“Watch out for the truck, then call immediately!  You will be moving the liquor from the delivery truck to the other.  Sort out help, and a driver for both trucks.  Counting on you to get this right.”

Teo made it clear that her task was to be the lookout, scout around, and alert him of the delivery.  Sounded simple enough, yet her mind was stuck on last night, but more so this morning. Replaying every minute in her mind…

She went over in her head the best ways to get the liquor transferred from the delivery truck to the getaway truck.  The truck she drove there was parked around the corner with getaway truck, similar in appearances.  Rosa arranged for Meechy to drive the getaway truck, and sent word for Supernova to handle the decoy truck...in case things went awry.

“Focus damnit.”  She mumbled to herself softly.  She had a job to do, and couldn’t afford any distractions.  This was the first big task Teo had requested of her, and she’d be damned if she fucked up.  Not a great way to make an impression to her Godfather either.  If she played her cards right, and did this job well Teo said there would be more jobs lined up for her, with more responsibility.  Rosa aimed to make a place in the family someday, and she was determined to work hard, and stay the hell out of trouble.

She was waiting outside in the blasted cold weather, bundled up in her black wool coat.  The thickness of her coat made up for lacking the needed layers underneath.  She barely had time after getting home this morning to change clothes from the night before, and the black Chanel dress she had chosen was beautiful, but the silk material was cool against her skin right now.  Her breath visible in the air as she breathed out each time. Not like this morning, snuggled up under the blanket...Fuck she needed to focus.  

If she was one to smoke cigarettes, she’d probably went through a pack standing here in the dim lit alley, as nervous as she was.  The soft clicks of her Oxfords barely echoed as she paced a few steps back and forth to fight the chill, and clear her mind a bit.  All she had to do was watch for when the delivery guy showed up, transfer cases of booze, and make it out unblemished...nothing too taxing for someone of her stature, yet she still wanted to get the job done without fail.  

Rosa tugged the coat sleeve up revealing the watch, but in the dim lighting she could barely make out the time.  Should be anytime now, and Meechy was parked around the corner ready to go with the truck.  As soon as she saw the delivery truck, she would slip around the corner to the payphone.  That was the signal for Meechy to be on alert and await Teo’s arrival.

Her hazel eyes kept focusing on the broken neon sign, flickering with a slight short..”Bandits Bar”.  How appropriate a name for a bar with what was about to go down tonight.  Rosa smiled into her coat collar as she tugged it closed.

Teo has been the only one to arrive as usual, he was sat on a rocking chair in his room near the window waiting for Mattsr to show up, he lit a cig and pulled the phone on the table next of him.

"God damn those kids, they know nothing about punctuality"

He checked his watch as he finished his cigarette and put it off in the ashtray next to the phone. He lit another cigarette as he noticed Mattsr parking the car across the street, he whistled to get his attention and waved for him to come up then walked out of the room and waited for his friend outside the room as he smoked the rest of his cigarette.

"About time you showed up, where the hell have you been?"

Teo led the man inside the room, towards the bed where there was a huge black bag. Teo opened the zip and started unloading the bag, pulling different sorts of weapons out. Teo took his favourite Smith and Wesson 0.38 that he inherited from his great grandfather and slowly loaded the case with bullets. He turned to Mattsr.

"Pick a weapon man, we should be moving soon once Rosa calls."

Teo threw a colt towards Matt and started backing the bag up again, he started with a set of 3 tommy guns he had brought one for each of them in case things went bad and they needed heavy gunfire, he had already planned this and it should be easy, he thought. He took one last drag from his cigarette and put it off too, he checked his watch, it's getting late and Rosa hasn't called yet, he was getting worried.

The sun was just starting to set as Matt drove to the rendezvous place to meet Teo, it had been an eventful week for him so far, beginning with the newly promoted Boss being asked by an influential and powerful crew leader from another Chicago family to assist with a raid he was planning. Even though Matt was a bit naïve to his new role, he wasn’t stupid enough to pass up an opportunity like this, these were the kind of things that helped you get noticed and he was determined to do that.

