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BRONX, NEW YORK

The brown sedan cruised slowly down the street It was barely dawn, and the flow of traffic was light The local shops were still closed Theout their first produce Only the bakery had a fine stream of patrons who’d come out to buy their fresh breads and rolls

To be on the safe side, the driver of the sedan circled around the block and cruised back down the street Satisfied by what he saw, he pulled over to the curb and parked beside a sh, it was old and worn, like the rest of the neighborhood, with a short flight of stairs leading to the front door A green canopy shadowed the doorway, and the front of the building was partially blocked from view by a broad oak tree and an unusual amount of shrubbery The house across the street, visibly un-lived in, was undergoing major construction, and there were piles of two-by-fours, cardboard boxes, and plastic garbage bags strewn all over the sidewalk, half covering the house

The area was shabby But more important, it was deserted

The two Red Dragons jus Then they

One of the Black Eagles opened the downstairs door for theed And none were necessary Language barrier or not, all the parties

involved knehy they were here

The six of theathered in the basement

Xiao’s s and took out the contents Maps A series of diagra aed in rubber-banded stacks of ten thousand dollars

They handed everything over to the Albanians and waited while the cash was counted and the other contents were reviewed

The four recipients wasted no ti the teara the to certain spots on the designs With a nod of comprehension, they rolled the plans back up and put theat his other two nal

He got it

Speaking to one another in rapid Albanian, they coave the okay The payment due them was correct The final install was in order

The teaave the theestured for one of his ons out

The entire transaction took less than half an hour