Cunningham.

“Now what has that got to do with it?” asked Patterson, still angry at the unanswered questions.

“Because Mr. Patterson, if we tell you and someone hears about us telling you, we’re both as good as dead” replied Reilly.

Chapter 4

Balto never liked having his family involved in what he did. It would put risk to his family’s safety, not only to the police or his own rivals, but having them follow in his footsteps would be even worse. He was happy with his “new” life; his family grew without hunger, without want, without the poverty that he’d grown up in. Jenna had overlooked Balto’s criminal short comings, she even forgave him on a number of occasions, and she loved him. Their children had grown up in safety and, for most of their life, without the knowledge of who their father was.

But not all things go as planned, and this is exactly what happened with Balto. Most of his children didn’t really care about their fathers work. Though on occasion they may have used their father for their own needs, but for the most part they tried to work things out for themselves. But his youngest son, Kodi, had worshipped his father and his hero status.

He was full of spirit and a mind full of imagination. When he discovered who his father really was, he fell in love with the idea of being a gangster, the freedom, the respect, no rules, everything that came with such an “occupation”. Balto had tried to keep such a life from him as far as possible, but his son was stubborn and full of spirit. Balto eventually had to give in to Kodi after the young male was found, against his father’s wishes, with some of his neighborhood friends, all with criminal histories.

It was when Balto and Jenna returned home that day that Balto saw what Kodi really thought of what his father stood for.

“Do you know who did this?” asked Kodi

“I don’t know who” replied Jenna

“Your mother’s had enough for today Kodiak. She’s already been questioned by the police, she doesn’t need another round of questioning” said Balto. He used Kodi’s full name whenever he meant something. 

“You’re just going to let these guys get away with this? How would that look in the eyes of the other families?” questioned a slightly tempered Kodi.

“Please Kodi, don’t bother your father on things you don’t know” said Jenna, trying to keep her son from doing anything foolish.

“I know perfectly well about things. If someone tries to kill a family member, you kill them back” said Kodi.

“Kodi, that’s not the way we do things. Besides, we don’t even know who they are.” said Balto, trying to end the discussion. But Kodi pressed on.

“Sure it’s the way you do things. It’ll be just the old days with you, saving the town from Steele and all… ” Kodi was cut off from his appraisal of his father, by, well… his father. Balto gave Kodi a slap in the face.

“I told you, never to bring that subject up again! That is not how we are meant to do things” Balto repeated firmly.

Kodi face changed from shock to anger “But you did it” he hissed at his father.

“That was different! I had no other choice, what’s done is done. Leave it at that!” said Balto, “It’ll never be that way again” he said much lower, almost inaudible.

“You’re wrong” Kodi said, finding nothing else to say, as he ran out in a rage. There was a moment of silence between Balto and Jenna.

“I don’t like it when you both fight about stuff like that” said Jenna; she never referred to what Balto did as criminal to his face. 

“I know, but I don’t like it when Kodi thinks’ that I’m a man that kills for a reputation” said Balto, being gentle with his words.

“He has the wrong idea of what you do because you haven’t shown him. If he knew what it is you actually did, then maybe he wouldn’t be so-” Jenna was cut off. “You want me to show him everything? After I’ve done everything to keep him away from it, you want me to turn him into a criminal?” Balto asked, quite surprised at Jenna’s words.

“No I don’t! I think you should just show him that you aren’t a bloody-thirsty animal, that you aren’t controlled by revenge or a reputation” said Jenna. Balto saw that he wasn’t going to have much choice with this; however he didn’t like his family to ever be involved. So he gave one last shot at convincing Jenna otherwise.

“Jenna, we’re close to becoming completely legitimate. If I show Kodi everything that I do, he might become even more interested and might just make us criminal again. Do you want Kodi to be a criminal?” Balto asked again, hoping that his words, though not entirely true, would force Jenna too concede on the subject.

Jenna saw that Balto was very strongly against Kodi’s involvement in the organization. Not to mention he said that they were close to being legitimate, a promise he had made with her, and a dream that he had had ever since the children were born.  It was at this that Jenna conceded “No Balto, I don’t...” Jenna sighed; “Your right, Kodi should stay away from that life” this was one of the few times that they had ever said anything about the family and the business that Balto was in. 

*******

“So gentlemen, here it is! Our room of fame” said Branford, alongside him were detectives Cunningham and Reilly. The walls of the room were covered with photographs, all roughly shaped in a triangle/pyramid shape.

“The room of fame?” questioned Patterson

“Families! Agent Patterson” said Branford

 “Crime families to be precise” said Reilly

“Jesus!” replied Patterson, “That’s got to be half the town” said Smiths

Branford chuckled at this, “This isn’t even a tenth of the town” he said. The two agents took a look around the room.

“You name em we got em. And if we ain’t got em then we’d might as well give up” said Cunningham.

“I don’t follow you” said Smiths

“If we don’t have a photo of every gangster, then we’ve fallen behind” said Branford

“And these are all the gangsters in town?” asked Patterson, seeing a long journey ahead of him.

“No” said Cunningham, “Only about a quarter of them are here in Nome, the rest are scattered across Alaska” he continued.

Patterson found a piece of paper that had “Balto’s Outfit” written on it, it was above a small triangle of photos. Balto’s photo, itself was taken shortly after the town had gotten its Diphtheria serum and he was smiling, standing beside Jenna in front of the hospital. Patterson also noticed that there weren’t that many photos below Balto’s.

“Why is Balto’s outfit so small?” Patterson asked.

“Small?” Branford questioned. “My dear Mr. Patterson, you’re only looking at the photo’s we have. He has dozens, if not hundreds, of wolf pack connections that stretch from here too Dodge” said Branford “And they’re all a bit camera shy” added Cunningham.

“How come he hasn’t been rubbed out, yet?” asked Smiths

 “Mostly due to these three” said Reilly, pointing the two photos below Balto’s. One had an old looking Goose, a frown on his face, whilst the other had two polar bears, one tall and one short, all smiles.

“The Goose is named Boris, aka ‘Uncle’ Boris. He’s a Russian Goose that taught Balto all he knows” Cunningham started. “And these two are Muk and Luk. The shorter one is Muk, the big guy Luk, can’t speak a word, something wrong with his vocals. These two are pretty dangerous and only answer to Balto or Boris.” continued Cunningham.  “They like Boris especially.” added Reilly.

“Who are these guys?” asked Patterson, pointing towards the few photos below the three above.

“Them? They’re nobody’s” said Reilly

“What?” said Patterson, surprised at the answer.

“He hires hoods every once and a while” stated Reilly

 “Now you know why we are so carful?” asked Branford, “We are outnumbered a hundred to one and when we flex our muscle without their permission, we all lose” he continued. 

“This is gonna be a long case” stated Smiths

“You have no idea” said Cunningham