Fortunately, Diego was at the other end of the table, as the odor was strong. Obviously self-control was not one of his abilities.

The Don kept some distance, but started questioning him after they threw a bucket of water over him to dilute the smell a bit. Diego was defiant.

"Prostitutes are MY business here in Oxxxx, Don XXXXXXXX. This guy was crowding my territory, and I've warned him that I wanted my cut. He told me to talk to you about it, but I didn't want to bother you with it, Sir. I knew this was something I could take care of on my own. Why am I being punished? This is bullshit and" His words cut off in mid-syllable, as one of the Don's men slapped him full-hand across the face.

The assistant nodded to the Don, and he went back to speaking.

"This is an insult to my family's honor, Diego. Are you and your men challenging me for leadership?" speaking very softly. The room was quiet enough that you could hear sweat forming on Diego's forehead.

I was watching faces and eyes, and noted a few people in the second last row, handing things around. I was bracing myself for something, and to protect Stella. Then I carefully kicked myself in the ass mentally, remembering that Stella would be protecting ME. Well, we'd be helping each other.

It appeared that some of the Don's men were alert; there was some repositioning by some of the men and women armed with machine pistols. They could use some education from Mom or Lance, though; some of them were in others' lines-of-fire, and this would endanger them.

The Don went on about respecting his wishes and family honor, and a move of Diego's with his head caught my eye. It was innocent... but looked like a signal to me. My right hand found my holdout, a remarkably small 12-shot .05 caliber weapon. When I first saw it, I laughed: a .05 against .45's and 9mm's? Then I saw the nature of the shell; a new, extremely compact explosive that blew on contact with the target. One bullet shatters a truck tire; two can split an engine block.

Diego was speaking again. "He owes me my percentage! I'm not going to stand for this humiliation! He's going down, no matter WHAT you say!" Getting shrill.

Suddenly, five people stood up in the audience, and one of the Don's guards tossed one his weapon. I saw the shit preparing to hit the fan, and suddenly felt Stella grabbing me and pulling me down. My holdout in hand, I put a shell into the spotlight to give us some cover. The resulting explosion shattered the lens and sprayed some burning magnesium tape from the light as well. No fire, but the smoke alarms went off.