chapter 177

word count: 1450

as soon as tiffany got to the top of the steps,, she began to sense something was wrong.. the tsung family, mrs. tsung, and their three children were all seated on the couch, facing her. mrs. tsung stared at her, wide eyed,, as the children frozen with fear, huddled in close to their mother.. tiffany turned to look at mr. tsung,, who was only a step or two behind her.. he too had a troubled look on his face.. a look of disdain,, she had taken at first as his way of showing his disapproval of her state of dress,, or undress as the case might be.. she paused a moment too long,, and mr. tsung put his hand to her back and guided her rigidly to continue into the living room..  

as she turned the corner coming out of the stairwell,, she saw them. two americans.. two huge americans,, both in suit coats,, with short cropped hair.. both with guns drawn,, sitting leisurely at the family dinner table.. despite their casual demeanor both of their guns were leveled,, one on the mrs.tsung and her children,, and one on tiffany and mr. tsung as he too came into view..

“take a seat miss yoo.” said one of the steely eyed americans as he waived his gun in the direction of a chair on the other end of the living room..

“you too.” he nodded at mr. tsung,, as he continued to motion with his gun towards the other end of the room..

“and now we wait.” said the man who held his gun steadily on the tsung family..

***

as the sound of gunshots rang out in mr. bigs private office,, yet another of his bodyguards came blasting in a door just behind the big guy’s desk.. mr. yoo did not stop to see who or what was coming through that door,, rather he jumped hastily over the massive corpse that was all but blocking the doorway and ran down the steps.. as he opened the door leading to the back exit of the compound two shots rang out.. the first,, with precision,, went straight through the back of mr. yoos brain,, the other was the sound of his own gun,, as his one remaining shot in the chamber ricochet off the pavement before him..

nick, ‘the salami’ solumbrino, and lenny  ‘the puck’ moskowitz, hovered over mr. yoo’s lifeless body.. ‘the puck’ kicked at it a couple of times just to make sure there was no chance he was still alive, despite the fact that the better part of mr. yoo’s face had been blown off by the hollow point bullet that had sliced thru mr. yoo’s cranium like a knife through soft butter..

“fuck!!” ‘the salami’ clearly exasperated exhaled the word as if it had been burning a hole in his lungs.. “how the fuck does something like this happen?? how the fuck did he get that gun past guido??”

“too bad that idiot mother fucker already bought it,, i’d a loved to have had a chance to put a bullet through his brain..” ‘the puck’ sounded off as he kicked at mr. yoo’s lifeless body once more for emphasis..

“wonder what’s up with the briefcase?” ‘the salami’ couldn’t help but wonder aloud,, as he too took a kick at mr. yoo.. “ i’m bettin’ whatever is in there,, is the reason the big guy, god rest his soul, had chin chin china man here, come by tonight..”

“i don’t know,,” lenny ‘the puck’ moskowitz quickly interjected. “but i say we leave it alone..”

“so why you wanna say that??” ‘the salami fired back… “the big guy is gone,, guido is gone,, manny is gone.. there is right this minute no ‘heir to the throne’.. suppose whatever is in that briefcase makes us ‘heir to the throne’?? finders keepers, losers weepers, puck.. i say we open it.. this could be our big chance.. this could be just what we need to come into our own, ya know?? finally get that big chance we been talkin’ about for the last fifteen years..”

‘the puck’ was still hesitant.. ‘the salami’ was right.. everyone that was anyone had already hit the dirt.. sure,, they got the guy that did the big guy in,, but that might not be enough for the family to recognize them.. they could sure use an edge, something that would push them straight to the top,, and keep the family from bringing someone from outta town in to pick up where the big guy left off..

“but suppose it’s nothing? then what,, we got no business in that briefcase,, how we gonna explain it,, if it comes down like that?? i mean if we blow it open,, and there is nothing there??” lenny was visibly on the fence.. just a little push,, and he’d be over it,, and on ‘the salami’s’ side….

“you fuckin’ idiot,, were not gonna blow it open,, we’re gonna find the key and open it!!!” the salami fired off.. “you don’t think this guy strapped that thing on and don’t have a key to open it do you?? here,, lemme show you how it’s done..”

nick ’the slami’ solumbrino knelt,, with great difficulty, over the body.. he felt the pockets on mr. yoo’s pants.. one was smooth,, the other had what felt like a key ring in it.. he carefully extracted the key ring so as to not disturb the positioning of the body in any way.. no matter who the family sent over to clean this,, they would notice any disturbance to the body..

“and there ya go!!” he said as he pushed himself up out of the kneeling position,, and shook the key ring in lenny’s direction.. he tossed lenny the keys.. “open it. my knees are killin’ me,, i can’t stay down there like that..”

‘which key do ya think it is??” ‘the puck’ asked as he caught the key ring midair..

“how the fuck am i supposed to know!! just open the god damn thing already will ya??”

‘the puck’ knelt down next to the body.. he fumbled thru a couple of keys before he found the right one. he popped open the lock on the briefcase and saw nothing of interest in there.. nothing but a jewelry box. “see i told ya…” were the last words ‘the puck' ever spoke,, as nick ‘the salami’ solumbrino brought down a cement statue of the virgin smashing down on the back of his head as he peered into the briefcase.. nick checked his pulse,, he was out,, but he sure as hell wouldn’t be for long. he grabbed the jewelry box from the briefcase,, opened it,, and staring up at him in the phosphorescent light of the driveway,, was the most amazing thing he had ever laid his eyes on.. a fucking diamond the size of a fifty cent piece if not bigger..

“holy mother of god!!” he couldn’t help but laugh to himself as he replaced the statue of the virgin just outside the door,, where she had stood vigil for as long as he could remember.. he slipped the diamond into the pocket of his pants as he snapped the lid closed on the jewelry box,, and stuffed it into 'the puck's' suit coat pocket.. he withdrew the key fob that would open the garage door from his suit coat pocket..  he clicked the button,, and he moved quickly into the garage,, where he proceeded to open the steel cabinet just inside the door,  and load a syringe to the hilt with a lethal dose of morphine..

‘the puck’ was just beginning to come around as nick jabbed the needle into his already distended jugular vein,, and drove the dose home.. as ‘the puck’ exhaled his last,, ‘the salami’ was already firing up the engine on the lift enabled cargo van.. he backed the van up into position,, rolled ‘the puck onto the lift,, and then into the side door of the van..

sweating like a god damn pig, ‘the salami’ pulled himself up into the driver’s seat,, and cranked on the air.. it had all come down so fast,, he didn’t immediately know where he was gonna dispose of the body…

as the front gates of the compound slid slowly open enough for nicky to pass though,, he pulled a ski mask over his sweat drenched face,, so the security cameras would be of no use in identifying who was driving the van..

as he sped through the gates and out onto the darkened road that led through the wooded area that surrounded the compound he decided to take a ride up to weston,, and dump ‘the puck’ in the big bear river..  sounded like as good a place as any..