The Plan

With 30 minutes to go before Vito's scheduled collection, Frank went on high alert and did his best to be discreet while glancing at the entrance to the alleyway every couple of seconds.

This was a problem he didn't think of while planning this.

The problem wasn't that he was nervous or inexperienced, the problem was that while he would definitely hear Vito's car, he wouldn't be able to hear the hooligans walk in.

This meant that he had to constantly keep an eye out on the alleyway for the next 30 minutes, to not only make sure that the hooligans unknowingly played their part, but also to count how many of them there were.

When he sent the note and watched the guy notify his friends, there were 5 of them in total. But they were just a couple of 17 year old troublemakers, not an organized mob.

If one of them didn't show up for one reason or another, he would have to track him down and tie up that loose end, before Vito's guys found him and figured out that someone wrote them a note with a time and a place.

That would prove to be fatal to Frank, as his coincidental passing by would turn into a conspiracy and he wouldn't even get a chance to explain himself before he was killed.

While Frank didn't account for one of them not showing up, he did know where all of them lived, so if someone didn't show up, it would only be a little extra work for Frank.

He didn't have to worry about that however, because 8 minutes before Vito usually came, all 5 of them showed up. They came unarmed too, which made them far less threatening to Vito.

They took a look around and were surprised when they didn't hear or see anyone there, so they walked into the alleyway and watched a couple of the small entrances, careful of an ambush even if they were pretty sure that the others were probably just running late to the fight.

21:58, two minutes before schedule, Frank heard Vito's car coming towards the street so he stood up and walked out of the bar.

Vito always parked right before the entrance to the alleyway. It was a quick in and out collection with this gambler, so no risk of parking troubles.

Frank got the timing of his walk perfect because as Vito parked his car and was about to enter the alleyway, Frank passed him and stopped once Vito entered.

After entering, he saw these 5 guys standing in front of the door he was supposed to go in and prepared himself, a hand on his knife.

The hooligans on the other hand, saw this short guy come towards them with one hand in his jacket, confused because he was alone, but sure it was him once they saw him reach for something in his jacket.

They came unarmed, so they had to be quick. The guy that initially received the note was the first to notice Vito and said, "It's him, fast!"

After seeing them go towards him, Vito got angry that the dirty gambler got the balls to stand up to him. 'He's been on time for more than a year, maybe I've been too easy on him.'

Short he may be, but he had been in more fights than these kids. He stabbed the fastest one right in the stomach, but before he could take his knife out the second guy knocked him to the ground and the rest started kicking him soon after.

One of their friends was bleeding out, but lost in their anger they just kept kicking and paid their friend no mind.

Vito struggled but he was on the ground and it was 4 against 1, soon he crumpled over and started grunting in pain.

This was Frank's cue, he walked in the alleyway, his footsteps loud enough for the hooligans to notice him and after getting their attention, pretended to be surprised, shocked and then calm again.

He quickly took his gun out of his jacket and started shooting.

He didn't have any prior experience so he wasn't that confident in himself, but the hooligans were some 10~ meters away from him, which made it as simple as point and click.

"Bang!"

Frank's first shot barely missed a guy's head, the main reason being the unexpected kickback of the gun.

After a brief moment of shock and disappointment in himself, he decided to aim for the body instead.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

This time he didn't miss, two of the hooligans joined their stabbed friend on the ground, only in far more dire condition. One of them was hit in the chest while the other one was hit in the thigh and then in his chest.

By the time the kids reacted, two of their friends were shot dead and another one was stabbed in the stomach and bleeding out.

This was far more than these couple of 17 year old hooligans bargained for, but Frank didn't give them the chance to explain themselves and out him, so he kept on shooting.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Frank was a lot more confident in his last 3 shots than he was in the first four, this time putting a bullet in the chest of the last 2 hooligans, before firing a 3rd shot to execute the guy that was still bleeding out from the stab wound.

Vito turned his head in the direction of the gunshots as soon as he heard the first one and thought this was the end.

After 7 gunshots though, instead of Jesus, all he saw was Frank giving him a hand, "You alright pal?"

He came back to reality and composed himself in an instant, "I'll be alright. Listen, the cops are gonna come soon, help me get in my car and we'll talk after getting out of here."

As soon as he said this though, the gambler got out of his apartment after hearing the gunshots die down and tried to make a run for it before the police showed up and caught him by accident.

After seeing him running though, Vito's anger returned and he took Frank's gun before he could react and shot the gambler in the back of his head, with tiny pieces of his brain splattering out.

Then he turned and pointed the gun at Frank, which made Frank regret letting his guard down and thought this was the end for him, Vito would kill him to avoid leaving a witness.

Frank put his hands up, "Hey, hey, easy pal. I save you and this is the thanks I get?"

Vito lowered the gun before Frank even finished speaking, "Relax, I'm not gonna shoot you."

"We need to get out of here. Get in the car, we'll talk on the way."