© Evan Woods 2026
A small town outside the city. Arnold and Joey had known each other and Gino Pinelli since school, with Gino a year older, the son of Italian immigrants. They’d never given Gino the disrespect and bullying he got from other students and being a pair of underachievers they found Gino’s attitude and talk of the future compelling. When they finished school they naturally teamed up with Gino while he built his little small-town drug supply business. Joey knew a lot about guns which came in handy. During the following couple of years, his business expanded into the city and he recruited several other disaffected youths as runners and to also be used as soldiers. All his boys were inured to casual violence. Arnold and Joey were a little more thoughtful about it.
There came a time when his drug distribution empire was run from an office in the admin block of a former cement works. A tiny barred window allowed daylight to slouch through dirty glass. The business paid richly and Gino paid adequately. Arnie and Joey had remained his trusted seconds and he paid them more to control the underlings. Gino, though, was not aging well; the business extracted a price for its success. He was going prematurely bald, held belly fat badly, had always worn glasses and was far from the tallest of men, traits which went a long way towards explaining a career choice inspired by the bullying embarrassments of his schooldays.
There was pressure from city gangs protecting their turf, but when wasn’t there pressure. It’s in the nature of the business and so far Pinelli’s mob had been able to hold their own, even forging channels into the city. One city-based rival however, John Sully, was fighting back harder than any before and it had cost Pinelli a couple of men already, instilling a lack of enthusiasm in the rest of his crew.
This day was to be different. With the latest casualty Gino flipped and called Arnold and Joey to an urgent meeting for orders regarding the heat being piled on by Sully. Never mind losing a man here and there, the blood was flowing and all in one direction. Gino had been talking about an inevitable all out winner-take-all war with Sully and now it was on.
Men with concealed weapons were wandering around the cement works, just in case. Gino sat safely behind his big old office desk lounging in his executive chair, his back always to the wall. Nobody sucker-saps Gino Pinelli. Looking at the doorway behind the two men standing facing him, he saw a girl whose platinum-blonde pinnacle and landslide of assets, while admirable, did not belong in this place. Of course, she was chewing gum.
Gino pointed at the girl. “Why is Rose here? You need gash on the move, Arnie?” He’d always thought being ‘polite’ was for baby-slobberin’ politicians.
Joey and Arnold turned sharply, at the same time reaching for shoulder holsters inside their expensive tailor-made leather jackets – it was a natural reaction. Arnold saw his girlfriend of a year in the doorway. “What, hey I told you to wait in the car!” He turned to Gino, lowering his voice. “Sorry boss. She doesn’t know shit.”
Somehow the girl managed to talk and chew gum at the same time. “Hiya, it’s me. Rose.” In spite of the fact they all knew that.
Silence.
“…Ya know me, like… Arnie’s girlfriend…?”
Another silence until Joey chipped in cheerfully, “Huh, you brought Harley Quinn!”
Gino was infinitely less impressed. “What the fuck’s wrong with you Arnie? Why’d you bring her to my office?”
Arnold felt the need to defend his squeeze. “But, but Gino, it’s our anniversary, we were already on our way to dinner when you called.”
The boss didn’t care. “Riiiiight… give her your bank card and send her shopping.”
Arnold looked a little sheepish. “She’s ah, looking after it for me. In her handbag.”
Gino grimaced up at Arnie. “Hmmm, of course she is. Arnold…”
Spinning round like a top Arnold shooed his arms at Rose. “Scram, get back in the goddamn car and WAIT for me like I told you first time!” Not rude at all.
Rose made a scritchy face, shifted her handbag up her arm, swung her enhanced attention grabbers around and closed the door behind her.
Gino slammed his small pudgy fist into his big hard desk. “I know you like her but this is a matter of security. We’re rats, Arn. You brought another rat into our nest an’ you know what the other rats do? They eat the stranger. Do I have to eat her?”
“No boss. She doesn’t even want to put two and two together. No questions, no lies.”
