"Red, what the fuck is going on?  Sorry I've been out of touch, been all over the country for the past few weeks.  let me knoww what I can do to  help|

Knowing RedRum  wouldn't call for help without good reason, John starts to pack his bag, time to get dirty

Karmen sat in her office, sipping her morning coffee and reading the local paper that had been delivered to her. She mostly read it for the comics, but today the front page showed a story about the newest gang to hit the streets of Vegas. It had been awhile since she had read a story all the way through but this one was definitely interesting. She thought maybe she could finally get in on making the streets of Vegas a better place. 

She sat wondering who she should call and thought maybe JohnWCreasy would know something about it. He seemed to be in on all of the gossip, so to speak. She dialed his number and waited through the four rings until he picked up, rather grumpily.

She said, "Hey John, it's Karmen. I just read a story on the front page of the paper about the newest gang in Vegas. I was wondering if you knew anything about it? I mean, I know I'm not the person most people would go to for this sort of thing.. You know, women in dresses amd heels aren't normally the types you would go to for help taking out a gang of Thugs. But.. I want to help brighten the streets. I want in on this "war" that they seem to think is going to happen. I know my way around a gun.. I think I could really help with this."

Sitting in his apartment, having a bite to eat and a stiff drink as he gets ready for what will be likely be a crazy few days thanks to "The Savages", John is trying to think of the ideal person to help with the problem when the phone rings.

"Karmen, always nice to get a call from you.  I agree that you don't look the part of a bad ass, but I've heard the stories, I have no doubt you will teach these fools a lesson.  In fact, I think we can use this to our advantage.  How about we meet up somewhere?  I was just about to head out"

Karmen listened as John talked about using this all to their advantage. Her curiosity was peaked and she felt a small adrenaline rush at the thought of shooting up some Thugs in the Streets. She couldn't wait!

With some cheer in her voice she said, "Oh for sure. Let's meet somewhere. And for the record I'm totally a badass, thank you very much."

She laughed and continued, "Anyways, yes let's meet. Who else is in on this? There's gotta' be more people because I know it will take more than two of us to end the Savages. We might even be able to teach FUTURE gangs a lesson!"

Hearing the excitement in Karmen's voice, John starts to put together a plan that will send the kind of message that won't soon be forgotten.

"I couldn't agree more Karmen.  Let's make some calls and get a few more people involved.  After the beating they put on RedRum, I'm sure they are expecting us.  I heard they have been hanging out at that little speakeasy down of off Paradise Road, maybe we should head down there and get an idea what we're dealing with.  You always look fantastic, but I'll need a few extra minutes to get cleaned up.  I'll send a car for you, let yourself in when you get here and we can head over together."

Before heading into the shower, John cleans up the mess in his apartment and puts out a bottle of whiskey and a clean glass for Karmen.

Karmen's heartbeat sped up at the idea of going over to the speakeasy on Paradise Road to see what they were dealing with. She had never thrown herself into something so wholeheartedly as she was right now but she knew she loved Vegas, she loved the people that resided there, and didn't want to see anymore people harmed by these Thugs.

She said, "I agree. We should definitely get an idea of the people we're dealing with. Maybe we'll get lucky and they're all wasted drunk by five in the evening. That would sure make our job easier. But, of course, I'll be right over. I'm sure you look just fine but okay, get cleaned up. Let me get my shoes and stuff on and call my driver. I'll be there soon, okay?"

She hung up the phone, picking it up only a few seconds later to call her driver and have him ready the car. She hung up the phone again, then started getting ready to go. She quickly touched up her lipstick, then slipped into her heels, grabbing her coat and purse last minute from the hook behind her desk. She grabbed her Colt M1911 off of the table by the door and pushed it into her hip holster. She left a memo note on her door that said "Out of office for business" in case anyone was wondering, then went downstairs to get in the waiting car.

On the drive over she pondered about what could possibly happen today, or in the next few days; however long it took. She was willing to do whatever was necessary to end the problems that were going on with the Savages, before one of her Las Vegas family members were hurt, or worse, killed.

