Miracle at the 12th Precinct

Chapter 7

Title: Monsters' Holiday (song by Bobby 'Boris' Pickett)

Disclaimer: Meet the Gangsters…my very own, caffeine-induced characters. Don't hate them because they're bad. They're just written that way. ;-)

Across town, Bernardino "BB" Balboa and Vincent "Vinny" Costa, sat in the formidable office of their boss, Drago Mangosa, wishing they were anywhere but. Drago made his flunky summon them to his office, not a good sign, and when they got there, the guy told them to sit down and shut up; not the usual show of respect to which they were accustomed. BB and Vinny exchanged a brief look. Something was definitely off, but still, they did as they were told, each taking a seat in front of their boss' imposingly large desk. A moment later, the door slammed shut behind them and they were left alone to stew.

"I'm not getting a good feeling about this." Vinny said, biting his nails.

"You worry too much." BB said, taking out his glasses and putting them on so he could read the small font on his cell phone. He was blind without them.

"You think he knows?" Vinny asked, his heart rate increasing. They'd encountered a few problems with the job the night before and he hoped they'd at least get a chance to explain.

"Probably." BB replied, in a flat voice; not really caring. He had other, more important things on his mind.

That was the extent of their conversation for a while. Even though they'd been partners for years, they'd never be accused of being overly chatty with each other. As a matter of fact, the less they talked, the better they got along, especially lately. As for Drago being pissed at them, BB wasn't overly concerned. He could only speak for himself, but the way he figured, if Drago had wanted him dead, he'd be dead already. He'd seen it happen enough times to know.

With no choice other than to wait patiently until their boss made an appearance, Vinny and BB allowed their minds to drift off to happier places.

Vinny, for one, pictured himself in front of his TV, cold beer in hand, watching his favorite soap, Temptation Lane. He'd often lose himself in an episode, and with little effort, could pretend his life was every bit as exciting as those of the characters on the screen. He was hooked on it. Partly because he prided himself on being a boob man, and thought the broads on that show were stacked like nobody's business, and second, because it relaxed him, and his doctor recently told him he needed to relax more if he wanted to live longer. He'd laughed at the guy, but didn't bother explaining why. What the doc didn't know was Vinny's day job didn't make for a long life expectancy. He reached into his pocket, and pulled out an opened roll of Tums, popping three into his mouth like they were candy. His ulcer was killing him today. He sighed, wondering why they always seemed to find themselves in hot water with Drago. A quick spot-check of the room confirmed there weren't any weapons in plain sight, although that didn't mean there weren't a few somewhere close by.

While Vinny sat still and worried, BB, on the other hand, squirmed around on the hard chair, in an effort to get comfortable. All he wanted to do was get the hell out of there. He had a solid lead on a pony, and this meeting was a waste of his time. He imagined himself over at the off-track betting place, a couple blocks down, placing the winning bet; the big one that would fix all his problems. To his chagrin, he'd been texting his bookie for over an hour, but the loser wasn't replying. He planned on having a long talk later with the guy on the fine line between professional phone etiquette and not getting whacked. He couldn't afford to lose out right now on some quick cash, not when he was trying like crazy to keep himself from being jammed up.

Vinny, began to sweat, so he loosened his tie. It had been choking him like a noose for the past hour. He looked around the room, taking in the recent redecorating Drago had done. It looked nothing like it used to when Carlos had the office. It had become dark, unfriendly, and all the family pictures had been removed; including a couple Carlos always kept on his desk of the three of them together back in the good old days. Now there was dark wood paneling covering the once beige walls and a dead boar's head hung on a plaque nailed up high. The way the boar's beady eyes were staring at him gave him the creeps. He figured it was probably because they reminded him of BB's. The whole room made him sick. "Would you get a load of this place? Carlos is probably rolling over in his grave seeing it this way."

"He's kinda dead, remember. I don't think he really gives a shit." BB replied, not looking up from his cell phone.

"Yeah, but still…it's disrespectful, I tell ya. His body ain't even cold yet. Drago shoulda waited."

