"Going Straight" (closed)

[Gabe619]

Mephisto was curious why he had been taken aside from the main group, even more curious when he was left alone in a room with Camille, but then as she slowly approached him and he saw tears in her eyes as she tried to apologise to him about what he had seen he again felt the same anger toward Senator Davis as he had the night the man had raped Camille's ass in front of him.

"I'm sorry. He ... he makes me do those things."

The hacker tried to think of something to say, he felt his jaw moving, his lips trying to form words, but nothing would come out, so instead he let actions speak for themselves. He stepped towards her, one hand coming up to softly wipe the tears from her eyes before he took her in his arms and just held her. He inhaled the scent of her hair and closed his eyes as he felt her breasts pushing against his chest, the warmth of her body against his.

"You have nothing to apologise for, nothing at all." He whispered into her ear. "But I promise you this, one day very, very soon, Senator Davis is going to be brought to justice and on that day you will be there, front and center watching him taken away to face judgement. And you will know that this is happening to him because of you, because of your bravery, because you took everything he threw at you, the physical and verbal abuse and you pushed on through it and you won, and he lost everything."

He stroked her hair as he pulled his head from her shoulder to look into her big, gorgeous brown eyes. He offered a soft smile.

"Together we are going to put that man in a place where he, rather than you, needs to worry every moment of every day about someone wanting to rape his ass."

*****

Marcus nodded as Emelia asked him to fill in the rest of the group with his plan. He had been working on it for days, trying to iron out every detail to make it fool proof. Of course nothing is ever completely fool proof, as any military man knew no plan survives contact with the enemy. They weren't briefed on what they were supposed to do, so anything and everything they do can throw you curve balls. The best a planner can do is try to prepare for anything, and that was what had been keeping Cole up nights. He had brought in McCauley and Ketch and even asked Phillip for his input, but at the end of the day this was his plan, good or bad.

"We have surprise and timing on our side." He began as he looked around the group. "Thanks to Phillip's contacts and Mephisto's eavesdropping we have a pretty clear picture of who is coming against us, what level of force they will bring, and where they will hit. By leaking that Emelia," and he air quoted that name with a smile at Kitty, "will be at the clinic at 11am we have forced the Traditori to move at that time. Ideally they would like to ambush us enroute, but they don't know which route we are using thanks to us keeping this entire thing between just us. No one outside of this room knows specifics, and obviously none of you really knew either till now."

He leaned on the table before him as he again looked at the people listening to him. "Kitty, dressed as Emelia, will leave Elmhurst at 10am in two cars, each filled with D'Angelo soldiers, that gives her plenty of time to get to the clinic. Even if they tail the convoy they won't have time to bring their forces to bear on any one spot on the route, so they have no choice but to hit at the one place they DO know Emelia will be at, the clinic. That brings us to the dangerous part. We don't know how they intend to do this. If they want to be precise and clean they will try to take out Emelia alone when she either pulls up but is still in the car, or when she exits the vehicle. They won't know for sure which of the SUV's she will ride in so probably they will wait till she is in the open air. However we have picked an entry point into the clinic with no open air vantage points for a sniper to use at a distance, and we will have D'Angelo people in the surrounding buildings watching for anyone with a rifle trying to get close." He paused to let all this sink in.

"My thought is they will want to send a message, a very loud and very messy message. If they intend to take over the D'Angelo territory they will want those with an eye on it to back off. So I don't think a sniper will be the route they will take. I think they will go in in force. We know they can't put people in the clinic which means they have to attack from the outside. To make sure that the attack can be defeated and used to our advantage Commander Daniel Ketch and his SWAT officers will take the lead on taking out the Traditori and anyone else with them." Marcus nodded to Ketch who stood, arms folded over his chest, listening intently. "Any D'Angelo soldiers will immediately lay down their weapons as soon as SWAT makes their move. I don't want any Blue on Blue casualties here ... friendly fire I mean." He clarified for those without a military history. He looked at Phillip who would be in charge of the D'Angelo forces. "They can defend themselves, but let them know that they do NOT resist arrest if SWAT tries to take them. We can sort out the good guys from the bad after the shooting stops." He again looked at Ketch. "Daniel, your people will be hidden close to the clinic so that they can react immediately the attack starts. Ambush them hard and fast. Obviously declare you are police before pulling the trigger but I don't want any of your people hurt because they were worried about shooting someone who was giving up only to find out that they weren't. We understand each other?"

"Don't worry, I'll brief them on that, and everything else. We'll get it done."

"I had no worries that you wouldn't." Marcus smiled at the man. "With any luck we can stop them outside the building, but if they do get inside then Phillip's people will be waiting for them. As far as the law goes they were trespassing on private property with intent to cause harm. The D'Angelo people were simply protecting themselves, its as easy as that. When the smoke clears I want them all dead or in cuffs. We'll call it in and I will brief the ADA that we had intel that the D'Amato's were going to hit a D'Angelo clinic and having had no time to tell her before it went down had to act quickly." He grinned and winked. "I am sure Laura will understand, but I didn't want to risk telling her before this all happened. I trust her, but the less people who knew the better."

He straightened up now and stepped back a little.

"We also know that as they hit the clinic they intend to hit Elmhurst too. Using the clinic to draw out D'Angelo forces before attacking the estate. Phillip, this is your territory, but me and the other Untouchables will be here to help you in any way you want." He turned to Emelia, his eyes softening. "We'll protect you and your father, Emelia. They only get to either of you over my dead body."

 

[PennySaver]

Planning the ambush on the Traditori:

"We have surprise and timing on our side," Marcus started. He spoke of the intelligence Philip and Mephisto had gathered, then recapped how Kitty-become-Emelia would get to and into the clinic on 12th Avenue using a three car convoy.

"We've had problems with the D'Amatos trying to attack Enzo's motorcade in years past," Philip informed them. "We know where they typically set up lookouts. We came up with a little trick for them."

"The pea under the walnut shells?" Emelia asked, obviously aware of the little trick. When Philip acknowledged with a head nod, she looked to Marcus and explained, "When we are close enough for the lookouts to see us, we conspicuously shuffle the vehicles, then shuffle then again within a codeine of blocks. Keeps them guessing about which one is the one carrying my father ... or in this case me."

"In this case me," Kitty corrected. She shared a smile with the Donna, then looked to Philip and said, "Shuffle those shells all you want. I love a carnival ride.”

Marcus continued his explanation of the plan, talking about both vantage points for a sniper and his doubt that the Traditori would use one. He looked to Philip as he spoke of Blue on Blue casualties.

“I've already dealt with that,” Philip said. “I'll have 12 loyal men inside the clinic. Their primary weapons with be bean bag 12 gauges, backed up by 9mm sidearms loaded with 90 grain hollow point rounds.”

Philip doubted that he needed to explain about the ammunition. The light powder loads meant that the rounds could knock a man down if he was hit center mass but in all likelihood would not be a through-and-through that might kill an innocent bystander or, in this case, one if the cops outside; and the hollow points – which would “flower” upon impact and typically remain in whatever body they hit first, only increased the safety for someone who wasn't there target.

“When the smoke clears,” Marcus went on, “I want them all dead or in cuffs.”

“Do you have a preference?” Kitty asked.

Before Marcus could respond, Emelia did, saying firmly, “Not at Elmhurst, which is where you will be as I understand it.”

She looked to Marcus, who would also be at the D’Angelo home and, still speaking with certainty, “I would prefer that any and every Traditori who enters Elmhurst be shot down like there ungrateful dogs they are.”

“Works for me,” Kitty said. She, too, looked to Marcus and reminded him, “I'm an Untouchable, but I'm not a cop.”

Marcus turned to Emelia, telling her, "We'll protect you and your father, Emelia. They only get to either of you over my dead body."

“I appreciate that,” she responded, but with that same serious tone added, “Although, I would prefer that there only blood that was shed at either location be Traditori blood.”

Just about them, Camille and Mephisto entered. Emelia thought the bosomy beauty looked as though she'd been crying, but she smiled politely as if her talk with the hacker had been satisfactory.

"Is there anything more?" Emelia asked of Marcus and Philip. The latter shook his head lightly.

 

[Gabe619]

Marcus had to smile a little when Kitty asked if he had a preference between dead or in cuffs. She was turning into a bit of a cold blooded killer. Usually that would worry him, but considering the mission they were on perhaps having someone with less emotional connections to whether someone bad dies or not would be an asset. He would keep an eye on her, but as long as she pointed her gun at the right people he wouldn't try to rein her in. Of course Emelia showing her own teeth and want of revenge only spurred Kitty on, it seemed both women were of a like mind on this.

"As we will be fighting here, at Elmhurst, we won't be cops, so I have no ethical problem with shooting these people down. They would happily do the same to us." He shrugged as he replied to Kitty. He then turned to Emelia. "No, I have nothing more. Ketch will handle his people and make sure the Clinic operation goes down as we need it to. The rest of us will put ourselves wherever Phillip needs us to be in the mansion of grounds. Then I guess we wait." He smiled at them all. "I am told that waiting is the hardest part, personally I would say being shot at, someone throwing a grenade at you or coming at you with a knife would be the hardest part, but hey, that's just me."

He glanced at Mephisto and Camille curiously as they walked in together. Oddly it seemed the black woman was staying close to the hacker, though as per usual reading the mans expression was hard to impossible. If he ever took up poker his opponents would have a rough time learning his tells.

"Ok then, well, until the morning I guess we should get some rest, go over any of the plan you're not sure of, and good luck to us." Cole stated ending the meeting.

****

It was 10.05am, Kitty and her convoy had just left. Marcus stood on the balcony in front of the mansion watching the last SUV drive off down the road outside the main gates and sighed, trying to relax. There was nothing else he could do now. In the next few hours it would all be over, one way or the other. He just hoped his people would come out of it in one piece. He heard footsteps walking up beside him and glanced to his right to see Teddy standing there cradling his rifle as he two watched the cars vanish.

"She's gonna be ok, right?" The young man asked, obviously speaking about Kitty. It hadn't been lost on Cole that the two of them had become close. Their body language spoke volumes even if they hadn't expressly told anyone.

"She'll be fine. Knowing Kitty I would give my sympathy to the idiots about to try and ambush her." A small smile flickered over his lips making Teddy smile and nod.

"Yeah, she is really tough." He replied softly, Marcus could tell he still had fears for her safety.

"She is, and skilled." He put a hand on Teddy's shoulder, turning the man to face him. "You need to get your head into the game. Kitty will kill you if you get yourself or anyone else hurt because you weren't focused."

Yarrow took a deep breath, letting is out slowly as he nodded. "I know, it's ok, Boss. I got this."

"Good, I knew you would. We better get in position. They won't hit here until they get told that the Clinic attack is taking place, so we probably have some time, but better to be ready."

He slapped Teddy on the back as the young man turned and walked back inside the mansion. Marcus turned to look back out over the terrain before the tall thick walls of Elmhurst. Somewhere out there, probably watching him right now, were men and women intent on his death, and on the deaths of his people and Emelia. He felt a cold surge in his stomach as he thought of Emelia dead, his mouth went dry and he felt a chill go up and down his spine. He wouldn't let that happen, even if he had to give his own life to protect her. More and more he realised just how much she meant to him.

