New story - The Hitman

The Hit Man

Another Fiction by John G. Edwards JO/EL Engineering Technical Publications Copyright 2016 All Rights Reserved

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Thump... thump... went the 9mm automatic pistol as is was shot thru an empty 2 liter soda bottle to quiet the shots. The victim was a low life penny ante drug dealer who was skimming from the big boss, Big Tony Mazetti. This scenario plays out daily across America in cities large and small because some little guy wants to be a big guy and has not made his bones with the big boss.

There are big bosses, but Big Tony was the one who was next in succession to be the boss of bosses and was not to be messed around with. He could say the word, and people would completely disappear - no sign, no trace what so ever. His daughter was seeing someone that he didn't like and the next day the guy was gone, not even a mention in the news paper. But this story is not about Big Tony, so much, but about Le Gato, or as you will meet him, Tommy Gillette. A young wise 'mechanic' guy in his early 30's.

Mechanics are those people who are hired to eliminate people, more of a hired assassin than anything else. Le Gato was good, no make that one of the very best in his profession and he was respected by all the bosses because they knew he was efficient and reliable for the task at hand. Tommy, from the outside, could blend in anywhere because he was a master at disguise, from young to old, male or female, he had a talent for creating their perfect illusion.

What sets apart good mechanics from the exceptional all boils down to the details. Setting up a hit was like designing a house to Tommy. The site had to be surveyed, then graded and then the foundation laid, the structure was then built, followed by the cleanup. All this was now just second nature to him and he could master plan any execution, of course for the right price.

Tommy lived a very modest life style and did not drive big fancy cars or live in expensive neighborhoods. I fact he never stayed in one place to long, that's why he never got caught - ever! It wasn't because the Feds weren't trying, they had a small task force of one person working on Le Gato - the cat!

Frank James was that agent for the Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI. He was in his late forties, had a family, and was an eager beaver and wanted to go somewhere in the Bureau. He thought that by catching Le Gato, he could prove his salt and get ahead. One of the problems befuddling him was the fact that Tommy didn't stay in one place long enough for him lay any sort of a snare so he could catch him.

It's not like Tommy was capping innocents, the guys he put away were hard core crooks, so in a way, he was speeding up the capture and execution of the very undesirables that the Feds were after as well. It's just that the law was on their side, not Tommys'. Life has these strange juxtapositions that you would think would not exist, but they do.

Tommy could not have any contact with his family, but he did see his mother at least once a month in some clandestine place that was totally off the Fed's radar. This one time he saw her in the hospital where he had her check herself in for 'observation' for a couple of days. Tommy disguised himself as an elderly orderly pushing a laundry basket around the hospital collecting soiled sheets and the like.

Tommy stayed by himself pretty much, but Rachel Ferroni was a gal that if he were not in this type of business, would like to marry and have kids. Unfortunately, that was in the cards. This hit man was like most others, was a solitary being, not by choice, but by necessity. You don't want some female with raging hormones knowing what you do to make a living.

Sure, you see guys in the movies that are hit men and live what looks like a very normal life with a family. However, in reality this is not the case. Young hit men want to become old hit men and having a family can make that a near impossibility because you serve two masters - the person giving you your next contract and your family.

The fact that Tommy was as young as he was and had a certain effeminate, sort of, look about him made him a person that would not stand out in a crowd. Weighing in at 155 pounds and being nearly six feet tall made his figure somewhat slight of build. He would almost always dress as a much heavier man with a 'fat suit' that weighed a mere 10-12 pounds making him light on his feet. He wasn't one to go to the gym, but he had muscles that were taught and lean in his arms and legs. In fact that's how he got his name, Le Gato because of his cat-like reflexes. He had studied with a karate master in the orient when he was growing up because his father was in the military overseas.

Tommy wasn't your ordinary military brat because he was a lone wolf, buy nature, from an early age and was able to carefully choose whom he wished to associate with. The other brats would hang out together and get into trouble, but Tommy made friends with Kai Tomita, a known, but obscure, karate master in a small village near the base. Tommy wandered in to his dojo one day to watch the old man teach class to a few men in their late twenties to early thirties who were tied to the yakuza, the crime family in Japan.

It was there that he would learn his craft and the discipline that went with it. To be taken in by Master Tomita was truly an honor and rarity because round-eyes were, generally, not to be trusted. Tommy gained his acceptance by simply sweeping the dojo and keeping it in good shape and doing other errands or tasks as he was assigned. His father wasn't too fond of having his son hanging out at the dojo, but Tommy did keep out of trouble and was now becoming well disciplined in mind and spirit. The other kids used to razz him at first, but Master Tomita taught Tommy a few moves that would put them in their place and they give him a wide berth whenever he was around.

At twelve years old he could take down men in their early twenties like it was nothing. He father had seem him totally annihilate one of the young recruits from the base with a sweep kick and then landing on his chest and placed his thumbs over each eye so he could blind the kid. Tommy didn't do that, but he told the guy that he would make it so he never would see again if he so chose. To add insult to injury, Tommy did break the little fingers on both his hands.

Tommy's dad had watched his son be merciful, but dealt out pain without impunity to warn the young soldier that he was not a person to be picked on. One of the other Army brats saw this whole thing go down and he immediately went to tell the others about the fracas in great detail. Tommys father was killed in a military exercise some time later and would never get to know how his son turned out in life.

Tommy's mother (Kate) stayed on in Japan and worked at the base as a civilian employee and this gave him the time to mature and do some growing up. Master Tomita became Tommys' surrogate father, so to speak, and took him under his wing and taught him the ways of the Samari. This training was hard on Tommy, but he adapted and was taught how to cope with pain and use it to his advantage.

Tommy had the chance to work with and become part of the yakuza, but was dissuaded from doing so by Master Tomita.

"This will end no good, you do not become one of them!" he would tell Tommy.

As Tommy grew older he wanted to return to the United States because he felt as though he had missed so much because he lived in Japan. One day he told his mother that he was leaving and he had purchased a one-way ticket to Chicago. The next day he was gone.

He arrived at the airport and knew no one, but he had about $3000 dollars in his pocket and that would be enough for a few weeks. Had he made a mistake coming back to the US without having much of a plan to make it stick? Not having much more than a high school diploma in his hand when he searched for work wasn't the best of calling cards. But his education in Japan was at a much higher level than what was presented here in the US, so in reality he had what a community college degree would have taught him.

He looked for work in the theatre district because he had performed in a couple of local kabuki presentations and that's where he started learning how to alter his appearance. With those credentials, he wasn't looking very good for American theatre, but he did find a low level acting job with a third-rate production company. It was here that he would perfect his makeup skills over the next couple of years. Tommy did a couple of large scale production with small bit parts, but he was a staple in the makeup department.

One night after a performance he went out with a bunch of the other cast members to a local Italian restaurant and that's where he met Big Tony. One of the principal actors was Tony's nephew and he made the introduction. On the surface, it was just 'Hi, glad to meet you," and Big Tony went back to his meal, but there was something about Tommy that intrigued him. About an hour later Tommy ran into Big Tony in the bar as Tommy was sitting by himself at one end.

"Tommy, was it?" said Big Tony as he extended Tommy a hand.

"Yes, Tommy Gillette."

"Have you know my nephew long Tommy?"

"No, just in this production. I'm still new in town."

"Where ya from kid?"

"I lived outside Tokyo for many years before returning to the States."

"What did you do over there, if you don't mind me asking?"

"I trained with a karate master and did a few kabuki roles. Do you know what kabuki is?"

"Yeah, it's a bunch of guys who dress in white face and go around stomping and screeching unintelligible lines. Did you ever play a female role? I guess that what you guys do."

Tommy smiled at Big Tony, "Yes, I've done a few performances in drag." They both laughed. At this point Tommy hand no idea who Big Tony was or what he did.

"I understand that you are pretty talented with makeup?"

"Yes, they pay me money for what I do." Tommy laughed.

"Hey boss, Joe the Greek is here," said one of Tony's lieutenants as he walked up.

"Does he want to see me?" "No, but I just thought I would tell you, just in case."

"Thanks Sal." Sal walked away but was never out of eyesight.

"Tell me about this karate stuff..." Just then another gumba walked up and whispered into big Tony's ear. Big Tony shook his head yes and the gumba walked back to a defensive position a few steps away. Big Tony surveyed the situation quickly. As he did Tommy could see that the other man was packing heat as his jacket flapped out slightly. Then Tommy put two and two together, Big Tony - mob connected. Sheesh!

"What would you like to know?"

"Who was your master? I might know him."

"Master Kai Tomita..."

"Hmm, I've heard that name before. Doesn't he train mostly yakuza?"

Tommy was surprised that Big Tony knew about Master Tomita, "Yes, he does. Are you a practitioner?"

"Oh no, not at all. How long did you study with Tomita?"

"About 10 years in total."

"You must be pretty good by now?"

The words hadn't left Big Tony's mouth when a big guy weighing around 240 pounds was lunging at Big Tony with a switchblade. The knife was on a path straight to Big Tony's heart when Tommy stepped in front of Big Tony and deflected the knife blow and with another quick move he had the assailant on the floor with the knifes pointy end slightly embedded into his throat about and eight of an inch.

"What the fuck are you doing ass hole?" Tommy said in a calm voice cocking his hear from side to side with a smile while women who were near were screaming and trying to get away. The crowded bar was now clearing out as fast as water runs out of a sieve. Tony's gumba and lieutenant were completely blindsided by the event and were finally coming to his rescue, but Tommy had things well in hand.

Tommy looked at Big Tony, "Friend of yours?" as he raised his eyebrows and looked up at him.

Big Tony was visibly shaken, but quickly regained his composure, "Sal, Alberto, get this guy out of here and take care of him."

Tommy gazed into the attackers eyes as it to put him at ease and shook his head back and forth, "I don't envy your next few hours," as he pushed the knife a little deeper into his throat to get what was left of his undivided attention. The two gumbas pinned the attackers are to the floor and Tommy got out of the way so they could deal with the man.

Big Tony turned towards Tommy, "Thank you Tommy. I have to leave now, but I want you to come and see me tomorrow at the Cavallino Club, over on Pine avenue for lunch tomorrow, can you do that?"

"Sure, I'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully under a little less stressful conditions."

Big Tony's nephew bid his uncle goodnight and went to talk to Tommy as he was just about to leave, "Tommy, wait up for a second." Tommy turned and waited till the nephew got to him, "Thank you for saving my uncles life tonight. Lucky thing that you two were talking and, my god, I've never seen anyone moves so quickly in my life! Do you know who my uncle is?"

"Uh, Big Tony?" he said shaking his head. The nephew took Tommy aside, "He's the big boss here in Chicago."

Playing ignorant, "Big boss of what?"

The nephew took his finger and pushed his nose to one side...

"Oh, I see," said Tommy as he pushed his nose to one side and winked.

"Listen, you be careful tomorrow. The Cavallino Club is his own personal clubhouse and office and he doesn't usually bring outsiders there, at least not very often." Tommy said that he would be careful.

The next day Tommy found Pine Avenue and the Cavallino Club. There were a couple of guys standing around outside leaning against the walls and reading newspapers. As Tommy walked up to the front door, one of the guys stopped him, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Tommy Gillette, I'm supposed to meet Big Tony for lunch today, that is if you don't make me late for the date."

The young punk frisked Tommy and said that he was expected and to have a wonderful lunch with the boss.

Towards the back of the club there was a raised area about three steps up and in the middle was a big round oak table and Big Tony was sitting there waiting for Tommy.

"Tommy my boy, come and sit." As Tommy got closer, Big Tony rose and shook his hand, "Tommy I wanted to think you again for last night. Sorry that my business spilled over into the real world. Bad business this," Big Tony pointed to a chair for Tommy to sit in.

"Thank you sir, I really didn't do too much..."

