Mike Messina at the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym,
Philadelphia.

By: Ron Nelson
(© 2011 by the author)

The author retains all rights. No reproductions are allowed without the author's consent. Comments are appreciated at...

PART 1 — THE DESARIO FAMILY INTERESTS

The entrance was about twenty feet down a dark and damp brick paved alley which cut through between Pine and Spruce Streets in the heart of old Philadelphia. Next to the entrance doorway was a small window in which was hung an even smaller red neon sign which said "Palermo Steam Baths & Gym."

Mike Messina stepped down the three worn white marble steps from the alley to the entrance and pushed open the heavy old black painted door at the foot of the steps. Then he stepped inside to the small marble-floored entry.

Inside the entrance Mike glanced to the right and saw, as usual, Joey sitting behind his grilled window. Joey was the doorkeeper. If Joey didn't know you, you didn't get in. Nobody knew much about Joey except that he must be in his 70's now and that he had sat behind that grill forever. It was hard to catch his eye as they were skewed in two different directions, and you never knew which eye was looking at you. Nevertheless, Joey saw and remembered everybody who went in or out of the "Palermo Steam Baths & Gym." That was the main thing.

The Bellini family of the Cosa Nostra covered all of the greater Philadelphia region, and the DeSario family, a branch of the Bellini family, was assigned the southeastern quadrant of the city. That was the area south of Market Street and east of Broad Street, running all the way down between the Delaware River and Broad Street to the bottom around the Packer Avenue shipping terminals.

The DeSario family firmly but quietly controlled their district, and as long as everybody stayed in line, their district remained quiet. Louis DeSario, the Capo of the family, took charge of betting and wagering, and had the territory staked out so that a man could place a bet at just about any street corner shop. The odds of winning and getting paid quickly by a DeSario bookie were a lot better than buying a ticket from the State run lottery, and so, the State lottery never did much business in the DeSario neighborhood.

There was very little crime in the area, at least for the small street merchants who paid the DeSario interests for protection. Louis's brother Ambrose DeSario headed the DeSario Security Services Co., and those who didn't subscribe to these services frequently found themselves to be more often the victims of various vandalism and theft incidents if they didn't sign up with DeSario than if they did. Once they signed up, their vandalism and theft rates dropped to next to nothing.

Garbage collections, construction services and a number of other small day-to-day activities were headed by a third brother, Sal DeSario. It always seemed better and easier to work with the DeSario interests rather than oppose them and then have to put up with all sorts of "accidents" and "inconveniences" which ended up costing more in the long run.

But then, offsetting these costs, there were no fast food or big chain stores or organizations the local business had to compete against, because even the outside "big boys," as the DeSario's referred to them, generally found it too difficult to do business in that part of Philadelphia. Either they found themselves with too few or even any customers, or had more vandalism problems and car thefts, or endless problems and delays in getting the various operating permits they needed to operate from City Hall. In any event, they eventually decided to give up any interest in having any outlets in that area, or closed them down soon after they'd started. That kept alive the jobs of the local residents in the district, and the income and profit these jobs produced. The DeSario's seemed to make out well too.

Another plus in having the DeSario's overseeing things was that whenever one of the churches, synagogues or local relief charities was holding some kind of benefit to raise funds for a new building they could always count on a nice donation from the DeSario's. For funerals, one of the biggest wreaths always said, "With Sympathy, the DeSario Family," or if a family had little money for a good funeral, an envelope from the DeSario's was always to be found in the collection plate.

Yet another benefit was that it was known that whenever one of the working men or women who lived in the district got hurt on the job or got sick and couldn't work, arrangements were made to take care of them and their children until they could get back on their feet. Or even if somebody was having serious "home" problems with their wives or husbands or their kids getting into trouble, there'd be somebody around to hear about it, listen to them, and give them a hand and a dollar to help them out. The DeSario's reach covered their territory in depth.

Sure, maybe the DeSario's took good care of themselves along the way too, but it was better than giving it all to some big national business chain or impersonal government agency, and then you never saw either them or your money again.

PART 2 — MIKE AT THE PALERMO STEAM BATHS & GYM

Mike, 22, and with a solid muscular build, about 5'9" and 180 pounds and good natured, was a guy who knew his way around. He was a fast learner and also knew how to give and take his licks as the situation might require. His job now was a Driver for the DeSario interests. The job of "Driver," however, could be just about whatever his Capo or Boss wanted it to be.

Mostly that meant he drove a van or car around their district to pick up or make deliveries of any goods or anything else that needed to be moved from one place to another, such as from a warehouse to a store or back again, or carry payments to one business or receipts from another, or maybe chauffeuring some senior members of the DeSario family from one place or meeting to another.

It could also mean, however, keeping guard over someone or something, or being on hand to unobtrusively observe somebody or something, or receive or deliver messages that were better done verbally and in person rather than in writing or by phone. Modern electronic communication devices were rarely used by any of the DeSario interests.

Generally, however, a Driver didn't get involved in anything that was illegal or which might attract any police attention. The DeSario's already had other men or connections around to take care of any "services" which the police might frown upon. These were men who already had some kind of police record, and if they got caught again, the DeSario's knew just whom to see to extricate them from any problems they found themselves in.

Meanwhile, they liked to keep some of their most promising young men, like Mike, "clean" of any kind of police records.

*        *        *        *

Mike's mother and father had both died before he was five. As a result, his mother's brother and his wife, Frankie and Adelaide DiBrizzi, took him in as their son as they had no children of their own. Adelaide's name before she married was DeSario. She was one of the three daughters of Ernie DeSario, the earlier patriarch of the whole DeSario clan.

Mike always remembered his visits as a child, once or twice a year, to the home of Ernie and Maria DeSario. These were generally for the baptism, wedding reception or funeral of one or another of the close DeSario relatives. From the outside, Ernie and Maria's brick row house looked like any other row house among the rows and rows of row houses which lined the quiet and generally tree shaded streets in the better parts of southeast Philadelphia.

But inside, their row house turned out to be three connected row houses, with elaborately framed old family portraits of their Sicilian ancestors, oriental rugs, polished furniture, sets of gleaming china and polished silver on the dining room table, and an elaborately carved Cross of Jesus in every room. Maria's kitchen rivaled the finest kitchens in the city's best hotels. Mama Maria — for that's what everyone called her — and her sisters and nieces knew and used every part of that kitchen too. Mike always loved visiting Ernie and Maria, and they always made him feel welcome.

But, around the age of twelve, he knew that he was changing and some day he might not be as close to them as he'd like, nor would they be quite as welcoming to him either. Time would tell.

*        *        *        *

A silent buzzer, activated by Joey's right foot pressing down on a small switch on the floor, clicked the inner door open as Mike approached it. A similar switch, which would be activated by pressing down on another small switch next to his left foot, would not only have bolted shut both the inner and outer steel lined doors, but would also have activated a number of emergency lights inside the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym as well. The left switch hadn't been pressed in more than five years, but it was tested monthly nevertheless.

Mike stepped into the sparse fluorescent lit open lobby of the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym. It looked the same, comparing it to some old pictures in their heavy mahogany frames, as the place had looked more than eighty years ago. Originally, the Palermo Baths were built in the basement of the ornate old Palermo Hotel, one of the first, and finest, steam baths and gyms in the city. But then, time took its toll on the old Palermo Hotel. Eventually, it was torn down and the DeSario interests built a modern and secure warehouse over the baths. However, they kept the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym for the same uses and purposes, which were for both pleasure and business, as it had served during the glory days of the old Palermo Hotel.

Mike had been coming to the Palermo Baths since he was a kid. First it was in the company of his Uncle Frankie, and then later he came alone or with one of his many cousins or friends of the DeSario family, or with some non-family members who had been cleared to use and relax at the baths as well.

The Palermo Baths were laid out in sort of a labyrinth with a great many passageways, rooms and sections. It was hard for someone who didn't know the place to find his way around. That was intentional. Generally, however, the steam rooms, hot pool baths and massage tables were to the left and extended to the rear. In the far left rear, however, were a couple of lounge rooms and writing tables. In the right front were the locker rooms and then behind them were a couple of weight rooms. Then behind them were the shower rooms, and lastly the workout rooms, one with a boxing ring and two with wall to wall wrestling mats. The whole gym had the rich smell of sweat, steam, liniment and aromatic oils. It all smelled good and very familiar to Mike.

Over the years, Mike had been in all the rooms, but by the time he was sixteen, he spent most of his time in the weight room until he found the two wrestling rooms, along with the weight room, were of even more interest and appeal to him.

When he first discovered the wrestling rooms, he liked to watch the older men wrestling with each other on the dimly lit mats. Wrestling was a common sport in Sicily, where most of the men who went to the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym were originally from. In Sicily, and at the Palermo Baths, wrestling had its own rules, which weren't many. In fact, the only real rule was nothing more than "Don't hurt the other guy so badly that it causes any injury which lasts after the match is over. Other than that, it's Ok." Mike liked that rule. After all, it was always understood that after a match a man had to return to his job or to his family. Nothing should interfere or should need to be explained for anything that happened at the baths.

It didn't take long for some of the older men to offer to wrestle around with him. He was young, had a good build, was good natured, and liked the give and take of wrestling around with another guy. Some of the men he wrestled with at first were so big and tough they almost crushed him or just about overwhelmed him. Mike didn't like that too much, but he learned from it and soon learned how to give out some punishment to another guy in return if that's what he wanted or called for.

Other men, some younger and some older, took it easier on him. They let him get on top of them or push them around and suggested different holds he could take on them. Or maybe they'd get on top of him and work different holds of their own on him. Mike soon learned how to take another guy's punishment on him. In fact lots of times he liked it and found he wanted more. But he also learned how to give it back the same way too.

Weekday evenings and Saturdays the gym and baths were more crowded. But at other times, like Sundays and very late weekday nights, when most of the men relaxing at the gym had gone back home to be with their families, the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym were almost deserted. Mike liked those later and quieter times best. They were good times to work out in, with just one or two other men around who also had little else to do, or who maybe had some different inclinations, and maybe who liked to work out and wrestle around the same way Mike liked.

*        *        *        *

Mike found he had a natural liking and feel for wrestling around with another guy. He had a good naturally muscular build which he built up even more working out in the Palermo gym. He knew he didn't have any particular competitive interests or inclinations, so he never really cared whether he won or lost. Instead, he got his pleasure from just the wrestling around itself. It didn't make any difference to him whether he was on top of another guy or underneath him. In fact he liked more to be caught and body pressed underneath another guy than being on top of him.

