,,Oh, crap, crap, crap, crap! Heads are gonna roll tonight!" Louie "Bignose" Cipriani muttered nervously while walking down the dank alleyway leading towards large iron door with small slot on them. With him he had small envelope which he held anxiously as if it was going to explode.
As he approached gate, Louie knocked three times before slot on door opened to reveal squinted eyes of Jimmy "Needles" Gravano, mob-affiliated assassin working for mafia clan ran by one Antonio "Big Tony" Nero.
,,If ya want to enter, say the magic word, slick." Jimmy said calmly.
Louie huffed. He had no time for this. It was urgent. ,,Jimmy, it's urgent. I need to see Tony now! It's matter of life and death!"
Jimmy's eyes widened slightly at that before he opened the door just enough so that his head crowned in white fedora could peek out. ,,What is it?" Jimmy asked while eyeing envelope in Louie's hands.
,,Fenton's back in town." Louie whispered before continuing ,,He sent message to Marco's apartment and Braces stole it while that fucking worm was out shopping. We agreed to meet here to show it to Tony."
Jimmy seemed shocked. ,,No. Impossible. We ran Fenton out of Chicago four years ago, remember? When we set him up with murder of that DA."
Louie remembered it well. It was a routine. Cap goombah who thought he was above paying tribute to Cosa Nostra where it was due. But him and Jimmy had special instructions from Tony- Set "unbribable cop" Jake Fenton with murder to destroy his career and force him out of Chicago when everyone turns their backs on him. It worked like a charm and Jake disappeared shortly afterwards. Everything was fine... until now.
,,He obviously didn't get the message. Now, if you'll excuse me?" Louie said and walked past Jimmy who closed door behind him.
It felt like an eternity of standing in front of club enterance when Louie finally heard sound of someone banging against door. Jimmy looked through slot on the door and after talking to mysterious person for few minutes, let him in before turning away from him to light a cigar.
,,Braces, you're finally here, ya overgrown moron! What took you so long?" Louie asked large man with short light brown hair who was walking up to him. His name was Vito "Braces" Gionne. Son of illiterate Italian immigrant and factory worker, Braces was more on streets getting in fights and intimidating smaller children into giving him their lunch money than in school during his youth. That probably explained his reputation as "muscle" of Big Tony's mafia.
,,Had to finish something, Lou. You got the message?" Braces asked Louie.
,,Yes. But knowing Tony, i might not walk out of there if i tell him." Louie answered and gulped. Braces knew exactly what Louie was talking about. Tony was not just some fat cat in tuxedo. He was notorious for serving in Great War where his ruthlessness and hand-to-hand combat skills were recognized by anyone unlucky enough to face him in trenches. Tony's right-hand man and trench buddy Salvatore "Hatchet Sal" Vincent knew it first-hand. That paired with Tony's equally notorious temper made for very volatile combination, almost certainly lethal for anyone or anything that came in contact with Tony when he was pissed off.
,,I'll tell him. If messenger has to take a beating, it's gonna be me." Braces said and took envelope from Louie's hand. Louie looked at him wide-eyed and asked ,,Are you crazy, dumb or both? You might be strong, but Tony's gonna rip you apart! You heard stories, right?"
,,Yeah, but it's just that. Stories. I'm sure that it's overexaggerated to keep apes in line. Fear is best weapon to use against your own subordinates. At least i know that." Braces said and walked in the club, giving one more reasuring look to his friend before closing the door.
,,It's not gonna end well. Ever since those shady guys with that emerald crystal turned up, nothing's been same around here." Louie said and sighed, leaning against bricked staircase.
Braces walked through well decorated hallway, seeing one of his collegues, Thomas "Slick Tommy" Grazzano, hand in hand with blonde woman in brown coat who was almost certainly Tommy's newest catch. That guy was changing women on almost daily basis. Tommy stopped and opened his mouth to try and greet Braces, but stopped when he saw him holding an envelope with determined look on his face. It made him feel hole forming in his gut. This wasn't a social call.
As Braces made his way to large door on club's second floor, he glanced at the envelope and took long breath before knocking. Door opened to reveal face of Salvatore Vincent, also known as Hatchet Sal. That nickname came from his rather sick quirk. He chopped off hands of his victims and kept them as trophies. It was apparently something that stemed from his days on the battlefield.
,,You need something, Braces?" Sal asked as he eyed him suspiciously.
,,I just want to talk to the boss. I've got some bad news for him." Braces responded calmly before handing him envelope.
Sal took it and moved away from the door to let Braces in Tony's office.
Tony was standing on the window and looking out onto the moonlit alleyways. Some of his men armed with tommy guns stood in front of alleyway enterance, just out of sight. Their mission was to catch Marco if he tries to come back to the club. That scrub crossed organization for the last time.
,,Tony, Braces is here to see you. He brought this for you." Sal said as he returned to office. Tony turned around and looked at his right-hand man, immediately noticing envelope in his hands. Sal wordlessly handed it to him.
Braces looked around as Tony's face was changing shades of red as he read Fenton's threat letter out loud.
,,...So from now on, you better stick to shadows because i'm taking you down tonight." Tony finished reading message out loud before angrily ripping it to shreds. ,,That son of a whore thinks he can take on me?! I'm the system in this damn city, and i'll see him dead." Tony said before noticing Braces looking at him.
,,What the hell are you looking at, huh?" Tony asked and started to walk towards Braces. He was pissed off.
Braces barely had time to take step back before Tony grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pushed him out of the office. Sal was just watching on. He knew it was best not to interfere.
Braces was knocked on the ground outside the office with Tony standing over him. He lifted large man off the ground and proceeded to throw him down the stairs. At this point, Braces was seeing stars from force of impact. But Tony wasn't finished. He grabbed barely conscious mobster off the ground again and proceeded to violently push him towards closed main enterance. Braces already could feel pain that would ensue.
Louie was still sitting on staircase leading towards club enterance when he heard commotion near the enterance. He already could see Braces' beaten up corpse flying out of the door, but when Braces came flying out through closed door few moments later, it was different. He was still alive, but had bruises all over his face and seemed to barely be conscious.
,,BRACES?!" Louie yelled and ran over to his friend who was clutching his head while laying on ground and moaning in pain. Louie also looked over to the enterance of club and saw Tony huffing angrily.
,,That's for staring at me, you dumb ape!" Tony yelled before addressing Louie. ,,Round up some guys and comb this part of the city! Kill that police worm on sight, capiche?!"
,,Yes, boss!" Louie said while helping Braces to get back on his feet. It's gonna be a long night.
,,You want to see me dead, Tony? You'll have another kind of visitor coming tonight." Sergeant Cortez thought to himself as he ducked behind crate on Chicago River Docks. Area of docks and surrounding warehouse were full of Tony's people looking for him. Cortez smiled in that realization and reached in his gun holster, pulling out silenced Colt M1911A1 and moving behind another crate.
THE END