Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) (3 page)

I grinned at Alexi. “Plus, you have The Rattler under contract. Congratulations, both to him and you. He was getting screwed.”

“Yes, and he will not be fighting in any matches with you. I believe Eugene will rise in the UFC to the top if I keep him away from you.”

Eugene and I settled our differences in a violent manner twice on the Mandalay Bay stage. I didn’t know how he felt about it, but I’d had enough of Eugene. “You can tell him I don’t want to fight him again either.”

Alexi laughed. “I would be here propositioning you to do exactly that if not for the fact you have broken him. I looked into his eyes. He doesn’t believe he can beat you. It may be a temporary thing, but I would not put him in the cage against you again until he has something to lose, like the UFC Heavyweight Belt. I will work him into a position from the beginning to do just that. I noted the UFC still does not want to promote your rising star after beating The Rattler, John. Those two killings in the cage have the powers that be in the UFC worried. I believe a few of them thought you were going to kill Eugene.”

“Was not.” Maybe, but it’s a rough sport to gauge how far you should go.

“Yes… I have no doubt you were going to do exactly that if need be. That has no bearing in my decision to not try and put Rattler against you. He doesn’t believe he can beat you. You don’t believe anyone can beat you.”

“I do, but I don’t care.” I sensed we were dancing for some reason. I was glad Big O wouldn’t be coming around at odd times, trying to ankle bite me into kicking his ass once again. I wasn’t convinced I could beat Rattler, but I’d beat Big O every time we threw hands. “I suspect you stopped to see me on something other than the fight game. I think you’ve prepped me enough. What’s on your mind?”

“Direct as always. Subtlety is not your strong suit, my friend. Another Russian mobster, named Yuri Kornev, immigrated from his holdings on the East Coast to the East Bay. He sent some men around to let me know he was in the area. I sent word to him I am no longer a player in such matters. We found my messenger’s body tortured as in the old country. It was my mistake to send someone to reason with such a beast. Even in my old days I never did such a thing. This will not affect me. He knows I am no longer in the trade, but to do such a thing while knowing the truth is reprehensible. Such is the world nowadays, my friend. I only came to make amends with Baatar, and to warn you of his presence.”

This was odd. “So, you didn’t strike back at this Yuri guy?”

Alexi smiled. “I struck back just now, John. You know about him, and I will feed you any information or knowledge I learn concerning his movements. I have already sent a file to Denny with all the details of what I know at this time. I think when he sees what Yuri is capable of, you’ll be getting a call from him. Have you ever considered another street fight for a rather large sum of money, John?”

This conversation is getting more interesting by the minute. “I haven’t been asked, Alexi. You probably know we’re not hurting for money. I doubt Tommy would like me risking the ranking I’ve achieved by beating Rattler in the UFC on a street fight.”

“We both know you don’t fight for the money. You never did. It was the main reason I could not perceive what you were up to, until I learned about your day-job. Is that not true?”

“Maybe.” There wasn’t any use in pretending with Alexi. I nearly killed him over pressure he brought to bear on me in back of The Warehouse Bar to throw a fight. “What’s this all about?”

“Yuri is trying to insert himself into my backstreet fighting endeavors. He has a fighter who is unbeaten. He is a Bulgarian, nicknamed The Assassin. Yuri wants to challenge any fighter I have. The stakes will be high. This Marko Hristov was mentored by Yuri from the time his parents met with an unfortunate accident when he was twelve.”

Uh oh. “Accident?”

“They were killed because the boy’s Father worked for Yuri, by a rival syndicate,” Alexi explained. “It was ruled a traffic accident, but I do not believe it was, nor did Yuri. The boy lived. His first kills at age fifteen were his parents’ murderers. In the past decade Yuri has had him trained in special skills. Although he is being groomed for ultimate fighting, Marko has been killing for his mentor a long time.”

“You’re in a position to ignore him, my friend. Why risk anything. You own the nicest street fighting warehouse setting anywhere, and you already have an inside track with backers for anything you do in the UFC. What kind of strings is this Yuri pulling behind the curtain?”

