There's a dragon with matches, that's loose on the town, takes a whole pail of water just to cool him down.

   

        'So how long she gonna be here?' Marina overheard from the living room as she sat in a chair in the

kitchen of the small apartment with her hands tied behind her back. Jamal had taken her here the night

before, after abducting her at gunpoint in front of Guy's apartment and then conferring with the Italian

guy outside for a bit. 

    She had judged then, that the Italian guy was the 'brains', so to speak, of the operation. The one who put

this whole shame to kidnap her in motion. She wasn't surprised, growing up in Brooklyn, her father Boris

was always coming into some kind of conflict with the Mafia, getting pushback when he moved into their

turf.

          Eventually, many of these same mobsters he ran up against ended up going away and he took over

their turf but there were always new enemies for her father. He was always running into conflict with some

one. 

        After taking her phone and giving it to the Italian guy, Jamal had taken her to a big white Victorian

apartment building about ten minutes away. Jamal had told her to stay calm, be cool, they weren't going to

hurt her he was just going to leave her over at his friends place for a little while while everything got 

sorted out. 

        He'd seemed agitated driving her over there, as if he didn't really want to be involved in this whole

scheme at all. She'd noticed when he'd talked with the Italian, that the Italian had given him a bottle of 

pills and some cash.

        When they'd gotten back to the house, Jamal had led her by the arm to his apartment. First he'd asked

if she was hungry, when she'd said she was he'd made her a couple of hot pockets and some iced tea. After,

he'd tied her hands behind her back, and took her down the hall to his friend, Wiz's, place.

        She'd stood in the hallway with Jamal for a bit while he'd argued with Wiz about taking her in. It had

been awkward for her as they'd talked about her as if she wasn't standing right there. First Jamal had told

Wiz he needed him to keep her until, 'The situation is resolved.' 'Nigga, you crazy, this ain't no boarding 

house!' He'd replied. Wiz had finally relented after Jamal had told him he'd, 'Pick her up at some point

tomorrow.'

        They had her sleep on the couch that night and the next day had put her in the kitchen. All through

the day she'd heard the persistent coming and goings in the living room. It was obvious enough for her

what was going on in there. Still, it was awkward for her, as Wiz and the others in the apartment hardly 

spoke to her, being in the middle, so to speak as all these drug transactions went on.

       She looked up at the clock that was above the fridge in the kitchen, just a little after 6:30 in the

evening. She took a deep breath, it's ok. Her father wouldn't just leave her here like this. He'd get it

resolved.  

        She heard a knock on the door, a brief exchange, and then the door open. 'I'm taking you back to

your car.' Jamal said as he walked in the kitchen. As she stood up he took a small knife from his waist and

cut duct tape that had held her hands.

            That was quick, Marina thought as she got up and followed Jamal the other people in the 

apartment ignoring her as she left.

      I'm about to get some serious money, Steve thought to himself as he sat in Shannon's Honda accord.

He'd instructed Jamal to have Marina call Boris when she got to her car to give him proof of life, then an

hour after calling Jamal to tell him to let Marina go he called Boris to set up a meet for the ransom. 

        He hadn't worried too much about Boris going back on his word and not giving him the money. After

all he'd already put more than a few of his guys in the ground. He knew not to fuck with him. 

        Finally, he'd told Boris, he'd call his guys in New York and have them back off his relatives there 

once he saw his car at the meet. 

    In reality, he'd already made the calls out there, but he wanted Boris to think he was still holding a few

cards, on the off chance that he did try something. 

              He was parked in the middle of an old Kmart. It had closed about ten years ago but they hadn't

done anything with the building. It was in the middle of an abandoned strip mall with other dead stores.

He met people here from time to time to sell them coke. 

        The sky was dark blue, almost black. What time is it? Steve thought to himself, almost 9. She's out at

10, its about an hour. Shit. Shannon, his girlfriend, had told him when he'd dropped her off that he could 

have the car all night as long he was there to pick her up at 10.

        Cutting it close, my guy, Steve thought to himself. He contemplated giving Boris another call when 

he saw his Cadillac across the vastness of the empty strip mall parking lot. He came in fast, until Steve

thought he was going to hit his car, until he pulled in a few feet from the Accord.

        Boris emerged from the car, opened the trunk, and extracted a large suitcase. He had the bag in hand

as he approached Steve, and placed it on the hood. 'Count it, it's all there.' he told him.

        Steve took the bag, took it inside he car and turned on the interior light to take a look inside, sure 

looks like 800 grand, he thought. No secret ploy where its stacks of 100s behind a bunch of shredded up 

newspapers or something.

