In this thing of ours there was plenty of money to be made, and plenty of bribes to be dealt. Vegas Aces bribed a lot of important people in this society that we have created and those are important bribes at that. We bribed the Vegas Police Commissionaire, Cops, The FBN and other types of politicians. However the main form of bribery that we took very seriously was from the mayor of Las Vegas. This allowed us grants of all kinds and it also meant that he was able to keep the cops off our backs whilst we did our thing. Every Monday night we would meet with the mayor and hand him the cash and he in turn would let us know of any activity that we needed to know about within the city. This was a beautiful thing we had going on until he started getting greedy. See there is a certain kind of ladder within the mob. First of all you had the citizens that go about their business day in and day out not knowing anything about the crime world until it hit the newspapers. Then you had the cops who thought they could outbest the crime world until it bit them hard in the ass. Next was the mayor who basically ran the city's affairs and he was in the know about almost everything that went down. We took him kinda seriously but only if he plays fair in return. Then you have the mob that control all business deals that go down in the city. They decide who can start up their own business or racket and who can do what within the city. The mayor had a small say in this but it was never taken seriously.

It was twenty past midnight on Monday and Bjorn, Silk, Chaos Spike, Isabella Rodriguez and I were heading off down to the Royal Flush restaurant to pay off the mayor as usual when the relationship between the establishment and the mob turned sour. See the mayor thought that he could control the mob, tame us even, but as it turns out he was wrong. We entered the restaurant quietly and unnoticed, going into the backroom where we held our usual poker racket every Monday night. The mayor was already sat there, however, he had a few more cops with him than he normally did. Something felt fishy to us and we could sense that the mayor was having a change of heart so to speak. We all took our usual seats and took our jackets off. Bjorn was at the head of the table, the mayor sat next to him. The cops would assume position around the table keeping an eye on the mayor and the dealings that was taking place here. The rest of us scattered ourselves around the table. Ralph "The Dealer" was here also with us as he was the dealer that worked for the restaurant and our family. He favored us over the establishment considerably because we provided him with the protection to keep him from being wacked. As he handed each of us fifty thousand in poker chips he also shuffled the deck of cards and dealt them out. Each of us handed over the five thousand buy in amount in chips then checked our cards. I kept a silent face as I realized that I had a royal flush. The mayor began to speak first as Bjorn handed over the twenty thousand bribe money. He whispered something to Bjorn and we could tell that it was nothing something wise of the old man to say because Bjorn had slammed his cards down on the table and left. Looking red in the face the mayor took the money, stood up and made for the door. I instantly stood up and walked over to him. 

"You do realize that no matter what you said to make him walk off like that, you fucked up big time." I said as I proceeded out the door after Bjorn. The rest of the guys followed us up to the bar where we ordered a shot of whiskey each before leaving. Bjorn told us exactly what the mayor had said. I wasn't happy at all. That prick was asking for double the money in bribe. Well I had something planned up my sleeve that would put him in his place. We had our shot and left the restaurant. We didn't have to pay in this place of business because we practically owned it. It wasn't long before we were back in the family headquarters common room and were drinking whiskey and smoking cigarettes by the fire. We had occupied the chairs by the fire and ordered everyone else out from the room. We then began discussing what to do about this outrageous act of extortion from a prick who served nothing but shit to this thing of ours. I had a suggestion to make however and so I was the next to speak.

"Listen up guys. This might sound crazy but I'm doing it with or without you lot. The mayor has a daughter who is about to go to college. She'll be getting a private car to take her there in the morning and we are going to hijack that car and kidnap his precious fucking daughter. We'll take her to that old abandoned warehouse in main street and we'll keep her there until we decide what we are going to do. That should strike the fear in his eyes." I said proudly. Everyone there had decided that was going to be a crazy thing to do but it just might work. Bjorn gave each of us something to do for the next morning and we were going to put this plan into effect. It took us all night to prepare this plan. I was supposed to be the guy who was driving the mayor's daughter to school. If the mayor himself was going to be there seeing her off then the plan wouldn't work, however, it was a good job he was out of town for the time being. After our meeting he was supposed to be heading out to Dallas for a conference. Silk was supposed to be pretending to be the kid's aide and helping her around town as she used to live with her mother out in Jersey. Chaos was going to be the guy who was driving the mayor to Dallas, but he would be taking him somewhere else for the occasion and filling him in on what was happening. Isabella was going with him to be the woman that fills in the mayor on his conference speech. Bjorn, Fast Valentino and Kevin Holloway, the new guy who had just started working for us this week was going to be waiting for the kid, Silk and I to arrive at the warehouse. However, there was something about Kevin that I just didn't trust. He didn't seem like a gangster, nor did he seem like he knew what he was doing. The plan was going into effect anyways, and we were all off to do what we were supposed to do. Chaos went with Isabella in a car that was stolen about a week back, to pick up the mayor. Silk and I were taking another stolen car to pick up the kid from her home in the city, and we were all going to be dressed differently for the occasion. The plan was a simple one and it was in effect right now.

