The Tree Fell in the Night

Neon Tree was the most exclusive club in the city. The owner was a rat-faced gang-leader who governed over illegal trade in the clubs sector of the city. Not to say he made it obvious, to most he was simply a man, to a few he was the club owner, but to me, a man that has been in his employ for almost a decade, he is a snake. I sat in his cold empty offices on the fourth floor of the luxurious club and pondered my plan to rid him from this city, the cancer that he was festering and rotting the core of the people with drugs, violence and fear.

The room looked like it was straight out of the city hall records department. I know, I was ordered to break in there and change some numbers and names. It was a terrible job, but a job I got done with ease. Even with a team of only three, including myself, it was a cake-walk, but the guilt I felt seeing what was on those records would follow me to me grave. I spent too much of my time drinking in this club thinking about all the damage I've done only to remember that I don't carry all the blame.
Today would be different, rat-face would be meeting me in this room, alone, to discuss the next job. The man carried two phones, one for me and the other for his benefactors. I knew this was serious when I heard him talking to one the largest benefactors as well as me. It was a stern discussion; I could hear panic in that annoying voice. If I did this right I might cause more damage to this criminal web than I hoped I ever could. Kill a notable figure and spoil a delicate job. Perfect.
As if rat-face realized I was done pondering these thoughts I heard his clicking formal shoes and he opened the door briskly. I was already pouring him a drink to keep him occupied. He wore a grey suit with a vibrant shirt beneath. His hair was messy and hung pathetically against his pale, sweaty skull.
"Malone, listen up," he began plucking the drink out of my hands as I went to close the door. "You are going uptown with Lenny and Roger."
"VIP?" I asked half-interested, keeping my cool around him.
"A VVIP, Malone and he is going to talk," rat-face interjected before sipping the brandy. His face cringed in disgust, but he didn't stop drinking it. He wasn't drinking it for the taste. "That little business over on the East side, you remember, with the Chinese bastard?"
I nodded, remembering it a little more tastefully. It wasn't my job, but the new thugs screwed it up royally. A pawn shop, a Chinese owner who was armed to the teeth and two menacing, but unarmed thugs. It was a shameless bloodbath, but luckily the cops didn't get involved.
"The pawnshop owner is the guy you're going to put in the dirt tonight," rat-face explained. "He had a camera and the idiots that fucked up the job fucked it up for us as well by dropping my name! He is blackmailing Vinnie now, dropping my name of course, and now Vinnie has me by the short-hairs until I, or should I say you, fix this!"
Of course, money flows upwards, but shit flows downwards. Rat-face was panicked, so whatever Vinnie said has really scared him.
"Is Vinnie really going to let us off if we do this?" I asked rat-face. He scowled at me, suspiciously, but he knew full well that it was a good question.
"I don't know, but we don't have much of a choice," rat-face murmured. I thought on this for only a second and realized I need not get my hands dirty.
"Our one and only warning, right?" I muttered angrily.
"That's right, if this gets screwed up it is my head, your head and especially my head that get's served on a plate," rat-face murmured nervous once more at the thought of it. "Which is why I'm trusting you, Malone, to get it down before sunrise."
I left the room and made my way downstairs to the lobby. A driver was waiting for me at the lower level, another newbie thug, but at least this one was old enough to have a drivers licence. I climbed into the front seat and gave him directions. The kid sat there scared out of his mind to see me. I had somewhat of a reputation in this criminal underworld, which is what I was counting on.
We arrived at the uptown mansion and I exited the car, ordering the kid to park the car at the corner while I did business. Walk around the house, cut alarm wiring, enter through kitchen window, climb stairs and enter the east bedroom. I ran it through my head before I did it, knowing which wire to cut and that all rich men slept in the East side bedroom to get the morning light. Knife to throat, restrain dominant hand, add pressure, question and one quick movement. I found out where the evidence was and left the dead man alone. Finding the tapes I watched them on his flat-screen TV to make sure I wasn't being tricked. Still, there was one way to make sure. Stove, cut gas-pipe, entrance way, break light and turn it on. Exit via kitchen window again.
I caught up with the kid and directed him towards a warehouse by the harbor. We only just left the street before we heard the catastrophic bang and the flames took over. It was big, loud and fire consumed all evidence within moments. Once we arrived I told the kid to follow me inside. The warehouse was protected by a higher-grade of thug, but they knew I was higher and parted to let me enter. Vinnie would be up in his office, no doubt receiving a call from some lackey to inform him on the explosion. His eyes fell on me and the kid, he shook beside me, but I directed him by the shoulder.
"Well done, Malone," Vinnie muttered wiping his mean face with an expensive tie. "Now tell me why the hell you are here."
I explained the situation. Rat-face hired me to kill him as well, he didn't like being threatened. However, I knew the alpha do and wouldn't do it. Vinnie nodded, expecting some sort of gang war to begin and would buy out all of rat-face's goons in a second and kill rat-face slowly, but surely. Meanwhile, the kid I held by the bony shoulder would take his place. An amazing promotion, but the rat-face is just a pawn and so is the kid. The explanation was solid with no holes in it, nobody would trust rat-face anyway, but me, they understood a killer like me.
Vinnie smiled as he guided me into his office the same way I guided the kid, ready to discuss my future. He shut the door and we were alone. My plan went better than I thought. Now it is time to plan the fall of a mob boss.