Fighting to Survive

by Rick Pine

  “Let’s go and catch up to Nicolas,” barked Casey. He stepped over the body and picked up his gun. A red light appeared next to the trigger. He threw it back to the floor. Alex leaned over to pick it up instead.

  “Leave it,” said Casey.

  Alex replied. “Why?”

  “That red light means it’s locked. It’s handprint sensitive. Only he can use it,” Casey said, pointing to the guard on the floor.

  Alex shrugged and started walking to the gym’s rear door.

  “Is… is he dead?” Billy asked, hesitantly.

  Casey shrugged. “No time to find out, and he might have called for backup already. Let’s move. But stay behind me. And stay quiet!”

  Casey picked up a short, empty dumbbell bar on his way out the door. “This might come in handy,” he said under his breath. He led the three of them through the open rear door.

  At the back of the gym was nothing but a maze of old offices, most of which hadn’t been used for decades. Casey noticed some antique computers and laptops sitting on top of the desk that he remembered from his childhood. As they continue to creep slowly along the narrow hall, Casey turned to Alex and Billy and spoke quietly. “If anyone sees us, jump straight into one of these rooms. And don’t hide behind the walls.”

  Alex nodded, understanding what was implied. Billy’s scared look remained. Casey was certain Billy wouldn’t make the connection between the paper-thin office walls and the slew of bullets that would inevitably follow if they were caught. But Casey was sure Billy trusted him enough to blindly follow his directions.

  At the end of the hall was an intersection. Casey could see the wall in front of him, denoting there was a choice; left or right. Casey held back just short of the end. He signaled for Billy to stay put, and motioned for Alex to come up beside him on his left.

  “On the count of three, I want you to quickly look around the corner for a second and tell me what you see. I’ll look the other way at the same time,” he whispered.

  Alex got ready, pushing herself against the wall of the office to her left.

  “1… 2… 3...”

  After looking for only a second, both snapped their heads back. Casey had seen nothing but another empty row of offices.

  “There was someone at the bottom of the hall. His back was turned. I couldn’t see who it was,” whispered Alex.

  “Was it Nicolas?”

  “I don’t know. Should I—”

  “No. Hang back with Billy. Keep him safe.”

  Alex nodded.

  Casey continued. “I mean it. If anything happens to me, make sure he gets home, okay?”

  “Such a drama queen,” Alex said, “but I’ll keep him safe, old man.”

  Casey wasn’t sure whether to thank her or smack her round the chops. Then he remembered that even though she’d killed grown men, she was still a minor. Technically. He settled on thanking her.

  Casey slid into Alex’s previous position as soon as she moved back next to Billy. He took his turn to peek round the corner, and saw the back of a man wearing a suit. His size matched that of Nicolas, but the lights were out at that end of the hall. Casey continued to watch the man, as he appeared to be waiting for something.

  A few seconds later the door at the end of the hall opened. Another guard with a gun appeared. Casey was sure he was too far away to be seen, especially as the mysterious man he was watching was blocking the guard's view of the hall, so he continued to watch.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Nicolas was standing in the hall waiting for the door in front of him to open. He wasn’t sure how far Casey and the kids were behind him, but he’d hoped they were out of view.

  He’d learned the guard’s routes within a few weeks of joining Ciro’s crew. It wasn’t difficult. The guards were mostly there to catch drunken punters that had gone for a wander. The rows of offices down here weren’t accessible to the general public, not unless they took out several armed guards in the process. But what was down here were supplies and Ciro’s personal escape room.

  No one had ever dared to take out the Don’s son in public. Getting a gun, of any kind, inside the Pit was practically impossible. Even though Ciro had a lot of enemies, no one had tried to assassinate him here.

  But the Cosa Nostra’s Dons were suspicious men. Mostly of each other. So every place of business had secret tunnels and escape routes. Most Caporegime didn’t have them, but given Ciro’s relation to the Don they’d felt it best to extend the safeguards to him. Which certainly didn’t help his already inflated ego. And Nicolas knew that these escape routes were checked almost hourly.

  The door opened. “Who’s that?” yelled the guard.

