Yet another plot come to bite me when i have no time to write!

Oh well see what you think and updates for the others should be coming to a computer screen near you soon!

Price Of Freedom

Prologue

Mac Taylor had lived in New York for a long time and was used to the way the streets worked and the gangs and mobs that thought they owned it but one had always managed to elude him. The Tanglewood Boys. New York's very own mini- mafia.

They caused trouble round certain parts of the City but of course there was never enough evidence to prove that they where ever connected to anything. It annoyed Mac but he couldn't do anything about it.

Now he was staring at yet another instance of Tanglewood involved crime and he was getting annoyed. He knew virtually nothing about them, but they were causing so much trouble that he was starting to think it wouldn't be long before he did.

He and Stella had responded to a call out in the middle of nowhere a body of a badly beaten teenager had been laid face down in the snow. Some of the best evidence collectors. And it was all natures own.

He and Stella had collected impressions of tire treads and footprints caught in the snow and Mac himself had found what looked to be a piece of a baseball bat in the imprint of the tire tread.

He'd gone to see Hawkes who had determined the COD to be blunt force trauma and had found what looked like a sanded down tattoo. It was too damaged for Mac to see it so he'd had to go and speak to the mother who had first denied that her son was involved in any gang activity. Then admitted that she had no idea what her son was doing when he left the house.

She'd explained that she thought Paul had wanted a something to belong too and Mac understands since that was one of the reasons he himself had joined the Marines.

Mac had studied the baseball bat under the microscope and discovered that it was a Mickey Mantel a very expensive murder weapon. He and Stella realised where the murder must have started and it over laps with a shooting that had happened just before Paul Montenossi's murder.

Mac and Stella had gone to the sport's bar and had discovered that they did have a Mickey Mantel bat and it was also missing but no one was willing to talk about it. It was then Mac had realised that it definitely had to be gang related.

Now he stared at the tattoo that Hawkes had lifted from the arm of the dead teen Paul Montenossi and fully understood the implications. There it was again. Tanglewood.

He'd get them this time.

He'd ran the prints on the case where the baseball bat had once been and the prints had come back to Sonny Sassone. Sonny Sassone was the undisputed leader of the Tanglewood Boys and was proud of it showing off his tattoo when Mac had asked him about it.

Mac was livid they were flaunting it right in his face and he couldn't do a thing about it! When he'd asked about it Sonny had admitted that he had taken the bat out of the case and messed with it but he hadn't done anymore than that.

Mac knew that was a blatant lie but he knew that at that present moment he didn't have enough evidence to prove it. He resolved he would find some more evidence he owed it Paul Montenassi and all the other murders that had gone unsolved because the Tanglewood Boys had had something to do with it.

So he ordered another audience with the Tanglewood Boys out of their own territory and this time as well as the three boys he suspected of the crime there was also two others. "Let me introduce the only other members of my crew." Sassone said proudly.

"Louie Messer." The brunette nodded a cigarette hanging from his mouth. "And his younger brother Danny." Sassone slung his arm round Danny and said, "Danny here is the youngest member of us Tanglewood boys. The youngest member and the newest member. And he's been a legit Tanglewood for years now. He only got in because his brother Louie is my best friend." Sassone winked at Louie and the brunette grinned.

Mac couldn't help notice that Danny didn't seem as comfortable with it as the others. "You done dissin me Sonny?" Danny asked quietly but there was a steel behind it that Mac would never have expected. Sonny however grinned and said, "Danny you know were only messin with ya." Danny scowled but said nothing. Sonny turned and looked at Mac.

"So you see Detective there is no way that this kid could be a Tanglewood because the whole crew is stood in front of you." Mac smirked. "Someone went to a great deal of trouble to make sure that was the case." Mac said throwing the photo of the sanded down tattoo.

"Our medical examiner was able to raise this from below the skin. It's identical to yours." Danny sat forward. "Actually it's not." Mac looked at the blonde haired gangster. "How do you figure?" Stella asked sarcastically.

Danny lifted up his shirt and showed his tattoo. "We have an "in date" the date we join the Tanglewood Boys and an "Out Date" if we were ever to leave. This tattoo doesn't. It's a fake."

Mac looked at Danny's tattoo carefully and then at the picture. He was right. Sonny looked at Danny and smiled. "Danny is our resident brain box. Aren't you?" Danny looked at the floor and mumbled something. Sonny simply smiled. "So Detective Taylor s you can see if he really was a Tanglewood Boy I'd know but the tattoo would be legit and it isn't."

"Are you sure you didn't make sure it wasn't legit?" "If we had," Danny said "You would still be able to see the In and the Out date on the skin wouldn't you?" Danny said. Mac looked at the kid. Stella's face told him she thought the kid was being smart but Mac wasn't so sure. He wasn't actually helping Sonny and his cronies though they seemed to think so.

In fact now he thought about it Mac could say that Danny had actually given him a hint. If the tattoo really wasn't real then that would be a reason for the Tanglewood Boys to fly off the handle wouldn't it?

He looked at Danny and Danny gave a slight nod and said, "I'm sorry Detective Taylor there's been a mistake. There is no way this tattoo is one of ours."

At that moment Don Flack appeared. "Mac I got the warrant." Don looked up and his eyes went round as they fell on Danny. Danny's jaw went slack and then he looked away. Mac looked at the interaction between the two and resolved to ask Don about it later. He also realised that he was the only one that had seen any reaction at all. The other thugs were too busy gloating and Stella only had eyes for Sassone. Mac took the warrant and smiled. "This is for all your shoes and your car." Sonny just grinned and took the warrant.

"Whatever." He tossed the keys at Mac and then stood. "Come on boys. Looks like we're cleaning out our wardrobes." He laughed and the other boys followed him.

An hour later the Tanglewood Boys handed over their shoes and the car had been towed. Mac had told Stella to get a head start on the car but he was waiting for Don who was making sure the Tanglewood Boys had given everything up.

A few seconds later Don got into the car. Mac went to start the car and Don said "Pull round the corner." "What?" Mac demanded. "Mac just do it make sure you look like you're leaving."

"Don, what the hell are we doing?" "Just trust me." Don said his eyes were blazing so Mac did as he said. "Wait here." Mac turned the ignition key off and five minutes later the car door opened and Danny Messer got in the back.

"What the hell?" Mac yelled reaching for his gun. Danny smirked at him then looked at Don.

"I've got five minutes tops so I'll make this quick. The shoes and clothes they used I know they tossed into the Hudson so that won't be any good. But you'll find they have the right size. I had to bleach the car. My eyes were stinging by the end but I left something under the seat. It might not be enough but coupled with the blood I didn't clean it might give you reason for a better search. Don I got to go."

"How the hell did you end up back there Danny?" "I made sure Tim got out." Danny shrugged. Then he looked at Mac. "Under the driver's side seat Detective Taylor." He opened the door and then looked back at Don. "I don't regret it. I just regret that I have to stand and watch innocent people get hurt." And then he opened the door and left.

Don watched as the door closed and then turned to look at Mac.

Mac's eyes were blazing. "Do you want to want to explain that Flack?" He demanded. Mac's voice held the anger he was trying to control.

Flack looked down, it was complicated how did you explain something like that. Danny Messer, son of the mob yet one of the best people he could ever meet.

"Danny Messer." Flack said at last. "Son of the Mob yet a Police Academy graduate." Flack looked up and followed the path Danny had taken.

"And he's in way over his head."