Then only just last night he met the most captivating woman who had spent the night in his arms, he had one of the best sleeps for quite a while even though it was mostly spent sitting upright in a chair but to wake up with her there… was just wonderful. Now though, he had a problem, this job was quite a big deal to him and he couldn’t allow himself to be distracted by anything, not even her… but it was oh so difficult, everything reminded him of her and he was seriously losing the fight to get her out of his mind for the next hour or so….

Pulling up to the deserted motel, Matt spots Teo standing outside one of the rooms, leaning against the wall like he hadn’t a care in the world. After they had exchanged pleasantries , he was ushered through into a room of the motel, there on the bed lay a large black bag, no sooner had the door been shut and locked than Teo was opening the bag and removing a long list of guns. Whilst they inspected and accounted for all of the weapons, Matt listened intently as Teo explained the particulars of the job to him and what his role was going to be.

Once everything had been covered, loaded, checked and double checked, all of the weapons were placed carefully back into the bag and taken to the boot of Matt’s vehicle, the pair of them got in and set off towards to location Teo had chosen for the robbery and without warning... BANG there she was back in his head again….

Oh this fucking chill was gonna eat her alive.  Rosa paced back and forth still as she kept glancing to the street.

"Come on.  Come on.  Mio Dio!  Where the hell is the truck?!"

Great.  Just great she thought.  Now she was talking to herself.  Lovely.  But it beats thinking about him...her thoughts came rushing back just as a pair of headlights shined against the alleyway.  She ducked out of sight as the truck began to slow, and pull around to the other side of the bar. Perfetto!  Now all she had to do was call Teo. 

Keeping her coat tugged tightly closed, Rosa quickly walked from the alleyway to the corner side, the opposite direction of the delivery truck.  She was excellent with numbers, and had already memorized the number where Teo said he would be.  Rosa passed by the truck where Meechy sat drumming his fingers on the steering wheel, looking ten shades of bored.  Pffft.  At least he was IN the damn truck, and not out in this blasted weather.  This better be some good fucking liquor they were raiding.  

She nodded towards Meechy when he spotted her finally, right before she ducked into the phone booth.  A couple of rings later, her boss answered with a curt 'Hello'.

"Boss.  It's me.  The truck just arrived.  Si.  Si.  Aye I am watching it.  They just literally pulled up, and hadn't started unloading anything yet. Yeah they went inside out of this damn weather...."

Click.  

She shook her head as she hung up the phone, but had trouble to fight the budding smile at his impatience for this liquor.  She passed back by Meechy, tapping her watch then signaling with her hand to indicate 'five minutes' before their bossman showed up.  She just reached the corner when she heard a car screeching as it took off in a hurry, which made Rosa jump slightly.  Her nerves settled a bit when she spotted Supernova heading in the direction of the truck she left parked near the getaway truck.  Good she thought, he received the message after all to assist if needed. Never know how these things could go, and the more help the better.  She quickly darted back to the alleyway, back to where she had been then set in to wait.

Time seemed to be passing slowly for Meechy as he sat alone in the truck..

"At least I'm not outside," he thought to himself.

Just as he was starting to wonder what was taking so long, he caught a glimpse of Rosa out of the corner of his eye.

"Ah, here we go, the truck must have arrived."

After spotting a 5 minute signal from Rosa, Meechy made sure that the truck was ready for a swift escape and returned to waiting.

Supernova had already been in his old black cadillac v16 parked outside of a bakery. He had been in the passenger seat, smoking a joint. Until he heard a loud knock on his window and the clicking of the driver door opening. His bodyguard got into the seat and began to sped off. 

Whoa, what's going on? Slow it down. Before a cop pulls you over..

His bodyguard quickly spoke afterwards

Seems like your needed. Orders rang in from the top asking your assistance in a getaway. You'll be in the driver seat of a decoy truck. I'm supposed to get you there now..

Supernova took another quick hit from his joint, and tossed it out the window. He checked his holster to make sure he had his pistol ready. The vehicle pulled up to the destination, to where all the trucks had been parked. 

We are here. His bodyguard said in a quick tone. Waiting to leave the situation as soon as possible.

