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The Company
Time: Sunday, July 10, 2011 (wee hours).
Place: New York City, U.S.A.
Last Event: Two underworld contact attempts – one smooth, one rocky.
While Wen waits for Zhang outside the building where they were told they might find guns for sale, she hears shouting inside. It sounds as though Zhang has run into a spot of trouble! Wen is looking for a way in when the door opens and Zhang lurches out into the alleyway. The three men behind him look menacing, but they're insulting him, not beating him – or worse, shooting him. They simply give him a shove, tell him to get lost, and slam the door.
Zhang motions for Wen to follow him down the alleyway. As soon as they're out of sight of the peephole in the door, he tells her two things: First, that the men in that place were scum bent on shaking him down, and that he defused the situation by handing over all his money and promising to shove off. Second, that it's time to go get the cash back – with interest! Before Wen can reply, Zhang starts climbing up the building to the left of the one from which he was just expelled.
Wen realizes that Zhang is going to want backup against three or more gunmen, so she starts climbing up behind him. Fortunately, there are many handholds: chipped bricks, old fire-escape moorings, window grilles, etc. This makes it relatively straightforward to scale the building, which is a storey taller than the one Zhang was just in. The Agents exploit this to get on top of the thugs' hangout, both of them reaching the roof without incident.
A search of the roof turns up nothing of interest but a hatch-style door, which seems to be latched from the inside. Undeterred, Zhang selects a stout knife from among the many clubs and daggers that Wen has stuffed in her shoulder bag, and then gets to work prying the hinge apart. Soon, Zhang is easing the lid off the opening and peering into the darkness below. Wen happens to have a key-ring flashlight – albeit an anemic Skittles promo item, not a tactical light – and this reveals . . . not much.
Zhang shrugs and slithers through the opening into the gloom. Wen follows. After their eyes adjust, it's obvious that they're in a low-rent office of some kind, with minimal furniture and only one exit other than the roof. Shining Wen's little light around reveals nothing of interest, so the two carefully open the door. This proves to give access to a narrow hallway with filthy walls, lit by a single, dim bulb. It looks as though this entire storey is largely unused, so the Agents sneak over to the stairs at the end of the corridor.
As the two approach the next landing, they hear a conversation in Chinese. Wen makes out something about "the night's take was a miserable $40,000" and "because the air conditioning was out again." It sounds as if two men – one of them elderly – are conversing about some less-than-legal enterprise based in the building. It certainly is stuffy in here, as if the A/C isn't working.
Coordinating via hand signals, Wen and Zhang leave the staircase and stalk up the hall until they're just outside the room where the conversation is going on. Zhang counts down silently and on his mark, the two Agents rush through the doorway. They assess the situation as they enter: a cluttered office dominated by a huge desk, which has a woman in her 50s seated behind it, a man in his 40s perched atop it, and a much older man sitting across from it, against the wall with the doorway. With the briefest of gestures, Zhang indicates that he'll go for the woman, while Wen chooses the younger of the two men.
Zhang leaps onto the desk, fixes the woman with a tiger-like gaze, and hisses calmly that if she goes for a panic button or a desk drawer, he'll end her. It seems to work; the only reaction to his sudden arrival is a wide-eyed stare. Meanwhile, Wen gets airborne and throws a toe kick at her target's crotch. The man reacts with surprising speed, but he isn't quick enough – a split second later, he's doubled up on the floor, either unconscious or wishing he was.
As soon as Wen's victim collapses, Zhang presses forward and shoves the woman against the far wall, rolling her chair away from the desk and clamping his hand over her mouth. Wen spins 180° to deal with the old man, only to see him drawing a four-barreled derringer from somewhere in his samfu. Fortunately for the Agents, "grandpa" is well-armed but not a master of the quick draw. Wen has time to boot him in the crotch, too, before he can fire. The gun tumbles harmlessly to the floor.
With that, the room's three original occupants are neutralized. While Zhang menaces the woman and makes sure the two men aren't playing possum, Wen searches for and finds electrical cords to use as bonds. Then Zhang skillfully binds and gags the prisoners while Wen stands guard with the old man's gun. Before leaving, Zhang does a quick search of the room and finds a double-barreled 12-gauge whippet on a pivot under the desk, intended to shoot at the doorway through the thin front panel – another near thing! He removes the shotgun from its mount and brings it along.