Before she knew it, the car had arrived in front of JohnWCreasy's apartment. She quickly let herself out of the car, saying to her driver, "This could be awhile. Just go get comfortable in a hotel somewhere, please. Goodbye Louis."

She shut the car door and made her way up to the entrance of the building, letting herself in. She wasn't exactly sure which apartment was John's, but according to the housing list on the wall, his was number 238. She didn't mind climbing steps so she started up to get to the second floor. At the hallway, she turned right to get to number 238, and when she arrived in front of the door, she knocked twice, covering the peep hole with her thumb. She always felt so awkward not knowing if she was being stared at or not.

When John opened the door, she smiled, let herself in, and said, "Hello. You do look nice! Anyways, shall we sit somewhere? We've gotta' figure something out about this, form a plan of action. I know you mentioned going by the speakeasy the Savages frequent. Is that still part of the plan?"

Hearing the knock on the door, John grabs his .38 special from the table and looks out the peephole.  He heard the sound of high heels coming down the hall, and assumes it's Karmen, but he can't see anything.  Opening the door carefully, he sees her standing in the hall, looking like she's ready for a  night on the town.

"Karmen!, Welcome, let me take your coat and make yourself at home" he says leading the way to the small sitting room.

John's apartment is small but clean and very organized.  There are no pictures or personal effects anywhere.  Just an old couch and chair, a radio on the table and several bookshelves overflowing with hardcovers.  

"I wish I had more time to get ready, I would have run out for some snacks or wine, I don't often have people over here.  Help yourself to the whiskey if it's your poison"

As Karmen makes her way around the room, glancing at her surroundings, John takes a seat and starts to lay out his plan.

"So here's what I was thinking.  We need more intel on these guys.  The club I was talking about is a classy place, the kind of place their leaders might go, but I don't expect we will run into any of their thugs.  If we keep a low profile, it should be a good way to figure out just how organized these clowns are.  What do you think?  Is it worth the risk to head over and have a few drinks? "

John sits back and finishes his drink as he lights up a cigarette.  

Karmen smiled when JohnWCreasy reached his hand out and grabbed her coat. She said thank you to him, then made her way around the apartment. It was extremely clean, no dust, no streaks on the glass.. There wasn't much there for personal items either. No pictures of John with friends. No pictures of him with family. There were no pictures at all. No art on the walls. Just some books on a shelf and a radio on the table.

At least he had good taste, she thought as she ran her finger along a couple of the books. She took a seat on the old couch and reached for the whiskey, pouring herself a drink and saying, "No worries about the snacks and wine. I think today is a good day for whiskey personally. I see you've already gotten started!"

She listened as John told her his plan for the day. She nodded a few times in approval, and when John was finished speaking, she watched him for a minute. He took a slow drag from his cigarette, and she leaned forward to pour herself a drink. She took a sip before saying, "Well if the speakeasy is a classy place, at least I dressed correctly. You, however, should put a tie on at least."

She laughed and said, "I'm just messing. You look fit for a classy place. Anyways, I agree. We need to get acquainted with them from a distance. Going to where they normally hang out could be a good way to do that. I think it's worth the risk. Plus, I enjoy having a few drinks so that's a bonus. So, when do we do this? Now? Later?"

He watched Karmen's facial expressions as she walked around the apartment and had seen that look before.  The curiosity, the questions that she wanted to ask but was to polite to mention.  His place had always been a little cold, sterile, but it was the kind of place he needed after long hard days, doing things most people couldn't even begin to understand.

"Every day is a good day for whiskey" he says with a laugh "And I always have a couple before getting into these kinds of things"

Watching her sip on a glass of straight whiskey, looking like the powerful and classy woman she is, John stood up and grabbed his coat an tie from the back of his chair.

"Of course I'm going to wear a tie.  If I'm going to be walking in with you, I don't want to look like your driver" he says with a wink.

