2.12am EST

Lieutenant Fritz Wilton is less than ecstatic at the moment. It is a convulsions of feelings fighting for dominance that pervades his mind at the moment. Seems that his days at just solving casual crimes, monitor stake outs and just book erring minor misdemeanors are quickly fading. An unlit cigarette stick stayed hanged on his lips, he couldn’t even bring him self to perform the effort of lifting the lighter to light it up. He had already dragged in a lot of smoke into his lungs today beyond what will be termed safe. The sight before his eyes was becoming familiar these days.


Looking like the one at the docks though this time it is a chemical factory supposedly. The sirens that have blared most of the night are gone quiet except for the fire truck when it was finally leaving with the last batch of the fire fighters. The Lieutenant had stood here for more than an hour, seeing them do their best to curb the violent blaze so it does not spread to other factories around. He was already through for the day and preparing to go home when calls had come through that there are sounds of multiple gun fires and what might be a robbery is in progress. The actions were over before he could get there though.


Alfonzo Deon was already on site before him and updated him on what happened at the Bricklay Savings & Loans. What might have appeared as robbery gone wrong would have been the initial conclusion to what has happened there only that the purported robber escaped and there were several dead bodies with ashes that were the remains of huge cash deposits in vault. Bricklay Savings & Loans appears as a legitimate micro finance institution that pays their taxes and complies with the minimum wage regulations for its workers. Still like most police in this city know, it is a mafia banking and money laundering spot.


Nothing the NYPD can do about it as legal suits filled against them numerous times has them hamstrung and they are forced to stay away from this place with a wide breadth of several meters all around. Now it seem someone have decided to screw the court’s orders and burn the place to the ground. Lucky enough, who ever he is didn’t succeed fully as this part has residential areas close by and a huge fire will be disastrous as most buildings are built too close to each other.
Despite that though, he succeeded in burning every single cash kept in the vault. That is sure to give the mob a waking headache.


Plus the dead bodies that were mob enforcers. Well the NYPD has been given all they have been looking for all this time. Now with the dead bodies in the premises, armed with illegal weapons including the attack on the place this night, they now have the Bricklay place on police lock down. That is a small victory in it self, considering what their best efforts had achieved in the past. But the victory is soiled by the knowledge that a loose cannon is running amok in the streets of Brooklyn, blowing away mafia guys and burning down their places. Though curious enough, the five workers in the place were spared except two, who investigations and the confessions of the survivors proved were killed by wild gun shots not deliberately.


So the wild mafia killer is discriminate in his killing. Fridz would have been happy if the situation wasn’t so alarming. As if that wasn’t enough, he was already back at the precinct, through with the extensive paper works that Deon has helped him with, which he intended submitting to the captain once the day breaks when another call came in again about explosions at Vinegar Hill.

Macellaio could feel the suppressed anger that trail those words, he knows the Don is about to react and lash out . In a way he feels sorry for the enemy. The person has underestimated the Don very well.
“Who ever this attacker is, anonymity has given him the advantage so I intend to take away that advantage. Here are your orders. I want you to send for feelers, go to any length, I don’t care. Call for everyone that owes me favors, it’s time they pay back. There must be word about this person in the street. Somebody must know something. The body count does not matter. It’s war. And I didn’t start it but I intend to stop it. I want to find out who he is that’s the only way to hurt him. Send me a copy of the CCTV footage, I want to do a personal assessment. “


Macellaio didn’t bother taking notes, his mind was almost photographic, especially when it comes to taking orders from the Don. He is already working out possible contacts that he can use as ground feelers to get the information he wants.
“Secondly I want you to get hired help. Go for none gang affiliated people. Mercs will be better. Those who have had military background. Ex special forces and rangers. They are scarce but you can get them. Go through those patriot websites that publishes for recruitment. Don’t worry about the cost, I will be sending you an open expense account tab for this. Those you recruit will be formed into a specific group, mobile and flexible response team that can attend to any attack on my property within minutes. Then beef up security on all my assets, public or private and make sure they have access to communication that can send a signal when they are under attack. I will smoothen interference from the police. “


“Alright boss. Any need to get the top boys together for a meeting? “ Macellaio asked.
“That will be tomorrow at the penthouse but do what I just asked you to do before then. “ taking some seconds to held his breath, the mafia boss added. “Get across to all our spies in the four mafia families, they have to earn their wages. I need to know if any of the family is remotely involved in this. “
“Yes sir, let me get right on to it. “
Nestore sat up on the bed alone in the bedroom after he ended the call having sent his bodyguards out of the room when he knew the call was getting too sensitive.


He believes in not exposing all his secrets to everyone. Having secrets is power. Those who don’t know your secrets can’t defeat you. Even within his organization, he keeps secrets from all his workers, even among them too. None knows as much as another. This attacker has acted with reckless boldness because of his secrets. He is sure that Nestore doesn’t know him and that has given him the advantage of the successful strikes he has had so far. Nestore is aware that some of the orders he had given to Macellaio might have appeared strange to him but he is confident his orders will be carried out even when they are not fully understood. He specifically asked for Mercs and ex military types for the new team that will be set up, because the reports he has gotten so far, as unbelievable as they may be indicted one man who appears to be a professional and has some sort of military training.


Something still gnawed at the back of his mind. The call he has thought of making. He didn’t want to be seen as panicking and the person at the other end of that call has warned him not to call unless it is under extreme emergency. Personally to Nestore, this situation qualifies for that but that person might not see it that way. Nestore is sure that the person may already know about his predicament. Is it even remotely possible that he is somehow involved in this? That is not even possible. Well he may need to hold on to that call until after his meeting with his lieutenants today.

“Sir there’s another thing. “ the voice from the other end intrudes on his thoughts. “The factory also got hit. “
“What factory? “
“The processing plant at Vinegar Hill. “
“That shouldn’t be possible. That place is well covered and not much people know about it. “
“True sir but it was hit all the same. I was there. It was already cordoned off before I arrived at the scene. It was burnt completely down. Though I couldn’t go in since I saw no need for that and I might be risking myself unnecessarily, since the secret of that place, as a drug processing site was already busted. The few gossips I gathered from the police and fire people there was the place was leveled by explosives. And there were reports of gunshots fired in the vicinity before the explosions were heard. “


While his underlying was speaking, the Don’s mind was already actively calculating the amount of lose these disaster will cost him. He was already seeing the money crossing some millions of dollars.
“Sir you know the products there were already ordered and paid for. There are clients already waiting for their delivery. “
Nestore didn’t reply immediately, he knew what the consequences of that is. If he is not able to supply those orders, he will loose face and respect. He will be seen as weak and loosing his grip on his turf. Not talking about the customers demanding for refund with all the disrespect they can muster.


As this becomes known, he will be seen as depowered and an easy pickings for anyone that is aggressive enough. So the predators will soon start to gather around and begin to tear apart every thing he has spent most of his life to build. His kingdom will be taken away and shared among others. His death will be the easiest thing for him to face. The Don growled inwardly as all these dashed over his mind. Who ever thought that all these will make him cave in is wrong. He is being pushed to the wall and like a wounded animal, he is at the most dangerous now. He has grown up almost single handedly from the streets through the mean crowd, deadly turf wars, assaults of competitors to lay the foundation of the Nazzareno family. So those feeling he has grown soft over the years as a Don will find themselves sorely mistaken. Macellaio has finished with his reports and was quietly waiting for his boss.


“This attack shows that the person doing these have extensive knowledge about my operations and will be a serious thorn on my side. The lose at the factory will be the most difficult to handle. My connection down south has not been fully strengthen yet after the sudden death of Bill. So there are no immediate means of supplying our pending orders and I can’t go to any of the other Dons for help. “

Macellaio waited for his boss to end his angry tirade before counting so he will get everything he was passing across. “From the reports I have presently, it was an attack from a single person. A man all on black loaded with enough hardware to start a civil war. “
The door to the bedroom was forced open and three guards rushing in with guns drawn. The mafia boss’ scream had alerted them and forced them to believe something was going on. The first person that got close to the boss to ask if he was alright got a full punch on his jaw that knocked him down. The other two backed off several feet from their fuming boss so they don’t get clobbered too.