That meant the man he might be wrestling with didn't have to work so hard at it either. That gave both wrestlers more of a chance to get into various holds and deadlocks with each other, and just locking up with each other for the sensual pleasure of the hold and the interaction of their muscular and nearly naked bodies against each other's for as long as they liked.

Early on, Mike found that a number of wrestlers he worked out with, mostly when the gym was mostly empty with nobody else watching them they were more likely to grope around his body looking for a hold and grabbing his cock and balls or his pecs to take a hold on him. Mike liked that and had no problem with it. At other times the man he was wrestling with might get him in a full body press, press his leg down hard against Mike's crotch and press his own face hard against Mike's until they locked as well. Other times, if the other man were sitting or kneeling on his chest, he'd move to sit on Mike's face, almost smothering him.

If they were wrestling only in their jock straps or nude, Mike liked that even better. Mike found he never had any problem with any of it, and found he liked the pleasure of taking the same holds on the man the other with neither of the wrestlers having any problem with it. He found it was just Sicilian style wrestling and expected and anticipated by the men, most of whom were originally Sicilian in their origin.

Mike also remembered how easily he'd get aroused when wrestling with the older men when wrestling Sicilian style, and the first time when he got so aroused that he was forced to shoot his full load of cum during a match.

PART 3 — MIKE MEETS AND WRESTLES DINO

Mike was about seventeen and about 140 pounds at that time, while the man he was wrestling with, Dino, who he knew was a Driver for DeSario at that time. Dino was probably in his late thirties, had a nice layer of fat as well as muscle on him, was about 190 pounds, married, by the ring on his finger, and easy to work out with being half serious but still easy going.

Mike had just finished doing some sit-ups and other stretching exercises on the wrestling mat when Dino came in and asked him if he'd like to just wrestle around some by way of warming up. Mike, liking the looks of Dino's body and the grin on his face, said "Sure, whatever you like!" It was a late Saturday night, and they were the only two in the gym.

They began to wrestle easy wearing only their loose fitting gym shorts over their jockstraps and were barefoot. But soon after they got started, they found their shorts kept getting in the way, so, as no one else was around at the time, they stripped off their shorts and wrestled in just their jockstraps. Mike noticed the big bulge in Dino's jock strap right from the start. Dino looked to be built like a stallion and with his bulging jockstrap looked to be fully aroused. Mike had no problem with that. He liked what he saw. At the same time, Mike found himself getting just as fully aroused, and between looking at Dino's male equipment and then their close body contact wrestling against each other, Mike felt his own jockstrap was getting just as hard and full as Dino's. Both pretended not to notice the other's bulging jockstrap, or what it might mean as their match progressed.

Mike and Dino wrestled back and forth, give and take, easy, for more than half an hour. Dino, being bigger, heavier and older than Mike, was making sure not to come on too strong on Mike and possibly wear him out too soon. As a result, he more or less followed at Mike's own pace, and made sure he stayed mostly under Mike except when Mike himself moved to get under Dino, already liking the feel of Dino's weight and big body on top of him.

At one point soon afterwards Mike found himself riding on Dino's back. Dino was on his hands and knees, and Mike was riding him like the stallion he was. Mike then wrapped his muscled legs tightly around Dino's lower body and then crossed his ankles under Dino to secure his hold. Then he began to kick his heels into Dino's crotch against the big bulge of Dino's jock strap, just to give him a hard time. Mike knew Dino liked to take that punishment, as did Mike himself when somebody did the same thing to him. At the same time that he had that body scissors on Dino with his legs, Mike wrapped his arms around Dino's big chest. Then he grabbed one of Dino's big pecs in each of his fists to keep hold of Dino's upper body and punish him some up there too.

Mike had already found out that Dino liked the crushing holds on his pecs, as did Mike too when somebody did the same thing to him. Both his upper and lower holds on Dino felt good to him, as did the feel of his own big cock and balls pressing and being crushed down by his own body weight hard against Dino's lower back and butt. As Mike kept his punishing holds on Dino's cock and balls and pecs, he heard Dino quietly say a couple of "More, give it to me more and harder — crush me!"

Mike was glad to oblige Dino on that. It felt good to him too. Dino took his punishment for some long minutes, until he finally began to slowly raise himself to his knees, and then sliding Mike off his back down to the mat. It was a move Mike anticipated Dino might eventually make, and made him wonder now how Dino would come back at him. Mike went to his hands and knees to wait for whatever Dino might want to do with him in return for the punishment he'd just given Dino. In fact, he looked forward to it.

Dino turned and got to his knees facing Mike, who was still on all fours waiting for him. Then Dino reached out and pulled the back of Mike's head down and forward until he'd pulled Mike's head down between his thick thighs. Dino had already found out that Mike liked to get his head caught between another guy's upper thighs and get a head scissors on him. Dino had also found that Mike liked it either way, whether his head was facing out toward the other man's feet, or facing hard into his big crotch and cock and balls. In this case, Mike's head was facing down toward the mat, or out toward Dino's feet.

Dino then moved forward a little as if to get on top of Mike's back, but not put too much of his weight on Mike, or more than he could easily take. He wasn't intending to get fully on top of Mike.

Instead, as soon as Dino was positioned on his knees and more or less over Mike's back, he reached under Mike's body and slowly but firmly grabbed the full handful of Mike's jock strap, now bulging with Mike's hard and bulging cock and balls inside them. Then he pushed Mike's jock strap aside, and grabbed Mike's full, bulging and hard cock and balls themselves. It was a full handful for Dino. Mike didn't resist Dino's move or try to pull away from him. He liked the feel of Dino's big hand wrapped around his cock and balls, either ready to crush them in his fist, or whatever else Dino intended to do with him.

For a minute, Dino just held him, waiting to see if Mike would complain or resisted having Dino grab his full cock and balls in his fist. Mike had no complaints about Dino's move on him. Dino then began to arch back on his own haunches and lift Mike up solely by the crotch hold he held on Mike's big cock and balls until he got Mike in a full upside down headstand, with Mike's head caught between his massive thighs, and Mike's legs aiming up toward the ceiling.

The wrestling room they were in was quiet, and no one else was around while Dino held Mike upside down, keeping him in the hold solely by the tight grip he had around Mike's big cock and balls. Mike had no problem with any of it. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten caught in such a predicament, and he waited to see what the bigger, older and muscular Dino would do with him next.

Mike knew, however, that he'd already become heavily aroused and stimulated wrestling with Dino up to this point. And now, with Dino's tight grip on his already big, long and hard rod and thick balls, he was getting even more stimulated and his cock was rock hard. He quickly realized it wouldn't take much more of Dino's hold on him to get him even more aroused and, if so, to force him to come and shoot his load.

Dino sensed Mike's feeling too as he was holding him upside down solely by his hard rod and big balls. At the same time, he also felt Mike's head jammed down hard against his own long and hard rod which stretched out on the mat between his thighs and which Mike's head landed when Dino got him upside down. Dino was willing to take the punishment of his own cock and balls, however, until he'd finished doing what he intended to do with Mike.

Mike felt Dino's big hand, calloused and wet with sweat, not only crushing his big and hard rod as Dino held him in place upside down, but now Dino also began rubbing his hand up and down his rod to stimulate it even more. Mike then knew what Dino had in mind for him. But he liked the feeling of being caught upside down in Dino's tight head scissors on his head, and now Dino's working on his cock harder and harder all the time to force him to come and shoot his load.

Still, Mike desperately tried to escape Dino's hold on him. Then he knew he had only a couple of seconds left. He tried to give one final flip to escape Dino's hold on him, but Dino wouldn't let him go. Then it was too late. Suddenly Mike felt himself shoot his full load of hot white cum out all over Dino's hand. On and on it pulsed out, while Dino still held him upside down in his hold until Mike finally had no more left. Only then did Dino let him go and let him collapse on the mat below him.

As Mike slowly began to recover, he looked up into Dino's face and saw Dino licking his cum off his hand and grinning at him. Mike couldn't help but grin back. "You're a good man, Mike. Maybe we ought to wrestle again and see what happens next time. But maybe it's shower time now?" said Dino.

"Sounds good to me, Dino. Shower time and next time, both," replied Mike.

PART 4 — PAYBACK TIME — MIKE WRESTLES DINO AGAIN

The following week was payback time for Mike and Dino at the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym. Again, it was late Saturday night and the gym and steam baths were empty except for two men in the steam bath who were paying no attention to Mike or Dino. In fact, Dino had been in the steam bath when he noticed Mike come in. He let Mike work out for a while and they met again in the dimly lit wrestling room. When they saw each other, both knew what they wanted — again.

This match went much like their first match. They had more than an hour of easy going give and take wrestling with each other, Dino again making sure, with his heavier weight and strength, not to work Mike over, and get on top of him, more than Mike was able to handle. Mike, in turn, knew that he could do whatever he liked with Dino as Dino both liked to take a lot of punishment, and could always escape from Mike without too much effort any time he wanted.

In their first match, Dino had trapped and caught Mike in a hold Mike couldn't escape from, and he had eventually forced Mike to shoot his full load out into Dino's hand, with Mike unable to stop him.

This time Mike knew he'd like to do the same to Dino, except maybe do him one better. This next match had gone on for well over an hour, give and take, and they were getting more and more aroused as this time they were wrestling naked in the true original Sicilian style of wrestling.

Both knew and liked to get caught in each other's head scissors, and so, more and more, they found themselves locked in a double figure four head scissors. Then each lay on the mat for long minutes at a time, holding the other's head tightly between his own muscular thighs, while his own head was caught just as tightly between the other's thighs. Neither could ever get enough of the sensual feel of the hold, and as a result their holds on each other lasted longer and longer every time.

In addition, at first they only held the other's head between their thighs, their faces exposed to the air so that they could still breathe easily. But then, first Mike, and then Dino, began more and more to re-position their hold on the other so that their big long and hard cocks and thick balls were pressed hard against the other's face to also suffocate him.

And then that was followed up by instead of just pressing and crushing their big cocks against the other's face, they shifted just a little more until they'd stabbed their hard rods deep down into the other's throat to choke him on it as well.

Neither ever had any problem with any of it. It was just part of wrestling Sicilian style and what both wanted and expected.

But, as they wrestled well into their second hour in the dimly lit and quiet gym so late at night, and they had wrestled more and more slowly and sensually, the knew they were both becoming more and more aroused, and would soon be forced to shoot their big loads of hot white cum, which had been accumulating so long in their hot and sweat covered bodies, whether they were ready for it or not.