"We should head over there when we're done our drinks.  Just before you got here, I made a call to a member of the Hardcases, he knows what we're doing and will be ready to lend a hand if we need one."

Quickly looping his tie into a double windsor knot, John then walked into the kitchen and took all of his ID out of his pockets, then removed the small chain and medallion he wears around his neck, placing everything in a small wooden bowl on the counter, pausing for a second, the same ritual he's done so many times before, hoping he will get the opportunity to wear it again.

Turning to Karmen, he throws back the rest of his drink, puts on his coat, sticks a roll of bills in his pocket and grabs is .38

"I'm ready when you are, we should take a cab, I think it would draw less attention than your driver"

Karmen laughed and said, "I agree. Everyday is definitely a good day for Whiskey, which is exactly why I'm on my second drink, within five minutes of arriving here! At least I have no worries of being nervous now. Plus, this Whiskey is amazing. You need to tell me where you got it so I can buy a few bottles for myself."

She finished her drink and looked up to see John watching her again for a moment before standing up and grabbing his coat and tie from the back of the chair. She laughed when he said he didn't want to look like her driver.

She said, "Well I don't think that's possible at all. You look much too nice in that outfit to be a driver. My driver wears this uptight-looking suit all the time. I always tell him he can wear jeans but.. No. He won't budge. Anyways, I agree. We should get going. That's good of you to have called another member of your family. We might end up needing all the help we can get. You never know!"

She watched as he skillfully tied a windsor knot, then turned to see him walk to the kitchen area and remove all of his personal items from his pockets and put them in a small wooden bowl on the counter. She noticed that he even took off the necklace he was wearing. She had to admit she was a little curious as to why he did all of that but figured he had good reasons. When he was finished with his ritual of sorts, he turned to her, finished his drink, put some money in his pocket, and said he was ready when she was.

She quickly stood up from the couch, straightened her long skirt and blouse, checked to make sure her Colt was still in it's holster, grabbed her purse, and said, "Yes, I'm ready to go. And I agree, we should definitely take a cab. I told my driver to go get comfortable in a hotel room somewhere so he's off for the evening. Hopefully the cabby knows where this speakeasy is that you say the bosses inhabit."

She smiled and said, "Well, let's go! You lead the way."

With that, they left the apartment and headed downstairs where John hailed a cab for them. They both got in and, after the cabby was told where to drive, they took off toward Paradise Road.

As the cab turned off Paradise and down the side street, John asked the driver to pull over and passed him a $100 bill.  "I'd appreciated if you waited here for an hour or so, we won't be long."

Getting out of the car, he opens Karmen's door and offers her his hand as she steps up onto the sidewalk.  As they make their way down the alley, they glance at each other as they notice two men standing at the door to the club. 

"Those two are probably Savage bodyguards" Karmen says quietly "There must be someone inside".

Approaching the door, John positions himself between the two men and Karmen, keeping his back turned while he knocks on the door.  As the doorman slides the window to the side, he looks at Karmen, then John.  "Are you law enforcement" he asks.

"No sir" John says with a chuckle "Heard this is a classy place, hoping you have some high end product available".  John slips another $100 bill through the window.  The door opens immediately and Karmen steps past the door man and down a short hallway, John following close behind.  

The sound of great jazz music and the smell of smoke intensify as they reach the end of the hall and walk into the main room.  It's a bigger club than John expected, with two bars, one on each level, lots of small tables and private booths, and a large stage where the band was just putting down their instruments for a break.

Karmen scans the room and finds a booth in the back corner, offering a full view of the entire club.  John motions towards the stairs and leans into Karmen.

"Two more standing at the bottom of the stairs.  As busy as it is on the main level, look upstairs, it's almost empty"

Karmen felt a slight surge of adrenaline as the cab pulled over to the side of the road. She took a deep breath and let it out as John opened the door for her. She took his hand when he offered it, stepping up onto the curb next to him. She glanced at John and commented about the bodyguards when they spotted them, thinking immediately that they had to be Savage bodyguards.

