Velocity Shift

by tempest-races

There are moments in everyone's life that define who they are. In a world of glitz and glamour clashing with dark alleys and shady characters, these moments either make or break you. Or sometimes they make you shift your reality.

13. One More Broken Season

AN: Aloha everyone! Sorry for the long wait. I just had a lot to deal with lately. Plus this chapter was hard to write because as anyone reading is about to find out it's mostly finishing up the events of the movie. I skimmed them fairly fast because a) I'm assuming most of you have seen this movie, and b) if I wrote the movie out word for word and described all the scenes for those who haven't seen the movie this would be a hundred pages long ;). You will get the idea of what has occurred whether you've seen the movie or not, never fear. To answer our trivia from last update the line is from the song Satellite by Anna Nalick. I'm busily pimping her work all over as I am in love with her new album very much. Some of you will know I'm writing a story totally around her stories. So check it out, check this out, review it, review everything, ;) Or don't, I'm easy. Not easy like easy. I know for a fact someone reading this needs to get their mind out of the gutter. (And into the ditch with me where it belongs, teeheehee)

Velocity Shift

By TempestRaces

Ch. 12 – One More Broken Season

Who was she kidding? Storm asked herself as she waited on her mother to come back home. Home with her little sister. She wasn't fit to be a big sister to some kid! All she could be is the 'do as I say not as I do' example. She had nothing else to offer. What was she supposed to say? Hey Kid, I'm Storm, your sister. Oh, what do I do for a living? I push X in a club owned by the Russian mob and illegally street race. How's school going? That would just be wonderful. She wouldn't have used the word ashamed for what she was feeling when she thought about her kid sister knowing what she did, but it was an unsettled feeling. She didn't want her sister to end up like her that was for sure. It wasn't that there was anything exactly wrong with who she was, but it wasn't a forgiving life and Storm had learned that first hand.

Thinking about how she was no fit role model for a little kid made Storm realize she was going to need a story to tell her sister as to what she did for a living, and what her father did. Otherwise she'd stumble over herself and give herself away. She could always just say she was the daughter of a wealthy man and she didn't do much at all, but she would have to have a story to explain how her father got to be wealthy.

It had to be pretty safe to say he owned a fancy restaurant. Giando's was pretty fancy on the outside. Kids thought a businessman was a real job didn't they? Storm wished she'd thought to ask her mother more about what she should and shouldn't say to her sister. She didn't really know how to talk to little kids. She was never exposed to them. Her cousins were all her age so she'd grown up with them. She didn't have any that were much younger then her.

One thing she'd always prided herself on was her ability to jump right into situations feet first and come out on top so she figured all she could do this time was wing it like she always did. She was mostly a fly by the seat of her pants kind of woman anyway. She only sat down and really drafted plans when it came to her work. If her life was on the line she tried to be smarter then just jumping in without knowledge of what was going to go down.

She got up off he couch and started to pace around the living room. She found a bunch of framed pictures on the mantle of the fireplace at one end of the room. She walked over to them and started to study the images in them. Many were of a girl and followed her from an infant and toddler all the way up until her face lost its baby fat and became that of a preteen. So this must be my sister, Storm mused as she picked up what she would assume was the newest picture. The child had long mahogany hair, curly like her own. She had the same winged brows as Storm and her mother, although they weren't sculpted with tweezers the way Storm did hers. They shared the same light green eyes, nose with the slight upturn at the end, and long limbs.

She had just set the picture down when the front door opened. As she turned to face the door of the room with a startled look on her face a small human bullet ran into the room and pulled up short a few feet away from where Storm standing. Storm's eyes met that of her sister and each just stared, not really knowing what to say.

"Are you really my sister?" The child asked Storm with a touch of shock in her voice.

"Looks that way." Storm answered with a smirk. She wasn't really sure how to deal with this miniature version of herself.

"Cool! I always wanted a big sister. You're gonna stay with us for awhile?"

"I don't know. Your mother and I didn't really get as far as talkin about that."

"Of course you're going to stay and visit Storm. We have 20 years of catching up to do and you have 12 more to catch up on with Tabitha."

"Your name is really Storm?" Tabitha asked. She continued without waiting for an answer. "That is so totally cool. I can't wait until I get to tell all my friends I got a sister and she has a name like Storm. Is that your real name?" Tabitha asked rapid fire, hardly bothering to breathe.

"Yeah, it's my real name. Well, my real middle name at least. Mom made it up." It was strange to Storm to call Cara mom in her presence. She hoped it was ok. "My name's really Arabella, which my dad picked then Stormianna which mom made up." Storm informed her sister as she sat back down on the couch. Tabitha sat down beside her.

"Why is your hair blond?"

"Because I dyed it that way."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted a change." Storm left out the part where she'd done it to piss off her father because she knew he would hate it.

"Can I dye mine?" Tabitha asked her mother, eyes pleading.

"No." Cara answered with a smile.

"But Storm did." Tabitha wheedled.

Storm fought a grin. Her sister already wanted to emulate her. It was a pretty cool feeling.

"Storm is twenty years old and no one has any say over what she does to her head, though if she'd been living here at the time she would not have dyed hers either. So the answer is no."

"Can I get my eyebrow pierced like Storm's?"

"Not old enough kid." Storm answered before her mother kid, chuckling. "You gotta be 16 and have a parent's permission so you got four years to wait before you can get one even with your mother's permission."

"It sucks to be a kid."

"Seems that way now but someday you'll see." Storm told her sister and on impulse ruffled the kid's hair.

Tabitha smiled up at her sister. "Is that your car in the driveway? Mom says it is."

"It's mine. You like it?"

"It's really cool. It's painted like your name."

"That was the idea, alright."

"Can we go for a ride in it?"

"Well, mom talked about going out to dinner so maybe we could take my car then." Storm looked up at her mother.

"Sure. It's safe is it?" Cara frowned.

"Safe as any other '89 car." Storm shrugged. "It has seatbelts and brakes and all that good stuff."

"Ok then. Are we ready to go eat?" Cara asked and Tabitha jumped up.

"Can we go to McDonald's?"

"How about we pick someplace a bit nicer than McDonald's Tabitha? Storm can eat at McDonald's at home."

"Where are you from?" Tabitha asked her sister, realizing that if they'd never met then maybe Storm didn't live around them. Not to mention she'd picked up on her sister's accent.

"I'm from Brooklyn."

"Where's that?"

"New York City, New York."

"Really? You're from New York? Like all the way up north with Central park? Do you know the guys on friends?"

"Yeah, we have central park. Friends' is a TV show and it's filmed in Hollywood kid, it's not real. But a lot of New York really looks like that."

"Ok girls, let's go. If it gets any later we're not going to get into any half decent spots without a reservation."

The three women started out of the house and down the steps. Cara paused on the porch to lock the door. She slid into the back saying since Tabitha had been so excited to ride in the tricked out car it was only fair that she had the front on the way to the restaurant. "Sorry 'bout all the garbage back there." Storm said sheepishly as she heard her mother's feet crunch on Pepsi bottles. "I only stopped once on the way here so I did a lot of eatin' and drinkin' in the car. I normally take more pride in it than this."

"Don't worry about it. We have a ShopVac and other stuff in the shed out back. You can use them whenever you want."

"Great. I'll need to find a garage I can trust this bad boy to sometime soon."

"Why?" Tabitha asked as Storm started the car up.

"Because when he doesn't get his oil changes on time he gets cranky."

"Oh."

"So, where'm I goin?" Storm asked her mother as she met the woman's eyes in the rear view mirror as she backed down the driveway.

"Turn right out of the driveway and we'll drive into down town. There's this little Mexican place we eat at sometimes. The food is good. Do you like Mexican?"

"Mexican food is one of those things on my list of things to do that never got done. We don't have a lot of places to eat Mexican in Brooklyn. Besides, Matty ain't big on spicy food."

"Who's Matty?" Tabitha asked, her head snapping around to look at Storm.

"My big brother."

"Does that make him my big brother too?"

"I guess it does." Storm said, smiling. Matty was a great big brother. It was too bad he hadn't come with her. He'd love the whole little sister thing, Storm knew. "He'd be your half brother, like I'm your half sister."

"Where is he? Why didn't he come with you?"

"He didn't know where I was going. I wanted to check it out first. Matty and I look out for each other. I'll bring him along sometime soon."

"Does he look like you?"

Storm laughed out loud. "Not really. He looks like our father. Me'n his." Storm was quick to correct her statement. "Well, he looks like pop did when he was 24."

"Is that how old Matty is? Twenty four?"

"Yeah. And you're twelve right?"

"Yep. I'll be thirteen soon."

"If you consider eleven months soon." Cara said, winking at Storm in the rear view mirror.

"When's your birthday?" Storm asked her sister.

"October thirty first. When's yours?"

"August ninth. And Matty's is July fourth."

"Lucky!" Tabitha said jealously. "He gets fireworks on his birthday."

"You get to dress up and go trick or treating."

"But I never get to have a party on my birthday because everyone wants to go trick or treating instead."

"When you're just a bit older that'll change. You can have a Halloween birthday party at your house and set it up like a haunted house. People will come, just as soon as you all think you're too old to go out door to door."