“I’m doing it with or without you lot.”

For some reason I couldn’t forget those words when RaffaeleBaggetta told us the plan to kidnap the mayor’s daughter. I’m sure the look of surprise was evident on my face after he said it. It wasn’t often I heard someone be so blunt. There wasn’t even the traditional “With all due respect” to soften the blow of his boldness. RaffaeleBaggetta was definitely a no nonsense aggressive son of a bitch. For that I immediately liked and respected him.

There was nothing I liked or respected about the mayor. He shook hands, kissed babies and made speeches about getting rid organized crime while taking bribes from the mafia in Las Vegas. Fucking hypocrite. The mafia did more for the city than his small mind could imagine. We built the biggest best casinos. We kept the tourists and the money flowing. We had a hand in everything. Without us Las Vegas would’ve been nothing more than a cheap carnival town that went out of style years ago.

Most people assume anyone who disrespects a mobster gets wacked. That’s only one way to take care a problem. Unfortunately we couldn’t deal with the mayor that way when he told Bjorn he wanted more money. The greedy old bastard was too popular to get rid of. Even if we wacked him and buried his body in the desert it would attract too much attention. We all agreed we didn’t need that kind of heat, but there was no fucking way we were going to pay him more. He already had a slice of the pie. He didn’t deserve any more.

The plan was perfect and the warehouse was ready for our young guest. Everyone knew what they had to do and where they had to be. None of us were amateurs. It was going to be a piece of cake. Although I was confident we could pull it off I had a weird feeling. Something wasn’t right, but I couldn’t figure out what it was and it was too late to mention it. RaffaeleBaggetta and I were in the car already. As he turned the car into the long driveway in front of the mayor’s house I went over the plan one more time in my head.

Yep, a piece of cake…

So there we were, Silk and I, sat in the car in the mayor's long drive way when some old geezer had brought the mayor's daughter to the car. She got in and I once again ignited the engine for us to head for the warehouse. But just as the girl closed the door, the opposite one opened and in came her bodyguard. Clever fuck must have hired her one last night. I wasn't about to let him get in the way though. He was but a minor set back. We'll get rid of him along the way. We pulled off and were soon on our way to the warehouse. Made me think though. The mayor must have known something that we didn't. Made me think of rats and their sneakiness. See, we had a new guy in the family and we've never had this kind of problem before. I looked to Silk and seen an empty expression in her face. She was thinking the same. We had a rat in our ranks. Time to take that fucker out.

"We'll be taking a shortcut to school today, we'll be there in no time at all. Sit back and relax." I say giving a piercing look at the bodyguard. He must have suspected something right from the start however because he kept his hand on his glock pistol the whole ride. I spoke to Silk next.

"Change the station would ya? Let's lighten the mood a little eh?"

It wasn’t unusual to see bodyguards while doing business. They were everywhere. Being protected was the best defense. Even the mayor had a team of bodyguards, but why in the hell did his kid need one? During our meeting RaffaeleBaggetta told us everything he knew about the mayor’s daughter. She didn’t have a bodyguard. He would have mentioned it. There was only one explanation. There was a rat in the family.

A lowlife rat. I was fucking livid over this new development and wanted to kill the ungrateful prick, but first we had to get rid of the bodyguard. It wasn’t going to be easy. It looked like he was ready for trouble. When Raffaele mentioned a short cut I nodded and recognized the street he turned on. It was a neighborhood where several of our associates lived.

“Are you looking forward to college, kid?” I attempted to get conversation going to break the tension in the car. The girl answered, but I didn’t pay attention to what she said. Up ahead there was a stop sign. Standing next to the sign was a man I recognized. Hopefully he’d help us with our unexpected problem.

