A History Together [Mack]

[Claudio Vinccino]

[As Usual, All of Vinccino's associates will be NAVY]

[Whitefall, December 7th, 2520]

Jerome was sick of waiting, they had been standing around for almost an hour, and still she wasn't here. "Hey, Henry" He called softly, to the man who stood next to him, "Where do you think she is?" He wasn't keen on waiting. "That Lawman has been watching us for a while now, you think she got scared and ran?" He looked around, and then returned his gaze to Henry. It was cold, and he didn't want to be here anyway.

Henry simply shrugged, and took another drag on his cigarette. They were out here cuz the boss had told them to be, and what the boss told you to do you did. No exceptions. He had only been filled in on part of the plan, lay the trail of a fake deal, and then wait for the lawman to bite. Tonight was the night, and everything had been going smoothly until this hang up. He gripped his rifle tighter, and shook away the cold. "I dunno Jerome," He said, shivering slightly, "I just hope that she gets here soon. My ass is freezing out here." He shook his head, the second half of the "plan" wasn't so appealing.

Just then, a tall, beautiful woman came into sight, carrying a suitcase. She walked over to them, and set it on the ground. "Here you go boys." She said, and turned to walk away. "Hey wait a minute" called Henry, grabbing her arm. "You forgot part of the payment." He laughed, and Jerome moved in closer with him. "Now then my pretty," He said grinning, as he forced her to the ground. "Let's see how much you are really worth." The woman screamed, and began to fight for all she was worth, scratching clawing and flailing. Unfortunately for her, the two men overpowered her, and she was slammed into the ground on her stomach.

Jerome looked at Henry, "What the hell do we do now?" He asked, in a whisper in Henry's ear, so he could be heard over the screams. "The boss didn't actually want us too..." His voice trailed off as Henry began to fiddle with his belt. "What the boss don't know, wont hurt him." He said, with a wicked grin. "Besides, that lawman isn't coming anyway."

[hamilton]

”Hour 3 of December 7th stakeout,” Mack whispered in a personal recorder as he laid prone on a small hill and watched the men wait for their contact. “No change.” The Marshals had been given an anonymous tip that a big gang had coerced the local settlers to pay them protection money tonight. But all Mack had seen so far was a pair of ranchers stand around for a few hours. Armed ranchers, Mack had made sure to zoom in on their rifles with his camera, but what he saw wasn’t unusual. That tip was probably bogus.

But then he spotted a figure walking down the road towards the men. Mack zoomed in and the person turned out to be a woman, carrying a suitcase. Mack continued to record while also dictate the scene, ”The contact has arrived, and is setting a case on the ground, and now she is walking away. Wait. They are talking now. Now they are…”

Suddenly the men grabbed the woman and pulled her onto the ground while she screamed and tried to fight them off. Mack knew exactly what they doing and it made his heart tighten into a fist as he leapt up and start to rush down the hill towards the mayhem.

The men were too distracted to hear him barrel down the slope, and he stopped when he was close enough to hear one of the men speak, "Besides, that lawman isn't coming anyway." Mack didn’t realize the significance of that statement as he called out to them, ”FEDERAL MARSHAL MACK HAMILTON! Get your hands off that woman!” he shifted to aim his shotgun at the group, ”And throw your weapons onto the ground, or today won’t end well for either of you.”

Neither of them complied, and one even turned around and started to try and run away, but with a simple twist of his arm and a twitch of his hand, Hamilton prevented him from ever leaving the gulch.

Mack then turned his sights back to the other man and the woman, but the criminal was holding her in front of himself. “You gonna cut us both down with your scattergun?” the criminal called out and shifted away from the woman and towards Hamilton instead.

”No,” Mack replied and started to walk towards them, ”I guess I’m going to need to get closer.” “No don’t! Take one more step and I’ll blow her head up!” the man called out as he shifted his gun to face the woman again.

”Then there’d be nothing stopping me from making your death as slow and painful as possible.” Mack growled through clenched teeth, and the man started to shift his rifle again, but the slug from Mack’s barrel was faster.

Instinctively Mack reloaded his shotgun as he walked over to where what was left of the man had pulled the woman onto the ground. He asked her if she was alright, and held out his hand.