Chapter Eight: A friend, in this Town?

Mann's is found on the street by someone... Are they friend or foe?

'I thought I'd find you here. Word around town is you're running errands for a mad man. Crossing the mob and getting yourself into more trouble than usual.' Manns was inside his office, wearing his bathrobe, drinking black, sugarless coffee while the man  he now spoke to tended the wounds on his leg. 'Harry, the cuban sounded legit when he first came to me. He threw kind words and a big suitcase of unmarked twenties. What would you have me do?'. 

Harry was an old acquantince of Manns' back in the day when he was still on the force. They worked together on various occasions after Manns' lost his job, and they both did a pretty good job of keeping each other alive now and then. He was Manns' contact inside the police, one of the few good guys left. Having Harry on his side meant that he could blackmail the blackmailers: The crooked cops of New Harmony. The second biggest racket and criminal syndicate in the city, Manns always said, and having the drop on the law was as vital as keeping the mob off his case. Harry wore a worn out white dress shirt, untidely fitted, with a dark brown tie, suspenders and brown trousers. He had taken off his long dark coat and badge, and left them at Manns' desk. He was a large burly man in his early sixties, a no nonsense veteran with a thick grey moustache and dark eyes. 

But Manns' knew that he was a good man, he had seen it with his own eyes. Harry's family would never believe him to be the hardass the world made him out to be, since they all saw him as a kind husband and a great dad. He only had love for them. Manns' respected Harry greatly, fighting the good fight Inspite of having so much to lose. 'So who was shooting you this time? your a quick one Manns', always have been, but someone had you running scared all the way from the other side of town. What's going on?'. Manns knew he could trust his old friend. 

'I've gotten myself pretty involved in this case Harry. A man's already dead because of it, an innocent man, and I have nothing to say for it other than I'm working harder and quicker than I can remember because I know I might be next. These Cubans, they aren't good guys. And their leader's more unstable and spiteful than an ex wife. So I started working the case, regretting it the moment I took their filthy money. And guess what? this whole ordeal, the Cuban's missing daughter, the friendliest of the four families has something to do with it. The Tomassimo's'. Harry looked at Manns' amazed, as he continued to tend to the cuts and bruises on his legs. 'You're good at pissing off the wrong people Manns'. I`ll give you that. But crossing both of these big fish, well, that's just plain bad luck. Rotten luck. I took the liberty of doin' a little research on these Cuban boys, since I knew you were up to some funny business with them. Turns out they're into some serious s**t.'

 Manns continued to sip on his coffee. 'Well the Tomassimo's have been walking on eggshells trying to keep quiet about the kidnapping, and have been trying to kill me ever since I started trying to take down Garone. It ain't easy to scare these mobsters that's for sure, so I guess I've known for a while now that these aren't your ordinary cubans.' Harry smirked. 'Well you should've stayed away tough guy. These Cubans have been some of the  quietest and dangerous terrorists for the past year. You think of a crime, they're experts at it. They've worked with extremists, war criminals, drug lords, dictators, they've trafficked people, weapons, drugs, and they've been able to keep quiet about it too. A few friends at the buruea told me it was impossible to even get an actual picture of them, every single record they had of any of the members, those same exact guys got shot or blown up the next week! it's like these cubans have people on the inside. Anyway, uncle Sam has been none to pleased about it, and has been trying to catch them through different military operations for some time now. Has them on the run. They haven't so much as blown up a building or killed any politicians. The last the bureu has known of them is that they went back to the island, under Castro's wing. And since our relations with La Habana haven't been the best in a long frickin' time, they could disappear easily'. 

 'And now they're in New Harmony. Hell knows how the slippery b******s got into the country. You'd think customs would be a little more efficient, all they do is feel up old ladies and keep the stuff they confiscate from you.' Harry laughed. ´Jesus all I keep getting are more and more questions...If they're here it means that the officials of New Harmony don't give a damn about them. Which means the mob is involved. But why would the Tomassimo's let these guys in the city while they kidnapped  Matta's daughter?'. Harry gave him an amused look. 'Come on brains, I know your not that dumb. How else were the Tomassimo's going to get their hands on the girl? it was quick, they made it happen and now they have that Matta guy you just mentioned runnin' around town like a headless chicken. My brothers in blue are gonna try take them down and there's gonna be blood. This is big Manns'. Way bigger than you should've gotten into.' 

Manns' legs were feeling better. Harry had managed to make it bearable to walk again. He stood and headed into the room beside the bathroom. 'Well what would you have me do Harry? If I quit I get shot, if I don't find her I get shot, and if I look for her, the mob will most probably have me shot! All I have left is to follow this case to the end.' Mann's heard a car pull up outside the building. He peeked outside the window and saw two men in suits get out of a dark vehicle. 'Two Brioni suits here in the middle of the night, coming to my office. Coincidence?', Manns' asked as he glanced over at Harry. 'Coincidence? not in this line of work. Get dressed, we might have tomake a quick escape', said Harry, as he drew his weapon.