The Commission

[KittKat chunky~]

Kistrev staggered to his feet, he was behind a set of crates by the pier. Several crates where scattered and broken, but most had remained due to the large amount of coal stored in them. That was most likely had saved him, but saved him from what? Stepping slowly out from behind the crates a scene of destruction was swathed across pier fourteen, it was the pier least often used at the very end of the harbour.... the large steel ship was listed badly on one side, sea water sloshing around its balckened remains.....

"HEY! STOP WHERE YOU ARE!"

A voice startled Kistrev as he saw the police, three of them... most likely in league with morani.. he ducked and ran...

"GET IM! HES PROBABLY ROMANO!"

An officer lunged for him, missing him by scant inches the canines claws left deep grooves along his leg... a bullet zinged of the wall beside him but it was a halfhearted shot... he was already to far away.... he had to get to the compund... tell spike.... what he had seen in that crate with the immigrants... somthing that was worth blowing a pier up for... somthing far worse than the whole commision so far....

[Armalite_]

Spike burst through the door in his office at the compound. Callum was already waiting there in his police uniform having left a meeting in the bureau to meet with Spike. Spike sat at his desk, casually placing his hands together in front of himself on the mahogany.

"So, agent Denton...How's work going for you?" Callum's face was riddled with confusion.

"Boss...What are you talking about? You had me leave my precinct to make casual conversation?" Spike picked up an ashtray and flung it at the wall having it shatter into millions of glass shards.

"You know god damn well why I called you here!" Spike yelled. "What the hell is this? A bomb at the Romano piers and you didn't say ANYTHING to me about it!?"

Callum sat quietly while his tail slowly tucked between his legs and a bead of sweat broke the skin. "I didn't know anything about it until last night, boss." Callum replied. "I was called in on the scene but things were getting hot over there I didn't want to start anything. In fact, the meeting I was just in was about just this and-" Spike cut him off.

"Well who was it, Sergeant!? Marinos!? Bianchis!? It sure wasn't us!!!" Spike yelled, breaking another ornament on his desk.

"No one's pointing fingers at us yet, boss. Don't worry about it. I'll figure this whole thing out and we'll deal with it." Callum said.

[JellyMuffins]

Thursday, July 8, 1946  10:48am

Jay inspected the docks, noticing the scorch marks where the bomb first went off and where the resulting fires had burned until the ocean spray, or the fire crews, put them out. He looked around for some sign of what had transpired. He found a little blood stain on the wall of one of the warehouses, already severely faded from the sea spray. But there were no signs of fire near the stain and no bodies had been reported form here. He chewed on his pen, looking pensive.

He spoke his thoughts aloud, that always helped him think. "It looks like someone was trying to get away from the bomb... did he know it was there? No... he woulodn't have been anywhere near the docks if he was the bomber." He blinked for a moment, looking from the blood stain to the main scorch mark and back. "Hmmm... he was trying to get away... panicked? Maybe the bomb container opened before the explosion, then this guy," staring intently at the red marks, "would have been at just the right angle to be forewarned."

He began his walk from the docks when he froze, he whispers almost frantically to himself, "Some of the cops mentioned seeing a cat that looked like a dockworker here earlier this morning..." Pulling his fedora down to stave off the stinging spray, he sets of again, stating with a wry smile, "I have a witness to find."

[Armalite_]

Callum left the compound and checked his watch. He groaned. "I should be there right now." He said, irritated. He lit a cigarette and pressed down on the gas. He was already late. He drove through Midtown, a shortcut to the docks. The streets were busy with people going about their daily business. He knew it would be a while before he reached the scene. He finally arrived on the scene of the explosion. He flicked his cigarette away before closing the door to his car. He flashed his badge to the officers standing guard before walking past them, his brown shoes splashing through puddles and walking past debris from the dock. He looked over at the rabbit with a fedora taking note of the scene. "You must be Agent Kaelin. I'm Agent Denton, FBI." Callum approached him to shake hands. "I heard you're the new guy in the bureau, welcome to New York."