"Nonsense! If you hadn't have been there, we would not be having this conversation right now, I'm sure of that." Tommy just smiled. "I talked to Master Tomita last night and he said that you were his best pupil. He also said that the yakuza wanted you. I guess that you helped train several of their people, is that right?"

"I was merely a punching bag for them to try and hit, which they couldn't."

Big Tony shook his head and laughed, "No, Master Tomita said the you have real style and are very conservative with your comments... what did he say, short and to the point, yeah, that's it. Do you like pasta Tommy?"

"Absolutely, it's one of my favorites."

"Bene, good... Antonino is from my home town in Palermo and fixes the best you have ever eaten. I think he's preparing Linguini con Vongele today, you know... linguini and clams?"

"I like clams."

After about an hour the two were just finishing their fresh fruit when Big Tony handed a package to Tommy and had him open it. Inside was $10,000 dollars. Tommy's eye widened when he opened the package. "What's this for, sir?"

"It's for last night, a call that went way beyond the call of an outsiders duty and a small token of my appreciation for that service."

"Oh sir, you don't need to do this. Last night was just one of those things that I was able to take some small part in, please take back your money."

"Tommy, you don't want to offend me do you?"

"No sir, not at all..."

"Take the money, you earned it."

"But..."

"No buts! Tommy, what are you doing besides this theatre thing? Surely you have something else going?"

"No sir..." Tommy hung his head, "It's just a filler until I find some real work. I'm afraid that the services of a young karate disciple are not in that much of demand here in Chicago."

"How would you like to come and work for me? Maybe do a few odd jobs and travel with me when I have to go out on business, would you do that for me?"

Tommy thought for a couple of minutes and said, "If you think I can be of any help, sure." Tommy looked around and surveyed the room, "If at any time you are displeased with my services, please let me know or go." Tommy sort of knew that working with and for the mob was a one way street with typically a bleak ending. The two shook hands, "When do you want me to start? I'll need to give notice."

"Right now, and you already have. I'm one of the largest donors to that playhouse." Tommy blinked his eyes several time not believing what he just heard. "Eddy, take Tommy over to Schindler and get him a couple of suits, tell Bernard it's a rush. I'll see you back here in a couple of hours, ok? Oh, Eddy, see about getting him something off the rack for right now." "Yes sir, boss."

A couple of hours almost to the minute, Tommy returned to the club and Big Tony was still sitting at the table, he looked up at Tommy when he came in and told the others at the table to excuse themselves.

"Tommy, did you get all measured up ok? You should have your suits in a couple of days. Don't you look nice now, this is what I expect from my guys." Tommy was wearing a single breasted grey flannel three-piece suit with a burgundy tie and hankie in his breast pocket. The warm-pink button down collar silk shirt was just the ticket.

Tommy got the message pretty quickly and would go out and buy some more shirts and ties once he was thru for the day, when ever that might be.

"What kind of car do you drive Tommy?"

"I've got an old Bronco that's been fixed up a bit. It's great for the snow here."

"Good, good, how are your driving skills?"

"No bad, I held the track record at Suzuka Raceway for about six months with a go kart. Driving is driving, if you can master a go kart, you can pretty much master anything."

"So you are familiar with a Suburban?

"Two or four wheel drive sir? Either one is a go."

"Come on, I need to go over to the South Side for a bit and I want you to drive." Tommy knew that Big Tony probably never drove anywhere by himself. Anthony, you are with us."

As Tommy was about to climb behind the wheel, Anthony handed him a holstered 10mm Glock that was primed and ready. Tony looked at Tommy and said, "You'll have your 'concealed and carry" permit later on this evening. You do know how to use a fire arms, don't you?"

"Uh, sure..." Tommy knew how to fire a gun, but had never had any formal training. Guns in Japan were regulated very heavily. He clipped the holster to his belt.

The doors of the Suburban were quite heavy because they had bullet proof glass and thick armor plating as Tommy opened the door to get in. The door had a resounding thud-clunk as it closed. The engine started immediately and sounded very powerful. A blip of the throttle sent the engine revving like there was no tomorrow. "Where to sir?"

"10th and Olive," said Anthony.

The ride took only about 20 minutes and when they reached the address, Tommy was told to wait in the truck. Just about an hour later Big Tony and Anthony came back to the car and then they headed uptown to an Italian bakery and picked up some cannoli and then to a store for some homemade vanilla ice cream, and finally back to the Cavallino. Anthony thrown a couple of bags into the back of the Suburban and brought them into the club. Tommy was shown where he should sit and wait for Tony's bidding. It was a small round table near the front of the building but off to the right side of the door and it would be the place where he would spend many a long hour just waiting patiently.

Across town, Agent Frank James was preparing to hit a north-west warehouse were suspected drug traffic was supposed to be taking place. He was part of a 20 man team that would conduct the raid.

"Hey Frank, do you need any extra ammunition?"

"No, I have a couple of boxes, I think that 100 extra rounds should be plenty."

"Suit yourself, I'm taking four extra boxes myself."

"Well, if I need any. I'll hit you up, ok?"

"Hopefully I'll have some left." said the other agent with a light hearted laugh.

The raid was taking place at a warehouse that was close to the docks and there would be some 16 agents on the ground and four more in a couple of boats waiting for anyone who would try and use water as an escape route. Frank was chosen to be one of those laying in wait with a triple engine boat that was quite fast and was loaded with all the necessary crime fighting tools of the trade.

This was all going down around 10:00pm and would hopefully next several criminals and who knows how much illegal narcotics. Around 8:45 Frank and his partner would cruise up the waterway and find a good vantage spot that they could keep an eye on things, yet be out of sight. The night was cold because a storm had blown in from the west a few hours before, but not before dusting the far Westside of Chicago with about an inch of snow. Luckily the snow had stopped before it reached Chicago proper.

There was a fair chop on Lake Michigan and this tended to make for a rough ride in the boat, but once they had motored down one of the inlets, the only thing that was left was the harsh wind. It seemed like no amount of hot coffee or cocoa could warm you up and make you comfortable.

"Damn it's cold," said Frank as he rubbed his hand together trying to keep the blood circulating.

"Yeah, it's the shits we drew this duty. I bet we will miss all the fun when the shit hits the fan," said his teammate.

"I can't imagine anyone trying to leave by boat tonight.

"Yeah, me neither." All of a sudden a call came in from the other boat saying that they had found good cover just in front of a larger freighter.

"10-4, that. We are about a hundred yards away tied up to a large fishing boat," called back Frank, still trying to keep his hands warm. He and his teammate turned off all the lights and ducked down as not to be seen. It was just about 9:45 when a 100 foot motor launch motored up the inlet and moored somewhat close to the warehouse. Frank watched as several men went ashore holding what looked like military assault rifles and a large machine gun. These guys were ready for anything. Lumbering along on its way to the warehouse was a semi with a short 20 foot trailer and a black Suburban with blacked out windows. When it reached the warehouse the rollup door opened as if by magic and both trucks rolled in. The door closed immediately after they were inside.

About 10 minutes later several men returned to the motor launch and started unloading box after box of goods and took them inside of the warehouse. Of course Frank was videotaping everything from his vantage point, just like one of the other team members on the other boat.

Right at 10:00pm the large team of agents swarmed the building and that when all hell broke loose. The solid concrete building acted like a fortress for the crooks, but the feds had the place surrounded and used a tank-like vehicle to knock down the rollup door and make their entry. Frank could see several men coming from the bottom side of the mooring and scramble onto the launch and just as they did both of the fed's boats beat a quick path towards it.

There was lots of gun fire exchanged between the three boats. The heavy machine guns ripped several round into Franks boat near the water line and now his boat was taking on water. Frank and the boat team members had their own heavy machine guns and shot back towards the stern of the launch trying to puncture the hull and make it start taking on water too. The launch was starting to pull away from the dock but couldn't maneuver as well as the feds boats.

Frank had a brilliant idea about how to stop the launch, or at least slow it down, by firing a flair gun at the wheel house. The incendiary flare cause the wheel house to immediately catch fire. This wasn't text book, but Frank was not that familiar with marine pursuits and procedures. The boat was now out of control because the crew had abandoned the wheelhouse and jumped into the water. The other boat went and scooped them up. The remaining thugs were aboard a vessel that was on a collision course with a 100 yard long barge that was loaded with shipping containers.

Another two high speed boats were also dispatched to the scene and when the motor launch collided with the barge and came to a sudden halt, what was left of the criminals were, for the most part, were picked up and put under arrest. The launch was now burning pretty vigorously and the Chicago fire department sent out a fireboat to put it out.

After all was said and done, the feds lost two agents and the bad guys lost six and another four were arrested. Not a bad result for the action, plus there were some 1800 pounds of drugs that were confiscate plus another 2700 pounds that were still on board the motor launch. Frank was given a commendation for his part in the take-down because of his initiative for using the flair gun to stop the launch dead in her tracks.

What the feds didn't know, was that Big Tony Mazetti had gotten clean away and his only compensation was his life. This was a sizeable loss to the mob and Big Tony had to make it up, or find himself sleeping with the fishes. This was going to be the big score that would have made him a made man within the organization.

Big Tony would have to work long and hard to make up for this big score, but with his wits and skill he would make up for it in spades and finally get to be a local boss. After he was a made man, nobody messed with Big Tony, or they would suffer the consequences.

The area of Chicago that Big Tony was in charge of was predominately Black and Hispanic and was a bitch to control both the drug and prostitution aspects. The Blacks tried to put a strangle hold on the prostitution end and the Hispanics were forever forcing their hands into the lucrative drug traffic. The drug cartel from Mexico and South America were constantly pushing into the area.

At one of the buys, Big Tony was personally involved and when it went down and went way sideways, the cartel members heads were cut off and sent to Mexico, collect. This put a huge damper into their efforts because every time they would try and send merchandise, a box with severed heads would arrive down south of the boarder. Big Tony got permission from the Big Boss to put out a contract on one of the Mexican drug lords.

This action in itself would make Big Tony's rise in the organization meteoric because Big Tony carried it off by himself with a few lieutenants. The news about this made national headlines because the assassins, Big Tony and crew, were never caught and it left the cartel in a state of disarray for several years.

Our timeline marches forward several years and we find Big Tony Mazetti near the very top of the American branch of the Cosa Nostra; Tommy Gillette a freelance mechanic, and Frank James nearing the end of his public service career.

"Hey Frank, is it true that you are related to Jesse James?" asked one of the young agents trying to get a rise out of him.

"Yes, it's a part of the family tree that I try and forget."

"Why, you should be proud of your family!"

"Yeah, like I'm related to a famous outlaw and here I am in the law enforcement business. Such a dichotomy, huh?"

"Yes, but it is kind of cool, you know..."

"Like I said, he's the part of the family that I would rather forget about, enough said?"

"Yes sir..."

"Ok. So what do you have on our phantom assassin on this latest killing?"

"Not much as usual, this guy is really good. No finger or foot prints, nothing that we can trace forensically on how he got in to the victims home, nothing... zilch! Just a dead body with two taps to the back of the head. Looks like some sort of execution, as per normal with this guy."

"Damn it! I hate this guy, but a part of me admires his work. He's definitely saving the tax payers a ton of money by eliminating all these bad guys. Are any of our CI's (confidential informants) of any use? There's gotta be someone out there that knows something about this..."

"I've tried all my guys and they all come up empty. There's nothing on the streets."

"Well, get out there and dig deeper, there's gotta be someone!"

"Yes sir..."

Frank was getting flustered because he knew nothing about this guy and none of his associate agents seemed to be coming up with anything either, but there had to be something, but where? The FBI partners with Interpol on a lot assassination activities because most of them are international in their operational field of play. But, they had nothing on this phantom either. Assuming that this phantom was an international player, how was it that he could slip, so completely, under everyone's radar?

A couple of days later one of Franks' agents came in with some video of a person that was in the immediate vicinity of the latest execution, it wasn't clear because the camera had a dirty lens that had not been cleaned in quite a while. Plus, the perpetrator had blinded it with a can of spray paint.