 

[PennySaver]

Kitty in the motorcade, 10:05am:

The three identical dark gray Escalades shot through the gate at almost 40 mph; the road to both sides of the property's entrance had been heavily patrolled since dawn, looking for Traditori lookouts and vehicles. The nearest had been found almost a mile away.

Just as Philip had described, the Cadillac SUVs played their little shell game every mile or so. Sometimes they did it right in front of known lookouts; other times they did it under overpasses, between buildings, in residential areas thick with tall, bushy oaks or maples, and once in an alley that they'd secured specifically for this purpose.

Kitty was sitting on the passenger side, second seat back, with Philip to her left. The bodyguard had wanted to stay with the Donna, but Emelia had demanded he go. She'd argued, "I'm going to be in the panic room with daddy. Plus, the Traditori might be looking for you as verification that I am in fact in the vehicle."

It had been discussed whether or not Emelia's ambushers might be expecting a double instead of her, of course. The only way to ensure they thought it was the Donna was for Philip to be the first to emerge from the Escalade and look around, ensuring his boss's safety, as well as Kitty playing the part perfectly.

To assist in the latter, Emelia had welcomed the Untouchable to her walk-in closet, gesturing toward the wide array of outfits as she said, "Pick an outfit, any outfit."

Kitty had been amazed at the size of the closet. "It's bigger than my fucking apartment! I mean that! Literally!"

She'd chosen an outfit from a French designer whose name she couldn't even begin to pronounce. She went with a blouse with a high neckline that hid her bulletproof vest, a jacket that hid the 14 shot 9mm Beretta in the small of her back, and a skirt that hid the 5 shot .38 Special Taurus strapped to her thigh.

"10 blocks," the D'Angelo man in the front passenger seat said over his shoulder. He had his finger to his ear, trying to better hear what was being said over the scrambled Comms the team was using. He looked back to Philip, informing him, "SWAT has identified at least 6 tangos ... 8, sorry -- they just identified a vehicle in the shadows half a block away.

The motorcade performed one last shell game maneuver 4 blocks from the Clinic to put Kitty and Philip's rig last in the line; the presumption was that if an RPG was going to be fired before the motorcade reached the unload point, it would hit either the lead vehicle to stop the train or the middle SUV to kill Emelia outright, making the last vehicle the safest for Kitty.

"We're here," the man said when they took the last turn, putting them on 12th Avenue. The man in the front right pointed -- unnecessarily, but being safe -- toward the entrance of the alley that ran between the Clinic and the grocery store that shared the block with it. In his Comm, he said, "Prepare for last switch ... 5, 4, 3--"

He went silent, though, replacing his countdown with, "What the fuck?"

A news van coming down the block from the other direction was crossing the yellow line and pulling up directly in front of the Clinic's main entrance. From the second seat, Philip ordered, "One and Two, flank that vehicle. Primary is taking the alley."

The lead vehicle jumped the curb and skidded to a stop with its engine compartment blocking the driver's door of the Channel 4 news van, while the second D'Angelo vehicle did the same on the van's opposite side, blocking both the front and sliding doors; even before the SUVs came to full stops, D'Angelo men were unloading, brandishing their weapons, while the 3rd SUV took a hard right and shot down the alley.

And yet, the reporter and cameraman were still able to deploy, having already been coming out of the van's rear door. The reporter and her cameraman hurried down the alley, nearing the SUV as its occupants unloaded, also brandishing their weapons. Philip pointed an index finger at Kitty and demanded, "Stay here!"

The bodyguard had already concluded the truth of the matter: Belinda Carmichael had somehow learned that Emelia D'Angelo was visiting the clinic, and they wanted a story. Passing by the end of the SUV, he let his own 9mm dangle at his side as he hollered toward the beautiful blonde, "Stop there!"

"Belinda Carmichael, Channel 4 News," the reporter called out as she was extending her microphone forward. "I'd like to interview Emelia D'Angelo, please."

 

[PennySaver]

At Elmhurst, waiting for the Traditori attack:

10:05am:

Jennifer watched the motorcade carrying Philip and Kitty zoom away from Elmhurst from the mansion's 4th floor. Marcus was pretty sure that the security force watching over the D'Angelo property had until almost 11am -- when the faux-Emelia reached the clinic -- before the Traditori would attack here, presuming they would attack here at all.

She'd insisted that she be one allowed to occupy one of the two sniper hides on the home's top floor. She'd practiced with the 50 caliber, only to find that the kick aggravated her chest injury. That hadn't stopped her, though. She'd instead pulled out the Remington Model 700 that had been her grandfather's weapon in Vietnam, finding that she could fire its .30-06 rounds with relative ease.

It wasn't the massively powerful weapon that the 50 cal' was, obviously. But Jennifer had been hunting with it since she was in her tweens and had won or placed in the top three at Nationals with it four times. She knew the gun so well that she'd told Marcus to forego a spotter and put that person down on ground level instead. "If it moves, I'll see it ... shot it ... kill it," she'd promised him.

The sniper nest she was manning was in the window box of Emelia's own bedroom. She didn't particularly like all of the tree cover on the south side of the home, flanking each side of the pool and surrounding decks and patios; it limited her field of vision and shortened her reaction time once she'd spotted the enemy.

But Jennifer knew that between the rest of the Untouchables and the D'Angelo men -- and woman, singular -- they had the grounds well covered. She'd told Marcus, "Turkey shoot."

That one D'Angelo woman who was helping to protect Emelia, Enzo, and the others was a new face to Jennifer. Constance Gibson had been part of Emelia's security team when she'd been in Preparatory School and had played tag team with Philip during Emelia's college years.

She'd left the Family's employ for the past few years to pursue other avenues ... or so the story had gone. In reality, Connie had been hiring out as an assassin and all-purpose fixer, for the D'Angelos and for anyone Enzo tasked her to serve. When she heard about the troubles taking place in Capital City -- troubles ironically started by Emelia -- Connie had immediately set aside her other operations to be here at Emelia's side.

"You set here?" Connie asked from the entrance of the Donna's bedroom, adding, "Need anything more ... food, drink ... a grenade launcher?"

Jennifer laughed. Remembering Devon's nickname for her, she informed the assassin, "Well, they do call me Gunner ... so if you have one handy."

Connie laughed as well. They chatted a moment longer before the former bodyguard waved goodbye and headed off to her assigned position at the house's east entrance. Jennifer couldn't help but scope out the other woman's incredible ass. Connie was the most wonderfully fit female Jennifer had ever seen, short of maybe one of those competitive body building chicks.

The first time Jennifer had seen Connie was in the gym, where the woman had been doing strength exercised in a tiny sports bra and yoga short set that did nothing to hide the woman's ever-pert nipples and tight, firm ass. Jennifer had found herself wondering whether or not it was time to give other women a shot for the first time.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
​

11:00am:

Emelia looked over her shoulder toward the door to the kitchen, finding her shadow right there, waiting for her to finish putting together her father's lunch. With Philip in the motorcade guarding the faux-Emelia, Julian Cox had been given the task of keeping up with the Donna. She'd been putting him through the paces over the three hours he'd been trailing her through the house, constantly reminding her such things as Not out there, Donna or Away from the windows, Donna.

"It's time," he told her now, tapping his watch when she turned to look at him once again. "Mister Russo wanted you in the panic room at quarter till. It's now--"

"Yeah, yeah, 11 straight up," Emelia cut him off. "I'm almost done."

Her father had regained just enough control of his facial and throat muscles to safely eat soup and other liquid and/or soft foods. He still had a problem speaking, but Emelia was learning to interpret his mumbling. She had high hopes that one day soon he would be well enough to return to his duties as Don. She couldn't know it now, but that was never going to happen.

She turned with the platter of soup, pudding, and three different drinks and headed out. After one hall, one staircase, and another hall, she arrived at the panic room door, which yet another D'Angelo man opened for her by entering a code on a pad. Julian followed her inside, closed the door behind him, then took a stool there; he'd intended to remain on his feet during this special duty, but Emelia had demanded that he make himself at least a little bit comfortable.

"How are we, Poppa?" she asked as she set up on a small table to feed and tend to him. They had one of his three rotating-shift nurses in the room and the doctor, too. They were here for two purposes: to watch over Enzo and to deal with any injured D'Angelo protectors once the expected fight began. Emelia fed him carefully in his elevated position in his hospital bed, telling him, "With any luck, today will be very uneventful."

Enzo was fully aware of what was ahead of them both here and at the Clinic as Emelia had been updating him two or three times a day. He tried to speak a reply but failed; instead, he tapped a finger upon his torso in Morse Code. Emelia watched the finger dance, laughed, and said, "You're bad."

When he signaled that he'd had enough, Emelia stepped away to find a book to read her father. Julian asked softly, "What did he say ... if I'm allowed to ask."

Emelia looked back over her shoulder to find Enzo's eyes already closed. She whispered her father's words, "Kill the fuckers."

She flinched when the man's radio crackled from a nearby table. A man's voice informed them, "Movement ... Sector 4 South ... just inside the wall. I repeat, inside the wall."

Another male voice that Emelia thought might be Mephisto cut in, "Motion detectors outside the wall gave no indication of intrusion."

"All stations be aware," yet another male voice piped up, "Exterior motion detectors may be disabled. Keep your eyes open."

"Contact!" a female voice said with emphasis; Emelia knew this one to be Jennifer. "Sector 4 South, one Tango ... moving north ... firing..."

While Jennifer's mike was still active, the explosion of her rifle erupted from Julian's radio, causing Emelia to flinch in surprise. A moment later, the Untouchable announced, "Tango down. I repeat, Tango down, Sector 4 South."

"It's begun," Emelia murmured, more to herself than to anyone else. She returned to her father's side, taking his hand and whispering, "It'll all be over soon, Poppa."

 

[Gabe619]

D'Angelo Clinic - 11.06AM:
Luke Palesco watched the SUV's moving closer, then watched in surprise as a news van suddenly appeared and the two escort cars moved to block it in. He smiled, they obviously thought this was a threat to Emelia, how wrong they were. However the van did help Luke and his combined D'Amato and ex-D'Angelo force, it had pulled Emelia's security's attention in one direction. He glanced around, he wasn't happy that he had to work with Gio D'Amato's soldiers, he already felt he needed a shower just being so close to them, but as they said 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend' ... for now at least.

Luke had been put in charge of the assault and had spent days scoping out the clinic after they had found out through one of their snitches that Emelia intended to visit to thank the doctors. Such a lovely gesture, that would get her killed. He had moved his people into position around the clinic covering all exits and entrances. If they tried to take refuge inside the building Luke was prepared to burn them out. If they tried to run they would be cut down. He had Emelia D'Angelo right where he wanted her. Boxed in with no escape. As he watched Belinda Carmichael and her cameraman talking to Philip Russo he whispered into his mic.