Mike knew he wanted to make the final move, and thought maybe Dino wanted him to make it too. Either way, Mike knew he couldn't hold back any longer.

As they remained locked together in their double figure four head scissors, Mike was on top and had succeeded, once again, to stab his big hard rod deep down into Dino's throat impaling his head on to the mat below. No matter how much Dino tried to squirm and bridge out, Mike held him fast.

Mike, meanwhile, had managed to pull his head out from between Dino's massive thighs so that he could then breathe more freely again, and also let him grab Dino's big long rod in his hand and begin to rub and crush it in his fist.

At the same time, he began to slowly push it forward between Dino's big thighs toward the mat, like floor stick shift, to increase the pressure and agony on the part of Dino. Dino didn't complain, however, so Mike knew he was ok with it.

For a couple more minutes the two wrestlers silently struggled against the other, Mike on top determined to force all of Dino's hot white cum out of his hard cock like Dino had done to him earlier, and Dino trying to escape before Mike succeeded.

It didn't work for Dino any more than it did for Mike earlier, but then Mike felt too that he'd become so aroused himself that he couldn't help but shoot his own big load of hot white cum at the same instant as Dino shot his.

Except while Dino's cum shot out into the air and over Mike's hand, still tightly gripping Dino's big cock in it, Mike's own big load of hot white shot deep down into Dino's waiting mouth and throat where Dino was more than willing to take all that Mike had in him.

For what seemed like long minutes the creamy warm cum of both wrestlers pulsed out of their bodies into the hand and mouth and throat of each other. Neither minded it, with both glad to give and take all that they had in them.

Only when it was all over did both wrestlers fall back together on the mat, exhausted, and feeling so good.

The following week Mike got to take and taste, in the same hold, now held in reverse, and he liked the feel and taste of Dino's hot creamy cum fill his mouth and throat, for all he could get, just as much.

During the following days and weeks Mike and Dino saw each other only now and then as both were Drivers for the DeSario family, but had their own assignments, and Dino spent most of his off hours very happily with his family, while Mike found new friends in and out of the DeSario family organization, and working out regularly at the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym.

But on many Saturday nights, when Mike regularly went to the baths, and Dino came in from time to time, they both knew what they wanted when the saw each other, and they got it every time.

PART 5 — A SPECIAL ASSIGNMENT FOR MIKE

Two years had gone by since Mike Messina began working for the DeSario family Cosa Nostra interests in Philadelphia as a Driver. Since beginning to wrestle around with Dino when he was just seventeen, he'd been working out and wrestling around with different men, some his own age and some older, at the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym in old center city Philadelphia, ever since. He could wrestle regular style with gym and wrestling trunks and a lot of rules, but he preferred to wrestle Sicilian style.

Wrestling Sicilian style meant wrestling "anything goes" just so long as no injuries or effects lasted after a match had ended, appealed to Mike. Generally it also meant wrestling nude as did the ancient Greeks, and frequently oiled as well. He knew he wasn't competitive by nature, and, in wrestling, liked just as much to be underneath the wrestler and taking the other wrestler's punishment, as being on top of him and being the one to give it out. For him the pleasure was in the sensual feel of wrestling around with another man, both naked with every part of their bodies exposed to whatever punishment the other man wanted to give, or to give it to the other man instead. With their bodies oiled for smoothness and locked together in the thousand and one different positions and holds, the pleasures and sensations that could get and take from the other were almost infinite.

Since beginning to wrestle around at the Palermo, Mike found a number of other men of the DeSario Cosa Nostra organization liking to wrestle the same way, as well as a number of other "family" friends and associates. When they weren't wrestling, however, which was most of the time and when they were working, they focused strictly on their jobs and various assignments.

For Mike, he grew increasingly more experienced and dependable. He knew what was expected of him as a Driver, and on other assignments, some very quiet, in making deliveries of one thing or another, taking various people to one place or another, keeping his eyes open, avoiding problems, and yet remain ever watchful. Gradually, he received more and more special assignments, many from the DeSario family Capo, "Uncle" Louis DeSario himself.

*        *        *        *

One day in mid-June, Uncle Louis called Mike and asked him to be in his office at 9am the following morning. Mike knew that 9am meant 9am and not a moment later. He immediately went onto alert. Had he done something wrong? Was some punishment or demotion coming to him? Had there been a complaint about him from somebody? He couldn't think of anything, but many things went on which were never discussed or mentioned. He didn't sleep too well at first that night, but got a decent night's sleep anyway.

The next morning, at 8:55am, he presented himself to Louis's number-two man, Pietro, in Louis's outer office. Pietro didn't have a smile for him, but then he rarely had one for anyone else, so there was no clue as to what would happen next.

As the old gold office clock chimed 9am, Louis came out of his office and asked Mike to come in. Mike followed him in and closed the door behind him. But this time, instead of Louis moving to the big chair behind his desk and asking Mike to sit in the chair in front of him, Louis motioned for both of them to sit at a small side table, back from the window, where a carafe of hot rich Sicilian coffee was ready to be poured into two ornate old Sicilian cups in front of them.

"I hear many good things about you, Mike," said Louis, and that you are a man now of considerable experience as well as judgment and tact. Also that you can think fast on your feet. Also that you are very good with your very strong and muscular body, and that you are very good on the wrestling mats at the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym."

Mike thought about that for a moment. He appreciated Louis' remarks in his favor about experience and his ability to think fast on his feet and getting along with whoever he might be in contact with. But the wrestling he was into at the Palermo Steam Baths & Gym was something which generally led only in one direction, which he knew he surely enjoyed, but he wasn't so sure it would be generally acceptable if it were more widely known.

"Thanks, Uncle Louis, I appreciate your kind words and try to do my best." Mike couldn't think of any better or more original words to say, but he felt that at least expressed his feelings, and felt that Louis didn't call him in for that in the first place.

*        *        *        *

"Have you ever been to Sicily, Mike?" asked Uncle Louis in a somewhat surprising change in the direction of the conversation.

"No, Uncle Louis, but I know I'd really like to go some time and see where the family and my ancestors came from. It seems like such an ancient and rich country and very beautiful in a rustic way, that I'd surely like to go some time!" replied Mike.

"Well, tell you what Mike … you've been a Driver for the DeSario family interests for two years now, and I think it's time you took a vacation. Say for a couple of weeks or so, at family expense, meet and stay with the DeSario family members still there — and maybe even get a chance to wrestle around with some of your Sicilian cousins like you like to do while you're at it!" continued Louis.

Mike didn't know what to say. "That sure would be nice, Uncle Louis!" he replied.

"While you're at it," continued Louis, "We have a very important job for you to do which would make the whole trip very much worth while for us too."

"Whatever it is, it sounds good to me!" replied Mike. Mike knew that the DeSario's had always taken great care to keep him and a number of other family members out of any kind of trouble with the police and other authorities, and that their records were clean. At the same time, the phrase "very important job" sounded like it might be on the edge of that. Whether it was or not, Mike wasn't concerned or bothered by it, and waited to hear more.

"There's no need for you to know the whole history of the thing, Mike. In fact, maybe the less you knew, the better, and then if anything happened or any questions came up, you could simply and truthfully say you knew nothing about it."

Mike knew this to be very sound reasoning, and waited for Louis to go on.

"We've lately and gradually come into a number of very beautiful and very highly valued pieces of jewelry — diamonds and gold jewelry principally. They were Sicilian in origin, then traveled over the past couple of hundred years through Europe and a couple of wars, through various hands, until they are now in ours.

"We simply want to return them to Sicily, and where they can be kept permanently in the future in the care of the DeSario patriarch and matriarch, Dante and Maria DeSario, at their Villa Aurelia outside of Palermo.

"There are, as in so many cases of this sort, however, certain other parties which would not like to see them get back to Sicily, and in particular not in the hands and safekeeping of Dante and Maria DeSario, where they would be kept in impregnable surroundings.

We would like you, therefore, to take them to Sicily and to Dante and Maria where they will be kept permanently."

Mike didn't know what to say. But he immediately knew what he thought.

"I appreciate your confidence in me, Uncle Louis, and I'll be honored to do everything I can to get them to Sicily and to Dante and Maria DeSario safely and securely.

"Good," replied Uncle Louis, "I knew you would and I know you will. Here's the plan we have in mind.

PART 6 — THE PLAN

"The plan is really very simple. Simple plans have the best chance of working out.

"Today is Tuesday. You will have tickets to fly from Philadelphia, via Leonardo da Vinci airport in Rome and then on to Palermo the day after tomorrow, Thursday. You fly out at 6:25pm.

"You will leave from your apartment at 4:00pm, which will allow for twenty-five minutes to the airport, and be there the required two hours before flight time.

"You will be all packed to go, leaving space in your luggage for a small package of what we will refer to as a box of "Whitman Chocolates" as a gift for your Aunt Maria in Palermo. In the box will not be any chocolates, however. Instead, it will contain various very valuable items of jewelry and gold which we want to get to Sicily for safekeeping and to retire them, shall we say, from public view and out of the hands of anyone else.

"This box will be delivered to you at 3:50pm at your apartment by Joey, who you already know is a Driver for us. You will put the box in your luggage, and Joey will then take you to the airport in his car. He and you will park his car in the hourly parking lot and you and he will walk to the terminal where he will remain with you until you have checked your bag and you pass through Security where he can not remain further with you. You will check your bag into the airline's luggage Express program, which guarantees your luggage to be on your flight and not get lost. After Joey sees you up to Security and parts with you like an old friend, he will return to town.

"You will not be alone in your travels at any time, however. You will never "recognize" him at any time during your entire trip, but your friend Dino will be with you, or very nearby, during your entire trip.

"He will be just inside the Security area and see you as you come through, but you will at all times ignore him, should you ever see him, no matter what the circumstances.

"You will then wait quietly for your flight as would any other passenger, have a cup of coffee, buy a paper, or whatever you like and is normal.

"When the flight is called, you will board the plane as one normally would and take your seat.

"Dino, however, will be in the seat immediately behind you."

"God," thought Mike, "This plan is so beautiful, but so carefully planned out in every detail. It must really be important, but then what do I know? He grinned quietly to himself and his mind and heart began to beat with excitement, but he said nothing as Louis continued.

"During the flight you will do as you would normally do as a passenger. Have their food, look at a movie, or try to sleep. If you go to the bathroom, however, you will not notice that the passenger behind you will go to the bathroom right behind you, and return to his seat when you return to yours."