The one hit was on the ground, holding his jaw, with bloody lips, crawling away from his boss. After what seem like minutes, the last sentence from the caller now registered on his anger clouded mind which forced Nestore to calm down a bit with angry eyes glowering at his bodyguards.
“A single person in black? “
“Yes boss fully armed. “
“Are you so sure of this? “ that was a stupid question to ask Macellaio because before he would have reported to his boss, he must have done some investigations to ascertain the reliability of what he will be passing on.


“Certainly boss. Though the police and fire service people were there before I arrived, I was able to have limited access to the place having contacted our person in the precinct. I went to the security room, took out the security data storage recorder hard disk for all the CCTV in the place and smashed the monitors there as if the attacker had vandalized the place. “
Stopping for a while to see if his boss will react, when he got no further response he continued. “Before leaving, I was able to speak to the staff on duty at the bank when the attack took place. Five of our guys that brought in a deposit that night were killed. The two hired securities didn’t die but they were knocked out. Though they were conscious when I got there and was able to get their reports. “


Still the silence on the other end prodded the mobster to continue. “I took the hard disk and studied the security video feed and what I saw corroborated the stories I have heard. It was a man in black. Came in, blew our guys away and burnt all the cash in the vault with a kind of incendiary grenade. He took few of the cash away in a bag though. But it was obvious he wasn’t there to take away money, he was there to destroy everything. “
The Don took all these in quietly but his heart was boiling. He has conflicting emotions about this. The obvious one was anger at the seemingly careless outrage. The other feeling was less obvious and that is fear. Someone has been able to strike at him twice now without him being able to give any kind of response. His fear is that he may not be able to respond and this will just continue. Him getting hit until he goes down under.

Growling angrily at the fool that thought it wise to interrupt his sleep at this time of the night, he opened his sleep laden eyelids. What could be so pressing that can’t wait till morning. He made a mark to teach that person a lesson. Forcing his head up from the comfortable mattress , he turned to a side stand on which the phone was placed. The screen was blinking as the call tone continued. Soon it went silent as the call dropped without a response. He had almost turned back to his sleep when the darkening phone screen came on again as the call resumed. Almost yelling he picked the smartphone, touching the receiver indicator on the touchscreen surface as he brought it close to his face.


“What is it? “ Nestore growled into the mouth piece.
“Boss, “ a nervous voice said at the other end, the owner seeming to realize what he just did. But he was forced to continue. “I’m sorry for the time of the call sir, but something has happened that I feel you have to know immediately. “
The drowsiness vanished from the Don’s eyes at once. He recognized the voice of Macellaio at the other end. He heads one of his trigger men squad, he doesn’t kid around.
“We have been hit. Bad. “


The Don froze, a cold shiver slowly crawling down his spine with tingling fingers. He almost didn’t want to hear what his lieutenant wanted to say. Considering what had just happened before. And if Macellaio says something is bad, it most definitely is bad. Damn, Nestore cursed what could it be again this time.
“What happened? “ the mob boss stilled his voice preparing himself for the worst to happen.
“One of the banks got hit this night. “
“A robbery? Someone was foolish enough to try and steal from me? “ the Don was getting angry now as his fears and concerns were slowly eroding. If it was just a case of robbery, it wasn’t that bad. Macellaio wouldn’t call him for that and might have gone to deal with it on his own.


“Sir it wasn’t a robbery, it was a full hit. It was an attack that destroyed every cash in the vault of the bank. “ The speaker rushed the words as if speaking them quickly will lessen the degree of its import.
“What! “ the Don screamed in spite of him steeling himself for the worst report. “How the hell did that happen? Who were those responsible? I want them all killed. I mean killed, butchered. Their remains buried in the sea. “

“Sir I have finished giving them the cash. “ the desk jockey came to where he was just finishing with setting up his last explosives, sounding winded and fearful.
“Get out of here now if you want to live. “ Penance said as he watched the man bolt too quickly for one of his bulk and looks. He took a final scrutiny of the settings, getting satisfied, walked away from the production hall, out of the warehouse, into the yard proper then seconds later he was out of the gate, running between the shadows to his car parked further away. Getting to his car, he pulled out the remote detonator, pushed the button and watched as the factory compound flashed like day time.


A huge fire ball blew up from the place. That should be the tank holding the fuel. Multiple others explosions followed as the C4 continued to detonate. Building cracked under the impact of the shock wave. Soon the sound of the explosions got to him. Penance watched for a few seconds more before he entered the car and drove away. He took a side road to link to other side ones so he won’t be on the main way when the fire service and the police will be responding to this emergency. He has gotten the Don’s attention now but from here on he will be turning on the heat because play time is over.



12.03am EST

Nestore was fast asleep when his personal cell phone rang, the soft music penetrating his consciousness. The Don sleeps alone in his wide bedroom on a luxurious bed that can take five more people of his size and height with more space to spare. Soft colored lightings gave the room a warm appearance highlighting the extravagance of it. Every single furniture in the room has gold plated fittings. The bed’s headboard, side rail and footboard were made of solid gold. While around the bedroom, well arranged furniture, the night stand, a dresser, an armoire and full mirror stand were all gold plated.


The floor, though marble was of a customized type with gold color. The Don has always wanted to have the bedroom to himself alone and other added features were there that no other person knows about. At least no other person alive. A secret escape door was built close to the bed, its entrance covered with a floor to ceiling painting, that can only open by a secret code he alone possess. All those who were part of building that part of the house had been conveniently eliminated. His bodyguards were standing outside the door to the bedroom, under no circumstances are they to step in unless in an emergency.

Taking a careful look around, he saw a wall with a huge industrial fuse board. Going there, he pushed the isolation control up, switching the power supply to the machines off. A sudden deafening silence took over the whole place. Heads started to raise slowly to see what has transpired, with the few sobbing continuing. Frightened eyes both of male and female workers looked at the figure on complete black who to them at that time must be the perfect image if the bogeyman. Taking his time to make sure there were no more threats, he looked around at the unfortunate workers who got caught in the line of fire, his heart felt nothing but cold apathy.


Any emotional empathy he felt for anyone died out of him years ago. Every thing he does now is done out of compulsion, a cold feeling of revenge is what drives him. As much as he won’t harm an innocent or unarmed civilian, he won’t feel any pity for the ones that get killed.
“Where is the money kept? “ He asked no one in particular.
Some eyes widen in surprise, others in fear why some that were still on the floor squirm more and further rolled themselves into a fetal position. One of the male worker, who appeared to be a Hispanic pointed at an open door.


“ The safe is over there. “
Penance walked in there, saw that the place was a room sized office, with open ledgers and record books. There was a desktop computer on a table, having a phone and ink pad. The safe was open with dollar bills well arranged and there were more still on the floor being bundled to be recorded before they will join others in the safe. Something was odd and Penance knew it immediately he entered, he heard slow breathing. Going quickly behind the desk, he pulled out a bald head man who wailed as he was dragged out. The man was unarmed and looked like a desk jockey.


“Please don’t kill me sir, I’d do what ever you want. “
“Who are you? “ Penance asked him.
“I’m just a simple worker here, acting as both an accountant and the cashier. “
“Good. Empty this safe and pay every worker here. Nothing should be left. “ Penance ordered as he heads for the machines doing the production. “There are six more of you outside. You have fifteen minutes to pay them all. “
The cashier/accountant started doling out bundles of bills to the workers, who were at first afraid but after the first and second person took the money without incident, the others rushed at the money, some gratefully leaving the place hurriedly. Soon the six men on coveralls outside came in for theirs when they heard the news. Penance was busy setting up the explosives in areas he hope to do more damage. He doesn’t want anything but a smoking pile of burnt rubble.

That broke the spell that froze every one, as they all scrambled for safety. The females among the workers screaming with high pitched voices ran around and joining their male counterparts who had dropped to the floor and rolled under the tables. The remaining three mafia hard men lifted their rifles, fingers pressing down on the triggers and the muzzles turned around to target Penance. He was no longer there, as his fast legs took him with great speed beyond their target points. Some of the unarmed workers were not fortunate, as before they could find safety on time, bullets from the rifles hit their yielding flesh, opening bloody lethal holes on them which caused them to drop lifeless on bloody pools scattering tubes and bakers containing half finished products.


