There were five floors between her family’s penthouse and the conference room. After the board meeting Mary Ruth escaped into the elevator. She made it two floors before making up her mind.

I am simply going to have to look into this robbery myself. Is there a mole in our company? Or is it worse than that?

She flew through her rooms and dressed for the evening. She grabbed a small oilskin notebook and jotted down a few questions she would have to chase down for her investigation. She also picked up her purse of spare ammunition for her pistol and her saber with the black scabbard.

It took her longer to ride the elevator back down to the lobby than it did to get dressed, just barely.

She checked at the front desk for any messages but the receptionist confirmed there were none.

Great, I am my own woman tonight.

Mary Ruth used her key to access the employees only area behind the receptionist’s desk and took the stairs down to the shipping doc.

The shipping dock had two levels, the first was for outgoing pallets. The largest orders would get loaded onto a rail car and take a ride down an elevator to the underground rail systems.

Mary Ruth avoided the loading dock and walked directly to the scheduler’s desk.

The clerk there was a young woman, about Mary Ruth’s age. She had her hair pinned back under a modest cap and had a hint of makeup around her cheekbones and lips.

Recently found a man she likes then.

“Ms. Cramer!” The clerk exclaimed, standing up.

“I am looking for the delivery receipt ledger for yesterday.” Mary Ruth said.

“Of course Ms. Cramer.”

The woman disappeared into the filing room to retrieve it.

The shipping crew outside finished loading the rail car and locked it up.

The lead looked the paperwork over one last time.

“Ship it!” He called. “And bring up the next one, we’ve got to unload two more before the hour is up.”

He whistled and got some men to grab handcarts and wait for the elevator to come back up with the next container.

Good initive, materials coming in, product going out. Thats the life blood of our company. We need to get paid for that work. Shipments cannot be stolen.

The lead stopped by the clerks window to drop off the paperwork.

When the clerk did not immediately appear he rang the bell.

“Clara! If you are back there stealing sweet words from Johnny I’ll have you both written up!”

Mary Ruth stepped forward and caught his attention.

“As you should. It’s company protocol after all.” She said.

“Ms. Cramer.” He stammered. “ I didn’t realize you were here.”

He removed his cap and tried to run this hand through his hair and straighten it.

“No harm done.” She said. “Who is Johnny?”

The lead gave an awkward smile. “Just a fling our Clara is having with one of the Delivery boys. A work husband. They are sweet on each other, but I’ve made sure it’s kept strictly professional on the premises.”

Sounds overly complicated. Mixing work and romance like that can lead to countless conflicts of interest.

The receptionist returned with the ledger from yesterday’s deliveries.

“Here you go ma’am.” Clara said. “Is there anything in particular you are looking for?”

The lead came into the office and stood by Incase he was needed.

“I’m looking for the delivery records for the rail car we sent to the police precinct yesterday. I want to know how much was sent, who was the driver, when did it leave, when did it arrive and I want to know every stop it made along the way.”

“Dear god.” Clara gasped.

“Damnit Clara. What did you do?” The lead shouted.

“Now hold on. What’s going on?” Mary Ruth demanded. “Stop everything and show me that ledger.”

The lead took the ledger from Clara and grabbed her by the wrist. She tugged to get away once but then resigned herself to being held.

“What is going on?” Mary Ruth asked.

“The delivery you are asking about was handled by John Ryan, the same lad that’s been sweet talking our Clara here.”

Clara blushed and reached to sit down in her chair. The lead let her go sit.

“He has been a good kid, we have discussed hiring him on directly more than once. Clara and I, and finally we were short handed last evening or yesterday morning. It was the night shift. And Johnny here had been asking about day rates so I hired him on for the rest of the shift.” He said.

Clara started to whimper and wring a handkerchief between her hands.

“So he delivered the container to the precinct.” Mary Ruth said.

“Yes ma’am, him and Murphy, seeing as how it was a priority shipment.”

“The delivery was stolen.” Mary Ruth said.

Mary Ruth silenced the man with a look before he could ask any questions. She flipped open the ledger to see what exactly was stolen.

A hundred revolvers and twenty thousand rounds, a cartridge gin, and a hundred and fifty holsters and belts. Not a huge hit to our pocket books but it will hurt the quarter.

“Get a message to production, we need to replace this order immediately.” Mary Ruth said.

The lead pushed the traveler forms over to Clara so she could take down the order.

“Is Johnny alright?” She asked.

“Of course he’s not alright!” Shouted the lead. “Clearly he’s a liar and a thief. He only came around to pull this job. He’s been lying to you Clara. Can’t you see that?”

