by T S Paul
This case was going to be a real test of our strengths and weaknesses. From what I could gather, WITSEC left any and all magical beings alone. The program wouldn't protect them if they were involved in a legal matter. In those few, rare cases, when they did try to protect someone, the officers were to keep at least ten feet from the witness. Most of the time that wasn't enough. There was a wall at their main offices in DC covered in gold stars. Over two hundred Marshal's had lost their lives before the unwritten rule had been enacted. Death by Magick could be very nasty.
Anastasia's RV was parked closest to the lab with my RV in front of it. I still had a lot of questions for her about the Vampire race and how their laws worked. I did not know what her agenda was or where her loyalties lay. She had broken my trust, and that was a hard road to travel to get back what we had. So far, she was playing it straight with me. We still talked, but there was still tension. I would deal with it later. Vampires. Grandmother did warn me they were tricky.
The nasty, stinky, suburban we had was returned to whence it came after we wrapped up the clan war and kidnapping case. I patted the side of my RV as I passed. It was older than we wanted, but according to Chuck and Mongo who kept it repaired, it was sound. I frowned. Mongo. He got a raw deal from the FBI. I wondered if Chuck had heard all the details yet. I would have to ask. So, of course, I walked right into an argument first thing.
"... it's a cupcake if you put the icing on it." Chuck was glaring at Bill.
"Muffins are muffins. Cupcakes are just cake with icing on them." Bill fired back.
"Bill, that's what I'm saying. This is a cupcake." Chuck held up a small cupcake. "But if you take off the icing, it's just cake. Put icing on a muffin, and it's a cupcake. Because muffins are just cake."
Bill stared at the much younger Agent and shook his head. "No idea what you are saying right now. Muffin's aren't cupcakes."
Chuck threw up his arms. And started in again. "Muffins are just cupcakes without icing. Put icing on them, and you have cupcakes!"
Cat saw me enter and rushed to give me a big hug. "Thank the Gods you're here. Maybe they'll stop now."
"How long have they been arguing this time?" I watched as Chuck started lobbing muffins at Bill. Muttering a word to myself, I waved a hand at them. The bits of pastry and cake froze in mid air.
Cat sighed. "An hour. Thanks."
Taking a cupcake down from mid-air Chuck bit into it. "Hey, Agaathaa howwarreya?"
I gave him a funny look, and he swallowed. "How are you?" he repeated.
Tossing the secured drive to Cat, I replied. "Good. Thanks for coming. We have a potentially difficult case this time. But before we get started, and I forget, Chuck, have you heard from Mongo lately?"
Chuck looked down at the floor for a moment. "I guess you heard?"
"Some. The Director wouldn't tell me anything, but Melissa is the gossip Queen around here. She filled me in a bit. What did he do specifically?" Melissa was entirely too anxious to tell me about Mongo's fall from grace.
"He messed up really bad this time. I did warn him, Agatha." Chuck shook his head in denial.
"We know. Mongo's a good guy, but the whole surfer-dude thing wasn't really FBI standard." Cat said as she patted her friend and packmate on the back.
"That was what made him so cool. He was great at undercover assignments. Who would suspect a great big guy with white dreadlocks dressed like a surfer?" Chuck chuckled thinking of him.
"For the Academy that might be OK, but not out in the field. I know a few Agents that will make you go home to re-shine your shoes." Bill didn't know Mongo, but he could relate.
"That was sort of his problem. Polar bears are rare in even the Ursa Packs. He had a hard fitting in around people. He made some mistakes the first couple of months at the Malibu field office, but screwed up on a bust with drug enforcement." Chuck shook his head.
"I told him more than once to quit using that crap. A third of the evidence went missing from lockup. The SAIC ordered mandatory drug tests on all Agents to make sure it wasn't them. He knew he would fail so fessed up about his personal use to the man in charge. The drugs turned up at a local LEO's home, but Mongo had admitted he used. His only choice was to resign or get fired. He resigned."
Ouch. "Chuck, you can't control some people. Especially Mongo. He was going to do what he was going to do, regardless. Did he go back home?" Asking as I sat down next to him.
"Yeah. His father put him to work in his restaurant Bearly Naked Ribs in Huntsville, Alabama. He's been waiting tables." Chuck said sadly.
"At least he had a place to go. Did you tell him my dad might need help?" Cat mentioned trying to help.
"He knows. We met your dad when we delivered the Jacks to his hunting lodge, remember? Mongo said he was going to try something new, whatever that means. I'll give him a call in a few weeks to touch base." Chuck wasn't happy about the whole thing.
"He's a big boy. Bouncing back shouldn't be an issue for him. Is Anastasia here?" I looked around for the vampire.
"No. She's sleeping in her RV right now. Want me to take notes for her?" Chuck pulled out a tablet.
"Don't worry about it. I'll brief her. This is going to be a bit unusual. The Federal Witness Protection Program has requested our assistance. They have a witness that needs help, and they thought of us." I motioned to Cat to dim the lights and put the presentation up on the main screen. My former warehouse was now our main meeting room here at the lab.