BB just ignored him, and kept right on playing with his phone; it made Vinny crazy. His partner had always been a selfish bastard who never gave a damn about anyone but himself; didn't even seem to care that their friend's memory was being erased.

They both sat up at attention when the door opened and Drago walked in. They said hello, but all they got for their trouble was the evil eye, before he moved to stand next to the window, turning his back on them. "Shut up, the both of you." He said. They watched as Drago continuously clenched and unclenched his fists. Oh yeah, the boss knew, and he was pissed. Word traveled fast in their world. They resigned themselves to the fact that what followed next, was sure to be unpleasant.

Vinny pressed down on his ulcer, in an attempt to tame it. Their boss was just standing there, not saying a thing. He wished Drago would just hurry up and yell at them already which would be a nice alternative to shooting them where they sat. There was nothing more he hated than the silent treatment, and Drago was the master. He'd seen Drago intentionally play with silence before; using it to inflict the fear of God into the hearts of his enemies. He wondered when the fuck they'd become the enemy, and not for the first time in the past few weeks, longed for the days back when Carlos was at the helm. Their dearly departed boss, and his close childhood friend, had a much better sense of humor about their occasional screw-ups than his younger brothers.

He really missed Carlos. He and BB had grown up with all three Mangosa brothers, but Carlos had always been their guy. Drago, he'd been a miserable kid, mean-spirited and as nasty as the night was black. Only sometimes, he'd hang with them. And Eddie, from the get-go, made like he was too good for any of them, kept his hands clean, and ran with his own kind. They worked for Drago now mainly out of respect for Carlos. Well, at least he did. He had his suspicions BB only kept coming around for the paychecks.

BB checked the time again on his cell phone, and considered asking the boss to speed things up; daylight was burning. He was trying to be patient, he really was, but unfortunately patience wasn't one of his strong-suits. His knee began to bounce uncontrollably, and his eyes flittered about the room. He turned towards his partner who was sweating like a pig, looking about ready to crap himself. Sometimes, Vinny could be a real fucking wuss. BB glared at their boss' back. He could do without the silent treatment right now. Drago was obviously just trying to mess with their minds by keeping them waiting. Since Carlos died, the guy got his kicks playing the role of Alpha Dog, and he was all focused on proving how he's as tough as Carlos was. This came as no great shock. Even as a kid, Drago had always lived in his brothers' shadow...and now he was the one in charge; probably felt pretty good, dead brother thing, aside. But he also had some pretty big shoes to fill, and power could mess with your head if you weren't ready for it. He had his doubts about Drago, but wisely kept those thoughts to himself. BB's knee-bouncing morphed into toe-tapping. What they should be out doing, instead of sitting around here, was hunting down that little prick, Frost, and getting back what was rightfully theirs, after he phoned his bookie, of course, then they'd make him pay for what he'd done.

Vinny glanced at his partner, who kept switching positions in his seat, squirming around like a little kid. The guy had absolutely zero patience, and Vinny knew he'd have to come clean to the boss, before his idiot partner piped up and said something stupid, making things worse, like he usually did. BB's big mouth would only get them in deeper.

Remembering the night before, Vinny pressed down on the spot where his ulcer was enflamed in an attempt to ease the pain, and thought, for the hundredth time since Carlos had died, about retiring from the crime business. He thought about reconsidering, taking his asshole brother-in-law up on his offer to get him a job in security; one where he didn't have to worry so much about getting put back in the slammer. Working for Drago was really beginning to stress him out; maybe this should be his last job for the Mangosas. He wiped the sweat from his palms onto his pants legs, and then caught BB putting away his cell phone, indicating any minute now, his partner would be opening his rap. He had a fleeting thought about how good it would feel to smack him.

BB opened his mouth to speak, but Vinny cut him off with a hard smack to the arm. Two sets of steely eyes met, and Vinny shook his head. "I'll handle this." he said, daring him to argue.