"Move in now, team One has Emelia, team Two take out Russo and any security, all other teams remain in position, shoot anyone who leaves the building."

With that he rose and moved forward quickly in a crouch, his AR15 up and aimed at the security milling around the SUV's. He hadn't gotten acknowledgements from the two teams at the rear of the building, but adrenaline was peaking now and his focus was on what was before him. He saw one of the D'Angelo men notice him and shout a warning as he begun to lift his weapon. Luke put two shots into his chest, sending him to the ground, though he was still moving.

At the shout of warning Phillip turned to see what was happening, seeing around six people appear from nowhere it seemed, all heading for him and the SUV's. He grabbed Belinda around her slim waist and dragged her toward the entrance to the clinic as bullets started to impact around them. Her cameraman took refuge behind a concrete pillar holding up the front of the building on the other side of the alley, his camera still up and shooting. As one of his people went down he saw another grab the mans jacket collar and start to drag him toward the clinics entrance. 'Emelia' had already drawn her Beretta and was calmly sending return fire toward the incoming hostiles. Kitty emptied her mag at them then instead of reloaded simply reached down and picked up the MP5 the fallen D'Angelo security guy had dropped when shot. She went down on one knee and continued to cover Phillip and the other security taking a pissed off reporter and a wounded guard into the clinic.

The glass double doors had already shattered under the gun fire which meant Phillip didn't have to spend valuable time trying to manage Belinda in one arm and pull the door open with the other. He dragged her inside then literally threw her into cover behind a couch in the waiting room.

"You want to report on this?! Do it from down there!" He barked at her as Kitty joined him inside the waiting room grinning from ear to ear.

***

Daniel Ketch had positioned his people about an hour before the D'Amato teams began to appear. He was an old dog, he knew many tricks and being the first to a combat zone always gave you the best positions. As it was his SWAT were camped out, in some cases, mere feet from the enemy. But they couldn't act, not yet, they had to wait till they made their move and were to busy to react quickly to what SWAT was ready to do. Ketch was with a team of two other SWAT members by the main entrance to the clinic, but he got updates from his people in his ear every five minutes. As soon as the action kicked off SWAT had taken out two of the enemies teams at the back of the building, the ones tasked with shooting Emelia if she tried to run out the back. They had taken them down quickly, quietly and not giving them any time to alert any of their comrades. Ketch had to smile, already the enemy were at half strength and they didn't even know it.

As the fire fight began out front of the clinic, and the unexpected arrival of the reporter made things more messy, Ketch waved two fingers at his people and spoke into his mic, just as Luke had done for the opposing team just a moment earlier.

"Squads One and Two hold position, pick off any rabbits. Squads Three and Four move in now, now, now."

SWAT had them in a crossfire as Ketch hollered that they were police SWAT and to drop their weapons. Not really expecting them to do as he had asked he was not disappointed when the six people before him simply spun to face the new threat, but now they were caught in the open between three fields of fire. Ketch's two SWAT teams and Phillip Russo's bodyguards. Ketch heard more gunfire erupt from the other side of the news van, further down the alley. Another team of D'Amato people were making their way up the street toward their helpless colleagues. Daniel dispatched Squad Four to pin them down, which would relieve some of the gunfire on Luke and his people, but it didn't matter. With nowhere to hide they were falling like dominos until finally the two remaining people dropped their guns and held their hands up. Ketch immediately moved to restrain them as his fellow officers helped, pushing the two men to the ground hard before using plastic restraints to quickly tie their wrists.

Ketch turned to the new arrivals, but saw smoke billowing from two grenades that had been thrown toward the clinic entrance. Daniel saw the vague outlines of people moving in the smoke but didn't have a clear shot, or knowledge of who they were. Cursing, he realised that the clinic was being stormed from the front despite all his attempts to keep it secure.

Luke lay on the ground, legs bent, one arm outstretched, his gun an inch from his fingertips. He could feel the pain of the gunshots in his hips and thighs. He blinked as he tried to clear his blurry vision. What had gone wrong? It had been planned so perfectly. How had the police got here so fast? He could feel he wasn't thinking clearly, and glanced down. A large pool of spreading red blood by his hips told him the story. One of the bullets must have cut his femoral artery, he was bleeding out. His head fell back as he saw two black booted feet appeared in front of him. He didn't have the strength to look up any more, but at least the pain was gone now. He just felt tired .... so tired .... so ....

 

[Gabe619]

Elmhurst - 11.08am

The sound of Jennifer shot was like the starting gun it seemed. As the attacker sagged to the ground all hell broke loose. Subtlety and surprise were blown now so the enemy decided sheer brute force would have to accomplish what stealth no longer could.

"I have major trip alarms in all sectors." Mephisto reported before leaving the security computers and focusing instead on the CCTV cameras. "I think they found a way to scramble the security alarms, I still have cameras though, for now. Four man team breaching the wall by the front gate .... two men moving up toward the house from south sector 2 ..."

Marcus cursed to himself as the hacker continued to read off where the enemy were in the grounds of Elmhurst. Jen's shot would alert the ones coming in from the south of a sniper, but one shot wouldn't be enough to show her position, not yet. The more shots she took the quicker they would focus in on where the shots came from. Usually a sniper would shoot once, maybe twice, then move to another location to fire again. In this case Jen had a fortified position looking down on the enemy, that would, or should, keep her safe unless they breached the house.

The sound of a revved engine pulled his attention back to the front of the house where he was positioned. He saw a large flat bed truck heading for the black metal gates and a moment later it rammed them, breaching them and coming to a stop a good 10-20 yard inside the compound, the front axel having broken. Men jumped from the back of the the truck and begun to spread out as D'Angelo soldiers returned fire. Marcus pulled a frag grenade from his vest and pulled the pin, keeping his thumb on the release as he looked for the best place to put it, then with an easy lobbing action sent it flying into the middle of the trucks now empty bed. In a second it exploded, and so too did the trucks fuel tank sending shards of metal flying and taking down at least four of the enemy.

From what he was hearing over the comms the assault was being done on all sides, that might end up being a mistake. He knew the logic, attack everywhere so the defenders were stretched to the limit. The problem with that was if you didn't have enough soldiers on your side you ended up stretching yourself thin too. A couple of bullets impacted close to him as he rolled into covered behind a tall statue.

"They are hitting the clinic." Mephisto stated over comms, but Cole didn't have the time to worry about that right now.

Dropping to one knee he peeked from cover long enough to put two shots into someone moving toward the front of the house but not before he had thrown a grenade at the double doors. When it exploded it took one door off its hinges.

"Front door breech, repeat, they have breached the front door. Falling back to the house." Marcus called in over the comm as he put action to words.

It had always been the plan to try and hold up the first wave of attackers before falling back to the house. The grounds were to extensive to have any real hope of defending, but the mansion itself was constructed like a fortress. He and two other defenders ran into the front hallway and took position by the now open front doors firing out as the enemy tried to move in closer. Now the bushes and well maintained front garden helped the attackers as they used the cover of the foliage to hide their movements. Marcus smirked as he considered the work the gardeners would have after this was all over.

 

[PennySaver]

In front of the Clinic, as the action begins:

"Don't shoot, don't shoot!" the driver of the news van hollered as men with guns surrounded him. "Press! Press! I'm unarmed. Press!"

The D'Angelo man demanded unnecessarily, "Keep your hands where I can see them."

As the driver sat there unmoving, two other D'Angelo men threw open the vehicle's rear, then made their own report: "News van secure. It's just ... it's just a news van. No threat."

There was a threat, of course, but it came from elsewhere. A call of alarm was followed immediately by gunfire, and all hell broke loose out front of the clinic. One D'Angelo man went down, then a second; as the rest took positions behind their armored vehicles or the news van, the rounds continued to streak at them.

"Get down! Get down!" the D'Angelo man at the van's side door called to Belinda's driver. But then, looking from the attackers to the man to whom he'd been speaking, he saw that it was too late; one of several bullets that had likely been aimed at him had instead gone wide through the van's windshield, with one of them striking the Channel 4 man right in the neck. As he turned his attention to the attackers, the D'Angelo man only murmured to himself, "Well ... fuck."

In the alley:

Belinda shrieked as gunfire erupted all about her. Unlike her cameraman -- who, as a foreign correspondent, had been in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria -- she had never even been in the vicinity of gun when it had been fired. All of her reporting on crime and violence thus far had been after the fact.

Before she realized it, she was in the arms of an armed man being kidnapped. Belinda didn't know who Philip Russo was, let alone that he worked for the very woman she'd come here to interview. She screeched and attempted to pull herself from his arms, only to hear the man tell her, "Stop fighting! I'm trying to save your life!"

As Philip was hurrying her for the back door of the Clinic, Belinda saw faux-Emelia step out of the van, lift a pistol, and fire it round after round after round. Even as she was passing into the building, she was trying to look back at the beautiful woman engaged in the firefight. Belinda fell or was pushed, she wasn't sure, and ended up on the floor behind a couch in the waiting area.

"You want to report on this?! Do it from down there!" the man said as he turned his attention back on the opening left after a concussion grenade had destroyed the glass doors.

Belinda should have kept her head down but instead rose to a squatting position for a better view. She flinched as a man with a shotgun to her left called to Philip, "They're coming through the front too!"

Looking around, Belinda found armed men all about he place. She'd thought that this was a drug treatment facility, and called to the man who'd saved her, "What the fuck is this? Who the fuck are you people?" When she got no response, she screamed, "What the fuck is going on?"

About then, her attention went to the former location of the double glass doors as Kitty entered backwards, still popping off three-round bursts from the MP5. An enemy round hit her in the chest, causing her to teeter enough to lose her balance; she spun and stumbled forward, colliding with the reporter, who caught her and fell to the ground with her. Belinda held Kitty as they lay there a moment, expecting to find blood spilling all over the two of them.

"Weekend Weather Girl," Kitty said with a smile after recognizing the beauty with whom she was practically sharing a hug. Ripping open the blouse she'd borrowed from Emelia to reveal the bulletproof vest and the piece of metal impacted upon it, she looked up to the shocked Belinda again, smiled wide, and said, "Love your legs."

Before Belinda could reply -- not that she would have known what to say -- Kitty was up and looking for her weapon again. The Untouchable said without looking at the reporter, "You're going to have a great story ... but you have to live through it first, so keep your fucking head down and let us do our jobs."

"Your jobs...?!?" Belinda asked with obvious emotion. "Who the fuck are you guys?"

Kitty looked to the other woman, smiled wide again, and answered, "We're the good guys."


And with that, Kitty joined the battle again, spinning to fire at one of the Traditori who'd come through the front entrance...

 

[PennySaver]

Elmhurst

As she listened to Mephisto, Marcus, and the others reporting the hell that was breaking loose in every direction, Jennifer looked for more targets of her own. After her first shot put down her tango, the men who'd been traveling with him had sought better cover.

