As Gustav walked out of the hotel, smiling and counting his winnings, a friend from his past popped up, tapping his shoulder to get his attention Gustav turned to face the man, “How you doing Gus? It’s been awhile.” The man said, Gustav stood and looked the man down, he knew the man, from childhood his name was Eric, tough kid on the block, always wanting to fight and earn a quick buck doing anything, he and Gustav were friends from the past, good ones in fact! Gustav opened his arms and pulled the man in giving him a hug and a pat on the back, “Eric fucking Edwards! How you doing man!” Gustav says pulling out some bills of cash and stuffing them into his pockets “Fuck me, better now sir!” Eric said with a chuckle hugging Gustav back. 

As the friendly exchange took place the men hear a loud screech and a woman’s voice come from the road, Gustav turns to see his wife demanding he gets in! Without hesitation Gustav sprung to a sprint and straight into the already open passenger door, the car peeled off making a sharp right as Mazdyn hit the accelerator sending the car over 20mph in a short time. She started to explain that a car had been following her and she ran into them again just recently after losing them, Gus reached under the seat pulling a sawed-off double barrel and revolver, from under it. He checks the ammo and grabs more from the glovebox. The Morello’s are always prepared, it’s a policy. 

“How was your game love” she says as she speeds down the alleyway beside the hotel. She watches as her husband retrieves more ammo from the glovebox. She pulls a left and then another quick right. As she turns she sees a car coming towards them and they swerve to try to run her off the road. Mazdyn takes a shot as she turns onto a side road. She busted the windshield of the car and saw blood splatter the passenger side window. The driver turned the car around and followed behind them. “Fuck Gus, there are two of them.” 
 

There was an old abandoned factory just outside of town. Mazdyn knew that leading them there was the best thing for her to do. She stepped on the throttle and plotted her course. In her rear view she could see one of the cars speeding up beside her. “Take the wheel” she says as she grabs her gun and leans out of the window. With the first shot the car swerves but is still coming towards them. Shot two punctures the tire causing a blowout spinning the the car into a tree. She laughs and yells “gotcha!” She retakes the wheel from her husband and turns down the road to the factory.

As his wife takes the wheel back gus laughs and looks back at the carnage, his laughs turn to silence as he sees 4 more cars pull up along side the one wrapped around a tree, Gus turns and looks at his wife. “Mazdyn...honey...fucking drive.” He says concern gripping his voice. And right on que. the heavens open up, and a storm sweeps the city. Rain pours down onto the windshield as Mazdyn flies down roads, heading straight to the factory. 

After what seemed like hours driving they finally pull into the abandoned factory, wasting no time the couple step out and head to the trunk, opening it up, Gustav pulls the carpet back opening the hatch, and revealing the weapons in the back, Gustav Grabbed his jet black tommy gun, his wife customised it with the family initials, G-M. Right on the grip. Mazdyn takes her weapon of choice and they turn to Face the entrance, ducking behind cover and awaiting the cars that followed. 

Mazdyn takes cover. She looks down the drive to see 4 cars speed into the factory. She turns to her husband “if need be cover me” she says as she sees the cars come to a halt. Mazdyn makes her way to a few bottles she had saw laying by the steps to the factory. She quickly grabs them and makes her way to the trunk of their car where she grabbed a gas can and some old rags. She quietly closes the trunk and makes her way back to Gustav. “I have an idea” she says as she sets down everything between them “hurry help me put gas into these bottles.” The pair of them get everything together and she grabs two of the molotovs and leaves the rest behind. “I will be back” she says as she kisses her husband “stay safe.”

She makes her was across the yard to get a better view. She see’s men from two of the cars exit their vehicles and retrieve weapons from their trunks, but she can’t make out what they are saying. She moves in closer looking back every so often to make sure no cars had come in the back way. The closer she gets the more clear their intentions become. They weren’t leaving until the Morellos were dead. They had been hired to do a job, but by who? She knew that they had to keep at least one of these men alive, at least for a little while. Gus had a way to make people talk. He had always been good at that.

Mazdyn wasn’t very far from the cars at this point. She made her way behind a dumpster near by the cars. She saw one of the men walking her way. She knew whatever she did, pulling the trigger right now was not an option. Neither was getting caught. If they saw her, she was dead. There was no doubt about that. As the man rounded the corner he was oblivious of her presence. She snuck up behind him. Snap with a quick twist she had broken the mans neck. She caught him the best she could and drug him out of sight. 

It was now or never. She knew it was only a matter of time before the others would come looking for him. She reached into her jacket pocket pulling out a lighter. She wasted no time as she lit both the molotovs and threw them under the cars under the gas tanks on opposite sides of the men. Both cars ignite the gas tanks exploding. Sending the men flying. She wasn’t sure how many men survived the blast but she used it as a distraction to make her way back to Gustav.