           Good enough, he thought. Putting the bag in the backseat of the car. Boris was sitting in front of

his Cadillac, waiting patiently. 

        'Looks good to me.' Steve said to him. 'All your people are in the clear, I called my guys out there.'

Boris looked at him in silence for a moment, then another, just starting at him.

        'So are we good here?' He asked him finally.

Boris spat on the ground, 'You know, this money, this is nothing to me. Means nothing, I piss this kind of

money. But you, I'm glad I could give it to someone like you. You look like you really need it. Have a nice

night.' 

        He slid in as quickly as he had arrived and roared out of the abandoned parking lot. Steve opened 

popped the trunk and put the bag of money in the back. Too many weird fucking things could happen with

it in the backseat. I get pulled over some fucking cop starts sniffing around. He went into the backseat and

took some spare clothes he had from his backpack, unzipped the money bag and put them on top, a nice 

layer.

        He felt satisfied enough as he closed the trunk. He turned on the engine as he dialed Luis's, number.

It rang once, 'Yes.' Luis said as he answered. 'Everything's all set. You're all good to meet with our friend

tonight?' Steve asked him. 

        'Yes.' Luis replied. Shit, Steve thought looking at the gas, it was on the needle. Luckily, he knew there

was a place on the main road out of here. I need to get out of here, he thought suddenly. He wasn't sure 

why, it was just a feeling.

        'Ok, I'll talk to you later.' Steve said. 

'We'll be in touch.' Luis replied, hanging up. Just as he he hung up the phone and put it on the passenger 

seat, he heard a tapping on the window. 

        Steve turned and saw a man standing at his window, wearing an old ragged coat, pushing a shopping

cart. Steve kept the window up,

        'Hey man,' The man said from outside. 'You got a few bucks you can spare?''

Steve smiled, wish you would. 'Yeah,' He reached into the center console, and pulled out his .38. 'Right 

here, now fuck off scumbag.' He said. The man said nothing for a second, then backed away. Steve put

the car in gear and sped out of the empty lot.

        He managed to find a gas station a few blocks after getting on the main state highway. He filled up,

and was on his way to the highway when he called Shannon. It was 9:15. 

        'Hey, I can't talk much I'm at work, what's up babe?' She said as she answered. 'I took care of all my

errands, but I'm running a little late. I'm on my way to pick you up now but it might be a few minutes.' 

Steve explained, as he got on the exit south.

        'Ok, that's fine.' She always seemed to buy whatever bullshit he was selling. 'Then we can watch a 

movie later?' She asked him.

        'Yeah, definitely.' Steve replied. 'I'll see you in a bit, love you.' He said, hanging up. They had been

fighting recently, off an on. She felt that he was just using her for her car, sex, her place. That he didn't

actually have any interest in her personality, spending time with her. That he used her as a means to an

end.

            Steve rolled the automatic window down and lit the cigarette he had left in the cup holder. The

truth was she was 100 percent correct, he thought as he passed a state cop sitting in the median of the

highway. 

        The money's in the trunk, it's gonna be fine, he told himself, but slowed down a hair just in case. Still,

if he hoped to continue using her car, her place, her, he couldn't have her thinking that that was the case.

So he'd hang out with her tonight, watch whatever bullshit she wanted to watch, she usually fell asleep

anyway.

            It would be tough, Steve had never been much for domesticity, but you got to put in the work to 

get what you want, he thought.

        God I want to get the fuck out of here, Matteo thought as he took a hit of his blunt. He was standing

outside the backdoor of the Wildcard sports bar and grill, near the dumpsters and the milk crates where

the kitchen staff took their smoke breaks.

       Luis had called him that morning to tell him he needed him to go down to the restaurant to get things

ready for a meeting between him and Bobby, the boss of the family. They needed all the staff gone by 

11, and they would be there at 12 for the sit down. Tell them the kitchen is getting a deep clean or 

something. Then they'd need him to set up the banquet room they used in the back for large parties and 

special events with coffee and sandwiches. 

        'Make sure everything is fresh.' He'd said. There was an other manager who was supposed to close

that night, but Matteo called, told him to take the night off. 

         At least it worked out alright, he thought to himself. The line cooks had been overjoyed when he told

them he wanted them to be out by 10, the kitchen usually closed at 10. A few of the other staff asked 

questions but overall they seemed to accept it.

        He put the blunt out with his fingers, putting the stub in his coat pocket, and removed a small bottle

of cologne he kept in his jacket and gave himself a quick spray, lighting a cigarette after just to be sure.

Bobby wasn't against drugs per se, but he knew he might have words with him if he thought he was high

when he showed up.

