Tainted Blood

Tainted Blood


There was a sense of dismay in the air surrounding Max Dolore’s condominium. Blue sky, not a cloud in sight, it would seem to be the perfect New York day, yet there was something wrong. It was 7:00am, Max, a blond haired woman, in her early 20's, slender yet strong and athletic was just getting up. Walking over to her window, Max opened the curtains, as the sunlight flittered in and caught her hair, reflecting the light as if her hair were made from golden strands. The warmth of the morning sun seemed to make her face glow, yet there was no harshness to it. She was still half asleep and she knew she had to take her morning jog. Whilst jogging, Max found it a lot easier to clear her mind of all impurities and thoughts of which she did not wish to have. As she arrived at Central Park, her cell began to vibrate. As she answered the call, she was greeted by a harsh deep voice of a man with a thick Italian accent. “Greetings Miss Dolore, I would like to inform you of you parent’s current predicament, you see, late last night, your parent’s were taken hostage by my associates.”
“Wait…what?!?”
“Yes Miss Dolore, you heard correctly. I shall be holding your parent’s for 5 days before I shall execute them. If you wish to save them, you have 120 hours to deliver the sum of $1,000,000 to Suite 64, Gamizu Palace, 48th Avenue, one of my associates, Tony Salerno, has been instructed to meet you at the Businessmen's Social Club in Greenwich Village at 6:00pm sharp, do not be late Miss Dolore."
As quickly as he had started the conversation, the Italian man abruptly ended it. Max was stunned; she was still trying to come to grips with what had just happened and also why he was prepared to hold her parents for that long. Most ransoms are due within a 24 hour time frame; it was all too confusing for Max. A cloud of angst had surrounded the thoughts of the blond haired female. She was alone, her parent’s had just been abducted and worst of all, she had no-one to console her.


The gravity of the situation hit home hard later that evening when Max was reminiscing the euphoric times she had had with her parent’s as a 13 year old. One memory that had been forever etched into her mind was the time she discovered she had a brother. Separated when they were five, Rey Dolore lived a life most children despised. He was destitute and suffered from Xerophthalmia, a disease which the lachrymal glands are functioning inadequately and cause dry eyes. Rey was a shortish fellow for his age being only 5 feet 2 inches. His voice was harsh in a way. He was a medium build, thick, black hair that loved flowing with the breeze. He had a scar on his right cheek from the time he had gotten in a fight with a homeless man, the man used a knife to slice his cheek open when Rey picked up the homeless man’s whiskey bottle and knocked the man out cold. After finally meeting his biological parent’s, they took him to an eye specialist where he had surgery to insert an ersatz lachrymal gland into each eye. Max and Rey knew from the moment they first saw each other that they were meant to be brother and sister. Mister and Missus Dolore had never divulged the information about Max’s illegitimate sibling.
What seemed like for ever, which in actual fact were only a few minutes, Max had learnt of why they were separated. Eight years had gone by and yet they had not been able to contact each other. As a five year old, it was nigh on impossible to remember anything, especially a brother you had barely known. During that year, the two of them were taken to exotic places such as Paris, Australia and Hawaii.
Paris was simply stunning; they had not imagined it to be as magnificent as it had been. Atop the Eiffel Tower they stood engulfed in a glorious emotional standing. Most 13 year olds would have thought nothing much of this but both of them knew how much it symbolized love in the world. They were young yes, but were very intelligent for their age; they had the emotional understanding of a 30 year old. Neither Max nor Rey had ever had emotions like these flow through their body and, while bewildered, they still became overwhelmed by joy as they traveled all over Paris. They spent a further two weeks in the city of love.
They spent a month in Australia, where they visited the Great Barrier Reef and went snorkeling with the tropical sea creatures. The diversity of the aquatic life was that of which dreams were made. They made the journey down to the gateway of Australia, Sydney Harbor. Spectacular views and fervent admirers stretched out throughout the Harbor. While they were at the Sydney Opera House, the Dolore's enjoyed Symphonies 1 and 9 at the Beethoven Festival. Climaxing the Australian leg of the trip was the Sydney Harbor Bridge climb. The ecstasy felt by all as they reached the top was prevalent in all of them that they assumed there could not be another place in the world that could beat it. They assumed wrong.
