An Investigation of Chicago
By Luigifan1
Dedicated to Mike Mollinari
An Investigation of Chicago
The name's Dawn. Brendan Dawn. I've been hired by Elliot Ness to investigate Al Capone's illegal empire. According to my employer, mob violence has reached an all-time high, and everyone in the city is in danger. As I cruise down the main drag in my jalopy, I realize that Ness is on to something. Everyone is staring at me with panicked faces, like I'm going to whip out a machine gun and mow them down any moment. I am dressed like a gangster, so I can see where the fear is coming from, but they're all wet; I'm here to protect the civilians.
My mission tonight is to infiltrate the Wolf Paw, a notorious speakeasy run by Capone. I'm supposed to pick up a darb named Nino Vercetti, who has ties to Capone's industry. She's providing Ness with information. Another informant has told Ness that the big cheese [Capone is aware of Nino's activities, and plans to bump her off during the big show tonight. I'm supposed to make like a drugstore cowboy, and get her out before the hit can take place. Me, I think this is Elliot's idea of a blind date, but orders are orders, I guess.
According to one of Ness's agents, Paula O'Rourke, Nino is a keen little vixen with a bright white coat, large purple eyes, a nose like a button, a copacetic body, and cute little dogs. She usually wears a tiny black dress, similar to the sort you'd expect a prostitute to wear, with the exception of extending about halfway down her thighs. In terms of personality, Paula called Nino a bona-fide flapper who's far too outspoken for her own good. She desperately wants to be free from the mafia's control, and she knows dirty little secrets that could help us ruin Capone's operations. Ness himself plans to ride into town next week, and Nino wants to meet him in person to spill the beans. However, as I previously mentioned, Capone is aware of this, and he doesn't want to risk having Nino around. Nino is going to be dancing at the Wolf Paw tonight, and Capone's thugs are getting ready to kill her. Ness himself is on to Capone's plans, and he does not want to lose his informant, so he's sent me to make sure that Nino doesn't get whacked. Me, I think this is his idea of a hookup, but I'm not complaining.
I found Nino as she entered the speakeasy, and listened in on the password – "Jim & Yale". I waited until Nino was inside the bar, and I then crept out of my cover around to the side. I then approached as though I had been walking down the sidewalk. The bar looked like a pawn shop from the outside, but the lady who just walked in looked an awful lot like Paula's description of Nino, so I knew that this had to be the Wolf Paw. I went up to the door, and when the doorman said "Members only," I said "Jim and Yale". The door opened, and I entered the Wolf Paw.
Sure enough, Nino was in there, wearing that little black dress and a pair of shining blue high heels, like sapphire slippers. She was trying to practice her dancing, completely oblivious to the mobster slipping a pill into her drink, which instantly dissolved. I knew it was some sort of poison, so I swapped her drink with that of one of the mafia thugs. As soon as he took a sip of the toxin meant for Nino, he started to gag and fell over. Within a minute, he was dead. Nino, meanwhile, was completely oblivious to the danger which had just passed. I got the feeling that I was trying to protect a dumb dora, so I decided to warn her up front. However, she just laughed at me when I said that Capone's thugs were going to try to bump her off. She then told me that her number had been called, and headed up towards the stage. Three thugs with knives followed her, so I followed them with my gun at the ready.
Nino finished her dance without incident, and I must admit that her moves were quite hotsy-totsy. I also have to admit that I was completely mesmerized, even from my backstage position. As a result, I didn't notice the gangsters setting up an ambush. As Nino left the stage, one thug grabbed her, and she was yanked into the darkness.
I immediately leapt to my feet and ran after Nino's captor. By the time I caught up, two of the thugs were pinning Nino to the ground, though she was too surprised to struggle. The third thug was already thrusting a knife towards her heart. I reacted instinctively and shot him in the back of the head. He stopped, dropped the knife on top of Nino's chest, and began to fall over. Before he could land on her and drive the knife in, I ran up, shot another thug, and shoved the first thug into the third. As the only surviving thug fell back, I shot him, too.
Nino wasn't badly hurt, as the force of gravity wasn't strong enough to push the knife through her sternum. She was visibly shaken, though, and I had to help her to her feet. We quickly left the speakeasy and drove to my house; Nino was far too scared to object as I escorted her out of the bar, doing my best to prevent the remaining thugs from seeing her. Despite my best efforts, some of the mobsters tailed me as I escaped with the girl, but I had little trouble throwing them off my trail.
Back at my apartment, I asked Nino if everything was jake. She shook her head, and demanded to know who I was and why I had taken her away from the Wolf Paw. I had to debrief her on my entire mission, including my orders from Ness to protect her. She softened up after I finished explaining myself, and thanked me for saving her life. After some discussion, she decided that she wasn't safe at her place, or anywhere else in Chicago, and that we'd have to skip town. She also decided to tell me some of her info, giving me the location of one of Capone's major storehouses. We resolved to try and meet Ness on his way to Chicago, so that Nino could meet up with him without exposing herself to more murder attempts. For tonight, though, Nino would be sleeping at my place. Like I said, this whole mission was basically a blind date. However, I must admit that the outcome of the whole event was simply the cat's meow.