"Did everyone get back safely last night?"
"You're the only one that didn't."
"What about Emil? Wasn't he the one fighting Vargas? Is he alright?"
"He's fine, just a black eye and a few scratches, nothing serious."
Lukas exhaled in relief as Berwald turned the car into the alleyway where they had hidden parking spots and the entrance to the Kohler gang's base. The two of them had been childhood friends with Mikkel, and were the first ones to be recruited in the Dane's underground dealings. Lukas was fond of putting together plans and strategies, while the silent Swede served as a bodyguard and second-in-command.
Once the car was parked, they both climbed out and went into the building's side entrance and up a flight of stairs. They turned at the top and entered the main lounge of the base, which included a large kitchen and multipurpose tables where four of their hired guns were sitting.
"Welcome back!" they all greeted.
While Berwald went further in towards the far end of the lounge, Lukas walked over to join Toris Laurinaitis, Feliks Lukaswiecz, Elizaveta Herzvedery and Ivan Simonov. They had covered the table in playing cards, food, glasses and a few bottles of hard liquor.
"Come join us, Lukas, we're having a party!" Toris invited, pouring a shot of vodka. The Lithuanian was a very good spy, and helped their group with reconnaissance.
"Drinking at noon?" Lukas criticized, "Don't you have anything better to do?"
"Not really, Mikkel gave us the day off to celebrate our success," Feliks clarified before taking a swig of his drink. The Pole had a fondness for sourcing weapons and supplies, and enjoyed hunting around in the black market.
"And besides, it's 5:00 somewhere, da?" Ivan added on. The Russian had a very similar skillset to Berwald, but was also a bit bolder and more outspoken.
"How much vodka do you need?" Lukas inquired, "Why do you have two bottles going?"
"Come on, you know that Feliks only drinks Polish vodka, while Ivan only drinks Russian," Elizaveta justified. The Hungarian was the only woman in the gang, but she easily pulled her weight along with the others.
"It's actually three bottles, since Tino prefers his Finnish vodka," Toris supplemented, pointing towards Mikkel's office at the far end of the lounge, "You might want to take a look in there, Mikkel was feeding some to Emil."
"Oh dear lord," Lukas muttered as he rushed further into the lounge towards the office, passing by Berwald talking to Tino in front of the large multi-monitor computer system. Despite having known him a few years, it was easy to forget that the cheery Finn is a very good sniper.
Lukas barged through the open door, and watched as Emil was downing a shot of vodka beside a grinning spiky-haired Dane.
"Hey Lukas, welcome back," Mikkel greeted, taking the empty shot glass back from Emil, "Here, have a drink, we're celebrating!"
"I can see that," Lukas scoffed, "How much did you give him?"
"Oh hi, big brother," Emil slurred, finally noticing they had company, "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know Mikkel got you drunk," Lukas nagged, pulling his brother by the wrist from Mikkel and out into the lounge, "Go drink some water, you've had more than enough."
"I thought you were supposed to be a big brother, not a mother hen," Mikkel criticized as they watched Emil stumble towards the kitchen.
"Our mom is gone, so something has to watch over him," Lukas defended.
Lukas hardly remembers his own father, but he does recall when his mother married his stepfather and gave birth to the half-brother that Lukas would end up raising. Since Emil was the youngest member of their group, Lukas and the others were prone to overprotecting him, but he was quickly earning his place in the mob.
"They had filled six duffle bags with cash last night, by the way," Mikkel reported, offering a shot of vodka, "We used some of it towards this celebration, and we'll be good on cash flows for a while."
"Unfortunately the job cost us though," Lukas countered after downing his shot, "We'll have to pay up to get me a lawyer before court, they'll pin as much of the heist's blame on me as they can."
"You need to lighten up, Lukas," Mikkel dismissed, "The only thing that went wrong was your arrest. We'll get that dealt with, but otherwise we're all good. And besides, we'll have another mission tomorrow night."
"Tomorrow night?" Lukas asked, "What will we be doing?"
"JCI has a shipment of weapons arriving from Asia, their truck will pick it up at the docks tomorrow night," Mikkel revealed, "When the truck is on its way back to JCI, we'll hijack it."
The ride back to the base was fairly quiet, and Lovino didn't have to wonder why. He knew that the Portuguese bodyguard had something to say about what happened, but understood that Lovino would hear it all from his grandfather.
They climbed out of the vehicle, and walked into the authentic Italian pizza parlour, where the lunchtime crowd has filled the place.
"Ah, Lovi, good to see you," Antonio greeted from the counter, "Your nonno is waiting upstairs for you."
"Get to work, you cheery bastard," Lovino scolded the Spaniard on his way to the kitchen. Antonio Esposito was originally hired as a waiter in the restaurant, but had previous work experience as a bodyguard. He earned his place with the Vargas crime family when he defended Romulus Vargas during an unexpected altercation with another mob.
Clearing the next door, Lovino strode through the kitchen, dodging the regular staff that were making the food. His twin brother was running around, and Lovino gave Feliciano a pat on the shoulder on his way by. He turned the corner at the back of the kitchen and marched up the stairs double-time, before turning again and walking through the lounge.