Then, peeking out over her rifle's scope, she caught movement off to the opposite side of the pool area. Jennifer turned her attention that direction, found a Traditori in the crosshairs, and fired. He went down, and just as had happened in Sector 4 South, men in Sector 2 South disappeared deeper into the trees.

Jennifer was getting frustrated without a target and was about to relocate to the window on the other side of Emelia's 4th floor bedroom when she caught movement directly pass the south end of the pool. She spun her scope that direction and found a man on one knee ... aiming a shoulder mounted rocket at the house. She was about to pull the trigger when she quickly realized two things: the weapon was aimed at her, and the man had just fired it.

"Fuuuuuuuuck...!" she cried out as she dropped her sniper's rifle and leapt through the air toward the middle of the bedroom.

Known to only a handful of people, Emelia had had her own version of a panic room put in place to protect her if danger ever arrived while she was in her bedroom. It was on the mansion's 3rd floor and could be accessed from there, but because Emelia could very well have been on the 4th floor when danger arrived, the designer/builder had put in sort of a trap door access from her bedroom.

Jennifer's leap toward the middle of the room ended as she slid across the hardwood into the opened access and down through the hole, where she landed with a bounce on the small bed in one corner of the room. The room above her exploded in a blast of both fire and smoke, with the shock wave sending a bit of both down the hatch at Jennifer.

She was stunned by the blast for a long moment, then got her wits back and leapt from the bed, which was currently on fire. Jennifer snatched up a fire extinguisher and put the fire out, then looked upwards through the still opened hatch; she didn't see flames, but she knew she needed to check it out.

She reached to activate her earpiece/microphone, only to find it missing. She exited the panic room via the 3rd floor door and made her way back upstairs, quickly putting out a small fire. Finding her rifle and lifting it to fire at the now quickly-approaching rocketeer, Jennifer found that the sights were still dead on; the bullet entered his neck, nearly severing it and sending the man flailing into the pool, where the red of his blood began staining an ever increasing portion of the surface.

 

[Gabe619]

The Clinic:

The D'Amato soldiers moving in from the alley saw the first man into the building get shot down. That brought them to a halt outside, spread along both sides of the doors. One pulled an incendiary grenade from his vest, pulled the pin and with an evil grin lobbed it into the reception area of the building where it exploded in smoke and fire. He gestured to the others to wait a while, letting the grenade do its work as anything flammable in there caught fire and the smoke spread.

"Let the smoke get them, it'll be like shooting fish in a barrel." He stated pulling his rifle up into a ready position.

Inside the building Phillip and another soldier carried the wounded back further into the clinic where another surprise awaited them. Two doctors and a nurse stood there looking concerned, but not the least panicked despite the sound of gunfire echoing through the building.

"Put him up on the table." Doctor Alan Garrison ordered. "Well, quick man, he's bleeding out."

Phillip looked at his colleague, shrugged and lifted the wounded to the surgery table as ordered.

"Doctor you and your colleagues were ordered to evac this building. What the hell are you still doing here?!" Phillip asked moving back to the door of the room to give Kitty additional support, though he could see next to nothing through the smoke.

The fire suppression system had kicked in though, the sprinklers fighting the fire that had broken out by dousing everything in reception with water, including Kitty and Belinda.

"If we weren't here Mr. Russo this man would be dead. At least now he has a fighting chance." Garrison muttered.

Though not a trauma surgeon the man had over twenty years in the field of medicine, you didn't last that long without finding out a few things outside of your speciality. Phillip took a few shots at the lighter rectangle of light through the hazy smoke which spoke of the main entrance. It would keep the dogs at bay he hoped. Where was the fucking SWAT teams?!

Having taken out one squad of the enemy, Ketch and his people closed the noose around the clinic building, hitting the D'Amato soldiers from pretty much every side at once. Daniel and Holly teamed up to buddy toward the entrance, one putting down suppressing fire while the other advanced and vis versa. They ended up side by side at the back of one of the abandoned SUV's.

"Sit rep." Ketch barked into his mic. "Anyone on the west end of the alley?"

"Team Two to Team Leader. We're approaching the west end now, no contact." Came a voice hissing over the comms.

"On the count of three move into the alley and take down anyone not in a SWAT uniform. All D'Angelo people are inside the building. Copy?"

"Copy Team Leader, on the count of three."

Ketch smiled at Holly. "You stay here in case any try to run out this way, I'll move around and take them from the side." She nodded her understanding and hunkered down behind the SUV's tailgate as Ketch crouched and crab walked down the side of the car to the hood, glancing around it to see five hostiles lined up on the wall either side of the doorway taking the occasional potshot into the interior. They would take then from three directions at once, they would be trapped. "Team Leader to Team Two ... One ... Two ... Three ... Now, now, now!"

"Throw down your weapons, this is CCPD SWAT, drop them and hit the deck!" Ketch shouted as he leaned out and aimed his MP5 at the gathered group of bad guys.

He saw from the reactions of the men before him that they had seen Team Two appear around the corner getting them dead to rights. He knew a few of them would be running the numbers in their heads. Was it worth trying to fight their way clear? Of the five men before him three chose to believe it was and raised their weapons. Even as they did two more dived inside the clinic to face whatever awaited them in there. A brief burst of fire explained the mistake the three hostiles had made as they were riddled with bullets and dropped to the concrete.

 

[Gabe619]

Elmhurst:

The sound of the explosion echoed around the house. All Cole knew was that it had come from upstairs somewhere. He put his hand to his ear, holding the earpiece firmly as he called into the mic for Jennifer to answer. Then he called again and still got no response.

"Fuck it!!" He snarled, as a barrage of bullets peppered the balustrade just outside the doorway sending chips of granite flying to sting his face.

He leaned out and returned fire, taking some satisfaction seeing one man who had thought a bush would protect him from a bullet go flying backwards not to rise again. He was getting sit reps from all over the house now. The D'Angelo soldiers had fallen back and were holding the house as had been planned, but from the sound of it they were facing way more of the enemy than they had planned for, and they seemed very well equipped. Suddenly the clink, clatter of metal on stone flooring echoed in the hall as two flash/bangs came sailing in through the broken doors. Marcus tried to turn away but he still caught half of the flash and all of the bang rendering his hearing gone for a good 60 minute or so. Stars exploded in front of his eyes as he shook his head and turned back to the door stunned as three silhouettes ran into the house.

He saw the nearest raise what he could only assume was a gun and flung himself at the man. He impacted hard, sending himself and his opponent rolling to the floor as gun fire erupted around them. He might of been shaken by the flash/bang, but that didn't impede his strength. He grabbed for the mans throat and started to throttle him, earning a gargled gasp before two powerful arms crashed down on his breaking the hold and sending him rolling to the left. He blinked, trying to clear his vision enough to fight and pushed himself up on an elbow just in time to see his opponent give him a nasty grin and raise his pistol ... before the side of his head exploded outward and he sank to the deck with a surprised expression on his face.

"Getting tired, Marcus?"

He turned to see Connie striding toward him with her gun still raised toward the man she had just shot, and so saved The Untouchables leaders life. She picked up an AR15 and threw it to him.

"I can't be saving your ass every five seconds old man." She winked and smirked.

"Old man, huh? I'll show you." He grinned back chambering a round and returning to defend the front door.

"Anytime, anywhere." Connie winked and turned to leave, moving back toward her assigned position.

"Connie, where did that explosion come from?" Cole called after her.

She stopped and turned, her face grim. "Emelia's bedroom I think, I wasn't close enough to see for sure."

"Can you go check on Jen for me?" He asked, taking down two men who had thought the front entrance was clear now.

Connie hesitated a split second, weighing where she should be to where Cole was asking her to go, but then gave him a single nod and ran off.

 

[PennySaver]

The Clinic:

Kitty was watching the front of the clinic for an incursion when she both saw and heard a grenade bouncing across the clinic lobby's tile. She hollered as she leapt for better cover, "Grenade!"

The explosion ripped apart furniture and cabinets and blew out what remained of the Clinic's windows; the ceiling tiles and light fixtures crashed and tinkled all about the floor. It took a long moment for Kitty to regain her composure. When she rose and looked out on the lobby, she found not only an expanding fire but two of the D'Angelo men writhing about on the floor.

"Man down! Man down!" Kitty hollered. Four more D'Angelo men -- all carrying bean bag shot guns to reduce the chances of killing SWAT members outside -- came out and, with Kitty covering them, gather the injured and pull them to safety.

The sprinklers began showering the room and Kitty, too. As she waited for the incursion to continue, she caught Philip looking her way, his gaze on her bosom. She looked down, finding her tits on display like a barroom floozy in a wet tee shirt contest. Laughing, she nodded her head toward the lobby, telling him, "Business first, you perv'."

He laughed, nodded his head toward the lobby as well, and said, "Fire's out. They'll be coming."

"We want them alive if we can," Kitty told him. "Personally, I don't care, but..."

Philip understood the pros and cons of killing the men. He felt as Kitty did, yet still looked to some more of the bean bag shotgun carrying D'Angelo men and waved to them. Two, then two more, moved forward past Philip and Kitty, taking up positions behind objects that in some cases were still on fire.

As expected, men surged into the lobby, brandishing their automatic rifles before them and looking for targets. There were only two of them, which surprised Kitty. Even more surprising, automatic gunfire erupted out on the streets, distracting the two men inside just long enough for the D'Angelo men to unload a dozen rounds at them.

And like that, the attack on the Sarah Leigh Long Drug Treatment Facility was over. Kitty, Philip, and others moved forward to watch over the injured men until some of the SWAT members came in to secure and remove them. Fire extinguishers came out to put out what the overhead sprinklers were still working on.

Kitty caught movement and looked to her right to see a blonde head slowly rising from behind the couch. The Untouchable had actually forgotten about Belinda Carmichael. She laughed at the sight of the reporter, her hair mussed and filled with debris, her makeup streaking down her cheeks, and -- like Kitty -- her clothing was sticking to her curves in ways that would make most women blush and seek a long coat to hide themselves.

And yet Belinda immediately hurried for the front door, calling out, "DB! Where are you? Get your camera in here!"

And just like that, even looking the way she did, the former Weekend Weather Girl began her live report, reporting what she'd seen, what had happened to her personally, and moving from one actor to another, making inquiries about who they were, who they'd been after, how this all connected to Emelia D'Angelo, and more.

 

[PennySaver]

Elmhurst:

Jennifer searched the south side of the property for a couple of minutes more, but after having killed the man who'd launched a LAWS-style rocket at her, there was no one else to terminate; all apparently seemed to be in the house already, about to enter it down low out of Jennifer's sight, or dead.

She set the rifle aside, pulled her Baretta, and headed downstairs again. She'd only gotten to the 3rd floor when someone crashed against the barred door of the back stairs. Jennifer dropped to a knee, leveled her 9mm, and waited. She was expecting the invaders to be wearing vests, so when the third slamming against the door forced it open, she popped the first man in the forehead, then put two in the second man center mass, stood to move closer, and put the next round through his mouth.