[JellyMuffins]

Jay greeted the German shephard absent-mindedly. Tucking his notebook away in his coat, he looked up at the other agent, "New to New York, I've been in Chicago on assignment for the last 3 years" he corrects, frustrated that yet another agent had taken him for a rookie because of his young age.

He didn't like the look of this agent, he'd seen his type back in Chicago. "Tell me Agent Denton, may I call you Callum?" revealing that he had done his homework on his fellow agent, "Why are you doing a background check on a guy named..." he paused and checked his notebook, "...Kistrev?"

A suden realisation hit him like a ton of bricks, though his shock registered on his face for only a fleeting instant before he regained his composure. He had also looked up the file of this Kistrev, to see if Callum had had a lead. He remembered, from his time surveying the file, that Kistrev was a cat and a dock worker - 'Maybe,' he thought, 'Kistrev was the cat the officers spotted on the scene earlier this morning.' he forces himself not to look at the blood stain, 'That must be Kistrev's blood, he's my witness!'
He almost thanks Callum for the unintentional tip.

"And while you're at it, do you know anything about the cop who disappeared recently?" He keeps a friendly face to mask the outright interrogation.

[Armalite_]

Callum laughed, playfully slapping Jay on the back. "Yeah, you can call me, Callum but only if I can call you Jay. No I haven't got any leads for the cop that went missing yet but I'm still looking. As for Kristev, he's a dock hand for the Romano family. He worked this pier. I've been keeping a close eye on that one for a while since he started working here. Just be glad he didn't show up as a statistic in the body count. As I'm sure you know him as much as I do..." Callum paused to lit a cigarette puffing a cloud before he contiued. "He's an immigrant, looking for work in this city like any other. Hoping to live the American Dream, yes? It also leads me to believe that he knows something I don't about this entire operation. He's a dockhand. He doesn't care about loyalty to the Romanos, he just got here, the only thing he values is money. And if I can find him..." He took another drag, "maybe some green for info is all we need." He said, smoke billowing from his mouth as he spoke.

[JellyMuffins]

Jay smiled sincerely and began walking away, calling over his shoulder "I'd set up a meeting for us later today, but I've got what I need, thank you." He had a lot to think about... Now that he had his witness's name, a file he had already looked through, he did a more thorough background check on Kistrev.

He came up with some interesting facts, primarily the Kistrev had no immigration records and hence, was not in the country legally. He wondered for a second why Callum hadn't mentioned that litte detail in the first Kistrev report or told Jay when they met. He concludes aloud to himself, "He already knew, he's covering for Kistrev." He had suspected that Callum had been crooked, but now he was almost certain; the evidence all pointed to that possibility - he was doing a background check on an unknown dock worker on a Romano controlled dock, without reporting that he's an illegal immigrant.

Jay had seen stuff like this before, the signs pointed to Kistrev being an informant. "But Kistrev would never speak directly to the FBI or he would risk deportation. So... not an FBI informant. Hmmm..." He decided that he needed to find out more about Kistrev's, Callum's and the Romanos' connections.

[KittKat chunky~]

"DO RITI!" *Kistrev was bent over the small sink in his apartment, washing blood from inside his feline ears... the blast had burst blood vessels, though thankfully nothing serious or pemanant... some of his fur was burnt and scorched, prominent against the brown and stripes across the rest of himself... splashing his face he looked into the small mirror, looking back tired and graven, but alive..... he leant against the sink, groaning. Before throwing himself onto his couch, sleep met him instantly*

[Armalite_]

Callum stuck the cigarette back between his lips as he watched Jay leave. He narrowed his eyes. "Spike'll wanna to know about this guy." The last thing Spike needed was another agent on his tail. Boy, would that set Spike off. Callum turned back around to the damage and back to do his job. He looked at the dent in the ship form the impact of the blast and the scortched pier. He pulled out his notebook and began taking notes on the scene.

