take some of that down if I were you, even if it hits again, at least pull out your initial bet."

His eyes glanced over to the man who was staring at him. Billy nodded once, subtly in the direction Valencia had just indicated there was a man. He was not Billy's man, Billy had no men here. This guy was meant to protect Valencia, and yet, Billy had led men. Sometimes if you were commanding and honest and steadfast, people would listen whether they were yours or not.

This was not one of those times. Billy, to his regret, had to pry his eyes away from the table to scan the room for someone who was looking in the direction of the woman beside him. He covered up his glances with a yawn and a stretch, neither of which was a complete lie.

"Your guy might have moved to the bar. How many eyes do you have in the place tonight Vale? Maybe it's time to get going huh?"

The dice got tossed and landed in favor of Valencia again, and Billy sighed. Nobody's luck held forever.

"Eyes in place..." Vale smirked.

"The only eyes that I have in this place are my own. I mean I have a driver waiting for me outside but that's it. I came on this trip by myself, actually no one knows I'm out here in Detroit. Well besides you and Rodger."

Another stack of cash was tossed in front of her, the dice table was just heating up. Was a shame to have to leave but Billy was right. It was time to get out of here, something still just didn't feel right. Vale scooped up her cash off the table, took a couple twenties out of the pile and tossed it towards the dealer. It was her way of expressing thanks to the guy, even though he really didn't do anything. It was all straight luck, nonetheless it was still a good gesture.

She scanned the place over after stuffing the cash into her bag. The same man was spotted at the bar, he was pretending to mingle in with the crowd while keeping an eye on Vale. It was a glare that felt like he was looking into her soul, she couldn't explain it but it wasn't a good feeling. Now she has had men stare at her before, in a sensual manner. This though was different.

"You know what Billy, I think you're right. I think it is time for me to get out of here, something just doesn't feel right and I'd rather not wait around to find out if my hunch was right or not. You mind escorting me out?"

"You know, I think you're right

Billy shook his head and left what money he had on the table. He had pulled away enough winnings already.

"Of course not. Dealer, let it ride as a tip bet."

The dealer nodded and Billy held out his arm for Valencia to take. As they were walking their way out, Billy could feel the familiar tug of a person who needed the assistance of another to not bump directly into something. Either Valencia had been here a while, or she was playing it up to lure someone out. Either way, Billy thought it was dumb to ask her how bad she was, so he kept quiet until they got to the door and stepped outside.

"Vale, I've got nothing on me, they were going to take my weapons, so if something happens, it's a fistfight for me. I can hold my own, but you should run."

He made sure to whisper so nobody else walking in or out would hear them.

"Did you at least get a good look at the guy on the way out? And where's this driver of yours?"

Vale didn't realize how tipsy she was until she started walking towards the door. Her legs felt a bit like jello which was odd cause she only had... she started counting in her head. "One, two... four... five..." Damn five drinks of the good stuff, no wonder why she felt the way she did. She tried to play it off that she wasn't tipsy but it was hard in the heels she was wearing.

It took just a little bit for them to get outside, she was about to take her heels off but remembered they were in some random parking lot at the end of an alley. Probably not the best place to wake around barefoot.

She listened as Billy exclaimed that he had no weapons on him, nothing but his fists. It was ok though, she was packing. Taking her bag off her shoulder she opened it opened it up so Billy could look in. She could tell he was a bit hesitant to look into it but Vale practically forced it into his face.

"It's ok, I have my gun. See...."

He gave her a bit of a puzzled look. "How did you get that into the club."

Vale smiled. "Cause I'm special?"

She went onto the next thought that was in her mind, well the next answer to the questions Billy threw at her.

"I didn't get a look at the guy, I was trying not to bump into people and my driver it over there." She pointed to an empty space in the parking lot. "Uh..." She looked around the lot and didn't see the car, nor Roger. "Uhm... well seems my driver is gone. What the fuck is that about?"

Billy growled.

"Shit."

He spun then and looked toward the door of the place and he continued to urge Valencia in the direction of his flower shop.

"Vale, I have a feeling someone said something they shouldn't have about you. You're damned right your special. Problem with special though is everyone wants to be special and only a few folks get the privilege."

