Hoping for a Family Reunion

[Giovanni]

Luciano had come to Moscow and after three years of anticipation, he felt like he was getting closer to his target. The trail was quite cold, but Luciano had a feeling his uncle was somewhere amongst the cities inhabitants. He had to be cautious. If Francesco Moretti saw him first, Luciano had no idea for sure what would happen.

He'd probably murder me too.
Luciano thought as he dropped down into the under city of Moscow.

The under city was a guess. It would be a good place for a refugee to hide. If this proved to be unsuccessful, Luciano would have his plate full. There had been no flags on his uncle's name in the databases - no doubt he was using an alias of some sort.

Luciano took in the sight. These people were the outcasts of society and protected one another. Getting information would be difficult and expensive if they had accepted him into their fold, but Luciano noticed the looks of the people. Something had happened here recently. They were cowed and kept their eyes down, some giving him momentary glances every few minutes. There had been a predator here.

Luciano walked down the tunnel, getting ready to pull the revolver out of his shoulder holster under his coat and taking a mental not of where his knives were hidden. He wouldn't attack these people unless they attacked him. He spotted a young man walking towards him, but to the side being careful not to look at Luciano - a little too careful.

As the man walked by, Luciano grabbed his wrist which was incidentally heading towards his pocket. It didn't matter that the man was trying to steal from him. He always kept his money in is interior coat pockets if he could. Luciano turned to face the pickpocket, opened his coat enough to show the firearm, and pulled five CCD dollars out of his interior coat pocket. He slapped the bill into the mans hand.

"Another one of those and I forget this little mishap if you answer some questions for me."
Luciano said quietly looking the man directly in the eyes.

The man's gaze drifted between the gun, the money, and Luciano's face. Luciano could see the fear in the man's eyes as he nodded, accepting the deal.

Luciano pulled out the picture of his uncle. "Have you seen this man?


((Note that this takes place after Gio has been taken out of the tunnels and into the hospital))

[Giovanni]

The thief's face showed shock and fear as he looked at the picture and nodded. Finally Luciano was having some success. Besides that, the man gave Luciano no other response. Luciano sighed in frustration.

"Where, when, where did he go, was he with anybody. Give me more."


"Ummm...A day or two ago...here in the tunnels,"
the man said trembling. "I tried to...ummm"


Luciano interrupted, thinking that the man had to be a terrible pickpocket, "Pickpocket him...yeah keep going."


The pickpocket nodded and continued, "He caught me too. He was alone and continued deeper into the tunnels. I saw him come back later. This time with people. He was in bad shape. His shirt was wrapped around his shoulder and I think there was some blood on him."


"Good - these people - were they enemies, allies? Was he alive?"


"They seemed to be helping him, and I wasn't sure whether or not he was alive."


Luciano thought about it for a minute. It would be frustrating if all he found was a corpse after all of his work, but there was still a chance he was alive and Luciano had to find out. The hospital would be he next avenue of research.

Luciano handed the man another five CCD dollars as promised, making sure those nearby saw the exchange and left with out a word. More than likely the people nearby had seen his last couple of failures and he would get mugged. It would teach the man a lesson in respect if nothing else; Luciano didn't care nonetheless. His quarry was close and finding his uncle was all that mattered.

Continued in Choices


Edited by Giovanni Cavelli, Jul 30 2014, 10:33 AM.