Hawaii, to them, was Heaven on Earth. The most exotic locale they had ever seen and the friendliest people on the planet. The entire two months spent there were filled with lots of feelings, in many ways; they had not all necessarily been happy emotions. Visiting Pearl Harbor, a somber mood filled everyone's hearts. The USS Arizona Memorial had made sure that there wasn't a dry eye to be seen. 65 years since the Day of Infamy which had seen the USS Arizona sink to the depths of the shallow Pearl Harbor. The children were ecstatic as they enjoyed an hour or more aboard the USS Missouri, or the Mighty Mo, as it is affectionately known. The colossal vessel which spans, in its entirety, a massive 887 feet and 3 inches was a marvel to behold. They spent half a day shopping at the Waikele Premium Outlet Center, admiring all the stores, some of which they didn't have in Manhattan. On the last day of the trip they ventured into Diamond Head and made the journey to the top, which took approximately an hour and a half to climb. Apart from the gale force wind that greeted their faces atop the mountain, they thoroughly enjoyed the views; they took several snapshots of Waikiki and the lesser known Waialae Country Club and surrounding houses.


Max snapped out of her daydream when she heard a knock on her door. She jumped back as if she had heard a gunshot. Peering through the spy hole in the door, she realized it was only the housekeeper and promptly asked her if she could come back in about ten minutes. The maid took her cleaning tools and moved along the hallway, while Max gathered herself and started packing a bag full of necessities. She reached for her keys and phone and made a hasty exit of the building, forgetting to lock the door behind her. She was in such a hurry to reach the Businessmen's Social Club that she forgot that then safe in her room had the key left in it and they door was left wide open. Thankfully the maid realized this and made her way over to Max's condo and secured the door. Max hailed a cab and told the driver to head for the Businessmen's Social Club in Greenwich Village; the only problem was the cab driver had never heard of the Businessmen's Social Club. Distressed, Max informed the driver that there must be as she had a meeting there. The cab driver said he had never heard of it but would drop her off in Greenwich. She agreed and the driver careered of through the alleyways and made his way through scores of traffic before arriving in Greenwich Village some ten minutes later.


Meanwhile, Mister and Missus Dolore were being transported to a facility of which they had no idea where it was. Mister and Missus Dolore had always been well off, meaning they were financially stable, meaning they were rich. They had been taken hostage but as far as they knew they had not be robbed. Mister Dolore had thought about this for the entire trip, why would they be taken hostage if they captor's didn't take their money and valuables? Mister Dolore was a solid man, big and bulky, his muscles were huge and he was fairly tall standing at 6 feet 4 inches. He weighed in at a massive 330lbs, his muscle making up more than half of his weight. His dirty blond hair straight for the most part and at the nape of his neck, the hair flicked out in kinks. His moustache stretched across his mouth, was wispy and prickly just like a hair brush. Missus Dolore was an average woman, not too tall, not too small at 5 feet 11 inches. Her hair hung down to the middle of her back and was a chocolaty brown color. She was a thin woman weighing in at 143lbs. After their blindfolds were removed, Mister and Missus Dolore had realized they were about to be thrown into a giant meat freezer. Pleading with their captor if they could be relocated, the man simply told them that if they had their way, they wouldn't have been captured in the first place.
"Sir, what have we done to deserve this?" asked Mr. Dolore in a whimpering tone.
"Nothing but I am a powerful man so I can use my power in whatever way I choose, this is the way I have chosen, a test if you will, to see how skilled your daughter really is," the Italian man stated.
"Please...please...don’t bring our daughter into this...we'll...we'll do anything...just please...reconsider." begged Mrs. Dolore.
"Missus Dolore you are not really in a position to be asking such things of me, you see I am free, able to walk wherever I please, whilst you and Mister Dolore are sitting in a freezer, tied up in restraints, about to be locked in and no doubt surely start getting hypothermia," retorted the Italian man as his smirk turned into a large grin. As he finished saying this, Mister Dolore attempted to open his mouth but was gagged by one of the Italian man's henchmen, who also gagged Missus Dolore. As they turned and walked away, locking the freezer behind them, Missus Dolore began to cry, while Mister Dolore comforted her in the only way a restrained man could.

