Ch. 4

30 minutes after leaving the "magic show"…

Sly had to get a drink to calm his nerves after accidentally bumping into the inspector. What in the hell was she doing here? Not that he minded, he was just shocked was all. He set his cane by a bar stool in a local downtown bar, sighing as he sipped his drink. He didn't usually drink at all, but he guessed it was just nerves. He looked around at the dark place he was in, dimly lit and the smell of old booze and cigarettes wafted in the air. Reminded him of his first time in a place like this. He was wearing some nicer clothes after a quick change at the safe house. He was in a blue polo shirt and black jeans with some black Timberland boots. He heard some sort of argument behind him. He checked and saw two men yelling at each other, both obviously drunk. He turned to see what was going on. Two men were yelling at each other in Italian, Sly only picking up on things here and there. He sighed as he finished his drink, replaced his cap on his head, which was his signature blue drivers cap, and left the building, pocketing one of the mens wallets in turn. He checked the I.D. Lucky him, it was a local italian mobster he had read about in the papers. What in the hell was someone from the mafia doing in California? He shrugged as he put the wallet into the hands of a police officer walking by.

"I found that on the ground. Make sure it gets back to the guy."

Now, to some, it would seem like Sly was just doing practice on a random guy. But no, he knew about the mafia around Paris, and in and around California as of late. Something about…setting up a new drug trafficker through the local gangs there. Sly was thinking about making a hit on these guys later, taking some money from some hideouts there. Sly usually never went after mafia type people, but he felt like he needed to put the squeeze on them. He sighed as he decided that it would be best to head back to the hotel that his friends were at. He hummed as he went back to thinking of Carmelita. He was a little worried about his reaction to her when he had saw her at the magic show he had put on for the people on the street. He usually did not react as bad for things like that, but he felt like this was more of a…internal reaction. Usually he was cool and calm and everything was fine, but this…this was a little worrying. He scratched his head as he made his way back to the hotel.

The Next Day (9:00)

Sly was rolling out of bed in the hotel, sighing as he stood up. "God. I really need to stop eating before I go to bed." He hummed as he got dressed in a simple t-shirt and blue jeans with his Timberland boots. He checked to make sure Bentley was up in the other room before saying,

"Hey Bentley. I need you to do some research on a guy. His name is Frank Zolto. Check him out, would you? I think the mafia is in town."

Bentley raised his eyebrows. "The Mafia? Sly, you aren't seriously going to go on a robin hood are you?"

Sly chuckled as he heard his friend reference his thieving times when he would steal from random gangs. But this time, it was from the mafia.

"Can you just do this? I want to make some side money to help Pops out. I feel like he isn't making as much money as he says."

Bentley sighed as he said, "I'll pull some information. In the meantime, you need to go and case that museum for the mask. I left some money for the fee to get in on the counter in here. Stay safe please. Oh, and Murray is out. Said he wanted to go to the gym."

Sly nodded as he grabbed the money, which was about 10 bucks and walked from the hotel. He hummed as he walked, remembering that he left his cane in his room. "Ah, probably won't need it."

He then began to sing to himself as he walked down the street, a small simple song that his mother had sang to him. He only sang it when he was bored or when he was a little nervous. Casing a place was always a little un-nerving. He felt a bump against his side before he turned to see a female fox walk past him. He checked her as she walked by. He gasped a little bit. It was Carmelita again. She turned to face it.

"Hey, watch…it. Hey, you were the magician from the other day. I never got a chance to say thank you for the little show you put on."

Sly gulped a little as he said, "Well yeah, glad you liked it. Doing magic has always been a thing for me." He smiled at her, regaining his composure quickly before saying, "I was heading to the museum for a day of sightseeing."

She looked at him and asked, "Have I seen you from somewhere?"

Sly started to panic but kept his cool and said, "No, I don't think so. Say, why don't you come with me to the museum?"

Carmelita laughed and said, 'No thanks, I've seen enough of that place in a day to fill a lifetime. I'm guarding for some stupid show thats getting put on in a few days."

Sly's ears perked up as he heard the information. "Hmm, ah well. Hey, you have a good day. Stay safe at the job, huh?"

He waved goodbye and walked towards the museum again, sighing in relief as he walked. Carmelita shrugged her shoulders as she headed off. She still felt like she had met that raccoon from someplace before, but she didn't even know. She then turned around as she walked to the raccoon. "Hey! Actually, yes. I would like to go. God knows I'm bored out of my mind and maybe going with someone else wouldn't be so bad."

Sly flinched ever so slightly as he heard her. But he turned, with a smile on his face and said, "Sure, why not? I'm sure you and I would have some fun." He walked with her to the museum, walking inside as he knew that this would be a very interesting time.

