1 Chapter 1

Darkness was setting in and the fireflies were darting around in the air, enjoying the warm Chicago night. Houses loomed in the darkness along either side of the road, though each of their lights were out. The people within them were still in sleep, completely oblivious to the meeting about to happen a few scant hundred feet away. At this late hour, the street was empty except for a stray at the end of the block. I couldn't tell whether it was a dog or a cat at this distance, but I knew it wasn't a raccoon. If you'd have asked how I knew that, I point out that none of the full trashcans in that direction were being disturbed. I wasn't always right when it came to animals, but I was pretty sure that if it had been a raccoon, I would have heard at least one metal trashcan lid hit the ground by now.

Honestly, given the tension I felt right now, I wished some loud noise would disturb the night. Anything to distract me from the dark thoughts I had about the peace summit tonight.

I leaned against the wooden doorway of my boss's house, my eyes tracking up and down the street. As a low-level member of the Night Wolves organized crime group, it was my job tonight to keep an eye out for the arrival of the new group in town that had been attempting to muscle us out of our territory. While I was well on the larger side, being over six and a half feet tall, I had caught the attention of the boss of the Night Wolves at the local gym by complementing my size with agility and speed. After all, in my experience nothing is more intimidating than a big man who could move fast. That by itself had been enough for me to come out ahead of any number of rough situations growing up.

I tensed and relaxed my muscles in sequence, going from my shoulders all the way down to my toes. I had the feeling that I needed to be loose tonight. As I did so, Gregor came walking around the bushes on the left side of the house.

"You see any of them yet, Jakob?" Gregor asked, glancing down the street as he did so.

A bit shorter than me while carrying a bit more weight, Gregor's most obvious feature was the solid blue orb he had in his left eye-socket. The consequence of a bar fight gone wrong, the Boss had offered to pay for a fancy prosthetic to make it look like the eye was still there. Rather than that, Gregor had asked instead for a cheaper solid blue sphere. When I had asked him about it, he had said it was his favorite color and better something he enjoyed seeing in the mirror than some fake eye that did nothing for his sight.

Say what you wanted about Wilhelm Hesse. Yes, he was a career criminal, one who rarely hesitated to use violence when the situation called for it. Yes, he was also an expert when it came to illegal gambling operations. But the man made sure to take care of his own. That was important in the tight-knit German community I lived in. Especially as who Wilhelm considered to be his own had radically expanded to encompass that same community over the past few years, what with all the troubles plaguing the city. Hell, plaguing the world as a whole as far as I could tell.

"Nothing yet," I responded, "maybe they won't show tonight?"

"Doubt it," Gregor grunted, "with four of ours dead so far and the boss threatening a full-scale gang war, that would be beyond stupid on their part."

"Even if they are stronger than us?" I asked, one eye still fixed down the street.

"Even then. You don't know the boss like I do. Crafty bastard that he is, we would hurt them bad. Maybe enough to drive them off completely."

Gregor was right, I didn't know the boss as well as him. Or anyone else in the ranks of the Night Wolves really. A college dropout with a background in contact sports, I'd only been recruited into the gang a bit over a year ago when my uncle passed away. He had been my only remaining family in the city, and without his help I had been unable to find a job that paid me enough to cover the bills, my rent, and food. Most weeks I'd have to pick one of the three. Like many, I blamed the strange weather patterns of the past few years, and the fact most businesses didn't seem to be expanding anymore. Many even seemed like they were actively struggling to survive and laying off their people left and right. Prices for food had been going up lately too.

When Wilhelm Hesse had come asking, I hadn't been able to turn his offer down. Yes, I knew he was a crime lord in my small part of the city, and yes, I knew getting involved with him meant I would quickly become the same. Dreams of eventually getting back to earning a fancy education for a fancy job that would let me live as I chose, to finally start of a family of my own, would be gone. Gone and buried, since as a criminal I would not be able to live a life like that. I would never be able to subject a wife or kids to that kind of lifestyle. Even knowing all that, I still had said yes.

I still regretted that sometimes.

It could have been worse, however. For all that I was now part of an organized crime group, the past few months hadn't stained my soul over much as far as I could tell. Though Wilhelm was notorious in the past for using violence to cement his hold on his territory, he kept his gang to a set of rules that clearly laid out what was allowed and what wasn't. The most important was no innocents were to be harmed in any of the various activities the Night Wolves engaged in. That meant no abuse, no murder, no drugs, no anything that might catch the innocent in the crossfire. While difficult to implement, and even more difficult to make profits while avoiding doing so, Wilhelm had my respect for doing as much as he could to stick to this rule. I even remember a conversation in which he told a few of us that if it came down to being caught and going to jail or harming an innocent to stay out, Wilhelm had said to accept the handcuffs and he would do his best to set us up with a sympathetic lawyer.