"But you get free candy!"

"I was about 15 when I figured I was too cool to go door to door. Then my pop started letting me have parties at our place."

"Is your house as big as ours?"

"Tabitha! That's a rude way to phrase that." Cara frowned.

"It's bigger." Storm chuckled. "A lot bigger."

"It is?" Cara asked in shock. When she'd left her husband he'd lived in a fairly large apartment in Brooklyn. His place had not been bigger then her five bedroom house.

"Yeah. We have eight bedrooms and nine bathrooms. We don't live right in Brooklyn anymore. I guess pop moved us out to the big house pretty soon after you and him split up."

"What do you do with nine bathrooms?" Tabitha asked, clearly overwhelmed by the thought of having more bathrooms then bedrooms.

"No one has to share."

"How many people live in your house?"

"Just me'n Matty and Pop."

"Then why do you have such a big place?"

"Because my father likes to show off."

"To who?"

"His friends mostly. I don't care too much cause I get a cool room."

"What does your father do to have such a big house?"

"He's a business man." Storm watched the road almost too intently.

"What's a business man?"

"He owns businesses. He has a restaurant and a nightclub. He mostly runs the restaurant and has other people he pays run the other stuff."

"My friend Kelly's dad is a businessman too. He has to fly all over the place and she never sees him. Does your dad travel a lot?"

Nope, got use to not being allowed when he was on parole, Storm thought as she tried to figure out a lie. "No. All his businesses are right in New York so he doesn't have to travel. He's not that kind of business man."

"You can turn here. Left." Cara broke in and Storm changed lanes and signalled her turn. "Is Benny well?"

"Yeah. He's too darn stubborn to get sick. He's never ill. It's almost like sicknesses are scared to go there. I'm still trying to kick his ass at handball even though I can shatter Matty eight ways to Sunday."

"Yes, well you know what they say. The devil takes care of his," Cara looked up at Storm and Tabitha in shock, unable to believe what had left her mouth. "Own." She finished softly, not sure what her older daughter was going to make of the insult on her sainted father. She was glad when Storm laughed.

"Yeah, that could very well be it." Storm answered, still chuckling. Tabitha just looked at her mother and sister like she clearly thought they might be crazy.

They went into the restaurant that Cara had chosen and ordered supper, continuing to catch up over dinner.

xox

After leaving the diner Matty and his friends headed to the town's only motel. They checked in, taking two double rooms. Matty and Taylor would share, as would Chris and Marbles. They had some time to kill before they could expect to find anyone at the Shamrock bar, which the waitress had told Chris about.

"What do you think Taylor? Are we gonna find the money?" Matty asked as he kicked back on his bed and folded his hands under his head, staring at the ceiling.

"Of course we're gonna find the money. It's hard to hide the fact you just found half a mill from the world."

"I guess, but what if they're smart they aren't spendin' it? We won't know they have it and then what?"

"We'll worry about that if it happens. I think if we find the guy who runs the town then we'll find the money. A guy like that knows what goes on on his own turf Matty."

"I really hope so Taylor. I just want outta here."

"I just want outta here without killin Marbles for bein' suck a fucken moron."

"You'd never hear the end of that one." A small smile turned up the corners of Matty's mouth. Moron or no Storm had a soft spot for her former classmate.

"No kidden. Thank god bein' a loud mouth doesn't run in your family. If you were like her I'd have to kill one of ya." Taylor said as he lit a cigarette.

"But which one?" Matty asked, chuckling.

"Now that I don't know." Taylor answered, a smirk playing around his mouth. The sister did things for him the brother certainly didn't.

Matty looked over at Taylor and saw the look on his face. "I'm sorry I asked."

Taylor only chuckled at the look on his friend's face.

xox

Once they had dinner Storm and her mother and sister drove home. They stopped for movies on the way home.

"Well, I think since we had all this excitement we'll pretend tomorrow is a holiday." Cara told her girls as they left Blockbuster.

"You mean no school tomorrow?" Tabitha asked in excitement.

"That is what I mean. Maybe we'll go shopping or check out the boardwalk with your sister."

"Anything's better than going to school." Tabitha grinned as she climbed into the back seat of the car.

"Sounds familiar." Storm chuckled.

"You tried to get out of school any way you could too?" Cara asked.

"Oh yeah. Didn't really ever work but I tried everything from fake illness to saying the nuns told me to take the day off."

"You had nuns at your school?" Tabitha looked at her sister in shock.

"Yeah, I went to a catholic prep school. All nuns, all the time. They were ok."

"I don't have nuns at my school. I have a pretty cool teacher but I still can't wait to get to junior high. I'm going out for cheerleading. Did you cheer?"

"Not really my style kid. I don't do great with choreographed activities and I'm not happy enough to cheer. Cheering isn't my thing."

"Well me'n Stacey, my best friend, are trying out next year. Mom wouldn't let me start until then. Stacey's been in cheering since she was like six so she has a big head start. I might not make the team but she will for sure."

"I'm sure you'll make it. I'll ask my friend Devon for some pointers for you. He's all up in this hip hop choreographed dancing stuff. He's always trying to get me to do it too but I suck."

"Does Devon live in New York?"

"Yep." Storm turned onto her mother's street and fought back a yawn. It had been one hell of a long day.

"Will I ever get to go to New York?" Tabitha looked at her mother.

Cara looked panicked for a moment but got herself in control fast. "Maybe some day."

Tabitha looked ok with this answer and they finished the drive home in relative silence.

xox

"What in the name of Christ were you thinkin' Johnny? Droppin that kinda paper on the ground like that?" Chris ranted in the room next door to Taylor and Matty.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time, what can I tell ya? The cop was right there! And that cop, wait 'til he looks at you someday, huh? He's fucken scary." Marbles paced around the room as Chris reclined on the bed he'd chosen for his own.

"Even still, he can't search your fucken bag without probable cause. All you had to do was walk in there like you wasn't doin nothin' wrong and pay for the damn fuel."

"Yeah, well hindsight's 20/20 ain't it?" Johnny sighed.

"You betta hope we find that fuckin money. Otherwise it's the end of you. Might just take Matty down with you." Chris said to his cousin with a frown.

"We'll find the money."

"You better hope so."

There was a knock on the door. Chris crossed to it and found Matty and Taylor waiting outside. "Time to head down to this Shamrock bar and take care of this thing." Matty said, looking only at Chris and ignoring Marbles.

"Ok, let's roll." Chris shrugged his suit jacket on and left the room. Marbles followed, pulling on his canvas jacket.

They got into their rented Jeep and drove to the bar. They parked and got out. One by one they stopped in the parking lot, just looking at the place. It was a clapboard building with a veranda around the front and round windows like portholes in the doors. Honky tonk music was barely discernible on the night air. With a sigh Taylor led the procession up to the door and through it, Matty close on his heels.

They stopped just inside the door and looked around. The bar was dingy and mostly filled with slot machines. There were a few people playing them and one hit a minor jackpot as they arrived. It was a page right out of a spaghetti western, full of old west Americana. All four men thought, as they looked around, that there wasn't anywhere they wouldn't rather be.

"It's like a fucken home comin over here." Taylor sneered.

"Are you kidden me?" Chris retorted before looking at his cousin. "They got action here Matty, legal fucken action."

"Grab a table, I got the beers." Matty walked away to get the beers as his friends walked off to find a place to sit where they would have a commanding view over most of the establishment.

Taylor noticed a group of people sitting in a back corner on his way to the table he'd chosen and noted their presence. Nothing about them worried him but he was still wary any time there was such a large group of people. It normally meant they would watch out for each other and when people did things in the name of loyalty they could do some pretty stupid things.

They sat down together. A few seconds later a waitress brought them a plate of bar nuts, peanuts in the shell. She set them down. "Do you boys need anything?"

Chris smiled up at her. "No, we're good. Very good."

Marbles checked out her ass as she walked away. Taylor never spared her a glance.

Over at the bar Matty walked up to the side and waited on the bartender to notice him. The man walked over. "Help you?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for the guy who runs this place."

"Owner lives up in Mile city."

"No, you know, I mean the guy who runs the place."

The portly bartender leaned down on the bar top. "I'm the night manager, you sellin' somethin'?"

Matty almost groaned in frustration. "Never mind. Just gimme three beers would ya?"

The bartender handed over his beers and Matty paid him with a twenty. "Just keep it." He told the man when he went to get the change. The bartender tucked the money into his shirt pocket, none of it made it into the register. Matty walked over to his friends. He set a beer in front of Taylor and Chris, keeping the third for himself. Marbles didn't miss the slight. He got up and started to look around the bar.

As Matty walked away from the bar the bartender walked around the end. "Hey Gordie, he called softly. The other man looked up. The bartender made a gesture toward the departing Matty. Gordie nodded that he understood the message, that someone was asking about him.

It didn't take long for Chris to become bored sitting at the table. He got up and wandered off to look around. This left Matty and Taylor sitting together on one side of the table. They were slowly going through the peanuts and were each on their second beer. Matty scanned the room. "You seen anybody with an unusually thick roll?" Matty asked without looking at his friend.