After arduous hours of searching Greenwich Village, Max had finally spotted the Social Club hidden amongst a few other Italian premises. Her walk turned into a run as she headed to the club and fell over when the door opened on her as she approached it. She opened her eyes and looked left to right and back again as if she was looking for someone about to attack her. As she staggered over to the bar, she was greeted by a man who was approximately 5 feet 10 inches, wearing a Valentino gray three button suit, a Rolex Explorer II and a pair of black Gucci leather dress shoes. His silver hair was combed back and the light danced upon each strand which made it look like a diamond had been put in his hair. He wasn't that muscular but you could tell he could defend himself if he really had to. He was definitely part of the local Mafia with a dress sense like that and the fact that the Club was established by a Mafia boss from the early 1980's. He surveyed Max for a minute then began to speak.
"I have been expecting you, Miss Dolore," he said in a pensive adagio.
"Who are you?" inquired Max.
"I am Tony Salerno, assistant to my boss, Signore Eccessivo, the head of the local Mafia," enunciated Tony.
"So you are the contact I was informed of," an unnecessary addendum on Max's behalf.
"That is correct, Miss Dolore, very observant aren't you?" said Tony rhetorically with a hint of sarcasm to his voice.
"I intend to rescue my parent's but I'm not paying you lowlife's a dime," exclaimed Max.
"Now, now there's no need for such aggression Miss Dolore," Tony said suggestively.
"Here's a suggestion, you tell me where my parent's are and I won't have to resort to..."
She was interrupted mid sentence by the arrival of ten other Mafioso’s all dressed in identical suits of black and gray pinstripes.
"Resort to what exactly Miss Dolore?" retorted Tony with a mocking tone only used now that he had protection.
Max knew she couldn't take all eleven of them at a time, especially with no weapons of any kind on her person or in her bag, she knew she would have to use her wits to evade this conflict.
"Surely you know that would not be a good idea, to beat up a girl. I could sue you for sexual harassment," Max said trying to hold back her fear.
"Who do you think you are dealing with Miss Dolore? For one, you would have to survive this encounter to sue me; secondly you would have to know that the Mafia owns the courts of New York."
Max took this to heart and knew she had not done very well in outsmarting them. Then she did the only thing she could, not matter how far fetched it was, she attacked Tony. She leapt into the air and crash tackled Tony to the ground straight through a high stool by the bar.
"Argh!!!" yelled Tony in pain.
The ten goons crept forward in a circle toward the two of them but came to a halt when to their surprise Tony told them he was going to fight her alone. Tony had got to his feet and was facing Max in the circle of mobsters, readjusted his tie then out of no where threw a punch straight at Max, who flew back a foot straight onto the floor. As she rolled over and looked up at the ceiling, she saw all the mobsters gaping at her with eyes of thousands of murders, the emotionless faces that she saw meant they weren't going to let her get out alive if they could help it. She regained her footing and wiped the blood from the side of her lips and turned to Tony only to see a foot coming right for her face, she promptly dodged the incoming kick and sent one of her own, which connected with Tony's stomach and sent him flying over the bar, collecting glass bottles and glasses as he flew. As he landed the glass broke all around him with copious amounts of glass shards penetrated his suit and through his back. The bartender gave him a hand and helped him to his feet. As he pulled of his jacket, Max could see the white tee shirt ensanguined with the blood of battle. As if he hadn't be injured at all, Tony vaulted over the bar and dived straight at Max, the impending impact certain to cause major pain. As they collided, Max hit the ground with a thud and a loud crack tore through the establishment. Tony who had his fall broken by Max lay motionless on top of her. Max rolled out from underneath him to find he had broken his neck during the initial impact. When they collided, Tony's head drove into Max's chest cavity, thus the loud crack. As she checked his pulse to make certain he was dead, the blood stopped pouring from his back, Max saw what appeared to be a note in his pocket, although it seemed as if he had meant for her to kill him she still slipped it into her own pocket just as the other mobsters closed in.