  “Hey Tom, it’s Nicky.”

  “Hey, man. What are you doing down here? You seen Clive? He’s not answering his radio.”

  “I was watching the cells for him while he went for a cigarette. Just on my way back out now he’s back. He must have left his radio in the kitchen again. Wouldn’t be the first time.”

  Tom looked at Nicolas suspiciously. “Why didn’t you go back the main way. Why come this way? It’s ten times longer, and—”

  “I like the walk,” Nicolas interrupted. “Plus, it’s nice and quiet down here. Sometimes I curl up in one of those offices and take a nap.” Nicky laughed. “Don’t tell anyone,” he said with a wink.

  “Maybe I should go check on Clive. He’s always sleeping on the job, too. Fucking slacker,” Tom said, scowling.

  “He’ll be fine. No need.”

  Tom pushed by Nicolas.

  “No need to be like that, Tom.”

  Nicky put his hand inside his suit jacket and gripped his gun. He was too late. Tom was already running down the hall and spraying bullets. “Fuck!” blurted Nicolas.

  Nicolas drew his gun and fired, missing his target, who was already twenty-five feet away. Tom dove into the open office on his right with lightning reflexes. Nicolas dove to his left just in time as Tom returned a short burst of fire.

  Nicolas stayed out of sight in the office, waiting for Tom to approach him. His SM2065 handgun had a fraction of the ammo that Tom’s FBG-1S rifle had, so there was no point getting into a pointless firefight.

  It remained silent for a minute, then he heard a clinking of keys as Tom began to move from office to office, presumably working his way up the corridor to where he was hiding.

  There was a distinctive thud, as if he’d fallen over. Nicolas threw himself out of the doorway and onto the ground, firing a single shot as he hit the floor.

  He was suddenly filled with shock and remorse as he watched the bullet hit the man standing in front of him—Casey.

  Chapter 26

  “DO YOU FUCKING MIND?” Casey yelled before Nicolas could fire another shot.

  “What the—?!” Nicolas was stunned. Where had he come from? Tom was laying face down on the floor and was probably dead.

  Casey looked at his upper left arm where the bullet had grazed him. He looked back at Nicolas and threw the bloodied dumbbell bar at him. “Do that again, and it’ll be the last thing you ever do!” warned Casey.

  “Sorry man, I didn’t know it was you.”

  “Alex, Billy, let’s go,” Casey commanded.

  Nicolas watched as the two teenagers appeared from around the corner, Alex leading Billy by his arm. Nicolas stood up. “This place will be swarming soon,” he said.

  “Wait, where the hell are we going? You got a plan, right?”

  Nicolas smiled. “Don’t worry. I have a plan. We’ll use Ciro’s escape tunnel.”

  Casey nodded. “Well, where is it?”

  “In Ciro’s office, through there,” he said, pointing through the door Tom had left open. “And don’t worry, Ciro’s out. And they’ll be no more guards.”

  “But?”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s not that easy to use an escape tunnel. Remember who my father was? It’ll have some sort of security.”

  “Tom was it. There are motion
sensors in there, though, so the alarm will be triggered when it detects us. But we’ll be long gone before they can find out who. The cameras will snap us, too. But they’ll know you lot are missing anyway, so it doesn’t matter.”

  Alex hit Casey on his arm. “Can we fucking go, or have you two ladies got more gossip to catch up on?”

  Casey growled. “Nicolas leads. You two stay behind me.”

  “Alright, follow me,” Nicolas said for the last time.

  ♦ ♦ ♦

  Several minutes later they all walked into Ciro DeLuca’s office. Casey was glad to see that his office didn’t have additional security. The office was small compared to the usual grandeur to which the Cosa Nostra were accustomed. The large mahogany desk was the usual centerpiece of the room. Casey looked around to find the escape tunnel. He didn’t need to though, as Nicolas walked straight up to it. He was now standing in front of the bookcase behind the desk. He reached for a book and pulled it, which caused the bookcase to slide to the right, revealing the tunnel.

  “How cliché,” said Casey. As they entered the tunnel Casey spotted the motion sensor and camera above the entrance. “Hope this isn’t a long tunnel?” he said.