"No, and I've been watchin'." Taylor replied.

xox

Chris walked up to the jukebox. He was scanning the titles over, grumbling to himself about the selection of music. He heard a noise to his right and looked up to find the same waitress from before at his side. "Who the fuck are Brooks and Dunn?" He asked her.

It was like she ignored the tenor of his question all together. "Oh, they're real good aren't they? They're Terri's favourite." She turned to the bar. "Hey Terri, come here!"

A blonde walked over to where they were standing.

"How are ya dear?" Chris asked, grinning. She only smiled shyly in return. "People really dance to this?" He asked her in disbelief.

"Sure." She answered, still smiling.

"Show me."

"Show you?"

"Yeah. Come on." He pulled her into a dance with the help of a shove from the darker waitress and she started to show him a simple two step to the Brookes and Dunn ballad 'My Maria'.

"It's easier than easy." Terri said as they found a clear spot of floor. They did a few steps. "You dance real good. Where you from?" Terri asked as Chris as they danced.

"Brooklyn." He answered, his accent proving he wasn't lying.

"Oh." She answered with a smile. Brooklyn might as well have been the other side of the world to a small town country girl like her.

She noticed Gordie, the town tough guy sauntering up to where they were dancing. Her smile was replaced by a scared frown. "Oh great." They stopped dancing and looked at Gordie walking up to them. "These are nice guys here Gordie and we were just dancin'."

Gordie slapped her across the mouth. "Why don't you keep to yourself?" He growled at her.

Matty watched it go down from the table he was still sharing with Taylor. He never held with hitting women. He started to get out of his seat. Even if the man doing the slapping wasn't the one he was looking for he was still going to intervene. As he crossed the room the background noise fell to almost nonexistent as the patrons watched him go, anticipating trouble. Marbles felt the change of atmosphere from where he was and turned away from the game he was playing to watch Matty approach the bigger man.

Gordie watched the dark man approach him with a smile. Who's this guy think he is, he wondered. He fought a laugh. "Well, you were askin' about me. You got my attention now don't ya?"

Matty held his gaze steadily. "You run this place? You the man? You the guy I'd come to if I wanted to sort some things out?"

"No I'm Brucker. I'm the guy askin' what the fuck you want. I'm also the guy who decides if you and your friends walk the fuck outta here or not." Brucker got into Matty's face as he spoke. When he was finished Matty nodded sardonically.

"Yeah, he'll do." He said as he turned to Taylor.

Gordie looked at them, wondering what they were up to but not afraid of them.

Matty and Taylor traded places. Gordie nodded to himself as he watched this happen. He'd figured the slighter man wouldn't mess with him. He still didn't look impressed when Taylor took Matty's place.

"Five hundred." Taylor stated.

"Five hundred what, douche bag?" Gordie asked and then, with a laugh, spit chewing tobacco juice onto Taylor's pant leg. Gordie and his friends laughed at the insult.

"Five hundred fights. That's the number I figured when I was a kid. Five hundred street fights and you could consider yourself a legitimate tough guy. You need them for experience, to develop leather skin, so I got started. Of course along the way you stop thinking about being tough and all that. It stops being the point. Get past the silliness of it all. But then, after," Taylor took off his jacket and handed it off to Chris, flexing his arms to show off the size and strength of his body as he did so, "you realize that's what you are."

"Listen, I don't got a problem with you, ok." Gordie started to get afraid. The man in front of him was big enough to be convincing with his statement that he'd been in five hundred fights.

"I'll tell ya, you learn a lot of things on the way to five hundred, none more important than this." Taylor grabbed the older man by his shoulders and drove his own forehead into the other man's nose. He then threw him to the ground where his hat fell off, revealing his bald head. His friends backed off a bit, not sure what to do and certain they didn't want to get involved with the much larger Taylor, whose arms were as big around as some of their necks. Brucker got up growling.

"You son of a bitch." He took a swing at Taylor.

Taylor ducked, the punch totally missed. He then grabbed the other man and punched him in the gut, then the kidney. Brucker never got a shot in on him. Taylor kept punching, first the gut then the kidneys, over and over. At one point he drove the other man's face down into his knee.

Matty returned to their table and started to finish his beer, not really wanting to watch. Beating up someone just for the sake of it went against a lot of his personality. He felt somewhat pacified just because the man known as Gordie Brucker had slapped the poor little blonde waitress. It was still painful to watch Taylor pound him into a bloody pulp.

After Brucker took the hit to his face off Taylor's knee he was laid out on the ground and he didn't get back up. His breathing was laboured and he was lying in a pool of his own blood. Taylor hauled him up and punched him in the face a few more times for good measure. That done he turned away and wiped the blood off his knuckles onto the seat of his pants. He put his coat back on. Matty walked up to the prone Gordie. He swatted the man's hand away when Gordie put it up to ward him off. It was now clear to the small town tough he was in over his head.

"Listen to me, before we walked in here this was your town right? Well, this is how you get it back. Something of ours went missing, and whoever took it has to be making it obvious. I want you to find out who. When you do you come meet me at the motel." Matty wiped some of Gordie's blood off his hand back onto Gordie's own shirt.

The four of them left the bar, Matty and Taylor together up front with Chris and Marbles coming along behind them. "Do you really think whoever's got the money would be stupid enough to just deek around with it?" Marbles asked his cousin again. Chris only shrugged.

xox

In the town's only convenience store two 'skate board punks' were calling back and forth as they grabbed stuff off the shelves. They walked up to the cashier and set the mountain of snack goods they'd picked out onto the counter.

"That be everything for you boys?" The man behind the counter asked.

"No, where do you keep your Cocopuffs?" One of the obviously stoned teens asked.

The cashier, use to such antics from the teens in a town without much better to do pointed to the cereal. He knew from experience it would be easier to simply help them check out then to make a big deal about the mess they'd made in the store. There was slush all over the machine and floor, the beef jerky display was destroyed, and they'd knocked over a great deal of the snack cake display. He rang them up and watched them leave before going to straighten up the mess they'd left.

xox

Matty drove the Jeep out to an abandoned service station. Since the bus still stopped there on the way to the expressway there was still a payphone on the corner. He knew his father would have missed him from home by now and he had better check in. He dialled home, his heart feeling like it was attempting to escape from his chest.

He listened to the phone ring a few times before his uncle, not his father, answered. "Yeah?"

"Hey, Teddy, it's me."

"It's you." Teddy answered before half covering the receiver of the phone. "It's Matty." Matty heard Teddy say into the room.

They must be in the office together, he mused.

"Where the fuck have you been kid?" Teddy carried on.

"I'm with Marbles, trying to take care of this thing." Matty answered, trying to figure out how much to say. "But I figure it's pretty much under control now."

"Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining. You tell me what's really goin' on." Benny broke into the conversation.

"Hey pop." Matty was literally terrified of what his father was going to do but he kept the feeling inside. "Listen I've have afew complications, that's all."

"Like what?"

"Where are you exactly?" Teddy asked.

"I"ll be home tomorrow." Matty hedged.

"You'll be home? I told you not to fucken go anywhere!" Benny yelled. "You got the bag with you at least, right?"

"Yeah, I'm going to get it right now." Matty tried to cover up the fact he didn't really have the bag.

"You don't have the fucken bag?" Benny roared. Matty could almost see his father turning red and feel his blood pressure climbing higher. The phone got muffled as Benny put it to his chest. "He begged me! He begged me for this shot."

"Pop, it's under control!" Matty called, but his father couldn't hear him with the phone down around his stomach. Teddy heard but chose not to say anything.

"And you, you convinced me to give it to him!" It was clear Benny was talking to Teddy.

"Pop! Would you listen to me?" Matty called, trying to defuse the situation.

"I shoulda known fucken better!" Benny said into the phone before slamming it down.

"Fuck!" Matty roared into the payphone.

"Matty," Teddy started back into the conversation. "That bag is not full of nickels, it has about half a million dollars in it. Now your father owes the guys above and Georgie fucken Yarkas. If we don't get that bag back in the next forty eight hours it's the three R's for us. The roof, the river or the revolver. Get that fucken bag."

"Yeah Teddy I know, I've been trying to handle…" The phone being hung up on the other end cut Matty's explanation off. "Fuck!" Matty slammed the phone down. "Fuck!" He roared.

xox

The sheriff walked up to the Shamrock as the manager was sweeping a pile of debris out of the place. It was a lot of glass, broken bottles, but it looked like more. He reached down and stopped the broom's path. He touched the pile of trash and his fingers came away bloody.

"Looks like more than the usual Thursday night Macarena, huh Haslo?"

"Yeah." The bartender sighed.

The sheriff looked around. He'd bet dollars to donuts his new, out of town guests were responsible.

xox

Gordie went into the convenience store. He took a piece of beef jerky and looked at the cashier. "Hey Glut, anyone been in here spending unusual amounts of cash?"

"Yeah, these two little skateboard punks. They wrecked the beef jerky display."

Gordie left and headed out to the area where the skateboard kids were known to go hang out. He pulled up and found his nefew and the kid's friend hanging out, drinking beers and smoking drugs. There was a new sound system in the back of Decker's truck.

"Hey Gordie." Decker said as he watched his uncle walk up. He noted his gate was very stiff.

"Fancy new system you got there." Gordie said.