They approached the door, and John positioned himself between her and the two bodyguards. He knocked, and she honestly expected gunfire. But, the one-hundred dollar bill seemed to seal the deal and they were allowed inside. She chuckled a little to herself at the thought of them being law enforcement. They were similar to law enforcement, except they killed people instead of locking them up in jail like cops would do.

She stepped quickly past the doormen and saw the short hallway. They were met with loud voices, the clank of some glasses, and Jazzy music that somehow made the bar seem dreary instead of upbeat. Maybe that was just her though. John seemed to enjoy the music selection.

She took a quick scan of the room and spotted the booth, but listened to John as he leaned in and mentioned the two men standing at the bottom of the stairs. She looked around the main level, then looked at the upper level, and agreed that the empty upper room was a bit strange.

She whispered, "They must do their business downstairs or something. Think we have any chance of finding out what they do down there?"

She watched John's eyes scan the room before he whispered to her again, "Probably not without a fight."

She said, "Well it could be worth a shot. We could act completely innocent, go over and ask if we're allowed down there, or something of the sort."

John can see the excitement in Karmen's eyes.  As he scans the room, and thinks about the best way to get access to the basement, the server walks up to their table.

"How are you two tonight?  Can I get you a cocktail?"

John pauses for a moment, then flashes a smile and looks her in the eye. "We are celebrating tonight.  I'm sure your standard shelf bottles are fine, but we'd like something special.  Do you have a reserve of wine?  Or a cellar we could take a look at?"

The young lady hesitates and thinks about her answer carefully... "There are special selections available, but I'm no sure it will be possible for you to look through the wine cellar, that area is off limits."

Even in his best suit, John doesn't expect that he would be allowed downstairs, but Karmen has an elegant, unassuming look tonight, so he tries one last time.

"I'll be honest, my taste in wine is nowhere near as refined as the ladies is" glancing towards Karmen.  "Do you think it would be possible for her to take a look?  I don't mind waiting here."

The server looks over her shoulder at a well dressed man sitting near the rail on the upper floor, then turns back to the table. "Let me ask the owner, I'm very sorry, but I can't make that decision myself"

As the young lady turns away and walks past the two guards and up the stairs, John throws a quick wink at Karmen.

"Hope you're ready, if he says yes, you need to move fast and gather as much information as possible."

Karmen smiled at the server when she asked if they wanted a Cocktail and was prepared to answer, but John answered first with a more clever reply than she would have thought of. She decided then and there that she needed to work a bit on being witty and spur of the moment. 

She watched the look of contemplation come across the servers face before she turned down John's initial question, saying the cellar area was off limits. She wondered if maybe she could get into the cellar, and was about to ask when John asked for her, saying Karmen's taste was more refined. 

She looked the server in the eye and nodded, then smiled when John asked if she could go take a look, that he didn't mind waiting. 

She smiled and said, "He really is a patient person. And he's right. I definitely have better taste than he does when it comes to Wine."

She had a glimmer of hope when the server said she needed to ask the owner, and she hoped and prayed, even crossed her fingers, that this would work. She looked towards John and whispered, "Oh my, maybe this will actually work!"

She nodded when John said, "Hope you're ready, if he says yes, you need to move fast and gather as much information as possible."

She replied, "I'll definitely do my best. I'll look around and take mental pictures, ask as many questions as slyly as I can.. Hopefully we can find out what they do down there!"

After a few minutes of conversation between John and herself, the server emerged from the stairwell, walked over to them, and said, "To my surprise, the owner said yes. But on one condition. You only have five minutes to make your selection, and I must wait at the stairwell for you. He said, 'no silly business'. Those are his exact words. So, follow me."

Karmen's eyes widened in shock and she squeezed John's hand, whispering, "Wish me luck!"

Soon she was following the server, down the stairs and past the two bodyguards that were on each side of the door at the bottom. She gave a quick glance to each of the men as she walked by, making a mental note that they each had a large, jagged scar, same size, across their left cheek. The scars were still pink, telling her that the wound that caused them was a recent event.

