I kept my eyelids partially closed, as if I were frightened, or offended by the sight of Diego. I used my veiled eyes to survey the room and watch Diego. As the Don questioned Diego, a group towards the back of the room were passing things amongst themselves. I felt Chuck tense slightly beside me and I realized he had seen it as well.

I cursed inwardly as I saw the Don's men reposition. They had not fanned out enough and some would be a hinderance rather than a help. I made a mental note to ask Chuck if he might want to offer the Don's men a training session with Mom. I was also surprised that none of the Don's men were positioned in the back of the room, that in itself was an invitation for trouble. Chuck always had security dispersed throughout a room, it was policy at his establishment.

Just then, I saw Diego's signal. A barely imperceptible motion of his head. I felt Chuck reach for his concealed weapon, and was glad he had seen what was unfolding.

I saw one of the Don's guards tense and flick his eyes to the crowd. I immediately reached over and grabbed Chuck, pulling him down. The guard threw his weapon to one of the Don's challengers and I knew the Don was in trouble. Chuck shot out the spotlight, causing a small explosion and smoke. The resulting smoke alarms were shrill enough to cover any noise we made. Knowing that Diego was after Chuck, I rolled us toward the back of the stage and off the edge.

"A guard turned, the Don is in trouble" I shouted in Chuck's ear. The room had erupted into all-out war, some in the crowd choosing to fight with Diego and unseat the Don, some choosing to side with the Don. We used the edge of the stage as cover and made our way to where the Don was. Just as we reached the spot, the Don's remaining loyal bodyguard shot his ex-companion and pushed the conference table onto it's side, providing cover. The Don crouched behind the table flanked on one side with his bodyguard, on the other side by Chuck and myself. I was not carrying a firearm, as Mom preferred to use wits and hand-to-hand combat. I did have a wicked fighting knife concealed, but would not pull it out unless it was needed.

I acted as spotter and peeked out from behind the table to start shouting out positions to Chuck and the bodyguard. "15 feet back at 10 o'clock!" Chuck popped up and shot, hitting his target. "10 feet out at 2 o'clock" The guard took that shot, striking his target enough to disable him, but not kill him. I continued to call positions, changing my own position so that Diego's men could not get a bead on me. As expected, some of the Don's men had been shot in the crossfire.

My eyes gleamed when I called out the next one to Chuck; "Blind fire - 8 feet out at 12 o'clock!" Chuck simply raised his arm and shot straight out over the top of the table edge without looking. I peeked out again, Chuck had just shot Diego, who was now clutching a shattered leg. Many of Diego's followers grabbed him and started to haul him away, firing over their shoulders to throw off pursuit. The fighting started to wind down and the Don's remaining men made short work of the few that stayed behind and tried to cover the retreat.

When we stood up to survey the damage the Don discovered that he would have a few of Diego's men to 'question' about the incident. I tapped Chuck and pointed out what his weapon had done. The lower half of Diego's leg lay on the floor. I smiled at Chuck, "Now he's really going to be mad! Before it was merely money...now it's a leg!" I was trying to make a joke and laugh, knowing that the adrenaline high was coming down and I would get the shakes soon.