"Yep." Decker answered, a smirk on his face.

"'Fraid I got some bad news for you boys."

"Kinda like that scarge on your face?"

"Shut up Tease." Gordie shoved him back into the truck. "I ain't in the mood."

"Ok." Tease gave up quickly, having no desire to mess with Gordie. Gordie left and headed to the motel.

xox

After leaving the bar Matty and Taylor went back to their motel room where Taylor put his throbbing hand on ice and Matty switched on TV while they waited for their information to come through. A hunting show came on.

"Look at these fuckers! Covered in camouflage, sitting out in the woods all day, stakin out a turkey!" Taylor looked at Matty with a stupid grin on his face. "What'd ya need to do that for? Go to Gristeedy's, get a butterball!" He shouted at the TV.

Matty laughed until a gunshot on TV wiped the smile off his face. He watched the turkey jump then fall down dead to the ground. "You know, we were gonna go once. November 14th, 1986." Matty said after a moment of thought.

"Get outta here."

"Yeah, just me and my pop, goin' upstate for deer. I remember I was gonna get woken up at four in the morning." Matty's voice was soft as he recalled his plans. "The knock came alright. Whole fuckin' door flew off its hinges. OC taskforce, feds, NYPD. They weren't takin' any chances with Benny 'Chains' that night.

"You know, sometimes I used to wonder what it woulda been like if we'd left the night before. If we'd just had those few days together, before he went in." Matty looked over at his friend.

"So this coulda been you huh?" Taylor asked, gesturing to the TV where a blond man was wearing full camo gear including a face net he'd just removed from his head was praising his kill.

"Yeah." Matty chuckled. "The gear, the face net, the whole deal. Woulda been a different life for me though, what can I tell ya." Matty looked away and Taylor sighed.

There was a knock at the door. Matty got up to go answer it as Taylor sat up to attention on his bed. Matty pulled the door open to find Gordie on the doorstep.

"I found out what you told me too." Gordie rasped sullenly. He told them who had their money and where it could be found.

As soon as they knew where their money was they hit the highway. The weren't letting it out of their sight again. Their plan was to stake out the house they'd been told the money was in out until they saw signs of the bag. It was still dark when they rolled up. Dawn slowly started creeping over the horizon as they sat, watching.

xox

They put Tabitha forcefully to bed around ten pm. Storm and her mother stayed up a while later watching TV and talking. By the time twelve rolled around Storm couldn't keep her eyes open.

"I'm gonna turn in," she told her mother. "I'm about done in."

"Ok, I won't be long behind you. Good night."

"Yeah, night." Storm said as she stood up and smiled at her mother before leaving the room and going up to her bed. She lay down on her back in the spare bedroom of her mother's house. Her mother's house. Who ever would have thought she'd be bunking down in her mother's house?

When one am rolled around and Storm was still awake due to an unsettled feeling in her gut she couldn't shake she knew there was only one thing she could do. She got out her cell phone and dialled her brother's number. He didn't answer. That got her worried. He always answered when it was her number calling. Why wasn't he answering? She told herself that perhaps he got a girlfriend, finally, and was too busy to answer and rolled over to try and get some sleep.

xox

The sun wasn't totally up, dawn still had the Montana space in it's murky grip. Everyone in the Jeep was fighting to stay awake after sitting through the night with nothing to entertain them at all. They were a piece away from the house in question. There as a vehicle out front so they were reasonably sure someone was home. Matty looked around before shaking his head.

"Can you believe this? A couple kids." Matty said in disgust. "Back home you find a bag of dog shit you go looking for who it belongs to."

As they were watching the kids in question left the house and headed for their truck.

"Ok, go time." Taylor said as he moved to get out of the Jeep. Matty and the others made similar motions to get out and go confront the kids.

Before they could reach the kids or the kids could get to their vehicle the local sheriff pulled up in his squad car and walked up to them.

Matty and Taylor both pulled back into their car, hiding down. Cautiously Matty peeked up. "What the fuck is that?"

Matty and his friends watched as the sheriff and the kids argued on the sidewalk for a moment. One of the kids was holding their bag. The sheriff took it and opened it up, revealing the contents. He marshalled the kid who'd had the bag back into the house, obviously angry.

"Fuck!" Matty slapped the steering wheel. "Fuck!"

xox

A childish voice raised in panic woke Storm the next day. She rolled over in bed and stared at the clock sleepily. Seven am? Who in their right mind got up at seven am? She rolled over to go back to sleep, but the voice, who she remembered had to be Tabitha as she lay in her bed in a state of semi consciousness, didn't let up.

"Mom, get up!"

"Tabitha, we were going to sleep in today, remember?" Cara called back from somewhere outside Storm's door. "You're not going to school today."

"I forgot I have a test and a meeting for us to practise before try outs. I can't miss today. I have to go."

"Ok, I'll be right down."

With a yawn Storm got out of bed and crossed the hall to the bathroom. She went back into her room and pulled on some track pants and a tee shirt out of her bag before heading down the stairs.

She found her mother and sister in the kitchen. Tabitha was eating cereal and Cara was starting a pot of coffee.

"Sorry we woke you." Cara said with a rueful smile.

"It's ok." Storm said on a huge yawn.

"Not a morning person are you?"

"Not at all. I do a lot of my work at night." Oops, said too much, Storm thought as she watched her mother's forehead wrinkle in thought. Dad does a lot of work at night. Great, that's just what I need her thinking. "I was a bar tender for the last while to make some money for my car." She quickly improvised.

Cara looked like she was far too shrewd to believe the tale but she let it go.

Storm grabbed a bowl out of the open cupboard and sat at the table, helping herself to Tabitha's Lucky Charms.

"You like Lucky Charms?" Tabitha asked like she didn't belive it.

"Love 'em. Anything that mixes sugar with marshmallows is ok in my book." Storm started crunching her way through her breakfast.

"Cool."

"Just when I had her half convinced that someone who wanted to do something as athletic as be a cheerleader had to eat healthy." Cara shook her head, but never lost her smile.

"I wouldn't know. I never went out for sports in school. I mean I have my Karate and boxing but I did those out side of school."

"You know Karate?" Tabitha asked.

"Yeah, you have to before they give you a black belt." Storm ruffled her sister's hair.

"Can you beat up a guy bigger than you?"

"Oh yeah. I can beat up Taylor and you should see how big he is." Storm held her arms out to exaggerate the breadth of Taylor's shoulders.

"Really?"

"Really. But fighting is wrong. You should only ever do it if there's absolutely no other option. Running away is better than fighting."

"But if you had to fight somebody you'd win?"

"I'd try my best and that's all I can do. And that's only if I couldn't get out if the situation any other way."

"Then why'd you learn Karate and boxing just to not use it?"

"So that if one of those situations where I had to use it ever came up I'd know how to protect myself." Storm thought of the firearm hidden in the trunk of her car. There were many ways she'd had to learn to protect herself, but she wouldn't be sharing that way with her kid sister. At least Karate taught morals and self control and discipline as well as self defence.

"Does Benny know you box?" Cara asked as the coffee finally finished brewing and she sat down at the table, a couple pieces of whole wheat toast in her other hand.

"He helped me set up my heavy bag in the gym room." Storm looked up at her mother. "That's not to say he likes it exactly. But he says that in this world a girl can never have too many ways to protect herself. Of course, his favourite way would be for me to never leave his sight."

"What does he think of this Taylor boy?"

"He likes him enough I guess. There's the little problem of Taylor's mother not being Italian but he seems to be taking that in stride."

"Why would that matter?" Tabitha asked with the innocence of someone raised in a household without racism.

"Because my father is Italian and from a different time when people only dated and married inside their own heritage. It's his problem but trying to change him doesn't get too far."

"Oh. So like he wouldn't like you dating a black guy or a Spanish guy either?"

"Nope." Storm shuddered to think what her father would say if she ever brought an African American guy home. He'd hit the roof. It made her think of the episode of Sopranos when Meadow Soprano had brought a mixed heritage guy home to her father's house. Tony's reaction to the boy had been tame compared to what Benny would do and Storm knew it.

"I don't understand why. Everyone's just the same inside."

"I know that kiddo but he doesn't. Sometimes what's on the outside means more to him than the inside does. When he grew up New York was like that. When he was a kid the Italian folks lived in one part of Brooklyn and the black people lived in another. That's what his parents thought was right and so that's how he grew up. When I went to school it was different so I didn't grow up thinking like that."

Tabitha shrugged and turned back to her breakfast. She looked up again as second later. "Since you're up can you drive me to school?"

"Tab, your sister has no idea where things are here yet. Let's let her get use to being here first."

"No, it's fine. If you can drive in New York City you can drive anywhere. Besides, I have to find a garage for the car to go to."

"If you're sure you don't mind?"

"Positive. I'll go clean it out while Tabitha gets dressed."

"Thanks!" Tabitha took off up the stairs to get ready for school. Storm headed out to her car and started gathering up all the trash and putting it in the garbage can she found beside the house. By the time her sister came out the car was mostly restored to its pristine condition.

"Ready?"

"Yeah! Thanks for driving me."

"No sweat."

"Can we turn up the stereo?"

"This early in the morning?"

"It's so cool."