Alright..Alright.. I'll let you know if you're needed. Get going. Supernova handed his bodyguard a sealed envelope and quickly got out of the vehicle. As soon as the passenger-door closed, the vehicle sped off. Supernova wandered over to one of trucks that was vacant and peeled into the windows. His red eyes, just staring into space. He opened the door and climbed onto the driver seat. He checked his holster again, this time making sure the safety was engaged. He wanted to be ready for what would happen next.

Everything was now ready, Teo walked back and forth around the phone table, he lit a cigarette as he walked to the window, he sighed as he checked his watch and took a deep drag off his cigarette. He started thinking about their plan over and over untill he was intereupted by the phone's ring. He rushed the phone and picked it up.

"Hello! What took you so long? Okay good, is Meechy there? What about SuperNova?"

He took one last drag from his cigarette as he listened to his left hand.

"Brilliant! We will be there in five minutes, stay set."

Teo nervously put his cigarette off as he turned to Matt.

"It's our turn now, let's get going."

Teo checked the bag one more time to check the arms and everything, he then put his wesson & smith in his belt and hanged the bag on his shoulder as the two men walked out of the room and slowly made their way out of the lobby, into the streets. They walked to the car, Teo opened the door and sat in the passenger's seat then threw the bag in the back as Mat got into the driver seat and started the engine.

"There can be no mistakes now, you know we owe the feds five million dollars and that's our chance to get their Director off our ass. Rose and Meechy should be able to do it as me, you and SuperNova distract their men. Should be easy."

Teo was very nervous he kept revising everything, he didn't want to show his nervousness but it was too obvious, he lit another cigarette as he stared out of the window.

For such a composed and confident seeming man, Teo was starting to show slight concern about this job, he was pacing back and forward in the room, smoking and had now even triple checked the gun bag. This was the first major job Matt had done especially with a crew that wasn’t his own, so his own nerves were all over the place and sensing Teo’s reaction wasn’t helping.

Sitting in one of the motel rooms chairs, Matt caught Teo’s eye and motioned to him “Have you got another cigarette there?”, Teo  smiled and threw the packet to him, taking one out and lighting it he passed the pack back, thanking him at the same time.

Finally the phone rang, giving them both a small sense of relief, Teo snatched it up and answered whilst Matt listened patiently. After a brief conversation, the phone was put down and Teo turned to Matt and said it was time to  go, he stood up from his seat, stubbed the cigarette out, picked up his gun and followed Teo to the car.

“Five million…” he thought “No wonder he’s nervous about pulling this off”.  As doubt started creeping back in and the silence inside the car rang in his ears as Teo’s words flew through his mind “Should be easy, no mistakes, Rose and Meechy will do it…. Wait.. Rose and Meechy… Rose?? No..” he thought shaking his head, “it must be a coincidence…”

She paced back and forth anxiously as she continued to wait.  Five minutes seemed like hours to Rosa at the moment.  She was mumbling softly when she saw headlights briefly then darkness once more.  Teo was here!  Good!  She was ready to get the hell out of here.  

Rosa walked around the corner, snagging Meechy’s attention, waving her hand.  He started the truck then began backing up slowly.  She went back to the delivery truck, waiting and watching out, guiding Meechy as she waved her hand while he backed the truck up to retrieve the liquor.  

She saw Teo coming round the corner, so she began to smile with relief knowing things would go smoothly now.  She turned just as Meechy got out of the truck to help her unload the liquor, so she failed to see the other figure coming round the corner following Teo.  Meechy pulled the truck door open, and they smiled looking at the load in the truck.

“Hell yeah!  Look at all that!”

Rosa stopped herself from a high five and dance, she was a professional for fuck’s sake, but she smirked anyways.  She got in the delivery truck to hand the cases to Meechy, letting him load their truck.  She was handing him the fourth case by the time her eyes focused back on Teo briefly….and his companion.  Meechy shouted at Rosa when she almost dropped the case on his head, telling to her snap outta it.