Pinelli finished the argument unpleasantly. “Okay Arnold. You control her or she eats dirt, you get me?” He didn’t wait for an answer. “Both of you, this shitshow with John Sully, it ends now. I want you to choose some men, get over to Sully’s main drag and root out his men one by one. Do it quietly but I want the bodies prominent and I want him to know we’re taking the fight to him. You two are co-ordinating on location. Try to avoid collateral damage, we don’t want our customer base killed off or the fuzz turning up too soon. Call me every time you make a dead’un, I don’t know for sure how many soldiers he’s got, I figure more than us so be sensible. I need to keep a tally of how many, where and when. Sooner or later Sully’s gonna want to negotiate or retaliate, so leave some men here in case someone turns up shooting. And put a guard outside this door!”
The two men nodded and left the office. They had a quick conflab in the corridor. “Okay Joey, let’s put Mason at the top of the stairs. There’s no other way to get to the office and he’s trigger-happy, that should keep Gino satisfied for now. Let’s pick out who stays and who goes with us.”
“I know who I want, there’s five of them. That’ll leave nine men out in the works, we won’t have any trouble finding sniper positions for them around this place.” Arnold shouted for Mason, who came up the stairs at a trot. “Stay here, shoot anyone who isn’t us.” To make sure Mason understood he added, “or ours.”
Downstairs Joey selected the five men they were taking into enemy territory and hid them in a battered old delivery van.
Rose was still waiting in Arnold’s car while the two redeployed their men around the works. Arnold only noticed her later. Letting Joey in the back and getting in the driver’s side he told her “I have to drop you home, I’ve got things to do.”
“You forgot about me didn’t you? What were you doing out there?”
Arnie dreamed up half a lie on the spot. “We’re thinking of bringing the works back to life, the fellers are making sure any competitors don’t screw it up for us. That’s why our boss wasn’t happy about you sneaking up behind me, he doesn’t trust nobody.”
“Oh really. What happens if you get this cement factory working again?”
Joey leant forward. “We make cement. Happy anniversary by the way. A whole year together!”
“Take me home.”
The old van followed Arnie as he drove up to the exit. The barrier was closed, Arnie was about to step out to open it when a gun barrel tapped on his window and another gently tapped the window on Joey’s side. They looked at each other with a sinking, but realistic feeling that their destinies had arrived. Arnie felt sorry for Rose, quietly sitting next to him. She’d probably be first, he thought.
“Out, now!” The two men and Rose obeyed. A glance behind told Joey they and the van had been surrounded by at least thirty men. An army for sure.
“Arnie… they’ve all got HK94’s, looks like. Nasty”
A mid-Atlantic, vaguely Irish parade ground voice boomed. “Good observation, soldier! A skill that could be useful if you’ve got a future!” The enemy, John Sully, on their turf, standing in front of Arnie’s car pointing a Desert Eagle at at him. He looked for all the world like he had everything under his control, which he did, almost. Two men jumped from the back of the van with guns ready to shoot but were killed with bursts from an HK. The other three stayed in the van, their only contribution, following orders to throw out their weapons and phones.
“That man! Tell me more!”
Joey looked over to Arnie, shrugged and described what he saw. “HK94 machine pistols. Automatic firing. Mid 1980s manufacture I’d say, probably civilian versions for police forces. Military versions would be traceable and hard to come by in bulk.”
“Winner winner chicken dinner!” Boomed Sully. “You are indeed the useful type.” He walked round to face Arnie. “And you. I’m guessing your name is Arnold, correct?” Arnie nodded. How did he know that? “Well, Arnold, I may yet have a use for you. Why don’t we all turn around and visit Mr Pinelli. Quietly now, we don’t want to disturb the fellow too soon.” He grabbed Rose by the elbow.
The walk back to the office block had a story to tell. The nine men distributed around the works had been rounded up without a shot fired. “How did you do that?” asked Joey.
Sully beamed a smile. “Easy enough my boy, we are not without our methods. If you’re still alive in ten minutes you’ll find out.”
As they came to just around the corner of the staircase to the office, Gino’s remaining twelve soldiers were clubbed unconscious to ensure Mason had no warning. Sully was still holding on to Rose. “Arnold, Joey boy, I know you’ve a man stationed at the top, sorry to say no choice but that he’ll have to go.” One of Sully’s men had a baffle fitted to his weapon. He stepped smartly to the base of the stairs and fired up a single shot. The bullet took Mason through the neck and lodged in his head. Joey couldn’t help but admire the man’s speed and aim. It was obvious Gino’s team were totally outclassed.