"Mr. James, I've got something on our phantom, it's a private surveillance tape. It's not great, but it's something, at least."

"Terrific! Let's have a look see." Frank took the CD and put it into his computer and queued it up. The actual length of the video was about four seconds. Their phantom's face was not visible because he was wearing a hoodie and dark glasses. But it appeared that he was wearing a beard and looked about 5'11" tall. After the FBI lab cleaned up the video, they also found that their purp was a white male and they confirmed that he was approximately 5'11" to 6' tall and weighed around 185 pounds. A break, at last! They had to guess at his age, but from the enhanced video he looked to be in his late 40's to early 50's. Of course this was mostly all wrong, but they had a very vague description now. Tommy would have been proud if he knew all of this and that his disguise had worked as intended.

Tommy next assignment was a mid ranking mafia guy that need to be terminated because he had also been too greedy and skimmed some money from Big Tony. Alonso Trupiano was in his late fifties and should have known better then to mess with the boss. His complacence as a Mafioso became greed as he saw very large sums of money going to the higher ups. Alonso was of the typical southern Italian build, about 5'6" and weighed in at 190 pounds. Apparently, he liked his pasta with a lot of cream sauce.

For this contract Tommy would dress as a female because Alonso liked the ladies. He would wear a very form fitting red sequined mini-dress with glossy black stockings and a pair of red 6" platform high heels. He would overstate his makeup with lots of purple and blue eye shadow and plenty of black mascara and some equally red lipstick. To complete the illusion he would dawn a jet-black A-line bob wig with blunt-cut bangs. To form his feminine shape, Tommy wore a 36d bra with breast forms, an under-bust corset to trim his waist, and a girdle that had generously padded hips and butt. A pair of lavender doll-eye contacts would change the color and size of his eyes. This ensemble was one that Tommy knew that Alonso was attracted to from his research.

Tommy also knew that Alonso would have lunch every day at the Sicilian Trattoria, a local hot spot for wise guys. I was going to be tricky for Tommy to walk in there and make a play for Alonso with so many mob guys there. There was a hotel a few doors down that he would use to carry out his assignment and he would have to make some sort of connection to get the room that he wanted, but nothing that money couldn't conveniently arrange.

The day he was going to fulfill his contract, Alonso was indeed having lunch at the Sicilian Trattoria at his normal time, 1:30pm. He was having the lunch special of Linguini Alfredo and a glass of red wine. When Tommy entered the restaurant all eyes immediately went to him. He was a stunning female creature for the eyes to behold. He stumbled slightly and raised his leg to look at his shoe, but also allow the clientele to have a great view of his shapely legs as his skirt hiked up to his waist.

It wasn't a minute when one of the wise guys came over to ask if she needed some assistance, Tommy sweetly declined and went to sit at the table next to Alonso. He had conveniently prearranged that as well. When she went to sit down, Alonso got up and held her chair, just like a proper Italian gentleman.

"May I help you miss?"

"Oh, thank you, you are very kind," Tommy said with a sweet smile and with a pitch-perfect English accent.

"Are you dining alone today?" asked Alonso.

"Well, I thought I was that I was supposed to meet someone, but it looks like he hasn't shown up yet."

"May I, say that you look exquisite?"

Tommy blushed, "Thank you for your kind words, sir."

"Oh no, thank you for coming in here today. Have you been here before?"

"No I haven't, this is my first time."

"I think you will like the food here, it's my favorite place to have lunch."

"Can you recommend anything?"

"I'm having the luncheon special, the Linguini Alfredo, it's absolutely delicious."

"Ooo, that sound so yummy! Thank you."

"If your friend doesn't show up, would you please care to join me for lunch?"

"Well, I'm a little late and he should have been here by now, but knowing this guy, he probably stood me up," said Tommy trying to look sad.

"Please, come and sit with me for a few minutes, if he shows, then you can go back to your own table, please?"

"If it's no bother, thank you. My name is Cindy," said Tommy as he extended his hand with the red nail polish. He always had to remember to use an extremely light hand shake when dressed femme. Alonso took her hand and kissed it. Tommy had to blush once again.

"Please Cindy, let me help you," said Alonso thinking he was going to get lucky this afternoon.

The two chatted about a lot of things and as Cindy pretended to become enthralled with Alonso's conversation, she moved closer to him to make her play for him. She had him hooked when she rubbed her leg against his. Alonso's eye brows raised as she did and he smiled broadly at her. They were nearly finished with lunch when he asked her if they could go somewhere more private.

"Are you asking me for a date?"

Alonso was slightly taken aback, but replied, "Yes, I am." Cindy suggested the hotel down the block and a fee of $400, payable in advance. Alonso was used to this arrangement as he had done it many times with numerous call girls.

When they got to the hotel, the manager gave them the keys to the third floor room that he wanted and the two of them rode the elevator up. Cindy was kissing Alonso in the elevator to get his juices going and as she did he started to grab her crotch, but she quickly brushed his had away and told him to wait.

Once they were in the room, Cindy told Alonso to sit in the chair and watch her get undressed. This seemed a little different than what he was used to, but Cindy wasn't like the other girls, somehow.

Cindy started her courting moves by sitting on the bed and removing her shoes and then her stockings in a very provocatively sexy way. She then took them and wrapped them around Alonso's head and then hung them around his shoulders. He reached out and grabbed her around the waist and as he did, Cindy slipped away from his grasp as she swiveled her hips and gave him a big wet kiss as she pulled away.

She turned around and undid the zipper of her dress and let it slide to the floor, next she undid her bra and flung it over her shoulder to Alonso. He was intrigued at how she knew exactly where to throw it to him. Her corseted waist was something that really turned him on. Cindy reached out with her left hand and wiggled her ass and motioned Alonso to come to her with her finger.

As he came towards her, Cindy reached between her legs and pulled out a 32 automatic with a silencer and when she turned around fired immediately and directly into the middle of his chest. Alonso's eyes popped open with both shock and surprise. As he fell backwards, Cindy fired another shot at his head, right between the eyes. Alonso fell into a heap very quietly.

Cindy got dressed with the precision of a skilled mechanic and cleaned up what mess she had made and left the room, but not before placing the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the door knob. Tommy had put on a pair of gloves so that he would not leave any finger prints.

As she left, she saw the old man manager and told him that the gentleman was taking a nap and that he should not be disturbed. Then, she reached over and gave him a kiss on the cheek and a $100 bill to forget her face. And so it was, another assignment finished and another $50,000, plus the other $400, to put into the bank.

When the a couple of Alonso's henchmen arrived at the hotel, some 6 hours later, they found Alonso Trupiano laying in heap in the middle of the room just as Tommy had left him with a note laying on his head that read, 'Never steal money from the family!' They took the note and left out the back. There was a low rumble throughout the entire family about this hit and everyone knew that you didn't fuck around with Big Tony.

Big Tony was in upstate New York for some fishing with a couple of the other Dons to talk about how he saw things would be when he took over and about his plans for them.

"Nino, I've got big plans for you when I take over, You are going to be my go-to guy in New Jersey, Vinnie needs to go and retire, I want to double our drug penetration into the state within a year, think you can handle that?" Tony said with a smile taking a puff on his Cuban cigar.

"Sure boss, I can handle that once Vinnie is out of the way, or gone."

"Leave that to me, Giorgio how are things going in Florida?"

"Damn Cubans and Puerto Ricans are trying to carve a bigger slice of the pie down there and it's tough. We can't use the same means to keep them in line like the old days."

"Get me the names of the top three guys who are causing you all this grief, ok?"

"I'll give you their names and address once we get back from fishing. Speaking of fishing, when are we supposed to catch something boss?"

"Ah, this lake was fished out years ago, we are here because there's no way for the feds to listen this far away from shore and we can see them coming from here. Listen up, I've got some bigger things that are just about to come down the pike. I just wanted to give you two a head's up before they do."

"Anything you can talk about?" asked Nino.

"No, I don't want you two personally involved if this thing take a turn south. Capish?" The both shook their heads and then Nino got hooked up with a nice size rainbow trout.

Big Tony was plotting the demise of the current Don and would then be the next in line to succeed him. A single discussion with Tommy would be all that was needed from his friend and mentor to take care of business. That meeting would soon take place.

In another department of the FBI, Agent Grace Evans was tackling how she would take down Big Tony. She had lots of inconclusive evidence that he was a big chief in the mob, but most of it was circumstantial. There had been CI's tell about some big shot Mafioso that was well connected, but when she tried to contact them again, they were found dead or had disappeared. The circumstantial information was enough for her to take the bit between her teeth and run with it.

What information she had with a high confidence level was that Anthony Mazetti was in the olive oil business in Chicago. Just like so many other Mafioso's around the country. She had his phone tapped, but that led nowhere and then some. She did know about the Cavallino Club and had tried to servile it, but without much useable intel. There were no phones registered to that address and there was very little cell phone activity that could be hacked and used. Big Tony used Comsat telephones that were nearly impossible for anyone to crack into.

She tried having him tailed, but that was a waste of time because the only place he would go would be the Club and his residence, not too many other places. One thing she did discover was that whenever the competition would get in the way or get sloppy handling the family money, Tony would go out the day before the deed was to be performed to several locations and then the following day he would usually be home playing with his grand kids, or something.

Grace knew Alonso Trupiano, he was a top lieutenant with the organization, while he wouldn't be missed, there was still the fact that there was someone out there who had put the tap on him, and that was a crime in itself. When she got the news, she shook her head with disbelief that some woman had put him down. Who was this new player, she wondered. Who was this someone with an English accent? She was sure that this was a -contract killing and maybe the killer was imported.

Grace called her personal contact at Scotland Yard and asked if they knew of any female mechanics and if they would travel. The obvious and quick answer was, 'Yes we do, and yes they would travel.' Her contact said that he would forward some pictures of the known female mechanics within the hour. The same call was placed to Interpol and the same response was replayed.

About an hour later Grace had the pictures of some 20 female mechanics. She was astonished that there were so many now days. She would have thought, maybe five or six, but twenty? Wow! She took the pictures and had several copies made so that she could distribute them to the other agents. She went personally to the hotel to show the pictures to the manager.

"Mr. George, so any of these women look familiar? They could probably have a different hair color and style, but..."

The old man took the pictures and was about to earn his $100, "This one here, I think. She had a different style hair, you know, a bob cut that hung down to her chin. Lovely chin, I must say. Will that help?"

"Yes, thank you very much. How tall did you say she was, now?"

"Well, she was a lot taller than the man she was with, but she had on some pretty high heels, you know."

"Are you sure?"

"As I recollect."

"Ok, thank you Mr. George," she said with a smile. This was somewhat contradictory to the fact that the woman that he chose was only 5'6" and with 6" to 7" heels would only make her a little over 6' tall, not quite as tall as the old man had remembered. Hmm? Could he be mistaken or was his perspective way off?

"Since you sit so low in there, how did you see that she was wearing high heels? Were they spiked high heels, or platforms?"

"I got up to take a look as they went to get on the elevator, she was a real looker, you know! I'm sorry, I don't know the difference, dear."

Somewhat satisfied, Grace thanked the man and left, but with a shadow of a doubt in her mind. The woman in the picture was Brenda Martin, of Port Isaac, England, a small port city along the coast. She called her inspector friend at the Yard and asked if he knew the where bouts' of Brenda. She was told that she was unaccounted for at present and that she had been released from prison a couple of months back, so it might be reasonable to suspect her because of financial condition. He said that he would check with the air carriers and see if anyone matching that name or description would turn up. Of course, she wouldn't. Another dead end.

Grace returned to the hotel once more to quiz the old man, "Mr. George, can you give me anymore detail about this woman?" as she showed him the picture once more.

"Let me see, she had double pierced ears, if that will help and one of those nose ring things too."