*        *        *        *

Louis then interrupted his giving Mike the exact plan to give him a little more of an idea of how and why these precautions, and having Dino so close to him at all times, were being taken.

"The reasons for all this, Mike, are that we know that certain members of the US Customs, Department of Fine Arts, have been put on the alert that these items you are carrying have been assembled in one place, but they don't know where. By some people, but they don't know who. And may be headed for some destination, but they don't know where. And possibly some time in the very near future, but they don't know when. But, who knows, they may find some of this out sooner than we'd like.

"Then, not only are the US Customs people interested in this, but the Giordano Family, another and very distant, and somewhat competitive branch of the Cosa Nostra to our interests, are also interested in all this and would like to acquire these valuables for their own purposes.

"And then we understand that various other interests of cloudy legality and the gray international market in lost or stolen art are also interested in these items for private and undercover resale in various parts of the world.

"Your job, therefore, is to be quietly aware of all these people who may be interested in you, but you are to see to it that you get these items safely to Sicily and into the hands of Dante and Maria DeSario at the Villa Aurelia.

"Actually, we don't think there'll be too much by way of problems on your flights. There's already so much Security in airports and in planes these days, with so many uniformed and plain clothes guards checking things out, that any disturbance of any sort would probably end up badly for everybody involved. It's only if and when you get out of that Security zone that your dangers will increase, and that could get real serious. You'll have to be on guard against that."

That put a somber tone to the whole thing. But Mike liked the challenge of the thing too and looked forward to running the gauntlet of all those different interests who might be interested in him, and beating them all at their own game.

*        *        *        *

Louis then continued with the plan. "You will arrive in Rome and transfer to your flight to Palermo, which leaves only an hour and a half between flights when you will remain in the Secure sections of the airport at all times.

"When you get on the plane to Palermo, you will find the same passenger directly behind you as was on your flight from Philadelphia to Rome."

"It is when you get to Palermo that the most sensitive and dangerous part of your trip may take place. You will then be somewhat tired from your long trip, but will need to use your greatest degree of caution and alertness, even though your task will be simple enough.

"You will leave the plane and go into the main Palermo terminal where you will pass through their Customs. They are very casual about their Customs restrictions, because if they were fully careful, very few people would ever make it through," said Louis with a smile, the first time he'd smiled during his and Mike's whole time together.

"After you clear Customs, you will go to the Baggage Claim area where you will pick up your bag, as you would normally be expected to do.

"Then you will immediately go, with your bag, to the Men's Room for the usual purposes after a long flight. Inside the Men's Room, you will go to the last stall, or whichever one is free first, and enter the stall with your bag.

"You will then take your small box of "Whitman's Chocolates" and leave it on top of the toilet tank. You will then close your bag again, flush the toilet, open the stall door and continue on to the Passenger Pick-Up area with your bag as you normally would. With that, your job is done.

"As you walk to the Passenger Pick-Up area, one of our DeSario family cousins there in Palermo will be there to greet you and he will drive you out to the Villa Aurelia where you will meet your Uncle Dante and Aunt Maria and can begin your two-week vacation.

As you leave the Customs area someone in our Sicilian family will have seen you and recognize you immediately. They will come very close to you although you will not know or notice him. He will then join up and walk with the passenger who has sat behind you this whole time on your flights. They both know each other and will follow you closely as two friends might, one of whom was just arriving on the flight and the other there to meet him. That way we will have two men in Palermo guarding you instead of just one.

As you are walking to the Men's Room, you will casually and briefly notice those two men near you. You will notice that one was the passenger behind you, and you will note the appearance of the other man, the new man, with him.

"You won't know him, but he will be wearing a loose casual tan windbreaker jacket and something you can further remember him by, a Phillies baseball cap. When you enter the Men's Room he will enter it immediately behind you. And when you enter the stall, he will remain outside waiting to enter and use the stall as soon as you leave it. He will then pick up the package you have left on the toilet tank, put it under his jacket, which has been prepared to carry just such a package as this without showing any bulge, and be on his way under his own next arrangements.

"Your job, meanwhile, has been completed, although it will not seem so to anyone who may want to intercept you and do you harm.

"When you then go to the Passenger Pick-Up area, you will be met by one, or possibly two, of your DeSario cousins living in Palermo. They will greet you and take you, with your luggage which now no longer contains your box of "Whitman's Chocolates," to their car. They will then drive you, a drive of about forty-five minutes, to the Villa Aurelia, the estate of your Uncle Dante and Aunt Maria, where you will then also meet Dino again. But this time you will be able to greet them and him openly, and perhaps he can show you around and remain with you for at least a couple of days until he has to return to Philadelphia well before your own return.

"The main points of concern, apart from the less likely, but nevertheless not impossible, risks you face on the flights, is that after you land in Palermo, where the laws and the police are far less efficient, or perhaps more open to the highest bidder for any actions that may be called for, are that you might be intercepted by people who may be thugs, but who also may appear in the uniform of a Security or other official, and taken out of action.

"We think that anyone who wants to intercept you will do so at some point between your passing through Palermo Customs, picking up your luggage in the Baggage Claim area, making your way to the Passenger Pick-Up area, or during your ride through Palermo and its suburbs and through the more rural areas of Sicily until you arrive safely on the grounds of the Villa Aurelia.

"This is the period where you most need to be on guard against any interceptors, and why you will have two guards when you arrive in Palermo, in the terminal and probably all the way out by car to the Villa Aurelia.

"Other than that, I wish you a very pleasant journey, and a very good time in Sicily doing whatever you most like to do when you get there!"

PART 7 — MIKE'S FLIGHT AND ARRIVAL IN PALERMO     

Friday morning, as the plane, an old Boeing 737, descended into the Palermo airport in the typically bright sunshine, the beautiful and ancient land of Sicily came up to meet the plane. Everything had worked out perfectly so far.

As the plane landed and taxied up to the terminal, Mike was tired but alert and exhilarated, knowing that he had only another hour or two of suspense and danger remaining, and then it would all be over.

He went through Palermo Customs easily, having nothing in his hands to carry, and walked over to the Baggage Claim area where he found his bag in good order. He picked it off the claim rack and began to roll it behind him to the Men's Room. As he did so, he noticed Dino, who had sat behind him in both of his flights, and their eyes met for only a second but without showing any sign of recognition. With Dino was another man in a loose tan jacket and wearing, sure enough, a Phillies baseball cap. When Mike reached the Men's Room he found the last stall was just then being vacated, so he went to it, walked in, and closed the door behind him. As he walked in, he sensed the man in the tan jacket and the "Phillies" baseball cap walk in right behind him.

As soon as the stall door was closed, Mike opened his bag, pulled out the box of "Whitman's Chocolates," placed it on top of the toilet tank, flushed the handle, closed up his bag again, opened the door, and walked out, again rolling his luggage behind him.

Outside the stall door, waiting to use the toilet next, was the man in the loose gray jacket and the Phillies baseball cap. He entered the stall immediately after Mike vacated it.

Mike's job was done. He was elated, relieved and felt just a little more tired after his long flights and the tension of his long trip. Apparently, although it all seemed so simple, it was a matter of very great importance and value on a worldwide basis, and he was glad his own part of it had gone off perfectly.

PART 8. WHAT HAPPENED AT THE PALERMO AIRPORT

As Mike approached the Passenger Pick-Up area he quietly noticed that he was now alone, or at least he didn't see either Dino or the other man anywhere in sight, although he assumed that they were still somewhere nearby.

However, his attention was soon distracted from that thought when he noticed in the Passenger Pick-Up area a deeply tanned muscular young man, about his own age and height but somewhat heavier and built like a body builder. He was wearing faded blue jeans and dark blue sweatshirt which showed his solid build under them. He was holding a sign, typical of people who are meeting other people at an airport when no one knows what the other person they are meeting looks like, on which was scrawled simply "DeSario — Mike."

Mike was relieved and felt the tension, which he was hardly aware of before, suddenly and completely leave his body. This was the last uncertain piece of the puzzle and the long journey to this point, and now this final connection had been made and he had finished his job safely.

As Mike walked up to him, the man came forward with a big grin on his face to meet him, stretched out his hand and said, in Italian-accented English "Mike of Philadelphia and our DeSario family? "The same," said Mike, grins on both of their faces.

"I'm your Cousin Gino — welcome to Sicily and Palermo!" said Gino. "How was your flight? Did they treat you ok? Did they remember not to lose your valuable luggage? Were the stewardesses as good looking as their ads say?" And so on.

Mike could hardly reply to Gino's greetings and questions on his trip before they had walked out the door and Gino guided them to the car that was waiting for them. Mike was instantly impressed. It was the biggest and blackest Mercedes he'd ever seen. Not a new model, but it must have been the most elegant, or maybe some official's car, when it was new many years ago.

Inside the Mercedes was a driver whom Gino introduced as Luigi who turned to welcome him too, although he quickly turned back to keep an eye on the traffic as well.

"The trunk of this car isn't very big, Mike, so why don't you and your bag make yourself comfortable in the back seat while I'll sit up here with Luigi and help guide him out of the airport," said Gino, as he opened the rear door for Mike while opening the front door for himself.

In another moment, the doors had closed and the car quickly started up. It quietly and smoothly entered the traffic pattern of cars leaving the airport to head either into Palermo or to the surrounding towns or villages or wherever else they were headed.

As they cleared the entrance to the airport and had passed through the last airport security point, Mike was about to say something to Gino when suddenly a bulletproof glass screen rose rapidly and silently up between him in the rear seat and Gino and Luigi in the front seat. Mike, seated next to the door, instinctively reached for the door and window handle, but found both of them immoveable and locked into place. Suddenly, he realized he was trapped and had no way out.

"What the Hell?" thought Mike instantly.

PART 9 — A PROBLEM ARISES

Then he heard Gino through a speakerphone in the car say, "Temporary little problem here, Mike, but we need to make just a little detour, although where we go is partly up to you.

"By the way, Mike, my name isn't Gino DeSario, but Gino Giordano, and this is my cousin Luigi of the same name. I think our families sort of know each other, but apparently we're not on the friendliest of terms. Anyway, I think you've got something with you — some jewelry … or diamonds, even — that sort of belongs, we think, to our family. So if you'll be so kind as to give it over to us, we'll be glad to get you on the rest of your way promptly and safely to the Villa Aurelia where your Uncle Dante and Aunt Maria are waiting for you."

Mike thought fast. So that's how it was. This man Gino of the Giordano family was one of the three parties interested in the jewelry he had been carrying. The others were the US Customs people and some unknown international jewelry black market people as well.