        Matteo looked at his watch, 11:40. Tonight of all the nights I gotta be here. There was a party over at

the newly reopened House of Venus gentleman's club. Started at 9, first 100 people in free. There had been

a line around the block, he'd heard. 

        His friend Mike, had been texting him all day night, telling him to get over there, the girls were going

fucking wild down there, he'd said. They'd hired back all the dancers that the Russians had fired and the

girls were off the wall tonight, they'd do anything.

      He took a drag of his cigarette, I need a break, a release. Now that all the problems with the Russians

were behind them, a celebration. He had to give his Uncle Steve credit, he got it done. Between what he'd

done out here, taking out a couple of there guys, getting the hostages, to what Luis had been able to do 

with his law enforcement connections to Boris's clubs in New York, which was ultimately. Matteo 

imagined, what brought him to the table, it all seemed like it was mercifully behind them now.

    He put out his cigarette in the butt can and headed back inside, as he did he heard his phone ring in his

jacket pocket.

        'Hello.' It was Luis. 'We will be there in ten minutes. Once we're both there, we ask that you excuse

yourself for a little over an hour, by then we'll be done and you can do what you need to do to close up.'

        'Ok.' Matteo replied, but Luis had already hung up. He walked through the back door through the 

kitchen, and into the dining room, checking his watch, 11:45. Perfect.

        He dialed Mike's number. 'What up!' He said, after 5 rings. The music was blasting in the. 

background, ZZ Top or something like that. 

    'I'm coming man!, tell those girls to be ready for me! I'll be over in like 20 minutes, its beautiful they

asked me to take. a walk for a while so it works out.'

        'Sounds good, man, I'll see you in a bit!' Mike replied. Coffee's fresh, sandwiches are in there, the

kitchen crew looked like they did a pretty decent job closing, everything looked clean, although he 

thought he smelled something as he was walking through just now.. gas was what it smelled like. I should

probably check it out, he thought, on the other hand it's probably fine. I'll just say something to Carl, the

Chef when I see him when I come in for my shift tomorrow. 

            I wish I could just quit, retire, Bobby Carbone thought as he sipped his espresso in his kitchen and

pondered the meeting he was heading to. Maybe figure out a successor, and just head out to Florida or 

Arizona, away from all this bullshit. It just wasn't worth it, the way he saw it, being a Mafia boss in the 

year 2010. For one thing you couldn't use violence, murder and intimidation the same way you used to 

with people. Nowadays they were far quicker to run to the police or the FBI than in the past. 

        He was sitting at his kitchen table with his espresso. He'd turned off all the other lights in the house,

and made the espresso because otherwise, he wasn't sure if he would be able to stay awake for the whole

damn meeting. He was almost 60 years old, he couldn't keep the same crazy hour he had in the past. 

        Plus I got that other thing tomorrow, Bobby thought. The clock on the kitchen read a little before ten

minutes to midnight. The restaurant, as Bobby referred to the Wild Card sports bar, was about ten minutes

from his house, and he planned on arriving exactly at midnight or a little after.

                

        The 'Other thing', the other meeting that was occupying his thought was one he had tomorrow at the

courthouse downtown with a couple of detectives from the State Police organized crime division, he'd also

heard there would probably be someone from the FBI there as well. They'd be asking him questions, of 

course, about the recent murder of Gerry Pagano, former underboss of the Berardi family, a man who was

responsible for putting a lot of Bobby's friends away including his former boss and childhood friend 

Carmine Berardi.

        God I wish I hadn't signed off on that, Bobby thought to himself as he finished off his espresso, put

the cup in the sink and grabbed his coat. It had been Luis's idea entirely, and even though Bobby had 

known the kind of heat it would bring down upon all of them, he'd been worried about saying no. These

Mexicans, these cartel people, they aren't like us, he'd thought. Down there they kill cops, politicians, 

judges all the time. What if I said no to it and Luis took offense somehow?

        It'll be fine, he thought as he put on his coat and slipped out the door locking it as he did so. Won't

be the first time I've had to bullshit the cops, besides I really don't know anything anyway. I really should

have a driver with me, a bodyguard for this kind of thing, he thought as he got in his car. Then there was

this other thing, Steve and the Russians, the hostages, all that. Bobby had a hard time believing that it was

all over, that this Russian asshole would just pay the ransom and fuck off so easily without any problems.

        He started the engine and put the car into gear, taking one quick look at his house as he eased out of

the driveway. I better call Cousin Tony in New York tomorrow, bring him up to speed on all of this he 

thought as he headed out.

        I guess I'm in for the night, Steve thought as he grabbed a tall can of PBR from the fridge and 

cracked it open. He took a sip of it as he headed back into the living room where his girlfriend, Shannon,

was already asleep on the couch. 

