“Hey Cassie, ya alright?” Jimmy asked softly.  When he got no response, it concerned him.  That’s when he really started to fight in order to free himself.  Using the prong in his belt, he started to slowly began to feel for the pins in the lock.  One by agonizing one, they clicked until the shackle popped at the top of the lock.  It was a miracle, he slid out from under his chains and made his way to Cassie.  She was bleeding from the head and was starting to make gurgling sounds as if she was aspirating on her own blood.  It didn’t seem to him that she was going to make it to Destiny’s public execution party.  He had to get help but in order to do that, he was going to have to leave.  Jimmy didn’t have any doubt in his mind that he could pull it off but he didn’t know if she would be alive when he came back?  Fate didn’t hand him a good hand in this situation but he knew he had to get out, so he began to prepare himself for escape.

Taking his belt he wrapped it around his hand, placing his middle finger through the metal buckle.  It was now a crude set of brass knuckles.  He saw inmates do this kind of stuff in prisons.  To even the odds, he took Cassie’s belt too and connected the lock to the buckle.  He could now use it like a pair of nunchucks.  He was no Bruce Lee but he knew how to inflict damage with his new makeshift weapons.  He pitied whoever he hit, because he was gonna do damage.  He already began coming up with various scenarios in his head as to how this was going to go down.  As he mustered up the courage to head off to war, he wondered if he lost, would they ever find his body?

Slowly, he crept up the basement and made it to the door, which was unlocked.  Destiny and Danny must of forgot to lock it and that was mistake number one.  Quietly, he peeked his head out of the door, and looked up and down the hallway.  There was nobody around, was this a setup?  He never knew the mob to be so messy, when they kidnapped someone, they usually killed them immediately.  There was little mercy and little tolerance for showboating.  He knew that once the other families heard about Danny’s plan there would be consequences, the old school didn’t like attention.  And they didn’t tolerate soldiers crossing the line and killing their bosses and installing themselves as king.  Was this why Danny was riding with such a small crew?  It didn’t matter Jimmy told himself, he had to get through this alive and well enough to make it back home.  Stealthy, he emerged from the door and closed it quietly behind him.  He saw a bright light in the north part of the building, avoiding it, he went south.  He didn’t want any confrontation if possible.  When he got to the end of the hall, he stood still with his knucks ready but again there was no one to be found.  What the hell was going on he thought to himself?

Proceeding into the kitchen he found himself alone and figured the staff of the bistro were sent home while Boris and Natasha executed their evil plan.  Seeing a door, Jimmy bolted towards it and spent a good thirty seconds unlocking the latches and chains.  Within in moments he was outside and he took off southbound towards a tiny alleyway.  Picking up the pace, he got further and further until he almost got to the corner, when a fat guy emerged from nowhere.  Jimmy knew he had to get the drop first before the guy knew what was going on so he didn’t break his stride and went straight at the guy.  When he was at arm’s length, Jimmy saw the guy reach into his waistband, so lunged himself at the guy, hitting him with his belt.  With all the might he could muster he directed the belt, lock and all at the guy’s face.  The surprise attack had the guy flat on his behind and Jimmy jumped on top of him trying to wrestled the gun out of his hand.  It was fast and brutal, Jimmy had no mercy on the poor bastard.  He had him beaten within seconds and his reward was a shiny new gun.  Looking around, he saw no one in sight except a homeless lady digging through the dumpster at the corner.  Casually as he could, Jimmy crossed the street all the while keeping his eyes peeled for anymore Alunni surprises.

With his heart racing, and the adrenaline still flowing Jimmy found the nearest public space which was a furniture store.  There, he startled the cashier who thought the store was being robbed.  He had to explain that he was a cop and needed to use the phone, handing over her cell, she threw it on the counter, still not trusting his story.  When she saw he called 911, her opinion changed.  He asked to be transferred to the department’s dispatch and gave the code words: Tom & Jerry.  Immediately, he was patched through to one of the local dispatchers and when she answered, Jimmy requested to be put through to his supervisor and gave another code word: Argos.  Within seconds he was on the phone with Agent Cohen who was at the office seeing over the manhunt.

“This better be good, I’m in the middle of an impor..”

“Yeah, yeah, I know, you’re busy!”

“Agent Schiavone?”

“Glad you noticed,”

“Where the hell are you?  We’ve been…”  Before Cohen could get the rest of the sentence out, Jimmy began talking over him, “Never mind, I was captured by the Alunnis with Fenetti.”
“What?!?” exclaimed Cohen.

“Bring backup to Matteo’s Bar & Bistro and bring a bus.”

“Are you hurt?”

“No, but Fenetti is.”

“Alright, I’ll be there in a..”
At that point Jimmy just hung up, he had neither the time, nor the patience, to deal with Cohen.  He had been through enough without having to play nice with someone he couldn’t respect.  For Jimmy this was just another bad day at the office and the future held no promise that it would get any better.