Most of the glass containers crashed to the ground in broken showers if glass and spilling colored liquid. That did not stop Penance however, as the gun spill out deadly rounds again, each taking out the shooters one after the other. Soon the place became silent except for the sounds of the machines working and the whimpering of the scared workers hiding under tables or laying on the floor.
Penance looked around to be sure all the hostiles are down but he knew that was not all that were here. He saw three cameras placed at different angles and he knew his exploit here was been viewed by someone and he should be expecting intrusion soon.


He was ready when the sound of a door opening and slamming at a wall caught his attention. This was a locked door which appears to be a personal one for such an occasion. The new comers did not wait to fully see what was going on before their guns blazed. They must have known the angle Penance was before budging in as their shots were on targets. There were three of them, one was on a security uniformed the other two are on street clothes. Penance was already moving out of the way when the sound of the opening door came and was split seconds ahead of the attackers. So when they shot at him, they were seconds behind him.


But as he moved, the desert eagle was up, firing and taking out targets. When the gun clicked on an empty chamber, the three of the attackers where down writhing in death throes amid their widening pool of blood. Penance has a special extended magazine of twelve round for the desert eagle. He ejected the spent one and slapped in a fresh one.

What he saw are drums containing liquid chemicals, that he was sure are what were been brought into this factory, because his telescopic eyes was able to pick out some words out of a faded label on one of the drums. It was from Brazil, another from Mexico and Venezuela. These were brought into the country across the border. The chemical contents of the drums were being emptied into some machines but tiny protective wraps inside the chemicals were separated. They were given to other group of workers who sort the different packages, then mix the appropriate ones and pour them into mixer machines and dryers which produces the white power.


Then some other groups packaged the powders into appropriate sealed bags. Others load them into metal drums, half way, seal that part, then another group poured over that the raw liquid chemical, effectively covering the sealed area and the contents under it. This was how Nazzareno’s family have been successfully transporting hard drugs in and out of the country successfully with the DEA none the wiser. Well Penance was here to put a stop at this part of his operations. He wasn’t doing it for the law enforcement people but for himself, to get at the Don’s skin.


Checking the magazine on his Berretta, he saw it was low. He pulled it out and slapped in a fresh one. He tucked it back to his shoulder rig holster and reached for the desert eagle at his thigh. Time for silence and stealth was over. The air within the places was rife with the swirling white powdery dust of the cocaine that is why every one in the place was putting on nose covers. A few minutes breathing the air here with an uncovered nose will leave a man totally messed up by the drugs. Penance wasn’t worried as his mask offers him protection besides the accelerated healing in his body. Before pulling the trigger, Penance already picked out his target, numbering them before moving into the drug producing room.


The muzzle of the desert eagle lifted as it boomed loudly after he pulled the trigger. The head of the first target simply blew apart like an egg that dropped on the floor from a great height. The gun shot sound caused every ears in there to ring, as all movement froze momentarily. It was possible that the people within here might not have heard of the fire fight outside, maybe because of the sound of the machines working here. Still amidst the cacophony of sounds, the desert eagle stands out. Before any body could react, the desert eagle boomed again, the .44 magnum greater velocity cartridge blew apart the arm of the second target, at the biceps above the elbow.


The arm was almost torn away from the body only held in place by thin strips of flesh. The victim screamed, dropping his rifle, holding the ragged part to was creating a fountain of bloody liquid around. The hand cannon desert eagle boomed again and this time a hole the size of a baby fist materialized at the upper chest, kicking him off his feet and effectively cutting short the loud scream.

The warehouse was wide and almost void with just empty boxes, some torn, others scattered and both wooden and plastic pallets littered around. Well lined light bulbs on the roof gave full light in the place. Penance might have wasted more time to locate the part of the warehouse attached to the building he was headed if not for the several wheel tracks the forklift had made on the dusty floor. The tracks led to a door further into the ware house that was open. With his Berretta leading, Penance ran to the place, feet making hardly any noise. At the door, he saw four men, all blacks in dusty green coveralls rolling drums to be arranged on a pallet.


One of them, that appeared to be the youngest has an ear bud on attached to a full touch screen smartphone that might be blasting out music. All four of them stopped working, frozen in place as they saw Penance appeared before them. Penance quickly noticed none of them was armed. They probably are not mafias. One they are all blacks, so they can’t be real members of the Nazzareno family. Maybe just foot soldiers or hired labors.
“Any of your handlers around here? “ Penance asked in a soft whisper.


They all looked at him as if he was a ghost that just materialized before them as if by magic. One if them who appeared as the eldest, with an old battered face cap and grays mingled among the turfs black hair showing below the cap. He turned his hair sideways in the negative after that jerking the head at another direction. The direction was another door leading into another part of the warehouse connected to the building Penance was heading for.
“Well you all get the night off. Have you been paid yet? “ Penance asked again. They all nodded in the negative, fear and sweat glistening on their dark skin. “Wait here, lie low and stay out of my way. “


Penance passed by them as they dropped down in fear. They are all street wise men who had at one time or the other seen gun fights between gangs, so they are not too surprised. They are only hoping to survive this one long enough to tell the story. The place they are was like a passage with a door at the end. Getting at the door, Penance saw two men in a similar coverall, one a black, the other appeared to be Hispanic, rolling a sealed metal drum to the door. Their jokes and laughter stopped as they say Penance. He directed them to leave the drum and join the others behind the door.


They quickly complied running away from him. He silently crossed the door and looked in, what he saw was amazing. It was like a wide medical lab. Lots of workers on white lab coats, with noting but shorts underneath for the men and panties with bras for the women. They had transparent head covers and nose masks. The workers were more than twenty on a casual count and walking among them are five men armed with automatic rifles also having nose masks on. The races of the workers were mixed with blacks, Hispanics and Asians in the in the majority, a few whites were there also. The workers were all busy around big lab tables with smoking test tubes and bakers. Heap of white powers, that were cocaine covered every one. Penance took his time, hiding behind the door to watch what was going on, though his senses were attuned to pick up any sound that might be coming from behind him.

Just close to the gate, away from the main concrete road leading into the factory compound is an empty dilapidating vehicle garage, doors hanging on ripped hinges. Inside are empty vehicle shells and dismantled engine parts, covered in congealed black oil and layers of thick dust. Behind that is another building also with a rectangular build with stainless steel body but behind and attached to it is a long cylinder structure, with whips of smoke blowing away from it. Between it and the empty garage is a cylinder tank with big red words written FUEL HIGHLY INFLAMMABLE. Running to it, Penance pulled out an explosive, attach it to the tank but used a remote control trigger instead of a timer. He hurried to the building with the smoke coming out on top of it, that is where it seem the action tonight is taking place.


Beyond the building, is what he suspected might have been the administrative block with offices at one time. Now a big warehouse like building was attach to the one he was heading to. A ten-wheeler semi truck parked by its open wide sliding gates. Penance changed his mind and headed that way. It seems there is a connecting entrance between the warehouse and the building he wanted to get in to. He saw two armed men who were alert looking towards the gate the direction the firing was coming from. They were trying to gauge what could be happening over there. But them remaining by the side of the truck might be they may have been ordered to remain by the truck no matter what happens.


Penance was hiding in the shadows between the beams of bright lights from the halogens and was practically invisible to the watchers. His Berretta up, coughing out four shots the two men were hit simultaneously and went down hard. He got to the truck and saw that some metal drums were already arranged behind it ready to be transported. The drums have the new name of the factory with chemical symbols showing it was industrial material. Penance sensitive nose could pick up the odd smell out of it. Well since the drums contains some of the things he had come to destroy, he attached three C4 explosives on them in an angle that will make sure of maximum damage.


