Stelm: Ok like I said before this is going to upload really quick until I get to the 6th or so chapter.

Chapter II: Mickey the Crab

February 11, 1952, Empire Bay, Sand Island

Vonnie was taken care of by a man named El Greco. Afterwards he rented a hotel room in Little Italy. I wanted to just lay low for a long long time. Fate decided different…

I woke up a little shorter than the top of the world and for the first time actually got to see my "new" place in the sunlight. It was still the same ugly thing he saw last night. It was made out of bricks painted dark green which was atrocious fashion statement if any. It had a mini bar type kitchen, a dingy bathroom, a TV, a couch, and one twin bed. All jam packed in three room separated by the same type of door. Definitely the type of place Kenny would give to me.

It at least had a full room carpet that covered all the rooms except the kitchen; it was brown with dim white diamonds. The doors were burgundy red and clashed with the rest of the room. Tiles in the kitchen and bathroom unlike the rest of the apartment were black and white. The tacky bar separating the living room from the kitchen was red wood and had mug stains on it. All in all it looked like a poor pack rat's dream and a house stylist's worst nightmare.

After criticizing the apartment I went to get dressed. Didn't really feel like food after the major coal miner massacre that the police were fingering me for. I was so off I only just noticed that I had slept most of the day. I looked on the bedside clock and it read 4:20. So instead of going back to sleep to end my day I went on to see if Kenny had any good clothes. I opened his closet and searched through it for anything of worth. Although I doubted it at first he did.

I picket out a plaid shirt and jeans and decided to just wear the same drawers, at least until I bought some from Dipton. I knew Kenny's issues and I sure as hell didn't want them to be mine. I put on some of the chukker boots Kenny had stored in his closet and slipped them on I also looked in the kitchen for the stun gun I stored behind my silverware drawer. I felt for the hand and when I got a good hold on it I slipped it in the front of my pants and prayed that it didn't go off.

As I was getting ready to head out the doorbell rang. I opened it swiftly to see Vonnie standing in the opening with a smile on his face. "Willie! Great great news. I got some things to get you on your feet man, good good work."

"Do you read the newspapers?"

"My English ain't too good yet."

"Do you listen to the radio?"

"Empire Central."

"Well then you may not have heard but. We… killed… five… guys. To sum it up it was the mine shaft that we left closed while they went in."

"People die Vinnie! I've killed people before fuck it you were responsible for a few deaths. You may not have pulled a trigger but your shoes were never clean. Sorry if that was harsh. I got some guys to talk to over at Freddy's bar you wanna come?" Vonnie said as if the thought of barely innocent guys like us dying was a trivial matter. I decided to just stay calm and go with his plan.

"What if police see us?"

"Our driver will outrun them or bribe them."

"Tony?"

"No a guy named Jimmy."

I stormed over to the window that gave me a good view of the distillery and Misery lane. Parked on the sidewalk was a bald man with a long rain coat. He looked way too old to be out alone but he seemed to be perfectly content leaning on his indigo Walter Rocket.

"That old timer?"

"Trust me man, he's nothing to play with. Heard he was the one behind the Judge Hill Case, remember? We heard about it on the radio a few days ago." Vonnie replied seriously as if I had just flashed a group of choir girls.

"You mean the one where one of the most expensive houses in Empire Bay got torched?"

"Yah. Don't worry about all that now he's been hired to drive me around. Until I get back on my feet."

"Were you ever?" Vonnie smiled at that and started his way down the stairs and out to the coldest weather Empire Bay has ever seen. We trudged through the snow buildup and got into the car.

Half an hour later we pulled up into a parking lot besides an Italian Fruit market. The fruit stand was obviously closed this time of evening; most establishments were in this weather. Vonnie had told me an hour ago that we had to walk casually or somebody might suspect something. We had did everything right so far. Jimmy had even gone through the extra measures of parking his flashy supercharged car's license plate away from traffic as to avoid detection.

Vonnie left the car first and I followed, nobody uttered a word. We turned the corner out of the parking lot and saw the bright neon sign that said Freddy's bar, it was hard to miss. We entered the store to see it empty except for an admiring couple holding hands in the far corner, a drunken Irishmen spitting his woes out to a Hispanic lady obviously out of his league, and three guys playing pool.

I half expected Vonnie to go up to the white only section but instead he said, "You and me together on this, K?"

"You know it Von, but I think I've earned an explanation."

"Too many people looking at us now. We'll sit to the booth besides the one that the blinds cover. That way it will be real hard for any hack to pinch us. I'll tell you then."

