After yet another long day at the hotel I get myself prepared to leave. Looking at the clock I see its 847 pm...after gathering my things I walk towards the door when I hear a soft knock. I open the door slowly and see its Lily... the girl I put in charge of the bar and the one I saved from thugs twice. "Hey... come on in."

She comes in and as I offer her to sit she tells me she prefers to sit as she came by to thank me for what id done for her. She also asks why I did what I did for her. I look her right in the eyes and say "I never stand for men violating women in anyway... but in this case, there is something about you, something that really attracts me to you."

After those words she wraps her arms around me and leans in slowly to kiss me. Having feelings for her I didn't fight it. After the kiss she thanked me one more time and said she was heading home. I offered her a ride but she said her dad was taking her home.

"Tell your dad I said hi". As she's about to leave I reply "Lily wait". I reach into my desk and pull out a small box "I was going to give this to you eventually but I think now is a good time." She opens the box and almost burst into tears... it was a necklace with a diamond on it. Being the sweet women she is she didn't want to except because it looked like it cost a fortune. "Let me put it on you". After I clasp it on she takes a look in the mirror and tells me she loves it and says her dad is waiting outside but if I would mind giving her a ride home tomorrow with a slight smile. "Of course I will, goodnight Lily."

She makes her way out of the office as I stay behind for a few more minutes. I walk down to the lobby and tell the guards to have a good night.

As I make my way outside the hotel I stop for a second to make sure the property looks ok...when all of a sudden I hear a loud scream GUN.

I immediately look around and see a man in a black suit not more then 10 feet from me as he raises a gun at me and when he does it almost seems in slow motion. I put my right arm over my face and tilt my body slightly to the left as he fires a shot...BANG!.

The bullet grasses my arm as I fall to the ground and hadn't my arm went up id be dead. I hear screams in the distance and as the man is about to fire another shot my guards rush out and the man goes running as they open fire on him. Unfortunately he was fast so he manages to get away.

I knew I had to find this man as quickly as possible but first I had to get my arm taking care of. 

Matteo raises from his chair after hearing gunshots. He bullets through the the halls, seeing KL's been shot.

"Fuck shit! Brat! You okay!?" He grasps KL, putting pressure on KL's wound. 

"Stay" Matteo commands him. He then took the nearest car and proceeds on getting the shooter.

The soft, steady rhythm of black shoes and tiger paws thudded the ground as Hawke walked along the sidewalk, Honey at his side, leash attached firmly to her collar. It was getting late, nearing nine in the evening, and the sun had gone down a few hours ago, leaving the sky dark and dotted with bright white stars. The pale glow of the moon illuminated the strange duo, making Honey's orange fur appear silver in the moonlight, reflecting off of the tags on her collar as well. It was cool, and not too hot, the perfect time to go walking. Tigers did need a lot of exercise after all, and this route would take the two of them in a two-mile loop that would end back at Hawke's own home.

Nothing seemed too out of place as they walked along. There were still people about, but it was mostly growing quiet. There wasn't much to do at this time if you were a normal citizen; most people who were still out and about were getting home from their jobs, after all. They paid no mind to Hawke and his cat, for he'd become quite known around town as the "man with a tiger," though a few curious passers-by still stared when he and Honey passed them on the sidewalk.

Then, Honey started to pant a bit, lifting her head and pulling her lips back to allow scent to reach the delicate Jakobson's organ on the roof of her mouth. She'd scented something particularly interesting, so Hawke slowed his pace, looking down at the big cat. "What is it, old girl?" The tiger huffed in response, pulling slightly in a different direction. Deciding to trust the instincts of the cat, Hawke followed her as she pulled with a little more fervor towards a nearby hotel.

Suddenly, there was the loud sound of gunfire, something Hawke and Honey had become accustomed to over the years. The cat didn't flinch as the gun went off, but Hawke certainly did, diving for cover under the cat's belly. Honey hissed, but it wasn't directed at her companion; rather, it was at the new people who'd started to run out, opening fire on whoever had fired that first gunshot. Realizing they were out of their range, Hawke stood back up, and that was when he noticed the man on the ground.

"Are you alright?" He asked when they reached him, Honey still straining at the end of her leash. The scent of blood had seemed to excite her.