As he moved to into the warehouse, he heard a low hum of a vehicle engine. Moving quickly to hide behind one of the massive iron pillars of the warehouse, he turned to see the cause of it. It was an old forklift but functional, moving in, carrying a pallet with six metal drums arranged on it. Penance watched as the driver, who was armed with a machine pistol tucked on his waist belt that was visible as he was shirtless, slowed the forklift. Calling out to the two guard when he didn’t see them. He finally stopped the vehicle when he saw the bodies lying prone on the ground. His hand quickly reached for the pistol by his side as he prepared to raise an alarm.


Penance gun chugged once and a bigger hole appeared below one of his ear. The bullet blew through the soft bones of the ear and exploding over the skull at the other side leaving bits of brain matter in its wake. He wasn’t fully out of the forklift yet when he reached for his gun, so when the bullet hit, his other feet got tangled on the seat and he fell partway out of the vehicle. Penance attached another C4 to the drums on the forklift before heading deeper into the warehouse.

One of the shooter may have a better eyesight than the others because he turned to watch Penance move. His gun shifted position and mouth turned open to utter a shout. Penance hand was up and the berretta spew a subsonic round that travel the distance in about a second and slammed the man at the chin blowing away the lower jaw and continued till it plowed through the cervical vertebrae, opening a back hole at the back of the neck. Blood, flesh and pieces of bones rained in a messy shower behind him. The head dropped on his shoulder at an odd angle with no neck bone to hold it upright. It was as he staggered and fell before the other two knew something was wrong.


The one closest to him turned to see what was happening, and the next silence round missed him by centimeters. The one after that didn’t though. It struck his shoulder, spinning him violently backwards. Another shot hit his chest with the impact of a sledgehammer. He shuddered at the impact till a third bullet hit him at the left part of his chest, plowing through his heart and a lung. He staggered backwards as if his feet got tangled and crashed down heavily on the ground. The third person didn’t really see any target, but with two of his buddies already dead in about three seconds showed him something was wrong.


He started shooting indiscriminately at the general area of the gate. He was carrying a modified carbine rifle for semi and full auto setting. The bullets from his rifle were flying around like hunting hornets till the magazine ran dry and the firing bolt clicked on an empty chamber. He didn’t have the time to get afraid when two bullets hammered him one after the other, one on his stomach, the other on the center of his chest just below the indentation of the neck. The gun dropped from his hands and he followed soon after it.


Seeing through the glassy triangular slits of his face mask, the eye cover made to protect his eyes against sudden light glare and help in enhancing his night sight, he watched the compound, knowing that the first people that might respond to the sudden gun fires were enemies already within. His intention to take down the place as quietly as possible was blown. That won’t be a problem though, just that it will make him add a little more effort. The factory compound was wide having a long rectangular building with corrugated metal sheets for the body. The building was about two stories high having three long metal tubes that has acted like chimneys during the factory’s heydays.


That was the major factory with the huge dead machines. Though it attracted Penance first, it wasn’t the closest structure to the gate but just the biggest. The floor of the compound was made of poured concrete that has several cracks and portholes. Grasses were poking out of the seams. Further in the compound are broken down semi trucks, with rusty body and peeling paints. Two forklifts were in the same condition too with missing parts probably cannibalized. At intervals are lampposts with halogen bulbs giving bright illumination in the place.

The guard was shocked almost protested but stopped when he felt the gun poked him below his belt line. He unconsciously looked up at the CCTV above him and noticed that it has been watching them since and the attacker seem not to realize that fact. He was sure that Brand was in the control room and may have informed those inside. Well if he acts like everything is normal, the attacker may not know that they will be waiting for him inside. He felt this guy is just so stupid and ignorant. Doesn’t he know who owns the factory? He just can’t mess with the mob and get away with it. Who is he anyway? He doesn’t act like a police or any law enforcement group he knows of. A private individual with a personal grudge? That’s double stupid. He will just get himself killed. Not that he care anyway, the bastard already killed one of them so he will deserve all that will be coming his way when he gets inside.


The guard turned to the gate. It is an electronically controlled one. With the major big doors for vehicles and a smaller one for persons. The guard punched in a code on the keypad by the gate and the small door clicked open. The gun muzzle at his back prodded him forward into the compound. As he stepped beyond the gate, several loud sounds of gun fire followed. The guard staggered as he was hit multiple times and he collapsed on the floor. There where metallic ping sounds as bullets ricochet off the metal of the gate. A wide round hit one of the halogen lamps fixed on the wall pillar holding the gate and it exploded in a shower of sparks and broken glasses.


A section of the gate went dark. Penance dove through the door that was already swinging slowly to lock itself after the guard passed through. He rolled on the ground heading away from the gate where most of the gun shots were concentrated. The firing hadn’t stopped yet even after they took a target down. That coupled with the wide round that took out that light shows these are undisciplined people with guns who are just excited to point there guns’ muzzles and pull triggers. The sudden darkness that descended over the part of the gate with the destroyed light covered the entrance of Penance as he dove in on a forward roll and the small door clicked shut .


Soon the eyes of the shooters will start to adjust to the change of lighting. Penance stood and ran away from the gate and avoided the bullets flying widely around the place. He noticed they were just three men shooting with guns, two were carbine rifles and one was a machine pistol, judging from the sounds coming from the muzzles. They where firing from the waist level, standing openly without staying behind any cover. They are all on regular clothes. Easy targets they have made themselves. The sounds of the gun fires were getting louder and the shooters seem not to care of the consequences. It probably didn’t enter their minds then that their actions will ultimately draw the attention of the authorities and soon police vehicles will be filling this place. An event Penance was sure the mob boss wouldn’t be happy with as from guessing, Penance has an idea what might be going on at the factor this night.

He was rudely turned to face his assailant as his Submachine gun was pulled off his shoulder. It was an uzi SMG with an extended 32-round magazine. His blood ran cold as he saw that the face of the attacker was fully covered in a black cloth material except the two triangular slashes that took the place of the eyes. The same black material covered the whole body, which would have remained invincible in the surrounding night if not for the street lights which it was silhouette against.
“I don’t need to tell you to freeze. “ A voice that sounded like a viper’s hiss whispered at him from the black masked face.


He couldn’t have resisted even if he wanted. Firstly his colleague lay lifeless on the floor before him spilling his life out through a huge hole on his head, that has totally killed his resolve. Secondly the hand holding him is much more stronger than he is. Then as if these two weren’t enough, the cold steel of the suppressor’s muzzle was pointed at his head.
“You answer every questions I asked directly with no hesitation or…. “ here the barrel of the gun waved at the dead colleague. “… you will grow a new hole on you head. Nod if you understand me. “


The guard nodded, his face breaking out with sweat. “How many guards are inside? “
“Twelve . “
“How are they located? “
“I can’t be fully sure at the moment, but four are supposed to be inside the mixing room. Three in the the package section. Three in the store and loading area, and two patrolling the perimeter. “
Penance jabs him with the gun on his tummy. “Who monitors the security cameras? “
“I’m sorry, totally forgot about that. He is my colleague in the control room , Brand. He alone works the night shift, checking the security cameras and the alarm system. “


“What’s the alarm for? To call in the cops? “
The guard swallow hard before responding. “No, we really won’t want the cops to come in here, the reason I feel is somewhat awkward. “
“I know what it is. “
“Yes right. The alarms system is part of regulations which we can’t get behind. So Brand is there to make sure the alarm doesn’t go off in an unexpected time, like when work is going on. So he monitors things and shut the alarm down when it would have gone off during a fire or an attack when we don’t want it to. “
“How many workers? “
“Thirty-five for the night shift and twenty for day. So there are thirty-five of them in there now. “
“Alright then, open the door. “

Returning to his car, he went to the back and opened the trunk, pulling out a knapsack, which when he opened contained small blocks of C4 explosives with already fixed blasting caps and timers that were yet to be activated. There were extra mag boxes for his two hand guns in the bag. He pulled them out and put them on the pouches made for them on his shoulder rig and thigh holster holding his hand guns. Though he has very few information about the level of resistance he will face in the factory, he feels he won’t need too much of a fire power. Though if the resistance turns out to be more that he anticipated, there’s always improvisation. Like some jokes he used to remember back in his old life, “the world is full of guns”.