They made it about half way toward the chain link fence and gate before the door to the hall burst open and out spilled six guys. Billy recognized one of them as the guy that had been standing in the corner staring at him. The guy his mistakenly thought was one of Valencia's men. The other five he did not know, but he had a feeling they were gonna get to know him real quick.

"Alright Vale, if you're good to use the damned thing, now would be the time. I have a feeling those guys are pissed that you took the house for so much cash."

Vale whipped her head around to the sound of the door bursting open, to watch the five guys pour out of the hall. It took her only a moment to focus on the guy leading the pack, still he looked awfully familiar. Which was strange cause she truly didn't know many people in Detroit anymore, the passing of the years had that effect on things. That's when she heard Billy mention about her gun, for that brief second she had forgot she had it.

"Oh... yeah, I'm always good to use this."

The pack of guys took a couple steps forward before Vale was able to remove the gun from her bag. The sight of the pistol stopped the hoard in their tracks.

"Would be your guys best interest to get your asses back in that club."

The four guys took a step back but not the leader, he took a step forward. Just one step but still a step forward nonetheless. "Do you even know how to use that thing, princess?"

Princess... Did that have some sort of meaning? Did he know who she was or was he just being a dick?

"Princess? I'll show you princess! Take another step forward, I dare you!"

The man smiled at her and took another step forward. Vale cocked her gun lifted it in the air and fired a single shot before directing the gun back on the man. The warning shot still had zero affect. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Billy, his fists were clenched rather tightly.

Vale leaned towards Billy and whispered in his ear. "Billy... that was my last bullet...."

Billy sighed and then leaned in to Valencia, never taking his eyes off the guy.

"Well, looks like I'm about to do what I do then huh? Listen there's a flower shop. If you go down the alley, and make a right. It's half a block down. In the back, the window to the left of the door will open if you push it. Get inside and bunker down. If I make it out of this alive, I'll knock twice on the back door. You knock back and then I'll knock three times. That's how you'll know it's me."

He nodded then and crossed himself charging the leader of the pack.

He swung at the guy high to force him to dodge out of the way, and then swept at his leg to trip him. He missed the trip, but lucky for Billy, the guy jumped and that's when Billy's southpaw connected with the guy's ribs. He could feel a crack. Some people were not meant to take a punch. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the other guys stunned, but starting to move toward the pair now exchanging blows.

Billy was not a boxer, but he knew how to fight. More importantly, he knew that the guy in front of him, had a broken rib, so if he stayed on that side, and just kept hammering at it, eventually the guy would stop coming. He just hoped it was fast enough.

"Vale! Fucking Run!" He managed to call out between blows.

Vale watched in awe as Billy rushed the leader of the pack, she wasn't exactly sure what she was expecting but that was definitely not something she foresaw happening. Now she knew he told her to run and she knew he told her the direction to whatever flower shop he was talking about but she wasn't about to leave him by himself to fend off five guys. That was a recipe for disaster and she wasn't going to be blamed for whatever injuries Billy might take.

There was only one thing to do, only one thing that she could think of doing. She had to join in, somehow...

Vale tucked the gun back into her bag, then tossed her bag off to the side. She kicked her heels off in the direction she just tossed the bag and then gave a quick look around the parking lot where she was standing. There was a small pile of debris pretty much right next to where she had tossed her things. Construction debris, some wood and bricks. Nothing more but it would do.

Quickly she made her way over to the pile and grabbed the first thing she saw. A rotted half broken 2x4 with a couple of old nails at the one end, it wasn't anything special but hopefully it would do something. With the 2x4 in hand Vale hurried to where Billy was fighting the leader of the pack, at this point the man was able to get Billy in some sort of hold. It gave him a brief advantage, the only bad thing for him is that he wasn't looking in Vale's direction.

The four other guys could see what Vale was about to do and rushed to try and beat her to the fight but they weren't quick enough. Vale swung that 2x4 as hard as she could into the mans back. It was enough for him to swing his left arm around, Vale was too close to him as his hand connected when he cheek. It felt like she had ran full force into a wall as it sent her right to the ground and sent the 2x4 flying.

For a moment she couldn't hear anything, well besides the ringing in her ears as she lay on the ground. She wasn't sure where Billy was, hell she couldn't even remember where she was. That's when she felt two separate sets of hands grab her arms and drag her off to the side. She was propped up against the fender of one of the parked cars, two of the men crouched down and got into her face. She could see they were talking but her ears were still ringing. She gave them a look then turned her head to see Billy now trying to fend off 3 guys.

