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The Dalmas Affair
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PART SEVEN
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Recovering The Fake Bills They found Lou and Stilts there and showed them where the fake bookshelf was. They accessed the front of the wall safe but struggled to open it. Stilts then had the idea of firing one the very large armour-piercing rounds from the huge gun at the safe door. It was quite a slow and laborious process to point, load and aim the very large gun but after three or four shots it had the desired effect and eventually blew a hole a couple of inches wide in the safe door.  GREAT PLAN STILTS Stilts was then able to reach inside and grab the contents of the safes top shelf. This turned out to be exactly what their bosses had sent them to recover: $1,000 freshly printed perfect counterfeit $50 bills. He quickly stuffed them in his bag. Meanwhile the others were keeping watch and had ventured out into the blown up hallway to watch the front door and the lift. They could see that it was rising from the ground floor; someone had freed it and sent it downstairs. More Mobsters Getting ready, Warburg, Lou and Smith watched the lift ascend. As it was cage lift they saw the occupants straightaway and presented them with their Tommy gun barrels. However in a remarkable show of restraint they didn't fire. They allowed the lift doors to open and inside saw no less than half a dozen large Irishmen in gaudy suits and plenty of guns of their own. Clearly another mob came to attack Magoon. News of the assault on his casino must already have got around. But then when you own several cops that would tend to happen. In a strange act of professional courtesy the two groups confronted each other at gunpoint without anyone actually firing. As Lou Warburg and Smith had the drop on the Irishmen they dropped their weapons. They explained that they were an organisation backing Flanagan's Sandwich Bar that had been hit by Magoon the previous day and were out for revenge.  THE GANGS ALL HERE Not wanting to share the spoils Lou and the others disarmed the Irishmen and sent them back down the stairs. They jammed the lift. As the Irishmen went down the stairs Warburg heard one of them call up "Hey what's with the beheading? You guys are crazy!" Something odd had obviously gone on outside. It's A Big House Smith elected to cross the hallway to the room opposite the library. It was from here that they had heard the cop calling out. Meanwhile Stilts was still opening the safe. Lou and Warburg were about to follow Smith when they heard slight stealthy movement from the living room. They stopped and waited as Smith ventured into the room alone. Smith Pokes Around He saw a man, whom he took to be the cop, handcuffed to the radiator in a large opulent and as yet intact bedroom. The cop was slumped on the floor, his head and face severely bloodied and lying in a pool of blood. Ignoring this, Smith poked around the wardrobes and chests of drawers finding only loud clothes and oversize silk suits. Then he checked under the bed and found a black suitcase. He picked the lock and inside that found a large pistol and a Thomson machine gun with a 100 round drum.  THE GOLDEN SUITCASE Shoot-Outs And More Spoils Crossing the room he filled the case and proceeded through a far door into the rest of the apartment. He walked down a short corridor and then heard a whimpering noise behind a door at the end of it. Smith crashed through the door yelling and with gun in hand and appeared in a kitchen. Here he finds a maid. She is terrified but informed him between sobs that a door leads to a small dining room and Soukesian's bedroom. Smith grabbed her roughly and, using her as a human shield pushes her through the dining room and towards Soukesian's bedroom. Two gangsters faced him. However Smith fired a volley from his new Tommy gun and watched them literally explode in pieces in front of him. The madman Magoon had loaded his submachine gun with dum-dum rounds. The girl screamed at the carnage but Smith keeps hold of her and barged into the other bedroom still bravely using her as shield.  SMITH'S GOT A NEW TOY Here he found another suitcase, though this is a tasteful pigskin valise. Inside he found a crystal ball, several packs of tarot cards and a fez with a concealed gun inside. He discarded all of these and then spied a belt of several hundred solid silver dollars, at last something useful. The maid then explained that Soukesian has his girls brought to his room via a service lift found at the back of his bedroom.  THE ELEVATOR IN THE BEDROOM Smith located it easily enough after ripping down a curtain. |
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