She knew she would have to find a quick exit or else suffer an excruciating death at the hands of the heartless mobsters. The mobsters pulled out an assortment of personalized weapons and started to chase after Max who was careening around the corner of the bar around to the fire exit. As she neared the exit she realized it was padlocked and the only other exit was encompassed with mobsters. Max's head darted in all directions looking for the fire axe only to notice that it had been taken out of its original hold and was now being used by one of the mobsters as his weapon of choice. Thinking to herself, she knew what she had to do, get the fire axe. After all, acquiring one fire axe from a mobster was better than fighting ten mobsters to get to the front door. She lured the mobsters wielding the fire axe into the back of the storage room. Once there she hid atop on of the shelves containing crates of the most expensive whiskey in New York. The mobster searched left then right for any sign of young Miss Dolore. He was very silent as he searched but that didn't matter because at the moment Max caught a glimpse of him directly under her, she pushed the crate of whiskey onto the head of the mobster. Needless to say, the mobster collapsed under the weight and force of the crate and dropped the axe he was carrying. As though evading the police, Max quickly jumped from the shelf and seized the axe and busted through the storage room door knocking down a few of the mobsters who were eavesdropping on the goings on in the storage room. Max sprinted towards the fire exit and took a big lunging swing at the lock and it came off. She charged through the fire exit and just as she exited the alarm went off and the sprinklers started spilling water throughout the Club drenching all who remained inside. She had done it and she knew she would have to get out of that area and back to safety as soon as possible. She made for a back alley onto a main street and summoned a cab who took off rather abruptly towards Max's parent's house. Once they arrived, Max paid the cabbie and went around the side and checked under the air conditioning unit for the key to the house (Max's parent's showed her where they had hid it in case of an emergency) and went inside. As she unpacked she realized how late it was and decided to go to sleep.


Signore had just instructed one of his henchmen to take two plates of food to Mister and Missus Dolore so as not to let them starve to death. The henchman was dressed oddly similar to all the other Mafioso’s except for the fact his watch was a Rolex Yacht-Master. The henchmen nodded and carried out the order heading to the kitchen, where two plates of the finest lasagna New York had to offer. As he neared the freezer, he placed the plates down and searched for the keys to the lock.
"Dammit, where are the keys?" he asked himself.
As usual he had forgotten his keys and couldn't open the freezer door, so he made the trip back to his car and found his keys locked inside.
"Sonuva..." cried the henchmen.
He looked around and saw a chamois sitting on a toolbox; he waltzed over to it, picked it up and wrapped it around his hands. He pulled his fist back and with all his might released a punch that shattered the glass window into a million pieces. The alarm was going ballistic while he reached in for his keys and switched off the alarm. The wailing of the alarm grabbed the attention of a few nearby mobsters whom he quickly informed of what had happened. He rushed off to the freezer and unlocked it before picking up the two plates. As he looked around for the Dolore's he found them huddled up and asleep in the corner of the freezer.
"Wake up Mister Dolore, wake up Missus Dolore," chimed the henchmen.
"Hunh?!?!" said Mister Dolore as he opened his eyes.
"Had a good sleep I take it?" asked the henchmen rather politely.
"For sleeping it a freezer it was actually quite a good sleep, temperature must be around fridge temperature am I right?" queried Mister Dolore.
"Indeed it is, we can't have our "guests" freezing to death now can we?" asked the henchmen rhetorically, putting much emphasis on the word guests.
"I was under the impression we were hostages not guests," said Mister Dolore rather musingly.
"Quite right, Mister Dolore. Is it safe to assume, that the lasagna is up to scratch?" wondered the henchmen.
"'Tis indeed, what is your name son?" asked Mister Dolore with a rather incandescent look on his face.
"Err...Capo, Erbaccia Capo," said Erbaccia as if he were having a friendly meeting with a couple he had never met before in a coffee shop.
"Nice to meet you Erbaccia, for mobsters, you lot are awful nice to us, why is that?" asked Mister Dolore.
"We follow orders," stated Erbaccia.
Erbaccia turned and left the freezer, making sure to lock it as he left.


The smell of eggs and bacon wafted into the room which woke Max with delight. As she rose, she realized that when she went to bed, she was by herself and now there was a stranger making breakfast in the kitchen. She began to believe it was her mother and that the entire ordeal had been a bad dream. As she entered the kitchen her hopes deflated as she saw a mysterious hooded figure placing bacon onto a piece of toast. The hooded figure was wearing a black hooded cloak which somewhat resembled monk's robes. The person was not very tall, and had a raspy voice. Her mind began to spin and her thoughts were going a million miles an hour. Who was this mysterious hooded figure? How did they get in? Why were they making breakfast for the both of them? Apparently unaware that the hooded figure had started eating, she spoke.
"Who are you?"
"Ah, good morning Max, I didn't see you there," stated the mysterious hooded man. She had realized it was a man by the voice. She thought she had recognized the voice but thought it must have been her imagination. He turned to look at her but she could not see what he looked like as his face was concealed behind a mask.
"Who are you?" asked Max again rather impatiently.