That's when she felt the cold strong hands of one of the guys around her neck, he wasn't squeezing hard enough that she couldn't breath but hard enough to know she was in trouble and at this point she didn't know how to get out of it.

The woman was insane. She had just landed a decent blow on the guy who had managed to stifle Billy's hits, but when he swung back to hit her, that gave Billy all the room he needed. Billy reached out and punched as hard as he could at the guy's exposed rib and the guy stumbled back off of him clutching at his side. By then two other guys were on him, and two on Vale too. No options here, time to get dirty.

Billy reached back and snapped a side mirror off of one of the cars in the lot swinging it into the head of one of his would-be assailants. The blood immediately poured from the wound the metal and glass had torn open and the man went down. The other guy though jumped on Billy in that opportune moment. Billy reached up as the man's hands came down around his face. He grabbed hold of the man by the hair as he bit at his fingers. Nobody liked having their fingers bit off, it was a bad time, and that made the guy loosen his grip just enough that Billy could peel him off by his hair. Billy leaned forward as he pulled and managed to toss the guy using his own body weight into the leader, still clutching at his side, and at this point coughing up blood.

One down and unconscious bleeding from the head, one coughing up blood, and one clutching at his head scrambling to get away from the monster of a man that Billy had suddenly turned into.

When he turned though his face dropped. Valencia was being pinned by two men, and Billy had no idea what they were thinking. All he knew was, there was a 2x4 laying on the ground between him and them, and that made him smirk.

It had been a couple minutes now, Vale had snapped out of her daze a bit. She was still being held by the neck against the car but at least she was know aware of her surroundings. She heard the whoosh of air then a thud, followed by another whoosh of air followed by the loosening of the grip around her neck. As the one guy fell into her lap, Vale quickly rolled him off and looked up as a big shadow stood in front of her. 

The figured leaned towards her, reaching out to her.  "Vale! Come on, we have to get out of here before these guys regain consciousness."

She reached out to him, their forearms locking together as he gave her a tug which helped her off the ground. Quickly she found her bag and her heels, tucked them under her arm and followed Billy out through the gate. They weren't running but they weren't walking either, let's call it a jog of sorts. Hooking the corner just outside the gate sat a car, a very familiar car. It was her car... well not her car but the car that had picked her up from the airport.

Coming up from behind it she could see someone sitting the driver seat but he wasn't sitting normal. He was slouched over to the right a bit.

"Billy, that's my car..."

Being the kind of guy Billy was he stepped in front of Vale as to get the first look at the driver, just in case. She watched as he walked up to the passenger side of the car and looked in. All he did was shake his head then look back at Vale.

"Well, he's dead."

Vale's eyes opened wide and she pushed her way to see herself, it was true, he was dead.

"Fuck! They got Roger. Why would they kill my driver? I only met the guy today..."

She was going to wait for Billy to answer but in the background the sounds of the five guys waking up and regrouping.

'No time to figure this out now, which way to that flower shop of yours?"

Billy nodded.

"This way."

He led the way down out of the alley and then round the corner and down the block to the flower shop. He pushed Valencia in front of him down the alleyway toward the back of the shop and once there pulled out a set of keys and opened the back door. As soon as they were inside billy reached out and opened the cabinet under the sink taking out his two coal black M1911s. He then turned and pointed toward an end table near the door.

"Behind the table should be a shotgun if you want it. I don't think I've got extra bullets lying around for your own gun though. As far as why, well my dear, you do know your a Godmother right? And you're in another city without your bodyguards. And your dad, well, he's a Chairman."

Billy grabbed two glasses from the cabinet and turned on the tap pouring each of them a glass of water.

"So needless to say they could either have been trying to take you out, or maybe kidnap you and ransom you for their retirement. Obviously we're not going to let that happen, the question is, how do you want to do this?"

He slid a glass over to Valencia and then drank his down in a couple of gulps.

"We've got firepower now, but we can just as easily use the phone, and get a car here and get you out of the city. What do you want to do?"