A bullet hit the wall near her, and acrobatically rolling away, Jennifer found some cover behind one of Elmhurst's many marble statues. A second shot hit the piece of artwork -- they'd learn later that the naked man had nearly had his cock shot off -- and a third hit the wall. Jennifer tried to find the man shooting at her but instead only found herself totally on the defensive.

Then, there was a burst from a rifle, followed by silence. Jennifer looked out to find Connie kneeling over the man, removing the flash bangs on his belt and telling the Untouchable, "C'mon, girl. We got bad guys downstairs to deal with."

As Jennifer stood again and hurried to follow her, the Donna's former bodyguard smiled and begged, "Please tell me that rocket didn't destroy that walk-in paradise of Emelia's. She promised me my pick of her LBDs for a date I've got next week."

"Closet's fine," Jennifer responded, laughing as they headed down the stairs again. She fired off two rounds at a Traditori, sending over the railing between the third and second floors, then grumbled, "She didn't promise me a little black dress."

"Well, you've only been protecting her a few months, I hear," Connie said. She, too, took out an invader who'd been ascending the stairs, though she did so with half a clip just to make sure he was dead as dead could be. As she performed a combat reload of her pistol, she clarified, "I protected her for almost 5 years. I should fucking get stockings and a garter belt for what that teenaged troublemaker put me through."

Connie jerked and began to topple backwards as another shot echoed. Jennifer pinpointed the source of the round and emptied her Beretta on the man, then hurried to Connie's side. The former bodyguard was out cold, but when Jennifer ripped the woman's shirt opened, she found the bullet smashed against the Next Gen' body armor that had been part of Kitty's second shipment from the guy who knew a guy who knew a guy.

"That's gonna hurt when you wake up," Jennifer told the unconscious women as she grabbed her by the hand and dragged her through a nearby bedroom doorway. Laughing, she murmured to herself, "And it's gonna turn your tits into California Raisins. Trust me, I know."

Returning to the doorway, Jennifer found the coast clear. She was about to head back out when she realized that she was hearing no more gunfire. She reached for her earpiece again, only finding it missing again. She returned to Connie, took her communicator, and pressed it up to her own ear to hear what was being said.

 

[Gabe619]

The Clinic:

Ketch, Holly and two more SWAT appeared in the doorway, weapons up and ready, but they all slowly relaxed seeing the scene and the bad guys down on the floor. Slinging his gun, Daniel gestured for Holly and the other officers to secure the D'Amato soldiers and read them their rights. As Holly nodded, she glanced over at Belinda and smirked.

"That's going to gain her a decent boost to her viewership." She muttered before turning back to the job in hand.

Ketch glanced over to where the tv reporter was speaking into the camera, her clothing sticking to her like a second skin. Ketch couldn't resist admiring the view as Phillip came up beside him.

"Think she'll want to interview me?" The bodyguard asked nudging Ketch and chuckling.

Daniel returned the smile. "I don't think you're far enough up the food chain to gain her attention just yet ... maybe that's a good thing." He ended as Belinda cast her eyes around and locked in on Ketch who groaned under his breath.

"Commander .... Commander Ketch, do you have time for a few questions?" The luscious reporter asked moving toward him as she stepped over downed ceiling tiles, electrical cables, bodies and other detritus left from the fight.

"Ahh, not now, Ms. Carmichael, as you see we have a lot to do." Ketch tried to dissuade her, waving a hand as he backed up a little. Even after being doused with the sprinkler system she still smelt amazing he thought.

"It'll just take a second, Commander, my viewers would like an honest on the spot report about what just went down here." Belinda pressed with a dazzling smile, smoothing her wet hair down, pushing the microphone into his face and indicating the camera on the shoulder of DB who was aiming it at the SWAT commander like a rocket launcher.

Ketch found himself staring into the camera lens as if hypnotised, suddenly aware of just how dangerous the damn thing could be. One wrong word recorded and a video camera was just as deadly as a firearm. But what could he do? If he said no comment she was likely to just make something up, wasn't that how most reporters worked. He licked his lips, standing a little straighter as people bustled around him and injured, but walking bad guys were led out past him and in the frame of the camera.

"We received a tip off from The Untouchables that Emelia D'Angelo would be visiting this clinic today. Detective Cole told me that he had solid intel that said an assassination attempt would be made on her life. Working on the information he could give me we set up an ambush of our own to net the perps in the act. And as you can see we are arresting those still alive as I speak. Unfortunately despite declaring we were SWAT officers many of the assailants continued to put up a fight, there is an unfortunately body count attached to this action, but as of yet I have no information on exactly how many were killed or injured."

"So Detective Cole contacted you? Why didn't he handle this operation himself? Is he busy elsewhere?" Belinda pushed, moving a little closer and into Daniel's personal space.

"He, uh ... I am led to understand they are working on other leads right now and couldn't take time away to handle this." He put on an annoyed expression for the camera. "Believe it or not Ms. Carmichael the CCPD is capable of dealing with the cities crime without the help of the Governors pet police officers."

"Of course, Commander ... and where is Ms. D'Angelo? Is she alright? I would like a few words with her if she is available." The reporter asked casting her eye around the room.

Although having been in very close proximity to Kitty earlier, the heat of the action had made keeping track of everything a little tricky for Belinda. She wasn't entirely sure who it had been she saw shooting outside, or who had been flung into her earlier .... though she did seem to recall a very sexy young woman complimenting her legs.

"She has been taken back to her home I am led to understand. Her bodyguard was just .... oh ... he seems to be gone too. Well, sorry Ms. Carmichael I guess you'll have to put up with me?" Ketch gave her a winning smile, but she turned away and back to the camera.

"That's all for now, I'll bring you updates as soon as I receive them. For Channel 4 news this is Belinda Carmichael."

 

[Gabe619]

Elmhurst:
Devon and Teddy ended up dealing with the siege of Elmhurst shoulder to shoulder and back to back. Not so much because that was how it was planned, but rather because in the heat of battle they had been flung together and decided to stick it out.

The beginning of the fight had begun easy enough as the attackers felt their way through the gardens, outbuildings and terraces of the mansion's grounds. Devon had found a perch on the corner of the 2nd floor and calmly started taking out the besiegers with short bursts of fire from his AR15. Then a well placed grenade had forced him to move quickly back into the study behind him as the parapet he had been crouched on vanished in an explosion of shrapnel and concrete splinters. After that he had moved to the ground floor where he had found a scorched Teddy patting down his clothing where a near miss by either a rocket or grenade had burnt his jeans and top.

As the attackers finally gained entrance the two men, one young with a dazzling 6th sense that seemed to warn him where the bad guys would appear and one old with the experience and spacial awareness to seem to have almost as much precognition as Teddy, moved through rooms and floors sometimes meeting up with other D'Angelo soldiers and other times meeting up with the business end of a gun or knife. It really was a battle more of surprise and reaction than any form of plan. Each room held a percentage chance of being dangerous so you had to be on high alert even if you thought the room you were entering was safe.

Finally as the battle started to die and the D'Amato goons either retreated or lay wounded and dying on Elmhurst's floor, Marcus's voice came over the comm.

"Stand down, repeat stand down. I think the bastards have had enough."

It seemed to Teddy that all the energy suddenly left him and he slumped onto the steps of a marble staircase hanging his head down and letting his gun rattle on the hard stone next to him as it hung from its sling. For his part Devon found a dead body and tore a strip of material from the guys shirt to tie around a bullet graze on his upper left arm. Grunting as he pulled it tight, he used his teeth to hold it as he tied the knot.

"Very impressive, very manly." Teddy said as he watched the first aid with a smile. "You don't think medics will be on the scene in a few minutes?"

"Yeah, I do, kid, but they are going to have more to deal with than this scratch."

Teddy finally became aware of the low moaning from the wounded and dying as they lay all over the house. In the distance something collapsed with a crash. He cast his eyes over the once beautiful home and sighed.

"Think we stand a chance of getting Elmhurst on Extreme Makeovers?" He asked his mentor.

"I think they would take one look at this place and run a mile." Devon chuckled as Cole appeared around a corner.

The Untouchables leader smiled seeing two of his people still in the land of the living. He shook both their hands, he didn't ask how their battle went, he could see by the condition of them both. He slapped McCauley on the arm, the one without an injury.

"You want to go find your girlfriend, Devon? Last I heard she was in or around Emelia's bedroom." Marcus informed him.

With a smile, Devon nodded and headed up the staircase Teddy was still sitting on.

 

[PennySaver]

The Clinic:

"Your makeup box is in the van," Belinda's van driver reminded her once the battle was over, and the SWAT team let him come inside to check on his boss. She gave him a sharp look, to which he held his hands up in a surrender gesture: "Just saying."

"Are you kidding?" she asked. She ran her fingers through her hair, doing very little to straighten the muss, then smoothed down her wet, dirty, and even singed clothes as she said with pride and excitement, "Do you have any idea how well this is gonna play life on national news?"

Belinda caught sight of the Scene Commander and recognized him from ADA Laura Shovelli's news conference weeks earlier. She hurried his way, calling out, "Commander...! Commander Ketch, do you have time for a few questions?"

Daniel Ketch tried to get out of the interview, but Belinda was insistent. As she peppered him with questions, she caught his eyes dropping on occasion to her bosom and the wet dress wrapping it like a second skin; the chill of the fire suppression water that had drenched her had caused her nipples to swell almost to the size of a Hershey's kiss.

Belinda reached out a hand to push her cameraman back a foot or so, widening his field of view. Her intention was for the viewers to have the opportunity to appreciate her delicious tits as well. For years, she'd been trying to move from Weekend Weather Girl to field reporter, and finally she'd become Channel 4's Senior Correspondent on Organized Crime.

Recently, though, Belinda had been thinking of a future beyond even reporting. She'd found herself a new Agent shortly after her reporting was picked up by the National Desk. She'd been pouring over the offers for television commercials, magazine cosmetic ads, and even walk-on parts in locally produced television shows. Not surprisingly, thought, the highest paying offer had been for a nude layout for Playboy's online magazine.

Ketch spoke about the tip from the Untouchables about Emelia D'Angelo and the assassination attempt on her, as well as the SWAT team's reaction to it. Marcus's possible involvement in the event only heightened her interest in the story, not only because they'd recently had an incredible night of BDSM sex but because he was the leader of the Governor's Task for on Organized Crime, aka the Untouchables.

"Why didn't he handle this operation himself?" Belinda grilled the SWAT commander. "Is he busy elsewhere?"

Ketch spoke of Marcus being involved in another operation.

"Where is Ms. D'Angelo?" she asked. She glanced around, recalling that there had been a woman who looked like Emelia but probably wasn't. "Is she alright? I would like a few words with her if she is available."

Ketch essentially blew Belinda off and excused himself. She looked back into the camera to recap what the man had and hadn't said before sending the story back to the studio. She looked to her cameraman and slashed a finger before her throat, telling him quietly, "I want video of the bodies."