  “No, just a few hundred feet,” Nicolas replied. He was right.

  At the end of the tunnel was a set of concrete steps leading up to a slanted steel door in the ceiling. The double door had a lever across the center. Nicolas lifted it, causing it to screech as it fought the rust as it moved.

  As the door swung open they were faced with the barrel of a rifle.

  “Get back,” yelled Ben.

  The tunnel was narrow, but wide enough for three people to stand next to each other. Alex pushed Billy back, forcing him against the wall. She did the same. Casey put his back to the opposing wall and looked over at Alex, where their eyes met. Casey didn’t have to say anything or make any signals. He could see from the look in her eye she knew what to do.

  Nicolas stood in the middle of the tunnel, the gun pointing at his head.

  “Where do you think you’re going?” asked Ben. “Why do you have the escaped prisoners with you, Nicky?”

  Before he could answer, Alex shouted, “Oi, fucknut”.

  Ben kept the gun pointing at Nicolas while looking over his right shoulder at Alex. The second he did, Casey kicked the gun upwards, which failed to relinquish Ben’s grip. Before he could bring the gun back down to start shooting, Alex swung her leg with all her might, making contact with Ben’s ribs with her vicious roundhouse kick. Ben leaned over, winded.

  Casey immediately took advantage by grabbing the back of his head and bringing his knee up to meet his face with a fiendish crunch. As Casey let go and Ben started to fall forward, Alex took the opportunity to strike with a finishing blow. She brought her leg up straight with such flexibility that her calf practically touched her ear. And with a violent change of direction, she slammed her axe-kick down on to the back of his head, crushing it between her foot and the concrete floor underneath his face. Blood shot out from the side of his face on contact, as his nose shattered against the unforgiving concrete.

  Casey bent over to take his rifle. It too had a red light, but this time Casey took it, just in case Ben decided to get back up. He’d rather face him unarmed if he needed to kick his ass a second time. He ran up the steps and poked his head through the door, looking around for more guards, and was relieved to see the coast was clear.

  “I recognize this place,” Casey said, “and my truck should be on the next street.”

  “Better hope it still has its wheels on, parking in this neighborhood,” Nicolas said, smiling.

  “If it hasn’t, you’re pushing us home,” Casey joked.

  Nicolas laughed. “Look, I need to go. My cover’s blown, and I need to get outta dodge. You okay from here?”

  “Yeah. Stay safe.”

  “You know they’ll come looking for you, right? The boy, too. You need to do a disappearing act.”

  “No need to tell me. I’ve disappeared before. I’m sure I can do it again.”

  Nicolas looked towards Alex. “You too, you know?”

  “Don’t worry about me, I know the deal,” she replied.

  Nicolas turned and started to briskly walk away, but stopped and turned. “And don’t forget, you owe me! Twice!” He held up two fingers to make his point. “I won’t forget!”

  “I’m sure you won’t,” replied Casey.

  Nicolas ran to the end of the alley and disappeared in the opposite direction of the Pit.

  Billy spoke for the first time in what felt like hours. “Uncle Casey, you’re bleeding,” he said, pointing to his arm where the bullet had brushed him earlier.

  “Don’t worry, it’s not deep. Your ma will fix it for me, I bet.”

  Billy smiled. Casey was sure Billy was anxious to get home to his mom; what twelve-year-old wouldn’t be?

  “Let’s go home, Billy,” he said, putting his arm around the boy before looking to Alex. “You coming?”

  Alex paused. She looked hesitant. “Yeah... thanks.”

  Casey smiled at her and signaled with a nod to follow him. Moments later they reached his borrowed truck, Casey was relieved it still had all its wheels.

  They all climbed in and started the long drive home as fast as possible.

  Chapter 27

  Northern District

  District Office of Don DeLuca, Columbus (formally in Ohio).

  Ciro felt smug as he sat in Don DeLuca’s office waiting for his old man to arrive. He thought back to yesterday’s events, which had left a bad taste in his mouth. Not only did they lose another shipment of petroleum to the IA, but he had lost men in the process. Now was not the time to mourn, though, as he had business to settle.