Gupta Hassan and Vladimir Lupeski were at the table playing a game of cards, while Veronique Lamare was watching the computers. While all three were hired guns, they each had other specialties that appealed to the Vargas family. The Egyptian was very good with computers, while the Romanian enjoyed procurement of supplies. The Monacan was fantastic with reconnaissance, and could easily turn a profit with gambling.
All three gave quick greetings as Lovino and Miguel strolled past, then quickly returned to their activities while the Italian opened the office door. His grandfather was sitting at his large wooden desk, and didn't even look up to confirm who was entering before talking.
"How much was the bail, Miguel?"
"$10,000, Mr. Vargas," Miguel reported, "They realized it was your grandson, put the price a bit higher than on Bondevik's bail."
"So, not only was your mission a failure, Lovino, but we had to pay higher bail too," Romulus summed up, "Any explanation you want to give?"
"We were surrounded, Nonno," Lovino claimed, "I told the others to leave while they had the chance. Would you rather pay bail on all three of us?"
"I'd rather see my grandson's criminal record remain clean!" Romulus yelled, standing up and slamming his papers on the desk, "Now that you have been arrested, you will remain on their radar! If they catch you again, they won't let us bail you out again! Do you want to put me through that, Lovi?"
"No, Nonno, I will not have that happen again," Lovino vowed, "I'm sorry."
"Good," Romulus acknowledged, sitting back down calmly, "We'll find a way through this, Lovino. The police are starting to watch us a little more closely, we need to be careful what chances we take. Veronique can still bring in some gambling profits, but that is still limited."
"What about Madeline," Lovino suggested, "Could we hire her to do anything for us?"
"I think Ms. Williams is going to be off-limits for a while," Romulus countered, "She wants her neutrality, and would refuse to get involved in our feud with the Kohler gang as long as that is raging. There's no need for her in our next project anyways."
"You already have your eyes on something?" Lovino asked.
"A shipment of JCI guns and ammunitions will be transported from the shipyard tomorrow night to their main facility," Romulus disclosed, "Kohler will likely want it as well, but we'll have the upper hand."
The woman parked her old brown car on the side of the road, and stepped out with her purse, shutting the door after her. Finding a moment in the traffic, she swiftly walked across the road to the restaurant on the other side. The Golden Dragon was well-known for its cuisine from many parts of Asia.
Of course, her visit today wasn't for the food. The Dragon Triad had a job for her.
While brushing a few of her long blonde curls behind her shoulder, she climbed up the steps and through the front door. The main salon was decorated in a gorgeous dark red and colourful embellishments that made her want to travel East at some point in the seemingly distant future. She waited at the hostess table at the front, and a very familiar woman with straight platinum blonde hair met her there shortly after.
"He's already waiting for you," the hostess greeted, "Come along, Madeline."
"Lovely to see you too, Natalya," Madeline replied, deliberating including extra cheer to counteract the lack of it in Natalya's greeting, "How have you and Katya been?"
"As good as usual," Natalya answered bluntly, clearly not intent on continuing the conversation with the freelancer.
Madeline followed Natalya through the restaurant, pausing to give Katerina a hug on their way by. The busty waitress was well aware of the illegal activities her sister and fellow employees pursued outside the restaurant, and helped where she could. As they reached the door to the kitchen, they allowed Wai Hou, the gentlemanly hired gun from Macau, to pass with some food before going in themselves. Madeline waved at Katerina's boyfriend, Yao, as they walked by his large woks filled with fragrant cuisine. Natalya stopped at the end of the hallway before gesturing at the flight of stairs.
"He's down there, go ahead," Natalya directed.
Madeline went down the stairs, and turned left at the bottom into the Dragon Triad's base. Xiao Mei was in the main lounge, watching some anime the tv from her computer chair.
"Hi Maddie," Mei welcomed, "He's in his office."
"Thanks, Mei," Madeline acknowledged, before walking through the lounge past the Taiwanese computer expert, to the office at the far end and knocking on the door.
"Come on in," the voice on the other side ordered, and Madeline opened the door to see the Dragon Triad's boss sitting at a game table in front of his desk, with some tea and food ready to be served.
"You have wonderful timing, Ms. Williams," Im Yong Soo said, "You're welcome to have dinner with me, if you like."
"That would be lovely, thank you," Maddie accepted as she sat down, "I'm also here on that request you sent me for help with a project."
"JCI has a shipment of supplies coming in tomorrow at the harbour," the Korean explained as he poured her some tea, "Guns and ammunition from Asia."
"Are you planning to intercept it before JCI gets it?" Maddie inquired, "Is that why I'm here?"
"I've already started making arrangements at the shipyard for the cargo," Yong Soo confirmed, "We just need the extra help on the collection."
Author's Notes
And now we meet the mobs! Here's a quick recap of who's all working for who.
Vargas crime family: Romulus as leader, Lovino, Feliciano, Antonio, Miguel, Veronique, Vladimir, Gupta.
Kohler gang: Mikkel as leader, Berwald, Tino, Lukas, Emil, Ivan, Elizaveta, Toris, Feliks.
Dragon Triad: Im Yong Soo as leader, Yao, Katerina, Natalya, Mei (Taiwan) and Wai Hou (Macau). (Last two names needed to be improvised.)
As mentioned, Madeline Williams is a neutral freelance criminal, who does jobs for all three groups.