Grace looked at the profile once again and sure enough Brenda had double pierced ears, but the profile said nothing about a nose piercing. As she knew, women were more adventurous with piercings these days, and besides, she could have done that to throw them off the scent. Now satisfied, she would direct her focus onto Brenda Martin and get videos from the airlines to sift thru.

Again, if Tommy had know all of this, he would have laughed his head off, but right now he was off on another contract for Big Tony, this time to California to pay a visit to Carmine Roggia. Carmine had to disappear, completely and once again Tommy would do the deed dressed as a woman. With each and every hit as he was dressed femme, his confidence would grow while wearing a dress. These Italian men were such suckers for a good looking woman.

Frank James was kept in the loop as far as this new hit woman was concerned. This didn't make any sense to him, but could his phantom actually be a woman? Na, most likely not, but what if it were a man dressed like a woman? Now that's a possibility.

Frank went to the hotel to do his own investigation and talk to the old man who was behind the desk when the hit took place. He thought that maybe a man-to-man talk might yield some more information.

"Mr. George, I'm Agent Frank James and have a couple of questions for you, if you don't mind."

The old man was getting a kick out of all this hoopla about the man that was killed, "Sure. Did you say your name was Frank James?"

"I did, sir."

"Any relation to the James Gang?"

"Jesse and Frank are some distant cousins, yes."

"Damn, I bet they would sure not be happy about you being a cop, huh?" Mr. George could be quite disarming at times.

"Yes, it's a cross that I have to bare. Can you tell me about the woman in the red dress?"

"I told that agent lady everything I know, didn't you read the report?"

"Please, Mr. George, humor me, please. Did you notice anything strange about her appearances?" The old man repeated his description that was letter for letter of what was written down, already. "Did you notice, this may sound a bit strange, but did she have an Adam's apple?"

The old man had to think, "I don't remember it as such."

"Can you elaborate, 'as such'?"

"Well, she was wearing a lace choker, I think it was. Let's see, did it have a broach or a cameo on it? It was oval shaped and had a face on it, I think. Is that a cameo?"

"Could be. You said she had triple pierced ears?"

"No sir, they were double pierced."

"Did she have any tattoos or any distinguishing marks that you can remember?"

"No, she did have these pretty purple eyes, though. I've never seen violet eyes like she had before. Did I say that they were pretty?"

"Yes sir, you did."

"Can you tell me about her figure?"

The old man perked up and smiled, "She had this perfect hour glass figure." He continued to smile and that part was true.

"Yeah, did she have some pretty nice legs?"

"They were beautiful, I do remember that!"

"Do you scrutinize all women like that Mr. George?"

"Only the pretty ones." "Did you see if she left in a cab or a hired car?"

"Na, she just walked away, but before she did, she..."

"What did she do Mr. George?"

"She blew me a kiss," he said with a big smile.

"Have you ever seen her before, here or anywhere else?"

"No, but I wish I had, she was a real looker!"

This interview was now going now where fast, but he did confirm the double pierced ears. "You said that she had a nose piercing, or something?"

"Yeah, it was like a diamond, or something."

"Did it make her look trashy? You know, like a hooker, or something?"

"No, it wasn't big or anything like that, so no, I didn't think it looked trashy, as you put it."

"Did you say she had a Tattoo, I don't remember if you told me, now?"

"No, the gal was too classy for that, I thought. Why would you want to ruin a great looking body with ink?"

Frank had not gotten a lot of information that wasn't already on file, but the fact that she was wearing a choker, could mean that this woman was actually a guy in disguise. The search goes on...

Big Tony called Le Gato and wanted to meet with him at the Cavallino, Tommy agreed, but wouldn't tell Big Tony about any disguise, Tommy knew that the feds were watching Tony's every move and he didn't want them to have a chance to take his photo, at least not as Tommy Gillette.

The day of the meeting Tommy would dress as a priest that was in his later years. He knew that Big Tony would invite a priest in for lunch every so often and that should throw the feds off of his scent. Tommy wore the typical black cassock that you would associate with a priest and a black fedora. A grey colored hair piece would hide his true color and a bit of makeup over a facial appliance would make him look so 75 years old, plus a cane to complete the illusion, and lastly a pair of wire rimmed glasses.

Tommy took a cab and got out about a block away and walked like a decrepit old man the rest of the way. Once he got to the front door, one of Big Tony's henchmen was waiting.

"Good afternoon my son. I have an appointment to see Mr. Mazetti, nice day out isn't it?" he said as he waved his arm towards the sky and the building across the street.

"Yea Father, it is. I'll go see if he's expecting you."

"Thank you my son."

Across the street in the brick two-story walk up there were three FBI agents watching and taking pictures and using a long range microphone to try and listen in.

"Grace, what do you make of this? I've not seen this priest before."

"Possibly an old family friend, maybe?"

"Maybe, but I'll pass his picture around and see if anyone recognizes him."

"Do that, have you had any luck listening to the inside at all?"

"No, they keep a radio or something turned up at the front of the club that blocks our attempts at doing that. Smart bastard! He knows..."

The henchman came back and opened the door for the good Father, "This was Father..."

Once Tommy was inside, he made his way to the back and up the stairs to Big Tony's table. "Good afternoon my son."

"Good afternoon Father, how can I help you today?" asked Tony, still not knowing who this man was.

Cardinal Pantoni asked me to give you this..." still with an old man's voice, Tommy reached into and pulled out a missal and pointed it at Tony, "God damn it Big Tony, you've got the get some better security in here to protect you, I could have capped your ass right now," in his normal voice that Tony knew.

Big Tony pushed his way back from the table as Tommy pulled the book out and held it like a gun. Oh shit," he hung his head and then looked up, "You ass hole, don't you ever pull a stunt like that, ever, again!" He then smiled and extended a hand to Tommy.

"Gottcha, huh? By the expression on your face, you were pretty convinced that you were going to meet your maker, but not today..."

By now the henchmen were just getting their guns out and taking up positions to take down this assailant who had walked right up to their boss and could have taken him out. Tony raised his had to tell them to stand down.

"Sit down, you little shit!" said Tony with a big smile. "How the hell are you kid?" Tony was slowly regaining his composure and looked over to the waiter, "Alberto, lunch..."

During lunch the two sort of caught up and then it was time to get down to business. "The Alonso hit was genius, kid, just genius. He never suspected a thing, but the note that you left has certainly pulled things back together as far as his crew goes. Thank you. As you know my ambitions are moving along at a rapid pace, but I need to move one more person out of the way so I can make my way to the top."

"How may I be of service to you Big Tony?"

"Don Angelo has to be removed. He's getting to old and senile to run the organization in a profitable manor. I have the blessing from Palermo to carry out this hit, so you don't have to worry about any blow-back. This job is going to be difficult, if not impossible and we are willing to pay dearly to see it carried out, say $300,000?"

Tommy had to blink his eyes at the amount that was offered, it would be his biggest fee yet, "Is there a time factor involved here?"

"You've got two months, but one month would be preferred, can you work with that?"

"It's a little tight, but with some help... yeah, I can do that."

"As you know, there can be no link to me or the organization."

"I understand. Can you supply me with some information about his habits and what he does during the day? That would be very helpful. Where does the Don live?"

"Yes, I'll get you whatever info I can, he lives on a farm on Long Island, New York. I have that info right here." Tony handed Tommy a sheet of paper with the address and phone number.

"When can I have the info?"

"A couple of days, my boys will have to make some discrete inquiries. I can tell you that he has at least four guys with him 27/7, plus his family members."

"How many are there?" Tommy was now making notes on the paper.

"His wife and a daughter that takes care f him."

"Do we know anything about the daughter?"

"She did a stint in the military, it really pissed the Don off to no end."

"Name?"

"Doreen Dobson, she was married to some guy in the service, but he somehow disappeared after she got out." Big Tony laughed because he knew all too well about making someone disappear.

"Ok, I'll start working on a plan. It was good seeing you Big Tony. Have the funds transferred to my Barbados bank, you have the account number."

"Always a pleasure to see you Tommy... err... Father!" Big Tony shook Tommy's hand, bowed his head, and Tommy departed. Once he was outside, he stopped and took a bottle of water and sprayed it at the front of the Cavallino Club and gave it the sign of the cross. After his display for the feds, he hobbled down the street and around the corner where he would catch a cab, changing cabs at least three times more before disappearing.

A couple of days later, Tommy met with Big Tony again to get the information, it was at a private luncheon room that had several entries both above and below ground. He was supposed to meet Big Tony for a late lunch and came in thru the kitchen and then into the dining room. When he did he saw a man dressed as a waiter walking towards Big Tony's table and reach for a revolver and start to point it at Tony. Like a cat, Tommy leapt at the would be assailant and tackled him to the floor without being seen until the last possible second by the man.

Tommys' position took out the man's knees from a devastating side tackle. Everyone within ear shot could hear the bones snap and then crackle. The man went down with a thud screaming from the pain. Within seconds Tony's body guards were on top of the man. He had dropped his gun as Tommy's movement first broke his left leg, and then the right. One thing for sure, the hit man would never walk upright again, at least not without excruciating pain.

Big Tony was taking a bite of his spaghetti when this all went down and was somewhat shocked that another person was making an attempt on his life and that Tommy had saved his life once more.

"I'm telling you Big Tony, you're going to have to see about getting some better body guards. I'm getting sick and tired of having to save your big Sicilian ass, like this!" Tommy laughed heartily.

It would seem that Don Angelo was taking a preemptive strike at Big Tony because he knew that he was thirsting after his job as the Boss of Bosses. This move would really pissed Big Tony off in the worst way.

"Sit down and join me Le Gato. I don't know what I'm doing without having you on my staff, oh wait, you would ask too much for your services." He laughed.

"Yeah, if I had to save your life every time, yeah, a lot! Got my intel?"

"Yes, and thank you once again for saving my big Sicilian ass, here..."

Tommy took the envelope and stuffed it in his jacket pocket and then joined Big Tony for lunch. The hit man would meet a gristly end at one of the meat packing houses where he would be fed into a meat grinder and watch himself be consumed by the big machine.

Rachel Ferroni was a typical second generation Italian-American who spoke both languages perfectly and fluently. The rough edges of the Italian were smoothed by the growing up here in America. She worked for her family in their pizza shop and the days were both long and laborious. She would be up at 6:00am and generally be done around 6:00pm and her mother and father would work from noon until they closed the place somewhere between 11:00pm and 12:00am. It wasn't uncommon for them to work till 1:30am and 2:00am on the weekends.

Rachel had met Tommy at her work when he came in for a pizza one afternoon. She was immediately taken with his kind and gentle nature and his good looks. But their first date would not be until several weeks later because Tommy knew the pitfalls of female entanglements. His work was his life and it would always come first and that can be the death knell for the majority of most relationships.

Tommy found that Rachel was also married to her work and that made for a relationship of convenience for them both. No great expectations and probably no long term embarrassing situations down the road, but there was a love that was something more than casual. Because of Tommy's lone wolf nature, he would probably never commit to anything long term, however Rachel did plant a stake into his heart that would be hard for him to remove.

Rachel never asked too many questions about how Tommy made his money, but she was curious how he could drop by during the middle of the day or evening without having to care about being under someone's thumb, so to speak. He always had cash and plenty of it, even though he wasn't the flashy kind of guy. Plus the fact that she had never been to his domicile and that was one of the things that she wanted to know more about. They would always go to a recognizable hotel when they did have sex and they would always eat out, unless she brought him home for a home cooked meal.

The fact that they didn't have what you might call a steady relationship benefitted them both. He could go do his thing and she could work when the family needed her. A somewhat strange, but satisfying relationship for them both. They knew that if one or the other needed anything, the other was there for them.

Tommy had been pretty busy with his contracts and needed a break, big time and he called Rachel, "Hi honey, how've you been. I've been out of town for a while and needed a break and wanted to talk to you."

"Hi Tomasino, how are you sweetheart? I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, do you want to get together for dinner here soon?"

"I would love that, when did you have in mind? I've got a couple of large parties to cater this week, but next week I can hold open, I think."