Several months had passed in my association with the Night Wolves before I finally believed that Wilhelm was fully sincere. Most of the work I had been doing by that point was in the protection racket, though I know some of the others, like Christof and Janik, were working in underground gambling. But that was neither here nor there. The point is, I had been working in protection for a bit, and I was well aware of exactly how much use the police were in our side of town. Which was to say fuck all. Our general territory included several blocks of housing and a few more of small businesses of various sorts, which were constantly under threat from other gangs moving in. The South Americans got a lot of attention in the news, but I could tell you there were a number of Asian and Eastern European groups trying to expand operations in Chicago too. Violent crime, drugs, human trafficking, all that and more followed these groups. All things that Wilhelm and the Night Wolves refused to deal in. Which the community was endlessly appreciative of, even if many still frowned at the other activities.

For a small fee, due monthly, we enforced strict control over our territory, keeping these other gangs out, and settling the occasional dispute where we had to. Yes, you heard me earlier, we did engage in underground gambling, so we weren't saints by any stretch. But we also were far better than any of the alternatives out there. And all my neighbors knew that. Especially how things had been going in the world these past few years.

It was hard to see at first glance, but most people were more cautious, even nervous in going about their lives. The economy continually lagged behind projections, jobs were few and far between, and the world just felt a bit more… unsafe I guess? There had even been more stories in the news lately about unexplained disappearances going up, and animals being less afraid of people in the wilds. In my opinion, something major was in the air, but if you asked me what it was I'd have to say I don't know. Yet.

"Well, let's hope it doesn't come to that," I responded, pulling myself from my introspection, "I don't know about you, but I'd like to avoid a gang war if possible."

Gregor chuckled, "I think all of us agree with you, well, except maybe Oskar."

The son of Wilhelm, and second-in-command of the Night Wolves, Oskar was a bit younger that me. For all that he lacked experience in life he was still sure of his own invincibility. Nevermind that that invincibility came from the fact that myself and a few of the others were basically told to let no harm come to Oskar under any circumstances. Whether it was enforcer work or minor squabbles with other criminals, a group of us were always there to pull his fat out of the fire. And boy did he have a lot of it.

"Well, hopefully cooler heads prevail."

"Speaking of cooler heads, did I ever tell you about…" Gregor trailed off looking down the opposite end of the street. "Nevermind, I'll tell you later," he pointed "Looks like they are here."

I glanced in the direction he was pointing, looking to see how many had come for the meeting. It had rained earlier in the day, so it was a bit humid, but not too unbearable. For all that, I started to sweat as soon as I saw them.

Five hooded figures in baggy clothes in colors designed to blend in with the night were headed in our direction. Moving in a loose group, the hair stood up on the back of my neck as I saw how smoothly, even gracefully they were coming down the street. In a way it was less like looking at people and more predators that had decided to walk upright. Even the stray that had previously been making noise had stopped moving completely at their approach.

While I couldn't make out any features from this far away, based on the parked cars they were passing, each was roughly similar in height to Gregor. That is, somewhere around six feet tall. Hoods drawn down so far, it was a wonder they could see in the direction they were walking. Contrary to my expectations, they had come on foot rather than in a vehicle. I thought it was a bit weird, but maybe they were just being cautious.

"You better go let everyone know that company is coming, Gregor." I checked the pistol holstered at my side under my spring jacket, making sure it was loose and ready to be pulled if need be. Sourced from Indiana, I made sure it was always in good condition and loaded. Better that I was prepared than to be caught flatfooted. "They don't look like they are here for anything other than a conversation, but everyone should get a heads-up regardless."

Gregor nodded, checking his own pistol as well. "I think so too," he turned back to me. "I'll send out the Thiel brothers as an extra reminder that this meeting is just for a conversation."

"Thanks, I appreciate it," I nodded in the direction of the group, "something about them is setting my teeth on edge."

"Me too." Without another word, Gregor went back inside the house, calling out that we had company as he moved through the rooms to the kitchen where the Boss was likely having an evening snack. Wilhelm did love a good brownie with milk late at night. It was only one of the many contradictions about the man.

The next few minutes were the loneliest of my life. Moving away from the door, I stood on the porch in clear view of the approaching group. Clearly catching sight of me, they moved as one to quicken their pace. The two in the front of the group were looking at the nearby houses, perhaps concerned about an ambush. I didn't fault them their checking, since I would have done the same in their situation. Apparently they saw nothing of concern, since they covered the last small distance to where I stood almost in seconds it felt like. Apart from their discipline they were fast. I hoped again this meeting would go smoothly, or at least not end in violence.

I hadn't released how tensed up I was until I heard hurried steps and an apology from Franz for their taking too long to come out front. Fraternal twins, Franz and Max were lean, almost bookish looking brown-haired men just the wrong side of college aged.

"Meeting is inside, yes?" came the voice from under the leader's hood, as they all faced off with the brothers and I. The accent was strange, but I thought it sounded vaguely Eastern European of some sort. That lined up with what we had expected, as all the information we had said the violence committed in our territory was being done by a gang with connections to that part of the world. Maybe they were Russians or Bulgarians?

There was no point in asking them to the give up any weapons they had. They had already refused that demand prior to agreeing to the meeting. With that in mind, we had all prepared accordingly. Beyond the pistol holstered out of sight at my side, I had a hunting knife strapped to the inside of my arm under my long shirt, since they were so easy to get.

"Yes," I nodded at the hooded figure, then waved them in, "Just inside here." We stepped aside slightly, making room for the group to pass into the house.