The Briefcase- Meeting the Clover Gang

I heard what he said, but I was in such a deep shock that I couldn't respond. The man I opened the door to had dropped his sadistic smile in favor of a more flat look. He pressed the mussel of his pistol against my forehead slightly before speaking again.

"Step back, nice and slow like." He said plainly. Every step I made, he made one also. Like some demented dance, with exception of my life being on the line. As we got further into the apartment, the remainder of his men poured into the room. There were half a dozen at least, each dressed sharply in 3-piece suits, fedoras, and carrying pistols of their own. I had been so focused on them, that I lost my awareness to my surroundings, and tripped over the living room rug. I landed with a loud thud, which drew attention from the kitchen.

"Thomas, everything ok out the-" Jackie spoke, as he briskly came around the corner to a sudden stop. I didn't bother look at him as I was too fixated on the man in front of me, but his abrupt cut off gave me a good idea of his reaction. One of the other men pointed his pistol at him, cocking back the hammer with a click.

"Let's not make any rash decisions now, shall we?" he said, with a somewhat humored tone. "Abi!" he called out.

"In the kitchen, dear brother." she calmly replied.

"Well to the kitchen we go boys!" he said, with a bit more amusement than before. I slowly got up to my feet, keeping my eye on him. I then turn around to finally get a good look at Jackie's face, and he was absolutely mortified to say the least. He turned around and we all made our way to the kitchen.

"You two, stand right there and get on your knees!" one of the other gunmen ordered. We were in front of the kitchen table now, with Abigale right in front of us, still playing with her pearls and cigarette holder. Her face hardly changed, like the whole situation was...

'Planned.' I think to myself. "This was a set up!"

"Oh wow, real genius, aren't you?" her voice oozing with sarcasm, "Donny, Joey."

"Yes ma'am?" two of the gun men answered.

"Take this one," she said pointing at me with the holder, "And have him retrieve the book."

"Up." I hear one of them say. I get up and walk and a steady paste as to insure they don't think I'm trying to escape. I open my room door and walk straight to the spot I hid it without a moment's hesitation.

'No point in making things difficult. Plus, it would be stupid to get shot over a book I don't understand.'

As we came back from the room, I notice Jackie's face is covered in a light layer of sweat. Not only that, but he was trembling. Shaking like he just came back from the Somme. I suddenly feel the book get yanked out of my hand. Pulling my vision away from Jackie, I see the same man who held the gun to my head, Abigale's brother, look at it with a pleased smile. Without being told, I head back to my spot and kneel down with Jackie on my left.

"Thank you for your co-operation." he said smugly. His eyes dancing with excitement as he gazed at the book in his hands.

"L-listen, we d-didn't know it was your briefcase." Jackie tried to speak up, but all that came out were whimpers and stuttering. "If we knew the 20,000 was yours, we wouldn't have touched a penny's worth."

"No offence has been made," she said with indifference, "or at least, not against me." Her face now wore a somewhat humored expression. It was as if the whole situation was some sick comedy to her.

"What does that mean? Who'd we piss off? Your boss?" I asked.

"I'm my own boss." she snapped, in a low but clearly irritated tone. In her left hand I could see that she was clenching her pearl necklaces tight.

'Guess I struck a nerve.' I thought, "Wait, if it ain't your cash, then who-"

"Capone's." her brother answered bluntly. I look to Jackie, who didn't even move to look at me. He was gripped by fear, and who could blame him? We just went from blowing the money of some unknowns to potentially pissing off the biggest crime boss of all Chicago. But then, Jackie remembered something.

"Wait, ain't he locked in the slammer?" Jackie asked timidly, as though the crime lord may appear in front of us if he said his name too loud.

"One of his associates and former inmates, Nitti, had a lighter sentence. He's been out a while now and has taken Al's place as head of the Five Points gang." Abigale's brother explained.

"Well since you don't have any allegiance to Capone's group and you got the book, can we go back to our normal lives? Take the rest of the money too if you want!" I spoke with great irritation.