Storm reached over and changed the setting from tuner to CD. She turned up the volume a bit higher, high enough for the sub woofers to start pounding a bit.

"This car is so awesome. I wish I had one."

"It won't be long until you're old enough. You'll see."

"Will you find me a car like yours when I get my licence?"

"There just aren't cars like this one to find you, but we'll hook you up with something."

"You race this don't you?"

Storm looked over at her sister, the shock of being caught written all over her face. "How'd you know?"

"Some of my friend's older brother's race too. They have this friend named Tej who gets them to race each other."

"Cool. I might just have to meet this Tej guy."

"If you go racing you so have to take me with you. Ok?"

"That might be a hard one to get mom to ok Tabitha."

"She wouldn't have to know."

Storm laughed in spite of herself. "I'll think on it after I find out what it's like around here, a'ight?"

"I guess."

They pulled up to the school and Tabitha hopped out, a small gaggle of other kids coming over to see her. A blonde child about Tabitha's height hugged her right off.

"Hey Tab!"

"Hey Stacey. I want you to meet my sister."

"Sister?"

"Uh huh." Tabitha answered with a smirk, letting Stacey lean into the car.

"Hey!" Stacey said as she looked in. "Sweet car!"

"Thanks."

"Oh man!" Tabitha called.

"What?" Storm and Stacey asked at the same time.

"I forgot my sneakers. I need them for practise. Could you bring them to me at lunch time?" Tabitha asked as her friend Stacey stood beside her and batted a pair of the biggest, bluest eyes Storm had ever seen.

"I guess so. When's lunch time?"

"Eleven thirty."

"I'll see you then." Storm said and Tabitha closed the door. When the kids were on their way toward the school she pulled away from the curb and headed off down the street. She pulled into the first gas station she found and filled up. She asked for directions to Tej's while she was there.

She got her directions and headed toward the ocean she could see in the distance. By nine am she was pulling up to a modern garage, all it's doors open to try and grab a bit of the breeze before the day got too hot. She parked the car and locked it before starting into the shady interior of the garage. All the equipment was new, the floors impeccably clean, and the layout perfect to allow for efficient work.

Tej looked up as a fairly tall woman with long golden blond hair in ringlet curls down her back walked into his garage. She was wearing black track pants, low on her hips and revealing her pierced navel. She had on a pair of red Oakley sunglasses tinted too deeply to see her eyes but her fitted athletic baby tee showed off a figure she definitely worked out for and a skin tone too perfectly even to have been developed solely by tanning. "Hey Mami, can I have you?" Tej coughed, "help you." He corrected.

Storm laughed. "The answer to both might be maybe." She pushed her shades up into her hair. "I need an oil change."

"I know you sure as hell don't need any front end work." Tej said as he walked closer.

"Oh I don't know. You can always go lower until you hit the blacktop. Besides, a front end can't never be tight enough."

"True dat. So mami, where you from? Never seen you 'round here before and that accent didn't come from Miami."

"I'm from Brooklyn. Storm." She held out her hand.

"As in my name is?"

"Yeah. You would be?"

"Tej. Tej Parker."

"Storm Demaret, lately of New York City New York. I need to get an oil change. My car was due a few hundred ago."

"What you drive?" Tej asked. He really didn't do oil changes on any but the most highly tuned cars of his most valued customers but for this girl he'd likely make an exception.

"Before we go there I need to know if you have Royal Purple oil, formula 11."

"Yeah. Now you really need to tell me what you drive that you're running that oil in. Mazda of some sort?"

"Nope, Nissan. Let's go have a look." Storm started back out the way she came, Tej following her.

"No shit." Tej walked around the car in shock. "Where the fuck did you get this?"

"I could tell ya, but I'd haveta kill ya." Storm chuckled. "You think you got the right tools to work on it?" An eyebrow rose to accent the question, throwing a double entrendre into it.

"I think I can hook you up. Who does your work back home?"

"CJ Keller."

"No shit. Really?"

"Yeah, take it you heard of him."

"Who hasn't? He was coming up in NHRA's northeast division when he crossed the barriers and almost burned to death. He wasn't ever really heard of again."

"He decided the actual track part of racing wasn't for him anymore. He opened up a custom rod and street shop in NYC and started tuning cars, but only for the best. He has a store front and sells parts to the general public but he doesn't build too many custom cars. When he saw mine he couldn't say no, even though I didn't have much street cred at the time." At least not in the racing world.

"I don't think I could say no either." Tej answered as he finished his circuit of her ride. "Well, I have the oil in stock but the filter might be a problem."

"Stock filter off a '90 s13'll work. It's the same threads and gasket."

"Sweet, that I can do. Pull it in."

When her car was ready Storm headed back to her mother's, a piece of paper with the address of racing tucked into her back pocket. She banged into her mother's house. "Mom?" It still felt strange to say that out loud.

"Yes?" Cara asked as she walked out of her office.

"I have to bring Tabitha her cheering sneakers. She forgot them."

"No kidding." Cara laughed softly. "She needs them at lunch time?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Just so you know, McDonald's is five minutes away from the school. Stacey likes her burger with only ketchup and Tabitha likes everything but pickles. Stacey likes Coke and Tabitha likes orange. Don't be alarmed that Stacey eats all the way around the outside of things before she'll eat the middle. Do you have money?"

"You think she's going to try and con me into taking them out to lunch?" Storm chuckled at the thought.

"I'd bet on it." Cara grinned. "They don't practise until twelve. When did she tell you to be there?"

"Eleven thirty."

"You better get going then. Sure hope there's something you like at McDonald's."

Storm left the house shaking her head. She was back at her mother's house two happy meals, one big mac, and half an hour of watching cheerleading practise later.

xox

The guys went back to the motel after they watched the kids and sheriff leave with the money.

"Now it's one thing to run around here trying to track the bag, but cops? That makes it a different story for me. If they start asking questions like where the cash came from how are we gonna answer that?"

"He's right." Marbles added his agreement to his cousin's statement.

"Well I gotta do something. Cause of helpin you, I mighta killed my old man."

"How do you figure that? Alright, I lost the bag but I ain't gettin arrested over it. What good is that gonna do?"

"Arrested. Can you believe this guy?" Matty looked over at Taylor in disbelief. "That'd be the good news. That bag was like life support for my father. He needed it yesterday."

The four piled into their Jeep and drove to the sheriff station. They walked in and walked up to the counter. The sheriff walked over. "What can I do you for?"

"I'd say about a half million sheriff."

"That so?"

Matty nodded, the look on his face serious but confident. "Me and my friends wanna get out of your town but before we go there's something we just can't leave without."

"This ain't the lost and found. People round here are real careful with their property."

"Yeah, cause you wouldn't wanna misplace your cow or nothin'." Marbles mumbled.

"You got a real set of oysters on you son, walking in here like you belong." The sheriff shook his head. "Be that as it may, you say you lost some money, high dollar amount. As a public servant I'd like to help you get it back. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Listen sheriff, why don't you and I have a little talk in private?"

The sheriff gave a little nod and Matty followed him into his office.

A few minutes later when Matty wasn't getting anywhere he looked at the sheriff. "Look I know you have the money. I saw you take it off the kids. So what you and I have to do is come to some sort of understanding."

"Understand this!" The sheriff grabbed Matty and started to beat him up. Taylor started toward the office. The sheriff wasn't walking out of the building alive. Not after putting his hands on Matty.

Next thing he knew he had a shotgun in his face, the deputy looking scared behind it. It was clear if pushed, the deputy would pull the trigger. All Taylor and the rest could do was watch as Matty took a beating. By the end of the fight the sheriff had his side arm aimed at Matty's head and the deputy was begging him not to pull the trigger.

The sheriff hollered for them to get Matty out of his sight so they loaded him into the Jeep, marbles slid behind the wheel, Chris and Taylor took the back.

"Forget this shit Marbles, straight to the airport."

"Abso-fuckin-lutely," Marbles replied. "We have to just chock this one up to the lost collum and forget it."

"Forget it?" Taylor asked, his voice low with his anger. "Look at him!" he roared.

"What're you gonna do?" Chris asked. "You gonna kill up a bunch of cops?"

"Pull over." Matty moaned. "Marbles, pull over!" He called as his friend didn't listen.

"Matty, what if they call the feds?" Marbles asked, scared.

"If they were gonna call the feds they would have already. Taylor's PO woulda been called. The motel would be swarming with law. They would have taken us into custody the minute we walked in that station. They don't want us in the system because they don't want anyone else to know about the money."

"What're you talkin about?"

"They're keepin' the money." Taylor growled like he was talking to a small child. The look on his face clearly showed his growing frustration for Marbles.

"Look, you two can leave if you want to but I ain't goin anywhere." Matty said as he held his bruised side and kept talking himself through taking shallow breathes.

xox

The sheriff and his deputy were in there office later. The sheriff had his feet up on his desk. Donnie, the deputy was waiting by the fax machine. It spit out another piece of paper which, after scanning, he carried over to Stan.

Stan looked over the papers again. "Scarpa, god damn. I've heard that name."

"Yeah, that's because Bill Curtis was talkin about him on the History of Organized Crime on A&E."

"You get A&E on that satellite?"

"Yeah. You think that's his kid?"