BB was about to do just that, but then decided against it. Instead, he gave him a crooked smile and leaned back prepared to watch the show. "Be my guest." He replied, smirking. To him, there was nothing funnier than watching Vinny try and blather his way out of trouble; especially if the other guy was a much better shot.

With BB silenced for the moment, Vinny braced himself, took a deep breath, and then dove in.

"Boss, you can't blame us for this one. It wasn't our fault. We did like you said with the elf. Sorta. BB here even shot him cold. How was we supposed to know we had the wrong fucking elf? They all look alike for god sakes; little guys, green elf outfits, tiny little hats."

"And don't forget those little green boots with the bells." BB added with a snicker. He always tried his best not to be helpful.

"Right. Little green boots with bells." Vinny agreed. "There's no reason to worry, Boss, because the old guy ain't gonna be a problem. Psycho here," He said, pointing his thumb towards BB, "Scared the crap outta him. He ain't gonna be running his yap anytime soon."

Drago's large, menacing frame slowly turned around to face them. His arms were crossed, and his jaw was clenched. He rolled his eyes at them. "Really? You want to tell me why the hell you didn't just shoot the old bastard too, while you had the chance?"

"Boss, the guy was all dressed up like Kris Kringle," Vinny said, trying to calmly explain. "It was kinda sweet. I mean, he ain't all there upstairs, if you know what I mean, and he did keep yapping on and on, about how bad we were, but still…the guy looked just like freaking' Santee Claus."

"Seriously?" Drago asked, rolling his eyes again. They were giving him a pounding headache. If Carlos was still alive he'd kill him himself for saddling him with these two. And then, after he was done, he'd shoot BB, and permanently wipe that smirk off his face.

"Well, of course, we didn't believe him," Vinny said, back-peddling. "But he was a real class- act, Boss. Those weren't no fake whiskers, they were real. And he wasn't wearing one of those crappy, cheap costumes neither; this thing was primo. I just couldn't do it. It's Christmas-time, Boss. It wouldn't have been right." Vinny had always had a soft spot for anything to do with Christmas; it was his favorite time of the year.

"I could have." BB interjected, holding up his pointer finger. He hated Christmas; never got one toy he'd ever asked for. They both turned his way. "But Vinny here was all, You can't shoot Santa Claus. Don't shoot Santa Claus. Blah, Blah, Blah." He mimicked.

Vinny shot him a dirty look and cracked his knuckles. He was seconds away from jumping BB and punching his lights out. "Frost was the one we were after, not the old guy." He defended.

Dragon's blood boiled as he listened to them bicker back and forth. He lowered his head and tried massaging his eyebrows with his fingers to ease the headache that was forming, but it didn't work. Although he'd known both of them since they were kids, they'd never changed. These two incompetent idiots were as stupid as ever. While he'd personally matured, learned a thing or two, they never would. He had no idea how Carlos put up with either of them for so long. Vinny, though built like a tank, wasn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree and BB, well; he ain't never been right in the head. If it wasn't for the fact they'd been so loyal to his brother Carlos he'd have given them the boot a long time ago; friends or no friends. Maybe Eddie was right. Maybe it was time for him to build a new crew. These two had one job to do, one job, and they went and botched it. What the fuck? He will make them fix this. He'd had all he could take of their arguing.

"Shut up!" He shouted, immediately silencing both of them. "After careful consideration and out of respect for my dead brother, Carlos, may he rest in peace, (they all crossed themselves) I'm not going to kill either of you today." Vinny let out a sigh of relief. BB checked his watch. "I am however going to ask you two morons to explain to me exactly what went down last night. All you had to do was go in there, get the money and leave. Maybe you rough him up a little. Instead, you go on a fucking elf hunt. And you…" He pointed to BB. "You don't even take out the right elf. Do you not look at people before you shoot them?" He asked. Not waiting for an actual answer, he continued. "What confuses me more is how my dead brother, Carlos, may he rest in peace (they all cross themselves again) put up with you two assholes."

"It's all good, Boss. You don't have to worry about a thing; everything's been taken care of." BB told him, with a sick twisted smile. "After we left last night, believe it or not…someone blew up the whole fucking building. Boom." He said, making an explosion noise, complete with finger quotes, and psychotic laugh. "Problem solved. No way they survived that. And…nobody saw us. We were real careful."

