Bosses Choice Part 1

Bosses
Choice: The beginning.

Vinnie
Giovanni was an eager man when he first moved to America. He hoped he
could start a new life in beautiful New York City. He vowed to leave
his mafia days in Sicily. Go figure as soon as he steps off the boat
he finds his old friend Martin.

         "Hello
old amico" Martin said

He
hasn't changed a bit since he last saw him. His hair poorly cut and
spiked. Crow's feet and wrinkles covered his moderately tanned
face. Probably from stress of past work they had. "Hello Martin"
I responded after a short pause

         "Welcome
to the free world. I hope you enjoy it." Martin said with great
eagerness

"I
hope I do" I said shyly

         "I
know you are probably tired" He said, "I definitely know you'll
hate this news though.

"What
news?"

         "The
news that he's putting you back to work." Martin said with great
sympathy, " Look I know you don't like it but this is something
he needs us to do."

"We?"
I asked in confusion

         "Yes,
boss has us picking up some money from a nearby store."

As
we move swiftly to the bakery on Broadway, I begin to think if there
is even a way to get out. Then we reached the bakery. "Wait here."
Martin said calmly, "I'll call you in if I need you." I stood
on the corner on the other side of the street when I saw Martin wave
me in. He whispered to me "He's not paying up; show him what the
boss does to people who don't pay up." Without hesitation or
thinking I grab the owner, whose name I didn't even know, took him
into the freezer, and hit him hard across the face with a spatula I
picked up in the kitchen. I dropped the, now bent, spatula and picked
up a sauce pan and began to repeatedly hit him with it. Then I heard
over my shoulder. "Enough." I stopped. Martin then walked over to
the barely conscious body and said, "Boss wants his money by noon
tomorrow with ten percent interest, or my friend here won't stop
next time."

         We
stormed out of the bakery and walked in silence until we finally
stopped ten blocks away. "Easy enough." Martin said with a smirk
on his face. "That's for you to say." I murmured knowing how
much of a mistake I've made. "Come on, you can't tell me you
didn't have a little fun." I looked at him with my pride almost
diminished completely. "Let me buy you a bite to eat before we meet
up with the boss." He said trying to raise my spirits. "We're
meeting up with Giovanni?" I said in worry. "Yes, he wants to
welcome you to New York, personally."

         We
ate quickly, neither one of us spoke a word while we ate. It wasn't
until we reached Giovanni's house. "Nervous?" Martin asked me.
"Me, nervous, now you're starting to sound crazy." I said
jokingly. We both laughed as Giovanni's bodyguard escorted us to a
back room of one of Giovanni's clubs. Giovanni sat behind a desk,
smoking a cigar. "Vinnie, my amico, how good it is to finally see
you again" Gio said smiling ear to ear, "You look fantastic, and
Martin, you look crappy as always." "Nice to see you too
Giovanni." Martin said jokingly. They hugged. Giovanni smiled at me
with his yellow stained teeth, and his black eyes that could scare
the devil himself. "How are you enjoying New York?" he said with
great eagerness."It would be nice to go one day without beating a
guy senseless." I said. "Oh come on, when I heard you were giving
up, I thought I would give you one last fun job." He said almost
begging for a smile out of me. He then took his eyes off me and
directed them to Martin, "Martin, could you give us a second?"
"Of course" Martin replied obediently.

Giovanni's
attention was then all on me. "I need you to work for me here."
He said as his smile vanished almost immediately. "I offered to
bring you here because all the men here don't know how to run a
business. You know like in Sicily." I felt his eyes cutting through
me, almost like a rusty blade working on the surface of my skin. His
eyes tortured me alone. This made me wonder about Giovanni's other
ways of "convincing" people. "What will I gain if I say yes?"
I ask trying to regain my comfort level. "A leadership position and
a whole lot of money. Maybe even a spot at the top with me." He
replied almost immediately. "If I say no?" I asked out of
curiosity. "Well, let us just say that you don't want to say no."
He directed his attention to his body guard who was at least three
times the size of me and made of pure muscle. The scar running down
the side his face scared me even more. "I'm going to ask one more
time. Are you willing to work for me?" I gather my thoughts as I
knew I had to say yes or he will surely kill me. I mumbled "Yes."

"Good"
he said regaining his cheerfulness. "Now I need you, Martin, and
another guy I have to do a job for me. I need this package I am
getting from a dumpster in China Town. You three will need to
retrieve it. Since you are new here I will give the address to
Martin. Now go wait outside and call in Martin."

I
waited for almost fifteen minutes until Martin came out. "I'm
guessing you already know the job."Martin said with a more serious
tone in his voice. "Yes" I said struggling to get even that out.
We walked to the gate of China Town and waited for this guy named
Tony. "He has black hair and is about six feet tall." Martin said
hoping I could help find him. After ten minutes of looking, I heard
someone behind us ask "Are you Martin and Vinnie?" We both turn
around to find a tall man who seemed more than seven feet tall.
"Tony?" I asked, "Depends on whose asking." he said. I shook
hands with him and said I was Vinnie and that this was Martin. He
then said "Yea, I'm Tony. Let's go get this package." Martin
led us to a dumpster outside a warehouse. I opened it and it was
empty. "What kind of joke is this?" I asked, but nobody answered.
I turn around just in time to see Martin unconscious on the ground
and Tony fighting another man. I saw him go to the ground as another
man hits Tony in the back of the head with a baseball bat. I run
towards Tony when everything goes black.