When she entered the wine cellar, she scanned her eyes around the room. She noticed what looked like a splotch of blood on the floor by the base of the stairs, and another few splotches by one of the wine stands a few feet away. She turned around to see that the Server had stayed by the door as she said she would, so she walked as far back as the Wine Cellar extended. She saw an open door, with light pouring out, across from one of the last Wine stands. She acted completely inconspicuous, acting like she was scanning for the perfect wine. She got as close to the room as she could so she could hear what was being talked about.

A man was talking about how they needed more money to grow their gang to even bigger proportions. Another said that they had people ready and waiting to join them, and that meant more money flowing in. Another said that the next plan of action was an attack on Paradise, Las Vegas. He said that the Boss man would be accompanying this attack, and she couldn't believe her ears. How could they make it that easy to take out the head of the gang? And how many of the Big Guys were in this room right here, unaware that she was standing outside listening?

She wasn't sure how long she had taken but she knew it was probably close to five minutes, so she found a good bottle of sweet Pinot Grigio and made her way back over to where the server was standing, waiting. She said, "This is the kind I want! Thanks for giving me some time to pick the best one!"

The server nodded and turned around to lead her back up the stairs, and Karmen walked around her to go sit back at the table with John, who was, like he said he would be, waiting patiently.

When she sat, she turned to him and said quietly, "We walked down the stairs and the two men each had scars on their left cheek. Same size. Same shape. And they looked new. Still pink. So, recent wounds? And then, I walked into the cellar. There were blood splotches on the floor by the steps and by the wine stand close to the door. The server let me walk by myself and I walked towards the back to find this room, with the door open and light flooding out of the door. I walked back there and heard everything loud and clear while I was pretending to scan the wine for the kind I wanted."

She paused to look around and make sure no one was listening before continuing, "They are wanting to add more members to the gang so they have more money flowing in, and they've already planned their next place of attack. Paradise, LV, at the most popular night club. Not sure which club that is but I figured you would know. And! To top it off. The top Boss is going to be in on that attack! I mean, could they have made it any easier on us to take out the big guy? Not sure if they meant inside the night club, or behind the building.. Figured you'd be able to guess that as well. My five minutes was running out and I coudn't stand there listening any longer. It's hard to believe they didn't think to shut the door.. Not like I'm complaining though.. So what do you think?"

After watching Karmen walk down the stairs, John continued to watch the room, looking for anything out of place.  The man on the upper level continued to watch him, so he casually checked his watch, making sure Karmen wasn't gone much longer than the 5 minutes allowed.  Lighting a cigarette and leaning back in his chair, he sees Karmen as she walks back up the stairs, carrying a bottle of wine.

She sits at the table as John talks to the server "Thank you for arranging that, would you mind opening the bottle and grabbing a few glasses?"

As she walks away, Karmen explains the layout of the basement and the details of the conversation she overheard.

"I'm wondering if the scars on their faces are some kind of initiation?  We should take a better look at the two guys outside when we leave.  Sure would make it easy to pick these fools out of the crowd if they all have scars on their faces" he says with a laugh.

As the server returns with the open bottle of wine, she places two glasses on the table and pours a few inches of wine into each glass.  John passes her a tip before she walks back to the bar.

John samples the wine and gives an approving nod of his head to Karmen.  "You do have great taste in wine.  I can only imagine how much this is going to cost."

"So they are moving on Paradise.  Any idea when?  I don't want to over react, but I don't want to leave this too long either.  If you can excuse me for a minute, I have to make a call"

John heads back down the hallway, where he'd seen a phone sitting on a table when they came in.  Making sure he was alone, he quickly dialed the Hardcases HQ.

"Snake.  It's John.  You know that job I mentioned to you, well it's more complicated than I expected.  Need you get in touch with RedRum and let him know that the problem is coming to Paradise, we won't need to go looking for it.  Problem is, I don't know when exactly.  Karmen and I are going to be heading back that way soon.  We're going to need a few bodies to deal with it."