The knapsack took his place over his shoulders on his back after drawing the zipper shut. His mask was on his face, there was no need to pretend as a passer-by now, that’s the reason the leather coat was on the sit of his car. The weight on his back didn’t even register on him. His Berretta, already fixed with the sound suppressor, was on his right hand as he moved, blending with the shadows created by the lights on the street and making sure his steps made no sound. One of the uniformed guards at the gate has a glowing cigarette stuck on his lip, a submachine gun dangling on a string by his side, his back was turned to the wall, the direction Penance was coming from. His colleague was looking at him when a sudden shock appeared on his face and he scamper for the submachine gun by the side.


“What the hell… “ was all he could say when a vice like hand clamped over his mouth. His eyes turned wide open as he saw a second hand materialized over his shoulder holding a gun that looked like a Berretta with an unusually long muzzle. He watched with paralyzing dark fascination as his colleague brought out his submachine gun and before he could line up a shot the long muzzled Berretta hold over his shoulder buckle with a sound like a cough. That was when he knew the extra muzzle of the gun was an affixed sound suppressor. Just like magic his colleague’s head erupted in a blowout of dark liquid. He stood still with a jagged hole over the center of his head and a geyser of blood pouring out. Just then the lifeless body collapsed like a boneless mass. The security guard tried shaking himself off with a sudden move but noticed that the hand that held him was strong beyond belief. It was his body alone that jerk, the hand holding him remained still.

10.04pm EST

Penance drove the Jaguar XF sedan into the area of Vinegar Hill, going for his next target. He hoped to hit Nestore with multiple strikes all at once to keep him reeling and guessing. Though the mafia boss is not his ultimate target, still he is a major one along the way. He was involved in what had turned Penance once beautiful life into this nightmare. His contributions were minor but were enough. Penance was cognizant that the head of the Nazzareno family was being manipulated by a puppeteer behind the scene, yet Nestore was guilty of his own involvement. Anyway taking him out will clean up Brooklyn for a while, freeing the city from the strangle hold of the mob.


The Jaguar sedan had encountered very few police patrol cars on his way to Vinegar Hill, Penance was sure their attention will be focus somewhere else. Slowing down the car, Penance pulled away from the major road and parked a bit by a side street. His target was just ahead. Vinegar Hill is an industrial area, with small and mid range factories built along sides of the road. Most of them are closed for the day but few still have their noisy machines running but further down the road side from where Penance intend to visit. The place was an old and abandoned factory that the mob boss has bought under a pseudonym.


The place was never truly renovated, just that the broken down wall was fixed and a new gate now replaced the old one. Two uniform security men now mounts the gate day and night. Not much activities have been noticed taking place there, just that sometimes semi trucks come in loaded with chemicals and everyday workers are carried in and out of the renewed factory in buses with outside people not sure what goes on in there. Though most of the work there seem to take place at night.


Coming out of the car, Penance moved close to a bright street light but blended with the shadow casted by the light beam to observe the factory. A signpost written with the name BYTCHEM LTD, in designing colors of green, blue and yellow, was placed a top the wall by the right side of the gate, decorating lights illuminating it. That might suggest to all passers-by that this is a chemical factory. Taking more time to study the place, Penance can see the two CCTV hung on the pillars of the gate, covering all angles of the entrance. Further observations showed that, on intervals, there are CCTV on the wall watching the factory’s external surroundings but he was able to pinpoint blind spots in their coverage area.


On top of the fence around the place are very thin wires with a black lighting bolt logo over a yellow background board instead of barb wires which shows they are electrified. Penance didn’t come prepared to deal with electrified fences so he will have to go through the gate. He didn’t see any high raised watchtower with guards, that would have drawn undue attention to them and bring in the authorities to investigate. He doesn’t really have a full floor plan on how the place is but that won’t really matter, all that is needed is to cause this place to stop functioning for a while and expose the secrets it is hiding.

Pheezie:
Apollux, where you dey since
Update dey hunger us nah.

I'm sorry, was a bit busy, did a little trip and was handling some very serious issues. I will try and see if I can update today. I already have some parts typed down before.

From the sounds of gun fires, Penance could tell two were submachine guns and one was a semiautomatic handgun. The shooters were too nervous to get a quick hit that the three guns were all on auto setting and with a single depression of the triggers, the guns emptied their magazines in just around a second flat. Bullets that didn’t hit the money bag, chewed woods and plastics on chairs, broke glasses and ceramic vases in the hall. The shooters paused in other to reload cursing their hasty attacks which made them shoot at the bag when it first appeared without being sure if it was the target. Penance smiled darkly, they will need more than curses to get rid of him.


Dropping the second back, he filled his hand with the sound suppressor enabled Berretta, racing for the door. He dove out facing the direction the shootings sounded from. The three men he had seen outside were there caught flat-footed on the process of reloading. They had steeped out of concealment in other to fire. Shock and surprises were on their faces as if in a slow motion Penance ended his dive in a rolling somersault, his Berretta spewing subsonic bullets at three targets. As the bullet punched into them they flip-flopped like puppets dangling on strings. As one they all dropped in different pose of falling.


Penance hurriedly went back in took the second money bag, the first was all torn to shreds. He didn’t really need the money anyway. He just wanted to deny this money from Nestore. As the first mob undercover guards bad shot their guns, Penance was already counting the seconds in his mind before the police will be called to the scene. Well the gun sounds were in the vault, so the sounds might mot have gone that far but the ones shot in the hall will definitely had gotten someone’s attention who might have dialed 911 by now. So time to go before the police arrive. As he stepped out of the building, since the door leading out is not that secured, he only just have to depress the green button and the door rolling back opened for him.


The fire alarm was shrieking as the door closed back and black smoke was already blowing out. Penance ran quickly across the road to his car, dropped the money in the trunk and went for the driver’s side. Two men that saw him took a look at his mask, weapon and appearance and high-tailed away from him. He wasn’t through with the mob tonight, the night is still young with places to go and people to disappoint.

Penance dipped his hand into the pockets of his leather jacket bulging with what he sought. Two cylindrical shaped grenade with conical bases. They are phosphorus Incendiary grenades. He faced the vault, some bills were already arranged in neat pills on shelves while other bills were still scattered on the floor unbounded yet. Activating the grenades he threw them into the vault and with a white flash the grenade exploded spewing out burning coals on the money and with a fiery explosion fire caught the currency. The fire caught the money on the floor, then started to burn the one arranged on the shelves from the lower level. Heat was spilling from the open vault as Penance turned his back.


“Time to go else you want to join your burning cash. “ Penance said to the staff looking on with jaws dropping at the destruction of the huge piles of money that will be running into millions of dollars in value.
The staff looked like their world was about to end. This is something unprecedented, someone destroying that amount of cash without a care in the world. They were paralyzed in place unmoving until Penance urged them to go out. The fire was spreading and in seconds the money were burning and turning to ash. Penance knew the armored steel of the vault will contain the spread of the fire.


The three staff ran out of the armored room into the banking hall. Penance stopped as he seem to hear tiny whispered conversations. Then running footsteps going out of the banking hall. He stopped allowing his senses to concentrate on sounds outside the vault, screening off the multiple sounds from outside the building. He was expecting to hear footsteps heading for the vault but he heard none. He knew that the staff while running out had probably encountered the three other men coming inside. The low whispered conversations was a proof of this. But the armed men had stopped at the hall and has refused to head for the vault as it should have been. This means they had stayed back in the hall in an ambush waiting for him to come out of the vault.


Since they had stopped, waiting to hear them coming is out of it. Penance concentrated his ears again, this time he was able to pick out their breathing. Then his nose picked up the odor of the sweat. The breathing was able to give him a general idea of how they are positioned. But without seeing them, he won’t be too sure. Well since they are waiting for him, no need to disappoint them besides the vault was getting hotter as the fire behind him was spreading. Penance picked up one of the money bags, heads for the vault door, few steps to the door he stopped and threw the bag outside. Sudden gunfire hammered at the bag, ripping through it and it contents, tearing them to pieces. Cash bills and parts of the bag were flung in a shower of falling currency papers and leather.