"Not even a hello, that won't do, will it Miss Dolore?" the mysterious hooded man said quite calmly.
"Hello, who are you?" Max spat out as fast as she could.
"Names are just titles, they mean nothing, just think of me as a friendly mysterious man," said the mysterious man gleefully.
"What are you doing here?"
"I am here to help you get your parent's back," the mysterious man seemed rather happy when saying this.
"How do you propose that?" asked Max sounding rather doubtful.
"Well, it has come to my attention that you had a run in with Tony Salerno at the Businessmen's Club. Shortly after killing him you stole a note from his pocket, correct?" asked the mysterious man.
Max thought about this for a while. Killed him, she knew he had died by accident but she felt rather good that someone had thought she had killed a powerful Mafioso.
"That is correct, I have it right here," she said as she pulled out the note.
"Read it," he said rather disdainfully.
"Okay, no need to have a fit," replied Max whilst unfolding the note. Her eyes scrolled down the note as she read it.
"It is some kind of riddle," she said.
"Indeed it is, in order for you to find your parent's, you will have to figure out this riddle," cried out the mysterious man, his voice seemed to be fading away.
"But..."
Max looked up to see the mysterious man was no longer present, he had disappeared, but a case had appeared on the table, she decided to leave it alone for now to figure out the riddle. She reread the note and tried to decipher the riddle:
If you walk on me, you will be walking on water without getting wet.
I am hard and straight, I'll lead you to the sea.
I come first, I don't come last.
In a race, I'd be considered fast.
First not last, I'd be considered fast...Max figured out, very quickly, that it meant one. You will be walking on water without getting wet, I'll lead you to sea...after a little while Max still hadn't realized what it was and it was 6:00pm, time for the news. As she turned on the TV they had a story on the new cruise ship docked in Hell's Kitchen. The last piece of the puzzle clicked into place, it was a pier, and she knew the clue meant Pier One. She gathered her belongings and remembering to lock the door, headed towards the bus stop. As she waited she looked up at the sky to see there was no moon out, the sky was dimly lit as clouds have blocked out most of the stars. The bus to Battery Park arrived; she paid the fare and took the seat closest to the door. The bus finally arrived at Battery Park after about half an hour and Max rushed down to the end of the pier to see a man dressed almost identically to that of Tony Salerno. He made a hasty turn around, pistol drawn and aimed straight for Max.
"Miss Dolore, I finally have the pleasure of meeting you face to face, I have heard so much about you from my superiors," said the man. The man in his late 40's was carrying a revolver, .357 caliber. His dress sense had mirrored all of the other Mafioso’s Max had encountered.
"So I take it you mean business with those armaments this isn't a social call," said Max quite animatedly.
"You hit the nail on the head with that one, Miss Dolore," said the man with no hesitation, he cocked his gun and aimed at Max's head. Without warning all of the lights in the vicinity began to flicker.
"What's with the lights?" the man asked himself.
The lights had completed gone out and it was pitch black. Max seized this opportunity to get out of the man's line of sight. As he looked to where she was standing, he could not make out if she was there or not and began making pot shots into the nothingness that was set before him. Max scrambled through her bag trying to look for something to give her an advantage. After fiddling with all her items, she found a nail file; she knew she could get behind him and use this to greatest effect. The man was getting scared, he was perspiring profusely and he kept wiping the sweat from his brow.
"W..w..where a..a..are y..y..you M..m..miss D..d..dolore?" asked the man his voice filled with fear made evident by the trembling of his entire body. So silent was Max that she could hear the heavy breathing of the man from afar. As she crept closer, he made a sudden twist in her direction, whether or not he knew it, his gun was pointed directly at Max's head. She froze; the fear had begun to fill her body. She began to think that he would still make pot shots in that direction, just like he had when the lights first went out. What was she going to do?


Mister Dolore was beginning to feel cold, it was getting darker, his eyelids were heavy, he wasn't tired nor was he going to sleep, he was falling unconscious. Missus Dolore was surveying the freezer when she felt her husband go limp and his head drooped off of her shoulder. She turned to see if he was alright but was startled when the freezer door opened.
"Good evening, Missus Dolore, may I inquire as to how Mister Dolore is?" asked Erbaccia.
"He has fallen unconscious by the look of it, you need to get him out of here, he is freezing," exclaimed Missus Dolore.
"No can do, but if he is beginning to get hypothermia, I could raise the temperature slightly, no point in having dead hostages know is there?" a rhetorical question he had added unnecessarily.
