Saturday, April 08, 2017 - 00:46 PM | De Vitis Warehouse - The Wharves
Tobias arrived to the staccato of gunshots in the air and the bewildering flash of red and blue lights. A shootout had developed in the time of him receiving Lucio's text and getting back to the warehouse.
'Great, more mess to clean up.' He thought. Tobias pulled up just before a police barricade positioned immediately after one of the four bridges that connected the entire docklands to the rest of New Alexandria. The officers stationed at the barricade had noticed him and one of them began walking toward his car. Tobias opened the glove box, grabbing a silenced FNX-45 Tactical. He wasn't a big fan of guns but he wasn't opposed to them either. The Society's training had made him all too familiar with their use and he was very proficient with them when the time called for it. Unfortunately for the officers guarding this barricade, that time was now.
As he stepped out of the car, an officer approached him flashing a torchlight into his face.
"I'm sorry, sir. But this area has been closed off due to an ongoing police shootout. You'll have to turn a-." The cough of his silenced weapon cut him short. Two to the chest, one to the head. The
'Mozambique Drill,' a staple technique of his training. By the time the other three officers had noticed the murder of their colleague, Tobias had fired off consecutive shots whilst moving forward in a crouched run in order to assist his aim. Each shot struck out like whisper, downing their respective targets. In a matter of moments the officers were dead.
Tobias recovered from his run and proceeded to pass between the blockade of police vehicles. The torrential downpour had mostly suppressed the sound of the commotion. A radio, still attached to one of his victims, erupted in static before a voice issued out orders to other officers in the area.
"Listen up. We have reinforcements arriving in five. Once they get here, we go in and end these bastards! Until then, everyone keep your heads down. Lieutenant Anders, out." Tobias clenched his jaw. The situation was spiraling out of control. He needed to do something and fast.
Pulling out his phone, Tobias called Lucio on speed-dial. After a few rings, Lucio picked up.
"Boss, what took you so long?" He sounded exhausted, his earlier injuries coupled with the shootout had taken its' toll on him noticeably.
"Traffic." Tobias replied.
"But that doesn't matter, I want the entire docks on lockdown as soon as possible.""Got it but it'll take some time to setup. Also, what about the livestock?" Lucio asked.
"What about it?""Well one of the cops were saying about a hotel job earlier tonight. They traced the van with the livestock via CCTV footage to this location." Tobias preferred his men refer to any kidnapped females destined for life in the illegal sex trade as
'livestock'. It helped not to think of them as daughters, sisters & cousins.
"How awfully efficient of them." He replied, surprised at how quick they'd located the van. Normally, due to the extensive reach of Raul's payroll, any crimes committed by the De Vitis organization went along either unchecked or had their investigations hindered exceedingly. This one in particular, however, had been fast-tracked almost. At least it felt that way and now
his warehouse was the subject of a police raid. Tobias' thoughts flashed back to his earlier conversation with Sasha about the rat.
"Let me handle it." Tobias then hung up.
He grabbed a police radio from the nearest dead officer then cycled around the block of warehouses away from where the police had setup their make-shift command center. There were a few backdoor entrances into the warehouse and one secret entrance that he'd kept to himself. He needed it for these exact situations. It didn't take him long to find the entrance. An old maintenance corridor that was accessible via the small canal system which divided the docklands into blocks. The corridor led to a series of maintenance hatches that opened into the basement areas of several warehouses in this block. The corridor had been out of service for a long while when he'd originally stumbled upon it, but since then Tobias had made sure to have its' existence scrubbed from the Official City Records. Which is why the CCPD had no idea that they
could have sent in a SWAT team to secure the warehouse this way.
Tobias eventually emerged through the hatchway into the basement of the warehouse. There was no one else down there as it was mainly used for storage. He could hear voices from above. From the sounds of it, his men had managed to purge the building of any police presence and were currently reinforcing the perimeter. Tobias began to climb the stairs that led out of the basement, he needed to be in his office before he could enact his plan. When he stepped through the door at the top of the stairs, he was met with several guns trained on his person. The men that worked under him hadn't expected his sudden arrival, naturally.
"Easy boys." He said, raising his hands.
"I'm here to bail you guys out of the shit." Looks of relief washed over his men. Despite a somewhat rocky start to his tenure as an Under-Boss, Tobias had become a man they could depend on.
____________________
"Attention officers of the CCPD." Tobias spoke into the police radio.
"This is Jorge De Vitis, owner of the warehouse you are currently assaulting and I am advising you to stand down." His decision to give a false name didn't come easily. Since coming to Crescent City, Tobias had wanted to keep his true identity a secret in order to protect his affiliation to the Society. Due to how quickly he'd been integrated into the De Vitis organization, however, there wasn't enough time to setup an established alias for use within the organisation. As such, Tobias was forced to remain low during his first few months as an under-boss, whilst he spent time inventing a cover that could be used when associating with people outside of the De Vitis syndicate. Tonight would be the night for him to reveal his alias; Jorge De Vitis. A supposed cousin of Raul De Vitis and a relatively new Boss. It wasn't his best work, but it'd have to do given the circumstances.
"This is Lieutenant Anders, commanding officer of this CCPD operation and we do not take orders from the likes of you." It was the Lieutenant from earlier. He seemed far too brash to be able to bargain with but Tobias would try nonetheless.
"No one said anything about issuing orders, Lieutenant. I'm merely advising your best course of action. You're still in charge here.""Well I'd like to advise you on exactly where to stick your 'best course of action'. How the hell did you get on this channel anyway? This is a secure frequency!" Looks like he'd need to be more direct.
"I killed four of your men stationed after the eastern bridge and acquired one of their radios, naturally." He said, very matter-of-fact-like.
"You bastard! They were good men. Do you think telling me that is gonna make me stand down now?""Easy, Lieutenant. Let's not be hasty and think about the situation." Tobias spoke calmly then nodded towards Lucio, who was waiting on his mobile nearby.
"I'm going to tell you exactly what's going to happen now." Sounds of rumbling thunder could be heard coming from all around outside. Tobias moved towards his office window and watched as the eastern bridge, one of the four bridges connecting the docklands to the rest of the island, began raising up.
"You see, these docklands are under my control. I have just raised all four bridges, preventing anyone from coming or going by vehicle. Not only that, but I also have control over the water locks that regulate the canal waterways so exit by boat is futile. And finally..." The entire docklands went dark in an instant, as power to the streetlights and every other building were turned off. Shouts of confusion could be heard coming from outside. Tobias' plan had been enough to cause panic amongst the Lieutenant's men.
"You and your men are trapped here without any chance of backup, Lieutenant. Do you really want to die like this?"The channel was quiet for for a few minutes. Tobias suspected that the officer in charge was trying to regain control of the situation somehow. But it would be impossible. Without backup from the mainland, the De Vitis numbers would easily overwhelm that of the CCPD officers stuck here. It would only be a matter of time before they were all wiped out. Eventually the Lieutenant replied,
"Fine, you win this time.""Good. Now, run back. And give the Commissioner this message: His time is almost up."