"No openings this evening?" he said in a disappointed voice.

"Sweetheart, I can't, really. I've got to get things ready for about 40 people that are getting together for a family reunion down at the Elk's Lodge. It's a big catering job and mom and pop are too busy with the shop to be of much help. I've even called a couple of my cousins to come and help me. So the short answer is, no. I would love to see you though."

"How about I come and lend a hand this evening, then?"

"That would be lovely sweetie. Come on by whenever and I'll find another apron," she said with a hearty laugh. It tickled her that he wanted to help.

"Alright, I'll be over in an hour or two, ok?"

"See you then... Bye..."

About an hour and a half Tommy showed up at the shop and had to give mamma Ferroni a hug and a kiss, Hugo (Rachel's father) was tossing a pizza but gave Tommy a raised eyebrow to say high.

"Tomasino, it's so good to see you. Where have you been?" asked Rachel's mother with a warm smile.

"Working mamma, just working."

Tommy was just about to walk to the back to see Rachel when this big black man came in with a gun and told everyone to hit the floor, "This is a stick up!"

Mamma and poppa Ferroni hit the deck pretty quickly, they knew the drill when thugs like this came in. It didn't happen that frequently, but when it did, they just cowered and let the assailant make off with the cash. Tommy, not being one to back down or cower, immediately turned around walked nearly up to the guy, but stopped short when the guy pointed the gut directly at him.

"Listen up mother fucker, I said hit the deck... NOW!"

Tommy knew that this guy has a weakness and he was just about ready to exploit it when he bent down and head butted the guy in the stomach and knocked the breath out of him. His hand dropped the gun and Tommy made short work of retrieving it and pointed it at the big man as he recovered.

"Now, mother fucker, who's in charge here," said Tommy as he cocked his head back slightly. Tommy had to quickly make a judgment call whether or not to shoot the guy if he made any further attempt to retake the gun or continue with his robbery escapade.

"No you mother fucker!" said the man as he started towards Tommy.

Tommy shot the guy in his lower calf and that stopped him in his tracks. The bullet when right thru him and bounced off the concrete floor and into the wall base board.

"You mother fucker!!!"

"Yes, I am your mother's fucker, did you have a question about that?"

The guy stumbled towards Tommy to finish this off, when Tommy aimed the gun at his face and cocked the hammer, "Bring it on... fucker... give me a reason to cap your ass right here and now! If you turn and go away, you will leave with your tail between your fat assed legs, but you will leave alive, catch my drift? But, if you don't, I will shoot your ass dead and they will carry you out of here in a black plastic bag, capish?"

The guy stopped saw a look from Tommy that he was unfamiliar with and just gave Tommy a look that said, 'you beat me this time, but your time will come' and abruptly left the store leaving a trail of blood down the sidewalk.

Rachel had come to the front of the shop to see what the commotion was all about, but did not show herself. Tommy was helping Rachel's mother and father up off the floor when she showed herself.

"My god, are you ok?" she said to her parents as she hugged them. "Tommy, where did you learn how to do that, I mean stop the guy without killing him? I for sure thought we were going to have a real mess up here?"

"Uh, I don't know... it just kind of came to me. He got my hackles up and I got pissed off that someone like that would come in and try and rob your mom and pop."

Luckily there were no other patrons in the shop when this all went down so that no one could identify Tommy. He went over and pried the bullet from the mop board and put it into his pocket along with the revolver. "I don't think we need to call the cops, the guy left and I wouldn't be able to describe him to the police anyway. And, I don't think that your mom and pop could describe him either. Besides, if the stupid fucker goes to the hospital, they will have to report him to the authorities and I'm sure that he won't say a word about his attempting to rob the place."

"Maybe you're right," said Papa Ferroni as he tried to recover from the experience. Mama was already back at work and trying to forget the whole thing.

Tommy followed Rachel to the back of the shop and set about trying to help out. "What do you want me to do sweetie?"

Several hours later the, would be robber would have to go to the hospital and get stitched up and said nothing about trying to rob the pizzeria.

Frank James was starting to get a little feedback on Le Gato. He was a hit man that was as expensive as he was illusive. There wasn't a lot that anyone could tell about him because he always wore a disguise. Frank was quite curious to know if he had ever dressed as a woman, but no one was able to answer that question.

No one was able to venture a guess as to where he lived and that was a frustration to Frank, but with some deeper digging, just maybe something would come up. The vague description that they had from the surveillance video was practically of no use because the image could not be clean up enough to yield anything truly useful.

Grace, on the other hand, had at least gotten his trade name, Le Gato and she too would have her crew working on who this guy was and trying to get the where bouts' of Brenda Martin. This didn't take much longer because Brenda was spotted in Rockford, Illinois, nearly 90 miles west of Chicago. A team was dispatched to go and apprehend her and bring her in for questioning.

When Brenda arrived in Chicago, she was still wearing her night clothes and wanted to know who's idea this was and why she had been brought down town.

"Just what the hell is all this about?"

"Miss. Martin where you three days ago?"

"None of you god damned business! You still have not told me why I'm here, should I call my ambassador?"

"That won't be necessary if you cooperate."

"Cooperate, hell! I want to see a solicitor, now lady!" she said as she stood up and placed her hands on her hip.

"No, that's not going to happen, now sit your ass down!" demanded Grace, "You are not going anywhere until we've had a little chat about what you are doing in this country and where you were two days ago."

Brenda was still steamed, "Why did you pull me in here?"

"Are you familiar with Alonso Trupiano?"

"Who the hell is that?"

"He's a person of interest to us."

"Like I said, who's that?" She said a little more calmly.

"Well, for starters... he dead and we think that you might have had something to do with that."

"You're balmy in the head lady, like I said I don't know Alonso Trupiano. I've been in Rockford for the last week seeing my sister, Hanna. Go and ask her."

"What's her last name and can anyone else verify that you are here in this country? And, by the way, where is your passport, Brenda?"

Brenda had come thru Canada to get to Chicago. First of all by a tramp freighter to Toronto, then by private boat to Chicago where passports were merely a piece of paper, nothing more. "Hanna Smith. I lost it somewhere in Canada."

"Then how did you get into this country without it?"

"I hired a private boat and he brought me here, so there was no customs involved."

"Brenda, you're a lot smarter than that, you know you have to declare when you arrive?"

"Hey, I'm just another illegal alien looking for work, so send me home."

"What kind of work, Brenda?"

"Oh, you know, something domestic."

"Are you familiar with Inspector Connelly at Scotland Yard?"

Now Brenda was caught, "Yes, I know the inspector well, but you already know that, don't you?"

"Yes I do, we had a nice chat the other day, and guess what... your name came up. Does that surprise you, Brenda?"

"As a matter of fact, it does? Oh... now I see, you think I had something to do with your Trupiano fellow. Huh?"

"Yes we do, not so surprising, is it?"

"As a matter of fact, it is... Like I said, I have been at my sisters place, she's expecting any day now."

"Yes, that's what you say, and like I say, do you have anyone else that can verify that?"

"Yeah, but I doubt if you will find them."

"Here's a paper and pencil, write down their names and locations, and the time they saw you. I'll be back in a while." Grace thought she would give Brenda some time to stew and try and get a hold of her sister to see if that part of the story checked out. About half an hour later, Grace had confirmed that Brenda had been here for the last few days, except when she went to Chicago a couple of days ago for the day.

"Did your sister bring any clothes with her?" asked Grace.

"Not much, just a few things. Is she in trouble or something?" asked Hanna.

"No, she's just part of an investigation were are conducting right now."

A few minutes later Grace returned, "You sister says that you have been here since last Monday, but she said that you went to Chicago a couple of days ago, what should we make of that Brenda?"

"I went to do some shopping."

"Isn't that a bit of a trek from Rockford? Do you have any receipts to show where you, went?"

"Yeah, in my purse back in Rockford."

Grace was still piecing everything together, Brenda was only 5'6", or so, not the 6' that she had been told, even with platform shoes, unless they were huge platforms. This wasn't adding up, so far.

"Brenda, in your profession, does the name Le Gato mean anything to you?"

"Just what profession would that be, dear?"

"The assassin for hire, profession..."

"Oh, that one..." Brenda smiled, Let me see... Le Gato... that name doesn't quite ring a bell."

"Let me swing the clapper a little harder then, I can have the immigration people in here in fairly short order and they can certainly, how shall I say it, impede your progress back to Port Isaac."

Brenda thought for a moment, "Let me think again, I may have been a bit hasty with my last answer. I've heard of a freelancer known as the cat, but have never seen or met him. They say that he works out of the Midwest, here."

"Do you think that you can give me any more information about him, it will play favorably with the INS?"

"Like I said, I've never met him, but a friend of mine named Mickey Pearl might know something."

"And where can we find Mr. Pearl?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. We worked a job together once, but he seemed to be pretty well connected and knew just about everyone that was a top player in the industry."

Grace had to smirk to herself inwardly, for Brenda had called her profession an industry, horse shit! But, she would give her contact at the Yard a call to see what he knew.

It was one of those cold and windy days on Long Island and it was getting close to winter. The days were short and not an ally to Tommy. He had been observing Don Angelo's compound from varying locations and had video tape of everyone who came and went. The compound was surrounded by a eight foot high block wall fence, but was covered with ivy and had several trees nearby that could be used for egress. The cameras were easily hidden by the ivy.

Tommy had gone to the city hall dressed as an Edison worker to get a set of plans for the property saying that there was a contractor who needed to know where the underground electrical services were located. Of course he went in disguised as an old man who weighed around 200 pounds. Once he had the plans, he could best see how to create a distraction that would get everyone out of the house.

The plans said that there was an onsite generator, so the electric system was out, but the gas lines could maybe yield even better results. By turning off the gas for a few minutes, anything with a pilot light would be extinguished and when turned back on would cause gas to leak into the house for everyone to smell and then get the hell out.

There was at least a hundred fifty feet of open space between the house and the wall with the exception of a couple of small out buildings that looked as if they were used to contain gardening equipment and supplies. The large four-car garage was attached to the house and could not be used. But it was the nearly hundred yards of open area around the block wall fence that would present the biggest problem for Tommy because there was no cover and there were video cameras at every corner and a couple down each side of the fence.

To knock out the cameras and make egress, there would have to be several minutes where the entire compound went completely dark and that meant battery back-up to the computers and cameras, but how was this going to be accomplished? It would be simple with a electro-magnetic-pulse (EMP), but that would take some pretty sophisticated technology and additional personnel. Tommy would contact a computer nerd that he knew and would pump him for information about his problem.

A long rifle would not work because there was no high ground to take the shot from. It may have been possible to make the shot from the top of a semi track and trailer, but moving the truck quickly would be a problem unless a fast car or motorcycle was standing nearby. Tommy did not ride motorcycles, so this was not a real options, unless he learned very quickly.

Maybe some sort of computer hack that could disable all the electrical circuits just long enough for him to get in and do his deed, but having four wise guys around, this job may be nearly impossible to pull off. He wasn't going to get paid to kill additional people, plus he was very particular in the amount of collateral damage that would sometimes be created.

Grace was able to confirm Brenda's story, but was still holding her for the moment until she was able to coerce her into helping identify Le Gato. Mickey Pearl was in custody by the French for a murder that he had committed and there was not much that the States could do to leverage some information out of him. But, she did know a couple of people in the Interpol and she would have a chat with them to see if she could somehow interview Mickey Pearl via the internet or by phone. She knew that she would have to have something to trade to get what she needed, but what could she offer from the United States to someone who was imprisoned in France?

Mickey Pearl was a somewhat low level mechanic because he was not everyone's choice or go-to guy for high level hits, but he was connected and knew a lot of other mechanics around the world. He was well liked in the community, but never seemed to get the big contracts because most of his clients thought that he was sloppy in carrying out his assignments. That's the reason why he was caught, too many loose ends that were not neatly tied up.

