Marty

Mr. Colombo

Alfonso gave me my first assignment that day. Before leaving The Bowery, he handed me a picture of an old man. He explained to me who it was.

"This is Mr. Roman Colombo. A friend of mine. I believe some men are after him, but I can't be too sure. I need you to escort him to Eisenhower Station and make sure he's safe."
"Who's after him sir?" I asked.
"The Yakuza. Japanese gangsters who are only a small portion of Devlin."
"Ok. I'll get Mr. Colombo to Eisenhower Station safely."
"Good. Thank you Martin. I'll have your pay when you come back here."
"Right away sir"

I started walking off and I was stopped by him saying "Oh and stop by a shop and get you a piece. Might need one". I nodded and headed out of The Bowery. I then took my car and drove to the address of Mr. Colombo on the back of the picture. I couldn't help but hum along to Cold, Cold Heart by Tony Bennett on the radio on my way to his address. I couldn't also help to realize how different, but similar, Devlin was compared to Empire Bay.

It was only a little bigger, but for some reason, Devlin seemed a lot bigger. Weird, I know. Buildings were everywhere I looked which was very similar to Empire Bay. Wise guys are the greatest security here marks another similarity. Empire Bay was a bright city, but Devlin was the true empire.

I pulled outside of Mr. Colombo's house and knocked on his door. The short old man had answered the door by cracking a little bit of it open and sticking an inch of his face out of the crack.

"May I help you young man?"
"Are you Mr. Roman Colombo sir?"
"Yes. That's right. Wazzit to ya?"
"Alfonso Fratelli sent me. I'm here to escort you to Eisenhower Station"
"Oh Alfonso! That good man! Please wait here. I'll be right out."

He shut the door as he walked back into his house. I waited on his porch swing for him while he was getting ready. This seemed like an easy job. Taking an old man to a train station so he could skip town. Seemed easy enough that a wise guy's driver could do it.

But...it seemed too easy. As I was sitting on his porch swing, a black sedan had parked right behind my car. 3 men with black, combed hair and sunglasses on had got out of the sedan. They weren't armed from how I saw them. They had to be trouble.

Mr. Fratelli did say there were some men after him and I have watched enough movies to know what some wise guys look like. Apart from working with them, of course. One of the men approached me on the steps and said "Hello there. Is your grandfather home?". He had a Japanese accent. I didn't know what to say.

I stayed silent and looked at the men. He waited for a response and repeated himself.

"Young man? Is your grandfather home?"
"Oh. Uh. No. I just stopped by to feed his dog."
"Oh. How nice. Well we have a message for him. Would you mind giving it to him?"
"Yeah. What is it?"

The man had smirked and reached his hand to his hip. Then...something crazy had hit me. I've been in this situation before with Joe. A guy had pulled a gun out and aimed it at him, but I saved him by pulling mine out and shooting him before he could pull the trigger. It was the quickest draw I've ever done.

But it acted again right there. I pulled my pistol out of the back of my shirt before he could pull his gun all the way out his holster. I shot him in the face. He was dead for sure. Good thing I got a 1911 before coming.

I shot his friends dead before they could act with just 2 shots for each. It was all so quick, it was like a shot of adrenaline had been injected inside of me. I heard the door behind me open and Mr. Colombo had walked out of his house properly dressed and with a suitcase in his hand. He saw the bodies and looked over at me. "Good job son" he told me.

As I was driving him to the station, I kept my eyes peeled for any cars following us. Didn't see one in sight. I took him to the train and made sure he was safe and checked for more of those men. He was relatively calm about this whole thing. He saw the bodies on his lawn like they were some flowers that someone just planted.

As he was about to get on his train, he handed me some cash. "Thank you for your help son. Here's your pay. Tell Alfonso I'll be in touch." He told me. "You got it Roman. Arrivederci" I replied. He got on his train and it took off in seconds. I looked down at the $100 he gave me and smiled.

Leaving Eisenhower Station, I couldn't help but feel like I was already a big shot. Even though this was my first job and I hadn't been in Devlin for a week, it still felt like I was actually making moves for once.