"Agatha. Why does WITSEC need us? That is highly unusual for them to reach outside of local channels. Did the Director warn you about other agencies?" Bill looked concerned.
"She did. They have a witness that has to survive to make it to trial. His name is Marvin Loman, and he's an accountant." I motioned to the screen, and a picture appeared. "What have you heard about the Magickal Mafia?"
Chapter 2
"The Magical who?" Chuck leaned back in his chair and looked at me askance.
"Please tell me you aren't serious? I knew I should have retired early." Bill hung his head.
"We covered this in class. They're Italian. Something about working with the American Mafia. Our instructor didn't talk about it much," Agatha explained.
"Right. It was one of the optional classes on organized crime. Most of us would never even encounter those guys. Or at least not normally. Don't get me wrong. The Were Reservations still experience trouble with the Mexican Mafia or Thirteen Skulls. Occasionally we run into Magick users in cahoots with Bratva or the Russian Mafia. Some of our branches out West deal with the Yakuza and Triads. But the Magickal Mafia is a whole different ball game." I glanced at Bill when he mumbled something.
"Bill?" I questioned.
He let out a sigh. "I had a run in with them in my younger days. I'll fill you in later." He ever so slightly shook his head, and I nodded back.
"Think organized criminals controlled by Witches. That's the simple version. Time for a history lesson." I slid back against my desk and sat on it.
"In the late 1800s to early 1900s, the country of Sicily was in turmoil. Drought and quite poor harvests coupled with overpopulation and corrupt government officials brought many refugees to the United States. This country at that time had huge labor shortages." I began.
"Shortages? When was this?" Cat cocked her head and stared at me.
"Think about it Cat. This country was still recovering from the effects of the war-between-the-states. Slavery had ended, and industrialization was beginning to boom. Farmhands and factory workers were in demand. The western states were still absorbing those that wanted new lives away from the cities or offered them a chance at a homestead. Of course, there was a demand," I explained.
She nodded at me.
Continuing, I said, "So, lots of immigrants. They brought their culture and their problems with them. In Sicily, they were called the Black Hand. Once here, they started to call themselves the Cosa Nostra. We call them the Mafia. For the longest time, we at the FBI refused to believe t
hey even existed. But they did. They were ingrained in society filling the needs and wants of a culture we are only now starting to understand. Unknown to the Dons and Capos that controlled the soldiers of the Mafia, there was an another player in the game." I held up a finger to Chuck. His funny look told me he had a question.
"Capos and Dons are the second in command and masters of the Mafia, Chuck. They run things. Or at least they did. How do you take over an organization? You infiltrate it. That is what this third party did. They had patience. More than you can imagine. As soon as the self-styled Dons formed their organizations and set their boundaries, this hidden group struck. Overnight they controlled everything down to the last soldier and associate. The Dons never knew what hit them," I explained further.
"Agatha? Who could do that? The Mafia are more paranoid than those OSS boys." Cat's eyes were narrow, and she was concentrating on the floor.
"When the Dons came here, they brought their families and relatives. Why leave them to suffer at home?" I motioned with my hands. "Remember this was pre-reveal. The world had little knowledge of the supernatural. We didn't exist to them beyond legend and rumor. The old religions are strong in rural areas. Sicily was a prime area for the cult of Aradia. Worshipers called Strega, formed covens and groups. They intermarried with the locals and hid from the influence of both the church and the Witches Councils. The American Council of Witches would consider them to be Rogues. They stayed hidden, reformed their groups after reaching the new world, and waited for the right moment."
"When the Mafia was formed," Bill nodded.
"Yes, when the Mafia was formed. The Strega were family; Mothers, Grandmothers, Sisters, Daughters, and Wives. All conspired to take the organization right out from under them, and they succeeded." I stated.
"Did they know it was the women?" Chuck was totally focused on me.
"Some did, or that is what we believe. The rest? Not real sure. But between 1905 and the advent of the great reveal, there was a complete changeover of leadership. An entire generation of Mafia Don's vanished. Their replacements were harder, sharper, and completely focused on control and leadership. Post-war much of the world was still in shock. The purge wiped out many of the world's politicians and government leaders. Entire races, long thought extinct or mythological, were thrust into the light. Witches, as a whole, slunk back into the darkness. The Strega never came out in the first place. Like spiders, they hid from the world and directed their minions to carry out the business of the Mafia. Now leap ahead a century to now. They are still with us. Hidden in the shadows. Waiting. Watching. Looking for an edge. That is what the Magical Mafia is today. A power we barely have any knowledge of completely hidden in society."
Chuck protested, "How? I mean the regular FBI makes mob busts all the time. Just last week they broke up a massive prostitution ring in Missouri. They had to have had inside information to make that bust."