Inspector Dubois was the man responsible for putting the cuffs on Mickey, again. He kind of had Mickey figured out by now. He got off on a technicality the last time and could also get off this time, but Dubois had double and triple checked everything and this time, so it should stick. When he talked to Grace he was skeptical that Pearl would give her anything, but he was told by the higher ups to let her conduct the interview because in the police game, you are only as good as your connections and the French knew that the Americans were rock solid with their intel, but often needed quid pro quo.

A computer was set up for a video conference so that Grace could conduct her interview. She also knew that the French would be listening in and had to be mindful of that fact. "Mr. Pearl, I'm Grace Evans with the FBI at their Chicago office. I want to thank you for allowing me to talk with you. I have a few questions for you, if you don't mind."

"Yeah, what to you need Miss. Evans, and how will it benefit me?"

At least he was straight to the point, "Can you tell me anything about a person called Le Gato?"

"The cat?"

"Um, yes the cat."

"What's this person done?"

"The person in question is wanted for questioning about some sticky business here in the states?"

"Mmm, sticky business, you say... I don't think I know anybody by that name."

Grace had one of her people reading the tone and stress patterns of Mickey's voice out of camera view and he signaled her that he was lying, "I have my doubts about that Mr. Pearl, I believe that you do know this person. Your help in this matter will be much appreciated by the US Government, do you understand?"

"Yes, I do understand, but I'm here in France and you are in America, so please tell me how you are going to appreciate anything that I can possibly tell you? What exactly makes you think that I would know such a person from the States, anyway?"

Got you, you son of a bitch, "Oh, so he's an American?"

"I didn't say that, I'm just assuming that he's a Yank."

"No Mr. Pearl, that boat has now left the dock, so you do know him?"

"So you want to believe, lady. I know a lot of people all around the world, but I've never run into anyone by that name."

"Brenda Martin, says otherwise."

"Brenda who?"

"Brenda speaks very highly of you Mickey, she says that you are a real pro and that she hopes to be nearly as good as you are some day." Grace was trying to butter him up now.

"Brenda? Hmm, now that I come to think of it, I vaguely remember her. Kind of overweight still, is she?"

"Yes, she is. She says that you two worked a job together, a while back."

"Could be, but I don't recall."

"Mr. Pearl, I sure that our government can put in a few words for you when you go to trial and that might go a long way in sentencing." Grace was throwing out anything to troll him. "All I need to know is where he lives and what his real name is. I can send you a copy of this affidavit saying that you have helped in our investigation", said Grace as she held the paper up for Mickey to see. "This is signed by the Director of the FBI."

Mickey had to think a minute, but realized that he was in trouble deep and anything that could possibly move in his favor couldn't hurt. "Can you send that document to me so that I can read it?"

"Absolutely, I'll have one of my people do that right now. How about a little trust here Mickey, can you help me out?"

"This person, the cat, takes a lot of precautions when he operates, that's what I do know about him. He works out of where you are, Chicago. No one seemed to know his real name, but if I recall, his name is Tommy something. Like I said he's not one to trust anyone much. I've heard about him and he's supposedly very good at what he does. He used to be mob connected, I think, but he went solo and only works in the US."

"Thank you Mr. Pearl, is there anything that I can do for you right now?"

"Yeah, I could use a carton of smokes."

"I'll make sure you get them today, any particular brand that you like?"

"Parliament 100's."

"I'll take care of it, thank you very much!"

Well, things were certainly were coming together, Grace thought. She would have to call Frank James and let him know that she had a name.

Once Frank got the name he had an agent go to work on finding all the Thomas, Tom, and Tommy's that were in the greater Chicago area and some of the outlying communities and to go back at least 30 years and cross-reference by occupation and school records. The chances of finding someone would be pretty slim, but at least now he had a real name for his ghost.

Tommy was studying the plans for the Don's house and the surrounding pieces of property to see if there were any chinks in the armor. The buildings were build in the late twenties and had not had much in the way of renovations, with the exception of the block wall that surrounded the compound. The electrics had been somewhat updated in 1954 and the main water pipe had been replaced in 1986, but the gas lines were the originals from 1928.

If his electronics genius could figure out a way to overload the system completely, he might just have a chance to get in. Some sort of diversion would be needed to get the four guards out of the house and away from the Don. The wife and daughter could be handled once he was inside. Of course, the stand by generator would have to be taken off-line as well and the uninterrupted power supplies (UPS) that powered the computers and surveillance cameras.

One thing that would play into Tommy's favor was the holidays were fast approaching and that just might mean that there was one or two less gumba's to take care of. A thought crossed Tommy's mind, what if the gumba's could be bought off. Maybe Big Tony could make them an offer that they couldn't refuse, or something. "Hey, amico, ciao bella. I've been looking at the schematics of your radio, and there's no way to fix the problem without some outside help. I should think that the transistors could be bought (off) or at least replace with known good components. These old systems are tricky to repair, ya know?"

"I love that old piece of crap, but if you say that the transistors need replacing, let me see if I can find some new old stock somewhere. I'm pretty sure that I can get them online, or something, but I'm gonna have to look for them. Thanks for keeping me posted. How's everything else?"

"Bene, bene. Ciao..." click went the phone. Tommy knew that he had to talk in some sort of code, but Big Tony understood and now it was up to him to see if he could deliver.

Big Tony stopped to think a minute about Tommy's request. Wasn't this the sort of thing that he should figure out and take care of? If Tony was able to get his guys inside, then why wasn't he finishing this off with his crew? Why indeed! Okay, Tommy had saved his life more than once and he was beholding, but this was a big contract and why shouldn't he collect it all for himself? This contract was about to suddenly go sideways in a big way.

It was that time of the month that Tommy should go and see his mother. He called her, "Hi mom, how are you?"

"Happy to hear your voice sweetheart, how are you?

"Fine, been working a lot and I need a quick break. Can you meet me at Gino's Pizza on Wednesday? Say around 1:00, for lunch?"

"Ok dear, who should did expect to meet?" she said with a chuckle.

"Someone you've never met before, but I'm sure you will like her."

"Oh, I'm excited already, see you Wednesday! By sweetie."

Wednesday had come and it was time for Tommy to get ready. He knew that he would go dressed as a female, but his quandary was what that female should look like. He didn't want to draw attention to himself... much, but he wanted to wear something that would impress his mother because he knew that she was somewhat into style.

He started with some pink opaque tights and then the padded girdle with accentuated hip and butt pads. As he stood in front of the mirror and looked at himself, he really did like what he saw. That feminine waistline was something to marvel at, especially on him. Tommy had several different types of brassieres and he chose a bullet bra. It was definitely a throw-back to the 1950's, but with a pink V-neck cashmere sweater he would look pretty hot, nice pointy tits and all.

A jet black pencil skirt and a pair of 4" black patent leather spiked heels with dainty ankle straps would help set his look off. Add to this a long blonde wig and he would set the place on fire! Tommy's makeup had to be equally exciting. Some cobalt blue eye shadow would be the beginning. He then applied a thick black line of liquid eyeliner to his upper lid and a thin one to the lower and then he pulled them outward about 1/2" to create an exotic cat-eye look. His eye lashes were ok, but he wanted to make a bold statement and set about putting on a pair of false lashes. Plenty of black mascara and a little shaping of the lashes and his eyes just seemed to leap off his face.

Only thing missing was some deep blue doll-eye contacts. He liked these because they made his eyes look larger than life, in a Cuppie doll sort of way. Plus, they completely covered over his true eye color. This style of contacts were the rage with younger girls, but he simply adored the look, no matter that he was in his early thirties.

Now, for some accessories... Tommy's mother had given his most of her older jewelry a long time ago and he had bought a few more things that he liked. He chose one of his mother's simple gold chain necklaces that had a 1/4 karat diamond pendent. Since his hands were so dainty, he could slip on a couple of lime green Bakelite bracelets very easily. A trio of large diameter gold hoop earrings would be used to adorn his ears. And lastly, a small black patent leather purse that was large enough to carry a 32 caliber automatic and his tube of pink lipstick. One last look at himself in the mirror he could see that he had forgotten to apply a little blush, that was quickly remedied in a couple of minutes. Now, for that last look before he left. His floor length mirror gave him a full-frame view of himself. He was always extremely happy when he dressed femme because he made such a strikingly good looking woman. As Tommy stood there, he wondered what his life would have been like if he had been born female? He did like what he saw standing there?

The steps leading up to Gino's were steep and Tommy somewhat had to struggle to walk up. His 4" heels made the arduous trek an experience that he would have to better prepare for next time. Gino's is the home of Chicago-style deep dish pizza and the interior was not what you would expect because the walls are painted black and have peoples' names tagged on them. Kind of dark, but that's a good thing when you are meeting clandestine.

Kate was sitting in a corner booth that was in a secluded part of the restaurant. She was well aware of Tommy's occupation as a mechanic and like any other mother, worried about her son. She was reading the menu when Tommy walked up and asked, "Can I take your order madam?" Kate looked up and wasn't sure if this was her son, or the waitress with a confused look in her eye, "Mom, it's me... Sally."

A broad smile suddenly appeared, "Oh my god, look at you," she said as she gave her son the once over.

Tommy reached down and gave his mother a tender kiss. Looking around before he sat down, "Fooled ya, didn't I?"

"I always wanted a daughter!"

"I bet you did, huh?" he laughed.

"Oh sweetheart, you just look so darling in that outfit! You hair, your accessories, and I really do like your makeup. It just so fits your personality. That bullet bra really does make a bold statement by today's standards, I just love it! I used to wear one for your father every once in a while."

"Thank you mother, you are always so kind."

"No, I really mean it. You would make a fine young lady, you might have to work on your mannerisms a bit, but knowing you... that would be no problem for you to overcome."

"Probably not. How have you been, mom?" The conversation centered around what Kate had been doing in the last four weeks and very little about Tommy's latest project. They ordered their pizza and about half an hour later it arrived. The waiter gave Tommy the once over and smiled and raised his eye brows a couple of times as he did.

"Darling, how do you eat things like this and keep your waistline? I can only do this every once in a while."

"Lots of time working out, you know..." They both laughed. About an hour later they left to go their separate ways, once again. Tommy rarely took his mother home, unless it was in a cab that they shared.

"Oh shit!" said Frank James as he looked at the list of names starting with 'Thomas', there were several thousands. He started to think that this would be fruitless as he scanned the 60+ pages of information. How do you pick out a name from so many with different last names. Starting with the first one and working your way thru works for most people. Frank picked up the phone and dialed a number, within a few seconds a man on the other end answered.

"Jim, it's Frank James..."

"Hi Frank, what I can I do for you?"

"I've got a list of names that I'm wondering if your computers can make any sense of?"

"What exactly are you looking for?"

Frank explained his current assignment and how he had got the name Tommy.

"We are probably looking at someone in their late twenties, to mid forties." Is there some way to filter out everyone else?"

"Sure, that's the easy part. Do you know anything else about our boy?"

"We think he's about 6' tall and that he may dress like a woman once in a while. He's Caucasian. Sorry I don't have a lot more to give you. If you think that you can help, I'll bring over my list."

"Do you have a digital copy, or paper?"

"Paper."

"Digital would be more helpful, I'll call Ted Malos and have him convert it for me. Is that who you got the list from?"

"Yes, good old Theodore!"

"I'll give him a call and have him send me the files," said Jim, "I'll be in touch when I have something for you."

A couple days later Jim called, "Hey Frank, I've got a few names for you that might fit. Since we have started to include psychological profiles we can narrow down our lists fairly quickly. It's not 100%, but it's getting closer all the time. I took the names that the computer came up with and further filtered them back to their teen age years to see if we could do any good. Our data base only goes back about 20 years or so and I thought I might get lucky, and I think I did. I'll email these to you and see what you think. Take a close look at this Tommy Gillette character, he's at the top of the list."