Erbaccia walked out and around to the side of the freezer where the temperature gauge was located. He checked how cold it was and the readings shocked even him, the thermometer read 28°F.
"Black hell, that's way too low, someone's been messing with the temperature controls," said Erbaccia frantically trying to readjust the temperature. He finally got it back to 40°F. He made his way back to the freezer to check on the occupants.
"That's much better, thank you Erbaccia," cried Missus Dolore gleefully as though totally forgetting her current predicament.
"Ah no problem, just had a minor malfunction but all's well now," replied Erbaccia with a hesitant cough at the end.
"Oh look Mister Dolore is coming around, you did good Erbaccia," exclaimed Missus Dolore joyfully as ever.
"Thanks," gave a little wink and left without saying another thing. He inserted the key into the lock, gave a slight jerk to the right and crack the key had broken into two pieces.
"S-O-B," vociferated Erbaccia in the utmost disgust. The door had been locked but now he needed not only a new key but to extract the other half of the key from the locking mechanism. He made uttered unintelligible profanities until he could be no longer heard by anyone down by the freezer.
Signore was most displeased when he had received the news of the freezer and the key.
"The f..f..freezer had b..b..been t..t..tampered with sir," Erbaccia let out a little whine as he finished saying this.
"M..m..my key also b..b..broke in the l..l..lock, sir," Erbaccia was only the verge of bawling, his eyes had gone glassy and a tear started to trickle down his face. He knew what the punishment was for people who could not keep their hostages alive and well...death.
"You know what you have to do now don't you Erb?" asked Signore in a calm voice.
"Sir?" Erbaccia had a puzzled look on his face.
"You need to work harder and be more vigilant," replied Signore, not blinking once during the whole conversation.
"Yessir," Erbaccia was halfway to kissing Signore's ring when Signore told him to leave it and step up security around the freezer. He gave him a new key and a new lock.
"What's the lock for sir?" inquired Erbaccia.
"It's for when you use the fire axe on the old lock, Erb," Signore retorted as if talking to an imbecile.
"Go," squawked Signore.
"Yes sir," Erbaccia was halfway down the stairs by the time he had finished his sentence. He looked around for the fire axe and promptly broke the glass shortly after disabling the alarm. He grabbed the axe and headed to the freezer, took a big swing and broke the lock in two. The freezer door flung open and when Missus Dolore caught a glimpse of the axe she nearly had a heart attack.
"What are you going to do with that?" she asked still in shock.
"Oh I just used it to break the lock, my key broke in it so I need to replace it with a new one," replied Erbaccia in a monotonous voice. At once he began to work at replacing the lock and installing security cameras around the freezer, in particular, near the freezer's temperature controls. After installing the security cameras and testing each one, he checked on Mister and Missus Dolore to see they were still breathing, and then he fastened the door and went on patrol.


Max was looking down the barrel of a gun pointed directly at her head, she had all of her wildest memories flash before her eyes, what they say about death is true, just before you're about to die, your life flashes before your eyes. Just as she swore to herself that she heard him squeeze the trigger a quiet click was heard. The man had run out of ammo. Max breathed a sigh of relief so loud that the man had heard the sigh and was now moving hurriedly in Max's direction. Max dropped into a prone position and rolled out of the way. The man had just reached Max's previous position when he felt a cold, metal blade on his neck; it was Max's nail file. She had snuck up behind him and pressed the sharp end of her file to his neck.
"Very good Miss Dolore," the man said to Max the fear in his voice evident.
"What are you going to do with me now?" he asked as the sweat dripped down his face as if he had a bucket of water poured of his head.
"Isn't it obvious?" asked Max, "I'm going to kill you," she told him. Just as she said that, she sliced his neck open causing him to bleed out. She dropped his body as though it was covered in radioactive germs. A note was sticking out of his pocket just like it had in Tony's and she began to read:
There is only one more clue to be found, but why even try to get it?
The time is halfway up and you still need to make it to the next clue.
So try your best buy you are sure to fail.
No-one who has tried has ever prevailed.
The next clue lies in the coat of Bugsy Siegel.
He will be waiting for you in the back of the Venus Lounge tomorrow night at 6:00pm.