Like Belinda, DB was well aware of the maxim If it bleeds, it leads. He turned the camera back on and slowly swept it around the scene, first inside and then outside. While he did that, Belinda went on a search for the woman who'd been playing body double for Emelia D'Angelo. The men attacking the building might not have realized they'd been fooled, but Belinda had come face to face with the other woman -- a fake who'd taken the time to compliment Belinda's legs -- and she wanted to know who and what this woman was.

The reporter wouldn't find Kitty, though; she'd slipped out into the alley as soon as the fight ended and was waiting in the same SUV that had delivered her here. She snatched up one of the radios that carried the frequency for the team at Elmhurst and listened in for a few minutes. It seemed that they'd survived the fight out there possibly as well as or even better than the team had at the Clinic.

Out in front of the Clinic, Belinda and DB came together again to shoot one final piece of recorded reporting for Channel 4; all about them, ambulances, EMT trucks, squad cars, and fire department vehicles cluttered the streets as far as the eye could see.

"We only have estimates on the list of casualties," she said into the camera, "but I've personally seen at least 10 bodies, and twice that number are being tended to by paramedics. Although most of those casualties appear to be suspects in the attack on the clinic, Authorities have confirmed that at least four CCPD officers also sustained gunshot wounds or were injured by any of a number of explosions that took place within or just outside the Clinic. We will, of course, keep our viewers updated as new information comes forward.

"For Channel 4 news," she said, again smoothing her free hand down her dress and, incidentally, making her still-pert nipples show more conspicuously, "I'm Belinda Carmichael."

 

[PennySaver]

Elmhurst:

"Stand down, repeat stand down," Jennifer heard in the earpiece she'd taken from Connie after losing her own. Marcus continued the good news, "I think the bastards have had enough."

Gunner looked down to Emelia's former bodyguard as she roused from her temporary state of unconsciousness. Smiling, she informed her, "We won."

Connie smiled meekly, murmuring, "I'm assuming I'm not dead?"

Jennifer laughed, confirming, "No, you're not dead. C'mon, let's get you up."

The pair of them got to their feet and headed for the stairs. Jennifer kept her eyes open for more of the invaders but saw none as they made their way down to join the other Untouchables. Devon was heading up the same grand staircase, still adjusting the piece of cloth preventing his arm injury from bleeding all over him and the carpeted steps.

"Oh you big baby," she said when she and her lover made eye contact. She nodded her head to the other woman, saying, "Help me with her. She's still a bit unsteady. Bullet to the vest, possibly cracked ribs ... good heart beat, I checked, but we need to get Emelia's doc' to take a look at her."

Jennifer transferred Connie to Devon's support, telling him, "I gotta go back upstairs. For all we know, the place is still on fire."

Before he began descending with the bodyguard, though, Jennifer grasped Devon's face in her hands and pressed her mouth to his in a long, wet, passionate kiss. When she pulled back, she caught Connie looking at her with a wide smile. The woman said, "Hey! I'm the injured one. Where's my kiss?"

Jennifer grabbed Connie's face and laid a kiss on her, too, then pulled back. Connie turned her head and feigned spitting before complaining, "That's not what I meant!"

Jennifer turned and hurried up the stairs, laughing. Connie laughed, too, then looked to Devon, telling him, "Okay, get me down to that doctor."

Upstairs, Jennifer took several minutes to inspect the 3rd floor panic room, then Emelia's 4th floor bedroom. There was quite a bit of damage from not only the LAW rocket but from several dozen rounds of automatic gunfire that apparently had been shot her direction just to make sure she was dead. It was bad but could have been much worse; a fire could have brought down the entire mansion.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
​

Down in the basement panic room, Emelia and her father -- as well as the four member medical team and two security personnel -- were in the dark about what was happening upstairs. Well, that wasn't entirely accurate, though. The bodyguard who Philip had tasked with watching over Emelia, Julian Cox, had a radio earpiece and had been listening to all that was happening outside, but he'd been secretly told by Emelia's longtime bodyguard to keep it all to himself unless it because necessary to share.

Only now as he heard Marcus give the all clear did Julian give Emelia a thumbs up. He said with confidence, "It's over."

"We need to get out there," Emelia said, speaking to Julian but speaking about the medical staff. She looked to the Doctor and nurses, saying, "Go check it out."

They didn't hesitate to head for the panic room's exit, which Julian unlocked after checking the monitor showing the clear view of the space beyond the door. Emelia stayed with her father a minute longer, letting him know what she was doing, then followed behind the others.

She was almost out the door when gunfire exploded beyond it. She hid behind the door as she saw the doctor fall to the floor, followed by one of the nurses. Emelia slammed her open hand on the close button of the door, but the controls hadn't been reset and it didn't shut. Automatic gunfire began striking the door and walls all about her, sending Emelia backwards for better cover; she tripped over something and fell backwards behind the couch sitting in front of a bookcase filled with all sort of items that had been intended to keep the room's occupants' entertained if ever they'd found themselves in there for a long time.

It took a moment for Emelia to regain her senses, having hit her head on the way down. When she began standing, she found a man standing at the end of her father's bed, holding a gun out before him. In total panic, she screamed at the top of her lungs ... but too late. The man's gun fired, putting a bullet through Enzo D'Angelo's forehead.

Emelia screamed again, looking about herself for a weapon, many of which were in the panic room but none of which were within reach. She looked back toward the bed to find the man turning and aiming the gun at her ... just before he himself was riddled with bullets shot by someone beyond the room's door.

Ignoring what had happened at the end of the bed, Emelia leaped over the couch and ran for her father. It was too late, though; the Don of the D'Angelo family was dead, a splotch of red soaking into the pillow behind his head. She screamed again ... then collapsed upon her father's body, crying in deep despair.

 

[Gabe619]

Marcus was at the top of the staircase leading down to the safe room foyer when the gunfire echoed. He had been on his way to give Emelia the news that the assault was over and they had all weathered it ok. As the automatic weapons fire shattered the silence he stopped dead in his tracks, not able to believe what he was hearing. One of the enemy had not only got so far into the building they had made it to the panic room, but that they had even known where the damn thing was to start with just shocked him.

Pulling the MP5 he had picked up around in front he sprinted down the staircase. More shooting now mixed with cries of pain as he rounded a corner seeing two dead bodies of the medical staff. NO!! No she can't be dead, he wouldn't allow her to be dead!! He took the remaining stairs two at a time as he heard Emelia's cry. He had heard of dangerous situations or terrible actions making people become so focused their vision narrowed down to a single item or thing. For Cole as he made the foyer outside the panic room it was seeing the man turn from shooting Enzo to aiming his gun at Emelia that caused the same reaction in him.

Time seemed to slow down, he couldn't bring his gun around fast enough it felt like. He could see the man aim at Emelia, even smile and he knew in the next moment it would fire taking Emelia D'Angelo away from him forever. But somehow as the seconds seemed to turn into minutes he found his gun aiming at the man and his finger tightening. He stitched a line of bullets from the mans waist to his head as the MP5 came up. The gun the assassin had been aiming fell from his dead hands as he hit the bed of Enzo and then fell to the floor.

He ran forward as time began to flow normally again, he saw Emelia crying, laying over her now dead father's body as he got to the doorway of the panic room. He just stood watching her, seeing the dead Don, his earlier guarantee that both Enzo and Emelia would be ok came back to mock him as the gun dropped from his fingers, hanging from the strap over his shoulder. He didn't know what to say, couldn't find words good enough to utter. What in fact could he possibly say right now anyway? Sorry? Emelia, sensing his presence looked toward him, her beautiful eyes streaming tears, red from crying. He couldn't read anything in her expression other than pain. Was she cursing him? Was she raging inside that he had not lived up to his promise? He felt his mouth moving, but nothing came out, he could only softly shake his head in grief at what he was seeing as he was pushed aside as more medical personnel rushed into the room.

He dropped his gun to the floor and turned away, slowly walking up the stairs, not seeing anything. He walked past Devon as the man asked him what had happened without noticing until the older man grabbed his shoulder and turned him around to face him. McCauley took a step back as he looked into Marcus's face, whatever he saw there shocked the oldest member of the Untouchables. Cole just stared at him for a moment before walking out of a door and into the gardens.

 

[PennySaver]

Elmhurst basement, just after Enzo is killed:

After Jennifer had left them to go upstairs and ensure Elmhurst wasn't on fire, Connie and Devon headed downward from the 2nd floor. They hadn't gotten half a dozen steps before they heard 3-round bursts from an assault rifle somewhere downstairs, then a longer sequence of shots on full auto.

"Go! Go!" Connie told Devon; he'd been supporting her as she was still disoriented from the bullet she'd taken to her armored chest, but now she waved him away, repeating, "Go!"

When Connie caught up with him in the basement, Devon was standing with Marcus, the two of them simply staring into each other's eyes. Marcus turned and strode past her with an expression full of emotions. She let him pass without a response from her, but moving to Devon she asked, "What happened?"

He said nothing, only stepping aside to allow Connie a view of the panic room. Emelia was slumped over her father's body, sobbing. The former bodyguard but forever friend was wracked by emotions; Emelia and Enzo had been an important part of her life for almost two decades.

"I'll see to Emelia," Connie told Devon, walking closer to him and reaching out to touch him softly. "Go see to your friend. He's hurting."

Emelia had told Connie about her feelings for the Detective. They were conflicting and complicated emotions, to say the least, but they were strong ones. Connie suspected that Marcus's feelings for the Donna ran similarly.

She entered the panic room, politely gestured the sole surviving medical professional out, and went to hold Emelia. They sobbed together for the longest time before Connie whispered, "C'mon, honey ... come with me."

They ascended to the foyer in time to find that Jennifer had come down, drawn by the final sounds of gunfire. She, too, had eyes filled with tears; she'd recently developed an almost father-daughter relationship with Enzo, despite the fact that the Don had both responsible for the death of Jennifer's actual father. Over the past couple of months, as Jennifer occasionally visited Enzo, she'd come to forgive him for what he'd done.

The three women went to one of the first level guest bedrooms, where they talked, cried, embraced, spoke of good times and bad, and even laughed at times. Emelia took a shower, washing away the now-dried blood of her father. Jennifer retrieved some clothes from the walk-in closet on the singed 4th floor, apologizing for their smokey smell. Trying to instill comedic relief, she suggested, "Imagine you've been at a bonfire or camping ... for like two weeks in the same clothes."

By this time, Philip and Kitty, as well as the rest of the D'Angelo men, had returned from the clinic scene downtown. Kitty joined the other women while Philip took charge of dealing with Enzo. He and the surviving nurse cleaned the former Don up even before the mortuary people arrived. A procession of men and women -- including a now less emotional Emelia -- escorted Enzo's body out to the hearse, which then left the property with an armed motorcade even more impressive than that that had delivered the faux-Emelia to the clinic earlier in the day.

While outside, Jennifer heard an unexpected sound and asked, "What's that?"

"Nothing to worry about," Connie told her.

Jennifer and Kitty both flinched as a helicopter shot low over the top of the mansion, curling out beyond the property line to come back and pass over again. Connie explained, "We've gotten word that the Press heard about the attack here and news choppers are on their way here."