Sully tried to sound apologetic. “Three of yours dead now. Up the stairs, stay quiet and the body count won’t change much more.”
From the corridor Sully crashed open the office door and went through pushing Rose first, Desert Eagle second. “Do NOT reach for a gun, Pinelli! We’re going to have a little chat.”
Gino nearly wet himself as he jumped up. Two of Sully’s men escorted Arnie and Joey into the room at gunpoint. Gino picked on Joey, being nearest. “What the fuck have you two done, what is this?”
“We haven’t done anything!”
“Looks like it! And Rose. You’re in my office again.”
Sully interrupted the reunion. “Shut up! Enough of the cartoon capers.”
Gino sat back into stillness, hands on his desk. At the sight of Rose, this sudden incursion began to click. “All right Sully, you have the floor. Say your piece.”
Sully waved his Deagle generally in Gino’s direction while his men kept Arnie and Joey covered. Rose stood a little away, Arnie noticed nobody was pointing a gun at her. He tried to make eye contact but she was staring at the floorboards.
“I don’t have to waste my day saying anything but I will. I’ve seen the same movies as you, there’s always time for an explanation. You see, the thing is you’ve been watched for a long time. I’ve studied this little operation and had enough of the skinny to sweep it out from under you anytime. The only difference today is, that time is now.”
Gino didn’t like the casual way the Desert Eagle seemed to have a life of its own, it was all he could focus on. He hoped Sully’s bravado would cause him to distract himself and leave an opening; his hands were twitching to get to the right-hand top drawer and the gun inside it.
“Go for it Pinelli. I can see you wishing for just half a second to grab a shooter but it won’t do you any good. One wrong move from you and my men blow yours away and you won’t have a chance to hear the story. Don’t you want to hear the story?”
Gino nodded, wondering if psychopaths like himself and John Sully are the only personality types who could do what we do.
“Okey dokey, big reveal. Rose here, Arnold’s girlfriend, is my sister! Ta Daaaaa! Yes, she’s been using Arnold there to spy on you all this year. She called me while she was alone in the car, me and my boys were waiting on that call for an hour and she told us everything. Good observer, my little snitch sister. Your security stinks, Pinelli.”
“Rose!” Arnie exclaimed. He and Joey were, at the very least, taken aback. Rose did not respond, the floorboards held her full attention. Gino was shaking with anger. “I knew it, I knew she was trouble, this is how I’ve been losing! I must’ve been soft to let you carry on with that tramp Arnold!”
Sully conciliated. “Now now Gino, she is what she is, but what she is not, is a tramp. She’s been faithful to Arnold all this time. Ah, see poor Arnold’s face, there’s a man who doesn’t know which way to fall. Now what was yours is mine.”
Arnold was still in conflict with himself. He’d been taken in, used. A hundred off-the-cuff things he might have said when he was around Rose ran through his mind. He thought “If we get out of this I’m going to have to show Rose a thing or two… and myself.”
Sully’s Desert Eagle had steadied its aim in Gino’s direction, even while he talked to Arnie. “She really liked you Arnold, you’ve been good to her, a faithful man. She had a lot of trouble interpreting things you said and did but she was very good at her job and I’m better at mine. If I decide you’ve got a future you’ll know better next time, it’s the job and nothing else. Today isn’t your fault, I’d planned it to happen soon anyway. This way, I get to cut off the head. Good enough.”
He looked slowly back to Gino. “So you get the picture I’m painting Pinelli? This one’s blood red. Are you useful? No?” He didn’t wait for an answer, just shot Pinelli through his right eye. The Deagle’s .50 Action Express shell blew off half his cranium. Blood, brain, bone and bits of headrest fountained up from the executive chair and a massive slimy splatter pitted the wall behind.
Joey and Arnie gawped at the wreckage in the chair, the left eye staring back at them. They were also slightly deafened by Sully’s Deagle, as close as they were. Rose looked very sick. Waving his weapon in the air to make sure they were paying attention, Sully looked sadly at the two men while he donned a pair of gloves. “You, Arnold, give me your gun.” With resignation Arnie gave up his little .32. “Thanks. This is just a little extra security. You see, there’s another problem to take care of now. I’ve got a business to protect and a snitch will eventually snitch on anyone… even family.” Then he shot Rose in the stomach with Arnie’s gun.