Morning dawned and Mister and Missus Dolore felt as though they would never again see their daughter, never mind the outside world. Hours ticked by and no-one had come into the freezer to check on them. Icicles began to form on Mister Dolore's moustache. His cheeks turned a sky blue, he started getting colder and colder, his teeth were chattering furiously as hypothermia set in. Missus Dolore began to panic, her husband was dying and there was nothing she could do about it. She was thinking how unlikely anyone would arrive in time to help her husband, let alone actually help him. Then footsteps were heard. Missus Dolore's cried out for help and heard the footsteps coming closer.
"What's wrong?" asked Erbaccia as he came to a halt at the door.
"Mister Dolore is getting hypothermia, he needs medical attention now, he could die," exclaimed Missus Dolore.
"Just let me open this door and I'll see what I can do," said Erbaccia as he fiddled with the keys before inserting the wrong one into the lock.
"Hurry...please," Missus Dolore said as she began to bawl.
"Don't worry I've found the key," just as he had said this the door flung open, the light temporarily blinding Missus Dolore. Erbaccia rushed over to Mister Dolore to find him cold as ice, which he had expected. He hoisted Mister Dolore onto his shoulders in a fireman's carry and headed out, forgetting to close the door behind him. Unfortunately for Missus Dolore, another mafioso was passing by and shut the door for him, making the whole freezer tremble as he slammed it shut. Missus Dolore began to pray that they could save Mister Dolore, she had no idea what was happening and there was no way she could help the outcome.

Max had just rolled over and opened her eyes to find out the time was 12:15pm, she had slept for so long it was afternoon. She was well rested and ready for whatever she may have to face at the Venus Lounge. Knowing she had five hours and forty-five minutes to wait, she figured she would do some training of sorts, on the punching bag. Starting slowly, she practiced her jabs and hooks, and then she made her way into combination moves followed by fierce kicking. She finally made her way into full body combinations where at one point she kicked the bag so hard, it ripped then flew off the hook onto the floor spewing sand everywhere. Four and a half hours had passed and she had just finished cleaning up the sand, when she glanced at the clock, 4:45pm, she had and hour and fifteen minutes before she had to meet Bugsy, she was so nervous, she didn't know what to do. Should she wait for the time to pass? Should she go early and wait there or maybe he was already there waiting? Should she keep training without the punching bag? She didn't know what to do, so she took a seat on the edge of her bed and laid back staring at the ceiling. Her eyes started to get heavier and heavier, she was falling asleep and couldn't control it.

Some hours later, the freezer door opened and Mister Dolore walked in and took a seat next to Missus Dolore who was so happy to see him she couldn't hold back the tears.
"It's okay, they took good care of me, I'm fine now," explained Mister Dolore to an overwhelmed Missus Dolore.
"Thank heavens you're alright, I thought you would be a goner for sure," sobbed Missus Dolore.
"Well I'm here now; thank goodness they took care of me. You know it's beginning to become apparent to me that our captors really need us because they take care of us too well for people they want to kill," said Mister Dolore contemplating that fact. Not a word was said by either of the Dolore's. Both were in a silent reverie, it was so silent they could hear the horns of cars down the road about 300 yards away. Footsteps upon footsteps were heard going past the freezer yet still no-one had come in to give them food or tell them about anything. Mister Dolore was so anxious to find out if Max had found them; he wasn't even bored watching icicles form. Missus Dolore was trying to differentiate between all the shades of blue she could see, the freezer was totally blue apart from the Dolore's who were starting to go a sky blue. They didn't feel cold, they had been in there so long they were used to it, even when Mister Dolore left the freezer; it felt hot to him being out of the freezer for so long. They knew it shouldn't be like that but they had gotten accustomed to it without being able to control it. Max had to come soon or else they'd get so used to it; they wouldn't be able to tell if they were dying.

The clock beeped as it clocked another hour, Max heard this and woke up, it was 6:00pm, she would be late and she knew that she would regret it, if she was still alive. The time had come to end this madness, this childish game concocted by non other than the Mafia, or so she thought. As she slipped a set on knuckle dusters into her coat pocket she wondered what might be the reason they would target her, after all she was as normal as any other citizen of New York. 6:15pm. Bugsy was tapping his fingers on the bar in a way so ominous that Max thought she may not even last five minutes. The wispy white hair of Bugsy flowed through the hair as he turned around with his demonic stare, fixated on Max.
"Ah Max, I am rather honored that you finally graced me with your presence," with a satirical tone.
"Enough of this madness, it ends here."