"So, what's that?" Jenniver asked again, gesturing toward the helicopter that was not the police and not the News.

"That is what's going to keep those vultures away from Elmhurst," Connie answered as she headed back inside.

Kitty followed the bodyguard, but Jennifer remained outside; she began a slow walk around the house, checking the damage, which was extensive. There were three separate areas of major damage from explosives and hundreds of bullet homes in the home's exterior, as well as in statuary, fountains, cars, tree trunks, and more.

Just as she got to the back to see where a LAW rocket nearly ended her own life, Jennifer caught the sight and then sound of an approaching helicopter. She initially thought it was the one she'd already experienced, until that one buzzed the house again and headed directly for the approaching one.

There was a D'Angelo man walking about with an assault rifle and a radio, and from the latter Jennifer heard the helicopter pilot warning off the other flying vehicle. The news chopper slowed but did not turn away; it circled out a bit to avoid the second helicopter, but then headed directly for the home.

Suddenly, a streak of tracers cut across the sky in the news chopper's path, and on the radio Jennifer heard another warning, this time including, "Change your course away from this location, or we will shoot you down."

A second stream of tracers cut through the now-dark sky, and a moment later the news chopper was turning south.

 

[Gabe619]

Elmhurst:

Marcus sat on a marble stone bench next to a small pond surrounded by beautiful flowers. Their scent hung heavy in the air and this particular part of the ground had no reminder of the battle that had just been waged. He looked up hearing the helicopters above, seeing one open fire on a press helicopter making it veer away out of the Elmhurst airspace. For some reason he still had his gun hanging from his shoulder and as if suddenly remembering it was there he slipped it free and held it in both hands, before a sudden rush of anger made him hurl the thing into the bushes with a loud growl.

"This not a good time?"

He turned seeing Devon walking up, the older man seemed to be watching him closely. Cole shrugged and stayed sitting, head in hands as he rubbed at his temples trying to easy a headache that was slowly coming on. McCauley sat down next to him and looked around before taking a deep breath.

"It's beautiful here, peaceful." He stated softly.

Marcus didn't answer him, didn't even look at him, just stared at his hands and the ground before him.

"You know it's not your fault, right?" Devon continued, still in the calm soft voice.

"Oh, don't give me that bullshit, McCauley! I'm not Teddy or Jen or Kitty, I don't need you to coddle me. I called the all clear, if I hadn't they would have stayed safe in the panic room and Enzo would still be alive." Cole snarled.

"True ... so you're omnipotent are you?"

"What?!"

"Omnipotent? All knowing, all seeing?"

"I know what the word means, Devon, why did you say it?" Marcus asked sitting up straighter as he now locked eyes on the older man next to him.

"Well, I thought you must be. I mean, why else would you assume you knew everything that was going on during the battle, right? Maybe omnipotent isn't the right word, maybe you're right ... maybe I should of said egotistic."

The blow was fast and sure, connecting with McCauley's jaw and sending him to the gravel path in front of the bench as Cole raged to his feet, fists ready to hit the man again as he loomed over him. Devon touched a finger to his split lip, looking at the blood. He smiled.

"Good, honest anger, that's good because holding it in will kill you slowly. Trust me, I know." McCauley got to his feet but didn't square up to Marcus, just stood hands by his side in a non-threatening pose.

Cole slowly subsided, hearing what the man said. McCauley had told him how he had held in the anger and grief of his families death for years before finally deciding to funnel it into The Untouchables. Marcus shook his head and sat again.

"It's not ego, Devon. I should of made sure the building was secure, it was my call, my responsibility. I got Enzo killed." He looked up at his friend. "I almost got Emelia killed."

Something in the way Cole said her name struck the older man and understanding dawned. He nodded and sat again.

"You think you let her down. That she won't forgive you. That she will think less of you." He said again in that soft understanding voice.

"Wouldn't you feel that way if this had happened to your father? After I promised to protect him, to give my life for them both."

"I've only known Donna D'Angelo a short amount of time, Marcus, but I can tell you this much. She is a strong woman, and she has her own mind. She isn't easily swayed by what others think. Don't fall on your sword just yet." Devon patted Cole's shoulder as he stood up to leave. "You never know, she might surprise you."

 

[PennySaver]

6 days later (Day 87):

The funeral for Enzo D'Angelo would be later reported as the most heavily attended memorial since that of Robert Josiah Townsend, who had been Capital City's beloved (if not somewhat corrupt) Mayor for 44 years during the mid-20th Century. It was attended by members of every corner of society, business, and government.

The Channel 4 Senior Correspondent for Organized Crime would cover it, of course. Belinda Carmichael treated the affair with great dignity and respect, and in exchange would later find herself graced with the opportunity to interview Miss Emelia D'Angelo, the deceased daughter and heir apparent to the alleged criminal empire referred to in the Press as the D'Angelo Crime Family.

Before that, though, would be the funeral itself, of course. The event went off smoothly, with the choreography of a multi-Tony winning Broadway show. Capital City Police deployed more than 500 police officers -- in cruisers, on motorcycles, in the air, and on foot -- to ensure that there was no inter-Family hanky panky.

Ironically, all of that heavily armed, conspicuously displayed police presence would turn out to be mute: nearly the entire upper hierarchy of Capital City's Organized Crime apparatus attended the funeral:

From the D'Angelo Family, you obviously had Emelia D'Angelo. In addition, though, you had 24 cousins, aunts, uncles, nephews, nieces, and others who'd flown from Sicily and the southern Italian Peninsula for the funeral. Most of these individuals were involved one way or another in Organized Crime in the Old Country, despite their operations having never had a formal connection to the New World's D'Angelo Family.

Surprising as hell to many, though, was arrival of a contingent from the D'Amato Family. Emelia had guaranteed Don Giovanni D'Amato's safety should he decide to attend the memorial, and shocking to most in attendance he actually did, surrounded by a couple of dozen armed bodyguards who, in turn, were watched closely by not only armed D'Angelo men but by CCPD detectives dressed in black and carrying their own weapons.

The D'Amato Family was also represented by Gio's wife, two of his brothers who were not part of his criminal enterprise, and his only daughter; Victoria D'Amato -- who had once been Miss Capital City and had represented the State at the Miss America competition -- had long been one of the Family's many attorneys on the legal side of the business, although Emelia knew for a fact that she delved into the illegal side of the operation as well.

But the attendance of Organized Crime Family members went far beyond the Italians.

From the Yakuza came Yosaro Osaka, the head of all Yakuza operations in Capital City. He was accompanied by his son, Kenji Osaka, and daughter, Sakura Osaka. Yosaro and his daughter each arrived wearing traditional, formal Japanese garb which was traditionally appropriate for such a solemn affair. His son, Kenji, who was less of a traditionalist and -- as heir apparent -- had his eye on revolutionizing the Family's operations in America wore a Western style suit on which he'd likely spent 5 figures of his father's money.

The Greshenko Bratva was represented as well, with Dimitri Alexenov Greshenko and the entirety of his immediate family accompanying him: his wife, Irina Greshenko; his son Ilya Greshenko; and his two daughters, Anya and Maria.

After the funeral, Emelia would greet each and every one of the Yakuza and Russians personally with a handshake and shared words of sorrow; there was no mention of business, of course, as all present knew that this was simply not the time for such conversation.

After meeting with the members of these two Families, Philip would lean in and whisper quietly to Emelia, leading her to turn her gaze for a moment to Yosaro's son and Dimitri's eldest daughter as they passed by each other with knowing glances. The little birdies supplying intel to Emelia through Philip had recently reported that Kenji Osaka and Anya Greshenko had been seen dancing rather intimately at an exclusive Capital City night club after having evaded their personal protection details for a few hours. It didn't take a genius to know that something of which their respective fathers would not approve had happened there.

The Syndicate was represented at Enzo's funeral as well. This Capital City-based Crime Organization was primarily Jewish at its Capo levels but also included dozens of Lieutenants and other Associates who were Gentiles, making it the most ethnically and religiously diverse of Capital City's Criminal Organizations. ItsHead of Council was Meyer Lansky, whose father had survived the Nazi Death Camps to then emigrated to the United States and establish what would become the Syndicate. Emelia met with Lansky as well, trading handshakes and kind words.

Even the street gangs from the Jackson Projects were represented, though not in their entirety. CCPD and Philip's men had prevented attendance by members of the 44s, who were still a bit angry about the whole Chief Trevor Slattery abduction incident that had occurred within the buildings that they controlled. But -- with advance notice of their intent and desire -- members of the Eastside Chiefs and the Pushers were allowed to attend; they shed their gang colors for the funeral, dressing respectfully in suits as did everyone else in the cemetery that day.

After the Priest's final words and the many, many handshakes, hugs, cheek kisses, and verbal exchanges of respect, the funeral goers began making their way to the hundreds of limos, sedans, and other cars that surrounded the private cemetery. When Emelia got to the armored D'Angelo sedan -- which had had guards on it through the funeral, just in case -- she took a moment to regain her composure ... then looked to Philip and said with a firm tone, "Do this."

"Yes, Donna," he said as he pressed a number on his cell phone. A moment later, the phone buzzed with a text reply ... then again ... then yet again. As it went crazy with notifications of replies, Philip silenced it, pocketed it, and looked back to Emelia. He said vaguely but with an understood expression and tone, "It's underway."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
​

Capital City Justice Center
Detention Center:

The occupants of the jail cell in the building's basement included the usual suspects: drunks, public urinators, captured bail jumpers, and more. Two of the cells, though, had been restricted to men for whom ADA Laura Shovelli had issued arrest warrants following the Drug Treatment Center attack and who Marcus Cole's Untouchables had arrested at various locations across and outside of the City.

Those who hadn't been able to arrange bail were awaiting their arraignments. They wouldn't have to wait any longer, though. A burner phone buzzed in the pocket of one of the Detention Center's CCPD employees, a man who -- in turn -- was in the pocket of Philip Russo. The man disabled and discarded the phone, went to his changing room locker, retrieved two small incendiary devices, and returned to the holding cell area to activate and toss them into the cells holding the D'Amato and Traditori suspects.

The flames were put out by the building's fire suppression system within a minute. By then, though, it was too late; all six men had been splashed with sticky, NaPalm-like gel that had burned at almost 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. Later, it would take DNA to identify each of the bodies.

Similar attacks took place within minutes of each other all across the City and countryside beyond: a log cabin northeast of town was hit with an RPG that killed all six Traditori inside; taking its lead from Ukrainian troops fighting Russian troops half a world away, a high-flying drone dropped a grenade housed inside a tin can with its pin pulled right through the open moon-roof of a D'Amato sedan as it was delayed by heavy traffic on the thruway, killing the Capo and Lieutenant inside.

There were up-close-and-personal attacks as well. As they exited the lobby of a D'Amato-owned hotel, a pair of Traditori who'd escaped the clinic ambush stopped in their tracks as an unhoused man panhandling pulled out a semiautomatic pistol and shot each of them in the foreheads; while on the other side of town, a Traditori and D'Amato Capo were sitting in a friendly cafe discussing their next steps when the latter's loyal Soldier suddenly pulled out his pistol, said Emelia D'Angelo says hello, and shot them both in the face several times, preventing any future open casket funeral.