"I surely do. And you know what? That Demaret kid wasn't just jaw waggin. His daddy, Benny Demaret seems like he's just under the top guys."

"Shit Stan, an under boss? We're not rousting juvies here. This is serious. They're not just gonna let this go, that kinda money. They're gonna call their fathers and their uncles and they're gonna come here lookin for the money. The whole place is gonna be crawlin with them."

"You've been watching too damn much of that satellite Donny. Nobody's coming in this marine's town and doin a damn thing. Just think about it. They can't just call and say they lost the money. They woulda done that already. Either that or they end up in a barrel of acid or whatever else they do with their bodies these days." Stan chuckled.

"Look, I see what you're sayin, I just don't figure on them leaving empty handed."

"That's the thing Don, we can't let them leave." With a grin, Stan fed the faxed pages into the paper shredder.

xox

Somehow, the guys all ended up at an ice cream parlour. "I'll tell you one thing, next time I see those fucks I'm gonna be packin." Taylor said as he stood beside Matty. The next person who laid a hand on his friend would eat lead.

"I keep a piece in my plane." Marbles licked some ice cream off his lip.

They drove to the air strip to find Marbles' plane on fire. Marbles watched it burn, his fingers hooked through the chain link fence. Everything he'd worked for, gone up in flames.

"I'm sorry Johnny." Chris said as he walked up behind his cousin.

Matty and Taylor watched from farther back, unsure what to say or do for a man who for all purposes was still their friend, no matter how stupid he could tend to be.

Half an hour later after an encounter with a strange man whose hat proclaimed him an 'Elk-a-holic' Matty and his friends were armed. They headed out to an out of the way shooting range to practice before any farther encounters with unfriendly people, law or otherwise.

After running through a few clips Matty went to sit down and Taylor joined him. After lighting up a cigarette Taylor looked around. "I gotta say this one time."

"What's that?" Matty asked.

"You and Scarpa take the car and drive. Leave me here Marbles, it's his fault anyway."

"You serious? No, there's no way. It's not even a choice."

Taylor took a deep breath. "Matty, I'm not just talking about this little field trip. I'm talking about all of it. You had it right in the first place. Lookin for a regular job, being a citizen."

"I tried it man. It's the only thing left now."

"You don't want a piece of this. Matty, for 99 guys out of a hundred this is loose loose. It's not like it was thirty years ago. It's not like those stories your uncle use to tell us when we were kids. Now it's either a bullet in your head or jail for life." Matty played with is gun and got it jammed. "Just snap it back in there." Taylor told him.

"So you know all this but I don't see you tryin to get out."

"You, we're talking about you here."

Marbles and Chris started firing off rounds like Yosemite Sam. With a shake of his head Taylor turned his attention back to Matty.

"I'm sorry I got you into this Taylor."

"Just more of the same for me. Just more of the same." Taylor answered. Some Demaret sibling was always getting him in hot water. Some facet of his life was always doing the same. He was getting use to it.

xox

Storm and her family had pizza for supper and then went to see a movie. After the movie was over they came home and watched a little TV. Tabitha went reluctantly to bed around ten and her mother followed her a few hours later. By one am Storm was dressed up in some of her 'clubbing' clothes and on her way down to the address Tej had given her. She was ready to make a little money.

Things were certainly looking up for her. Sure she was still madder than hell at her dad but her mom was cool and it was actually not too bad to have a little sister. After she saw what it was like to race in Miami she might even sneak Tabitha out of the house and take her. At least for a little while. Next time that was. Tonight was all about her.

She was momentarily upset that CJ, Devon and even Taylor weren't around to be her cheering section but she knew she'd do ok on her own. She knew she wasn't the best racer but she had the element of surprise on her side. No one knew her car or her.

By the end of her night she headed home with an extra two grand in her car, hidden in a secret compartment under the back seat. She hoped her brother, wherever he was that he wasn't answering her calls, was having as much fun as she was.

xox

They finished up at the range and by the time they were approaching the motel it was dark outside, coming up on nine pm. As they parked they realized they were parking beside a black Cadillac. Matty saw his uncle Teddy. No help for it, they'd already been seen. They'd have to get out and talk to Teddy and his crew.

"You guys are on a real busmen's holiday aren't you?" Teddy asked in deceptively calm tone as Matty and his friends got out of their Jeep and walked over to the car.

"And look at you. Roll into town with more guys than Sinatra right?" Matty asked, fighting to look like he was glad to see his uncle.

"Ok." Teddy said.

Marbles tried to apologize. Teddy slapped him to the ground. "Marbles that voice cuts right through me. If it wasn't for Matty I'd look to kill you where you stand. As it is I could kick you through the uprights like a fuckin field goal." He turned to Matty. "Where do we stand?"

"We had a snag. Cops are involved."

"Dirty fuckin cops." Chris interjected.

Teddy never took his eyes off Matty. "Yeah, he said cops. They give you that make over?" Matty nodded. "They do nice work." Teddy said over his shoulder to his goons.

"Listen, you wanna talk inside?" Matty said, trying to make peace.

"No, we're not gonna talk here. We'll go over state lines into North Dakota. If anyone's looking for us we don't want them to find us yet."

They went to a small drive in and started to talk. One of Teddy's men imparted that Sheriff Decker came from the military and had been in office eighteen years. He controlled the town.

"Good, man use to running things is going to think he can run this." Teddy said. "Marbles, pay the check." Teddy gave the bill for their food to Marbles as everyone else went outside. "Matty, you ride with me."

Matty tossed the keys to Chris as they walked outside. He stopped beside his Uncle and looked at the movie on the screen. "I gotta ask you something. You know, none of my guys would even be here if they weren't trying to help me. If we get that money back nothing happens to Marbles."

"You know there use to be a way to do things and things got done. No room for whining, no room for mistakes. But now everybody's feelings are involved. Guy steps wrong now he's going to end up on the witness stand or the fuckin Barbara Walters. But because it's you askin' Matty, I'll give you a one time only. Nothing will happen to your friend."

They headed back to Montana to wait for the Sheriffs next move. They didn't have to wait long. The phone rang in Matty's room.

By the time Matty hung up they had a meeting with the sheriff at an old meat packing plant at midnight. They started making plans for what would happen once they got there, deciding that Matty and Taylor would go alone, leaving Teddy and his crew to find places earlier so they'd be out of sight for back up against the sheriff should he prove to be up to something other than simply giving the money back like he said he was.

Marbles and Chris were no where to be found.

xox

Marbles and Chris had gone to a bar just outside of town. Marbles was nursing a beer, Chris was swilling down scotch on the rocks like it was going to run out in the next few hours.

"You might wanna notch it back there nosh, we got work tonight."

"I don't know. I'm not feeling ready."

"You're not talkin' 'bout leaving are you?"

"Oh yeah." It was clear that was just what Chris was talking about. "I think you should come with me cuz."

"No, no way. Matty needs us."

"Matty's got all the backup he needs. Bus rolls by on the interstate and goes to Billings at eleven fifteen. I booked us a room at the Sheridan. Back in New York by tomorrow morning, my father works things out with Benny 'Chains', six months from now nobody's gonna remember a thing."

"No. Not a chance, no fuckin way."

"Look, you're my first cousin and I have a responsibility to you."

"This whole thing is my fault. It's my doing and I'm stickin'. If you gotta go, you go." Marbles took another pull of his beer. For once, he was doing the right thing. He watched as Chris paid his tab and headed out for the bus stop, tossing his cousin one last searching look over his shoulder.

Johnny started hustling some locals at pool. Before he knew it they were down a bit to him and didn't have the money. His smart mouth was just about to get him in trouble again when Teddy's goons walked in. They got the locals to leave them alone and left the bar.

"Where's Scarpa?" Billy 'Clueless' asked conversationally as he butted out his cigarette.

"Oh he stepped out. Why?"

One second they were on the same team the next Teddy's men were beating him down.

"Where's your fuckin' cousin?"

"Wait! Matty said nothing would happen to me. Talk to Teddy." They dragged Marbles around to the back of the motel.

"Who do you think sent us?" One of them hit Marbles in the head with the butt of their gun, knocking him down to the ground.

"Come on, where's your cousin?"

"I don't know."

"It's no time for bean shootin'." 'Clueless' aimed his gun at Marbles head.

"Maybe he went back to the motel?"

"We were at the motel Marbles."

"Well then, I don't know where the fuck he is." Marbles knew he was staring his death in the face. He decided, with his last few minutes of life, not to be a screw up. He could do one thing right in his last moments on the earth and that was protect his cousin as Chris had protected him so many times.

He was going to die. It no longer mattered that Chris had taken the easy way out. It no longer mattered that he'd lost the money. He had no doubts that Teddy would get it back. He also had no doubt that Matty was too much the favoured son to have anything bad happen to him over the whole thing. He'd be forced out of the business again, but Marbles was now seeing that wasn't such a bad thing.

He wished he would get to say good bye to Matty, say sorry one last time. He wished he'd get to apologize to Taylor for dragging him into so many scraps. He wished they'd gotten that chance to all get together and have a good time one last time. Just one last time before they had to stop being kids. The last party Storm had promised him before they'd gone to Chris' pub. Now they'd never get the chance again.

