She had been sitting in her apartment enjoying a glass of malt when she heard the first gunshot. It was a weird sound in the middle of the night, as it echoed. She sat straight up, and grabbed her Glock. She heard the second shot, she turned off the light and she peered around her closed curtain. Careful not to move it much, as to draw attention to her position. Her breath steady, she watched silently with gun in hand to the scene unfolding below. 

From her vantage point she could see two men down. She couldn't tell if they were alive or dead. If they were alive, probably not for long, judging by the amount of blood pooling around their still figures. Off to the left, she could see figures crouching behind a postal box. 1, 2 no four men with guns drawn. They were making hand gestures, probably a plan of attack.  On her right, she saw a black Cadillac and inside, she could make out 2 figures. One looked like Antonio Kelly, a capo from The East side. He liked the ladies, well, he liked to beat the ladies. He was very abusive. She had met him on occasion, and always kept her distance. He was not a man to be messed with. 

As she stood watching quietly, in the dark, three more men jumped out of the shadows to her right, one armed with a machine gun. The men on her left didn't have the advantage of seeing them, as they started around to the Cadillac with their guns drawn, the man armed with the machine gun pulled the trigger. One, two, three men dropped in a mere second.  She had wanted to warn them, but, it would have been to no avail, because they still would have died, and so would she. So, she waited, and she watched.She watched as Kelly got out of the car, and walked over to the bodies laying on the ground in front of him. He reached inside the pocket of one man, and took out a small package.  She could only imagine what was in it. Drugs.. that's what East side was notorious for.. drugs. 

Then something interesting happened, the "Dead man" who was laying in front of Kelly moved. He and his soldiers didn't see it, but she did, and he reached over to his left side and picked up a gun.  Crack.. Crack.. Crack.. Crack. It was obvious that he spent plenty of time at the gun range, because with every shot he took, you could see the life draining out of his victims eyes.  She almost gasped audibly as she realized that Kelly was hit, point blank between the eyes. The man got up, walked over to the Cadillac and shot the driver, a young boy of about 14 who had been working his way up through the ranks. He would have been a top mafiosi had he been allowed to live. He opened the trunk of the car where and took out three bundled packages. From her vantage point, they looked to be between 5-10 lbs a piece.  He then took out a suitcase - opened it to reveal stacks and stacks of case.  He took all of these things and got in a car across the street, a blue sedan. As it sped by her window, she recognized the driver - It was Bobby Benetti. She smiled - They would score tonight. 

She sat silently in her apartment, for at least another hour. The "cleaners" came, and took away the bodies, and the Cadillac. No one would ever know what happened here tonight. When the last car  pulled away, she called Kevin__Kelly to fill him in. Then she called Peptide . They needed to go pay Bobby Benetti's crew a visit. There was enough drugs and money to make them all rich. She waited in the dark apartment for Peptide to pick her up. She knew he would be along shortly. 

Kevin was abrubtly awoken by the phone.  Most nights at this time he's in no condition to respond to a call, but in this life he knows that he always has to answer every call....

He notices its MissNiki so he immediately sobers up and sits up in bed as he answers.

What's up?  Everything ok?  Where do i need to be? You ok? Late night calls from Niki always frighten him....

Relax Kev.  I'm ok.....more than ok.....get dressed and get over here.  I have huge news.  We've possibly hit the mother load.  Niki looks at her watch, knows her friend and continues......tell the strange naked woman in your bed to get out, shower to get the whiskey and skank smell off you, and get your ass over here.

Kevin rolls over and looks under the covers and mumbles under his breath....how did you know....ok give me a few minutes.   I'll be right there.  

He stumbles to the shower and gets cleaned up.  When Niki asks something of him, he does it without questioning.  Once cleaned up he headed over to find out what the mother load could be.  Walking out the door he remembered the stranger in his bed and he started to wake her.....

Ehhhh, she'll find her way out.  He heads to Niki's, excited for the adventure that might be ahead of them.

"It's always darkest before the dawn." She'd heard that her whole life, and now, sitting here, shortly before the sun would be coming up, she believed it. She was waiting to hear back from Peptide , but Kevin__Kelly was on the way.  She knew she could always rely on him to show up in a pinch, whether he was busy with the latest hooker or not. As she sat there in her dark apartment, her Glock the the table beside her, she listened to the night. It was so very quiet, except for the neighbor's dog barking at the cats fighting in the alley. 

She sipped her malt and contemplated what to do next. Should she and Kevin just make the score without Peptide? No, that was probably not the best move. She didn't know how many people Bobby Benetti had guarding the stash and she'd need the help of the whole crew to pull it of. Her Glock may be trusty, but, it had it's limits. She needed firepower, and the help of Peptide's cleaning crew. When they were done, there would be no trace left, like Bobby's gang never existed. 