 

[PennySaver]

(Deleted, to be used later)

 

[Gabe619]

For the Untouchables it had been a gruelling few weeks since the assault on Elmhurst. None of them had any injuries worth talking about from the battle which was a blessing, but Cole had been more withdrawn despite Devon's words of encouragement after the death of Enzo. Marcus had instead thrown himself into the work, working his people hard to make arrests, contact informants, bug known criminals and so on. The constant stream of warrants going to ADA Shovelli had kept her and her people busy too.

Then the day of the funeral had arrived. The skies were cloudless, the sun warm, a soft breeze flowing over those gathered at the grave site. The sheer amount of people, all dressed in black, made Marcus think of a murder of crows, sitting watching and waiting. Crow's had always been attached to death, mainly due to the appearance on battlefields to feed after the killing was over. It seemed logical then to Cole that these people all amassed here to supposedly give their respects to the dead were simply making a list of those they hoped would soon follow Enzo into the grave.

In among the CCPD officers keeping watch on the who's who of organised crime in the city Marcus didn't stand out. They all knew him now and who he worked for, the Governor, and that his task force investigated organised crime, so him being at this funeral didn't seem strange to any of the police officers looking on. But of course he wasn't here in an official capacity. He was here for Emelia. He wanted to go to her, take her in his arms, to hug her and tell her it would be all right. But he couldn't. Their connection was a secret, if he walked down there and did what he wanted that secret would be out and his life wouldn't be worth spit. So he stood on a nearby hill in the large cemetery and watched from afar, watched Emelia grieve for her lost father, a father Marcus had promised to protect.

As the funeral came to an end and people started to move back to the cars, each group splitting off from the main gathering as each crime family kept to itself, Marcus checked his watch. It would be happening right now, all over the city. Retribution and revenge upon those responsible for the attack on the clinic, Elmhurst and the death of Enzo D'Angelo. Some of his own people would be taking part. He hadn't even really had to ask them, they had all felt in some way they had let Emelia down. Kitty had been champing at the bit to get out there and bring fire and brimstone down on the unworthy heads of the traitors. Jennifer had been more reserved, but equally wanting to do her part. Teddy and Devon had remained quiet, but nodding as Cole had asked if they wanted in on this. He himself wanted to be a part of it to, to maybe wash some of the guilt he felt by killing the men and women who had caused it, but he had felt a more urgent need to be here, at the burial to support Emelia even if it was from a distance. She probably wouldn't even see him, one more cop amongst the gathered ranks of police.

***

Kitty was on top of a building. She had been here about an hour making sure she had enough time to get set up. Now she waited, looking through the scope of the rifle cradled in her arms and against her shoulder. As The Untouchables primary sniper she had been picked to take out two of the traitors, luckily the weather had stayed dry so she hadn't had to lay here wet. Her usual spotter, Jennifer, was away doing her own assignment, but that wasn't a real issue, Kitty was more than confident she could take down these two pariahs on her own.

She glanced at the open file next to her which had photos of the two people she had to kill, a husband and wife duo as it happened. Both had been administrators for the D'Angelo drug trade and had taken Emelia's money to leave. But both had instead given information on how the D'Angelo's had traded in narcotics to anyone willing to pay them for it. Now they would find out the cost of that betrayal. Right now they sat in a fancy restaurant eating an expensive meal and having no idea that it was, in fact, their last supper. Her phone, being used as a paper weight so the wind didn't carry the photos off beeped, illuminated and showed a short message. Kitty's eyes flickered to it, then back to her scope as she hunkered down, a small smile on her lips.

***

Teddy walked slowly down the street reading texts on his phone, one hand stuck in the pocket of his jacket. He wasn't of course reading any text, but as with most everyone these days he walked down the sidewalk seemingly engrossed in his phone and paying no heed to those around him. Ahead of him parked up was a black town car. Teddy had watched its passenger exit the building and his driver open the rear door for him to enter before closing it again and walking around to the drivers side. Teddy had timed his walk to perfection, the phone in his hand beeped, illuminated and showed a short message. Teddy's expression tightened just a little as he reached the rear of the car just as the driver opened his door and bent to get inside. Distracted by doing this he missed Teddy pull a small bomb from his pocket and bend smoothing, placing it under the car and against the fuel tank where it's magnetic base clung to the cars metal. Without seeming to really pause at all the young Untouchable carried on walking still looking at his phone. He had just turned the corner when the explosion happened.

***

Jennifer had chosen the less deadly assignment, or so she thought. Still not as happy with cold blooded killing she hoped her target might be arrestable. Mephisto had given them all their targets back at base, and she had asked for someone she could arrest. He had shrugged and picked out one for her, an older women, in her 40's who, in the photo, seemed smart, elegant and hardly the type of person to put up a fight. The woman was a Mila Jaseck, Polish by birth, but had worked for the D'Angelo's since leaving university so long ago. She was a money launderer, her modelling business a perfect front to take in 'donations' from clients and move them through bank accounts off shore before bringing it back again all safe and clean. Unfortunately for her she had financed the attack on Elmhurst. Mephisto had cracked her banks security and had the evidence to indict her for the crimes she had committed so as Jennifer entered the foyer of the modelling agency, being looked down upon by huge photos of previous glamorous models, she held a file with the proof and her badge on the belt of her jeans.

***

The foot traffic flow in the financial sector was heavy, as it was every day at this time. One reason Devon McCauley had chosen this spot. He leaned on the corner of a huge skyscraper reading a paper as people walked by. Every now and then he would check his watch. The man he was after had a schedule, one he never seemed to alter. That only made this easier for Devon of course. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and reached in to pull it out, reading the short message before pushing it back in his pocket and straightening up. He was wearing a faded, grey baseball cap, jeans and a white shirt and brown leather jacket. He blended in with the crowds and vanished as he pushed off the building and entered the flow heading toward the crosswalk. He curled up his paper, holding it under one arm, hand inside it holding the silenced pistol. Up ahead he could see his target waiting on the other side of the street, waiting for the green signal that it was safe to walk out onto the crossing.

The man in question wore a very expensive suit, carried a briefcase and worked for the D'Amato's as a lawyer. He had also been one of the intermediaries between the Traitors and the D'Amato crime family. The light turned to green and people surged forward onto the crossing, Devon angling so he would walk right up to his target. The man was hardly imposing, small, thing, round lensed glasses, he looked like he should be a professor or something. The flow of people brought the two many closer, closer and finally as they got in front of each other the little mans eyes rose to Devon's. For a second their gazes met, then there was a soft 'phut' and the lawyer stiffened as Devon continued walking as if nothing had happened. He had reached the other side of the street before the first scream sounded, but by then he had vanished.

 

[PennySaver]

Continuing the post-funeral reactions from the post above...
Emelia, at the cemetary:

Dozens of cars parked on the cemetery grounds -- not to mention the hundreds parked on the streets beyond it that had been closed to traffic for this tragic day -- began their slow, almost ballet-like dispersal off into the city. Emelia's own sedan waited for the drivers of her escort cars to be certain of a clear and safe path away; despite the sympathetic showing from the leadership of the other Crime Families, there was still fear that this very public event could still be the staging ground for a stunning attack on Emelia, on the D'Angelos as a whole, or even on the other Families, many of which had their own internal and external drama's taking place.

"We found him, Donna," Philip said casually as he studied his silently brooding boss. She looked up as he confessed, "We've known where he was. I just wasn't sure what you would want to do with that information."

A couple of dozen targets were being dealt with at this moment, but it wasn't one of them about whom Philip was speaking. Emelia's expression revealed her understanding of just whom her bodyguard was speaking. She said softly, "I want to speak to him ... now, please."

Philip hesitated. Careful not to overstep his relationship with her, he told Emelia, "People are watching. The Press ... the Authorities ... members of the other Families--"

"Now, please," she cut in with a soft voice and an expression in her eyes and mouth that Philip recognized. "I don't care if anyone sees us together."

Philip knew this wasn't advisable, but he also knew who was in charge here. He lifted his phone, selected a number, and said, "Bring him to the Donna's car."

On the little knob of a hill looking down upon the final resting place of Don Enzo D'Angelo, uniformed CCPD Detective Marcus Cole would, in a moment, find himself slowly being closed in on by three men in dark suits, each coming from a different direction. The men had been part of the funeral's security team; they hadn't been placed specifically to surround Marcus or anything like that.

One of them made eye contact with the Detective and -- certainly not wanting an incident -- lifted a finger to tap his nose; it was an old gesture, probably best known from Paul Newman's role in The Sting, despite that movie having been released a half a century earlier in 1973. The nose-tapper gestured the other two men to stop before he himself continued up to Marcus, saying, "Donna D'Angelo would like to see you, Detective ... now."

 

[PennySaver]

Kitty, downtown:

​

Kitty looked high and low for her wind gauges; she was using a US flag atop the building across the street and a banner on the street below to indicate the speed and direction of the wind through the downtown neighborhood. Calculating for her distance and elevation above the target, she put her eye back to the eye piece of the high-powered scope, drew and slowly released a deep breath, and ever so gently pulled the trigger.

The weapon Kitty was using tonight was Marcus's favorite of the armory, the Barret .50 caliber. Jennifer had told Kitty that she could use her own grandfather's Vietnam Era .30-06 if she wanted, but after studying the sight and calculating for the thickness of the windows, angle, distance, yadda yadda, Kitty had decided on the bigger rifle.

"Plus, I haven't used it since the Jackson Projects," she'd confessed in the armor as she petting it lovingly as if it was a treasured cat. She'd pouted out her lover lip at the time, purring, "I've missed you, baby."

Now, the rifle kicked hard, sending a round out and down at 2,800 feet per second, more than two miles in a full second, not that today's shot was anywhere near that far. No, today the round left Kitty's location and reached its destination in a split of a split of a second; it penetrated the thick window of the restaurant, still fully intact; it began breaking up only as it passed through the man's C4 vertebrae, nearly separating her target's head from his body; and only then did divide into smaller pieces as it entered the target's wife's body, just between her clavicle and scapula, with the three separate shards cutting their ways through her heart, lungs, and spine.

Kitty settled the big rifle following the kick and loaded in a second round as she looked down upon the scene. The window was still fully intact, with only the bullet's penetrating hole indicating any sign of the attack from the outside. As she watched people inside the restaurant respond -- some coming to the couple's aid, while others scattered deeper into the restaurant or out onto the streets -- Kitty could see that there was no reason for a follow-up shot; the damage was done, and she really had no desire to give her position away.

She packed the gun up in the bass guitar case she'd used to get it into the adjacent building and made her inconspicuous departure. Kitty glanced up at the public and private video cameras that Mephisto had taken out of the equation. With a dark pair of glasses and a ballcap shading her face, she slipped away. Later in the day, it would be reported that the Traditori couple had been killed by a rival Crime Family.