        She hadn't reamed him out when he barreled into her workplace on 2 wheels, ten minutes late to pick

her up from work, and she didn't ask to many probing questions about what exactly he'd been doing, why

he was late. 

        She probably figured I'd just give her some line of bullshit anyway, he thought as he sat down next to

her. She'd even been in the most for a quickie when they got back to the apartment, which was rare 

enough. He'd waited until about half hour into the movie, when he could already tell that she was getting

sleepy, to go out to the car and get the duffel bag with the 800 grand. 

        He'd grabbed 50,000 in 10,000 dollar stacks, put it in a paper bag, and put it in his backpack, for

later, to give Bobby his taste. He knew he'd gone way off the reservation taking matters into his own 

hands with the Russian situation, so he figured he had to at least try to soften the blow. 

        Shannon didn't say anything when he came back to the couch to watch the movie with her, but just

before she fell asleep she'd asked him what he was up to, why was he sneaking around like that? 'Don't

worry about it.' He'd told her, but he knew she wouldn't forget. Women never forget, he thought.

          He'd muted the sound on the movie but kept it on just to have something in the background. On the

way home she'd told him if he wanted to keep staying at her house, he needed to have more nights in with

her. She felt like he was just using her place as his 'Base of operations,' for whatever his latest scheme

was, and if that was the way it was going to be he could just find somewhere else to stay. She didn't like

feeling used like that. So he'd piled on the charm, told her how much he loved her, how he loved being 

with her and that damn if she wasn't the most beautiful woman in the world. He had that ability. He used

it on his wife plenty of times years ago, when she'd fought with him over coming home late, getting calls

sometimes at 3, 4 in the morning and having to get out of bed to take care of something. 

        Coming up in the Berardi organization Steve had always been the go to guy to 'Take care of 

something,' it didn't bother him. Or at least, it didn't seem to bother him. He'd take care of whoever they

wanted taken care of and never speak a word of it again. He'd always done the hits alone, and took care of

the body after so the bosses never had to worry about it coming back to them. 

        Fuck I'm bored, Steve thought as he watched the movie play in silence, taking another sip of his

beer. He was tired but still buzzed from the meeting with the Russian, getting the money. He wanted to

go out, do something with it, raise hell. 

        As if on cue he heard his phone ding with a message. He picked it up, opened the screen, it was a

text from Mike, a video. He pressed play on the message, the first thing he heard was the thumping bass,

the pounding guitar riff, Don Henley, Steve thought, 'All she wants to do is dance,' then the club floor

packed, people everywhere, the girls dancing on stage the men slipping them money, it was clear- The

House of Venus was back in business.

            He looked for to see if the music from the phone had roused Shannon, but she seemed more asleep

than before. He got and walked through the kitchen out the back door to call Mike. 

        'What up!' Mike said, over the din of the music. 'Looks pretty wild down there.' Steve said. 'All 

thanks to me I might add.' He remarked.

        'We need your services down here, sir. I am out of all my magic beans(Oxycontins) but I heard from

a certain reliable source that your'e still rocking. Bunch of the girls working here tonight are looking for 

em, hell a few might want to try and pay you another way.' Mike explained.

        'No, cash up front my friend. Anyway I have a girlfriend remember?' Steve said laughing. 'Thing of it

is I'm up at her house right now, it's probably an hour away.... but I'll see if I can make it down there, no

promises, however I think I can make something happen.'

        'Alright, man, I'll see you when you get here.' Mike said and hung up.

          He went back inside the back door through the kitchen, into the living room, sat down on the couch

and took a sip of his beer, thinking of a plan. It would be difficult, near impossible, for him to remain in 

tonight now. He'd be thinking about what was going on down there too much. In spite of having two 

children himself, domestic life had never suited Steve Berardi. He knew this was likely a big reason why

his two children now adults had very little contact with him.

        He could call a cab, he knew, but there weren't as many that operated up here and who knows how

long it would take the fucking schmuck to get here? No, he thought, I need something more direct, wait

a minute! He thought, remembering Shannon's roommate Autumn.

        She was in interesting character, a hippie girl, college student, she stayed in her room most of the

time listening to one of those bands that just play forever. Steve had met her once or twice but she seldom

socialized with Shannon. Steve had asked Shannon once why it was like that, why she hardly ever came

out of her room, never wanted to hang out, 'She's just like that? Why do you care?' She'd replied, wanting

to quickly change the subject.

        He took another pull of his PBR, he remembered her saying her parent paid for pretty much 

everything, college, her rent, so that was why she was always home. He finished off the rest of the beer

and got up.

