Johnny sat in the dark room.  He knew he was capable of doing what he had to do.  He could write it off as simply revenge, but deep down inside he knew better.  He knew that there was a combination of destiny and history all being blasted into one forsaken explosion that was about to shift the axis of the balance of power in the world of organized crime.  There was no regret or fear, simply anxiety battling focus.  The unlikely hero who tapped into a sublime understanding that the time had arrived for it to be us or them.  This was America whether they truly understood it or not.  There was no royalty, no castes, no pecking order other than who was strong enough, had guile enough to seize the kind of power that was bestowed in other cultures by birth.  However in America, it would now be seized by strength, by strategy, by courage, by intelligence.

He didn’t care if the new frontier was being opened by default.  He didn’t care if they were poised to seize control because the greedy dark lords were seeking greener pastures.   What was left behind was greater treasure than had ever been offered his kind.  It was not going to be easy or clean, but if he executed his plan properly he would be the new “King of New York.”  They would be the biggest fish in the pond.  Granted, it wasn’t Vegas, but they would be the new royalty.  They would be the ones to decide who lived and died.  They would have the power.

Pauline had made the arrangements, obviously not understanding my intentions.  She had told “The Man”, that I was on board with the plan to help make them the biggest syndicate in the country.  What neither Pauline, nor Mr. Lucchese understood was that my brother was dead, there was an opportunity and I was far more ambitious than they could have ever imagined.  I was the most dangerous animal alive…and I could smell my prey. 

There was a knock on the door.  Then several men entered the room.  They read the note Johnny had left saying he had run downstairs to the lobby to get a couple of bottles of scotch for them to celebrate.  He heard their nervousness as the wily veterans were not buying the ruse.  They started to argue and voices rose as they all made suggestions that things were not right.  Time was up and it was do or die for one Jonathan Washington… or whatever the hell his real last name was.  He swung his arm out around the corner of the bathroom, launching a flash grenade into the room.  After the explosion, he ran out across the room crouched down firing his sub-machine gun evenly across the room.  He didn’t care who it hit, who died or why.  He was on the precipice of his existence and he laid waste to everything in his perimeter.  He fired, and fired and fired destroying every amenity and comfort the young upstart hotel had to offer.  He reloaded and fired again on and on and on.  He knew the monumental repercussions of his actions and if one witness was left alive, it would be one too many.

Immediately following the assault, Johnny’s first instinct was escape.  No matter who may be left after the assassinations of both the Needle and the Don, there would be hell to pay.  He dropped his weapon, and slid out the front door.  He didn’t even get a step, when he was staring down the barrel of a German authorized pistol.  “Don’t move a F-ing muscle my little friend.” 

The voice and grin that my glance came upon nearly made my stomach vomit.  It was Eddie Lucas, and he had me dead to rights.  The barrel of his weapon driven fiercely into my forehead, he grabbed me by the hair and dragged me to the stairwell.  Two floors down, he turned me around the corner and threw me to the floor in a room not unlike the war zone from which I had just been removed.   As I lay on the ground, I realized that I was no longer being confined.  I stood up slowly, knees still shaking violently from the transactions of the previous minutes.  As I turned around, Eddie Lucas still had his gun drawn on me, but behind him were standing not just Pauline…but incredibly…my brother Earl, alive!!!!