I stopped the car at the stop sign thanking god for having it there next to our associate without it looking coincidentle. I nodded to the man then moved my eyes towards the bodyguard. I was certain that Silk had done the same for he knew exactly what needed to be done. He came over to the window and when the bodyguard opened the door and got out to make him step away from the car the associate kicked the door closed and I drove off and full speed. Hearing that kid scream made me winch because I hated the fucking noise. It was like a knife to my ear. I stopped at the next traffic light so I didn't draw any unwanted attention to us and I turned to face the girl.

"Schools cancelled, there's been a change of plan." I said to her. I smiled at Silk and winked. We had done it, outsmarted the bastard. Next thing I knew we were pulling into the warehouse and the large shutter doors were closing behind us. I got out of the car and marched straight over to Bjorn whilst Silk dragged the girl out of the car placing a sack over her head.

"We got a fucking rat in our ranks and you know what. I think it's this prick!" I shouted out loud pointing at Kevin. I knew it was him, I was certain of it. But I recognized that I had no proof of it. I walked over to him and grabbed him by his plain blue tie.

"I fucking know you're a rat kid, and when I can proof it you'll die by my bare fucking hands you schmuck!" I muttered to him so that no one could hear me speak. I released my grip on his tie and we all went into the basement of the building to place our victim their. Chaos and Isabella should be meeting us back here at any moment now, they were taking too long. Something was up. Kevin was in a lot of trouble if they didn't come back.

I stopped the car at the stop sign thanking god for having it there next to our associate without it looking coincidentle. I nodded to the man then moved my eyes towards the bodyguard. I was certain that Silk had done the same for he knew exactly what needed to be done. He came over to the window and when the bodyguard opened the door and got out to make him step away from the car the associate kicked the door closed and I drove off and full speed. Hearing that kid scream made me winch because I hated the fucking noise. It was like a knife to my ear. I stopped at the next traffic light so I didn't draw any unwanted attention to us and I turned to face the girl.

"Schools cancelled, there's been a change of plan." I said to her. I smiled at Silk and winked. We had done it, outsmarted the bastard. Next thing I knew we were pulling into the warehouse and the large shutter doors were closing behind us. I got out of the car and marched straight over to Bjorn whilst Silk dragged the girl out of the car placing a sack over her head.

"We got a fucking rat in our ranks and you know what. I think it's this prick!" I shouted out loud pointing at Kevin. I knew it was him, I was certain of it. But I recognized that I had no proof of it. I walked over to him and grabbed him by his plain blue tie.

"I fucking know you're a rat kid, and when I can proof it you'll die by my bare fucking hands you schmuck!" I muttered to him so that no one could hear me speak. I released my grip on his tie and we all went into the basement of the building to place our victim their. Chaos and Isabella should be meeting us back here at any moment now, they were taking too long. Something was up. Kevin was in a lot of trouble if they didn't come back.

Another problem I didn’t prepare for was the screaming from the girl. It was worst than a siren on a police car. After ten seconds of it I was tempted to smack the kid to make her shut up. Eventually the screaming changed to crying and begging, “Please don’t hurt me.”

“Remind me to never have kids.” I quietly said to Raffaele then turned to the kid and yelled, “Shut up and do what I tell you to do and you won’t get hurt.” The only response was more crying. It was slowly driving me crazy.

In the warehouse as Raffaele ranted about a rat I wondered if it was KevinHolloway. He was just a kid, probably only a few years older than the mayor’s daughter. If he tipped off the mayor about our plan he was probably working for someone else. It didn’t matter to me if he was the mastermind or the middleman. He deserved to have his throat slit and his tongue cut out.

The room in the basement where I put the girl had a cot in it. After I forced her to sit down on it I quickly left the room and locked the door. Raffaele still looked pissed off as I approached him. “You think the Holloway kid is the rat?”

"I don't think it is the Holloway kid, no. I fucking know it's him!" I said to Silk as she stepped over to me. Fucking kid is definitely the rat but that wasn't all that was on my mind. If he was indeed the rat then that meant that the cops knew where to find us. I wasn't ready to go to jail right now as I had plans to step up in the world and make something of myself.

"Keep an eye on him silk, who knows what he will do. But when I can prove it's him I'll bash his fucking skull in so hard that he ain't recognizable anymore!" I said lighting up a cigarette with a match stick and handing a smoke to Silk. Chaos and Isabella should be back by now, there is something wrong. Considering the fact that we were professionals I thought that this whole operation would have ran a bit more smoother.

"Silk, let's go and check in on Bjorn and see whats happening."