City of Vice – The Crisis

Chapter seven, A Common Ally

Tommy and Lance walked slowly down the stairs to the car park and in silence fired up the Infernus. It sat in the lot vibrating softly, its engine and the minds of its occupants ticking over. So many things had been said, so many things needed thinking about, Tommy and Lance's heads were churning. After a few minutes of silence Lance clicked the car into gear and slowly set off for the Mansion. The roads were much clearer now, the gridlock of the morning was all but a memory, and their progress was unhampered all the way back. Until Tommy suddenly spoke.

"Turn left"

Lance did not question, he had learned not to, and turned left as instructed. Following a few more directions the car tilted to the left, the right, and the right again. Lance found himself in an alley way, battered bins and cardboard boxes strew across the ground, the metal fire escape stair case that looked less safe than the fire it would save you from looming over them to the right, rust collecting in great sheets on the floor below it. There were holes and scratches in and all over the walls and floor and the remenents of a dark liquid spilled over them. General detritis was nearly indistinguishable from the tiny fragments of glass, lead, bone and flesh that were too small to clean up. Water ran into the drains, a filthy film of bubbles on top, the colour of dirt and squalor. The alley looked like it had been someone's home once, but Lance wondered if whoever had lived here before would dare live here again. He didn't want to drive any further into the alley for fear of the cleaning he would need to do afterwards but Tommy didn't force him; together they stepped out of the car and walked hesitantly forwards towards the thick of the action. Tommy was looking pale, memories playing through his head like snuff film but more real as he had been there. His mouth hung half open and his breathing was shallow and stifled. Lance stayed back a little, allowing Tommy to satisfy whatever urge or need it was that had brought him here in solidarity.

"It's clean"

Tommy's words were obvious and yet Lance understood exactly what he meant. The alley was completely clean, little to no trace of the triple homicide that had taken place little more than a few hours ago. The obviousness of the words suggested so many deeper questions; how had the incident gone unnoticed? Who was it who had cleaned up the mess? Where were the cars, the bodies, the bullets and casings? Tommy's mouth formed one more word, as if it were all he were able to say, a command as much as a suggestion

"Traxler"

Upon arrival at the Traxler building Tommy and Lance were instructed from their vehicles in the same fashion as Luigi had been earlier that day. Tommy fought his wish to slay the man giving him the directions to the room he had visited once already, burst in through the wooden door and beat every answer he wanted out of Andreas Traxler. H had told him plenty, but there was more that needed to be uncovered. Traxler was working for Sonne Forelli, presumably to bring Tommy down a peg or two so he'd turn to the family for help, definately to keep an eye on the new man about town and to feed information back on how well he was doing. But was it Traxler who had cleaned up the alley? And if so where was everything, how safe was Tommy from the fallout of that mess? Another important question was whether Tony had been treated with the respect he deserved, and whether Tommy would be able to pay his respects. The door of the office loomed ahead and Tommy and Lance were invited inside.

"Good afternoon Mr, what was it now..."

Andreas wasn't given a chance to finish. Tommy shot the guard behind the desk in the leg and immidiately trained his gun on Andreas himself while Lance waited behind the door for their tour guide to burst back inside and whipped him on the back of the head with his pistol. Andreas cried out but Tommy warned him.

"I'm not joking around here Andreas, you call off any guards you just got the attention of right now and tell them that everything is fine, or I will kill every single one of them that walks through that door."

Traxler pushed a button on his desk and talked into a PA type system

"Stay where you are, the system malfunctioned, there is nothing to be alarmed about."

"Good, now, you and I need to have a little talk." Tommy spun the chair Luigi had sat on round and dropped on it, leaning menecingly over the back. "First things first I want to know if it was you who cleaned the alley way." Tommy signalled to Lance to wait outside the door and Lance did so, gun cocked in his hand ready for any interruptions.

"Yes, it was me." Traxler's voice had the pretend bravado of a man faking cofidence in it. "I sent my men after you and when they did not return within their alloted time sent more to find them. It was not hard, the trail you left behind you made me fear the worse had happened before I received the final comfirmation. I was relieved only to find that we were first on the scene and that the police had been too busy with the gridlocked streets to notice three dead men and four wrecked vehicles in an alley. Also, I feel you will be lightened to know that when we arrived the woman who's car you stole was waiting for an officer to see her, take a statement and so on. One of my smarter men took care of that, drove her home and destroyed the statement, after which my source in the police force saw to it that the report for the crime went missing in the system."

"Well, don't expect flowers and chocolates for that." Tommy sneered. "So, you cleaned the alley completely? Everything completely gone?"

"If the police do not know something occured then they will not look for it. And if they are not looking for it it is very easy to dispose of. The cars and the motorcycles are gone for good, never to be seen again. Well, not by anyone other than ocean fish."

"And Tony? The man your goons shot dead?" Tommy hoped the words would sting Andreas as much as they did himself.