John hangs up the phone and heads back to the table, where Karmen is casually finishing her wine.  John tops up the glasses and takes a seat.  "Let's finish our drinks and get going.  I just got in touch with the club, we're going to need to get things ready, they won't have a clue what hit them" he says with a loud laugh.

Taking a sip of her wine, Karmen listened as John pondered about the scars being a form of initiation, and said, "That's actually what I was thinking! Initiation. I didn't get a chance to actually see any of the men inside the room.. I didn't want to seem overly obvious. But I could pick them voices out of a crowd I'm sure! They all had very distinct sounds, as if they were all from different cities or something."

When the wine was poured and they took their first sip, John complimented her on her taste of wine, and mentioned the price. She said, "No worries about the price. I paid for it already. You let go of hundreds of dollars before we were even seated, so I took care of the wine. And yes, I agree, I do have good taste. Not bitter. Not dry. Sweet. That's how I like wine!"

She nodded when John began talking about them moving in on Paradise. She said, "I'm not sure exactly when but they did say something about Friday. I'm sure they'll want to move as quickly as possible so I would assume tomorrow night? I could be wrong but I have a strong feeling that I'm right."

She didn't think John heard her say the last part as he abruptly excused himself from the table to make a call. When he returned a couple minutes later, he took a seat next to her again. He topped both of their glasses of Wine and said they needed to finish their drinks and get going. She said, "Okay yes, let's get going. Lots of work to get done before it happens. And also, I'm not sure if you heard me, but they mentioned something about Friday. Could be tomorrow. Guess we'll find out, huh?"

She shrugged her shoulders and got up out of the seat, put the cork back in the bottle of wine and said, "It was pretty expensive. I'm taking it with me. Hope you don't mind!"

He laughed and they walked out of the bar, hurrying back to the cab to make short work of the drive to Paradise.

..

When they arrived in front of the building, they saw the guarded door, and wondered if maybe it would go down tonight, and not tomorrow night. John and Karmen immediately saw RedRum, handing a one-hundred dollar bill to a kid and telling him to go steal the bodyguard's watch. She was astonished that it actually worked. The bodyguard took off after the kid and left the door unguarded, and they were able to slip inside, running up the stairs, quickly followed by RedRum with a duffel bag that he quickly threw towards John, then she saw Red disappear into a closet. They both looked towards John to see what the next plan of action is. He seemed to always know what to do.

John slides the bag of guns under a stack of chairs sitting in the corner and heads towards the closet where Red is hiding, signalling to Karmen to join him.  Standing in front of the closet door, he attempts to make it look like they are speaking to each other, but he's actually filling RedRum in on the details.

"So it seems the Savages are planning something for tomorrow night, but the boss and a few others are in the basement.  Head down the stairs and through the wine cellar, there is a room at the back, they were there a few minutes ago.  We've noticed that a few of the guards have a scar on their face, may be something they all have."

Looking around the room for a distraction, John sees a table filled with empty glasses along the railing, "OK Red, in a few seconds you're going to hear a bunch of glass breaking, that should get the guards away from the stairs, anyone in the basement is fair game, your bag is under the chairs in the corner, good luck".

John walks up to the table and knocks the glasses over the rail, smashing on the main bar floor below.   He and Karmen quickly run down the stairs and move towards the door, while the guards leave their post near the basement stairs and run out to see what all the commotion is.

Shortly before they hopped in the cab, they had to create a distraction for RedRum, so that he could get downstairs without being shot. She watched as John knocked all the glass cups off the counter, sending them shattering to the floor. She wished RedRum a silent good luck as her and John took off outside, running towards the cab to be on their way to Paradise. She hoped they would quickly see RedRum showing up with good news, that he had taken out the guys that were talking in the room.

A few hours later, waiting in the privacy of her driver's car, whom she had had drive to Paradise so they had a place to lay low, they waited and waited for RedRum to show up. They knew they would see him very soon, so they just continued to wait in the safety of the vehicle.