            Autumn's room was across the hall from Shannon's and as Steve approached her could her the 

sound of soft banjo playing coming from her room, he knocked twice, not too loud so she wouldn't be

surprised.

         'Yes.' He heard her from inside. 'Hey Amber it's Steve, I got a proposition for you, open the door.' 

The door opened after a couple of seconds, a waft of weed smoke drifting out. Autumns eyes were half

closed as she opened the door, he had short brown hair and brown eyes, could be one of my cousins, Steve

thought. 

            'You want to proportion me?' She said with a stoned grin. 'You wanna go on an adventure with me

kid? I'll give you 300 bucks right now, you drive me down to Warner.'

        Autumn looked confused for a second, 'Really.' 'Yeah, no fooling, there's just one thing you gotta do

for me- don't tell the missus.'

            She squinted, 'The missus? Who's that?' 'Shannon, you space cadet. Now what do ya say?' He 

asked. 

            'Sure, we can do that, just let me take a shower.' She replied. 'Ya, take your time, I'm gonna get my

stuff together myself.' He said, she shut the door. 

        Steve sighed as went across the room the Shannon's room, where he had his stuff. He'd put the 800

large, minus 50k, in the back of the closet, placing a solid layer of clothes on top of it in case Shannon

decided to take a look. She did'n't usually snoop around on him like that, but there was no sense in taking

chances. The most important thing, in his mind, was that no one knew exactly how much Boris had paid

him in ransom. 

         His backpack was hanging behind the closet door, he grabbed it taking a quick look inside, the 50k

was still in the paper bag, and in the other pockets he'd organized his Oxycontins into the various 

milligrams, plus he had a half ounce of weed he was going to give Shannon for driving him down there.

Of course Shannon would know he left when she woke up, but he'd just tell her he'd gotten a cab, he knew

if he told her Autumn had taken him she'd suspect something had happened between them. 

        And she's usually right about these things, Steve thought as he took a few bills from the paper bag

in his backpack, ready for battle, he thought.

10 PM The Bronx NYC

       'You try to warn them, you say anything, I'll blow your fucking head off.' The team leader told the 

dealer as he dialed the number for the stash house. 'Relax, man, we're on the same side.' the dealer said as

he put the phone to his ear.  The dealer was a drug addict who used just about as much product as he sold,

and was into the gang for 5,000, after they'd fronted him some product he'd never paid them back, giving

all the excuses someone like that will give. 

      The Team Leader had found all of this out because the dealer was dating his sister, which he'd only 

approved of because he was providing them with valuable intelligence. When the dealer had told his sister

that he was pretty sure he was going to get killed soon, they'd reached out to the dealer and offered him a

deal.

        'I'm serious, I got the money this time.' The dealer said over the phone for what felt like the 4th or 5th

time, they don't trust him, the Team leader thought. 'I'm right outside, I'll be up in 5.' The Team leader got

out and the other 4 followed suits. They all had on ski masks, bullet proof vests, trench coats and AK-47

assault rifles.

            The team leader had the dealers lead the way, as they went through the dark courtyard of the

apartment towers, and into the building, going up the stairwell to the 5th floor. The Team leader didn't 

think much of this particular mission, he felt it would cause too many problems. After all, from what he'd

heard that Boris had said to the other captains, it wasn't about the drugs and the money in the stash house,

or even about hurting them, it was about sending a message- stay out of my affairs.

        The Team Leader and the other 4 held back in the hallway while the dealer knocked on the door. 'Hey

I'm here.' He said. No response, then the sound of door unlocking. As the dealer entered, the team leader

followed close behind.

            'What the fuck,'- the man who opened the door managed to get out before the Team leader shot him

in the face with his AK, and the rest of the squad came through. It was all over in less than a minute.

        As the rest of the squad searched the place for the drugs and the money the Team Leader took out the 

signs and the tape that he'd brought in, and began putting them all over the apartment, on the fridge, the

living room table, on the bullet riddled corpses of the men they'd just killed. 

        The signs were about the size of a small notebook and they all had the same thing written on each of

them: LUIS ORTEGA, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU INTERFERE IN MY AFFAIRS. 

            The Team Leader walked into the kitchen and grabbed a can of beer from the refrigerator, cracking

it open and taking a quick swig. The small apartment was still filled with smoke from the gunfire, the 4

men who's been guarding it laying in pools of blood, most hadn't even gotten up from where they'd been

sitting before being hit.

        He sat down next to one of the dead men on the couch, the rest of the team was already heading out 

and he told them he'd be along shortly. Just feels like I'm missing something, he thought, when he heard a

cell phone on the coffee table come alive, he picked it up.