“Load the bags up people, the night won’t wait. “ Penance waved the smoking muzzle of his gun at them. He knew they were unarmed and no funny business will come from them. So his mind was attuned to somewhere else and was able to hear the quick and furtive footsteps sounding from outside the vault . While the people in the room started to comply and stuff the bags with clean bounded dollar bills unstained with blood, Penance was ready with his gun pointed at the open door. He knew that someone will be monitoring the CCTV cameras all around the place and his intrusion would cause a kind of response. Or if not, the other three men standing outside might see him going into the building with the guard who was supposed to be manning the door as odd and might be curious enough to come investigate.


Just then two men on blue short-sleeves with dark blue pants came at the door, guns drawn. Their guns were Uzi submachine guns , strange weapons to be carried by regular company securities. It only means that they are mafias, hence fair game.
One of the men at the door already had his gun up and pointed. Shock and fear moved him and he jerked his trigger finger. The muzzle of the Uzi spew bullets. Penance was out of the way before the gun shots came. Though the jerky pull of the trigger made the gunshots go off target. One of the women and another man got hit by the stray bullets. Penance didn’t let that distract him.


His Berretta shot just twice taking the shooter out. The second security was out of his surprise and aimed his Submachine gun. But before he could shoot, 9x19mm NATO bullets slammed into his chest, tearing through bones and lungs. He staggered backwards and collapsed, the gun dropping from nerveless fingers. As the second uniformed man lay dying, the other staff had stopped putting the dollar bills into the bags frozen by the actions just witnessed. Added to that was the sudden death of two of their colleagues.
“I don’t have all night to waste, be quick with loading that bag. “ Penance addressed them forcing them to resume. Penance attention was on the empty banking hall and the door leading outside. He knew those three outside will come in anytime soon.


With the two bags filled, he faced the staff. “It’s time to get out of here. “
“Why? You have gotten what you wanted. Just leave us to continue with our job. “ one of the man on suit who had spoken up the first time Penance came in said, he seem to be the manager there.
“No I haven’t gotten all I came for. “ Penance turned to him and his masked face reflected on his pupils. “I’m closing down business for you. My advice, go get another job. Skedaddle unless you want to watch the light show. “
“What light show? “

“Yes I do. “
“Then you know they will be coming after you fully. “
“That is what I’m hoping for. “
This dude is whacked in the head, the guard thought within him. He is just so dead but doesn’t know it yet. The guard knew that at least two security guys are always on the monitor room watching all the live feeds from the CCTV. And those guys have radios and phones to call for outside help and they are also armed. They are real mob soldiers unlike him who is just a hired regular security. He pushed the iron door inwards when they got there.


There where seven people in the room. Five men and two women. The two men were those that brought in the bags earlier that Penance had watched from his car. The other three men where in business suits staff of the place . One of the male staff was sitting on a chair with a laptop before him. The other two male staff were working with bill counters which were rolling lots of currency notes. At each interval, some notes were bounded by one of the woman with a wrapper then the second woman takes records by writing things down in a log book. Every one of them looked up almost at once as Penance stepped in with his captured guard.


Bundles of dollar bills lay scattered on the floor and others were scattered in unarranged piles that they crew were working on keeping orderly. The several inches thick stainless steel door lay open with some well arranged currency already filled inside.
“Ladies and gentlemen, stop counting. Get those bags and fill em up. “ Penance said bringing his gun to cover them and indicating some bags that appeared empty.
One of the men in suit looked up angrily, first at the two men who had brought the bags of money and now the new intruder, whose masked face and black on black appearance armed with gun should have scared him but it didn’t initially. He knew who the real boss of this place is and no man on his right sense with Bleep up with him.


“What the hell is the meaning of this? “ He growled loudly as his angry eyes settled on Penance.
The uniform guard took that opportunity to make his move. As soon as he saw the gun pointed away from him, he dove for the hand holding it. Penance other hand swings sideways and hammered him on his jaw. It took him backwards to smack his head on the edge of the thick door. He slide down slowly, his head bleeding and him passing out. The two other man in sport coats, the money bags bringers were unfrozen by that and hands going for the guns tucked in their belts.


Their guns were out and getting into target. Penance was faster. His own gun having not moved an inch even when he delivered the blow, chucked four times. The sound suppressor reducing to gunshots sounds to something like a slight cough. Two pairs of blood rimmed holes appeared on the two men, one on the heads and the other on their chests. They tumbled backwards and dropping heavily on the ground scattering dollars bills and staining the others with the blood dropping from the lethal wounds. The two women screamed with eyes bulging wide. The other three men looked in surprise and their actions paralyzed by fear.

“Make a noise or any kind of move and you will die right where you are standing. “ the masked face spoke with a dry voice that sounded like twigs breaking. “After killing you, I will still go in and get the money. Act like a wise guy and give your life away for nothing. “
The guard knew fear immediately then. He obeyed the urging from his captor and punched the opening button to the door, going inside followed by Penance. The guard was hoping the three men will notice that something odd has happened and come to his rescue. Well nobody can blame him for this, as he has no option since a gun was pointed at him.


The metal detector alarm on the door shrieked and an electronic voice warned that metal has been detected so the armored glass door at the other end stayed close and refused to open. Before the guard will turn back to Penance and give a lie that the door will not open since the security set up will seal the door once metal is detected. The masked face moved close to his eyes and the raspy whispered.
“You even try to open your mouth and utter any lie about this door not opening then I might just decide you are no longer of any use to me and end your sorry life right now. Be a good boy and hit the security override. I know you do pass through this door lots of time armed with your sidearm and the door has never locked you out. “


The guard complied, speaking the override security code and the door slid apart. They entered a place like a banking hall which was of course empty of people. The cashier counters with glass partitions were vacant same with the chairs for the customers.
“Hey Phil what…who the hell is that with you? “ A second uniform guard came out of one of the doors in the banking hall. He was speaking as he saw his colleague come in but his face turned to a look of surprise as he saw the masked man coming behind. His hand quickly went to the locked holster by his side as he spoke.


Penance didn’t want to kill him since he may just be an innocent hired worker. So instead of shooting from his gun, he moved, his feet like blurs of shadows. In less than a second he covered the few meters separating them. The guards hand was just wrapping around the butt of the gun when Penance got to him and hammered his neck with the flat of his hand. The guard stood still suddenly and collapsed. Penance had hit him lightly in order not to kill him. The first guard’s hand was reaching for his weapon when the extended sound suppressor tube of Penance’s Berretta APX pointed at him.


“You have a quick death wish? “ Penance asked the guard who had frozen his movement at the spot. “Where’s the vault and cash room? “
The guard knew that there are some CCTV around here that maybe watching everything going on, so he tried to act a little bold so he doesn’t look like a complete weakling when the footage will be shown later. So he will still comply and not give this masked dude any problem. The man appears to be someone who is badass.
“What do you want to do with that? “ He asked his stomach twisting with fear.


“For the third time tonight, I am making a withdrawal. Don’t make me ask you again. “ Penance poked him harder with the gun.
“It’s this way. “ the guard said quietly as he headed for a metal door staying ajar which is where his other colleague had obviously come out from. The guard wished this man’s face wasn’t covered in mask, the mob will seek him out and nail him for what he is doing. “Hey man do you know who you are about to jack? Do you have any idea who truly owns this place? “

“Excuse me? “ the security guard was too shocked to pretend. What Penance just said was so outlandish to him that it took him several seconds for his mind to fully understand it. Not only was this place more of a deposit site , most people that do business here knows what ever they are dropping here is not like going to bank to save your money but a point to go pay your dues to the mafia family, but made to look like a financial deposit transaction. So a stranger coming out of nowhere at night and talking about making a withdrawal is way more than being absurd.
“I said I’m here to make a withdrawal. “ Penance repeated calmly still keeping his full face from appearing on the CCTV lens.