The Agents head out and down the hall, only to hear two sets of footsteps coming up the stairs from the lowest level – the floor that Zhang was on when he had his run-in with the three gunmen. Wen and Zhang hastily return to the office and get out of sight beside the doorway, Zhang stowing the shotgun in favor of a tonfa from the weapons bag. A moment later, a man steps into the office . . . whereupon Zhang smashes him in the face, knocking him out. Not wanting to give their victim's associate a chance to react, Zhang and Wen boil out of the office and attack the weaselly looking guy they find standing there. Zhang knocks him down with a tonfa blow, whereupon Wen kicks him in the groin so hard that he goes for a slide down the waxed floor.
After dealing with the men from downstairs, Zhang and Wen head to the basement themselves. However, the stairs end in a security door, which has a sliding viewport big enough to pass cash through, but neither a doorknob nor a visible locking mechanism. Clearly, the way in is to know the right knock or password. After a brief discussion, Wen and Zhang dash back up to the office and fetch the tied-up woman from behind the desk, as she looked like the boss of the operation.
The woman is no taller than Wen (and considerably less of a steroidal freak), so it's easy for the Agents to bundle her downstairs. There's little their captive could do in any event, being bound, gagged, and held at gunpoint. Wen makes the situation clear: "Give the right code to get that door open or we splatter you all over the staircase. If you have a panic code, don't try it – your pals won't win the gunfight before we shoot you." Then she and Zhang remove the woman's gag and push her up to the viewport in a way that prevents anyone from seeing what else is out there. The threats seem to work; the woman knocks, the viewport slides open, and the man on the other side recognizes her and unlatches the door.
When the door swings open, Zhang and Wen push the woman through, Zhang holding the shotgun to his captive's head while Wen points the derringer into the room. It's clearly some sort of gambling den. It looks as if there are four heavies in there, two just inside the door from the stairs and two more by a far door. Zhang shouts, "Drop your weapons and lie face-down on the floor, or your boss gets it!" This produces the desired effect.
Once the goons are in no position to interfere, Zhang hustles his prisoner across the room toward the other door, which looks as if it should lead to the area where he had his earlier encounter. Wen watches their backs as they cross, her gun trained on the two men who let them into the room from the stairway. On reaching the far exit, Wen unlatches the door while Zhang acts as scary as possible. Then the Agents slip out, slamming the door behind them. Zhang pushes the woman down the passage beyond, while Wen continues to cover the rear.
Exactly as Zhang predicted, the corridor leads to the room where he was relieved of his money. The three thugs there are shocked to see Zhang shoving their boss into their presence at gunpoint. Zhang half considers shooting one of them to make a point, but Wen convinces him to reconsider. Still, Zhang's crazy eyes have the boss shouting for her goons to cooperate. Thus, they offer little resistance as he and Wen relieve them of his money, some additional cash, and their handguns.
Wen stuffs the swag in her bag and then she and Zhang drag their prisoner toward the exit to the alleyway. As soon as they're outside, Wen slams the door and Zhang jams the lock shut; while it won't hold forever, it will slow pursuit. Before taking off, Zhang explains to the boss woman that all this happened because those three idiots on the other side of the door robbed him at gunpoint when he came in to do some business. She reacts amazingly well, given her treatment so far: "I see. Well, if I never see you again, I'll call it even."
Then it's time to go. Wen stuffs the cash, the guns (the four-shooter, the shotgun, and three pistols taken off the thugs), and all the knives and clubs into her shoulder bag. With that secure, she and Zhang beat a hasty retreat out of Chinatown, using their training at stealth and athletics to make pursuit as difficult as possible. They reach the subway without incident. If there's anybody on their tail, it isn't obvious.
While all this is going on, Vinnie and Lev return from Little Italy to tell the others (minus Wen and Zhang, of course!) about Vinnie's appointment to buy guns in Jersey. Vinnie collects the group's Company-provided ATM cards and heads out to withdraw the necessary cash, pulling a total of $35,000 in twenties. He manages to do so without getting mugged – indeed, he scares off a would-be robber with a cold stare – after which he heads back to the hotel clean up. He dresses nicely in the clothes that Anabel picked out for him, and then carefully stacks the money and conceals it on his person.