"Jim, thank you, thank you! I hope that all this modern tech stuff works in my favor. I owe you buddy!"

"All in a day's work here at the Bureau. Let's get together for a beer some night and catch up."

"Done, just name the night."

Once Frank received the list of names, of which there were about a dozen, he immediately went to the Tommy Gillette's name and looked at the info that the computer had assembled. Frank was amazed at the detail that was included, this kid was an American and had come from Japan when he was 18 and had studied with Kai Tomita, the famous karate master. Then he worked in the local theatre scene until he just sort of evaporated from the radar, but there was a mention of his name in a local theatre rag about an incident involving the theatres biggest patron, Big Tony Mazetti.

BINGO! There it was in black and white... the link he was looking for, but there was only a PO box for an address. That was as good as any to Frank, now he just hoped that he could get the surveillance video and see what Tommy looked like. Of course, this was a private PO box that was part of a store front that did mail boxes, shipping, and receiving as part of their business. This meant a court order would be necessary and he would get on that pretty quickly. The other names on the list because inconsequential at this point.

Frank called Grace Evans to tell her about his news, "Grace, I think I've got a lead on our boy. His name is Thomas Gillette. I've only got a PO box number and address right now, but I'm going to get a court order and head down the rabbit hole."

"Oh Frank, that's good news. Say, I just got a new piece of intel about the mob, they say that Don Angelo has a contract out on him. Do you think our boy may be involved?"

"Damn good chance, I suspect. Listen, I'll get back to you once I get my court order and make some more progress here." Frank's other line was ringing, "I've got another call, I'll talk to you later Grace, bye." It was Jim.

"Frank, I've got a little more about Gillette. I asked the IRS to give me some info. This guy states that his income is $36K and that he works as a mechanic. God damn son of a bitch must think that's pretty funny thinking that the IRS would think that he works on cars," laughed Jim. "Says here that he owns some property out west of town." Theodore gave Frank the address, there was no phone number registered to that address. "Looks like something out in the country, maybe."

"Thanks Jim, looks like I'll be buying you a couple of beers!"

Frank looked up the address on the computer and got a birds-eye view. The place was indeed out in the country and had about six acres, a single two-story house and three out buildings. A barn, what looked like a chicken coop, and an outhouse. Was the outhouse a remnant of years gone by, or what? The property didn't look like it was tended to because the fields were all fallow and there were lots of weeds around the buildings. A trip to the country was in his immediate future, right after the mail stop store.

Within 36 hours, Frank had is warrant and went to the mail stop business to retrieve their video footage and any information about the person that was renting the PO box. It was rented by a Doreen Dowling who lived over on the east side of Chicago in a rather posh part of town. Frank didn't have any clue if this would be his man, or what, but when he knocked on the door, a woman in her fifties answered, "Miss Dowling, I'm Frank James with the FBI. You have a PO box over in mid town, do you not?"

"I do?" she asked as if were the first of her knowledge.

"Is this your signature, right here?" asked Frank as he produced a copy of the original contract. She looked at the piece of paper closely.

"That's my name, but it's not my signature. Here' I'll show you my driver's license." She invited Frank in and went to get her purse.

Frank looked at the license for her signature and sure enough, the two did not match, not even closely. "Miss. Dowling, do you know of anyone who use you name for something like this?"

"Lands sake no. I get my mail here at home." She got up and got her electric and phone bills to show him. "I'm a widower and live on a fixed income, why would I spend useless money on something like that? What's this all about, anyway?"

Frank looked around the room and didn't see anything that looked suspicious or out of place. What he didn't know was that he was talking to Tommy dressed up like an old lady. The picture of her husband that was sitting on the mantle with black ribbon around it was actually a picture of his father taken many years ago. "This is part of an investigation that we are conducting and your mail box popped up on a list. I'm sorry for bothering you, madam."

"A list? What kind of a list Mr. James? How is it that you make a list with my name on it anyway? Have I done something wrong, or something?"

"Like I said, it's a list of names. Although our computers are pretty much infallible, they do come up with names out of the blue." Frank smiled trying to calm the woman down. The woman in the video did look a lot like Doreen, but not quite the same.

She asked if Frank would like a cup of coffee before he left, he declined and thanked her again for her time. As he left, he had this niggling feeling that there was something not quite right here, but what?

Frank drove on out to the farm to see if there was anything there that would give him some sort of information that he was searching for. Once he arrived, there was a gate that was closed and locked. He got out of his car and looked around and at the lock. It had rained a few days before and the lock should have had signs that it had not been opened, but there were fresh marks around the keyhole that someone had recently been there. However, from the overall appearance of the place, it looked like no one lived there in quite a while. Of course, this was all by design.

Frank thought about climbing the fence to have a look around, but knew that he really needed a search warrant first. He got back into his car and drove back down the road to the first neighbor's house to see if there was anything that could be learned. There wasn't, they knew that someone owned the property, but they had never met them. Only once in a while did they ever see any lights on in the house that was located kind of down in a hollow from their place. Frank went the neighbor on the other side of the farm and got pretty much the same information. Another court order was in his immediate future.

Frank liked this part of Illinois and thought that he would like to retire to a small farm like this someday, but today was not that day. He got a call on his cell phone, "Frank, it's Grace. I've just confirmed that the intel on Don Angelo, is good."

"That's good... I guess. I would not like it if I didn't have to see the Don not around anymore... naa, not much! That's one hit that maybe we should ignore, ya think?" They both laughed. "Sure would make our lives easier. I'm out here at the farm, but it looks like there's not too much happening here, but someone has been here recently because the lock on the gate has some fresh markings on it. I'm going to get a team out here try and get some prints once I get a warrant."

"Looks like things are starting to fall into place, at last!"

"Let's hope so." When Frank got his warrant a couple of days later, he came back with three other agents to take a look around. The name on the warrant was Kate Gillette, Tommy's mother.

Once they had cut the lock, they walked around the house. All the windows were shuttered and closed with the exception of the kitchen, but the windows were about seven feet off the ground because the house sat on a raised foundation. The team went on to investigate the barn and outhouse. The barn had several cars in it, a cargo van, an import and domestic sedan, and a somewhat strange, Chicago taxi cab. All had current registrations and tags. As Frank and a couple of the agents were examining the cars, the other one went out to the out-house to take a leak, but found that the door was locked. He thought this was kind of strange. After opening the door, he found out why, the outhouse was actually a portal that went underground.

Tommy was watching all this live on his smart phone because he had video cameras well concealed and each one had a motion sensor that communicated that someone was there for Tommy to observe. Things were getting pretty close for him because he did not expect the feds to find the farmhouse, at least not so quickly. He knew that it was just a matter of time before they found him, especially after they came to his place in the city. Tommy was sharp enough to keep records and tapes of his conversations with his clientele in a safety deposit box at the Chicago Farmers Trust Bank, downtown in the financial district.

When Frank went to see the outhouse he had to laugh because this relic was certainly not left there for posterity. He sent one of the agents down the spiral staircase to see what was down there. At the bottom, there were three tunnels, one that led to the house, the other to the barn, and the third one that led to an underground bunker that had supplies that could last at least someone three months, or more. As the agent went from tunnel to tunnel, he noticed that there were small red LED's on small boxes and as he approached, the LED would turn off almost automatically as he neared. Frank thought - Who was this guy? The LED's were attached to incendiary bombs that would automatically go off when someone would set off the proximity sensor, but Tommy was turning them off before they could be activated. He didn't need to have a bunch of dead feds on his hands too.

The agent went into the house he found an array of computers and monitors that were all interconnected to the elaborate security system. He let the rest of the team inside so they could finish their search.

One a table in the parlor were a set of maps and plans for the Don Angelo hit. Tommy hadn't planned on the feds finding the farm, ever! But yet, here they were. The plans were the only things of importance that the feds would find here at the farmhouse. Tommy did not keep anything else that could be incriminating there. As Tommy watched the men go thru the house, he had to start implementing his next moves.

A couple of days later, the hit went down on Don Angelo, led by, of all people, Big Tony himself. It was a blood bath of the first degree. Two of his lieutenants were killed in the mêlée and Big Tony had a blazing hot shot wound that would leave a huge scar on the right side of his temple. Don Angelo lay in a pool of blood with his wife a daughter laying around him as they tried to protect him. Machine guns with hot loads could make a real mess I you got in their sights.

The news about this hit made the local and national news and Grace Evans was blindsided when she heard the news. The local police were on the scene within twenty minutes, but Big Tony and what was left of his crew were long gone and on their way out of the country for a few days R&R in Cuba. The nice thing about tramp freighters was their acceptance of cash and a turned eye to whatever was happening. Frank James had put a lookout on Tommy house in the city and knew that he was not involved in the Don's killing. What he did not know was that Tommy owned the house next door and had a tunnel leading to it so he could slip out when he needed to. And, right now Tommy had a mission to find out who had cut him out of his contract. He tried calling Big Tony, but there was no answer and this made him nervous. Had Tony taken the contract away, or did some other enterprising individual butt in?

Tommy knew that the feds were watching him and actually felt good that they were, because they could verify that he was not involved with the Don's execution. He now had to decide what to do about this incident and how he could carry out a plan to eliminate his betrayer. If it was Big Tony, the plan would be very complicated, but if it were an outside contractor, he would have to find out who and deal with them one-on-one in a fashion of his own making. But for now, Tommy would have to reach out to his own informants and see if he could find anything that was buzzing around on the streets.

It didn't take all that long to find out that Big Tony had personally been involved and this was not what Tommy had wanted to hear. He knew that Big Tony would have to be put down for betraying their long standing relationship. Tommy was a man or principals and honor and would not be let down like this. This was just business! Tommy had plenty of information about Tony's business and detailed information about each hit he was contracted for. The information about where drug warehouses were located would be priceless to the feds, along with the names and locations of all the gambling halls. To do an actual hit on Big Tony would be very complicated because of his henchmen and their proximity around him.

The question was, would it be easier to turn him over to the feds with a bow wrapped around him, or take him out. Either way, he would have to get lost permanently. The feds could probably offer up some kind of witness relocation if he could make that deal, or he would have to implement his own plan. With each option, he would have to relocate and possibly out of the United States. He knew that the organization would be after his ass until he was eliminated and they would never let up until he was six feet under.

It was looking like it was time to take a vacation and weigh the consequences of his decision. He called Rachel Ferroni and asked if she could get way for a few days. Of course, she was booked for several more banquets and could not, so the trip would have to include his mother. They would drive from Chicago out west to Colorado for a few days of fun in the high altitude sun, in and around Denver. It took a couple days to get there because his mother was not one for traveling long distances for many hours a day, but once they arrived they did a few tourist things and then went up to Copper Mountain so they could talk. Of course, all this time Tommy was dressed femme and his mother loved it - finally, the daughter that she had always wanted!

"Mom, I've got to make a decision about this Big Tony affair, should I give him up to the feds or take him out. I'm conflicted because it probably means that I will have to kill Tommy in the process and reemerge as someone else. What do you think?"

"Listen up Tommy, you decided to go down this path and now you are going to have to pay for it. You've had a pretty good life as I see it and I'm guessing that you have plenty of money put away for the rainy day that is coming. However, I would hate to never see you again. It's bad enough that we see each other once a month, as far as I'm concerned. This is your bed Tommy!

Personally, I would rather you take your chanced with the feds and see if there is some sort of deal that you can make. The other alternative can lead to no good end for you sweetheart. Either way, I'm going to have to resign myself that I'm going to lose my son." Kate began to tear up and cry. This always tore Tommy apart inside.

He knew that whatever his decision would be, his mother would take it the hardest. "Look mom, if I make a deal with the feds, I'll make sure that visits with you will still take place. They might be at some bizarre location, but I will push for that. I have no idea how the witness program works and that's a road I must travel alone."

"Yes you will, son. Have you thought about what you are going to tell Rachel? She still doesn't know what you do, huh?"

"No, she's been kept out in the cold on that. I think that once I make the move, I'll try and tell her then and not before."

