Ifi received word that he was to report to his boss Stefania's office. He had been earning pretty good for his boss, so he wondered what was up, not sure if he had made a mistake or what he cautiously approached her office and knocked on the door before entering respectfully.

"You asked for me boss?" he said daring to look at her. This was his first meeting with the boss, usually he worked with her underlings handing over a portion of his earnings to be carried off to her, but this time he was working with her directly.

Stefania handed him a piece of paper. On the piece of paper was a name and address. "This, is a lose end Ifi. I don't like lose ends, you know what to do."

Ifi slipped the piece of paper into his pocket, nodded his head at his boss and left her office quickly to carry out her request. This was his first job directly from the boss, and he didn't intend to keep her waiting. This was his chance to prove his worth directly to his boss.

Ifi slipped out the back door of the family HQs so as to attract as little attention as possible and made his way down a dark alley before checking over the piece of paper to see where he was going.

Bonnie Elwanda

427 Arch St

Ifi  lit a match and set the paper on fire. He then tossed it into the nearby dumpster and went on his way towards the address. Emerging from the alleyway he hailed a cab. The address was on the other side of town and he didn't feel like walking. He gave the driver directions to a bar near the area saying he needed a night out.

Ifi arrived at the bar and stepped inside to have a drink. It's important to keep up appearances and pretend like you're just out for a night of socializing when you're about to do something against the law. If people can tell you're up to no good, your chances of success dwindle substantially. Ifi had a short temper, but he wasn't stupid. I had no intentions of just running up on this guys place like a fool and getting shot for his troubles.

Ifi picked a spot in the corner of the bar and sat down to have a meal and a drink. He casually checked out his surroundings and then opened up a newpaper to read while waiting on his order.

Karina was walking past the line of men ordering drinks at a bar. No... no... no... there. That guy was perfect. A businessman. He'd just ordered some sort of mixed drink and his wallet was practically hanging out of his back pocket. Her gentle fingers relieved him of it in a flash as she walked by, tucking it into one of the pockets of her brown jacket. She flashed a catlike grin as she started to walk away, but she'd only made it a few steps when she heard a voice behind.

"Hey... where... where's my wallet?!"

Shit. Why the hell was he looking for it after he'd already paid? Bad luck. She could make a run for it... but then she'd never be able to work this bar again. Quickly, she scanned the tables near her. One man looked familiar. She barely had any connections in LA, but she remembered seeing him at some point. He was connected, somehow, and she didn't have too many options. She slid across the table from him, speaking enthusiastically.

"Oh, it's SO good to see you! How long has it been? Ages? Ages!"

She could see the businessman frantically looking around the bar. She leaned forward, pretending to converse excitedly with the man at the table and raised one of her hands to her face in surprise- which conveniently shielded her from view. The businessman passed them by and turned his search elsewhere. She exhaled for the moment and her grey eyes looked steadily at the man across the table. She mouthed "thanks".

Ifi looked up from his meal slightly annoyed at the disruption of his meal and thoughts. He had a job to do after all, he wasn't here for pleasure. He heard the man asking around if anyone had seen his wallet, being a con himself he recognized the reason the girl had chosen to barge in on his meal. He vaguely recognized her face, but couldn't exactly put a name to it. He just knew she was also from the LA scene so he decided to shrug off her intrusion for the time being and play along.

"Yes indeed, it has been awhile dear. What brings you around these parts?"

As the man passes them by and turns his attention elsewhere Ifi gives the girl a nod and returns to his eating wondering if the girl will stay or make a hasty retreat out the back.

Karina leaned back in her chair, starting to relax a little bit. The pickpocketed man's voice was continuously growing fainter.

"Oh... business. Keeping me rather busy at the moment."

In a quieter voice that no one else can hear, she speaks.

"Recognize your face. Sorry for barging in. What's your name?

"Ifi Degatoth," he replies to the girl, "And yours."

Ifi put his fork down and extended his hand to shake the girls.

"I'm here on business as well. The boss gave me an important job to take care of." he said continuing the conversation as they shook hands.

She shook his hand gracefully.

"Karina. What's this job? I think I owe you one....

She paused as the businessman came storming back into the room. She couldn't help make eye contact with him. After a moment's recognition, he started storming over.

... perhaps I'll owe you two, Ifi."

She'd just finished the sentence when the man grabbed her by the collar of her jacket and yanked her to her feet. Her right hand rested on a gun, but she seemed unwilling to use it until she absolutely had to. 

"Give me back my wallet, you... you BITCH!"

Ifi gets up from his seat and looks at the man. "There's no need to make a scene here in the bar, lets step out back and we can settle this there." he says to the man. He steps over to the back door and opens it up gesturing the man outside. The man heads out the back door dragging Karina by the collar with him.

Ifi steps out the door after the man and closes it leaving the 3 in the alley behind the bar. Ifi looks at the man and calmly says "Let her go, what kind of gentleman drags a woman around by the collar like some dog?" As soon as the man releases Karina, Ifi lunges forward knocking the man to the ground. He puts a knee to the mans throat and stares down at him menacingly. "You should have let the missing wallet go, now you're going to be missing more than your wallet." He aims a blow at the mans stomach knocking the wind out of him before looking up at Karina to see what she's doing.

 Karina held her breath as the man dragged her across the floor of the bar, ignoring the glances from other customers. After Ifi made his move and put the guy down, Karina took a deep breath and readjusted her jacket.