The guard took a long look at him to be sure he is not a mob operative. Satisfied that he is not and the mafia don’t send their men to act this way, his mind came up with how to handle this politely and not make a scene. He noticed that the other three mob men were all looking at them waiting to see what will happen next.
“Sorry sir, we are closed for today. Business will resume by nine a.m tomorrow, then customers will be attended to. I suggest you go and come back tomorrow morning. “ The guard tried taking a full look at Penance. That was when he began to notice some odd things about him. He wasn’t wearing full clothes only a leather jacked. Covering the rest of him was a skin tight material that even covered his hands and feet like a glove and boot. Something bulged at his thigh which he wasn’t sure off.


“Well I’m making the withdrawal now, it’s an emergency. “
Before the guard can protest, something hard was poking him on his stomach. At first look, it was as if Penance was pointing at him but the odd thing was the hand pointing was unusually long. A second look showed it was a gun being held by the hand that accounted for the unusual length. The handgun it self has a bulky length which the guard realized was a sound suppressor affixed to the gun’s muzzle. A few poking from the gun made him realized it was really serious.


Lifting up his eyes to try and see who the looser is that was playing this expensive joke, he noticed the face has disappeared behind a full faced black mask with just the two white triangular shaped eye covers that was noticeable. He tried turning his head to give a kind of warning to the three other men watching but a hard jab at his stomach from the gun got his attention back.

A uniformed security man was at the door, he was the one checking people going in. He has a clean cut mustache, a slightly bulging round waist with a kind of utility belt holding the holster with a hand gun, a truncheon and walkie-talkie. He had opened the door for the two mobsters who had come in with the money bags and silently acknowledged the other three staying away with a slight nod.
Waiting till the foot traffic at the sidewalk before the building’s entrance had trickled down to almost none, as if the people around here are subconsciously aware that there is a time it becomes unadvisable to be seen around that area,


Penance still watched, trying to see if there may possibly be police vehicle that may patrol the area. Police presence in this part is very slim as the constant litigations and lawsuits filed against them have made passing through this place even on normal patrol to become unpleasant for the uniformed law men. The last stake out here had stopped a while back as the department has been made to end all overt investigations against Bricklay Savings & Loans. So the chances of a police vehicle passing by is very almost none existing still Penance took the time to watch before he made his move.


Getting out of the car, he closed and locked the door securely. His mask he wore on his head but didn’t pull it over his face yet, he left it as a kind of head cover. His leather coat distracted from the fact that he was putting on a skin tight clothing. The baggy shape of the coat hid the bulge from the weapon holsters on his chest but could do nothing about the thigh holster holding the desert eagle. Still it will be unnoticed from a distance at least that’s Penance hope. He crossed the road after waiting for passing vehicles. As soon as he got to the other side and was walking towards the entrance, the three mobsters who were hangout in leisurely form at various parts close by all stiffen and started looking at him. One of them that was puffing off huge smoke from a cigarette on his lips threw it down crushing the glowing stick under his feet.


They all looked at each other in surprise at what this lone man walking around here at this hour could mean. Is he a cop or a federal investigation agent. They held their cool though their hands were tingling with anticipation to reach for their hidden weapons.
The security man as the door started with surprise as if a fist just hit his face when Penance approached walking slowly but quietly to the door. Penance has noticed the two CCTV placed to focus at the entrance, so he turned his face to an angle where the camera lens wouldn’t pick his features completely.
“Hey can I help you sir? “ The security guard asked as Penance got close enough to hear him.
“Yup, I’m here to make a withdrawal. “ Penance answered him.

Chapter Four


7.57pm EST


Bricklay savings & Loans is one of the small financial institutions, within Brooklyn that caters for individuals and small scale businesses. It has among its list of clientele, lower tier workers, store owners and small time business people who deal on little cash. But the bulk of its activities is being used as money laundering tool to funnel huge amount of currency both in and out of the states. It is one of three small micro financial institutions that Nestore runs within Brooklyn to help him transfer funds for transactions whose origin and destinations he wouldn’t won’t the authorities to be aware of, which typically means more than 90% of his business transactions.


Though a legitimate institution, which the mafia family uses as a front for their criminal deals, still few legal businesses go on there. One of its more lucrative use for the mafia, is it is a point where victims of loans sharks gets to pay their debts in form of customers deposits. A lot of shops and small business owners who pays the Nestore family’s foot soldiers protection money, goes to the place like people who have financial transactions to perform and pay in to the mafia family account, giving the protection racketing a legitimate innocent face. This has kept the criminal act from persecution and the perpetuators from arrest.


Countless raids and arrests have produced nothing. Investigations has yielded no positive results. The front owners of these institutions had sued the police departments of unlawful arrests and intimidation. They had asked for an injunction on the law officers to stop them from arresting and investigating them. Since the institutions are legal and the police hasn’t been able to get any damnable evidence against them, the court granted their request. Of course the judge and several members of the jury, after the legal proceedings had their bank accounts suddenly fattened by anonymous donors who were impressed with their impartial discharge of their duties.


Nestore hence runs the most efficient and protected financial racketeering and money laundering schemes in most of New York using these institutions.
Penance sat behind the wheel of a Jaguar XF sedan car parked at a street across the road before the entrance to Bricklay Savings & Loans. It is an old seven story brown stone building with the lower three levels occupied by the financial institution, which had given the old building a somewhat face lifts with new renovations of more modern fixing and fixtures.


Penance had pulled off his mask so it doesn’t draw undue attention to him while driving through the streets still he wore his full body black on black skin tight spandex under a brown leather jacket which covers his shoulder rig that holds his Berretta APX handgun and the thigh holster holding his Desert eagle. For hours he had been driving around that place taking long route so most people don’t react to seeing his black colored Jaguar passing at the same place several times. As the day got dark, he relaxed and was able to park the car at this spot so he can watch the Bricklay’s entrance.


He had watched as they closed for the day and the regular workers came out of the bullet proof door, well dressed chatting and smiling. He waited till he saw the real customers of the place coming in after the close of business. They were obviously mob foot soldiers coming to deposit the day’s racket earnings. Few people came in to settle their loans accounts. Those ones didn’t stay long. But when the foot soldiers came they parted into two groups , those carrying the bags of cash went in and three huge men stayed back some distance away from the entrance, not close enough to be seen as standing by the door but not too far away from quick response incase there is need. All on open sport coats with bulging chest that shows they are armed.

End of chapter 3...i can feel the heat from here (like Firestorm usually say in Justice League Action cartoon... THE HEAT IS ON)

“My problem with this offer is it appears too good to be true. “ Chris continued after they broke up from the kiss. “When things appears that way it doesn’t always end well. “
“Just because it seems too good to be true doesn’t mean it’s all bad. Like I said you have nothing to loose by accepting it. “
“My fear is the parts they are not telling me, it has me worried.”
“It doesn’t have to be. It’s not a contract you have to sign that is binding. If you get in and don’t like what you see, you can easy pull out. “


“It might not be as simple as that hon, these guys are big companies with lots of resources. Their reach is very long. “
“And you, my husband are an unstoppable marine. Don’t worry, it won’t be as bad as you fear, I’m sure. Fret not my lord, I’ve always got your back. “
“Thanks milady, now I can go face the fire breathing dragon with nothing but my toothbrush. “
They laughed soon after that, held on to each other, they snuggled, enjoying each others company in the silence that followed. Later Erica stood up and was heading for the door.


“Hey hon you have one more chance. “
“For what? “
“To get me laid. “ An impish look took over Erica’s face. “The baby might come anytime now and you will have no more access. “
“Yes ma’am I’d get right on to it. “ Chris jumped up with a mock salute.
“Oh boy you don’t know what you are getting into. “ She wiggled her index finger at her husband signaling him to come closer. “Have I got new moves to show you. Just because I got a baby bump don’t mean I’m out. Come closer this old bitch has learnt some new tricks to show you. “

Erica stopped laughing as he saw the look on her husband’s face that he is not buying into her jokes. “I’ve watched you for the months you came back. I can see you are happy with us but you are not contented. There is always this eagerness in you to want to do something. As much as you are limited by your injuries, I see it on your eyes every time, you crave action, whether you want to openly admit it or not. At first, going out to join Jay in setting up the automobile repair shop has been exciting for you but I have seen the excitement wane as you either aren’t getting enough kick out of it or the limits set by your injured leg doesn’t allow you to. “


Chris turned away sadly from his wife. “Hon I have seen you try to hide that from me, doing you best to show me you are happy, but the lack of activities is weighing on you heavily. If I’m to have my way, I’d have kept you locked by my side forever. But that will be stupid, selfish and unreasonable. I love you with all my heart but that doesn’t mean I have to cage you. You heart craves for action. So I think taking this offer might just be what you need. “
Crossing his hand over her shoulders he drew her close. “I’m sorry babe, never wanted you to feel I wasn’t happy to come back. I’m not being a very good husband, am I?”