Mio Dio!  What the hell was HE doing here?!  She had no idea this was the ‘help’ Teo managed to wrangle up.  Her eyes focused on him in the dim lighting, struggling to see his expression completely.  Hands waved in front of her snapping her back to the task at hand.

“Right! I am moving.  Settle the fuck down.  Here.”

How the hell was she supposed to concentrate now?!  He said nothing...nothing! about helping Teo earlier.  This being the big job he had to handle. Mio Dio!  What are the odds?!  Focus damnit, focus! Rosa chided herself to get moving, but her hands were a bit shaky at the moment causing the bottles to rattle in the case.  Meechy arched his eyebrow at her, but she shrugged it off, and kept moving.  Almost done unloading the truck... thank goodness, she thought.  She wasn’t sure she could keep up this false bravado act for much longer.

Gunfire rang through the air.

“What the blazing hell was that?”

Meechy ducked behind the getaway truck pointing towards the bar.  The screeching of tires from the decoy truck came to a halt right at the corner, Supernova threw the truck into park as Teo began shouting to hurry the hell up as him and Matt took cover behind the truck then began shooting back, covering them.  Rosa began rushing to get the remaining cases to Meechy trying hard not to look in their direction as the sound of bullets echoed through the air.  Mio Dio! Please let them be safe, she thought as she grabbed the next case.

Supernova had his truck parked at the corner behind the bar. He hadn't been noticed yet by anyone. He slowly got out of the truck and crouched over to the back of the bar. He seen that the back door had been open just slightly. He thought to himself.

This should help to load up the truck quicker. Maybe I can distract the guards.

Supernova took his gun from his holster and clicked off the safety. He went up against the wall, to give him some cover. He could hear some thumping, as almost someone was walking his way. Before he knew the door had opened and a guard appeared. Supernova fired off his gun, one shot had hit the guard in the arm. The guard then stumbled into the bar falling onto the ground. With his other arm, the guard opened fire. More bullets began to ring out through the bar. A few more guards had appeared. Supernova had now been noticed. He screamed across to the others.

There's going to be more. Let's take care of em'!

After saying that, Supernova quickly scrambled to reload his gun. He didn't want to get in the middle with no bullet in the chamber.

Teo sat still, he kept thinking about the plan, seemingly worried about SuperNova's love of trigger pulling, he decided to distract himself by rolling a joint till they arrived, he had just licked and sealed his joint when Matt turned around the corner and pointed at the truck. Teo smiled as he winked at his partner, reaching in the back to get his pistol, he snug it into his belt as he then pulled a tommygun and hid it well into his coat, he opened the door and got out of the vehicle, then tied his coat belt tight.

"Okay Matt, get in position. I will have a walk to check everything is going fine and meet you in a bit."

Teo walked to the opposite side of he bar, he stopped to light his joint as he noticed Rosa, shaking in her boots he nodded at her, and watched as she walked towards the truck followed by Meechy. Teo kept on his survey, trying not to miss a single detail around them, he walked to the main gate, but the bar was closed now and no one was there, trying to get a deeper look into the place, he walked quietly close to the windows, only to find four men sitting on a poker table and sharing drinks, there was a fifth guy on the phone, probably talking to his boss about their fresh load. "Hope you enjoy your drinks you bloody bastards, it might be your last." He thought to himself as he kept walking, taking another deep drag off his joint, he started feeling the buzz and was now getting more relaxed. He was losing all his thoughts and worries finally, only to turn around the corner to find SuperNova, aiming his pistol towards the slightly opened back door, he quickly took cover behind the wall, as fire exchange started.

"Damn! That started a little too early." He took a deep drag off his joint and kicked it away then whistled to Rose and motioned to her to speed up the packing, then pointed to Matt to go for the front door, he reached for his Smith and Wesson, there was no more time for thinking, he had to protect his people. Teo loaded his gun and ran quickly across the street trying to dodge the random bullets being fired from inside. He crouched behind a car just across SuperNova so they could cover the widest area and started shooting at the door and the windows. The guards started coming to the back, some climbed on top of the building now, Teo reached for the tommygun he had hid inside his coat, it was ready and loaded, all he had to do was pull the trigger. He took a deep breath, as he tried to locate the man shooting from the roof, once he got an accurate estimation of his position, Teo stood up and fired half a clip towards the man, and back behind the truck, he could hear his corpse falling to the top of one of the vehicles parked near the bar.

