The Gig [Finished]

[yamikuronue]

[Imported from NodeBB]

[yamikuronue]

Coleson's Place was usually pretty quiet, but not today; today, the old warehouse by the river held almost a dozen men, and it wasn't even 5pm yet. How many of them belonged to Giovanni? No way to be sure. The newcomer would have to risk it -- no gamble could pay off unless it was first taken.

Giovanni himself sat at his usual table in the back corner, protected from scrutiny by a temporary partition: a folding screen with a gilded dragon embossed upon it. It was one of his signatures, showing off his wealth and power while still being tasteful and elegant. Giovanni was like that: a man with not a stitch out of place on his tailored suit, a man without a hair out of place on his head.

Beside him, not invited to sit at the table, stood a young boy, clearly still in training. Was this Giovanni's successor? Nobody knew who he was grooming to take over when he eventually bit it. He had a rotating stable of boys who would fit the bill. Maybe he was training one of them, maybe he was training all of them to fight to the death for the position after he was gone. Nobody knew what the boss was thinking.

The boy though, the boy was nothing special: maybe twenty at most, lean, gaunt, with brown hair and brown eyes. But there was something hungry in his eyes, something keen and unsettling and far too intelligent. Something dangerous.

[accalia]

The door opened witha bang and in walked... Well it was clearly a cop trying to pretend they weren't. Dirty blond hair, slightly greying, and a weathered face from 40 years on the street beat. This had to be Troy, right down to the slight limp from a smashed knee that hadn't healed quite right.

The man looks around the room, sizing it up as a cop would, his gaze eventually falling on Giovanni, his feet swinging into motion in the classic policeman's walk, that gait that could be kept up for hours at a time.

"The caged whale knows nothing of the mighty deeps." Barks the newcommer as he aproaches the table. Really? he's going to do the sign/countersign shite? here?! Man this cop is new to this side of the law...

[yamikuronue]

"Clearly," says Giovanni, managing to pack a world of scorn into that small syllable. He looks the man over with his critical green eyes, taking in every inch of him -- and clearly not impressed.

Still, he must have done something right, because the boss gives a small nod, and the hawk-eyed youth moves to pull out the chair opposite for the cop to sit.

[accalia]

The cop sits, suddenly a lot more nervous than he had been before.... this was the right place, and the right person, but they didn't use the counterphrase..... that's.... have they already decided to reject his offer and kill him instead?

[yamikuronue]

Giovanni says nothing for a long moment, simply looking the man over, pinning him to the spot with his cold regard.

Finally, he raises a hand with two fingers outstretched. Inside of a few seconds, six guns are trained on Troy's head -- the closest from the youth nearby, who fumbles a bit drawing his weapon but holds it as steady as anyone else; the largest, a tommygun the bartender casually raises from under the bar.

[accalia]

'God Preserve me! they're going to kill me!' Tony thinks, his blood running through his veins like ice,  as he raises his hands slowly, his jacket falling open to reveal that while he is wearing his shoulder holster there is no gun in it. He was told to come to this meeting unarmed, and he did just that. Okay, fair, he does have his holdout knife in his ankle holster, but that's not going to help him here and now.

"If you're going to pull the trigger.... Get it over with quick." Tony grunts, his voice only slightly breaking as he says it.

[yamikuronue]

Giovanni lowers his fingers; the guns vanish, tucked back into their respective holsters or, in the case of the barkeep, under the makeshift bar.

"Now that you understand the position you're in," he says, as if the entire display was perfectly reasonable. "Let us begin again."

[accalia]

"As you will then" Tony says as he settles into the chair once more. "I assume you heard my initial proposal, and are at least somewhat interested, else we would not be having this conversation."

[yamikuronue]

"I have," he responds, coolly. "And you're certain you can deliver?"

[accalia]

"I can.There is no doubt about that." Tony says, confident as anyone can be. He can arrange the schedules now, and wit a bribe or two he can make good on his offer. "If you're willing to pay for it."

[yamikuronue]

Giovanni sits back, eyeing the cop critically. "You will go with Vic here. The two of you will bring in my latest shipment. If it is in order, and you have shown your worth, money will be yours. If even a dram is missing...."

He lets the threat linger.

[accalia]

Tony Bristles for a moment, that wasn't the deal he had offered. And he wasn't prepared to start tonight. He was offering to stear the cops away from future shipments, not tonight's shipments! This is not the deal!

Fortunately Tony manages to control himself and doesn't say that out loud. "As you will then."

[yamikuronue]

"Good. You have three days to bring the shipment in safely." Giovanni makes a dismissive gesture with his hand.

[accalia]

Oh..... that's..... that's actually workable..... Joe was taking the docks beat tomorrow night, but he never leaves the bars. That would be the best time to move.... or is it not coming by water? hmm.... that's trickier......

Tony's mouth, operating on autopilot chimes in with 'Right. Tomorrow night then."

What?! you promised it by tomorrow night?! Tony, are you insane?!