Mike was now relieved he no longer had the jewelry with him. This new turn of events might be the end of him, but then if he didn't have the jewelry with him that would at least simplify that part of it.

*        *        *        *

Meanwhile, although Mike didn't know it, but after he left the "Whitman's Chocolate" box in the toilet stall of the Men's Room at the Palermo airport, the man immediately next to enter the stall, the man he'd seen walking with Dino in the windbreaker jacket and Phillies baseball cap, whose name was Arturo and who was another trusted DeSario family member, had gone into the stall, put the box of "Whitman Chocolates" inside his jacket, closed the bottom of his jacket to conceal the box, flushed the toilet, and walked out to where he re-joined Dino who was waiting for him right outside the Men's Room.

Then, as any two inconspicuous men who were friends and who were completely unrecognizable to anyone else in the airport, they walked together over to Arturo's car, an old unmarked Fiat. They then drove directly out to the Villa Aurelia where the priceless package of "Whitman's Chocolates" and the diamond and gold jewelry was now safely delivered to the waiting Dante and Maria DeSario and put into in an inner and impregnable DeSario vault at the Villa Aurelia where it would remain indefinitely.

But, as Louis DeSario had so wisely foreseen before the entire trip had begun, the less Mike knew about the other plans and actions, the easier it would be for him should he ever be questioned on it in the future, such as now with Gino and Luigi.

*        *        *        *

"Gino, my man," said Mike, guessing that Gino seemed to have something of a sense of humor or honesty, such as it was, and wanting, at least for a while, to keep the conversation as easy as possible, said innocently and truthfully "I don't know what you're talking about! 

"Here I've come to beautiful Sicily, land of my ancestors, to meet and spend a couple of weeks of vacation with them and theirs, and I'm met in this luxurious Mercedes by two … fine … men in apparently very good condition, and now I'm asked for some … jewelry? … which I don't have and don't know anything about?"

It took a moment for Gino to reply. It went through Mike's mind that Gino probably was a man, not unlike himself, fairly low in the family hierarchy, but strong and muscular, good for jobs that needed some physical persuasion, and probably basically pretty smart and dependable or he wouldn't have been given a job like this — to pick up a shipment of invaluable jewelry and maybe have to fight off whoever else might be involved in carrying out his mission. At the same time, Gino probably was a fairly prudent man who wouldn't make any heroic or foolish decisions on his own part, but would pass them on up the chain of command to get instructions on whatever he was to do next if he ran into any trouble.

"Ok, Mike," finally responded Gino, "That's what you say, and we'll soon see. But first we go to our farm where we will check things out and see if you cannot still find the jewelry you brought with you somewhere anyway."

"Fair enough, I'm all yours to do with as you like" replied Mike, maybe giving Gino something else to think about if Mike judged what might be his other interests correctly. From that point on, they had little conversation as the Mercedes first went through the crowded streets of Palermo and then eventually headed out of town into the countryside of small villages and farms and woodlands. Mike liked what he saw of the countryside, but had no idea, of course, where he was or where they were taking him. He was tired after his long flight, however, and soon dozed off in the back seat as he was being chauffeured off to he didn't know where.

PART 10 — MIKE AND GINO ARRIVE AT A SMALL COUNTRY VILLA

Mike woke up with a start as he felt the Mercedes take a few fairly big bumps, go a few more feet, and then stop. They had passed through a high stone wall and iron gate into a sort of courtyard of what looked like what once might have been a fairly elegant small farm villa, but which now appeared to have seen better days.

"Ok, Mike, here we are," said Gino, getting out of the front seat of the Mercedes and opening the back door of the car from the outside. While Mike got out of the right side of the car, Luigi opened the left door and removed the luggage. Mike never saw it again.

As they crossed the courtyard a big German shepherd dog suddenly appeared from around the corner of the house and, with its teeth bared, lunged for Mike. Before Mike could even react, Gino said simply "Benito," and pointed to the ground. Immediately, the dog stopped his lunge, lay down on the ground, and looked up at Gino's face. Gino gave the dog a fierce look and then smiled at the dog and said to him "Silencio! Grazia." That was the end of that. It also meant that Mike was a friend and not to be attacked. 'At least by Benito,' thought Mike.

Mike followed Gino into the small living room of the villa, followed by Luigi, who then disappeared out of sight.

Before they had hardly gotten into the villa and Gino had gone to the rear and then returned, Mike said to him "Hey Gino, you got anything to eat and a place for me to sleep for a while?" asked Mike, coming right to the point on how he was then feeling. He knew he was tired from the long flights, and hungry too, and knew he didn't have the jewelry with him so had no care about that.

"Sure, Mike, I know how you're feeling," said Gino. "Here we go out of our way to meet you in our fine Mercedes limousine and bring you to our mansion, and all you want to do is eat and sleep. But I understand. In fact, I have been talking with my boss from the car about your arrival, but he is not available to see you or me until tomorrow morning. So he said to make you comfortable until then, which we will be very glad to do.

Gino continued, "Angelina, our housekeeper here, has prepared a good lunch for you to eat, and will prepare supper for us too, and she has also prepared a comfortable bed to sleep in. We like to treat our guests real good. If they cooperate and are friendly with us, that is, of course. Then who knows, after you have eaten and rested, perhaps we shall find something else for you to do. Maybe, in that time, we can also persuade you to tell us what you have done with the jewelry you brought to Sicily with you!"

Mike was tired and hungry, but not too much so as not to pick up on what Gino was saying. The "persuasion" he talked about might even be interesting, as he looked at the smiling figure of the muscular Gino, and what form the "persuasion" might take. And, maybe, after he was fed and rested, how he might be glad to respond to Gino's "persuasion" too.

After the simple but ample lunch prepared by Angelina and a full rest of almost five hours in the bedroom Gino assigned to him, Mike woke up around six in the evening. The sun still shone brightly outside but the house was quiet. Mike got up, found the bathroom and took a shower and felt fresh again. As he no longer had his luggage with him and he felt the clothes he'd worn for the flight were sort of gamey, he figured he'd look through the dresser of the room he was in. It looked like it might be a man's bedroom. Maybe there would be something he could wear that was fresh.

There was. A sleeveless t-shirt, just one size smaller than he usually wore, and a pair of shorts, similarly just one size smaller. But they fit fine otherwise, and that was all he needed to be comfortable in as the day was still warm.

As he walked from his back room to the front of the villa, he passed an open bedroom door and saw Gino sleeping peacefully inside on the bed. He had stripped down to his shorts in the heat of the Sicilian day. Mike had everything he could do to restrain himself from jumping on him and starting to wrestle him just liked he knew he wanted to do ever since he first saw him at the airport.

Another room showed Angelina also napping in her chair with some sewing material on a table next to her. There was no sign of Luigi. Looking out the window, Mike saw the big Mercedes parked in the shade of the house with the big German shepherd dog, Benito, dozing beside it. As Mike appeared in the doorway, with the idea of stepping out into the courtyard to get a better idea of where he was, Benito immediately raised his head and gave a small growl before laying his head back down, closing his eyes and dozing off again. Nevertheless, Mike decided to remain indoors.

For the next hour, nothing happened. Apparently the Sicilian afternoon siesta time lasted until well near sunset.

With Mike having nothing else to do, he sat down in one of the big old comfortable chairs in the living room of the villa and soon dozed off again himself.

PART 11 — THINGS PICK UP AGAIN AT GINO'S VILLA

Until a big pair of strong hands slowly wrapped themselves around his throat. That woke Mike up quickly. It was Gino who had come in quietly, still dressed only in his shorts, his powerfully muscular and deeply tanned build glistening slightly with sweat in the warm late afternoon. Mike could see that although they were both about the same height, Gino was probably at least 15 pounds heavier, all solid muscle, and all evenly distributed over his bulging biceps, thick pecs and massive thighs. He looked like he must work out regularly, and, being in Sicily and working for his Giordano family, could be expected to be a very good wrestler in the Sicilian style. Mike very much liked what he saw in Gino.

By now Angelina had gotten up too and had prepared a good meal for both of them as well as herself. Mike thought she might be Gino's aunt or somebody as they seemed to be on equal terms of respect, with Angelina serving them their food, but Gino helping her clean things away in return.

When Angelina put on her shawl and kissed him lightly on the cheek and went out the door, Benito barked just once, as if to say he was awake and had seen her leave, but that was all. It must have been a customary act for her to leave and Benito to be familiar with her. Mike guessed that most likely she was returning to her, or another, house nearby where she herself presumably lived.

That left only Gino and Mike by themselves in the small-secluded villa.

PART 12 — MIKE AND GINO GO TO THE BARN

For a few long minutes, neither Mike nor Gino said anything. Then Gino asked him if he'd like to go outside and see the rest of the farm. Mike said he would. As they went out the door, Benito came over to join them. When he first saw Mike with Gino, he gave a low growl. But this time Gino just pointed to the ground and Benito lay down again briefly. However, he then got up again to follow them for wherever they might go. Mike, however, was by now completely accepted by Benito.

It was just getting dark and Gino was showing Mike a small grape arbor near the house when he said casually to Mike, "Hey Mike, Luigi and I, and then our boss, checked your luggage but didn't find the jewelry. And yet, we know you had it with you when you left Philadelphia and it was with you on the plane.

"So what did you do with it? We had you under surveillance the whole time, including on the plane, where we figured we couldn't touch you, what with all the Security restrictions. But then, you got off the plane, picked up your luggage and came out to the Passenger Pick-Up area where we met you.

"And now no jewelry!"

"Beats me, Gino," replied Mike with a grin on his face. Mike realized they had transferred it so quickly and quietly in the airport Men's Room, Gino and Luigi hadn't noticed it. But if Gino couldn't quite figure it out, Mike surely wasn't going to help him.

"Or maybe I need to persuade you to tell me," said Gino. "That would make me a real hero to my Capo, and I think maybe it is something I would like to do with you anyway as you look to me like you might like to be persuaded of such a thing."

"Yeah, I think so too, Gino … any time and place you think you'd like to begin would be real good for me," said Mike, a grin on his face. He knew most likely Gino could really wrap him up in no time flat. But most likely his bosses wouldn't think that would be such a good idea until they tried to learn more from him, or decided what to do with him if and when he did or didn't talk. Mike figured maybe Gino, if Gino wanted to wrestle it out with him, would be only as hard on him as he needed to be to try to persuade him to talk. But, following the single rule of Sicilian wrestling, 'cause no injuries which would last after the match was over' and knowing Gino probably wanted to be careful not to really hurt Mike until he knew more about what his Capo wanted to do with him, Mike figured he could very easily live with that. At least he hoped that was the way Gino would see it.