"Why not before?"

"I can't take that chance, she's Italian, you know. It would be the shits to have her rat me out to the mob, ya know?"

"Your right, as always. Mr. Tomita did teach you well, that's all I can say. God rest his soul."

"What!!! Master Kai is dead?"

"Yes dear, week before last. He was cremated as per his wishes and his ashes are on their way to me so that I can give them to you. He wanted to be buried near you, for some reason."

Tommy started to cry at the loss of his old master and his mascara started to run. Had he known, he would have made the trek to Japan to see him off to the hereafter. Once Tommy left for America, Kai told him not to look back and find a new and honorable life. He never answered anything that was sent to him by Tommy.

"Honey, they told me he went peacefully in his sleep and that he still had the picture of you and him sitting on his alter shrine. He really did love you like a son. We wrote back and forth, but I had to swear that I would never tell you, until now."

"What did you tell him about me?"

"I told him that you were working in the theatre and having a wonderful life, and he was pleased to hear that. He said it made him proud of you. I have the letters at home put away for you."

"I want them as soon as we get home, mom."

"They are waiting for you, sweetheart."

Tommy had made up his mind, he would turn state's evidence against the mob, if he could arrange it. He had little doubt that he couldn't. Now he had to engineer a plan to talk to Frank James and feel him out. The easiest thing to do would be pick up the phone and call him, but Tommy was not one to take the easy way. He would go to the closest library and send him an email. Doing it from a public place would not allow the feds to track his digital signature and he would now start staying at a different place every night until he had a conclusion to all this.

"Mom, I'm ready to go home, how about you?" he said as he checked his face with his pocket mirror and wiped away the smeared mascara. "I just need to stop by a library before we go."

Tommy found an adjunct library in Copper Mountain and sent the following email: 'Frank, do you want to talk?' Signed 'Tommy Gillette'. Within the hour he had his answer, 'When & where?'. Tommy said it would be within the next couple of days and that he would contact Frank with the time and place.

Frank was truly excited, he would finally get to meet this phantom, Tommy Gillette. The real question was, why did this come out of the blue after Don Angelo's death??? Time would tell.

Three days later Tommy sent Frank another email, 'Be at the farmhouse tomorrow at 1:30, and turn ON the black computer in the upstairs bedroom. If you took it, take it back and connect it to my network. Open the SEE-ME program. Come alone. Tommy...' Frank and his crew had actually left that computer because there was nothing on it that deemed removing it.

At exactly 1:30, Tommy made what could only be called a video call to Frank James. Tommy had dresses femme once more to disguise himself. "Hi Frank, how are you?"

"Tommy? Is that you?"

"Yes."

"What can I do for you?" Frank was clear and to the point.

"I have information that can put a certain someone away for a very long time, are you interested in hearing about it?"

"You are my primary point of interest Thomas, but since we are talking, what do you have to offer?"

"I can hand you Big Tony Mazetti on a platter. I have times, dates, and places where he had people eliminated. I can also provide you with names and locations of his drug warehouses and his gambling houses. There may be a little information about some of the more aggressive and prolific prostitution houses as well. Is that enough to get your attention?"

"What are you looking for in return for this information, providing its good?"

"A walk and be part of your witness protection program with a couple of stipulations, nothing big but a couple of small things that matter to me."

Frank studied the face that was on the high resolution monitor but Tommy's makeup sent a bunch of mixed signals for him to try and read, "Can you show me any proof right now?"

Tommy held up one of several note books and took one and fanned thru the pages deliberately, not stopping too long on any one page. Each page had pictures and plenty of notations made, but were not open long enough to get a very good read on any of them. He did hold one page up to the camera to show Frank so that he could get a close up view. Frank recognized several names and most of the people in the pictures. "Is this enough to get your interest Mr. James?"

"Um, yes... I believe it is. I'll have to run this by the chief and see what he says, but yes, we are interested in you voluntary cooperation Mr. Gillette. How can I get in touch with you again?"

"Same time, same channel. I'll wait 72 hours and if I haven't heard anything from you, I'll do my shopping somewhere else."

"Can you give me an idea about what your other conditions are, I'll need to know that for the chief."

"Yes, I want to be able to see my mother at least every other month at a military base of my choosing. You will fly her in so that we can meet for several hours and then return her home."

"Ok, that's a possibility, what's you other stipulation?"

"I want..." a minute passed as Frank watched Tommy roll his eyes from one side to the other.

"Yes, you want...?"

"When the time comes, I'll need to know more about your witness relocation program in greater detail."

Frank was thinking as he watched Tommy's behavior that he didn't want to lose this opportunity to make the big catch that would surely lead to a promotion and further enhance retirement options, for one thing, but to also put a huge dent into the mob. He thought that he could sell this to the chief, after all Tommy had cleaned the streets of several top Mafioso's and no one would care that they were gone and out of the way. "Tommy, I think I can make that all fly, we do that with several of our other witnesses. As far as the program goes, you will be given a new identity along with a new social security card number. Most of our confidentials choose to have some sort of plastic surgery to alter their looks. We've even performed several sex changes, if you had that in mind. You will be given a monthly allowance of $4000 per month, anything more and you are on your own for that. There may be a couple more perks, but you will have to work that out with the top brass. Is that sufficient information, now?"

"Yes, it is. I look forward to meeting you again, and I liked the cologne that you wore the other day when you came to the house. Bye for now!" The monitor immediately went blank.

"Damn it. I just knew that there was something off about that woman! Shit!!!" Tommy was within grabbing distance and he didn't recognize him. Of course, whatever video or pictures they had of the cat were grainy at best and very short lived. Frank still had no clear picture of what Tommy looked like, but that would have to change if this whole thing worked itself out.

Tommy had gathered up the letters that his mother had collected from Master Tomita and he would read them over and over to see if there was anything else that he could detect about his former Master. The letters, one and all, said something about how proud Mr. Tomita was of Tommy and his choice not to get into organized crime. This part always made Tommy weep. Now that he was on the lam, he didn't have access to his wardrobe and the their things that he so cherished. Hopefully, that would all change within the next few days.

When Tommy called again, Frank had a couple of people with him, one of whom was Grace Evans and one of the feds' lawyers.

"Hi Frank, good to see you again, who are your friends?"

"This is Grace Evans and she is heading the taskforce that is working on the Tony Mazetti case, and this is Tom Jones, one of our lawyers that will talk you thru the legalize.

"Miss. Evan, Mr. Jones, welcome to our little sorrier."

"Thank you Mr. Gillette, I have a few question that I hope you will answer as we get down to business here. The Director has empowered me to offer you full immunity and entry into the witness protection program for your cooperation. We would rather conduct this interview in person, is there any way that we can make this happen, Tom?"

"Mr. Gillette, you have nothing to worry about," said Jones, "We will need to take you into custody for your own best interest for a while, but after that you will be released with a tracking device attached to your leg so that we can keep track of you until we go to trial. All this will be spelled out in the paperwork that is awaiting your signature. All of the provisions of the witness relocation, the visits with your mother, the $4000 stipend, and your removal from prosecution."

Tommy was trying to think if there was anything else that he should ask for, but nothing came to mind immediately. "Can you email the document, I want to have my attorney look it over before I sign it."

"Absolutely," said Grace, "Now, is there anything that you can give us to review while you have your attorney look at the paper work?"

"Yes, I anticipated this request and I have about 15 pages of information out of several hundred that you can use to start making your case." Tommy said as he looked at his high definition monitor to see their reaction. He did detect that they all appeared to be sincere when he ran their voices thru his voice analysis program simultaneously. "Frank, should I send them to you?"

"Yes, that would be perfect, and then we will send your paper work to your email address, does that work for you?"

"Yes, thank you."

Grace had several more questions about the information that he was going to send and that conversation took nearly twenty minutes to complete. They all said their good byes', and that they would be in touch via email as quickly as they could.

Grace was excited beyond belief as was Frank, the lawyer was just along for the ride today, but he also knew that taking down Tony Mazetti would be a stroke of genius for the FBI.

It didn't take long for Grace to send the paperwork to Tommy and he was off to see a lawyer that he knew in St. Louis that he trusted with his life. When Tommy arrived, he went straight to the lawyer's office and the two of them went over the documents with a fine tooth comb. Everything appeared to be exactly what had been discussed over Tommy's private network. After they were finished in the office, his lawyer took him to dinner for some Italian food up on the Hill and then to Ted Drew's for some frozen custard. The pumpkin pie concrete was a real treat for Tommy.

Tommy texted his response to Frank and said that they should meet, formally, within the next couple of days. He also told them that he was returning to his home in Chicago to get a few things, in order, before he surrendered himself to the feds. Frank immediately texted him back that he should avoid going home because a couple of Big Tony's guys had been waiting for him. Tommy thanked him and told him he would be there day after tomorrow. Frank sent him a smiley face emoji in return.

Tommy did get to his house thru the house next door to pick up a few things without even the feds finding out, nor the thugs that were sent to get him and bring him to Big Tony.

The first meeting with Frank James and Tommy were cordial and kept low key, but in a formal way if that makes any sense. Grace and Tom were also present.

"Mr. Gillette, we have verified the information that you gave us, when may we see the other things?" asked Grace.

"As soon as I sign the letters of intent, you can take me over to the bank and I'll pull them from my safety deposit box, is that soon enough?"

"That will do nicely."

"Mr. Gillette, did you have any other questions about the letter of intent?"

"No, my lawyer was satisfied with what we looked at. Can you sign my document here, that says that what I am about to sign is the exact same thing that you sent me?"

Jones all of a sudden looked very uncomfortable and it showed to all in the room, "Tom, is there a problem here?" asked Grace with great concern.

"No, I just passed gas as he said that." All of a sudden everyone got the fullest expression of a silent one and they all laughed.

Tommy held the two documents up to the light to see if the letters all matched and to his satisfaction, they did - word for word. He took his ink pen and signed both copies. Immediately they left for the bank so that Tommy could retrieve the rest of the documents that would put Tony Mazetti away for the rest of his life.

The trial for Anthony Marino Mazetti was lengthy, but he verdict came back within a couple of hours, Guilty as Charged!" Luckily Tommy only had to take the stand for a couple of days and was whisked away under guard as soon as he was finished each day. On his last day at the trial, he was flown to a clinic in Toronto, Canada for his life changing surgery. You see, Tommy had elected to get sexual reassignment to complete his disguise and looks.

The reassignment surgery took nearly six hours. A few days later his facial feminization surgery would take another four hours. Plus another three hours to get his breasts augmented and his hip and butt implants. Thirteen hours on the table, even at different times, was a lot of time to be put under anesthesia for anyone, but Tommy, no make that Sally, came thru like a real trouper.

Sally now had dimensions and curves that were most feminine, something like 36-26-37 and she was a full D-cup now. Her face had been changed so that she had no more male brow-line nor squarish looking chin. But, the addition of higher cheek bone implants gave her a truly sophisticated look. It did take several months for her healing to take place and while she recuperated, her mother came to visit her new daughter. To say she was stunned with her sons transformation is an understatement, she was gob smacked because she did not even recognize Tommy. Her son was gone, but, the new higher pitched voice was one that she could still recognize. She was thrilled to death that Tommy was able to capitalize on his career and turn the negative into a positive. Yes, he would lose his girlfriend, but he would now have to look for a boyfriend, that one was one that she and her mother would both have to get use to.

The good part was that Sally would only need one wardrobe now and she would learn to wear makeup for the rest of her life and experience the pleasures and doldrums of womanhood. The makeup thing would be easy, but dealing with the emotional changes would be hell every once in a while. It was going to be a good life as Sally reinvented herself and started a tourist souvenir shop owner in Core du Lane, Idaho.

As they say, he... no, she lived happily ever after, but Big Tony would not.

Editors note:

All names and places are fictional and do not represent to portray any person living or dead. This work is purely a fiction from the mind of the author.

John...