"Someone blew up the building?" Vinny gasped, his mouth falling open.

"Pick up a paper, genius. Oh, wait...never mind, I forgot…you can't read." BB replied.

"Fuck you, BB. How about maybe next time, before you shoot someone, you put on your fucking glasses. You vain bastard."

"I said shut the hell up!" Drago shouted, and the room was suddenly silent. Even though he knew he had their full attention it didn't stop the sound of his voice from escalating the more he continued. "So you both think it's all good then, do you? Well, I got a guy at the hospital, says otherwise. Apparently, the old geezer managed to make it through just fine. The elf you shot, not so much. But now Jolly Old St. Nick's running his mouth off to the cops and the feds, and they're watching his door. For your information, I got problems up the yin-yang; I got a dead elf, another one on the lamb who still owes me, an old dude who thinks he's fucking Santa Claus as a witness, not to mention a couple more dead yo-yos piled up who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And the feds, who've been watching me for weeks, are going to be breathing up my ass even more than they already are. So I gotta argue…how is this not a problem for me?"

Drago allowed them a moment of silence to think about what he'd said. BB's face paled a bit, and his toe-tapping stopped. And Drago could almost hear the sound of the beads of sweat dripping from Vinny's upper lip.

"You two…" He said, slightly calmer, pointing back and forth between them. "You two, give mobsters a bad name. And you call yourselves professionals?"

"I told you we should have shot the old guy!" BB accused, yelling at Vinny.

"And I told you, we shoulda stuck around, waited for Frost to show up. We could have held those guys at gunpoint or something, in exchange for our stuff."

"If we'd stayed, numb-nuts…," BB replied, "We wouldn't be here right now…remember?" He makes the "boom" noise again.

"Oh, yeah." He replied, shocked that for once BB had a valid point.

"That's another thing… this bomb. Let's talk about the boom." Drago said, also with finger gestures. "You do this?" Drago pointedly asked BB. This was right up his alley. BB gave him a blank look, so he clarified. "The bomb?" Drago repeated. "This your work? You responsible for the boom? Cause I know, you know, I prefer things a little less messy."

"No, Boss. Wasn't me. I swear." BB said, shaking his head. A second later a pleased little smile formed on his lips and he wiggled his eyebrows. "That right there...that's what they call fate, I tell you."

Drago glared back at him, disgusted, not sure BB was even capable of telling the truth. He didn't trust either of them as far as he could throw them. He was getting nowhere fast. "Whatever. All I know is the Feds put this on me, I ain't gonna be happy." He said, lowering his voice. "Believe me, you don't want that. There'd better not be anything linking me to this. And next time, you don't leave until the job is done. You understand me?"

"Sure, Boss." Vinny and BB both replied.

"So what's our next move?" Vinny asked Drago.

"First, you two go buy yourselves some solid alibis. Then, you go finish the job. Get rid of the old guy."

"How are we supposed to do that with the feds watching?" Vinny asked.

"My sources tell me they're releasing him tomorrow. Probably taking him to a safe-house. You wait till they move him is how." Drago handed Vinny a piece of paper with a phone number on it. "Call my guy at the hospital. Work it out." Drago said. "And don't get caught."

"Then what?" BB asked.

"Put the word out. Find that little prick, Tommy Frost, and clean this mess up. I want this over. Do I make myself clear?" They both nodded.

"Sure, Boss." Vinny said.

"We'll find him, Boss." BB told him. "Then we'll take care of it. Nobody steals from Drago Mangosa and gets away with it." And they, sure as hell, don't steal from me.

After they'd left his office, Drago called in his assistant. "Tail 'em, but keep your distance. I want to know what they're up to. Got it?" The man said nothing in reply, but smirked, before nodding. It will be my pleasure.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading! Two more chapters will be posted shortly, they're nearly complete. A review/constructive criticism is always appreciated! :-) Karen