Lion's Den(On Hold)

Chapter-6 Lion of the Den

One look at Derek's face and I knew what he was thinking. The Terranova face-offs could be aiding in weakening the Lansky group.

"What you both are thinking is not what's happening here. This won't weaken Lansky,nor was the attack intended for that purpose."

Derek and I gave a questioning look at Nate.
"Then, what was it for?"
"The Terranova attacked because they detest human trafficking."

I merely scoffed at that.
"A mafia gang taking measures to how bad they go? What a joke"
"Even the mafias have a code, a set of guidelines to follow. These four gangs even have their own particular morals which they claim to be the reasons for their success."
"Morals?"

Nate sighed in frustration.
"Did you even read through those reports I gave you both?"

My insides turned cold at his statement and Derek shot an apologetic look at me.
"So much for a day off, huh Diana?"

Nate rolled his eyes and moved to his laptop.
"Taking breaks for personal reasons in the middle of a serious gangwar is unacceptable. You should be busy ingesting information, training more and churning out evidence. Gabriel is keen on hearing for more updates."

Gabriel is Nate's superior at the SIO,the Security Intelligence Organisation. She is the one who assigned him to assist us and in return for our services,she keeps it a secret that we are a part of this mission. So there was no room for arguments. Derek and I quietly begun scanning through the reports.

Each mafia has four major titles: the boss,underboss,counselor/advisor and captain. The underlings/soldiers are those who are under the command of these four people. Associates are usually sources of funding like businessmen who support the mafias. Nate had managed to get a list of the names of the topshots.

The report read as follows:

Mafia group:Lansky
The moral of Lansky's gang is money. They would go to any extremes if the money was good. Human trafficking and drugs are the best sources of money so that's their base of operations. They would sell anything and everything to anyone so they are easier to approach as long as money is in play.

Boss: Victor Lansky
Underboss:Andrew
Counselor/Advisor:Miles
Captain:Axel

Mafia group: Gravano
The moral of Gravano's gang is loyalty. A strong group in particular, due to the sheer amount of confidence in each other. Only the boss is a Gravano and the others are members elected to lead. But, only the heir of the Gravano family can become the boss. Getting a member to be a traitor in this gang is close to impossible. They broke their traditional rule of 'No women' by placing a woman as the counselor because of her expertise.

Boss:Carson Gravano
Underboss:Theo
Counselor/Advisor:Avery
Captain:Liam

Mafia group:Salvatore
The moral of Salvatore's gang is fear. Evan Salvatore rules with his two sons and they are known as the triple fang. Any mistake, be it big or small will only result in death. This method has proven effective and their transactions are flawless that some are even proved as legal ones.

Boss: Evan Salvatore
Underboss: Kayden Salvatore
Counselor/Advisor: Gavin Salvatore
Captain:Reese

Mafia group:Terranova
With many unrevealed faces and hidden illegal business systems, Terranova has proven to be the most mysterious and difficult group among the four. They possess legal businesses on the side but it is only a veil upon the illegal activities happening underneath. Their moral is family, the past actions and cases have given the impression that they would do anything to protect their family. Recently, the previous boss handed over the mafia to the heir. They also made an extraordinary move of placing a woman as the next heir/underboss. Getting close to them is not allowed, even if someone tried, the special bodyguards are a barrier. Strangely though, the underboss does not have a bodyguard.

Ex boss: Landon Terranova
Boss: Eric Terranova
Underboss: Leia Terranova
Counselor/Advisor: Asher Terranova
Captain: Damian Terranova

-------End of report-------

"Wow two women in the mafia..."
Nate shook his head in disagreement to my astonishment.

"Don't be mistaken, it will only make things worse for them. There will be many who will try to exploit them for their position"
"But they wouldn't last this long if they were dumb enough for that"
"Maybe"

Derek snapped out of his thoughts and squinted his eyes.
"Hold on a second. Nate..why did you come to the site today? You never appear directly in physical fights."
"For him"

The projector turned on and the image of a half masked man appeared. He was pointing a gun and the background was the bridal shop. His hair was medium auburn, split eyebrow on one side with a long scar running across from his forehead to cheek.

"Is this the man who..."
"Yes, when I found that the Lansky group was doing human trafficking in broad daylight, I half expected Terranova to show up at the spot. When I rushed to the scene, the fight was almost over but there was a small opening to take a proper picture of one of the important dots, those dots which could connect to the topshots. I know that Lansky is our main target at the moment but this Terranova group intrigued me so...I found a perfect timing when he only had his lower face covered. Besides..."

Nate's eyes moved to me and gave a smug look.
"I had the job of saving someone's ass"

My fists clenched as an immediate reaction.
"Care to repeat that one more time?"
"That is the truth. This man is Emmett, the bodyguard of Asher Terranova. He would have killed you the moment you stepped out. I am not saying you would have done nothing, it simply would have been a trade of your life for his injury. There's a difference and this is the exact reason why I suggest you do more training."

I pushed my hair back in annoyance. There was brief pause with us staring away from each other.

"Alright fine! I owe you for that and I will train more."
"That's good. Now get the hell outta here, I have talked too much today and my head hurts from socialising with you two."

"Wait, but there is something I don't understand. Why would Terranova stop Lansky just because they detest trafficking? They are already a major target, wouldn't this make things worse? Showing dominance just doesn't work so easily"

Nate stared blankly at Derek while he looked at him incredulously.
"Don't tell me it is actually working!"

Nate stood up and walked to the table.
"With only a few injuries, their unbeatable attack patterns and force speak for themselves. The other gangs will only be wary and irritated, but will never try to attack directly just yet. If they did, they would face the hostile brunt headlong. On the surface, they would act tough like they are going to retaliate but underneath, they will gladly sacrifice a few profits to not become the sole target of the Terranova. Right now with their actions, Terranova is sending around a message to every single enemy out there:
'Bow down to the Lion of the Den'. "

Nate placed a chess piece on the reports with a thud. The King.