"We're not interested in the money." Abigale said. This fact brought great relief, as many of my hopes and future plans revolved around that cash. If it went, any hopes of Jackie and I living a better life went with it. "We're also not interested in letting you go either." she added.

"What? Why!?" Jackie exclaimed.

"You now know who has the book, and we can't let someone with that info potentially rat us out." Her brother calmly explained "So as of now, you two belong to our crew."

"That's a pile of sh-" I spoke up, but was immediately cut off.

"Is it really? I see it as a win-win." Abigale countered, "We get to keep tabs on a loose end about the books possession and you get security from other gangs that might come looking for you."

"How will they find out that we have it?" I ask, but then something clicked in my mind, "How did you find out we had it?".

"Good question." she said with a smile, "We heard talk that two low class nobodies came and started buying everyone drinks for the past few days. Since the briefcase the book came in had some cash, we figured the book was probably with you."

Upon receiving that bombshell of a revelation, I turn to face Jackie with mixed face of thanks a lot and a glare. He returned one of immense guilt and apology, which didn't mean much compared to circumstances we were in. I look back to the siblings, more questions continued to pop up.

"How do you plan to 'keep us safe'?"

"Well for starters, we'll be taking you out of this dump." her brother stepped in again, "We got a guy up north of the city that specializes in forging fake ID's and the like. That way, if any brunos from other gangs come looking for you, you can hide in plain sight. Thus, keeping you and the secret of books location safe. Until we get the whole process over and done, you'll be kept out of public eye. So, uh, get used to sleeping in the back of trucks."

"Why go through all this trouble? Why not just kill us?"

"What the hell Thomas!?!" Jackie yelled.

"I mean we could," he responded, "However that would be a wasted opportunity. We lost some manpower recently and you too are being recruit-er, drafted."

I nod my head slowly as the picture is being painted before me. We're being brought into a gang to replace some of the manpower and to keep the secret of some accursed book. Outstanding.

"Any other crazy questions?" he asked.

"Yeah," I reply, "Just what the hell is in that book that's worth all the trouble?". Abigale beat her brother to the punch this time, answering the question with another.

"Do you know what Al was arrested for?"

"Tax evasion, right?" Jackie responded nervously.

"Right, and how do you avoid paying taxes?"

"By not letting the government know how much money you make." I answered.

"And how do you do that?" her brother jumped in.

"By keeping it out of your bank account, right?" Jackie said with a bit of uncertainty.

"Bingo!" he said with enthusiasm, "And if you don't protect your money with a bank account you..."

Neither of us responded right away, which seemed to have disappointed the two siblings.

"You hide it." she said flatly, clearly loosing interest in the game of questions, "This little black book contains the exact co-ordinates of where each of his hiding spots are."

"Think of it as a modern treasure hunt," her brother said with more enthusiasm than before, "except rather than pirates, its gangsters."

The realization of just how important that book was, my heart beating a mile a minute. Every gangster, from the highest to the lowest, will be scouring for it. The sibling's protection no longer just sounded better than dying, but also sounded better than constantly living without any sense of security. Forever looking over our shoulders for an eventual run in.

"Final question: When do we get moving?"

"Now." her brother said, " We'll give you time to pack some essentials, then were gone."

As I got up to my feet, Jackie pulled on my arm to get my attention.

"You sure about this?"

"Jackie, if what they say about that book is true we only have three options: 1) Join them, 2) Be killed by them, or 3) Be left alive to fend for ourselves against the criminal underworld of Chicago with no resources or street smarts."

"Perceptive, that one." said one of the nameless gunmen.

Jackie looked at me for a moment with unblinking eyes. I saw extreme reluctance, but also sound defeat. He knew that we really were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

He let a short laugh and said "I guess you sourpuss mindset is useful. As we got up to pack, we were stopped by the brother again.

"Ugh, where are my manners," he said with fake disgust, "my name is James Fortune, and welcome to the Clover gang."