"Let's go to the barn out back and see what's there," said Gino as they both walked through the courtyard to the barn while Benito went back to doze quietly near the Mercedes. For a moment, Benito closed one eye for sleeping while his other eye watched them. Then he closed both eyes.

The barn was an old cow barn set up with a couple of dairy cows contentedly chewing their cud and watching them from the side. There were some hay racks on one side of the barn and some old farm equipment in the rear. On the other side, where maybe some horse stalls had once been, a gym workout area had been set up with a complete set of weights and a wrestling mat on the hard packed dirt floor, with a wooden shelf with some gauze and bottles of oil above the mat on the wooden wall. Both the weights and the mat looked well used, and the bottle of oil was half-full.

"You look like maybe you're into wrestling around, Mike, maybe Sicilian style too. Maybe a little workout would persuade you to tell us what you did with the jewelry, and maybe we could enjoy ourselves a little too?" said Gino.

"I'm not sure about the jewelry part of it, but yeah, I think I wouldn't mind you trying to persuade me otherwise — and I'll try not to hurt you too badly either!" replied Mike. Mike was a realist. He still thought that Gino could most likely beat him up in two minutes flat if he really wanted to, but also thought, or at least hoped, Gino wouldn't want to do that as his bosses might not like it, and it didn't seem in Gino's nature to do anything really damaging anyway.

"You like to wrestle around and be persuaded in shorts, jock strap or nude?" asked Gino, a grin on his face.

"Nude's good for me," replied Mike. "Seems like that's the way real Sicilians wrestled a long time ago, and probably ever since, so what was good for them is good for me. And maybe lets us get into it real close!" replied Mike.

They stripped off what little clothes they had on Then Gino reached over to the nearby wooden shelf where he got the bottle of wrestling and posing oil. That would make their bodies even smoother and more slippery when they wrestled. Gino handed the bottle over to Mike to oil himself first. Mike took the bottle but instead moved to oil Gino first. Gino appreciated the courtesy. Mike liked the feel of rubbing the warm oil all over Gino's muscular body and didn't miss a square inch. Then, when he was finished oiling Gino, Gino oiled him in return the same way.

Both felt the warm sensual smooth feel of the oil on their own bodies, and the feel on their hands as each rubbed the oil over every part of the other's nude body, leaving no parts un-oiled. As their strong hands massaged and kneaded the other's body, each increasingly felt the strong sensual pleasure it was also giving them, and their muscles hardened and moved in anticipation of their wrestling match to come.

PART 13 — MIKE AND GINO BEGIN TO WRESTLE

They started quietly and easily in the old barn just as the sun was setting and the first stars were coming out on that warm evening. Ever since they first saw each other at the airport, when Gino first saw the muscular Mike come through Customs, he knew he'd like to wrestle around with him if at all possible. And as soon as Mike saw Gino, he knew he'd like to wrestle around with Gino. Both for much the same reason. From their start here in the barn, however, Gino knew that, if he did get a chance to wrestle Mike, as he was the heavier and no doubt the stronger and more experienced of the two, and he would be on his home turf while Mike would be a stranger, that he, Gino, would have to take it easy on Mike, at least at the start, so as not to turn Mike off to the whole thing before they even got started.

Now the moment had come and they had the whole night by themselves and each other to wrestle as long as they liked, however they liked, and for however it might end up.

As soon as Gino put the bottle of wrestling oil back on the shelf, he dropped down easily to go to his hands and knees on the mat in order to let Mike get the start on him however he liked. Then they'd take it from there.

Mike appreciated Gino's move in giving him the first advantage. Mike knew he therefore wouldn't take complete advantage of it, as a return courtesy to Gino. Both knew starting that way was the best way to make the match last as long as possible and be as good for both of them as it could be.

Mike followed Gino down and dropped to his knees too, next to Gino's powerfully muscular body. Then he moved to drop his own muscled chest on Gino's back to keep him in place. From there he reached one hand over and then underneath Gino's naked butt to grab Gino's already hard cock and thick balls, hanging down below his body, to control Gino from that end.

At the same time, he reached his other arm over Gino's back and under his far arm to grab one of Gino's big pecs in his fist. With those holds on both ends of Gino, Mike had in mind to flip Gino over onto his back and then go on from there.

Gino wasn't surprised at Mike's first moves and had no problem at all with Mike grabbing his exposed cock and balls at one end while grabbing and squeezing his thick pec at the other hand. He knew Mike was ready to both crush them in his fist and try to flip him over at the same time to get him on his back. But in flipping him over, instead of keeping to the side of Gino so that only he would flip while Mike could then get on top of him, it was Mike's plan to lean all the way over backward himself in order to pull Gino over on top of him. Then he'd have his own back on the mat and could hold Gino on top of him, which he looked forward to, and force him to bridge over his own chest while he held Gino tight and almost powerless facing up toward the roof.

At first Gino resisted, liking the pressure and pain Mike was giving him on his cock and balls and pec, and Mike liked just as much the feel of Gino's hard muscled flesh in his hands while trying to pull and crush them at the same time. Then Gino gave way as Mike increased his pressure on him and slowly both of them rolled over backwards together. It was a familiar move to both of them, give or take, and both liked the result.

As they rolled over, locked together, Gino wasn't quite sure yet what Mike had in mind to do with him, and he had to be careful that Mike didn't suddenly turn bad on him and really move to wipe him out some way. But as soon as Mike began to make his first move, which both recognized as a reasonable one, particularly in Sicilian wrestling, Gino figured Mike was going to be a good guy to wrestle around with, and that it was going to be a real good match between the two of them. With the success of his move, after he got on his back and got to hold Gino in a solid but not too tight bridge over his chest, Mike thought so too.

*        *        *        *

Now that Mike had the big and muscular Gino bridged over him and pressing down on him, which feeling Mike very much liked, Mike had to figure out what to do next. He still held Gino down at one end by pulling his cock down between Gino's big thighs toward the mat, while he moved his hand from Gino's thick pec to cover Gino's face to get some better leverage on him at the other end. Gino didn't seem to be having any problem with his predicament, and for a little bit, waited to see what Mike had in mind to do with him next.

Mike wasn't long in making the next move. He knew it was a sort of rough hold for Gino to be caught in, to be stretched over backwards and held in place by Mike's pulling his big cock down hard at one end and Mike's hand over his face pulling his head down at the other end. So Mike, after a moment, shifted both himself and Gino around until Mike was positioned directly under Gino, with Gino's full body directly on top of his own.

Mike liked the feel of this new hold for sure, as he always liked just as much or even more to have the other wrestler, particularly if they were wrestling naked and oiled, pressing down on top of him rather than being on top of the other man.

But, to both keep Gino on top of him but keep him under control too, Mike moved his legs out and then back again over Gino to get him in a full body scissors He then crossed his ankles over Gino to keep his scissors firm, but not too tight, and in a position to smash his heels hard and repeatedly into Gino's crotch and against his still hard and bulging cock and balls.

At the same time as we was smashing his heels into Gino's big cock and balls, Mike wrapped his own muscular arms around Gino's upper body and now again grabbed both of Gino's big pecs, one in each hand, to hold Gino even more solidly in place and crush and punish his pecs in his fists as well.

But again, this was another move and hold which both knew and liked — Gino liking the pressure Mike was putting on him, and Mike liking the feel of being in his hands and under his heels too. For what seemed like long minutes they remained locked in this hold, Mike punishing Gino, and neither really wanted to be the first to break it.

Still, in time, Gino figured maybe it was time to begin to get back at Mike. He'd been letting Mike pretty much take the lead so far to get him feeling good and confident in their match. But he sensed Mike also liked to be pressured, just as he did, and this might be the time to change things around a little.

With their bodies beginning to be even more slippery with sweat as well as oil, Gino leaned forward, despite the additional pressure it was putting on his big pecs from Mike's tight crushing hold on them, to break Mike's ankle lock over his crotch which Mike kept the pressure on with his heels.

After he broke Mike's ankle hold there, Gino managed to twist around until he was now able to face Mike and be on top of him. A glance at Mike's grinning face told Gino he wasn't mistaken in feeling Mike was liking what Gino was doing.

In the next move, Gino broke Mike's body scissor on him entirely, shifted around on top of Mike, and then reached over and wrapped one of his big biceped arms around Mike's neck to get him in a solid headlock. At the same time, he shifted part his lower body weight off Mike to the mat so he wouldn't weigh too heavily on Mike, even though he still kept Mike in place with his big upper body on top of Mike's upper body, but which also left Mike's lower body free too.

Mike knew he was trapped by Gino's solid headlock on him, but liked the feel of his head caught between Gino's thickly muscular arm and his equally muscled chest. All Mike could do to escape was try to bridge out, with his legs free, but Gino held him too tightly. Mike didn't have any problem or mind his predicament and Gino's headlock on him at all.

Then Gino added to the hold, which Mike minded even less. Slowly Gino brought Mike's head in closer and closer to his chest with his headlock on him. At first he pulled it in to within just a couple of inches of his big pec. Then just an inch. Then Mike could stick out his tongue and reach Gino's big tight nipple through his open mouth as he tried to breathe more fully.

Then Gino pulled Mike's head and face even closer into his pec until he then began to stuff his thick pec fully and deeply into Mike's mouth to make him eat it and choke on it. Mike had no problem with that at all. The more of his thick pec Gino stuffed into Mike's mouth, the better Mike liked it. It was another typical move in Sicilian style wrestling which both wrestlers knew and liked either way, give or take.

But while Mike's tongue played around with Gino's nipple and muscled flesh in his mouth, Mike knew that his hands, as well as his legs, were still free to get back at Gino and maybe try to even the score a little.

Gradually, Mike brought his hand and arm around behind Gino's solid, wet and naked butt until he could reach between Gino's thick thighs and reach his cock and balls. Then, instead of grabbing Gino's big and hard rod in his fist as he'd done before, this time he grabbed both of Gino's big, thick and bulging balls in his fist. He then shifted his hold to the neck of his balls to his body so that he could both threaten to pull them off Gino's muscled body as well as crush them in his fist.

Gino recognized Mike's move and the threat to his balls and grinned to himself. It's what he would have done, and had done before, if the situation were reversed. He liked the implied threat that Mike might try to rip his balls off his body or crush them in his fist if he didn't release his headlock and pull his thick pec out of Mike's mouth. But he also liked the idea of the deadlock that presented to both of them; he knew Mike did too.