"Fuck heads"

Matteo followed a man in shady disguise walked into the bar. "Fuckin' micks" he mumbled as he waltz in. 'The Old McGahoon', the bar states its name outside. Many irish and non-irish were there, drinking, whoring, and barding. Matteo sits 4 tables across the man's. He seizes the man, searching for informations by just checking him up. It has been a day, Matteo finally caught up with KL's shooter. He cringes everytime he remembers this. Helping dogs has never been his activity, even more it is a dog who used to be a pup whom he always clashed with. "Never mind that shit" he thought at himself. Somebody gonna blame him for today as he did receive the keys as head of security. That Clover woman gonna scracth him if she knew I let such problem happened to her favorite pup.

"That brat finally died, huh!?" A hoarsed voice yelled. It came from 4 tables across Matteo. He seems to be half drunk. 

"GOOD JOB, MICKEY!" he pats the shady figure.

"Damn brat should know his place!! Nobody told Burke what to do!!" He swings the beers he hold around.

"Yes boss. Pierced through his heart" that Mickey guy raises his beer.

Matteo grins. He hold his laugh. "Pierce through his heart my ass" he thought. He then raises from his chair. He approaches the bartender asking for telephone. He then went outside reaching some telephone booth as the bar doesn't have any. He rolled some numbers and in minutes he is connected with the hotel.

"Yea, told the brat he is still in Chicago. I am tailing him right now. He is in the Old McGahoon bar. In the Loop. Mick's bar. Yea yea stupid, I know. Don't tell me what to do, I know already. Oh and tell him, a guy named ...Burke or something is here too... seems he got some grudge with him"

Dubliner sat in the corner of the Old McGahoon drinking a pint of ale. He heard a man exclaim "That brat finally died, huh?!". Dubliner notices a man who had recently come in and was looking around the room noticeably for something or someone. The man seemed to find what he was looking for shortly after that exclamation and left the building and went to the payphone just outside the bar. Dubliner saw things deteriorating soon... He had no clue what the men were talking about but he saw a problem arising and took the man aside who assumed was Mickey.

He grabbed him by his shoulders and threw him against the back wall. Other members of the bar saw Dubliner throw the man of the hour and stood to their feet prepared to jump in and defend their friend. But they heard Dubliner speaking to him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?! I'm assuming you just shot a man and you come here at 9:30 in the evening and yell it to the whole bar?!" Dubliner threw Mickey onto the ground on all fours... 

He moved quickly to the bartender and asked if there was a back door. The bartender pointed to a door that led to a supply closet and said that there would be another door in the closet that led to an alleyway behind the building. Dubliner ran back over to Mickey and through him into the supply closet and closed the door. He turned to everyone in the now quiet bar, and said, 

"There is going to be one of two people in here soon... The police or some buddies of the man you had shot." Dubliner looked out the front window to make sure that Matteo was still out there. He was still on the phone talking to the person on the other line. "If It's the police, you don't know who shot the man... If it's the guy's buddies, do whatever you wish." 

Dubliner rushed back into the supply closet and opened the door that led into the alleyway, he grabbed Mickey and was practically dragging him by his collar. Dubliner took Mickey back to Dub's nearby apartment and told Mickey to start explaining what happened...

"Remember the fucker who barged in to your office with those micks the other day? He is here" Matteo whispers on phone.

"My prediction...he is helping the micks again. They are gonna ganged up on us in the bar too I suppose with the shooter now probably being smuggled" Matteo looks into the bar that has been mysteriously quiet by now.

"What 'cha gonna do? My job seems to be done here. You pull the trigger now. But, I can find the fucker and the shooter if you want tho' " 

While on the phone with M recovering from the gunshot wound I tell him "I can't stress this enough M don't shoot at the man who barged in my office!... right now he is most likely unaware it was me who was shot. Me and him spoke in my office and he is apart of one of our allies families. The shooter is my concern, get the shooter then send the other guy a message to come to the hotel as he will then know who you are."

"Yea, whatevs..." Matteo hung up the phone.

He gazes at the bar, while litting his cigarette. He seeks information from the bar's layout. He then walks around the bar outside, looking for places that someone could come out from. He did find some alleyway behind the bar. "Smooth as fuck" he mumbled. He noticed some beggars alongside the alleyway, he asks them if they saw 2 micks coming out from the door behind before. They nodded, Matteo grins as he is trying to pick up traces left by those guys.

Hours later, after harassing people on the streets, Matteo can finally point out an apartment. He then went to the landlord, and ask around.

"357" Matteo smirks.

"Alright, thanks, miss" he blows some kisses to the fat miss landlord.

Minutes later, after several struggles in the stairs, Matteo arrives at room number 357. He knocked the door several times, there is no answer.

