Play@YSDC

I look back and forth between Dex and Delores, trying to figure out what's going on, what dark secret they have between them now. Whatever it is, it can't be good. "Things?" Did he say "things in that room?"

I'm more confused than ever, but he's right about one thing: the answers are upstairs. If there are any. And maybe it's better if there aren't. This is Red Hook, after all. Need to remember that.

Dex looks to Esposito. "Coming?" He heads for the stairs, leading Delores along if she seems hesitant.

the stairs on the third floor. As before, there are four doors opening off the landing. Three stand open, disclosing what seem to be vacant flats without even any furniture. The third door is closed. In fact, it proves to be locked.

Dex looks to the cops and his two lads. "Okay, four big men...which of you is ready to bust the thing down while the rest of us cover you?"
He looks over to Esposito to see if he follows Dex's lead and nods to Delores. "Be ready for anything."

"OK," murmurs Delores, gripping the sawn-off tightly. She sniffs hard, trying to get a grip on herself, trying to ready herself for what might lie ahead...

"I got it," Heinie nods to Dex and tightens his grasp on the Tommy. He rears back slightly and drives an elephantine foot, backed by his considerable heft, into the door. The frame splits and the door slams back into the room, rebounding off the wall. Heinie shoulders it open and sweeps the barrel of his gun around the room, which contains only a mattress, an over-turned stool, a bucket (pee-yew) and a dishevelled man lying beneath a window, dabbing at his bloody head with a wad of cloth.

"Am I glad to see you guys," the man rasps, "What took you so long?"

After a moment Delores, Dex and Franky recognize the formerly-immaculate Vilas.

"Jesus!" mutters Delores, before realising she had cursed out loud and clapping her hand over her mouth and flushing with embarrassment. She moves across to Vilas. "Are you ok?" she asks.

"Depends on how you mean ok. I'm alive and I guess I'm rescued. But they took Miss Hirt away, probably back to their temple in the cellar. And they hit me in the head." He looks at the cloth, "I think the bleeding's about stopped."

He staggers to his feet, "Let's not waste time."

Dex takes in Langdon and Delores, and shakes his head. "Langdon, we haven't found a way down. And do you know who captured you or why? Who are "they?"

He motions for the boys to make sure no one is sneaking up on them.
"Heinie, I have a bad feeling about this. Make sure the Chicago typewriter in your hands is ready for action."

OOC,These are one-room flats? If not, we'll take a minute and clear them all.

"Alright, Langdon. Showtime. Can you lead us to this basement "temple?" Or tell us how to get there -- your head looks pretty bad."

"Oh, no," Langdon answers, "I'm going with you guys. Anybody have a spare gun? Don't worry about the rooms up here, no one uses them. They don't seem to have that many followers -- yet." Through the broken window shouts can be heard from the street out front. Looking down, a mob of men can be seen storming up the front steps. "We better hurry," Langdon says.

Leading the way, a bit unsteadily, to another apartment door, Vilas opens it and passes through empty rooms and a doorway cut through to an apartment in the next building, then out and down the stairs. He stops for a moment, clutching the railing and catching his breath: "Whew. Maybe someone else should lead."

Delores stood back. Whoever was going first, it wasn't going to be her!

Dex will simply shakes his head and mutter "Stupid idea Dex...didn't your mom tell you never to volunteer."
He heads off in the direction that Langdon indicated, .45 in hand and .38 revolver in his shoulder holster.

The second floor of this building is full of empty rooms again. After checking these rooms, Pat and Jerry say to Franky, "By our tally, there's prob'ly sixty to a hundred guys dossing in these rooms. O'course, that's if they ain't sleepin' in shifts."

The group comes to the first floor and find the front doors have been solidly nailed shut, the glass windows in the upper halves covered by close-fitting boards, as is the transom above.

Three doors on this level are closed. The fourth one, at the head of stairs leading to the basement, stands open.

The stairs descend into darkness.

Gripping her gun tightly, Delores peered down the stairs. "We're not going down there, are we?" she asked, her voice quavering.

Dex looks at Delores and smiles. "Of course. In for a penny, in for a pound."
He glances over at Heinie and his streetsweeper. "Ready? Let's deal with this like we did with Capone's boys."
He looks back at the cops. "Make sure Miss Delores is in the center of us, and sweep high, sweep low, cover all the angles."
He nods at Delores and smiles lightly. "If you see a shot, take it...just make sure none of us is in the way. Alright?"
Once he has everyone in position, he moves down the stairs, Heinie behind him. Dex knows to drop low if the SMG will fire since the barrel tends to go high but he trusts his old Prohibition agent pals to cover his ass. "Langdon, you had better be right about all this."

Delores swallowed hard. Although well intentioned, the men were crowding her and she wanted to scream. She gritted her teeth, trying to fight down the urge to run. She gripped the stock of the shotgun so hard that her hands were aching. The men started to move off, shuffling forward, starting to drag Delores with them, into the dark maw of the stairs below... ...

As Langdon leads the way to the basement level, a door can be heard to slam up on the third floor. A pair of feet can be heard coming down the stairs, then another, then several; a dozen; a score are thundering down from above.

Langdon stops abruptly as a hulking brute steps through the door of the apartment at the foot of the stair. Naked to the waist, his shoulders almost scrape either side of the doorway and he has to duck a bit to clear the top. In each hand is a mighty cleaver that would take a normal-sized man both hands to wield. He looks up at the party, a grin twisting his mouth.

Jerry's voice is heeard from the top of the stairs, "Company's comin' fast, gents!" Then two gunshots, as he fires up the stairs.

Delores stared blankly at the huge figure that stood before them. She blinked twice, stepped to one side to get a clear shot, aimed and pulled the trigger.

Dex will step to one side, making sure Delores has a clear shot. He then nods to Heinie to go help with the horde descending from above.
"Where the hell did they come from?" Dex mouths, and then aims at the huge target Delores unloaded on.
If it still moves, he will fire his revolver into the target repeatedly.

If the guy is down and there are no more foes in front, he will yell to Delores "Reload, I'll cover you."