Alexi tilted his hands in an ‘it is what it is’ fashion. “This challenge comes at an awkward time for me, John. I am trying to have all aspects of my holdings legal, with the small exception in betting at the fights I host. The politicos look the other way while betting and taking free cage-side seats, so that is not a problem. If Yuri gets ignored, I believe he plans to cause enough problems with the illegal betting so as to scare away our key crowd. Once I lose the look the other way politicos, I’m in deep trouble.”

There goes my vacation, but not my coaching job. “I don’t need to hear what Denny says. I’m in, but I have to coach Al’s softball team. If that’s a problem, then take a hike. Another point to consider is I might lose. There are no guarantees in this game, especially under street fighting rules.”

“I would rather enter this venture with you, rather than any other fighter. You look good, and I know you train everyday no matter what happens in the future. You set your mind on something, make the endeavor work, and you lead a team of killers I have never seen the like of. If problems do occur, your crew either fix the problems, or they bury them. Lastly, you act on the side of what is right, although the sheer number of sociopaths who have joined your crew would be a case study that would make the X-Files believable in comparison.”

Now even I’m wondering where we’re going with this. “Denny runs the operation, Alexi.”

That statement caused much mirth on the part of the old gangster. He even clapped his hands in appreciation. “I…I am sure Mr. Strobert masterminded much of what brought your crew together. Part of it I suspect is because he joined together the most dangerous loners on earth with only one person they respected enough to lead them – you. We have all done much good, although the work sometimes took place outside the parameters of the law. In the case of Ms. Montoya/Dostiene, the work sometimes takes place outside the realm of horrific imaginings. In any case, you hold this crew together. I know if you agree to fight, nothing on earth Yuri could do to threaten you or your family would be more than pissing into the wind. He mentioned your people after I met with him in spite of his horrid handling of my first approach. His arrogance I admit makes me forget how arrogant I was in his position. I have learned humility since meeting you, a well taught, and much appreciated lesson, John.”

“Okay… I’m in. I’ll have to endure torture on your behalf from family corners because of it though. My crew will shake their heads and laugh, make fun of me, and create new nicknames of shame for me. Lora accepts anything, but forgets nothing. Tommy will want to prod me into my banana dry-suit, and feed me to the sharks as he did training me for the Rattler. Al will give me her tight lipped scowl, which will rip my heart out; but what do you care, you unfeeling wretch?”

I smiled, as I again drew big laughs at that statement. “Enough of the laugh track, when do we meet?”

Alexi waved me off for a few more seconds, unable to continue for a moment after being labeled an unfeeling wretch I’ll wager. “You are most entertaining, my friend. May we meet again at six o’clock tomorrow evening at The Warehouse Bar? It will of course be my treat, and please bring anyone who would like to accompany you. I know Tommy will be at your side. He will be pleased at the amount of money to be had in a back alley brawl where he can again work his betting magic with guaranteed money.”

“I’ll tell him, but Tommy is a bit jaded after the Rattler win. He seems to think I owe it all to his torture sessions in the Bay. Those training sessions will not be happening under any circumstances. Pain used to be my friend. Tommy’s made pain into an enemy.”

“I admit when I heard of his training regimen putting you alongside the boat in a yellow dry-suit being poked with poles, and bumped by sharks, I thought even beating Eugene would not be worth it. I am result oriented though, and respect Tommy’s outcome, but I understand you not resuming such training.”

“Good… because I’m not, even if it means death by Assassin,” I replied.

“Such will not be the case. I use Jack Korlos in all important matches. You know him. He has never had a death happen in any match he’s refereed.”

“Jack’s the best. He’ll sap the Assassin or me if we don’t stop when he tells us to stop. I’ll see you tomorrow at six.”

“Until then, my friend.” Alexi walked away with a wave, and I went in to face my crew.

Lora and Al were already watching the door, so I knew my extended meeting with Alexi had their imaginations working overtime. The rest of the gang only glanced from pizza devouring when I reached the table. Lora took a deep breath and reached for my hand as I sat down. I think her feminine sixth sense kicked in although I smiled at her with what I thought was reassuring good humor.