Kevin came bounding into her apartment, unannounced, as usual. It was funny, he had done it her whole life and it had never bothered her. Well, except for the one time she had Marco in her room when she was about 16. Kevin had beaten the shit out of that boy. She never heard from him again. Last she heard he was married and beating the shit out of his wife on an almost daily basis. Kevin had saved her yet again. He always knew what was best for her. When their father lay dying of consumption, he made Kevin swear to always protect her. Kevin had followed through with that promise in the days and years that followed. All she had was Kevin, their mother had died of a broken heart, of that she was sure. Her mother was a ghost of her former self after her father died. 

As Kevin joined her at the side table beside the window, he picked up the glass of scotch she had already poured. As he finished and poured another, she started to go over what had transpired this evening. 

They waited together in silence. Each deep in their own thoughts. Kevin was probably thinking of the busty blond he left in his bed, but she was forming plans in her head. All of the sudden, she heard a shot, and a scream. Then another, and another. She picked up her Glock and moved to the window. Kevin had pulled his side arm out of the holster and did the same. As they watched horrified from the window, they watched as the bodies of people they had met in passing piling up. It was a total bloodbath. She prayed Peptide hadn't gotten caught up in that mess. 

She finally opened the curtain all the way, but kept the light off. No one was looking up, they were all focused on staying alive. She watched in horror as top men and woman from across the country were felled. Carol Hathaway, James Kirk, Templar, Fat Thor and Posh Spice - they were all leaders of crews around the country, they all were gunned downed by who, she didn't know, she couldn't see that from her vantage point. So they watched, and waited. Finally, from the shadows to her left, step out Hoth, a Godfather. He was screaming at Doug Ross to come out, they would settle this like gentlemen. She held her breath for a full thirty seconds wondering whether Doug would come out. He did. 

In a gentleman's duel, both men are given the exact same gun, with the exact same ammo. They decide who will be shooting first, or if they both shoot first. They shake hands, and then walk 50 paces away from each other. As this was all unfolding, she heard bets being taken from the crowd that had gathered below to watch.  

48,49... 50

Hoth shoots and HITS DougRoss!

DougRoss shoots and misses Hoth!

The duel between Hoth and DougRoss has ended with Hoth as the victor.

She stood stunned, two men, which had proven to be allies in the past, had just destroyed all of that with one shot. She had seen on the street signs, huge bounties on the heads of many leaders in the communities, she knew that this played a huge part in what had transpired tonight. Paranoia was setting in everywhere. I mean, anyone could take a shot at one of them and collect vast sums of money. There were only a few, however, that could pull an assassination off, and it was people who were trusted.

She looked at Kevin__Kelly and sighed. "You might as well just go back to Delores, or whoever you left in your bed..I saw Bobby Bennetti down there among the dead. We won't be scoring from his gang, because I think every one of them is dead now."

She downed her drink, and poured another, it had been an emotional night watching so many people die, in such a violent way. She made the cross sign across her chest, and bowed her head to say a silent prayer for the children who were left behind. 

That relationship had run its course, sis.  I'll just hang here with you till we are given some more information.

Kevin got up and poured himself another drink, kissing Niki's forehead and mussing her head as he walked by.

He peered out the window and ran last night's events thru his head.  He had dreams of bigger and better things in this underground world, he just had to keep at the grind and maybe with the help of his faithful sister he'd be more informed of the goings on of this thing of ours.

As he looked out the window a scantily dressed attractive woman was coming around the corner......

Hey sis, I'll be right back.......can i borrow some cash?

She groaned loudly, so he would feel her displeasure, but still she opened her purse and pulled out five hundred dollars and handed it to him. She caught the grin, that looked so much like their father and smiled to herself. He grabbed the cash, kissed her cheek and said "I'll be back in a little while." Out the door he went. She wasn't sure where he was going, and she wasn't worried at this point, the gunfire had stopped, and for as irresponsible that he acted, she knew he wasn't. He was a force to be reckoned with. 

She smiled at the thought of him, she loved him despite his flaws, probably because of his flaws. She wasn't sure. She just loved him. She picked up her Glock and released the shell from the chamber, and laid it back on the table. She picked up their glasses and washed them up all the while thinking of all the things that had transpired that night. She would never tell another soul, and she and Kevin would never speak of it. Because if you talk about things you see people do when they think no one is watching, it could mean the difference of having coffee at the coffee shop, or, taking a swim in the ocean with a bullet in your face.

She sighed and started a pot of coffee, as she watched the sunrise beginning. 

She thought of this night often, and how Kevin would rush to her side, with just a phone call. She missed him, and his flaws, and his perfection. She wasn't sure if she could trust Danny__Greene yet. And if she was completely honest, she wasn't sure she wanted to trust him. She didn't want him to take Kevin's place. There was only one imperfectly perfect Kevin.

In the days since his passing, she spent so much time wallowing, and Javier kind of left her to do what she needed. She appreciated him so much. If she didn't make it to HQ, he sent a driver to make sure she was ok. She had never run into a leader like him before. He'd actually taught her quite a bit, which was interesting, because she thought she was already a seasoned pro. Just goes to show, as long as you are willing, there is always something new to learn.