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Salvatore Lupo cast a dispassionate eye across the cityscape as he gazed out of his ‘new’ office. It wasn’t new, it was old, dirty and disgusting. But that would soon change. It was in a dilapidated building, in a run down part of the city, but it had the best view of this part of the city. From here, he could view Bullwood, Wickbridge and Swansdale.

Sal had his feelers out. He already had a small crew under his command. But he had plans. Yes he had been forced into ‘retirement’ due changes in the Syndicate. But he had not gotten to where he was, by not hedging his bets. He made sure to keep a running account of every thief, informant, petty crook, and thug that had ever worked for him and was still alive.

Harper Rock had not been his first choice for his retirement years, far from it. He actually had his eye on Miami. Harper Rock was just a side trip. He needed to pick up his little lucky charm, Janie. There wasn’t a set of wheels she could not boost. He and the boys used to have bets on how fast she could be gone with a set a wheels. Sal learned quickly that she was not one to bet against. She never failed.

Janie soon became his number one booster. She was young, immature and cocky as hell. He admired that in her. He let her get away with the attitude because she was his number one earner. If she started to screw up, she would pay the price. But then her friend got mixed up in drugs or some ****; and it started to affect Janie. She could still boost. But there was a look that changed in her eyes. The thrill of the boost was gone. He knew her times was running out. Then her pal croaked, leaving him one Booster short. But what he didn’t expect, was for her to take a powder on him too. Her leaving had put a distinct crimp in his earnings. Which was not missed by his superiors. He had lost two boosters and to make it worse, had no one in the wings to replace them. He was soon in the hot seat.

Ever Since Sammy the Bull turned rat, those like himself, those who had some age them, were seen as weak links. It didn’t matter how loyal they had been in the past. All the old top men were gone now. Gotti’s arrest had seen to that. Anyone who had anything to lose, quietly retired, and left the business to the young bloods. So no matter how many bodies he had buried in the past, it meant **** to them. Why? Sammy the Bull marked them all with a tarnished brush of ‘rat’. So when Sal’s earnings dropped dramatically, it didn’t matter that there was a legit reason for it. It looked like he was losing his touch. Like he needed to be replaced before he pulled a ‘Sammy’ and turned on his own.

Sal had no intention of turning rat. He also had no intention of humbly skulking off to the suburbs to some retirement home either. No. Sal had plans in Miami. But key to those plans was Janie. Janie the nimble fingered booster. He had figured she had split with a guy. But then word got back to him, that someone like her had been arrested for making terroristic threats and bomb making. From the grainy photo that his snitch sent it, it sure as hell looked like Janie. She had picked up some new ink, but it was a dead ringer for his Booster Janie.

Sal arranged to have someone check out the situation in Harper Rock, and they discovered Janie had escaped from the mental ward at the hospital. It was then he realized it was indeed his Janie, even though she was going by a different name. Names were easy to get. Hell, he had several aliases himself. While he was waiting for the right moment to ‘suggest’ his retirement, after all.. better he suggest it, than the Syndicate suggest it to him; but while he planned for it, he began having his men scour the city for any and all information that Janie had left.

Miami was the mecca for rich people to show off their cars. And what better way to build a nest egg, than to have his own personal Janie Booster. With Janie back in line.. He would be in the black in no time. And the first thing he did, when he arrived in Harper Rock, was to pay a personal visit to her abode, that had been too easy to find. He left an envelope on the mat. He would give her 24 hours, then he would have his boys pay someone a visit.

Dominique had twelve hours behind her by the time she stepped out of the doors of the shop where she worked. Her face lifted up to the moon above and took the moment to attempt to drink in its beauty with each pore of her face. Her fingers did the slow pat down while searching for the photo that had arrived in a plain white envelope at the door of Vita Bella. The photo made it into her fingers as they pinched together. This was what she had been great at avoiding. The past. She felt the tug of guilt and disappointment come breaking through the cracks in that otherwise inner wall she had worked on since leaving NYC behind. It was splintered at times but always reinforced until even the most determined beast could not find its way through completely.

As hard as it was to do she had stayed away and didn't call when Benny died. It was the right choice given all things and people considered. There was no going back there. Not like things were then and sure as hell not the way they were now. Jeremy didn't need the cloud of chaos and upheaval that she would be bringing if she did. He would want answers she didn't have and ask questions she still wasn't sure she was ready to hear pointed at her.