        'Your friends are all dead.' He said when he answered, and hung up. He took a final swig of the beer,

put it down on the coffee table next to the cell phone before getting up. Well, he thought, my work here is

done.

         'Look, all I know is he's in a meeting right now, he didn't want to be disturbed.' Raul explained, for

what felt like the 8th time. 'Disturbed? Look I got a lot of respect for your boss, but I got a serious fucking

emergency on my hand out here. We've just got hit bad out here, not just me but all across the fucking city,

and at every place they got these little notes, with his name on them. I just want to know what the fuck is

going on, is this some kind of retaliation for something you guys did out there? What the fuck?'

            'Look, I appreciate your frustration, I'll tell him you need to talk to him, he should be done in 45

minutes.' He hung up. He hadn't meant to be rude but he'd been telling the guy from New York and the 

same thing for the past ten minutes, he couldn't get through to Luis, what was going on? And Raul had

kept telling him the same thing, he was in a meeting, he'd call the guy back.

        Raul sighed, he was sitting in his car in the back of the Wild Card Sports bar, near the back entrance

and the dumpsters, where his boss Luis, was meeting with the boss of the Berardi Family, Bobby Carbone.

I just don't understand why he even keeps these guys around, Luis thought. He looked up the Berardi's on 

the internet, they only had around 10 made guys left in their family, maybe 20-30 associates. His crew 

could wipe them out in one night- easy. He'd suggested as much to Luis, around the time Bobby had 

reached out to him with his problem with the Russians, he'd said to leave it be, let them roll right over 

them, but Luis had stood firm, no they could be of use to us.

        He'd had Raul find out the dirt on Luis in NYC, pressure points to hit, used the connections he'd had

to get a couple of his clubs shut down, about a dozen of his guys arrested, and look what was going on

now- they'd struck back. The guy from New York hadn't said it was the Russians but Raul already knew,

and he'd whacked the Russian Boss, Boris's, nephew, Anatoly. Officially he was missing, but Boris wasn't

stupid, he would've figured out what happened to him.

            12:15, just 45 minutes to go, Raul thought eager for this to be over. The guy from New York had

sounded very agitated, he had a feeling that the conversation wasn't over. Sure enough the phone rang a

couple minutes later, unknown number, 'Hello.' Raul said. 

        'Can you explain to me, why, exactly, my nephew is not picking up my calls?' It was Ron Ortega, 

Luis's Uncle and a capo in the Cartel. 'He's in a meeting.' Raul replied, not thinking. 

       'I appreciate that, but is this an extreme situation, we've just had millions of dollars of our product go

up in smoke in one of our most important cities, 30 of our guys dead, and these fucking notes at each spot

that they hit, saying it was some kind of retaliation for something my nephew did. Now I need you to 

stress to him that it's important that he get in touch we me as soon as possible.'

        'Must've been the Russians.' Raul muttered, thinking out loud. Shit, he thought. 'Russians? What are

you talking about? What's going on?' Ron asked.

        'Nothing, look I'll make sure he gets back to you soon.' He said. 'Alright.' He hung up.

           Had to be them, the Russians, who else would it be? Raul thought. Again, all because he'd gotten

involved with these Italians over that damn strip club. And, Luis thought, he'd held back with the Russians

as well. When he'd been in New York checking out Boris's clubs he'd seen Boris himself plenty of times at

the clubs, plenty of opportunities to take him out. Whenever Raul had brought it up however, he'd shot it

down saying he didn't want to start a war.

        Raul smiled to himself, yeah wouldn't want that, he thought. 

            Thank god this is almost over, Bobby Carbone thought to himself glancing at the clock in the

corner of the banquet room. He was eating a stale cold cut sandwich and drinking equally stale coffee, 

wondering who was responsible this meager spread. Like whoever had made the sandwiches and coffee

hated him somehow. 

      Luis had just been explaining everything that had gone one with Steve and the Russians, the hostages,

how he had managed to work everything out, and that Boris had paid the ransom and agreed to back off. 

Bobby had heard bits and pieces of the story from Matteo and Mike, and even though Steve had 

succeeded, and the threat was seemingly over, he was still pissed that Steve had gone behind his back

when he'd told him not to interfere.

        'And, now that this external threat is over, I believe that a continued alliance between our two

organizations could be quite profitable.'

        Bobby took a sip of his coffee, 'That's possible. But let me ask you a question Luis? How do you

this threat is really over? How do we know there won't be some kind of blowback down the line?' He 

asked Luis. He was getting tired, he'd just turned 60 earlier that year. I don't need all this fucking stress,

he thought to himself.