Vale hurried over to the table, glanced behind it and found the shotgun that he was talking about. She wasn't typically a shotgun type of girl but in this situation anything would do. She cocked it making sure it had bullets in it then held it against her body.

"Do you think those guys know to come here?"

Billy shrugged

Vale propped herself up against the wall next to the table and gave the situation a little bit of thought. Clearly she could call for a car but who knew how long it would take to get to the flower shop and on top of that not sure anyone could be trusted at this point. Well anyone but Billy, unless Billy was in on this too... The thought raced through her head as she placed her trigger finger on the shotgun. It was a thought though that quickly got thrown out. There was no way he was in on it, just wasn't possible.

She gave Billy a look over then caught the glass of water out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't thirsty but for some reason she was drawn to the glass. Almost like a bug to light, why she had no idea. It wasn't until Billy snapped his fingers in her direction that she snapped out of it. She looked up to see Billy hold one finger up to his lip as to signal her to be quiet.

It made her perk up, the sounds of feet could be heard coming closer with each passing second. Then the voices could be heard. "Look, blood. They went this way..."

Vale looked at Billy, Billy looked at the backdoor. Her heart began racing as she pushed the shotgun off her body and aimed it at the back door. The handle started to jiggle as the door slowly got pushed opened.

As the door opened the room filled with a roar. Valencia had pulled the trigger and Billy watched as one man fell backward in the doorway, and then as if it were a cloud opening up the windows and walls exploded in a hail of gunfire.

"FUCK" 

He screamed out as he pulled down on Valencia's dress to drag her to the ground. He heard her cock the shotgun again and waited to feel her body buck up against him in the darkness, but thankfully it did not. Instead he pushed the inner door open to the front of the shop with the barrel of his own gun.

Then he pulled the trigger, and missed his target.

"Shit. Well, there's two of them in the front room already and they know we're fucking alive back here now. Sorry."

He shook his head at himself and then got into a crouching position to kick over a table putting at least some cover between them and the back door.

"Assume they are all alive, there were five of them. You killed one in the back there, so two on either side. Whatever direction we go in, we gotta go shooting. Which way you want to go front, or back?"

The smell of gunpowder filled the air from the shot Vale was able to get off. Though being within the confined space of the back room in the flower shop the sound was quite loud. Once again her ears were ringing, seemed like a common trend this afternoon. Her adrenaline though was through the roof, it had been quite some time that she had found herself in a position like this. It was scary but in the same sense exciting.

With her one free hand she brushed her hair out of he face and gave Billy a look with a bit of a smile. The smile took him back slightly, as he couldn't figure out why she was smiling in a time like this. They both could hear the sounds the guys were making, both in the front and in the back. Either way they went someone was dying, which way was the best though that was the question at hand.

There wasn't much time to think about it, thinking about it too long would have sealed their fate. Vale cocked the shotgun once more, making sure there was another cartridge in the chamber.

"We need to go through the back, I've yet to see the front but I know the back is confined. Small and tight, won't take much to hit someone with this shotgun back there. Unless I'm missing something?"

Billy shook his head.

"Back works for me, the less we're shooting up my place of business the better."

He motioned to get in front of Valencia then.

"I'll go first, get a couple of shots off and cover you coming out. After all, I'm a big target so they probably won't see you coming behind me, hopefully they don't hit me and you can take at least one of them down with the shotgun so we can make a break for it."

He made his way to the door with a rush then, pulling out both of his pistols he began firing at the outlines of men in the moonlit darkness of the night.

Almost immediately Billy felt as if he were pinned against the wall with the hail that he had to endure, and yet he made it through the doorway while firing. It wasn't until he was fully outside and he heard the roar of the shotgun behind him that he let go of the breath he hadn't realized he was holding in. It was when he went to breathe in that he realized, not for the first time, he'd been shot.

"Oh for the sake of all that is good and holy. Why?"

He grit his teeth and holstered one gun as he pressed his hand up against his side.

"Well, these two are down it looks like, and unless the other two come flying out of the back door right now I think we're good to leave."

He picked his hand up away from his side then, bloody as all hell. Head wounds and stomach wounds, those always bled the most.

"I have a feeling we're gonna need to get to that car of yours, and I'm gonna need to call my wife from the hospital. Care to escort me out of here?"

He gestured toward the alleyway then with the gun still in his left hand.