A lone fingertip glided over the back of the image where the early graying mans back was in the photo. Jeremy. He was working on her left arm in the chair. Her eyes drifted down to the completed piece that she considered one of her favorite tattoos. The wise owl. Jeremy was just that. Always watching from a distance over her making sure she was not crossing over the lines too far while Benny was always within reach and ready to knock some sense into her stubborn ***.

The photo went back into the pocket of her khaki rock climbing carpi cut pants. The ties at the outside of each calf bounced back and forth as she made her way to the vehicle she rather not have to commit to long term. It was unsettling. Her fingers pulled open the unlocked drivers side door of the old as can be car. Where would the picture she didn't even have a copy of come from? The dull crunch of the gloss photo paper it was on reminded her why she had put it in the side leg pocket to begin with. She sighed while leaning back and pulling it out to return it to the pocket it was before. She started up the engine of the car and waited until its predictable cough and groan of accepting the fuel through its lines finished. She presses down the clutch and shoved it into gear aiding its mechanical center to be inspired to perform. Of all the cars she had to currently settle for she was in one that whined when expected to do something more than most of the people in Harper Rock.

Benny took it. The epic capture of the wise owl he designed finally joining her bare arm with Jeremy's hand holding his prized ink gun. Neither man fully knew their 'shop-brat' was already planning on leaving and heading towards Canada while she was sitting there. then again, they would hardly be surprised and that in itself offered her a small amount of relief. Court was coming up and she was looking at having a lot of time behind lock and key if she stuck around. They told her they would be in court with her everyday and visit all the time. She hated the look in their eyes when she said she couldn't do it. Each time she felt the culmination of failure and expectation flood her and weigh her down.

Jane Dominique Doe couldn't even stand being grounded. As soon as her grandparents lights went out at night she was gone out of the upstairs window climbing her way down to freedom with arms and legs wrapped around the tree that was older than she was. The guys both knew her well enough to know what was coming. They didn't need to bother looking for suits for court appearances or finding someone to cover the shop. Jane was not going to be kept in one place if she didn't want to be.

No promises from her cousins boyfriend could make several years without freedom sound good. There was no amount of money waiting for her when she got back out that could make her do something she really didn't want to do. She was barely 21. they had made money for decades before they sucked her into the life of crime. Anyone needed a break in her mind it was the ones who were old enough to ride out a few years in jail. She didn't want to make license plates for three to five years or even longer depending on how well she took the crowded space with who knows who in the bunk above her.

Dominique didn't know how to tell Benny and Jeremy then. She was great at saying how it was when it came to everything else but feelings and goodbyes were always a challenge. She rarely had to do either one. She kept life simple, uncomplicated relationship wise and didn't have to do either one until then. Like a chicken **** she ran off leaving a three page letter of excuses, promises and all the words she couldn't find the courage to say.

The car was in park when Dominique finally realized she paid little to no attention to driving from point a to b. She pulled the keys out of the ignition and sat there in the front seat feeling the disbelief sink in as the photo reappeared back in her hand. Who would leave it for her? No one knew about those of her past. Not in Harper Rock. She made a point to not speak of where she came from. When you are on the run you don't look back and you don't give anyone around you a reason to do it either. Her dark eyes lifted from the photo to the parking lot wall in front of the car that finally gave up making noise. Jeremy. Did she dare to reach out or would she be walking into a trap? Her pocket danced against the car seat beneath it as she gave it thought. Her free hand produced the cell phone and she swiped the pad of her thumb across it to open the message. It was an alert. A security cam caught footage as it always does.

Dominique closed out the message because it likely was one of the few that came and went from the shared home outside the city. Her hand was about to tuck the cell back in and open the car door to grab a few items in the shop around the corner. That changed when she went to put the photo away. Just in case it wasn't one of the occupants and just to be sure everything was safe she pulled the cell back to view and looked at the alert and found the location one she had all but erased from her memory. She was there only one night for a couple hours. Badly wounded and too weak to get to the hospital she holed up on a back room and trapped herself in and set a cam. She swore she grabbed everything when she left. The option to review the limited footage was there and without a second thought she tapped it to open and play.

The snippet of video loaded and finally played. It went through fast then gone. She tapped it again and it played. Once it stopped she pulled the cell closer because she was sure she wasn't seeing what she saw on her iPhone screen. Another replay of the video made it hard to doubt she was watching the man on the screen move briefly in view of the security and then disappear. She tried to swallow and then paused. It was like the world started spinning out of control and anything she had a handle on was about to be yanked out from under her. What in the hell was he doing in Canada? Now she had a pretty good idea why she had a photo of Jeremy and her in Benny's shop in her hand. She just felt the panic of the remaining question slam with such force at her like cement wall in front her suddenly had a mind of its own and took her on. Salvatore Lupo. How did the hell did he find her in Canada and Vita Bella?