        Luis smiled, stood up and got himself another coffee, 'Because, I think despite his reputation Boris is

a pragmatic man. I've already demonstrated to him what I can do to his operations with my connections. 

Honestly, I think, for him the whole endeavor, this city, it just wasn't worth it. He has bigger fish to fry.'

        He walked back and sat down at the head of the table. Bobby finished off his cup of coffee, got

another sandwich.

        'Sure, I can believe that. But, from what I can understand you guys whacked Boris's top guy, who was

like a fucking son to him. Now I can believe he would back from the club, you know like you said, it's just

not worth it, but his son? I don't know if you have any children Luis, but if something like that happened

to my son, he just disappeared, no real explanation, every reason to suspect he was killed, I'd never forget.

Never move on.'

         'It's just these actions have consequences. Like that ''Favor' you did a could weeks back. Now I got

to talk to these fucking Feds tomorrow morning, tell them I don't know anything about it, even though I'm

one of the people with the biggest motivations to have him killed.'

       Luis's face was unemotional. 'But you don't know anything about it. Besides knowing it was going to

occur, you wouldn't have much to give them anyway.'

        'I know.' Bobby said. 'But I think you underestimate how far the Federal Government has crawled up

our fucking ass in the past few years. With something like this, they're gonna be asking every fucking 

wise guy from here to fucking New York about this fucking guy. And when they start put the microscope

that close, they're going to find other stuff to bust us on. Hell, fucking New York is gonna be pissed, 

they're going to think I had something to do with it.'

       Luis sighed, 'I think your'e falling to see the bigger picture here Bobby. You're enemies are now my

enemies, that is why I did that favor for you, as a demonstration. As for the problems your having with

the authorities, I can think you'll find that if you're under our umbrella those problems will decrease

significantly.' 

        'There is a lot of money to be made for us in this town. And with the security we provide, you can 

rest assured..'

        Bobby groaned, it felt like he was getting a pitch for life insurance. As his attention waned his gaze

wandered to the door, there was something coming up from the other side, was it smoke?...

        Luis stopped mid sentence as he noticed it too, a thick cloud of smoke coming in from the dining 

area into the banquet room. He got up from his chair and tried to open the doors, they wouldn't budge. 

   'It's locked, they're barred up somehow.' He said.

           Nothing like a good grease fire, the dragon thought as he calmly slipped out the front door of the

Wild Card sports bar and grill. He'd padlocked the door to the banquet room first, before starting the fire in

the kitchen. 

    He'd found some greasy kitchen towels and he'd placed them underneath the fryolaters, then he'd gone

to the bar and poured out a few bottles of liquor unto it and set that ablaze. His orders had been to leave no

trace himself, but they wanted it to look like foul play, to everyone involved. 

        He heard a loud boom as he rounded the corner, probably the fryolaters exploding, he thought. Even 

if both men inside survived, they'd be seriously injured. He shuddered, as someone in his line of work it

was his worst fear, surviving such an ordeal and being permanently burnt. Disfigured, having to hide your

face because it's been burned beyond recognition.

       He was a couple blocks from the restaurant when he saw his car waiting on the corner.  He opened

the passenger side door and slid in gracefully. When he'd asked his employer if he should take out Luis's

man and the other one, who was presently down at the gentleman's club, they'd said no. They wanted them

alive to all the suspicions would fall on them.

        The dragon smiled as the car sped off, it was no difference to him. He'd be out of the country by 

tomorrow anyway.

            God, I should probably get back there, Matteo thought as he glanced at his watch. It was almost 3

in the morning, and he was sitting in the back room of the club with Steve, Mike and a couple of the

girls from the club as Steve was telling them all how he'd defeated the Russians.

        'I ended up meeting him in the parking lot of the dead mall on route 10, where the Kmart used to be,

I called my guys off out there, he gave me the money, and the rest is history!' He laughed, taking another

swig of his rolling rock. 

     'So how much was the ransom? How much did he give you?' Mike asked. Shit, Steve thought, you

knew this moment was going to come. He'd been throwing money around the club all night, at the 

strippers, he'd given Autumn his ride who had ended up wanting to come on a few thousand to spend, 

and he'd loaned out 5,000 to a couple people who he knew were good for it. There was little use denying

that he had come into something of a windfall.

        'He gave me enough, I took care of Tony, I'm going to give Bobby his share. And I got those godless

assholes out of here!' He clinked his bottle with Mike and they both drank.

            'Amen to that!' Mike said setting down his beer, as the phone on the desk rang. Mike picked it up

had a brief exchanged, and then held it out, 'Matt it's for you.' Matteo got up, who could know I was over

here? He thought. 