The girl gasped in surprise, spitting out her chewing gum. The thudding punch of the bullet tore her open, she clutched at the wound as she staggered back, slumped against the wall, slid to the floor and sat there, legs spread out, looking utterly shocked as she watched her blood pool slowly on her skirt. It was a slow-death wound, she’d been around long enough to know she might live for several minutes. The pain was awful. Her body lost control, she could smell herself. She looked up at Arnold, but had nothing to say. She looked at her brother, but had even less to say to him. The look in her eyes said it for all.
“A shame, but some bastard in authority would have turned my sister eventually. Her first and last assigment.” The sheer insanity got to Arnie and Joey, their arms dropped to their sides.
Sully knew a win when he’d engineered one and at a signal, his men withdrew. He held the .32 in front of Arnie’s dazed face. Arnie slowly fumbled for it unthinkingly, not really seeing it. “Oh no, I’m keeping this.” Sully addressed Gino’s two former henchmen. “Like I said when you had the pleasure of meeting me earlier, I hate to see useful lives wasted. I don’t kill for fun, I usually find people very co-operative when given the opportunity. Pretend you’re in a democracy, come down and talk to your friends when they come round. I could use all of you, work for me or disappear, those are your choices. Make the wrong one and you’ll need to go away, all of you, the guys downstairs, very, very far away right now, as you are. You don’t go home, you don’t pass go, you don’t collect. Some of you might survive.
“But Arnold, for your sake, remember there are two very different ways for me to deal with my sister’s body and your gun. Think police evidence and penitentiary, or think clean-up crew and off the hook.”
He looked at what was left of Gino. “I can leave him there as a warning, nobody will give a shit about him anyway. I’ll be waiting boys, five minutes.” He didn’t even glance at Rose as he left the office and skipped down the stairs, leaving Arnold and Joey stunned at being alive, not to mention at the ugliness they’d just witnessed. Not wishing to look at the carnage at either end of the room, they moved over to the small window. Below, Sully’s army had dragged Gino’s unconscious men into a pile. Sully was walking across the old cracked car park, looking up he waved his gun cheerfully when he saw their faces at the window.
Joey recovered first. “Sheeeit! Man’s a total psycho maniac! Gino’s snuffed, to be honest I ain’t gonna miss his shining personality and you’re in the frame for Rose’s murder! Arnie, you screwed up with your girlfriend, so far as anyone who matters is concerned it was you murdered her. What the hell do we do now? We’re suddenly unemployed and damn lucky we weren’t permanently retired.”
Inside, Arnold was feeling sick. “I didn’t know, I just didn’t know, Joey. He shot his own sister!” He was grabbing at the idea. His girlfriend is, was, John Sully’s sister? Shot in the worst possible way by her brother. There are no words for that level of dedication. With great difficulty – and, he forced himself to remember, up against Sully’s five minute time limit – he pulled himself together. “Yeah but Joey I’m too young to be unemployed or retired, alive that is. And we’ve got a lifestyle. Another thing, let’s face facts, we’d be shit fending for ourselves. Where’d we go? What’d we do? He’s right y’know, if we legged it we’d be useless on our own, dead or jailed in no time.”
Joey didn’t want to run either. “Yeah… Arnie, this city is where we work and live, everything we know is here. And there’s a pile of our men out there. Well, Sully’s men now. They’ll work for whoever’s paying them.”
In the background, Rose made a little blood-spattered cough. The pain had become a horrible ache, her only other sensation was coldness. She was ignored.
Joey continued. “Listen, maniac or not Sully’s got Gino’s business now whatever we do. I say we go with it. It boils down to one boss is the same as any other boss, right? C’mon Arnie, we join Sully and make thankful for it. Maybe get a pay rise.”
“Joey, he shot his sister, his fuckin’ sister! But you’ve got a point.” Before they left the office Arnold couldn’t bring himself to leave without saying goodbye. He knelt down, tilted Rose’s chin up and looked into her flickering eyes – her face was pale, her breathing shallow, wheezy. She had only seconds left. “Sorry honey, it’s only business, just business. Nothing personal. I’ll miss you.” He gently kissed her chilled forehead, stood up and walked out with Joey.
Rose’s last sight in life was Gino’s half-headed corpse in its chair and behind it, all that shit up the wall.