“You are the best husband in the world, you ain’t perfect but you do alright. “ Chuckling she wiggled her index finger before his eyes. “ Now don’t let that get into your head Sir, ‘cause you ain’t as hot as you think you are. “
“Oh yes I am my lady, I’m way hotter than that. Let me show you. “ He drew her face to him and planted his lips on hers. The kiss went on for some minutes, the tension within him draining.

“ That’s what happened to me today. “ Chris added as he finished narrating to his wife.
“I believe you must have thought about it, “ Erica said quietly after allowing the enormity of her husband’s narrative sink in. “So what have you decided? “
“Nothing. Waiting to hear your opinion on it. Remember you will be speaking for both Lisa and our oncoming man. So you got three votes to my one. “
“The offer seem too good to be true. But with the credible position of that organization, I don’t think they would want to get involved in shady stuff. It will cost them their military contracts. And a marine captain accompanying the representative shows it’s not a clandestine deal, the brass at the marine corps might be aware of it. “


“I have thought about all that hon, those are the strong arguments for them. “ Chris turned his face away from his wife, his gaze fixed on the moving clouds. “What I’m worried about are the things they are not telling me. “
“What if the things they are not telling you are not necessary for you to know? “ Erica asked slowly bringing his face to her and looking at his eyes. “You really have nothing to loose here. If the procedure doesn’t work, well you are back to where you are before, with a busted knee. But if it works, you not only have your knee fixed, you get a job in a private military contractor organization. “


“Joining the marine cost me lots of valuable time I should have spent with you and Lisa as she started growing up. This I want to make up for. I don’t know the level of security job they would want from me. It could be something serious and may take away more time I’m supposed to spend with my family . Besides I’m tired of actions, I have had enough excitement to last me a whole life time. “
The woman stopped suddenly as if she was struck with a shock, then broke down into an uncontrollable laughter that got her husband put on a worried face.


“Now what’s that all about? Was there something funny in what I said? “
“No hon, just that the ‘I’ve had enough excitement to last me a lifetime ‘ is funny coming from you. “
“How’s is that? “ Chris asked his wife.

“Tell me about this cure. “
“Basically the procedure for the cure is still experimental at this stage. “ Hank’s speech came in one after the other like a monotone of pre-recorded message. “It is a new breakthrough on accelerated tissue repair. The procedure is to repair and hopefully recover heavily damaged body parts in a way that modern medical methods have not been able to. It was a research project financed by… well you don’t have the security clearance yet to know who financed it. But the goal was to give much better aids to soldiers who got their limbs or body parts damaged during combat. “
“Hearing you using the words ‘hopefully ‘ ‘experimental ‘ tells me this is not a fully proven method yet, am I correct Hank? “


Chris asked taking his time to go through everything the biz suit man just said. Shifting through the words to detect the lies and half truths. Then try and figure out what he is not been told. Already the part about him not having a security clearance to know certain details about what he was being offered irked him but he let that slide. Chris saw Hank as he is speaking as nothing more than a salesman trying to convince him to buy what he absolutely does not need.
“Experimental is just a choice of words . The procedure has been tested enough and came out with possible results. But this is the first time we want to use human test subjects. Especially, soldiers who had battlefield injuries. “ Hank shifted his weight on the sofa as he changed his approach. “See it's like this, we are so certain of how successful the procedure will work on you that we are already offering you the job that for you to successfully carry out your duties, your knee must be properly healed. That is the degree of confidence we have. “


“Putting it that way makes it really convincing. “ Chris agreed. "Like you know I’m still recuperating. I’m still taking time adjusting to my new life and building up my family cohesion that my regular absence because of marine duties have caused to whittle down. So you will give me some time to think about your offer. “
“No problem Chris, “ Hank stood and handed him a business card. “Here’s my card, call me when you are ready. “
“You seem so certain I will accept you offer. “ Chris quipped as he took the card.
“I think this is the best thing for you right now because you get to benefit two ways, a cure and a job. I bet it beats just staying idle and doing nothing really significant for the rest of your life is not a way you would like to check out. “

“I know you may have genuine reasons to be concerned, that was why I’m here. “ Captain Rolland spoke for the first time after Hank had picked up the thread of the conversation. “I accompanied him to show that the marine has confidence in the organization Mr. Jerrold here represents. They have had dealings with the marine corps for years and has always been dependable and reliable. “
“So what’s the catch? “ Chris finally asked after taking more time to think what’s been said. He has no way of verifying what the captain just uttered . Still Chris wanted to know more though he has little interest in the proposition, just curiosity. “Don’t tell me there’s none. I know there is. So just spill it out to me as it is. “


“Just this, for you to perform well in the job we are offering, your knee has to be totally cured and fully functional. “
“And that is why I told you before now that you must be mistaken thinking I’m the best for a security job. “ Chris pointed out to Hank.
“We know and that’s where ‘the catch’ as you so dramatically put it comes in. We intend to help you by offering a possible cure for your knee. “
This gave the ex-marine pause. If there was any possible way to return his damaged knee to full restoration, the marine corps would have found it and used that on him. Or is this the marine’s way for providing a cure for him?


Unlikely. This so called private military contractor is a private business organization with their only connections to the military is the services and goods they offer. Something definitely feels odd about this. As much as the presence of captain Rolland has accompanied this man here to help smoothen things out to give it a marine official/unofficial kind of cover, this is not how the marine operates. But the possibility of getting cured dampened the danger signals already mounting up in his mind.

“This is Hank Jerrold, he represents an organization that has a very good proposition for you. “ Captain Rolland said. “I’m just here to make you know that the organization he represents is legit and what ever he is proposing is real. “
After some seconds with Chris saying nothing but looking at the man in business suit, Hank coughed briefly before speaking. “Like he said I’m Hank Jerrold but please call me Hank . I’m here on behalf of D.R.I.V.E, that is an acronym for Directorate of Research Initiative and Virtual Enterprise. It is a private military contractor to the US government, one of them that is. “


“So what does such a high value organization need from a crippled ex-marine? “ Chris didn’t try in anyway to hide the edge on his voice. He had never liked captain Rolland anyway. He had unfortunately been Chris drill instructor back during his days as a raw recruit. That had soured his mind towards the captain. But he found out he likes the accompanying civilian even less. Chris hated the man on sight without a discernable reason.
“We want to offer you a job. “
“Did I hear you well? Did you just say a job? “
“Yes we want to offer you a job. “
“Seems like a good idea, “ Chris scoffs. “I’m sure it will have to be a desk job, right? “


“No, Chris, hope I can call you Chris? “ Hank went on without waiting for a response. “We are offering you a job as a security personnel in one of our facilities. “
The ex-marine controlled the sudden urge to laugh hysterically but smiled darkly instead. “I’m sure you are mistaking. If you didn’t know full well about me before coming here, I think by now you must have seen that I’m crippled. I guess that shows I’m not your man. “
“I’d beg to disagree Chris. I have read your files and my director is convinced you are the one for the job. We are more attracted to your inner motivation, your level of self control and coordination in combat and quick wits with reflexes in sudden change environments. “


“Very flattering of you Mr. Jerrold. “
“I deal in proven and tested facts and not flattery, Hank. I’m convinced you are the right subject for what we need. “
The last sentence caused a spike in Chris mind’s level of caution. Something sounded awfully off about Hank’s particular use of words. He distrusted the sweet talking business suit all the more. If not for the accompanied marine captain, which he hated also, this was the right time to tell the suit to shove his job and trash up his ass. Still he was curious. Something tells him that there are lots that have been left unsaid or are yet to be spoken.