But most of all he wished that he wasn't going right from being barely more than a child right into his grave. With a deep breath he looked up into the dark barrel of the gun aimed at his head, refusing to give up any farther info.

'Clueless stepped back like he had just been bluffing all along. The momentary reprieve was a tease. "Guess it's just you then." The other goon stepped up a second later and cocked his gun, taking aim and firing off four shots. They loaded Marbles into the trunk of the Cadillac. As his last breath left his broken body, his last wish was that someone would tell his mother he never meant to hurt her.

xox

"Believe this? It's almost time. I'm telling you Marbles and Scarpa are bailing on us." Matty and Taylor were sitting on a bill board, just waiting for the right time to go join Teddy at the meat packers.

"That's about the only thing you can count on in this life. There's nobody wouldn't hurt you if it helped them." Taylor hated to disillusion his friend, but it was the truth as he saw it.

"Well, I know that now." Matty said, sounding sick. "You ready?" At Taylor's nod he stood up. "Let's go."

They let the sheriff think that he was arriving at the meeting first. In reality they'd set it up so that Teddy and his men were already hidden around the meeting room. The sheriff didn't even know Teddy and his crew were in town.

The sheriff and his deputy headed into the room and got ready, waiting on Matty and his crew to show up. Sheriff Decker checked out the room, his cocked shot gun resting on her shoulder. He didn't see anything out of the ordinary. "Won't be long now Donny."

Teddy and his crew looked on from behind some machinery.

Matty and Taylor started down the same path as the sheriff had taken a few minutes earlier. Matty cocked his gun.

"We just walk right into it." Matty said as they walked. He was starting to feel his nerves. "Keep this guy talkin' right?"

For the first time in the whole situation Taylor wished he had Storm with him and not Matty. He could use an experienced marksman at his side. Someone who he knew could handle the pressure and noise. Could take aim on a human heart and fire hot lead into it without thinking about it, without guilt, without emotion. He knew that at least until all was said and done Storm would run on autopilot and do what needed to be done. He was going to have to be on his guard of Matty the whole time and that was a lot to think about. Matty had no idea how to handle the situation.

"Yeah. Ok, turn off the part of your brain that thinks. Just react. It's gonna be a lot louder then you fuckin think or you might not hear a thing."

They pushed into the main room of the packing plant and immediately found themselves with shotguns trained on them. The sheriff told them where to stand, noting there were only two of them. "So where are the other two clowns?"

"Where the fuck is my money?" Matty asked with the beginning of a sneer on his face.

"No, we wanna see the other two."

Matty just shrugged in answer to the sheriff's demand. Taylor stood like a brick, silent and solid. He was happy with the way Matty was handling himself.

"Come to think of it we can find them later." Sheriff Decker said as he pumped up his shotgun.

"Slow down farmer brown." Teddy said as he walked up behind the sheriff. The deputy spun around. "Jim, don't point a fuckin gun at me." Teddy addressed the deputy with a growl.

"I fuckin knew it." The deputy muttered. He'd never wanted any of this. He'd wanted to give the money to the proper authorities from the beginning.

"Shut up." Teddy growled.

Matty and Taylor pulled out their weapons. Matty had a single weapon, Taylor had one for each hand.

"I know you thought this was a manageable situation," Teddy continued, talking now to Sheriff Decker. "But some situations are unmanageable. Now, is a dumb shit like you at least smart enough to bring the money?"

Decker tossed the bags up on a table. There was a tense moment while they all stared at each other, no one exactly sure what to do next. A set of door on the other wall flew open and Gordie Brucker came through it, a shotgun in his hands. He quickly trained it on Taylor. "Hey asshole!" Gordie said in a sing song voice as he came fully into the room. Teddy's men quietly backed out of sight. "Put 'em down! Put the guns down." Gordie yelled as he pressed the barrel of his shotgun into the flesh under Taylor's chin. He knew from the beating he'd already received Taylor was the one to watch out for.

Matty and Taylor had no choice but listen. They set their guns onto the floor.

"What the fuck is he doin' here?" Donny asked Stan.

"It's like this Don, there's a lotta money in them bags." Gordie drawled.

A blast of a shotgun later Gordie was laying dead on the floor. "Holy shit!" Chris Scarpa said from the same door as Gordie had used, a smoking shotgun in his hands.

"Chris!" Matty said, looking at his friend.

"Holy shit." Chris fought to keep a satisfied smile off his face. He couldn't believe he'd just shot a man, but doing it to save his friends it didn't seems to bad.

"I thought you left us."

"Naw, I had to come back." Chris looked around the room. "Where's Marbles?"

"I thought he was with you." Matty couldn't keep the beginnings of panic out of his voice.

"No, he said he wouldn't leave."

As Scarpa moved toward giving away Teddy's hand and filling Matty in on the whole thing Teddy gave a nod toward one of his goons. The man cocked his gun and took aim at Chris. He fired off two rounds. Both of them found their mark. Chris slid down the wall into a seated position. He was dead before he reached the round.

"NO!" Matty roared as he watched his cousin die. It was like his voice unleashed everyone.

Sheriff Decker shot and killed both of Teddy's men. By the time he and his deputy had turned around to Taylor and Matty Taylor was ready for them. He started firing with both guns, killing the Sheriff and severely wounding the deputy. Taylor was glad Matty hadn't needed to even fire his weapon.

His black eyes taking in everything, still on his guard, he saw Teddy hiding behind one of the machines. He had a look in his eyes that Taylor really didn't like. He saw Teddy move to the other side of the equipment. Some instinct told him the man was up to no good. Just as his brain registered the fact he saw Teddy raise his gun and point it straight at Matty. Without a moment's hesitation he launched himself through the air at Matty.

He felt a bullet tear into the flesh of his arm. His only comfort as he lay on the floor in agony was that as far as he could tell he'd managed to save Matty.

Teddy looked around. He wanted to finish Taylor off for ruining his plan, then his nephew for cheating death and ruining the carefully contrived accidental death Teddy had tried to give him.

Matty stood up from the ground, where Taylor's tackle had left him. His eyes revealed his total disillusionment. His own uncle had tried to kill him. He watched as Teddy forced the anger for his failure off his face and moved toward the bags of money.

"Let's see what we got here."

"It was you! You came out here to do this."

"I know what I told you kid but no one fucks up like your friends did here and comes out clean. No."

"Bullshit." Matty spat out. "You came out here to take that money." Teddy looked around, trying to pretend he was hurt by Matty's words. "There were never any shortages. You're the one who's been stealing from my father you son of a bitch."

"Matty, it's not like that."

"Stop fuckin telling me how it is Teddy. My whole life you've been fuckin telling me how it is. My whole life you've been lying to me. You put me in that basement with Bobby Boulevard because you knew it would break me. You came here tonight to kill me. Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me I'm wrong about any of it."

"What the fuck do you want to know? I did what I did. Walking off that handball court dumping game after game to your fuckin old man. And I tell you I could beat him carrying a lawn chair in my left hand. So yeah, now I'm getting mine."

"No you're not Teddy."

"What are you gonna do Matty? You gonna shoot me? You're not gonna shoot me. I got shoes older than you kid, tougher too."

Teddy turned around. It was just like Taylor had said. Matty didn't think, he just reacted on instinct. He knew there was going to be a gun in his uncle's hand. He knew Teddy wouldn't let him walk out of the plant alive if he had a breath left in his body. As his uncle started to bring his gun up Matty found his already aimed. He squeezed off a whole clip before he knew it, each bullet tearing through his own flesh and blood, making Teddy jerk in the air.

As Teddy fell still to the ground Matty looked at him through the haze of gun smoke. It was finally over. So why didn't he feel better about it, more relieved? He knew that he'd only done what he'd had to do to save himself. Not to mention Taylor, who would have been next on Teddy's list of people who couldn't leave the plant alive. But that didn't make him feel any better about the fact he'd just killed his mother's brother.

As his gaze moved around the room he saw all the death. The last person he saw was Chris. How could this be considered a victory at all? He was the only one left.

He heard a groaning behind him and turned around. Like Taylor knew the threat was neutralized he was starting to move, making pained noises as he moved. "Taylor?" Matty asked as he moved to his friend's side, helping him to sit up. After Taylor was in a slightly more comfortable position Matty slid to the ground and sat close to him on the floor. He knew he was in shock. He didn't have any idea how he was going to go on with a normal life from where he found himself.

After a few minutes recuperation he helped Taylor up and put him in the Jeep, heading for the motel. As he drove he looked over at Taylor, tears running down his cheeks. He still couldn't believe what had happened. He was so glad Taylor would be ok. He knew they'd have to get the hell out of town before the carnage at the plant was found. He forced himself to put his cousin's body into the back of the Jeep. He'd leave his uncle and Teddy's crew plus the law enforcement officer's bodies to tell the story of what had happened. He didn't want the last memories people had of Chris to be those kind of thoughts.

Matty gathered all their stuff up quickly and loaded into the Jeep. Taylor needed attention and he was getting worried about his friend's unresponsiveness. Matty had one thing on his mind. Get someplace safe in the next town and call his sister. With Taylor out of commission she was the only one he could count on to know what to do.