"We have to keep them inside man, Rosa and Meechy aren'tfinished."

Teo, crawled to the car Matt was driving, he opened the back door and reached for the bag, he pulled it out. Took two more tommy guns, he threw one towards SuperNova and loaded the one he just emptied, He gave SuperNova the go and the two men started aiming their guns towards the windows and the back door of the bar, he yelled at Rosa and Meechy as he ducked to reload and threw a clip towards his partner.

"Are we done yet?"

After leaving the car, Matt had wandered on ahead leaving Teo to stay back and watch.  Approaching the corner of a wall, he peered round to see two figures standing in the darkness of an alley motioning towards the truck they were waiting on.  He thought for a moment that he maybe recognized them, but shook his head "No I must be imagining it. I've never worked with any of this family before...".  Nodding in their direction, he turned, and sprinted down the alley then signalled to Teo to move forward to his position.

Once Teo had caught up, Matt proceeded towards his position near the back of the truck keeping watch over the two people unloading the alcohol. As he got closer he noticed her, staring at him.... "Oh wow..." he thought to himself, "Well well well, this was rather unexpected, of all the people to be working for Teo". He smiled to himself as he caught a glimpse of her shocked face, and mentally slapped himself to get his head back on the job once her companion had caught her attention. He slowly crept up, edging closer to the target, keeping a watchful eye for any movement in the warehouse beside the unloading area.

With a sudden loud crack which echoed up and down the alleyway, the guns starting firing, and Matt flung himself up against the wall keeping a watchful eye both in the direction of the gunfire, and Rosa and her companion rushing to finish unloading.  Returning cover fire, he slowly made his way to where they were standing, and put himself between them and the shooters, covering them with a shower of bullets from his own tommy gun, forcing the occupants of the warehouse to take cover inside, and preventing them from leaving through the main doors.

Hearing Teo shout, he turned to check their progress to find that the last box was being loaded, and shouted on the pair to finish up.  He screamed at them to get in the cab.  He continued to provide cover whilst they got moving then ran over to join Teo. Supernova headed back to the decoy truck, and once he was safely inside, and had started pulling away, Matt and Teo fled in the direction of their own car, turning every so often to shoot a stream of bullets back towards the warehouse. Once they had flung themselves into the car, Matt fired her up, and sped off in the direction of the decoy truck....

In the heat of the moment, Supernova started up the truck and threw the tommy gun he had got from Teo onto the passenger seat. He floored the gas pedal, and the truck began to haul off down the road. Since the whole ordeal had been so quick and the guards were too busy fighting for their lives and goods. They hadn't noticed that the decoy truck and the getaway truck were two different trucks. The few last remaining guards thought Supernova was driving away with their goods. They quickly ran into their vehicle and began to chase him. He looked into his side-mirror and noticed them. He rolled down his window, and grabbed his pistol so he was able to shoot from inside of the truck. The guards fired a few warning shots at the truck. Hoping to scare Supernova into pulling over. But he knew better, and only pushed the truck even harder. It was never meant to go the speeds he was going. 

CRACK. A few more bullets hit the back of his truck. Supernova turned left...Then right...Then left again. They were still on his tail and now he was able to see that Matt and Teo weren't to far behind him. Supernova fired a few shots in retaliation, hitting the guards' vehicle. He looked ahead of him, scanning for an area to ditch the truck. The chase had just started to get fun for him, but he needed to put an end it. He kept driving, swerving in and out of traffic. He spotted a port and one of the great lakes, and instantly got a idea. He thought to himself.

This is Lake Michigan. That lake is deep enough for this truck to sink in.