           He got up, walked over to where Mike was sitting and took the cordless phone from his hand,

taking the phone outside the room before actually taking the call. 'Hello? Who is this?' Matteo said

as he put the phone to his ear.

        'There was a fire at the restaurant, it burned down. Bobby is dead and Luis is in the hospital in 

intensive care. It looks like someone locked the two of them in that room and then set the fire. Our 

bosses are going looking at us about this, how this happened.' The voice was cool, collected, with a 

slight accent.

        'I think someone was trying to set us up, to make us look like we were in league with whoever was

behind this. I think if we get our stories straight, and work together we can convince our superiors the

truth- that we didn't know anything about this.'

        'Alright.' Matteo said, still processing all of what he'd just heard. 'I'll be in touch.' The voice on the

other end said, and hung up.

        When Matteo came back in the backroom, the girls from the club had gone, and it was just Steve

and Mike, talking and drinking,

        Matteo gave the phone back to Mike without saying a word, the expression on his face one of pure

shock. 'What happened man?' Mike said, putting the phone back on the charger. 

        Matteo sat down, took a cigarette from his coat pocket, lit it up. 'The restaurant, it burned down.

Burned down to the ground.' He said, chuckling a bit as he did. 'Down to the ground.' 'You serious?' Steve

asked.

        'Oh yeah.' He replied. 'Bobby's dead, Luis is in intensive care, and the way it looks now they're all 

going to think I had some hand in this.' He got up cigarette still in his mouth, 'I any event I'm going to call

it a night, go home, get some sleep, maybe wake up in an alternate reality where none of this shit ever 

happened.' He walked out.

       'Hey, that's pretty weird, don't you think?' Mike remarked. 'Right after that Russian guy meets up with

you for the ransom money, someone decides to burn down the restaurant with Bobby and the guy from the

cartel inside? How did they know they were going to be there?' Who tipped them off?' 

        Steve frowned, put his hands up, 'I didn't have anything to do with it.' He said, but he knew what

Mike was saying, it certainly didn't look good. He finished off his beer. 

           'Of course not, but it looks bad. Bobby is having a meeting with Luis, that you set up by the way,

and someone tries to take them out. Plus you were having all those problems with Bobby earlier, how he

wasn't doing enough about the Russians..'

        Steve threw up his hands, 'Look we don't know enough about what happened yet, I know it's bad but

maybe we can salvage something from this. In the meantime, I'm gonna find my ride, I know she's passed

out in this place somewhere, head back to my girlfriends house, and get some sleep.'

       The sun was just coming up over the horizon, as Steve got off the exit on the highway heading to 

Shannon's house. He'd drunk a few glasses of water and a couple coffees, waiting a little bit to sober up

before leaving the House of Venus. 

        He'd found Autumn, as he suspected, passed out in a booth, but he'd been able to wake her up pretty

easily. Even then it was obvious she was in no condition to drive so he'd convinced her to surrender the

keys to him.

      Maybe I should just take off for a few months, Steve thought as he pulled onto her street. Disappear 

for a few months, wait for all of this to die down. Because, chances are they start investigating the fire at

the restaurant, they start looking into who really owns the place, and why the boss of the Mob in Warner

was meeting with the Cartel boss at the time.

            Way too many questions, Steve thought as he parked Autumn's car in the space next to Shannon's.

He killed the engine and gave Autumn a gentle shake in the passenger seat to let her know they had 

arrived.

        She opened her eyes groggily and started to stir. Steve handed her the car keys as he got out and 

grabbed his backpack from the backseat. He'd done pretty well down there, sold most of his OxyContin's, 

loaned out some of the money to a couple of people he knew were good for it.

        Anyway, its no big deal, got plenty more cash where that came from, Steve thought as he slung his 

backpack over his shoulder and walked up the driveway to the house. As soon as he made it to the door he

could tell something was off- the door was wide open.

        What the fuck! Steve thought as he walked inside, then he saw. The couch was gone, the TV was 

gone, he went into the kitchen, the microwave, blender, it was as though they went through and ransacked

the whole place.

            He put his backpack down on the ground, 'Shannon!' He yelled. 'What the hell happened?' He went 

down the hallway to her room where they both slept. She was sitting on the bed. 

        'I got up a little after you guys left, went to bed, I got up about an hour ago to get a glass of water and

everything was gone, like this. I think you guys left the door open. I haven't called the police or anything,

I know you don't want me to do that when something like this happens.'

          Steve nodded, a dazed, stunned feeling coming over him when he noticed the closet door was open.

He got up and checked, yes, that corner where he'd put the bag with the money, gone. The bag was 

definitely gone. Now I'm really fucked, he thought.        

              

        

      

      

 

    '