“What have you done, Mellow Yellow?”

Lora prodded me with one of the nicknames given to me during my Bay training inside a yellow dry-suit. It received appreciative laughter of course. “Nothing, Hon. Tommy and I have to meet Alexi at The Warehouse Bar tomorrow night to discuss a business proposal.”

“Partial truth,” Tommy said. “I see in his eyes though that’s all we’re getting for now, Lora. I’m coming over to the house after we leave here. I feel a storm brewing on the horizon.”

Tommy’s pronouncement elicited smiling but questioning looks from my monsters. I drank down half my mug of beer before expounding any further. “All of you are invited to the house after we leave here. There will be refreshments served. For now, let’s enjoy the girls’ celebration.”

“You promised to be our coach, Dad,” Al said.

I met her questioning look with my Dark Lord stare and voice. “When has the Dark Lord broken his word to you, daughter and minion of the Dark Lord?”

That provoked a giggle from Al, and her teammates within hearing. She immediately jumped to her feet, head bowed. “Yes, Dark Lord.”

Her impromptu adlib drew general laughter. Discussion stayed on track, talking softball and what we still needed to work on. Tommy eyeballed me through our entire pizza celebration. I figured I’d be hearing about it at the house. Better there than here. The girls took in the whole process with their parents eyeballing me with I’m sure conflicting emotions. The entire crew of my monsters showing up probably made them a bit uneasy, but too bad. If anything bad happened around the girls in this particular public place, the only casualties would be bad. Those thoughts no sooner passed into my head than the opposing coach and his brother show up, ready for action, or what they thought would be action. I know it seemed confrontational to them as my monster crew and I groaned together. The husband pointed at Lynn, provoking amusement inappropriate, but unavoidable as we all knew if Lynn got busy, nothing but scraps of flesh would be left of these two innocent dolts. Clint stood up, waving us down, including Lynn who he had to force back into her seat.

“Hi, I’m Clint Dostiene. This is Lynn, my wife. We all know Marion was upset. She made a remark best not repeated in front of the kids, which my wife could not let stand.” Clint took out a notepad and pen from his pack. He scribbled on it for a moment, tore off the page, and handed it to Marion’s husband. “There’s my address and phone number. My advice is to make your complaint to the board. Don’t make this an issue here in front of the kids. It will end badly for you.”

“You’re cocky with all your friends around you!” The husband was approaching the river of no return.

Clint turned to us monsters with a grin. “No matter what happens, stay out of it. Are we clear?”

We all said ‘clear’ in chorus, except for Lynn, who continued to smilingly eyeball the husband. “That means you too, Crue.”

“Fine! I relinquish this opportunity to the ‘man from nowhere’.”

That drew laughs from even Clint, to the tag Lucas had put on him during our last caper. “Thank you, my dear. Now, let’s let bygones be bygones. This won’t end well, guys. If we all stay within the softball rules, and don’t make disparaging remarks about one another, we’ll get along fine. Threaten my wife again, and that would not only be impolite, but an action with consequences.”

The idiot husband moved into the airspace of a man so dangerous even his brothers in arms from our monster squad didn’t invade his airspace. “You don’t scare me. You’d best corral your wife if you want to keep on in this league.”

Clint leaned in close so no one else could hear. The husband’s eyes got real wide for a moment while he backed away. He corralled his brother-in-law with a quick shoulder grip, guiding him out the exit. “Finally, someone who understands English.”

Clint sat down and resumed eating pizza and drinking beer. Lynn couldn’t resist. “What did you say ‘man from nowhere’.

Clint shrugged. “I told him he was being unreasonable. He agreed.”

“I’ll bet,” Lynn replied. “Nice work… man from nowhere.”

Chapter Two

New Player

Al went to bed at ten, under protest, while I enjoyed interrogation 101. I explained it in simple terms exactly what was said, including the invitation at The Warehouse Bar. Although there were clucking noises during my explanation, I believed everyone understood who Yuri Kornev was. They knew what he did if he didn’t like the message, he killed the messenger. No one had seen The Assassin, Marko Hristov fight.