"The dog wants to see you." Matteo shouts at the door.

"He awaits you in his hotel"

Dubliner hears a loud knock at his door. He walks to the door and looks through the hole to see who the person is. He recognizes Matteo and knows he is good friends with the owner of the hotel, KL. He peers over to Mickey as Dub motions to keep quiet by putting a finger up to his own mouth... After a few quiet seconds Dub hears the person at the door saying KL wants to meet at his hotel again... After Dub hears the footsteps of Matteo walk down the stairs, Dubliner turns to Mickey.

"Who the hell did you shoot at?!" Dub yells.

Mickey begins crawling backwards against a wall as Dub takes long strides towards him. 

"Who was your target?!?!" Dub grabs Mickey's collar and raises a fist before the poor excuse of an irishman squealed...

"The owner of the grand hotel nearby! Jesus Christ, don't hurt me!" Mickey yelled, "He's supposed to be dead! I shot him! I saw the blood!"

Dubliner turns around an walks to an outside window with his hands on his head. This definitely doesn't look good and Dub knows it. Dubliner didn't want anything to do with KL's business, but now that Dub has mistakenly helped his attempted assassin escape, it puts Dub in a difficult situation... Dub couldn't help but feel pity for the young boy who took the shot at KL. He couldn't be much older than 18... Some sort of 'initiation' by the group in the bar. He turns back to Mickey who's now crawling to the front door. Dubliner shakes his head.

"You think he's gone? Obviously he knows you're with me, why else would he come here? He's waiting for us to leave so he can bag us both." 

Mickey stops his poor attempt of escape after hearing this. "What do you propose we do, then?" Mickey asks.

Dubliner opens the window he was looking at and looks around outside. The streets are quiet for the most part, sirens from the police cars investigating the shooting can be heard in the distance, only a few people are walking the streets. It was closer to 10 pm than 9 now. Dub rushes back into his room and rips the sheet off of his mattress and ties it to his blankets that were on the bed as well... Dubliner tells Mickey to hold one end and Dub moves to the opposite end of the room. By his rough measurement, he could only climb down one story with this. Dub looks out the window again and remembers the fire escape that they can get to by going down the hallway a couple doors down.

"Stay here. I'm gonna see if he's still in the building." Dub opens the front door and locks it behind him. He goes down the stairs to the 2nd floor and looks around. No sign of him. He rushes back upstairs and opens his door. "Let's go." Mickey jumps up and follows Dub down the hallway and through a door that leads to the fire escape. They climb quietly down the stairs and into Dub's streetside parked car. Dub questions himself now... What to do? Turn the kid in to the police? Turn him into KL? Or get him out of here? Dub begins driving to the airport to send the kid away. As he pulls up to the dropoff area, he hops outta his car and pulls Mickey inside. The attendant inside looks at the two men.

"How may I help you two gentlemen?"

"I need one ticket on the next plane out of here."

"Okay, I got a plane leaving for... Miami. Ticket is $30."

Dubliner gives the woman the money and pulls Mickey aside. Dub runs back to his car and pulls a briefcase from his trunk and hands it to Mickey. 

"Here's your luggage. I planned on using it for an emergency situation. I guess this fulfills that purpose." Dubliner explained, "Get yourself a nice place down there. And If I ever see you here again, I'll kill you if they don't kill you first..."

Mickey nods and gets the ticket from the attendant.

"Enjoy your flight, sir." she said.

Mickey walked off towards his gate.

_________________________________________

Dubliner looked at his watch while he was driving to meet with KL at his hotel. 10:45. 'Still Got Time' he thought. He screeches and parks in front of the hotel. He opens the passenger glove compartment and pulls out his Colt M1911 should things go south he could take out as many people as he could. The police have since left the scene of the shooting and all was quiet now. A lone room was lit in the hotel, save the lobby. Time to face the music.

Dub knocks on the office door and enters. The room was full of goons. KL sat in his chair and Matteo stood behind him. He took a deep breath and intended to be as classy and ignorant as he could be...

"Evening Gentlemen, glad you got the welcoming committee all ready for me. I appreciate it. What's the meaning of this? Do you know what time it is?"

Sitting in my chair with M behind me I look across the desk at this man who helped my target escape. "So I now know your name after some research, ill just call you Dub... tell me I thought we struck a deal last time you were here?... so why the fuck are you helping the man who tried killing me?... are you aware our families are allies?. I need some answers Dub and I need em now with no bullshit."