He pulled into a motel in a small town almost an hour away and parked in a dark area. He went in and got a room. He had to force Taylor up and into the room. He gave his friend a clean towel to use to keep pressure on his wound before he took a deep breath and flipped open his phone. He turned in on for the first time in days.

"What you doin?" Taylor growled low in his chest. It hurt to move even enough to talk.

"What do you think? I'm callin my sister."

"Why?" Taylor moaned. "She shouldn't be involved."

"She's the only one who can help us right now Taylor. We got no plane, no plan and you're hurt. We need someone to fix you up and get us home."

"Storm's in Miami. How's she gonna get here?"

"What's she doin in Miami?" Matty asked in puzzlement. He'd known she was taking off for somewhere but he's pretty much figured it was Jersey or maybe Atlantic City, not Miami.

"Dunno." Taylor clamed up, lines of taunt pain around his mouth.

"I'm callin her anyway. She'll find a way to get here. She's never let me down before." Matty turned the phone on and saw how many voicemails he had. As he flipped through the list of missed calls he saw most of them were from his sister's cell phone. A few were from his father. "She's been tryin to call me. I hope she's ok." Matty told Taylor as he dialled.

xox

Storm heard her phone ringing on her nightstand. Rolling over onto her side she reached out blindly and grabbed it before flipping it open. "Hello?" Her voice was husky, her sleepy state evident.

"Sorry to wake you up Stormi but," Matty's voice broke. "Oh god, I need your help."

Storm sat up, flicking the blankets off herself even as she turned on the lamp and started looking for her jeans. "What happened?" She took a deep breath to calm herself. It was clear Matty was upset, but if he could use the phone he was ok. It was just that she'd had a sense of unease nagging at her ever since she'd started trying to call him and getting messages that all calls were forwarding to voicemail.

"I took a job for pop and I fucked it up. We're in North Dakota, in a small place called Beech. It's bad sis. Taylor got shot. It's worse than that but I won't go into it over the phone. Can you get here?"

"Of course. I'll get Johnny to fly me." Storm paused, a sixth sense kicking in. "Marbles was with you, wasn't he."

"Yeah." Matty didn't miss her use of the word was. "Is there anyone else who can get you here?"

"Yeah, I got a few other favours to call in. I'll be there in a few hours. What's the name of your motel?"

Matty named the place and hung up. Storm shut her phone and slid into her jeans before pulling a sweater over her head. She zipped up her boots and started down the stairs a quietly as she could. She guessed it wasn't quiet enough when, as she was looking for her car keys, her mother came down the stairs.

"What's wrong?" Cara asked, instinctively knowing something was up.

"Matty's in trouble. Taylor too. I have to go to them. I need to get to North Dakota, yesterday. I have to jet. I'll call in some favours on the way to the airport."

"You won't get a flight into North Dakota at this hour."

"Not commercial I won't. I'll charter a plane. A good friend of mine's a pilot. I know some people through him. One of them must have a contact to use in Miami."

"Is Matty ok?"

"He sounds ok physically. Something went really wrong. He was panicked and he said Taylor was hurt. I have to get there. I'll call you when I get more information. Tell Tabitha I'll be back. I don't know when but I'll be back. I promise."

Cara nodded. She already knew that promising wasn't something her daughter took lightly. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will."

The two women stood looking at each other for a moment before, as though they shared the thought they hugged tightly. Storm headed out into the night air, ran lightly over to her car and backed down the driveway, already using voice dialling to start making calls.

Thanking god for Vanya, she found herself onboard a privately chartered Cessna a just shy of an hour later. Due to the private nature of the flight all they needed was clearance to take off and land. There was no airport security, no filed flight plan. Storm checked her Glock for the tenth time since she'd gotten on board.

"Is fine Storm. You have checked gun every five minute since take off. Leave alone, da?"

Storm looked over at Yerik. "I don't know what I'm walking into here."

"My father say I stay with you 'til is ok. Will be fine."

"I hope so."

"I too have brother. I know what is like for them to hurt. Will be ok." He patted Storm's shoulder. He was Vanya's oldest boy. The one she'd be married to already if Vanya had his way. Storm had never figured out how Vanya thought his 32 year old son wasn't too old for her. He was acting like a much older person right now. Storm could only nod tiredly.

They arrived at the closest airport to Beech they could and got a car. The way Storm drove the rented machine it made short work of the miles between her and her beloved brother. She pulled up to the motel with a screech and ran up to the room Matty had told her was his.

Her almost frantic knock was quickly answered. The second Storm saw her brother she had his face in her hands as she looked him over. His lip was still slightly split, his eye still showing a trace of bruise. "Matty, who did this? Are you ok?" She started to check over the rest of him. He pulled her into his arms.

"I'm ok." He murmured into her hair.

Storm pulled back and took one last look at Matty to be sure he was ok before returning his hug hard for several minutes. Then she pulled away from him and moved farther into the room. The second she saw Taylor lying in the bed, totally still and very pale she ran to his side. "Taylor. Who did this?" Storm asked, murder in her eyes.

"They're taken care of already." Taylor said softly. Storm reached out a hand and ran it down his cheek. He felt warm.

"Did anyone do anything for your shoulder yet?"

"No." He grumbled. "I'll be fine."

"You won't be fine if we don't deal with it. You're starting to get a fever. No chance of talking you into a hospital visit?"

"Not a chance." Taylor growled. Storm turned to the tall, wide Russian man who was discreetly waiting in the door.

"Yerik, I need the first aid kit."

With a nod the Russian left the room and started down the stairs to the main level and the car.

"Who is that Storm?" Matty asked, nervous. He didn't want anyone else involved and he really didn't want anyone around when he told Storm about her cousin and friend.

"Vanya's son." Storm answered absentmindedly as she started to rip Taylor's white shirt away from his arm and side as gently as she could. "You have bad luck with getting shot in this arm, don'tcha?"

"Vanya?" Matty questioned, left in the dark about Storm's connection to the Russians.

"The man I work for. He's fine Matty. Same business as dad, different country and family."

"Well yeah, he's Russian. You're working for the Russians? Jesus Storm. This gets better and better." Matty pressed a hand to his forehead.

"I've been with them for years Matty so chill out. What happened in Montana?"

Yerik returned with the first aid kit. Matty refused to tell Storm anything until she was done caring for Taylor. He watched, almost jealous, as he watched her touch him so gently, show so much concern for how he felt. He used to be the only man his sister cared for like that. When she was done he left Taylor in the care of Yerik and took his sister outside, behind the motel and told her about Chris and Marbles.

Matty, no matter how close he was to breaking down had to be strong for another few minutes and he knew it. He knew it very well as he caught a sobbing, close to hysterical Storm in his arms. She was so calm, collected and able to seemingly handle anything most of the time he forgot she was only twenty and for everything she had had to deal with there was a lot she never had to experience. And one of those things was loosing someone she was very close to. The last person she'd truly lost like that had been Bobby and she'd only been eight when he'd died. Too young to feel the depth of emotion she did over the loss of Chris and Marbles.

"I'll kill them all Matty. I swear to god I'm going to kill them all."

"We already did Storm. There's no one left. Just me and Taylor. Everyone else is dead."

"God Matty, I feel so useless. Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you tell me about this? You shoulda called me long before Teddy ever involved himself. I coulda got the money back before it ever went this far." Storm threw herself at her brother kicking and screaming. She was irate, out of her mind with fury and she had no one to take it out on. Matty was the closest target. "I told you to stay out. God damn it I told you! I told you to move! Stay out. Taylor told you, I told you, Dad told you but you just couldn't listen!" She quickly stopped when Matty didn't make any move to protect himself from her wrath. It was clear he was punishing himself enough.

Before she could hit her knees in the desert sand a strong arm went around her waist. As she felt herself pulled against something she knew instinctively was Taylor she spun around and grabbed on to him for dear life, trying to keep her wits.

"Come on 'Ella. You fixed me up enough for us to all go up to the room, get some sleep and make an early start of it tomorrow. Come on, this isn't helping anything and nothing can bring them back." Taylor led the now quiet Storm up to the room, Matty and the Russian man following behind.

They all went to bed exhausted. The next day they drove to Yerik's plane and flew into New York City. Storm took proper care of Taylor's arm, heavily bandaging it before she would consent to let him out of her sight.

Matty found her alone a short while later. "You were right about one thing Storm."

"What's that Matty?" Storm asked tiredly.

"I'm out. I'm done. I'm telling pop today when I give him his money back. I don't want anything else to do with his world, his money or his life. I wish you'd reconsider moving with me some place where this isn't us."

"I can't Matty. Not now. Don't you see? You don't belong here in this world but pop needs somebody. Especially now, he lost Teddy, you and so much else in one go. He needs to be told about Chris and Marbles. Someone has to tell Uncle Sal and Aunt Eva. That will fall to pop and he'll need me. I'll be ok."

Matty nodded like he agreed. Storm only wished she was half as sure of herself as her brother seemed to be. She'd lost her respect for her father, lost her cousin and friend and almost lost both her brother and lover. Nothing was ok with her world and she was once again tossed into the turmoil of wondering if it ever would be ok again. She only knew one thing with any certainty. The next few days were going to test everything she was made of.