He was right, and both not only kept their punishing holds on the other, but increased the pressure just a little more and more as the seconds and minutes passed. Both liked it, give and take. And, as with their previous holds, neither wanted to be the first to relax his hold and give in, and they continued locked together, oiled and naked, as they wrestled with each other on the mat in the old barn just as, most likely, their ancestors had done hundreds of years before.

At one point, as they remained deadlocked, Gino moved to stuff his pec even more deeply into Mike's mouth, and, although there was sort of a smile in his voice, quietly said to Mike, "Ok, Amico, what did you do with the jewels you had with you on the plane?" to which Mike replied, crushing Gino's balls just a little tighter in his fist just as quietly, said "I've got'em right in my hands!" Both grinned.

PART 14 — MEANWHILE......

Meanwhile, things were going a little more seriously elsewhere in Sicily and Philadelphia. Luigi had brought Mike's luggage to a warehouse on the outskirts of Palermo where the Giordano family had some of its operations. They searched the bag in detail, including looking for any secret compartments, but found nothing. They were sure Mike had the jewelry and gold with him, but where was it? Where had it gone, and what went wrong?

They knew that they — meaning Gino out at the remote and secluded villa — still had Mike as a hostage for the jewelry, and they knew Gino would not let Mike escape as long as he was anywhere NEAR Gino.

But keeping Mike hostage for any length of time was dangerous. The DeSario family and Giordano family were at odds with each other, but it was understood they would compete for business and money, but would not touch each other's people, particularly innocent or non-violent members of each other's family. To hold Mike too long might anger the DeSario's, and that might lead to all sorts of new and much bigger problems.

At the same time, Dante and Maria and their people, including Dino who was now with them, wondered and were deeply concerned about what had become of their guest who had just arrived in Sicily, but who had disappeared before he could reach them? They of course felt a very great responsibility for him even though they knew, of course, that the jewelry and gold he had brought with him was safely in their own vaults on their own estate.

And in Philadelphia, Louis DeSario, who had been informed that the jewelry had gotten to the DeSario family in Sicily safely, was also deeply concerned about what had happened to Mike. After all, he had sent Mike on this dangerous mission, Mike was a member of the DeSario family, and Louis had a very deep personal liking for Mike too.

Dante, Maria and Dino reviewed what had happened at the airport as that was where most likely the problem of Mike's disappearance arose.

They had originally sent Mike's cousin Pietro, Dante and Maria's youngest son who was about Mike's age, to the airport to meet Mike. Pietro had left ample time to get there in time, but then a traffic accident at the airport, a common occurrence, had delayed him so he arrived at the airport Passenger Pick-Up area about ten minutes late. When Pietro got there, Mike was nowhere in sight and couldn't be found.

They had had word, however, from an informant who was at the airport at the same time as Mike had arrived, that the big, old black Mercedes of the Giordano family was seen parked briefly just outside the Passenger Pick-Up area at just that time, In it appeared to be two men, one, the driver, fairly ordinary looking, but the other man, a powerfully built muscular young man, was seen walking from the Mercedes to the passenger area carrying a briefcase or paper in his hand. But the informant then moved on and saw nothing more.

Dante, Maria and Dino put it together. They knew the Giordano's were interested in the jewelry and gold, and would have known, or guessed, ,that it might be on its way back to Sicily in the hands of one of DeSario's most trusted men. Most likely he would have been a stronger and younger man who could be trusted to guard it safely and also physically defend himself and the jewelry if someone tried to take it from him by force.

That was one reason they sent Gino, whom they knew would be able to handle the situation if anyone could.

The Giordano's would also know that it would not be advisable to try to get the treasure while it was in the Security zones of the airline and airport, so would probably try to get it right after Mike had landed in Palermo, by a non-violent ruse if possible, but even if they had to fight off the DeSario people who would be at the airport to meet Mike.

With Pietro delayed by traffic and not able to get to the airport in time, the coast was clear and the Giordano's had no problem in kidnapping Mike with their ruse of the sign with his name on it and Gino's greeting. That would presumably let them get their own hands on the jewelry and gold without a ripple.

Fortunately, Louis DeSario back in Philadelphia had foreseen that the Palermo phase was the weak point in their plans and had made the plan for Mike to get the valuables off his hands immediately after he landed, although he would appear to still have them with him. Meanwhile, in fact, Dino and Arturo would have taken them and gotten them safely to the Villa Aurelia, as they did.

Now, the question for the DeSario's was, where was Mike and how to get him back?

CHAPTER 15 — MIKE AND GINO CONTINUE WRESTLING IN THE OLD BARN

Mike and Gino meanwhile were wrestling it out between them, naked and oiled, in the semi-darkness of a cow barn at a secluded villa somewhere outside of Palermo. They had now been wrestling each other for almost an hour, with all their other holds and moves and deadlocks with each other, and the moon had risen to throw its dim light through the spider-webbed window on to the wrestlers, naked and oiled and locked together, inside on the mat.

Mike and Gino were having no problem with the people looking for them, nor with each other. They liked very much what they were doing and only wanted to continue it with each other as long as they could.

After remaining deadlocked for what seemed like long minutes, to the pleasure of both, with Mike feeling and tasting Gino's big muscled pec in his mouth and Gino feeling his balls being crushed almost beyond endurance, Gino decided, as he was the first to take that particular hold, that he should be the first to end it. He slowly withdrew his pec from Mike's mouth and at the same time, Mike released his crushing hold on Gino's balls.

They separated, but not for long. As Gino rolled slightly away on his back and freed Mike, Mike twisted around and moved quickly to get on top of on him to body press him, head to toe. Gino had been holding Mike so long that he had no problem with Mike now reversing their position and going to holding him down. Nor was he surprised, or minded, when Mike got a solid head scissors on him with his head caught half way between Mike's cock and balls and his knees which let Gino still breathe easily.

But that position didn't last long because Mike quickly shifted his body down a couple of inches more toward Gino's head, and then in another couple of inches he positioned his own full naked and oily cock and balls hard against Gino's face. As Mike then dropped his full weight right on top of Gino's face, Gino felt Mike's long and hard cock press down diagonally across his face with Mike's thick balls directly over his mouth.

The move wasn't any surprise to Gino and he tried to shift his head just a little to seize Mike's balls in his mouth. If he could succeed in that, that would give Mike something to think about just as Mike had earlier given Gino pause when Mike was crushing his balls in his fist when Gino had his pec stuffed deep into Mike's mouth. Sicilian wrestling was like that, and neither had any problem with any of it.

For a moment or two Gino tried desperately to bridge out. But each time he arched up, his own big, naked and hard cock stuck up directly into Mike's face But Mike was keeping his head and face low to the mat to keep his balance. So Gino's move to escape only made it easier for Mike to grab Gino's big cock once again and push it forward toward the mat like a pickup truck floor shift. Gino knew his big cock was now so aroused and so hard that he was afraid Mike was almost going to break it off his body. But Mike didn't push Gino's cock too far down, while Gino liked the punishment Mike was giving him. He liked Mike more and more through all of their long match with each other, just as Mike liked Gino more and more for giving him so much punishment in return, which he so much liked, but with Gino never carrying it so far as to really hurt him or wear him out.

Mike then had one more move to this suffocating head scissors hold on Gino, and one Gino expected.

As Mike held Gino in his solid head scissors between his own muscular thighs, with his big, long and hard cock pressed hard against Gino's face, Mike changed his direction slightly. He moved his body forward toward Gino's feet just a few inches, still kept his full weight on top of Gino's big muscled chest to keep him under him But then he straightened up and shifted just a little until he was positioned to sit his naked and oiled butt fully and evenly on Gino's face.

As he dropped his butt on Gino's face, he felt Gino's nose and mouth sink deeply into the hot, wet and deep canyon of his butt which in turn completely blinded and almost suffocated Gino in the hold. Mike grinned to himself on this new punishment he was succeeding in inflicting on Gino. Gino felt Mike's wet and naked butt cover his whole face and force him to get what air he could through the narrow canyon of Mike's butt just as he had earlier forced Mike to breathe past Gino's big pec in his mouth.

However, both wrestlers knew and liked a good face sitting hold whenever they got into it, give or take, and Gino had no more problem with the punishment Mike was now giving him than Mike had earlier with Gino's pec in his mouth.

*        *        *        *

For long minutes they remained locked in the hold until Mike decided that he'd held it long enough and moved back beyond Gino's head to give him a chance to come back. Which Gino did quickly as soon as he got his breath and bearings back.

Mike then got to his hands and knees, inviting Gino to come after him. As Gino approached him from a low crouch, Mike jammed his head between Gino's legs and big thighs. But then Gino didn't lose his balance, as Mike had hoped maybe he would, and for a moment or two, while Mike was trying to pick Gino up by the back of his neck, Gino was reaching under Mike to grab his big and hard cock to use it as a handle to pick Mike up, upside down, instead.

Mike resisted Gino's move, despite the punishment on his own cock, and for a couple of minutes they remained deadlocked, as each tried the lift the other up. But then Mike slipped on a pool of oil on the mat and lost his traction against Gino.

Gino held his traction however, and succeeded to lifting Mike up just by his cock alone, until he held him upside down in a powerful hold around Mike's waist, with Mike's wet and naked butt in Gino's face which prevented Gino from seeing anything either.

For a moment or two Gino continued holding Mike upside down, with Mike unable to do anything about it despite his struggles to get free. However, Gino knew it was also costing him more energy than it was Mike, who didn't seem to mind at all anyway being upside down and being crushed in Gino's big arms. As a result, Gino gradually dropped to his knees to get both himself and Mike back to the mat once more.

That effort took its toll on both of them for a few seconds after they fell back to the mat.

As they dropped back down to the mat, Gino slipped on the slippery mat, lost his hold on Mike, and landed on his back. This was just enough to let Mike get back on Gino in another full body press, this time head to head.

Mike then quickly wrapped his arms around Gino's upper body on the mat to hold him in place while Gino came back did the same to Mike to keep him from getting away too. It was a deadly, but very agreeable, tight bear hug for both of them, but which also locked them up completely and almost completely unable to move. The only thing left for Mike to do was to press his own face hard against Gino's face to keep Gino's head forced against the mat too. That forced their foreheads and noses to press tightly against each others, and then their lips locked together. Now only their tongues were left to wrestle it out with each other deep inside each other's mouth. Neither had any problem with that, and for long minutes they remained locked together, lip locked, for whatever might come next.

