Fic: Tears Of The Saints I: A Jewel Of Great Price (4/14)
Title: Tears Of The Saints I: A Jewel Of Great Price (4/14)
Author: BradyGirl_12
Pairings/Characters (this chapter): Mel/Johnny (Johnny does not appear in this chapter), Angelo Ricotti
Series Notes: Tears Of The Saints will deal with the Outfit/Syndicate (aka the Mob) and how they cross paths with the Dillinger Gang and the Bureau of Investigation. It helps to have first-hand knowledge of Italian culture and Catholicism. ;)
Fandom: Public Enemies
Genres: AU, Drama
Rating (this chapter): PG-13
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
General Summary: When the Syndicate needs the special talents of John Dillinger, they take out insurance that he will do the job they want by kidnapping someone near and dear to his heart: Melvin Purvis.
Chapter Summary: Mel awakens as a hostage.
Date Of Completion: January 28, 2010
Date Of Posting: February 26, 2010
Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, Universal does, more’s the pity.
Word Count: 551
Feedback welcome and appreciated.
The entire series can be found here.
IV
HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE
"Some of us are just hostages to fortune."
Aaron Breck
American Millionaire
Philanthropist
1922 C.E.
Mel came back to consciousness with a groan, his head throbbing. What the hell?
He slowly opened his eyes, blue-painted walls coming into view. Dark-blue.
Squinting, Mel looked around: a maple dresser, a rocking chair, a nightstand with a lamp, and the bed he was laying on. He grimaced at the lumpy mattress.
And there was something cold and heavy around his left ankle.
He sat up on his elbows, gasping as the room spun. He closed his eyes, waiting a few minutes, then cracked them open again.
Was that a leg iron on his ankle?
Shocked, he tugged on the chain that tied him to the bed. What was going on?
He remembered kissing Johnny goodbye in his hide-out and slipping out the back, and then as he started to leave the alley to get to the streetcar stop, he had heard a footstep behind him. Before he could turn around, the world had gone black.
Rubbing the back of his head, he found a sizeable goose egg and winced.
Besides the sparse furnishings, there was one window with the blinds closed. He could hear traffic in the distance, so he was still in the city.
Why had he been kidnapped? As leverage against the Bureau? Surely the gangsters of this city knew better than to poke at the Bureau this way. As incompetent as his agency could be, they wouldn’t take this lying down. The public might be persuaded to back the Federal agents in this case.
He had to figure out a way to get free!
Mel tugged at the chain again and noticed his ring was missing. Thieves as well as kidnappers! That detail irritated him more than the kidnapping somehow.
He ran a hand through his hair. Well, at least he’d been the only one taken. As long as Johnny was safe, he could withstand this ordeal.
He couldn’t bear the thought of Johnny being caged up. He’d already suffered through nine years of hard time. That sentence of ten years for a fifty-dollar robbery had been an abomination. The judge who had imposed it ought to have been shot.
Mel rubbed his forehead. The sentence should have been a few years at most. How better to form a career criminal than throwing him into prison with hardened convicts?
Heavy footsteps sounded out in the hall and Mel tensed as the door opened. A burly man with a mashed nose ambled in.
“So, you’re awake.”
“Yes. I demand to be released!” Mel was in full bluff mode, hoping that he could pull this off.
The kidnapper sneered, “You don’t get to make demands, Nancy.”
“My name is Melvin Purvis, and I am an agent of…”
“I know who you are. That don’t mean jacksquat here. You just shut your mouth and look pretty.”
Mel stared at the man, his insides shivering at the way the word ‘pretty’ had been spoken. What the hell was going on?
“Why am I here? Why…?”
Mel gasped as he was hit across the face. His headache roared as his eye throbbed.
“Shut up means shut up, Tinkerbell.”
The man laughed and left, Mel covering his eye.
I am in deep trouble!
Author: BradyGirl_12
Pairings/Characters (this chapter): Mel/Johnny (Johnny does not appear in this chapter), Angelo Ricotti
Series Notes: Tears Of The Saints will deal with the Outfit/Syndicate (aka the Mob) and how they cross paths with the Dillinger Gang and the Bureau of Investigation. It helps to have first-hand knowledge of Italian culture and Catholicism. ;)
Fandom: Public Enemies
Genres: AU, Drama
Rating (this chapter): PG-13
Warnings: None
Spoilers: None
General Summary: When the Syndicate needs the special talents of John Dillinger, they take out insurance that he will do the job they want by kidnapping someone near and dear to his heart: Melvin Purvis.
Chapter Summary: Mel awakens as a hostage.
Date Of Completion: January 28, 2010
Date Of Posting: February 26, 2010
Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, Universal does, more’s the pity.
Word Count: 551
Feedback welcome and appreciated.
The entire series can be found here.
IV
HOSTAGE TO FORTUNE
"Some of us are just hostages to fortune."
Aaron Breck
American Millionaire
Philanthropist
1922 C.E.
Mel came back to consciousness with a groan, his head throbbing. What the hell?
He slowly opened his eyes, blue-painted walls coming into view. Dark-blue.
Squinting, Mel looked around: a maple dresser, a rocking chair, a nightstand with a lamp, and the bed he was laying on. He grimaced at the lumpy mattress.
And there was something cold and heavy around his left ankle.
He sat up on his elbows, gasping as the room spun. He closed his eyes, waiting a few minutes, then cracked them open again.
Was that a leg iron on his ankle?
Shocked, he tugged on the chain that tied him to the bed. What was going on?
He remembered kissing Johnny goodbye in his hide-out and slipping out the back, and then as he started to leave the alley to get to the streetcar stop, he had heard a footstep behind him. Before he could turn around, the world had gone black.
Rubbing the back of his head, he found a sizeable goose egg and winced.
Besides the sparse furnishings, there was one window with the blinds closed. He could hear traffic in the distance, so he was still in the city.
Why had he been kidnapped? As leverage against the Bureau? Surely the gangsters of this city knew better than to poke at the Bureau this way. As incompetent as his agency could be, they wouldn’t take this lying down. The public might be persuaded to back the Federal agents in this case.
He had to figure out a way to get free!
Mel tugged at the chain again and noticed his ring was missing. Thieves as well as kidnappers! That detail irritated him more than the kidnapping somehow.
He ran a hand through his hair. Well, at least he’d been the only one taken. As long as Johnny was safe, he could withstand this ordeal.
He couldn’t bear the thought of Johnny being caged up. He’d already suffered through nine years of hard time. That sentence of ten years for a fifty-dollar robbery had been an abomination. The judge who had imposed it ought to have been shot.
Mel rubbed his forehead. The sentence should have been a few years at most. How better to form a career criminal than throwing him into prison with hardened convicts?
Heavy footsteps sounded out in the hall and Mel tensed as the door opened. A burly man with a mashed nose ambled in.
“So, you’re awake.”
“Yes. I demand to be released!” Mel was in full bluff mode, hoping that he could pull this off.
The kidnapper sneered, “You don’t get to make demands, Nancy.”
“My name is Melvin Purvis, and I am an agent of…”
“I know who you are. That don’t mean jacksquat here. You just shut your mouth and look pretty.”
Mel stared at the man, his insides shivering at the way the word ‘pretty’ had been spoken. What the hell was going on?
“Why am I here? Why…?”
Mel gasped as he was hit across the face. His headache roared as his eye throbbed.
“Shut up means shut up, Tinkerbell.”
The man laughed and left, Mel covering his eye.
I am in deep trouble!