Undercover, Under the Covers

My room at The Continental Hotel was nothing to write home about, but it was reasonably clean, and it fit my needs. There were no cockroaches or rats, at least none that I could see, and it was someplace to catch some z’s, shower, and have a change of clothes. The only downside was the activity in the hallway at all odd hours of the night.

The Continental was a favorite of the local working girls because the night clerk was more than willing to rent the rooms out for an hour at a time. I am pretty sure he thought I was one of those girls until I paid for three nights in a row. I had come to Chicago to do a job, and I knew it was going to take me some time to get it done.

With Al Capone in prison, the city was a prime target for a takeover. Sources indicated that the Capizzi brothers, Angelo and Stefano, had moved their organization from New York City to Chicago’s South Side, and were becoming more powerful by the day.

People have the tendency to forget that even though daily life in the United States has been altered drastically by the war, some things never change. Bad guys still roam the streets, making other people’s lives miserable and unsafe. Often, they do it under the guise of being the good guy in the neighborhood, but only as far as getting their own way. They never hide what they’re doing, but people are afraid of saying anything to the authorities, for fear of retribution.