*        *        *        *

By now, Gino and Mike had been wrestling for almost two hours in the dimly lit barn, naked and oiled, as they fought and struggled back and forth with each other, but at the same time they even more enjoyed the sensual and erotic pleasure of their working out with each other. Meanwhile, the moon had risen higher in the night sky, the stars shone just as brightly, giving just enough light to see by, while the corners of the barn remained dark. At some time while Gino and Mike were wrestling and focused on each other, Benito had come in to see them. But apparently he had seen Gino wrestle with other men before, knew it was ok with Gino, and dropped back to sleep at the edge of the mat, only occasionally opening an eye to see what the wrestlers were doing with each other.

From time to time too Mike and Gino slowed down, or remained deadlocked and motionless while they regained their breath and strength, or figured what they'd try to do next with the other. Each time they did, however, and as their sensual and erotic wrestling with each other stimulated and aroused them more and more, they knew the time would eventually come when they'd have to end their long match.

Soon, they knew, all of the hot, white and creamy cum which had been accumulating in their powerful bodies would soon demand to be released, probably violently, and then they would be too exhausted to continue.

As they wrestled for over two hours, back and forth, give and take, more and more as their long match went on they found themselves first in a tight single and then even tighter double figure four head scissors on each other.

Sometimes Mike might have his back on the mat with Gino on top of him, and then they'd be in the reverse position. Then at first their heads might be caught only between the other's thighs so that they could still breathe easily.

But, more and more as the match went on, their heads were trapped deep inside the other's dark, wet and naked crotch. At first they only felt the other's wet and naked cock and balls pressed hard against his face. But then, more and more often, they managed to stab their big, long and hard rods deep down into each other's mouth and throat not only to choke him, but as if to impale his head against the mat so that he couldn't escape.

At first it was that only one would take the hold on the other while his own head remained free. But then, increasingly, it became a double figure four head scissors and both had jammed his cock deep down into the other's mouth and throat,, and, as they rolled back and forth, first one's head was impaled on the mat, and then the others, while neither ever let the other go.

Neither Mike nor Gino had any problem with any of it. However, each time they got locked into another double figure four head scissors and had stabbed his cock deep down the other's mouth and throat, it stimulated and aroused them more and more. Soon, they knew, their match would have to come to an end.

PART 16 — MIKE AND GINO'S LONG MATCH COMES TO AN END

After more than two hours of wrestling, naked and oiled, in the dim light of the cow barn, all of their muscles full and throbbing with the pleasure of their tightly held struggle with each other, Mike found himself once more on top of Gino This time, once again, he had also managed to stab his still long and hard cock deep down into Gino's mouth and throat while Gino struggled desperately to bridge out and escape and reverse their positions.

Both knew they were about to come within seconds and shoot their full loads of the hot white cream cum which had been accumulating in their bodies since they first began wrestling and now demanded to be released. The only question was how, and which wrestler would come first? Both wrestlers knew how each, and the other, felt in those final seconds.

Mike knew he had only a couple more seconds before he would have and be able to shoot his big load of cum deep down into Gino's mouth and throat. But Gino knew Mike's condition, and that he was the same. So Gino then, with one final burst of strength from his still powerfully muscular, naked and oiled body, although he wasn't able to get Mike off him entirely, was still just able to roll both of them over until now he was on top of Mike. He knew Mike wouldn't be too surprised at Gino's last move, nor did he have any problem at all with it.

Now it was Gino's long and hard rod that was jammed deep down into Mike's mouth while Mike's big rod was still plunged deep in Gino's mouth.

For a couple of seconds more both were motionless as they felt all of their cum race uncontrollably ready to be released. Then suddenly, and in the same instant, both felt all of their hot cum burst out of their bodies in a massive flood, while at the same time each felt and tasted the other's hot white cum flood out and fill their own mouth and throat.

On and on the cum of each man flowed and pulsed into the other's mouth and down his throat. Neither could get enough and they remained motionless until both were totally drained and exhausted.

It was only moments after that that they regained at least some of their strength as they lay exhausted together on the mat. They looked over at each other and grinned. They knew it had been real good. The only thing that could possibly make it better would be if maybe they could do it again. And real soon too, they hoped.

PART 17 — A LOUD BATTERING AT THE DOOR

The sun, in all its hot Sicilian glory was just beginning to break over the horizon. The land and farmhouses were just beginning to stir as the farmers were already up to tend to their morning farm chores while the rest of their families also began to stir to their own chores for the day. A nearby rooster also announced the dawn to one and all, while the morning mist in the low valleys was just beginning to rise and dissipate.

Nothing was happening at all, however, in the small and secluded villa where Mike and Gino were sleeping in the spacious bed in the big rear bedroom of the villa. The sun was just beginning now to flood in the window, but they remained completely oblivious to it.

Until a tremendous knocking and battering on the heavy oak front door of the villa was heard. Benito began barking furiously, and the shouts of various men was heard both in the front and rear of the house demanding an immediate and urgent opening of the door.

Gino awoke immediately and instinctively as he knew what a hammering at a door at dawn could mean. Mike awoke just a little more slowly although he too recognized the urgency, although he was not yet familiar with the surroundings. Both were wearing only their tight white shorts on their tanned and muscular bodies. Gino quickly got out of his side of the bed, while Mike got out only slightly slower on his side of the bed.

Gino padded quickly to the heavy front door in his bare feet. He opened only the upper half of the door slightly as the door was divided in two, typical of farm doors to let fresh air in but keep the barnyard animals out. Gino saw to it, however, that the lower heavy wrought iron bolts of the door remained tightly in place. Gino knew that as a member of the Giordano family, a dawn raid on his house by someone unfriendly to his family or to him personally, was never too far out of mind, and precautions always needed to be taken.

As he opened the door the first persons he saw were Luigi and his younger brother Seppi with smiles on their faces but with their hands red from pounding on the door. Behind them stood a man he didn't recognize, but who was Mike's friend and guard Dino. And behind him were an older couple whom he recognized after a moment as Dante and Maria DeSario. Dino had a grim look on his face, while Dante and Maria had looks of concern on their faces. Behind them, just coming into the courtyard, was Angelina, the housekeeper, as she always arrived at the villa at just about the same time. One of the cars in the courtyard Gino recognized as Luigi's, Fiat while the other was an older black Cadillac belonging to the senior DeSario's.

Recognizing his callers, and while Gino was releasing the bolts and opening the bottom half of the door, Mike came up behind him. Both of them with their powerfully muscled and nearly naked bodies, and neither had yet put on anything over their almost identical white shorts. In fact, they looked almost like brothers or at least two close first cousins. Neither Gino nor Mike were quite awake yet, but the grins on their faces as they saw their visitors told the story.

Then everyone began to talk at once. Luigi wanted to make sure Gino was ok as he needed to report back to his family and the senior Giordano's on his and Mike's situation. Dino wanted to be sure Mike was alive and ok, while Dante and Maria looked, for the first time, to see what their guest looked like, much less have a chance to greet him and make him welcome to their land. All of the new and early morning visitors instantly expressed a great sigh of relief that Mike, as well as Gino, appeared to be all well and in one piece.

Overnight, Luigi for the Giordano's, and Dino for the DeSario's, had teamed up to investigate what might have happened to Gino and Mike, as it was in the family interests of both that this whole situation should be satisfactorily resolved. Luigi and Dino soon figured that most likely Mike and Gino were at Gino's small and secluded villa in the countryside. However, Luigi and Dino decided not to intrude on them until they were sure they were there, or until it was sufficiently light in the morning so that they could maybe break in, if necessary, to see what had become of them.

Their greetings and sighs of relief and questions now, all mixed together, continued as Gino invited them all into the rustic but spacious combined big front living and eating room of the villa.

Maria, as might be expected of a very experienced and practical Sicilian grandmother, had noticed Angelina come in behind them. She motioned to Angelina to go to their Cadillac where there were hampers of food for the makings of a full Sicilian country breakfast. Maria knew that whatever else happened when they got to the villa, everyone would soon be hungry and would need to be fed.

As all of them continued to talk at once in the usual style of a Sicilian family get-together. Maria knew that Angelina, for she too was a cousin of the Giordano family whose husband had been killed by some feral bandits some years ago. She now provided various housekeeping services to some members of the Giordano family like Gino, and lived nearby. Now Angelina was happily putting all of the breads and rolls, and cheeses and meats, and oranges and peaches, and butters and preserves, and jugs of hot coffee and everything else that comprised a full Sicilian country breakfast, on the table for them to eat.

PART 18. BREAKFAST FOR ALL AT THE VILLA

The big question on everyone's mind, except Gino's and Mike's of course, was what happened to them between the time of their airport arrival and the present moment? Neither Gino nor Mike was prepared to give them an exact reply, of course, and their reply was somewhat circumspect.

Maria didn't seem too interested, but she guessed what went on and had no problem with it. While the others were talking, she had walked to the rear of the villa just to see what condition it was in and how Gino and Angelina were taking care of it. She noticed that Angelina's sitting room was all in order, as she expected, while the smaller guest bedroom showed no sign of being used. However the big rear room, for which Maria herself had helped find some furniture, particularly the huge bed for her big and muscular nephew Gino, was totally messed up with both Gino's and Mike's clothes strewn around on the chairs and on the floor.

She had also noticed earlier the slight sheen of oil on Gino and Mike's bodies and in their hair which had remained after they had showered. She knew Gino liked to wrestle around Sicilian style with whomever he could find to wrestle with, either alone at his villa or the occasional provincial fairs. And, looking at Mike's similarly muscular body and demeanor, expected he liked to wrestle around Sicilian style just as much as Gino. She knew there was little else to guess about.

Sitting around the big dining table, and in the interest of promoting as much harmony between the DeSario family and the Giordano family, as their interests were more in common than in opposition, Maria managed to guide the seating so that Mike could sit between Dante and herself as their special guest, with Dino on her other side and Luigi next to Dante, and with Angelina also at the table as a member of the family as well. It was a very fine and full breakfast for all, to be sure.

AFTERWARDS

Mike had a couple of great weeks in Sicily. Dino was able to stay over for a few days and showed him around, as did Mike's own DeSario cousins who wanted to meet him and hear about his life in Philadelphia. Dante and Maria were deeply welcoming of him and were deeply gracious hosts during his entire visit.

And during those two weeks, Mike also managed to slip away a few different times to see Gino again at his secluded villa in the countryside. Each visit was even better than the previous visit. 

The End.

Posted: 10/21/11