"He is to be buried. A friend of a friend is something of an undertaker and is making the arrangements as we speak. He can inform the family if you would like? I may be ruthless but I am not heartless."

"Well, I suppose it would be better from him. I take it that the chase and the shooting will be left out of any explanations?"

"Of course, of course. I am sure that Tony will have died in a most unfortunate car accident leaving it quite impossible for a viewing."

"Very well. I would like to be kept informed on that front as well." Tommy showed a little more emotion than he would have liked to in saying so and immidiately pressed on. "I know you work for Sonne Forelli, I know you knew I wasn't Luigi Salvatore and I know full well that you knew I wasn't selling legit weapons; tell me everything."

"What is there to tell? I first entered this world under the Forelli family in Liberty City as little more than an ass, a hard working immigrant with no money and no job who would do anything for food and a little respect. Soon though I impressed your boss and made him proud of me, and he began to mould me in your absent image. Over time I became favoured and when you were sent here and did not succeed in your simple task I was sent to keep my eye on you for the family. Soon after my arrival however, I saw that the family was never interested in helping me, but instead in hindering me and holding me back. I saw in your example that I could become something from nothing and told the family that I was to leave and start up business on my own, not as a rival but as a potential ally in other pursuits. Sonne told me that such a thing was impossible, but after my insistance and defience of his orders he relented giving me an offer I could not refuse. In return for my solidarity from the family I was to keep you in check, and if necessary bring you down a peg or two to remind you of your rightful place. I managed to place two of my own in your gang and instructed them to drop you in it if things got too smooth and successful for you; I had no idea that they would go so far as they did, I swear!" Tommy's expression remained unchanged. "Immidiately after the party when I heard that they had done as I asked I imagined that you would get into some trouble for something like arms dealing or drugs on your property, so imagine my shock and horror when the truth came out this morning. I punished them gravely for their stupidity at killing a couple of Haitians and leaving them in your tub but sadly it did not take away what had happened." Haitians was all Tommy needed, given their predisposition for negativity towards the newly Cuban alligned Vercetti Gang and violent lash backs at any attempt to reconcile. Things were looking darker than before. Tommy waved his gun at the stalling Traxler to indicate he should carry on.

"I knew your face but knew you did not know mine when you arrived here this morning so when you introduced yourself as this Salvatore character I simply played along. I wanted to help you but to do so directly would have required long explanations such as this one and in crisis situations time is of the essence. I felt responsible for the trouble you were in, it was so much more than I could cope with. Had it been drugs or guns I would have revealed your lies and sent you away but the situation I put you in was much more serious than that. So I bought your stolen guns and"

"That's where I get confused." Tommy leaned closer. "See, I don't have a clue just exactly how you knew those guns were stolen. Unless your goons were at the raid itself nobody knew what we'd taken or what that party was for except those on the job. You knew that they weren't legit, that's why you had me followed right?"

"Wrong. I had you followed because I needed to, for appearance's sake. I told my men I did not trust you and that you needed to be followed to see where you go. But sadly I myself appear to have been infiltrated. The men I sent after you did not follow my orders, they shot at you and tried to kill you when I needed you alive and said so. Who controls them I do not know, but it is, was, no longer me. Obviously I cannot control the dead and the other two are gone, I have neither seen nor heard from them since. I hid my employment by the Forelli family from my employees as I felt it would undermine my own influence and authority. As such many of the people I use and work with are immigrants themselves. They have no knowledge of Vice, or Liberty, or San Andreas or any of the major crime capitols in this country. They have no knowledge of the Vercettis, the Forellis, or any of the other major crime organisations in these cities. That makes them perfect for my needs. And in a strange and almost ironic way made them perfect for yours also. I fear that another organisation that has issues here in Vice is using my organisation as a cover for cruel and ruthless killing and revenge, and I fear that your near miss is the one that has exposed this."

"But my guns?" Tommy didn't want to know about covers and killings and ironic goons, he needed to put to rest this hideous suspicion raising its beastly head within him.

"I was tipped off by my source in the police force."

"Your source? Who is your source?" Tommy's stomach felt heavy with unease.

"I'm afraid I do not know his name, he never tell me."

"What did he tell you?" Tommy was showing his anxiety but didn't care, he needed to find this out.

"That a shipment of stolen arms was coming my way, and that if I wasn't careful I'd not only get ripped off by the dealer, but that the dealer was selling me the guns so he could send in a bent house raid, confiscate the guns back for himself to sell a second time and ship me off to prison also. He is a useful ally behind enemies lines, he has told me many other things before now that have saved my skin."

Tommy was sweating ice, his hand was shaking so as to warrent taking his finger off the trigger. His stomach was pitted completely as if it were in his hips. It couldn't be.

"If your man doesn't have a name what do you call him?" The words seem to need forcing from his dry lips.

"I call him only by a code letter from the alphabet."

"Which one?" Tommy knew he needn't ask, but he had to hear it come from the mouth of another, to confirm it.

"H"