5:00pm

“Well Boys.. looks like Janie needs a reminder that I mean business.” Sal uttered as he counted the days take. He set a stack of hundreds to the side. “Tony, make the call. Break his leg. He can still work with a broken leg. And tell him, he now owes us, two gees, for making us make a house call. I want a photo too.. not some fuzzy *** **** they sent me last time. If they need to learn how to take a clear photo.. tell them to take a ******* class.. I am tired of that fuzzy *** ****.. capice?”

Sal turned his attention back to the money he was counting. “Ollie.. where are we with the shake down of nightclub..? You know I don’t want no bad news..” He looked over the top of his reading glasses at Ollie, who was looking nervous.

“Yea boss.. I’m working on it. Seems there is a big outfit in town that already has that racket.. I am trying to pin ‘em down.”

“Right.. get me a name.” Sal again counted out a new stack of hundreds, and set it to the side, “Joey, your boys watching Janie’s place like I asked you?”

Joey nodded, “Yes Sir, she just got home … she’s keeping late hours in some witch joint in the city. The owner is some broad name Zodiac. Word on the street says she keeps to herself, but can be bought if you want to curse someone bad enough. You want I should have a talk with her?”

Sal pondered it, “No.. not right now. We don’t want Janie to know how much we know ‘bout her comings and goings.” He took his glasses off, “Janie got a man? That would go a long ways to get me what I want.. if we could get him to plead our case for us. Ya know what I mean?”

Joey nodded a smile forming on his face, “That I do Boss..” It had been a while since he had gotten to work someone over, and he was itching to let his sadistic tendencies out on a new victim. “I will check into that myself..”

“Yea you do that Joey..” Sal looked at Tony, as Joey left the room, “One thing bout Joey.. he does like his work.” Changing subjects, he continued, “You make the call?”

“Just got off the line, they will have proof of the deed to us no later than midnight our time.

----

A few hours later in New York, Jeremy was already seeing the signs that it was going to be a slow night. Middle of the weeks were like that. People didn’t get their ink then, but they did tend to drop by to plan new ink. He was actually able to catch up on some designs he owed some clients. But tonight had been exceptionally slow. Maybe there was something going on in the city that he wasn’t aware of, but whatever the cause he let Stella head out early. Good thing too, because not ten minutes later two guys came in looking for a fight. The last thing he wanted was for Stella to get hurt.

The fight erupted quickly. One moment he was showing them the art catalog, the next one of them was coming over the counter at him. Jeremy didn’t get to where he was by being a pacifist. He knew their kind as soon as the door opened. He figured they were going to try to shake him down for protection money. They were going to be sadly mistaken. So when he opened the catalog, he was also reaching for the aluminum baseball bat he kept behind the counter.

When they made their move, he made his. Even though he was a big man, he knew how to move. He moved out from behind the counter and swung the bat at the back of one of them, while the other one was having to come back over the counter at him. The first one was down for the count, leaving Jeremy to give dedicated attention to the one left standing. And he wasn’t standing for long. He was crawling to the door with a broken arm and ribs; leaving Jeremy to call the NYPD to come pick them up.

Jeremy didn’t relish spending the next few hours at the police station.. but hell if he was going to let some two bit hoods shake him down.

---

Tony disconnected the call, and pocketed his phone. “Boss..” He swallowed hard, he hated delivering bad news. “Just got news from New York.. the guys on the job? They got nicked.. they are being held in Rikers.” He braced from the reaction.

Sal who looked calm, except for the twitch by his eye, suddenly exploded. “Nicked! Who the hell did you call? The three stooges?! Give me the goddamn phone!”

“PHONE!”

Tony wordlessly handed over his phone.

Sal yanked it from Tony’s hand. “You want something done you have to god damned do it yourself..” he punched a number into the phone.

“It’s me.” A pause. “ME.” Pause, “Got a job..” Sal snapped his fingers at Tony and pointed, Tony handed him the details. Sal read the details into the phone. “Burn it. The whole damn block.” A pause, “Yes. The Block. I am sending a god damned message.”

Sal hung up the phone and threw it at Tony, “Get out of my sight.”