The plan seemed full proof, they were on a run. More than that they were free from slaving away in the tunnels, the only pay they got was the good slap of a nightstick that the guards used on any unwilling miners. Most of the ones who did it for a job worked in fancy lighted, safe, and well equipped mines. The mining sites we were usually sent to had higher death, sickness, and injury rated than a few places in South Korea.

One we had sat down in the seats I took a deep breath. From the corner of my eyes I saw a body of white, blue, and black. Police for sure, I thought. Instead something far more dangerous rolled by. It was a state trooper truck. He had seen it once before, the day he got arrested. He was back in the same spot again, except this time he wasn't just involved in a theft and hijacking crime he was involved in a murder case, fuck it they probably think we tried to and halfway succeeded in murdering a miner's shaft full of a mixture of prisoners on working leave, and teenagers who were either too young to be put in jail or too healthy and strong to spend up the State's already deluded cash.

I was just about to start throwing a billion of questions at Vonnie, when our waiter came. It was a familiar face I just couldn't put a name on it. "Hey, welcome to Freddy's Bar and Grill, what will you order?"

If the voice didn't nail it the name tag did, the waiter was my childhood friend, Jina. "Jina you remember me? It's Willie."

The no older girl jumped back as if to say, 'what the hell are you doing alive'? Either that or I had just looked different. I had grown a little bit more facial hair and had gotten a little taller. She looked, better to say the least. Her breast had grown and she her curves had grown in. She wore jeans just like she did back when we went to school together. It would take days to recite all the things we had done together. She was my first love, my first lover (two different things), the person who introduced me to weed, and the girl who had my back even when my boys had been scared off, and was one of the most important people in my life. That made it even more painful for me to have forgotten her so quickly, at first sight I should have recognized her, that's the person I should have seen.

"Willie what the hell are you doing in here? I've heard your name six times on the radio. Did you really suffocate a cave full of people?"

"Jina, I've done things I'm not proud of but I would never do anything like that, and you should know that."

"Just stay here for tonight there is a room up top. Everybody is looking for you, I just don't want you to get into more trouble then you are already in. Those state troopers don't roll out on the streets for anything small. You two look hungry, I'll order yall some pizza." Jina said before she skipped off to the bar that looked like it had recently been changed. A gray haired man whispered a few things in her ear and she went off into the kitchen. The man started walking to us and I felt for the stun gun in my overall's pockets.

"Hey Vonnie nice to see yah, who's the moolie?" Freddy said I lowered my head a little. No matter what I went through I was still looked at as a Negro. It was all good though. One of these days I was going to get mine.

"My friend, I chose him as my associare personale." Vinnie said setting off a fast paced Italian argument.

I felt so out of place, so much culture in the language to the point that it seemed that my race had forgotten it's culture. Some would say we were melting into the American state of mind. The two talked for over half an hour as I ate before Vonnie changed back into English and spoke to me directly.

"Willie there is something big going on. While some would call it a mob war some would call it a standoff. With the heat on us we can't possibly take part in it. So Freddy here brung up that if you or me can stay anywhere that nobody would figure to look for a while then we would be home free. Another thing the reason we had to escape was because Don Scaletta requested that I be one of his soldiers, he needed people he could trust and me and him are cousins. I had killed a few guys for him when I worked for this other fat bastard named Derek. After that I became his eyes and ears until… well you know the rest. Oh and about the miners, Don Scaletta said he would speak to some people about it." Vonnie said making sure to keep his voice down.

"So he'll protect us?"

"We have to give him a place to protect."

"I'll give him one, Apartment 223, Misery Lane in Sand Island. Before we go I need to say bye to Jina."

"You twos have history?" The bartender asked.

"Yeah, I'll just give her a quick hug though." I said as I got out my seat and went into the kitchen. Jina spun at the sound and I rushed to embrace her. Her body was so warm and fit; she could have been a model if she wanted to. Before we let each other go our lips touched once and were tempted to touch again but I knew restraint. I had to leave this place before anybody went searching for us.

Vonnie met me outside of the kitchen and nodded his head towards a shiny purple Walker Rocket equipped with a supercharger parked a few feet in front of the door. Jimmy was our driver again.

