Frame Me

4

Finally, Saturday had approached, Ash thought. Throughout the rest of the week, Ash had devoted his time to studying the layout of the building where the deal was going to happen, and training his men on stealth, something most gangsters wouldn't know if it hit them in the face.

Before they left for the bust, he gave them a serious talk, "We've been doing all we can to clean up the streets of Ganghaven without letting people know, and today will be no different. On this op, there'll be no bandanas, no slang, nothing that can lead people to identify us as the Sopranos. If that happens, we'll have the dealers on our backs, and believe me you do not want that.

Also, you know that rule I gave you guys, the one that says 'do not instigate or escalate violence without being attacked first'?"

His men nodded.

Ash continued, "Good. Today, just for today, I want you to fuck that rule."

His men murmured and laughed.

"I'm serious. Today, forget the rule. These men will be more armed than we are. They aren't amateurs. I'm pretty sure they have a contingency plan in case they get busted. We must not underestimate them. Do you understand?" Ash asked.

"Yes, Boss." They answered in unison.

"That's good. Now, over to our plans." Ash said, pulling out the blueprints of the building they were about to raid.

"As you can see, it's a three storey building with a central stairwell. The deal is going to happen on the topmost floor, so they can have a vantage point to watch out for intruders.

That means we have to go in before they arrive and make ourselves invisible. We'll hole up in the room right next to where they'll be staying. Do not move, do not talk, don't even think until they arrive. Even when they do, do not attack without my command.

I've planned this in such a way that will give us the drugs and cash. We'll only attack when the drugs and cash are in the open and not a second before, okay?" Ash asked.

"Yes, Boss." The men replied. He went ahead to designate each man to a job and to a potential hiding spot.

After that, he concluded with the words, "I don't have to remind you what's at stake here; our lives and the lives of Ganghaven residents. We can't afford to mess this up!"

The men gave a raucous cheer and Ash gave a grim smile, "Get your guns men, let's roll."

He wore a pair of dark shades and put a pistol in his Jeans pocket.

*    *    *

Jo turned back to her men and asked in a whisper, "Remember what I told you? Be extremely quiet. We don't want to spook anyone who might already be there."

Her men nodded and followed her. The Street Hawks were dressed like ordinary people and carried pistols. They were entering the drug deal building as quietly as they could manage, which was impressive considering the large sizes of some of the men in Jo's crew.

Jo felt pretty happy with herself because she'd come up with a mighty fine plan, if she did say so herself. Her plan was to gain entrance into the building before both parties did, stay in the room nearest to where the deal would take place and when the time was right, the Street Hawks would show themselves and take both the drugs and the money involved, easy peasy, lemon squeezy.

Just like she'd seen in the pictures she'd managed to lay her hands on, the building had once housed a lot of apartments. Now, it was abandoned and in a dilapidated state; its floor boards creaked, its ceilings were rotted, and the banisters were very weak.