<div class="floatleft">(http://www.colourbox.com/preview/4491051-228349-young-mafia-man.jpg)</div><strong>Marco Palazzi<br/>At the piers<br/>'Fixing' a problem</strong><br/><br/>"Not so fast there, Vitolli." her 'molester' began, even as she spun to face him. She had seen him once before, or so she thought. It was hard to tell as he kept the fedora low enough his face was hard to make out. It was a wonder if didn't smell like smoke, always so close to his cigarette. The smoking alone was a strange habit to see in public. While it wasn't outright banned, smoking had lost it's popularity over the years in Rock City. These days, if someone saw you smoking, it was assumed you were either trying to impress someone, were a gangster, or likely it wasn't tobacco. The last time she had run into the smoker, who had never given her his name, was on a day she was having a real hot streak, when he had approached her for thirty perfect in 'operating fees' for the use of the pier. That had been the only time Jasmine had probably been happy to see the cop round the corner.<br/><br/>"Your fees are more than overdue." he explained, keeping a tight grip on the woman's wrist, even as she struggled. "Plus you owe interest, and I intend to collect. People pay good money to use these docks, you know. They don't want them mucked up with you kids and irreputable businesses. So you can either hand over your 'fee' willingly..."  As he droned on, across the way, the cop seemed completely oblivious to her plight. In fact he was rather occupied by her watcher, telling the cop a teary eyed story story while pointing down the pier. "...you listening? Don't worry about your friend, he's good at what he does. Not too loyal though, if the money's good."