Jimmy headed to my house and as I told him to drop me off at the Dipton apparel a few blocks away. When I was about to get out Vinnie came out with me. For a second we stood their awkwardly but finally he said, "The man back at Freddy's said you have to prove yourself. You'll get a call tonight. Please don't make these people mad, if you do…"

He didn't have to finish it I knew the consequences already. No love for the black man I figured. Whatever these people were setting me up to do it was going to wait until later up I said as I went inside the store to buy some underwear with the cash from the check. I asked the blonde behind the register to put my stuffing the bag and she answered positively taking out a bag and putting the box that contained a set of boxers into it. As I exited the store I heard police sirens and started running towards my apartment building. When I swung up Misery Lane I heard the police sirens getting fainter, I was home free, or at least I think that's what Italians call narrowly escaping. I went to my apartment building's door and rushed up to my room to undress and hop in my bed to set my timer for seven.

The alarm radio woke me up and I turned it off quickly jumping out bed. I took a warm shower and hoped out naked as a jaybird when I heard a knock on the door. I looked through the keyhole to see Jina in jeans and a puffy jacket. I knew it would be rude to let her wait there so I cracked the door and awkwardly positioned myself so that I was properly concealed.

"Hey Jina."

"Hey Willie just wanted to see if you made it through the ride."

"Wow, never really thought about it like that. I should get some protection." I said without realizing how that could be interpreted.

"That's why I came." She said before pulling out a magnum from her puffy coat sleeves the sleeves seemed to be holding the gun whole time masked as her simply crossing her arms. Damn she was one smart girl.

"Where did you get a smoker like that? Shit that thing could blow someone's brains out for Christ sakes!"

"Shut ya fuckin' mouth and take it." Jina said and I almost let out a laugh about what the conversation could be about under different circumstances.

"Ok Jina thanks, you don't know how much I appreciate it," I said a little happier to see her, before I heard the shrill sound of my phone ringing, "Hold up, who the hell has got my number this early anyway?"

I cracked the door and walked to the phone and forgot that I was still naked. I answered the phone regardless, "Who is this?"

"Isaac Auer. I have been tipped that you are in need of some money by a very influential figure in my line of work. You will report to our office on Palisade street in an alleyway where a pink car half blocks your path. From there go left until you see a door with a slot on the top. Go up the stairs and the rest will fall into place. You get pinched we never talked to each other." Just like that the phone hung up. I waited for a while for the man to call back but he didn't instead there was just silence. I felt weird just standing their naked so I tiptoed my way to the door, my apartment floors being the coldest I had ever stepped on.

I yelled for Jina to hold up for a little while longer and started to look for clothes to wear. I had three options, long leather coat with a scarf and jeans to be warm, brown cotton coat with slacks to be casual, or track pants and track shirt to look like a Bomber.

I choose the casual and after I put on the wingtips I was surprised to see that Kenny had I went to looking for an afro pick. "Jina set the gun down by the phone stand and lock the door, gotta look for a pick."

"What was the call about?"

"Some guy wants me. He knows who I am and where I live so I don't think I can bargain with him on going."

"Damn. Are you sure you have to?"

"Vonnie told me they were calling to test me."

"Vonnie? You still hanging out with that cracker?"

"Yah he is kind of my friend, you know that."

"Just be careful."

"I'll blend right in."

"Like a school girl in a heroine deal."

"Okay then I'll take a cab." I said finding the pick in the drawer of the nightstand by my bed.

I walked back to the front of the apartment going through my nappy hair brutally forcing me to hold back tears. I got the magnum and flicked the cylinder open to find it fully loaded. Didn't figure I needed any more than this so I didn't ask for more. Put a spare nail that was lying about by the phone stand and positioned it on the cylinder where the gun wouldn't be able to fire unless I took it out. Better safe than with a bullet in my heart. I would rather die by someone else's hands than by my on carelessness.

"Don't get killed on me Willie."

"That's the plan." I said as I kissed her on the cheek and left out of my apartment. I walked down the stairs with a bit of speed and hailed a taxi to take me to Palisade Street.

Once I had arrived at the place the mysterious man who called himself Isaac had told me to go I felt for my gun, still there. The pink car was there and it clashed with its snow covered surroundings. It looked brand new. I walked with a sense of danger into the alleyway looking all around for wires or a detective with a pair of binoculars laying on a rooftop. After going around the alley way corner without incident I saw the door with a slot on it. I approached it with the words fear carved into my heart.

"Hello, I'm looking for a Mr. Auer." I uttered out with a nervous smile, as I heard laughter come out behind the door.

The door opened and three large men with calm faces looked at me with interest. They led me up metal stairs and as I walked I could swear that there were bullet holes in a few of the stair cases and in parts of the wall. The men were armed with guns he only saw in gangster movies and war posters.

When we finished going up two flights of stairs I was greeted by two more guards that aimed their black guns right at me but lowered it and started to chuckled when I froze on the spot. The put there guns down and sat in their chairs. The room itself was worn and tattered. Paint came off of its walls and the floor was dirty. The only furniture in the room was a square table that looked as weathered as the rest of the room.