The clerk began to cry openly then, and the shipping lead was not emotionally stable enough to do anything to comfort the poor girl.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

“Clara, it’s possible he was caught up in all this.” Mary Ruth said tersely.

Clara dabbed her eyes with her hankerchief.

The area manager will have his hands full with this department for the next couple weeks. He should be cleaning this personnel mess up not me.

“I will look into this myself to determine his innocence.” Mary Ruth said. “You have my word I will get to the bottom of this.”

“Thank you Ms. Cramer.” Clara said. “I’ll get right on this form then shall I?”

-

“Washington Square Park, MacDougal street. And step on it.” Mary Ruth said as she slid into the back seat of the cab.”There’s a tip for you if you get there in 35 minutes are less.”

The cabbie nodded confidently and burst out into the lane.

This boy Johnny is going to be a headache.

Mary Ruth had gotten a few additional pieces of information out of Clara before she left the shipping doc.

Johnny took Clara out to the Red Rabbit to go dancing twice. And he was strapped for cash. Trying to pick up extra deliveries. I doubt he needed the cash to take her out again after the job was done.

Cab shook as the driver pumped the breaks to merge behind a car and accelerated through a yellow light.

I can’t be seen at the Red Rabbit, it is the crown jewel of Castellanos places.

The Taxi merged, then leaned on the brakes, slowing enough to join the traffic on another public expressway. They trudged along, another yellow cab mixed in with the brown and black tinted cars of the general population.

Mary Ruth took out her oilskin notebook and pen and wrote down what she knew.

Johnny Ryan - suspect. Castellanos spy? Traitor ?

Romantically interested in Clara v.s espionage

Victim ?

She hesitated before writing down one more question.

Father & Castellanos ?

A horn blared as her taxi cut off another car. The drivers yelled and made rude gestures at each other as the flow of traffic moved them apart.

I cannot go to the police until I know father is not involved.

-

At least his limousine is not parked out front.

She instructed the Taxi to pull over and park in view of the Red Cat’s front doors.

“Ma’am, I cannot stay parked here all night. Are you waiting for someone? Or can I drive you home?” The driver asked.

“Keep the meter running then.” She replied as she added another name to the growing list in her oilskin book.

- Salvatore “The Fox” Bianchi

“I don’t mean to be rude ma’am. But I don’t want whatever trouble you are looking for here.”

“Just run the meter.” She said.

- Chin “Silent Knife” Wong

- Eddie “No Nose” Kowalski

So many cousins tonight, something big is happening.

Mary Ruth checked her outfit. It was not fancy enough to enter the Red Cat inconspicuously.

“There he is.” Mary Ruth said as Johnny Ryan walked up the street and into the club. “He matches the description Clara gave me.”

At the very least the imbecile is alive. If I leave my saber behind, and ditch the jacket and vest I could show some skin and might convince the doorman I am out for a night of dancing…the saber would draw far too much attention.

While she was debating how to sneak in dressed inappropriately for a raunchy club, the young Johnny Ryan was thrown out of the club.

Two Castellanos grabbed him by the arms and strong armed him off into the alley.

“Stop the meter I’m getting out.” Mary Ruth said paying the man from her slim wallet. “Keep the change.”

She leapt from the car and weaved through the traffic to follow the three men down the alley.

This way I can keep my saber. If Johnny needs my help then I will strike down the Castellanos, otherwise all three will meet their ends tonight.

They were no where to be seen in the alley. Mary Ruth tried two turns down different directions before realizing they must have gone underground.

“Their shipping dock.” She whispered.

The club’s shipping dock has an elevator going down to the commercial rails.

“Thank god for small blessings.” She said

She walked right through the empty shipping dock and took the stairs down to the underground.

Once she reached the bottom of the stairs she waited, listening at the door for anyone moving around.

Did they go left? Or right?

Someone dropped something metal on the rails far to the right so she heads off in that direction.

“Just like in university.” Mary Ruth said giddily.

Exploring the underground looking for danger.

She followed the rails for two intersections.

“There are two layers of sub basements for most of these buildings, and then the public expressways are below those, then the rails. That’s easily a hundreds meters of earth and stone above my head.” She said.

The lights ran every 25 meters and there are deep shadows in between.

Mary Ruth reached another intersection, she leaned against the rough brick wall and peered around the corner. A train flew by causing her to duck back.

Ha! Not today train!

With the train past, she hurried forwards to the next intersection to listen again.

Lucky break!

She spotted the Castellanos as they opened a gate and dragged Johnny down some old stone stairs.

Before she could follow them a delivery car nearly ran her over.

That was too close.

She moved to the gate to find it unlocked. She checked her saber and pistol.