Toward dawn, Vinnie leaves to go meet his contact at the café. Paul and Lev head over there in one of the vans, with Paul at the wheel, and park just down the street. Vinnie's man shows up right on schedule, and shortly thereafter, a large black car pulls in. A big guy with a shaved head gets out, walks into the coffee bar, and signals to Vinnie's companion, who tells Vinnie that it's time to go. The two of them leave and walk over to the car stopped out front.
Interestingly, the bruiser seems much more respectful toward Vinnie than to his contact. He growls at the local guy, ordering him to get in the goddamned car, and then politely asks Vinnie to submit to a search. Once he has checked Vinnie with a metal-detector wand and verified that Vinnie does indeed have cash for an arms deal, he opens the car door and invites Vinnie to take a ride. The man behind the wheel is even bigger and lumpier than his associate – and he, too, is deferential to Vinnie but harsh with Vinnie's contact.
The drive to Jersey is entirely uneventful. Paul skillfully tails the black car through the growing morning traffic. Vinnie knows that Paul is good at what he does, but to help out, whenever he sees that Paul is getting a little too close or that his chauffeurs are paying a little too much attention to their mirrors, he starts yakking. Fortunately, both of the heavies are interested in cars, so Vinnie is able to keep them distracted by asking them about their ride.
Eventually, the car pulls into a fenced compound next to a neat, modern warehouse. The sign reads "Antonioni Leather Goods," and depicts a boot and a handbag. The two bruisers – Alex and Lorenzo – escort Vinnie into the attached office. Their security isn't bad, consisting of a high fence, several cameras, an intercom, a heavy door with an electronic lock, and a control freak named Frank, who insists that everybody identify themselves and use the day's password (much to Alex's annoyance).
Inside, Vinnie is invited to wait for the boss in the break room, which is nicer than many high-end offices he has seen. It's a comfortable, air-conditioned area with leather sofas and an espresso bar. As Vinnie waits, a woman working there – Carlotta – flirts with him. However, Vinnie cannot help but notice that she removed the wedding ring that she had on when he arrived, so he decides not to take advantage of the situation. He simply enjoys a coffee and waits.
About 30 minutes later, Vinnie hears somebody else enter the building. From where he's seated, he's just able to eavesdrop on a conversation in the front office. He overhears Alex say, "I searched our guest, boss. He isn't packing a badge, a wire, a gun, or anything like that, but he brought enough cash to be for real." He also catches Frank reporting in rather formally: "I ran his prints and face through the machine and got no match. I don't think he has anybody looking for him, and he isn't a local cop."
Moments later, a well-dressed man in his 50s steps into the break room and introduces himself to Vinnie as simply "Antonioni." As Mafioso go, Antonioni seems like a nice guy. He makes it clear that he's always willing to help his friends from the old country, and that his only conditions are cash on the barrelhead and silence. Vinnie is happy to agree to both. Once that's settled, Antonioni escorts Vinnie to a locked room at the back of the warehouse, which from the outside simply looks like an employees' locker room.
The back room turns out to be stocked with guns of every description. Antonioni claims that his goods come right off the assembly line, which means no ballistics records with the FBI or even with corporate QA departments. He also tells Vinnie that his military firearms were quietly diverted from shipments to the Army, suggesting that the serial numbers aren't flagged as missing from anybody's armory. Vinnie isn't too sure about all that, but he gets to work wheeling and dealing for the deadly merchandise he needs:
- two M24 sniper rifles (supposedly diverted from military stocks)
- four MP5A3 submachine guns
- two SPAS-15 shotguns (right from Italy, apparently)
- eight Glock 17 pistols
- two Glock 26 pistols (subcompact, "for the ladies")
Vinnie swings a deal that gets him the guns and some ammo for a sensible price. Antonioni also parts with some armor-piercing rounds: "All those Russians wear vests, so you'll need these." On that last topic, Antonioni doesn't have body armor for sale; he suggests that Vinnie buy it where the cops do. As a consolation prize, he offers Vinnie some leather holsters and slings, and some big leather bags for the guns, "at wholesale." Vinnie avails himself of the offer, and soon has two big satchels of firearms, ammunition, and leather goods.
As Vinnie exits through the warehouse, he notices that Antonioni carries leather goods of the fashionable variety as well: belts, footwear, handbags, jackets, etc. He hands over a little extra cash and picks up a nice pair of shoes for himself. On a whim, he also adds a belt and a handbag for Anabel, whom he knows is a clothes horse. As it happens, his choices are quite chic! With that, it's time to leave.