Supernova turned the truck right, and was now heading towards Lake Michigan. He reached over to the passenger seat and grabbed the tommy gun from earlier. He wedged the weapon between the pedal. This allowed for him to jump out of the truck without having to worry about it slowing down right before the lake. He looked in his rear-view mirror and saw the guards were still chasing him. Right behind them was Matt and Teo in tow. He holstered his pistol and got his hand ready on the driver door handle. When he was only a street away from Lake Michigan, he ripped open the door and threw himself out of the truck. He was able to roll properly onto the pavement, only receiving a few cuts on his hands and face. The truck kept heading towards the lake, and the guards had noticed he jumped from the truck. Though they were more interested in getting their goods. The truck shot right into the lake, and started to float for a few minutes. Before then, Supernova had already recovered and was opening the back passenger door of Matt and Teo's vehicle. With all three of them safe they hauled off quickly before the guards had realize that their goods had not been on Supernova's truck. Supernova, Matt, and Teo laughed after successfully pulling off their diversion. 

We did it guys! The goods is ours for the keeping!

Supernova said in an cheerful tone.. They continued on down the road.

Meechy and she were rushing as fast as possible, but the echoes of the gunfire were grating on her nerves.  She couldn't just stop to check on them, making sure no one was hurt.  She couldn't decipher the voices yelling out back and forth, as she moved crate after crate to Meechy.  He already seemed edgy once the shoot out began, but he kept his focus on loading the getaway truck.  Rosa turned quickly taking a count of the number of crates left at a glance as she grabbed the next one, estimating six or seven left.  She was about to grab another crate when she heard Teo's voice shouting nearby.  Mio Dio! He needed to focus on them not her.

"We're almost done.  Just a few more!"

She raised a hand waving him off back to focus on covering their ass while she grabbed another crate.  Perfetto!  Just a few more to go.  She was grumbling to Meechy about how she was gonna crack open a crate on the way back to headquarters after all this mess.  Three more crates moved, and the gunfire seemed to have heated up a bit more.  Lovely.  Just making her more nervous, resisting every urge to peek around the truck to see them ducking and firing cover shots, waiting for her to grab the last crate.

"Meechy this is the last one.  Get ready to book it!"

She handed him the last crate right as the decoy truck was fired up, roaring like thunder before speeding off.  Amidst the tires screeching and hailing of bullets through the air, she hopped down to the ground as Meechy set the last crate in their truck.

"Go I got the door.  Soon as I get in the cab, we're gonna get the fuck outta here. Go! Go!"

Soon as Meechy went to get the truck cranked, Rosa noticed the decoy truck was disappearing from sight, followed by another vehicle.  Teo and Matt were just getting into their car as she jumped up, grabbed hold of the door, tugging with force allowing the door to slide down with a thud. She locked the door then headed to the truck cab, but her eyes focused on their car speeding off after Supernova to pick him up after he ditched the decoy truck somehow.  Everything happened so quickly in those last few moments, Rosa had no clue if anyone was hurt, shot or what. 

She climbed into the truck, and barely got the door shut before Meechy put the truck in motion.  For fuck sake she needed her seatbelt on with this driving, but what the hell did she expect from crazy Chicago people, especially someone from their own family, which was full of craziness.

"Mio Dio!  Let me get this buckled before you kill me, or make me kiss the windshield.  Per favore.  I want to get this load to the Headquarters in one piece after all that commotion as well as myself in one piece."

They had plans to drive to the Headquarters as Supernova drove in the opposite direction.  She kept checking behind them to see if anyone followed them, but so far the coast was clear.  She relaxed a bit against the seat, but braced a hand against the door as his driving didn't slow or change all the way back to Headquarters.  Half an hour later, they pulled up to the back of Headquarters then parked.  Thank God.  Now they would wait for Teo and Matt to pick up Supernova, so she checked her watch from time to time as she paced next to the truck until they arrived later.

She had no idea who was driving, but they were flying like a bat out of hell.  Screeching to a stop, the dust settling, the doors opened and the laughter rang through the air.  She counted.. one..two..three...Mio Dio!  Her nerves settled once she laid eyes on the trio making their way to check out the goods.  She called out to them, hiding her nervousness with her impish nature, winking as they drew near the truck.

"About time y'all showed up.  We've already drank half the truck load."