  Despite the earlier failings, Ciro was confident his father would see things his way when he proves Joseph Gotti was leaking the shipment details to the IA. And not only that, his accomplice, one Francis Russo, was now behind bars and waiting to be collected by the Genovese family of the North-East District.

  Handing over the prisoner had much deeper ramifications than a pat on the back. He wouldn’t even accept the substantial bounty. This was a gift from one family to another. Truth be told, the Five Families hadn’t been getting on too well of late. The IA was becoming an increasing disturbance, not only to shipments of oil products, but to their ability to govern the people of America.

  The Cosa Nostra had achieved their position by winning a cyberwar, but the irony was that they were losing another. Today’s cyberwar was more discreet, with hackers breaching the Cosa Nostra’s servers with considerable regularity. So much so, that the organization had been using handwritten letters instead of email, as it was now considered a safer way to communicate. How times had changed.

  Ciro stood as the door opened.

  “Good morning, Ciro,” said his father, in his usual deep, stern voice.

  “Good morning, Don DeLuca.”

  Don DeLuca sat in his leather executive chair while signaling to Ciro to sit also. No sooner had they sat, Joseph Gotti walked through the door.

  “Close the door, Joey,” Don DeLuca commanded. Joseph obliged and sat in the only other free chair. “Thank you for coming, gentlemen. As you are both aware, the last twenty-four hours have been very eventful, to say the least.” Don DeLuca looked towards his son. “Ciro, I would like to congratulate you on your recent acquisition. I still don’t fully understand how you managed to capture the infamous Francis Russo, but you did, and that in itself is impressive.”

  Ciro smiled, attempting graceful acceptance, but instead found an arrogant grin. “Thank you, Don DeLuca.”

  “However, I am more impressed by your decision not to kill the traitor on the spot, and instead opt for the diplomatic solution with the Genovese family. I hope this means you are finally starting to listen to wiser men, Ciro, and learning from your mistakes.”

  Ciro maintained face, though he felt like a dagger had been stabbed in his heart. The old man
had never appreciated him. Wiser men? He has no idea what I’m capable of.

  Joseph sat quietly. Ciro knew Joseph would tell his father that he didn’t know Casey was actually Francis Russo until after the failed shipment. The fact that Ciro had overlooked something as basic as an ID check would not go down well in the slightest. He had to intervene and head Joseph off before his father learned the whole story.

  “Thank you, Don DeLuca, for your kind words.” Ciro paused, just in case his father wanted to continue with his backhanded praise. “I’d like to move on to the reason I called this meeting, if I may?”

  Joseph shifted in his seat, sitting more upright. The look he gave Ciro told Ciro everything. Joseph didn’t know Ciro had asked for the meeting. This was a visible surprise to him. It wasn’t proper for a Caporegime to call a meeting with the Don. Not proper at all. Even though Ciro was his son, Don DeLuca still kept to the formalities.

  “Yes, you may. You told me you had an important development with regards to the IA stealing our shipment last night?” said Don DeLuca.

  “Yes, I do,” Ciro said with a sense of authority.

  “We already know you caught that traitor Francis Russo. Are you saying you have more?” asked Joseph.

  “I do.” Ciro twisted to his left to reach for his coffee cup, which was sitting on the table next to him, and took a sip.

  “Well,” said Don DeLuca impatiently, “I have a busy morning ahead, so let’s deal with this swiftly.”

  “Yes, of course. The capture of Francis Russo may or may not have been pertinent to the mission failure. I’d torture him to find out, but I have reserved that pleasure for the Genovese family. When my men arrived at the refinery in Whiting they swept the tankers. They found trackers on each one. And not just simple trackers that a normal scanner would pick up. These were our trackers. The new T80 kind.”

  Ciro looked at his father, who was deep in thought. He wasn’t displaying anger, in fact he didn’t show any emotion. He was just contemplating and analyzing. Ciro continued. “We of course removed them. But we also uncovered an undercover agent working at the refinery. They knew what time to be there and when the shipment would leave. But the trackers suggest that they didn’t know where to intercept the shipment.”