BOOM the cars outside explode, sending parts of the men all over the place, a bloodied arm flailing onto Gustavs cover, still burning and...cooking... Gustav arose from cover aiming his gun as he hears panicked screaming and tires screeching, Bang Bang Bang, Gustav fires, casings ejecting as he continued pulling the trigger, sights on the enemy ahead, bullets piercing flesh, blood painting the art of war all over the factory. 

Gustav ducked back to reload his pistol, as he slid another mag into place Mazdyn came crawling next to him, firing off her gun as she came, the Morrelos weren’t no strangers when it came to firearms. After all, you can’t sell a product you know nothing about. “Hey Beautiful.” Gus says before pointing the barrel over the cover and firing Five rounds into the mess. “Typical, something always ruins poker night.” He says chuckling. Before he grabs a Molotov and lights it with the flaming arm above his head, he flings it over and by the sound that followed, it was a direct hit. 

“Sorry about your poker night, I’ll make it up to you” she says as she fires into the men. She takes cover as shoves another clip into her gun. The men were firing back but luckily they weren’t even getting close. “Gus, to your right” she yells as she takes out the guy on the left. Head shot he was no longer a threat to them. 
 

She looks down through the carnage to see how many men where left. The yard of the factory was covered in blood and death. The cars in the distance still ablaze from the explosion. Three. That was the number of men she counted. She raises her gun and fires knocking one of the men to the ground. Then another falls at her husbands hands. “One of them, two of us. We got this.” The words barely escape her lips before another car pulls up alongside the factory.

Upon hearing reinforcements arrive Gustav scrambles to the car, clawing at the bumper Gus slides under, retrieving a blackened steel Thompson sub machine gun, as well as two drum mags, he slides one in and slides the over towards his cover, Gus stands up and takes aim at the entrance to the factory, feet slapping, getting closer echoing throughout the building, as the corner starts to go dark he slightly squeezes the trigger, ready to unleash a spray of death... “Gus? Gus! It’s me Eric, we figured you’d...well we were obviously wrong...but we figured you and your wife would need help...” the voice says, as the man from the casino comes around the corner, Gustavs finger easing off the trigger. 

“Jesus Christ Gus...what the fuck did that trip do to you?” Eric says, chuckling, Gustav lowers his gun and takes out a cigarette, walking towards Eric as he lights it up off the still burning limb. Gus takes a drag and laughs opening his arms and hugging his friend, “Eric, Eric my boy, you missed out on only a small portion of this fucking fight.” Gustav says, squeezing his hand on Eric’s shoulder. 

Gustav leans in closer and peers into Eric’s eyes, stealing all his attention. “I will not let this go, search these body’s, find me a cunt that’s breathing, bring me fucking anything!” He shouts, leaning back and taking a long drag from his cigarette. 

Mazdyn laughs and rolls her eyes as she sees Gus light his smoke off of a burning arm. It doesn’t surprise her one bit. That was Gus for you. She turns and looks at the man as he walks away from her husband. “Nice to see you again Eric. You’re lucky he didn’t blow your head off. You know he’s a shoot first ask questions later type of guy” she says with a smile as she tosses a colt in his direction. 
 

She looks over the the field trying to spot any movement she could when something caught her eye. She took off running towards the cars. The fire had spread and was closing in on another. As she got closer she could hear the screams. “Help me, please help me” a girl! She couldn’t have been more than 16. What was she doing here? Mazdyn ran as fast as her feet would carry her. She couldn’t let this girl die. 
 

No sooner had Mazdyn pulled the girl from the car it caught fire. “We have to run. Do you understand? RUN!” They hadn’t gotten very far when the car exploded. 

The explosion shook the foundation of the factory, Gus and the men rushed to Mazdyn, taking off his coat and wrapping his wife in it as he guided her and the girl she clutched to the car, Gus turned to Eric “have one of your people pull that last car out the way now!” He shouted, one of the men rushed to the car, reversing it out the way “Eric, with me, would you be so kind as to drive, my wife can’t now...and frankly I don’t feel like it, I’ll pay, you and all your men, handsomely for whatever events unfold during the next week...if you think they’re up for it of course.” Gus says smirking, Eric nods, he knows the men he brought here tonight are able to kill...especially for some presidents.

They bundled into the morello car, Mazdyn and the girl in the back, they drive out the factory in reverse as Gustav winds down his window motioning the people to follow “Take their car too, could come in useful.” Gus says as Eric begins to drive back to the city...”That place, over near the meat market, remember it? Yeah! We brought it, what can I say, poker treats me well..” Gus says to Eric, giving him directions, left, right, all the way to a cosy apartment that The Morellos just recently brought and renovated, was supposed to be a hide away, perfect for the occasion. 