"If you have any heat on you I suggest you lay them down on the table, no funny business." One of the men said half heartedly the other half obviously was a comedian because the man couldn't seem to get himself together

"Don't want any trouble." I said as I withdrew my magnum and set it down on the table, whipping the man's face straight.

Afterwards the same man who had spoken motioned for me to follow as the he walked towards the wall. It was only when I got close did I see that that part of the wall as actually a door. The man opened it to reveal a fancy looking office with a chair and a wide desk. In the room was a rather plump man with glasses and a small framed wide chest man with hardened facial features.

"We have been waiting for you Willie. Kenny spoke well of you, we have been watching his progress and yours ever so closely. Excuse my rudeness, I am Mr. Levine, and the man you talked to on the phone is the gentleman behind me." The heavy set man said politely adjusting his no legged glasses.

"You must understand Willie that most people come here for loans, drugs, or something in between. Mr. Levine and I have considered hiring you as a mercenary. Because of your age it would be almost impossible for you to work alone. That is why we have given you a partner, someone I have known for a long time. Jimmy, come join us." Mr. Levine said before a bald Caucasian man smoking a cigar.

"So what? This guy? Yah guys tell me youa gotta fresh convict that is as silent as a mouse, and then you bring in a guy who looks like one. Now I was alright with driving him but even this small ting could be too much. Come on Bruno, you know as well as I do that this ain't gonna work." The man who Willie presumed was Jimmy said smoothly his facial expression somewhat masked by his shady sunglasses.

"Hey Jimmy, I'm not falling in love with anything right now. Two years in a miner's camp kind of convinces you not to trust everybody you meet." I said looking at the subtly surprised faces in the room.

"Kid I've killed more people than you have shook hands with. I was in jail for four years, and was forced to kill and kill again. Right now you're not in a bargaining position." Jimmy said his head turning slightly from Mr. Bruno and Isaac to me.

"The decision is final; you two will be working together. Now that all forms of formality have expired I would like to tell you why we are teaming you two up." Mr. Bruno said pulling out his drawer and withdrawing a picture of white middle aged man in janitor clothes.

"His name is Mickey Gullad and he previously borrowed a sum of 6,000 dollars in cash. We ended up supplying him his partners for a big heist on a Native American drug cartel headquarters that was beginning to trying to push in on his rackets here. The three story building went down in a fiery explosion, the wrecking ball was a barrage of grenades that Mickey got from Harry. It was all over the news and a lot of people are closing in on us. Mickey has broken our code of subtlety and his repayment time twice, if detectives bust down our door tomorrow it will be his fault. For that you must make him suffer. Expect the sympathy tactic; we've dealt with him before, just look at his left hand." Bruno said adjusting his glasses once more, before nodding his head to Isaac.

"Jimmy the money has been sent to your account and Willie your money has been sent to you via mail. Mickey is walking from his job and is heading to his Oyster Bay apartment, find him post haste, you know how this works Jimmy." Isaac said motioning for Jimmy and me to leave.

They did so with great speed. Jimmy was silent all the way out the building until they got into a side parking lot. The car in front of him deserved applause. From the words on the car's side I indentified the vehicle as one Jefferson Futura. Its length was almost the size of a limo and its supercharger made it look like a hot rod. It had a black stars themed vinyl on its side and front and had a glass upper framing, a dangerous addition due to the heavy snow. Once Jimmy had opened the neon orange door I saw the all white interior and felt like fainting in bliss. From the other side I opened the door and sat back ready for an awesome ride.

"This is what you get when you work for high end people." Jimmy said hazily with his face still facing the road ahead of them as the car sped up.

"Is the life of a wise guy really this easy?" I said with awe trying thinking back to when he ever heard of a poor Mafioso.

"Ha, wise guys don't have it so easy. I'm not eligible for official initiation into the super secretive Italian and Sicilian mafia families. My Scottish blood prevents any of that." Jimmy said sharply with distaste as he pulled up along the side of the street.

Jimmy and I walked their way into the alleyways that lead to Mickey's apartment. Before we could even search the apartment building for the janitors address, they saw a man that looked picture perfect to the Mickey, the man on the photo. He kept on walking towards them obviously intending to go in his apartment building that they were right beside.

Jimmy walked forward onto the stairs and I felt the urge to follow him, a primed gun for hire had to know a little bit more than he did to stay in the business for this long. We walked up the steps until they got to the second floor. That is when I heard the first footsteps that belonged to Mickey.