"True. However, not one Coven member over the rank of underboss or Capo has ever been turned. Anytime they try, both the Agents and the snitch die. The Dons and their Masters were believed to be beyond law enforcement until this week. One of our bureau offices has a man in custody that can identify both a Don and a few of the members of the Commission." I heard glass break and looked toward Bill. He sat there with his mouth open in shock.
"Bill, are you OK?" He shook himself and reached to pick up the shards of glass. "Leave it. I'll get it later. What's wrong?"
"The Commission? We possess a link to the freaking Commission? How?" Bill sputtered.
"Agatha, what's the Commission?" Cat and Chuck both spoke at once.
"Bill?" I looked to him to explain.
Bill began, "The Commission is the holiest of holies when it comes to all things Mafia. Most wise guys will tell you it's a council of Dons that get together to discuss territory and profits. That movie, uh... what was its name? The man from Corleone. He was on the so-called Commission. That is a good one to view to understand how the American Mafia works. The second one is better for the early history or at least what us regular humans are aware of. The FBI only became informed of the Magical Mafia a few years ago. It took computers to decipher some of their communiques. We call them the Black Hats or the Prime Coven in our messages. They are, as Agatha has called them, spiders that lurk below the surface." Bill looked away from us and stared at the wall.
Staring at him for a moment, I too looked away. "On a side note. Bill here had a run in with them at one point in his life, and he may discuss that with us soon." I glanced in his direction and saw him nod.
"Because they fall under Magical Crimes, Jack has a file on them. According to his research, there are thirteen coven members of the Black Hats. Strega members will bear a tattoo of both the Moon Goddess and the Horned God on each of their shoulders signifying their commitments. Most, if not all, wear either an ornate Pentagram ring or necklace on their bodies." Demonstrating I pointed to my shoulders.
"I will say so does just about every other Wiccan or modern Witch on the planet. To find them that way is almost impossible." I held up my hand to show the ring I always wore.
"How does this relate to WITSEC?" Cat asked.
"A rather good question, Cat. They have a witness in their possession that can identify both one of the Dons and a Strega leader." I smiled as Bill shot upward.
"Holy crap, Agatha! That's huge." The smile on his face dropped. "He's dead. No one survives to get to trial. Not ever. Remember 'Unlucky' Luciano? He tried to turn state's evidence against the face of the Commission, Meyer Lansky, and he was stabbed, drowned, hung, and shot. Not in that order. No one has ever survived to even set foot in court over these guys."
"Except this time, someone in Organized Crimes Division got smart. They hid the witness in the courthouse three days before the Grand Jury hearing. He managed to give his testimony before the assassins showed up and he was whisked away into protective custody. However, the convoy he was in was attacked, and half the group of US Marshals was killed. The car they were driving was melted," I told him.
Cat frowned. "Melted? Is that even possible? Could you do it?"
"Good question. Maybe? I can see in my head how it works, and perhaps I carry a spell of Grandmother's that might do the job." I glanced in the direction of my office. Grandmother had given me an heirloom spellbook that might have something like that in it.
"Bill will agree with me on this. WITSEC absolutely hates the FBI. They work closely with our counterparts in the human part of the Bureau, but they are given all the dirty work. Don't get me wrong. What they do is necessary, and a huge help to our cases. But we give them hardened criminals and expect them to turn them into regular people."
Chuck leaned forward. "Do we really? I thought WITSEC was for witnesses and people who see the wrong thing at the wrong time. Like the movies."
"That's only about five percent," Bill answered looking at him. "Remember that man-on-the-street witnesses are rare. They see the wrong thing or are easily confused. The real information comes from bad guys that want to turn state's evidence to save themselves from the gas chamber! WITSEC says they've relocated over eight-thousand since the seventies."
"And no one they relocate who follows the rules has died on their watch. Note, I said those that follow the rules." I glanced at my notes. "Quite a few of these guys can't cut it and go home or break cover, and then they die. Usually quite horribly."
"Agatha. What do they want from us?" Bill finally asked the question I was waiting for.
"They want us to hide the current witness from Magickal attack. At the same time, Washington wants us to try to locate the Magickal Mafia."
"They aren't asking a lot, are they?" Bill just shook his head.
"No, they aren't. I talked this over for hours with the Director. She feels this could be a significant drain on our resources." This conversation was about to turn exceptionally ugly. I just knew they would hate my plan.
"How so? We can keep him safe if you shield the RV like you did
that time last year. I don't see the issue." Cat protested.
"Cat, the issue is this. The Mafia Witches are insanely powerful. Yes, I can shield the RV, but how do we do the second part of the assignment if we drag a witness with us at all times?"
Bill caught on first, shooting me a look and shaking his head no. "No! It's far too dangerous. Let WITSEC guard him, you are far too valuable to risk."
"Director Mills said the same exact thing. I can't be in two places at once. It's the only thing I can think of that will complete our assignments."
Cat looked between the two of us. "What is he talking about?"
I let out a big sigh. "To do this, we need to split up. I will take the witness and hide him under a Magickal cover somewhere. The rest of you will track down the assassins and the Strega. It's the only way to do both assignments."