After a while…

Sly and Carmelita stepped out of the museum, happy to be out on Carmelita's part and happy to get a case of the place on Sly's part. She smiled as she said, "Well, it was nice with someone else."

Sly smiled at her as he said, "Yeah, that was pretty cool. So, what exactly were you sent to guard?" She rolled her eyes as she said, "That fancy looking mask in there. God, some people and their stupid costume get ups. I don't get why that thing is so important."

Sly just shrugged as he said, "Well, it was nice meeting you. I have to go on back to the hotel. I'm in town for a bit before heading back to London."

She smiled as she said, "What is your name? I never got it." Sly thought for a minute before saying, "I'm Martin. Martin O'Connor." She nodded as she said, "I am Carmelita Montoya Fox. Its nice to meet you Martin." He waved goodbye to her and said, "Maybe we will meet again." If she had picked up on what he had said, it would best sooner then she thought!

Same day at 3:00

The day had passed rather boringly for Sly, and so he decided to do a little thieving. He had popped back to the hotel to get the info on the guy. Apparently he was a Capo for the local mafia in the area, and had a big connection to the local warehouses there. From what Bentley dug up, this place was where they stored their cash from the local drug sellers. Sly decided to hit them there. Now, he wouldn't normally hit these sorts of places in the afternoon, but Bentley had pulled up some photos that the local PD has snapped, showing that the place was heavily guarded on only a few sides, easy enough to get in, rob them blind, and out. Sly was going to dress as one of the guys who was part of the group, and pretend that the place was going to be hit soon. He would clean out the cash box there, take the money and store it someplace until he could split it with his group. And there he was, dressed to the nines in a blue suit and tie, carrying his cane like he owned the place. He had stolen the suit from some dead beat debt collector before leaving paris, and had it washed when he got there. After making sure everything was good, he drove up in a nice looking Lincoln, which again, he managed to steal from right under the noses of a local chop shop in the area.

He pulled up to the warehouse with a suitcase and stepped out, cane in hand. He walked to the door and said, "Hey, listen. We got word. One of the local families is trying to hit this place. I've been ordered to take the money to a local safe house to keep it safe until the heat cools off." One of the mobsters used a phone to call it in, and Bentley, using his hacking and voice changing software, made himself sound like the Don of the family, first chastising the male for disobeying an order that was given by one of his made men, which Bentley had to do some brushing up on mob lingo to fool them, and to shut up and let him do his job. The mobster was shaking as he said, "Yeah..go ahead. Grab the money. Jesus, I need a cigarette." Sly walked inside, grabbing the money from the safe after it was opened by one of the people in there. He then put the money in the suitcase, totaling almost 500,000 dollars, and walked out. He got in his car and drove it to an abandoned lot. He then, with no tim to spare, grabbed a bus that head to one of his old drop off locations for hot items he would take. He hid the money there, which was actually like a miniature vault that only opened with his eyes, a finger, and his voice. Call it paranoia, but Sly would always be ready for things.

He hid the money there and made his way back to his hotel. He hummed as he took the suit he had used and threw it into the incinerator in the hotel, sighing having to destroy such a nice suit. He made his way back to Bentley and said, "Ha, 500,000 dollars all total. We cleaned out their safe." Bentley chuckled as he said, "Just another day." Murray poked his head into the room and said, "Did I miss something here? What happened?" And all Sly did was smile, and tell him to short story of how he had robbed the mob of almost 500,000 dollars in total.

Later…

A phone was slammed on its reciever as an older looking man was fuming, a cigarette in his hand. "How…the FUCK! Did you let some asshole walk into our warehouse…and steal almost the whole months take?!" The man pulled out his gun and shoved it in the mouth of the man standing in front of him. "You better start talking son." The male was crying as he said, "Look, he said he was a made man! We called you! You scared Jimmy half out of his mind!" The older man, a lion, stepped back as he said, "No…it wasn't me. What did I say?" The male gasped as he held his throat from almost dying. "You said that the guy was a made man, said that a family was about to hit our business and to take the money and hide it." The lion looked down as he said, "That mother fucking rat! I knew the Cabrone family would do this shit! They must have some computer genius involved…" The don paced around the room for a minute before he said, "Call Bison. Tell him what happened. Right now, I need a fucking drink. And you!" He pointed the gun and shot the man in the head. "You fucking degenerate. You let yourself get fucking fooled!" He sat in his chair and said, "God…this is one fucking day. Hope Bison isn't going to be too pissed…" The man sat there, smoking and drinking, as the blood from the man pooled on the floor, before the dead man was removed from the room, the older lion still sitting there angry and fuming. "This means fucking war…."