"You say you are sneaky then try to find a way to stop him from moving without killing him." Jimmy whispered taking out a knife that shined bright in the night.

The knife made me rethink what was about to go down. I figured they were just going to mess him up. Not stab him! I figured that the knife was to intimidate the man. However I couldn't be to confidence of the action of a complete stranger. Plus if what the man said at Mr. Bruno's place was true then he might go a little too far.

I felt my leather jacket for my only weapon and frowned, there was no use in using something that could kill him. I maneuvered my way to a spot on the 3rd level of wooden outside stairs where Mickey wouldn't se unless he got at the top and looked around. I wouldn't give him the chance. A few steps before the man reached the top Willie went into action.

He using all of his balance techniques walked along the guard rail protecting people from falling onto the stairs. A few feet before the star way rail and the floor rail met went as fast as he could and pounced on the man. He took quick work to tie the man's resisting hands together and tipping the man back into the stairs they had just went in. The effort took Willie with him, and as they both tumbled down the stairs he prayed for the time that Jimmy would act.

It was only when they got to the bottom of the stairs did Willie see Jimmy grab the man and press him into a brick wall beside a residence door. The man screamed only to be met with a sharp punch from Jimmy. The punches lead the man to the floor. It was then that Jimmy withdrew his knife again.

"P-please Jimmy! Whoever is paying you I swear I'll pay double, triple even!" The man pleaded only to get a devastating reply.

Jimmy let a moment of decency pass before Jimmy's left hand seemed to snap at the man's wrist that was already upward attempting to stop him. With his right hand Jimmy stuck one of Mickey's seemingly paralyzed fingers. There was a blood curdling snap and crunch and the finger was off. I almost threw up on the spot but my will stopped me.

"Fuck Jimmy! Thought we were going to rough him up not cut his fucking fingers off!" I yelled looking at the screaming poor man lying on the ground being attacked by the monster that was my partner.

Jimmy just looked at me and shook his head at me like a father who had seen his son do something wrong. To my rising dismay Jimmy hacked way until he had chopped three fingers off. The man rolled on the ground afterwards gripping his hand tears flowing down his face and blood pooling on the wood planks. Jimmy then slashed the blade across the man's face and the man just twisted himself over the edge of the apartment deck trying to tip himself over. Jimmy took one more stab at the man's heel and got up. Lights from apartments around the neighborhood flicked on and Jimmy dashed down the stairs and seconds later I heard the supercharged engines of his Jefferson Futura and later the sounds of the car going off into the distance.

I found myself a good spot a few blocks down a few minutes later and just leaned on a wall in front of the traffic that filled the night. The sounds of screaming still panging in my heart as police sirens fired off in the distance. I knew I would have no ties to the assault; I had no connection to the devil that was Jimmy anyway.

He should have killed him; the man didn't have the right to torture a man like that. He thought the life of a gun for hire was exciting and elegant. What I had witnessed was savagery and cold blooded maneuvers. To thinks that the attack wouldn't be the last of he would see of Jimmy, left his stomach churning even more.

The only thing that soothed his soul was the soft sounds of Boom Boom by John Lee Hooker being playing in one of the apartments a few meters above me. The beat of the drum matching the beat of my heart in harmony. Sirens were still sounding in the distance getting ever closer until a few minutes later three police cars rolled on passed at break neck speed right pass me. I wouldn't have been surprised if the hacks didn't just beat me up because I was standing there, and then recognize me as the three year blue collar criminal that he was. If the man that Mr. Levine called Mickey was in better shape I'm sure they would.

"Hey Jail bird, long time no see." A familiar voice said gleefully out in the near distance.

"Hey Chucky, I just go back from the tunnels, those greaser punks still around?" I said wondering if the old enemies had lived through the times.

"Yah they've been taking hits at me for a while. One of these days we will smoke their big boss!" Chucky said enthusiastically enough to make me actually think about doing it, think being the key word.

Chucky was just as worse as his brother Marty, and I prayed they didn't meet the same fate. Both of them were too enthusiastic for their own good. Only one of them had a wise guy as a friend and ended up with a bullet in his head. The other stuck to fighting Irishmen and Greasers.

"No, none of that. We'll just total one of their precious hot rods, that'll show em'. You got a car, cause I need a ride." I said motioning to the car in front of the Dipton Apparel store a few feet off.

"No problem buddy. I got your back, it's getting dark out man I got my mom's car now, and it's pretty sweet." Chucky said motioning to the old Walter brand model. It was good to have friend, I said to myself smiling on the inside. At least I would a little slice of normal in my life.