Let’s see what these thugs are up to.

The stairs were rough cut, and messy with grime and mold.

There was a path cleared down the middle of the steps from countless feet coming down this way. Mary Ruth followed the stairs down into the sub level.

The voices of the three men echoed up the stairs but Mary Ruth couldn’t make out their words.

The stairway turned one more time and opened up into a natural cavern.

This is an old area. Its connected to one of the natural caves down here.

“Enough with the posturing Johnny.” Said one of the cousins. “Do you have the artifact or do we break your legs?”

Mary Ruth slipped the knot off of her saber.

The path through the cavern was roughly laid out by someone with a hammer and pick. They had carved a winding path smoothing out the floor as best they could.

Mary crept closer. The men were standing at the back of the cavern with a large floodlight between them and a mural on the wall.

“I have it. I have it.” Johnny said. “You guys promised me a cut of the deal when we find the treasure.”

“Hand it over then.” He replied.

Thats Roscoe “Big Six” Nowak. Johnny you buffoon. What did you get mixed up in?

Johnny handed over a small duffel bag. Roscoe smiled and went to a wooden crate broken open against the wall. He worked with a wrench for a minute before getting frustrated.

“Johnny, you sure this is the right one?” Roscoe asked. “If you screwed this up you’re a dead man.”

“What? I grabbed this from the box you guys told me to. It was the only artifact in the box Roscoe. What else was I supposed to do?”

“Becker, come take a crack at this piece of junk.” Roscoe said. “I’ll watch the kid.”

Vincent “the razor” Becker.

Mary Ruth made the mental note to add both names to her list later.

Are they digging a new tunnel? Or connection to the tunnels below? Or are they looking for something in the underground.

Mary Ruth crept clockwise around the room, doing her best to keep out of the light.

Vince tried to force open the artifact with the wrench, then beat in it twice with the wrench. The sound of metal on metal rang out and echoed around the stone walls.

“Hey! That’s not your wife, be gentle with it.” Roscoe shouted.

“Shut up, it works on the car, might work on this piece of junk.” Vincent gruffed.

They have the artifact. I could bring the police. But I don’t know enough yet. This can’t blow back on Caliber.

”I can’t figure this crap out.” Vincent said. “This idiot grabbed the wrong one.”

She turned to retreat up the stairs. Just in time to watch Roscoe’s shadow as he drew a gun and shot Johnny.

“Roscoe you horse’s ass!” Vince shouted. “How are we supposed to clean up this mess in here!”

Those bastards killed Johnny! Just over nothing like that.

He grabbed the gun from Roscoe and punched him in the face.

Vince kicked him a couple times for good measure. But Roscoe covers himself with his arms and rolled to get up.

“I told you to quit hitting on me!” Roscoe shouted. “I’ll kill you.”

“I’ll hit you as much as it takes to get it through your thick head.” Vince shouted as he advanced on Roscoe. “Stop shooting everyone point blank. It makes a huge mess, and you get all bloody too.”

Before the men could resort to another brawl, a screeching sound echoed through the cavern.

“Did you set out more of those rat traps?” Vince asked in a near whisper.

“I thought you did?” Roscoe whispered back.

“What about the poisoned bait?” Vince asked.

“Let’s get going. I think I remember seeing the traps back up at the loading dock.”

Are they both that afraid of rats?

Something big started scratching at the crevasse at the back of the room. The electric flood light reflected off of a red eye the size of a car’s headlight.

Vince and Roscoe ran blindly for the stairs shouting and swearing.

They flew right past Mary Ruth and she stood staring at a rat as it squeezed its way into the room.

Can a rat get that big? Thats not a rat, it’s a monster.

The unusually large rodent sniffed the room and quickly zeroed in on Johnny’s corpse.

It pounced and started to eat the man’s leg with huge sloppy bites.

Vince slammed the gate closed behind him as Roscoe ran away.

The noise startled Mary Ruth out of her daze. She tore her eyes off the monster and turned to run for the gate.

Shit he’s bound to have locked it.

She turned to look back at the unusually large rat. It stared back at her. Barely ten yards away. Blood dripping from its fangs as it held a bloody boot in its hands.

It has hands, human hands with long claw like nails.

Mary Ruth drew her pistol and shot it twice. Hitting it squarely center of its chest.

The rat screamed, an all too human scream and reared back, tripping over the corpse behind it.

Oh god, it’s not dead yet.

Mary Ruth fumbled to reload her pistol, easily ejecting the two cartridges, but her purse clasp was slick with sweat.

The rat snarled and Mary Ruth holstered her gun to draw her saber.