With but a second to take into account what she had said, Bugsy's lipped was swollen and dripping blood down his chin. His long and bony finger gave only the slightest touch to his face as he wiped the blood onto a nearby napkin. A low rumbling came from out the back. For what seemed like a stampede was actually a gang of henchmen out to save Bugsy some time.
"Finish her," exclaimed Bugsy.
One of the henchmen began to unholster his weapon and the others followed suit. One by one the henchmen attempted to hit Max who was dodging all the attacks with such finesse that she could have been seeing the world in slow motion. A man about 6'2", the biggest of the gang took a swing at Max and knocked her clean off her feet. As she landed, she noticed a device under the barstool counting down, it was a bomb. Thinking of a way she could use this to her advantage Max decided to do the only thing she could think of; lock them inside with the bomb with no time to disarm it. The counter was at: 59 seconds so she knew to act fast. Her mind was going a million miles an hour. She noticed that the fire exit's lock was unlocked. She ran towards it, removed it from the door and run out of the exit. She made her way around to the front of the building, attached the lock to the door and locked it. She made her way around to the back and started to move a dumpster down the alleyway in front of the fire exit. All of the men inside were banging and cursing behind the door. There was nothing they could do but await the impending doom. Max sprinted down the road until she heard a blast in the distance, the shock wave knocked her over. She'd done it. She got up and the payphone in the street was ringing. No-one was insight. She went to the phone and picked it up and the same voice that had called her saying her parents were being held captive, spoke to her with a chuckle and explained that the only way to get her parents back was to pay up, he was not going to fight her. The phone call was ended abruptly by a man standing behind Max. She turned to notice the same mysterious man that she had met in her kitchen the other day.
"Max come with me, I know how we can save your parent's."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"You don't, but I'm the only person that can help you so you will have to put your faith in me."
Max didn't like the idea but she nodded and got in his car. The commute took a mere 20 minutes and Max realized where they were, The Empire State Building.
"What are we doing here," asked Max.
The man gave no response and the ventured to the top. There was a suitcase sitting on the ground facing the Chrysler Building. The man unlocked the suitcase and revealed a sniper rifle with accuracy within 1mm from a distance of 800 yards. As he started to assemble the rifle, he handed Max a set of binoculars and told her to look at the stairwell in the Chrysler Building. She noticed a red laser tripwire connected to a wall mine. He explained that the ring leader of the entire hostage taking was going to arrive there soon with two body guards, who will clear the stairwell before he makes his way to the roof to his helicopter.
"The guards will set off the trap and be blown up and when Signore comes to investigate, you can take the shot."
"Right"
Fifteen minutes passed and Max was getting impatient when up the stairs came the guards. As expected they set off the trap but instead of Signore coming up to investigate, he made a run for it.
"He's running, what I do?" asked Max starting to hyperventilate slightly.
"Wait for him to pull out of the garage and shoot the tires on his car, when he comes to a halt, shoot him."
The black Mercedes coming screeching out of the parking lot and Max proceeded to shoot out the wheels. The first shot was a clean hit but the next hit the mags.
"He's still going," she yelled.
"Fire, quickly."
She took a deep breath and shot the left back wheel and then the right. Signore was running on one wheel but he decided to stop and get out. She couldn't get a clean shot because he hid behind the door of his car and then when a truck came by, he rolled underneath it and ran across the street. Max waited for him to be in plain sight and took the shot. Headshot. Clean as a whistle. Just as she turned around to ask the man where her parent's were, she noticed a note floating in the breeze towards her but the man was nowhere to be seen. The note had directions to where her parent's were being kept. She arrived at the freezer itself at 7:00pm. The door was unlocked and there was a stream of frozen blood on the floor from inside the freezer. Max's heart sunk. As she pushed the door open to view what had happened, Max started to shed a tear. Her parent's had been killed at point blank range and now there bodies were hanging from meat hooks. She went up to her deceased mother and hugged her one last time. She could hardly let go but she moved over to her father. She put her head on his chest and hugged him. As she wiped the tears from her eyes, she saw a note attached to her father's torso that she had not seen earlier. The note read:
There was more to this than you could have ever begun to grasp, Miss Dolore.
Not only did you help me take control of the New York Crime Syndicate but I also took care of the two people who knew of my plans...your mother and father.
You will never know who I am and you will never again see me, but know this; I am sure that you, my sister, will come to realize that you have...Tainted Blood...