Dubliner looked at KL quite confused. He had to play this off somehow. KL and his men don't know that I sent Mickey south to Florida... For all they know, he's still hiding in my apartment. Dubliner figured out a way to play this off nicely... He realized that he had not closed his bedroom window when he was figuring out a way to escape. This worked out perfectly.

"Well, boys, I did not help your friend escape. I merely made his capture easier for you..." Dubliner smiled at KL and Matteo, "If you didn't think I knew your reasoning for busting into that bar, you're sadly mistaken." Dubliner sits back in his chair very comfortably.

"Let's recap on this, shall we...? An Irishman takes a shot at you and runs off. He was tracked back to a bar that has been known to have quite the Irish customer cliental. I think I saved you further bloodshed. Can you imagine what would've happened had you busted into that bar and dragged that boy outta there in the middle of his 'celebration' for hitting you? Your men may have lost their lives... Instead, I convinced the boy to come with me and we went back to my apartment where he STILL sits waiting." 

Dubliner smiles... This all worked out great for him.

"I have him there thinking that I am acting in his best interests. So, instead of busting into an Irish bar and killing an Irishman around all of his friends, why don't we go to my apartment where he is by himself, and we can deal with him there?"

I look at M then back to Dub "good thinking Dub, but here's the thing... last time we had a conversation you bribed me 30k...which had its benefits for me as well, however I didn't get to where I am now by being stupid. For all I know there could be 10 men in your apartment right now. So if you have him there and he has no idea your setting him up then I say me you and my friend M here meet in a open place where there are no alliances to this man or kid who shot at me. You hand him off to us and from there you go on your way and I will deal with whoever the shooter was."

"Oh please, what purpose do I have to kill you? What do I gain from it? And you know I didn't keep any of that 30k. All the boys who killed your three 'enemies' split the money... However, if you'd feel safer meeting somewhere, then no problem. I will have the boy there to hand over to you... It just seems like I am getting some undeserved distrust from you."

"With all do respect Dub... we haven't known each other long enough to have trust in each other... and put yourself in my shoes... blackmail then it looks like you help my target. To be fair it you were me you would be cautious too. So yea a open place is what I want and after the handoff if everything goes good, we can work on building a business relationship. Where do you propose we make the drop off?."

"You're an important man, your time is money. I, likewise, am not one to waste precious time... So instead of driving miles outside of town, considering it's just about midnight and I am tired, I am just going to drive home and get him... That way you have home field advantage were I to have a group of men waiting to attack you in my apartment... You'd know something was going down if I came through your doors with a group of men... I'll be back." 

Dubliner stepped outside of the office, failing to wait for an answer from the owner of the hotel. Dub figured he had other things to worry about than him... After all, he just had a hole shot in his arm. The bullet may or may not be in his arm still, I don't know if there was an exit wound. He should really worry about getting that patched up pretty quickly. Infection can come down on people pretty quickly.

Knowing that Mickey was actually already halfway to Miami, Dub decided he would run home, trash his apartment, and make himself look beaten... Dubliner pulled up in front of his house. He jumped out of the door and ran up the stairs hoping to save precious time. He busted through his door and turned quickly to lock it. 

He grabbed a knife from his kitchen and scratched, "The O'Leary Boys Are Comin' For Ya" on the wall. He flipped his mattress over and cut into it as well sending feathers flying through the air. He threw a bunch of his plates, glasses, and pans onto the kitchen floor smashing each one of them. His apartment was now trashed. Before he left, he stabbed the knife into the back of the door and opened up one of his windows to act as a possible escape route for Mickey. Dubliner then went outside and ran into a nearby alleyway. There was only one other human in the small backroad. A homeless man, down on his luck since the recent stock market crash... Dubliner told the man to follow him. Dub led him into the back of a diner into the bathroom. Dubliner looked up at the man and pulled out his wallet.

"I will buy you a late dinner if you throw a few punches my way. Cops won't know. Get some frustration out." 

The man looked at Dubliner extremely confused. Did he just hear what he thought he heard? Before letting Dub even have a split second to change his mind, the man started throwing punches. Dub took a few shots to the face resulting in a black eye and a bloody nose. He also took a few body shots that led to some bruising on his skin. Dub stopped the man and gave him $4 for a late dinner.

"Enjoy your night, sir." Dub groaned as he limped out of the bathroom and straight out of the back door before any late night customers saw him.