Eric pulled into the alley way to keep their cars out of sight. “It’s okay, you are okay” she said trying to calm the frightened girl trembling in the back of the car. “Please, please don’t let them hurt me” the girl cried as tears ran down her face. “What’s your name sweetheart” Mazdyn said with a calming voice. “D D Dani” she said as she wiped away the tears. “Dani, my name is Mazdyn. You are safe. I need you to come with me alright.” Dani was hesitant, but she knew that she would be safer with them than out here on her own. 
 

Once inside Mazdyn took Dani into a clean white room. “I will be right back, I just need to get a few things.” The girl nodded her head and Mazdyn walked into the room wrapping her arms around her husband. “Are you alright?” Gustav just laughed “Of course I am.” She smiles and walks to the closet and retrieved her kit before returning to the white room. She sits down beside Dani and lays out everything that she needs. The girl had cuts and scrapes all over her arms and face. Grabbing some gauze she pours alcohol on it “This night sting a little” she says before she begins cleaning the wounds. “It’s alright it could have been a lot worse. Thank you.”

After tending to the girls wounds and finding her some new clothes Mazdyn took her to the kitchen. “Dani why were you with those men?” she asked as she gave her something to eat and drink. It  looked like it had been a while since her last proper meal. The girl looked down at her food but soon replied. “I, I am friends with Jack. He told me he had to do something and to meet him in front of the hotel at 11. I got there a little early and this car kept driving by so I hid. They parked across the street and were watching the hotel. I was running inside to tell someone when one of the men grabbed me” she paused for a moment tears filling her eyes again. “The kept asking me questions. Questions about you and Mr Morello. I didn’t tell them anything I swear!” 
 

Who were these people. Who would take a girl for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? So many thoughts went through Mazdyns mind, but she was still no closer to figuring out who was behind this. “Eat sweetie, it will make you feel better” Mazdyn stood up and walked into the room to let Gus and the rest of the guys know what she was told

Gustav laughs loudly with his friend Eric, they were swapping war stories. Nothing like in the movies, not that kind of war. Gus knew warfare in its purest form. War in the concrete Jungles. “You remember that Eric? You went fuckin’ insane in that bar...Three of the bastards with one hand Haha!” Gus said lighting his cigarette as His beautiful wife came walking in, She began telling what the girl told her. Friend of jack, wrong place wrong time...then it sparked in Gustavs head...didn’t happen very often. Gus walked to the girl whilst she was eating. “Dani? Dani! I need to ask you a very important question...you understand?” Gustav said, as the girl nodded her head. “The first place that car stopped once you was inside it. It wasn’t a big blue building by any chance love?” Gus peered into her eyes. She nods. 

Gustav looked at his wife and Eric. “Billy fucking porter. Who the fuck does that fat fuck think he is?”  Gus shouts whilst walking to the bedroom, he starts undressing whilst shouting “That fucking cocksucking roach. Thinks he can try take my fucking life? Does he forget who the fuck I am? I want his fucking head Eric. And I want it tonight!” Gus continues shouting as he exits the bedroom, Now dressed in a black sweater, with black pants and gloves to match. Atop his head was a baseball cap, a handkerchief tied around his neck. 

Mazdyn walked to her husband “Billy porter” she thought for a second “isn’t that the guy that, Gus calm down.” She knew the look that was swept across her husbands face. This was more than just business. This was personal in every sense of the word. Mazdyn walked to the safe retrieving more ammunition and a few other things they would be needing before going to change and joining her husband and Eric. 
 

Dani came running towards them. “There’s more you should know. There’s more of them. A lot more than just the men at the factory. The blue building you asked about” she looked down at her feet remembering the brief time she spent inside and what they had done to her, what she had saw “they have someone tied to a chair. They... they...” her eyes welled with tears. “They were torturing him. The more he resisted the more violent the reprocussions.” Mazdyn turned to the girl clearly shaken by the events that happened. “They were asking a lot of questions about you Mr. Morello, but you were not their target tonight.” Dani threw her arms around Mazdyn now crying heavily. “They were coming for you Mrs. Morello. They think their best way to get to Gustav is by taking you.” Both girls directed their eyes towards Gus. “Please Sir, please don’t let them take her. The things I saw... you just can’t let them get to her.” Dani pleaded. “Calm down sweetheart you are safe now. We won’t let them get you” Mazdyn spoke sweetly reassuring the girl. 
 

“Eric, I don’t want to leave Dani alone. Can you have a couple of your men stay and guard her here. Have another try to find little Jack. He might bring her some comfort” she said. “Yes, of course anything you need” he said before walking towards the door. “Oh and Eric, anything you need” she nodded and he nodded back knowing exactly what that meant without any explanation needed.