"Thank you, sir, for the assist."

She still had her right hand on her gun, but it remained in her holster.

"I think he gets the point. You're done with this bar, pal. Don't want to see you back here again. You already made it difficult enough for me..."

She raised her grey eyes to meet Ifi's gaze.

"Anything I can do to help repay the favor?"

Ifi stands up and then aims a blow at the mans stomach with his right foot causing the man to double over sideways, and then another blow to his head knocking him unconscious. He doesn't want the man to hear what he says next. He looks over at Karina after making sure the man is out and says, "I'm here to give a man his cement shoes." He notices the gun at Karina's side and says "Perhaps you can help with that."

Ifi straighten's out his suit and begins walking towards the address where his mark is at, leaving Karina to make her choice.

With a small grin, Karina catches up and walks next to, and slightly behind, Ifi.

"I'm in. Any details on the job you can share with me?"

Ifi walks along not answering Karina immediately. After a few minutes they arrive in the alley a block away from the address he was given. He turns and looks hard at Karina judging if he has made the right choice in trusting her. After a few seconds he says "Her name Bonnie Elwanda, and she knows more then she needs to. It doesn't bother you that we are after a woman does it?"

He leans against the wall casually while waiting for her reply.

 Karina shakes her head slowly. To be honest, she would have preferred the target being a man. But she'd seen enough in her travels to know that everyone could be a target.

"No. What do you need me to do?"

Ifi stands up straight again and says, "Watch my back," as he turns and starts walking the last block to the address where his mark is at. He quietly approaches the back door and picks the lock so they can enter without notice.

As Ifi opens the door he draws his gun and looks around the room he is entering. There is no one  in the room. It appears to be the kitchen, there are some dirty dishes in the sink. He wrinkles his nose at the smell and starts cautiously moving through the kitchen towards the doorway leading to the next room.

Nodding and moving quietly, Karina unties the front of her jacket and removes her revolver from its holster as she follows Ifi into the house. She slowly clicks a bullet into the chamber, covering Ifi's back as he moves into the kitchen. Dirty dishes. Did the target run and leave a mess behind? Or just have bigger things on her mind than cleaning? 

As Ifi approaches the doorway he notices it leads into a hallway and then across the hallway is what appears to be the living room. As he looks into the living room from the kitchen he sees a lady sitting in a chair reading the newspaper. He believes this is his mark and steps into the hallway to start taking aim on his target, then he notices a barrel pointing his direction from down the hallway out of the corner of his eye. He leaps back into the kitchen just in time as the sound of a BANG goes off and a hole appears in the wall near where he was standing.

A voice yells out "This is the police, throw down your weapon and come out with your hands up!"

Karina froze as the gun went off. Ifi had jumped back, nearly knocking her backwards; she safely pointed her gun off to the side. As the gunshot echoed into silence, she leaned close to Ifi's ear and hissed. 

"Cops usually yell that BEFORE they shoot, huh? Is this really a cop?"

In the chaos, the woman in the living room had vanished from view. She must be the target. There weren't any female cops, so the shooter was either a man or woman with a very low voice. What was the move? Was the a way to send one of them sneaking around to surprise the shooter from behind? If not... perhaps one of them could dive across the hallway and draw the shooter's fire... while  the other popped a few shots around the corner and removed the threat. If Ifi asked her her opinion, that's what she'd say. But she was back up here, not wanting to step on any toes.  

And the second gunshot slamming into the wall near them suggested there wasn't exactly time for a conference. With a questioning eyebrow, she  wordlessly looked at Ifi.

Ifi shook his head agreeing with Karina's assessment that the shooter was obviously not a cop. The guy was hoping they'd be dumb enough to drop their weapons and come around the corner with arms raised so he could shoot them. Ifi had no intentions of letting the man live his fantasy. He looked around the kitchen searching for a distraction, after a second his eyes rested on the dirty dishes in the sink. There was a pan filled with what looked like spaghetti although the smell indicated it wasn't freshly made at all.

Ifi pointed to himself and then pointed toward the room across the hall and then picked up the pan by the handle. After giving Karina a second to catch on to his plan he stepped back towards the doorway and flung the pan spaghetti and all down the hall and made a mad dash across it into the other room.

Karina listened as the "cop" fired a couple shots at Ifi, diving across the hall. Fortunately, some combination of the quickness of Ifi's movements and the unexpected spaghetti flying at him made aiming difficult for whoever he was. Having readied herself at Ifi's motion, Karina leaned around the corner as soon as she saw bullets hitting the wall and quickly fanned the hammer of her revolver, loosing four shots in a shot span of time. Normally she took her time aiming for center mass- but here she aimed around the thighs. Two of the four shots hit and, with a scream, the man dropped his gun. Quickly jogging forward and kicking the gun away, she looked back to see if Ifi was following her or if he had pursued the woman from the living room.

Ifi managed to make it across the room unharmed. Scanning the room he saw his mark cowering in the corner and quickly moved to block her access to the door leading outside. Guess she was dumb enough to think the shooter was going to keep her safe, her loss. He heard a man's scream from the hallway and figured Karina must have used the diversion he created to take care of the unwanted guest. Ifi raised his gun and pointed it at the woman's head, she crawled forward just a little, begging for her life on hands and knees. She started blubbering and sobbing uncontrollably as Ifi stared at her with stone cold eyes.

"You ok down there?" he shouted towards Karina