Another day and another war. Joseph walked down the street and kept his eyes sharp for any sign of threat. He was still a relative new comer in the ways of the mob but liked to consider himself an up and comer.  His involvement in the various wars that had come up had been limited to guard duty and trying to keep the big bosses as safe as he could.

While he yearned to play a bigger part he also knew that would take time and experience. So, with the most recent war apparently over he got back to the important work of making money for the family. He was learning though and becoming better at his job. Just had to keep his eyes sharp and stay alive long enough to matter. In this profession death was always right around the corner even if there was no war.

Ducking down a nearby alley he looked for the man he was here to meet. The guy was easy to find and they exchanged a few words before the other fellow handed over a slip of paper with truck delivery schedules on it. It was good to have a friend in the dispatch department for a large delivery firm he mused. It helped him get plenty of targets for upcoming heists.

Pocketing the schedule he made his way out of the alley and on to the main street. He would study the paper and pick a target that he thought should make the easiest and best score. Then it would just be a matter of doing the preparation. Should be easy as pie...something he had done dozens of times before.

(to be continued.)

Later, after some dinner and rest, Joseph had some time to study the route schedule he had been given. He had some time ago purchased a good street map of the Las Vegas area and surrounding suburbs. Some areas had already been highlited as good areas for truck hijacking where as others were labeled as definite no go. It all depended on traffic, likelihood of witnesses, escape routes, etc. He had been doing this for awhile and was no amateur.

One particular truck on the schedule caught his eye. It would be transporting fine suits to a department store in Paradise. A real high end place so the suits would certainly be of quality. He liked to grab suits where he could. Good mark up on them and harder then a lot of cargo to trace. After all, a good three piece suit didn't have serial numbers or anything like that.

The route it would be on though would be a bit iffy. Joseph frowned as he regarded it. Nothing else this week looked like it would return good profit for the risk. He would just have to make do with the less than favorable route. Grabbing up his hat and keys he went out and took a late night drive.

It was a habit of his to drive as much of the route as he could to double check for things like road work, lights being out, what the late night traffic was like, etc. The truck in question would be following the same route tomorrow night at a little after midnight. Not much was out of the ordinary but there was a railroad track on the outskirts of town that should prove useful. He would need an accomplice but that wouldn't be too hard to arrange.

With the bare bones of a plan forming in his mind Joseph drove on home. Tomorrow night the job would go down and he needed to be well rested for it. A lot could go wrong but he thought this should be simple enough. He just had to stick to the plan.

The time had come. Joseph had gone over all the details with a couple of accomplices and everything was ready. He and one man find the truck and fall in behind it about half a mile before the spot he had picked to ambush it. Another man was waiting at a lonely intersection on the outskirts of town to help with stopping the truck. It should go off well. After all, he had done it several times before.

Driving through the night he took out a cigar and lit it up while they drove. Joseph was sitting in the passenger seat, ready to jump out when the time came. Up ahead he could see their target as they came up behind. For the moment they kept some distance so as to avoid making the driver suspicious. For a few moments they continued on till the scene of the planned ambush came into sight.

Just before they came to railroad crossing their other accomplice had the road blocked with the hood of his car open. By all appearances it was a stranded motorist who wasn't able to get his car off the road. The target truck came to a stop, regarded the stalled car for a moment and tried to back up. It was then Joseph's car came to a stop behind blocking his path.

Both Joseph and his driver jumped from the car once it was in park. They both wore ski masks to hide their identities and brandished guns. The truck driver's eyes grew wide. This was always the trickiest part. Was he armed? Maybe. Was he brave enough to attempt a shoot out with robbers while he was out numbered? The answer to that was usually no.

"You know the score," Joseph said as they approached the truck. "We don't have to hurt you but will if you make us."

Killing the drivers was usually a very bad idea. Police had more important things to worry about usually than a truck getting hijacked. Now if there was a murder committed as well things got a lot more dicey. The cops got more interested and a prolonged investigation or heightened patrols was not in the mob's best interest.

Gesturing for the driver to get out he kept the gun trained on the man. The guy got out, shaking a bit in fright. Joseph's accomplice quickly tied him up and blind folded the guy. Then he was put in the car that had appeared stopped on the road. The accomplice would drive him away and keep him out of trouble. In a few hours he would be released a mile or so away from a pay phone so he could go call for help. By then the job would be done and he wouldn't be able to give the cops any useful information.

"So where are we taking it?" his driver asked. Joseph looked at the man for a minute and smiled.

"Take me to Jimmy Cappelo's shop," he said simply. "He will give us top dollar for the suits."

The driver chuckled and started to drive. There was more to do in order to finish their business for the night but the dangerous part was done. Now it was just cashing in and cleaning up after themselves.