He drove back over to the hotel. It'd been about 20 minutes since Dub left. That was the perfect amount of time. He veered onto the sidewalk, almost hitting a passerby, and crawled out of his car. He was in some pain, but this was the only way to make it seem like something really happened. He opened the front doors of the hotel and fell onto the floor. Really selling his injuries. The clerk at the counter immediately saw him and called for KL to come down to the Lobby. KL came to the balcony overlooking the lobby and saw the bloody and battered man laying on his floor half-dead... Bleeding from his mouth, nose, and cheek, Dub was struggling to keep his eyes open on the soft, comfortable carpet. 

"Maybe this was a mistake." he thought to himself before his eyes completely closed; out of exhaustion or out of pain from the injuries, he did not know...

I yell for M to pick dub up from the ground "M get him to an available room and let him clean up and get some rest... tell him to meet me in the morning."

I sit down in my office. Pissed and confused, I didn't know what to believe... Dub was either very smart or just had bad luck... either way I hoped he would know where this guy could have gone. One thing was certain he wasn't getting away.

Dubliner woke up surrounded by white and gold wallpaper. The sheets wrapped around his body a little bit stained with his blood. Light shone through the open windows, occasionally broken by the white drapes that were flowing fluidly in the soothing breeze. Birds were chirping outside of the window and it was quiet in his room. Flowers sat on a nearby table. 'Very well decorate room...' Dub thought to himself. Immediately following that though, he was offput by the peacefulness of the room... 

"Am I dead...?" Dub felt his chest to make sure he was still living... He looked around and spotted a man sitting in the corner probably to keep an eye on Dub. Dub stood out of his bed and walked into the hallway. KL's office was right next door and shouting could be heard coming from the office. Dub knocked and slowly opened the door.

"Permission to enter?" he asked.

"Granted." KL barked, "Sit over there for now, I got some quick business to handle."

Dub looked to where KL was pointing. It was a small bench that sat parallel to the exterior wall on the right hand side of KL which made it easy for KL to pull a gun and point to the right in case someone were to get out of hand... Dub didn't dare. He was sore and was no use in a fight anyhow. KL continued to curse at a man who Dub assumed was put in charge of searching the surrounding area for Mickey, the man who marked KL with a bullet wound... As he sends the man out, he motions for Dub to sit in front of the desk. 

Dub sits down and immediately asks, "Who have you made enemies out of, KL? Step on any toes lately? Enough to cause someone to take a shot at you?"

"Of course I have enemies Dub, we all do in this business whether its jealousy, revenge or just a young thug trying to make a name for themselves. No one... and I mean no one is invincible. I made my mistakes but no more then the next guy. My guess is this man, whoever he is, is long gone by now. All I can hope for is just one witness to step forward. Someone who may know where he went."

Locking eyes with Dub I reply "next step is to a offer 100k to anyone who has a lead on where he could be".

I watch as Dub's facial expression changes slightly.

"Only time will tell who steps forward but as I said in the end no one is untouchable".

Dub thought that he should only make a slight change of emotion and expression on his face when he heard that 100 G's would be offered to a man who had a lead on where Mickey COULD be. Dub couldn't believe it. In addition to getting the young kid outta danger, Dub would also get paid 100k for just giving a lead on where Mickey 'Could' be. Dub leaned forward in his seat and interlocks his fingers on the front of KL's desk.

"100k, you say?" Dub smirked, "I would be MORE than willing to help you find this guy for 100k... I find it interesting, however, that you've yet to ask how I was beaten, myself..." Dub's expression changes to a distasteful look, "You see, I have knowledge that you want... And it seems that NO ONE else has it... And since you're so hellbent on finding this guy, without caring about my wellbeing, I will give you this knowledge for the 100k, plus a 50% bonus... Adding up to 150k."

Dub sits back in his chair very confidently... It was disturbing how little KL seemed to care about Dub's injuries.

"However, Mr. KL, I take my money upfront. So how much is this knowledge worth to you?"

I sit back and ponder Dub's response. "Oh ok I get it, money is involved so now you want to help?... clearly this is all about money so you could care less about my well being, so why should I care for yours?. Feel free to tell me why your face is mangled even though you never showed the slightest bit of care in the world when I got shot at. Thing is we don't know each other that well Dub so its clear our well being for each other don't matter but for some reason you see me as a business man with money... why? Because of the hotel?. I assure you Mr. Dub I am much more then a hotel owner."

I stare into Dub's eyes now with a more serious face.

"I'm not going to put 150k in your hands until you can tell me what ill get in return. Tell you what its all about money right?... name your fucking price and when you get it I want this guy found and brought to me."