-meanwhile-

Spike sat in his office, his head down in his paws, a bottle of scotch and a glass sat in front of him. The room was quiet besides the tick tock from the grandfather clock against the wall in the corner which turned to white noise in Spike's head. He sat next to the phone waiting for any news on the pier explosion. He didn't need the don to be blamed for it but he was worried that even though there was no evidence against Angelo Lombardi, Spike new that there were always rats that like to plant hair and give false testimonies. He sighed.

[KittKat chunky~]

Kistrev was leaning against a pay phone, looking down at the sodden calling card given to him by spike... "should he tell him?.. well he was paying was for sure"... Kistrev decided he should say, he wasnt one to turn tail and lie... squinting at the smudged number he rang spikes number, the dialing tone rang a few times on the reciever before it connected...

[Armalite_]

Spike kept his head in his hands as he listened to the phone ring once, twice, and again a third time. He reached over and lifted it off the hook.

"Yeah?" Spike said lifting his head up and wiped his eyes.

[JellyMuffins]

A head had washed up that morning in a garbage bag, probably fallen off one of the barges. It was that of a lion, the son of the Romano don. Jay had some serious thinking to do, 'A dock worker\informant working on a Romano dock, a dead Romano. Hmmm...' He thought he was beginning to see connections.
It’s hard to get time of death from a waterlogged body, but the murder must have been recent; bodies don’t tend to last long in these waters.

Jay knew that if he could find the lion’s killer, all the pieces of this puzzle would fall into place, it was just too convenient that all this had happened at the same time. First step in his investigation was to try and find out where Jimmy Romano was last seen alive. He grabbed some files of known Romano underlings, and went to meet them. The first few were tight-lipped, refusing to talk to a cop (Jay not being one to resort to violence for information, as some cops were known to). The last one he met with, a diminutive rat, claimed to have seen him (when given a little green incentive); Jay was about to walk away without paying the guy, there was just no concrete evidence - merely a claim to have seen a lion of Jimmy's description. The rat ran up behind him, catching him by the sleeve, “Wait,” the Romano crony said, “…he was in Brooklyn, following a guy.”

Jay turned quickly, suddenly interested to here that Jimmy had been in Lombardi territory, “And who would this ‘guy’ be, that was so important that the Romano don’s son was following him?” The rat looks around shiftily, not wanting to be overheard. After a moment's hesitation, he whispered, “Spike Gambino…”

Jay’s eyes widened at the familiar name, he handed his informant the money quickly and heads of, flipping his collar up and grinning widely, thinking to himself triumphantly, ‘With enough time, and a little incentive, these small-fry always talk.’

Now, all he had to do was find Kistrev... but that should be simple enough, he had a good idea where Kristev would be.

[KittKat chunky~]

Kistrev waited as the phone rang once, twice... on the third ring it was picked up by spike, he sounded bad... ignoring this Kistrev spoke quickly..
"yeah, spike... its Kistrev, ive got information... dont wanna talk over the phone... wheredya wanna meet?"
after a brief conversation he slammed the phone down, groaning he set off towards the garage, his skoda should have been repaired by now... it looked like he was gonna need it..

[JellyMuffins]

Word was, that if anyone in Romano territory wants anything to do with cars, they go to Frank’s Garage. Jay figured that an illegal immigrant, who suddenly finds himself getting paid by the mob, would go for some wheels first. He waited patiently outside the garage, listening for any chatter on the police radio he had snagged from the station, just in case he was on the wrong track here and there was trouble to attend to elsewhere.

His car shaded in the alleyway facing the garage, he sits and waits – watching Frank service cars and waiting for Kistrev… just waiting…

[KittKat chunky~]

Leaving the pay phone behind Kistrev walked off at a slow pace, his head still gave involuntary spikes of pain. Walking past a small roadside stall his paw was a flash as a fresh bread roll was swiped. Wandering down the street, whistling the slovakian anthem Kistrev ate the still watm bread, its crust thicj and crunchy. Upon reaching Frank's garage he leant on the open doorway and called in... he was met by frank, a large, aged canine who took him inside to pick up his Skoda...