Fighting Hard (9 page)

She laughed. “Maybe you need to become a bartender. I hear
they
have a cushy deal.”

His eyes twinkled. “You here to see our favorite bartender?”

“Yeah. Just for a minute. Can I run in and out?”

“For sure. Go on in…”

**

Mia stood and stared, in total shock. She just couldn’t believe what she was seeing: was that
Nick?

He was whispering to some woman, running his hands up and down her long legs. Now he was moving closer… closer.

My God. He’s kissing her.

Mia’s first impulse was to run before he saw her, but then she felt a spark of anger. Why should
she
be the one to duck the situation? She didn’t have some guy’s tongue in
her
mouth, did she?

She walked over to the bar and stood right next to their stools, between them, observing the kiss from less than a foot away. They pulled apart and their eyes opened.

Nick saw Mia standing there and he jumped.

“Hi, Nick,” she said. “What are you up to?”

The blonde blinked at Mia. “Ummm. Who’s she?”

Nick got to his feet, totally panicked now, as the force of what he’d just done hit him. “Mia… look. This isn’t – it’s not…”

“Are you going to tell me that it isn’t what it looks like, Nick? Because it looks like you’re kissing this woman.”

He stared at her, horrified, dumbstruck. Slowly, a feeling of shame and rage at himself began to creep in to his chest.

You are such an asshole. She deserves better than this. She deserves better than you.

Mia looked down at her feet. “Is this about – about earlier? What happened when we were in bed?”

He didn’t answer. The blonde looked interested.

“
What
happened in bed earlier?” she asked Nick. “Can we do it, too?”

Mia flinched and Nick’s fury at himself went up a notch at her pain.

“Nick, you just told me today that you didn’t want to lose me, you made me promise not to leave you, and now you’re kissing another woman? I don’t understand.”

OK, this is your one chance to make her angry enough to go, to make her move on to someone better. Make it count.

Nick’s voice was as cold as he knew how to make it. “Guys will say a lot of things to get some pussy.”

Mia gasped; it was like he’d physically hit her.

“Nick. You don’t mean that…”

No. I don’t. Fuck, what am I doing?

“Yes. I do.” Nick shrugged. “Look, we had fun, OK? But we never said we were exclusive.”

“So… wait. You’ve been with other women while we’ve been together?”

No
.
I never even thought about another woman. You were it, babe.

“Yeah. Of course.”

Mia glanced at the woman now and saw her curled lip as she looked her up and down. The woman was stunning: tall and blonde and with a body to kill for. Mia knew how she looked in comparison, in her jeans and oversized coat and clumpy winter boots.

“OK.” Mia fought to keep from crying in front of them. “I get it. I understand now.” She looked at the woman and then back at Nick. “So, have a good evening.”

“Oh, I know
I
will,” the woman said.

Mia ignored her. “Bye, Nick.”

She turned and walked out of the club without another look at him. Nick watched her go and felt sick.

What am I doing? What have I done? This was a mistake. I have to stop her.

“Hey, Spencer!”

His head snapped around to see his boss Allan staring at him, a very annoyed expression on his face. “What the hell, man? Can you keep your dick in your pants long enough to serve the customers?”

“Allan, I’m sorry… I need to talk to someone. I’ll be right back.”

“Do that later, Nick. Right now? Work.”

Nick stared at the door that Mia had just walked out of. “I’m sorry. I really am. But I’ve got to go.”

The blonde pouted. “You’ll come back? Finish what we started?”

“I’m sorry, but no.” Nick shook his head. “I don’t want this. Not anymore.”

He turned on his heels, ignoring Allan’s howls of protest, and hurried to the exit. He had to catch her.

**

Adam saw Mia emerge from the club. She was crying and looked upset and shaken.

“Mia! Are you OK?”

She wiped her tears and tried to smile. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“What happened?”

“I made a mistake, Adam. That’s all.”

He stared down at her face and he just knew.
Nick. You fucking moron
. “He’s in there with another woman, isn’t he?”

Her lip trembled. “Yes.”

“Shit. I’m sorry, Mia. When it comes to relationships, Nick can be a real idiot.”

“Yeah, he said. But I thought he’d try with me.”

“He did try, Mia. I
know
he did.”

“Well, maybe he did. But he’s stopped trying now.” She took a deep breath. “Bye, Adam.”

“Goodbye, Mia.”

She turned and he watched her walk down the street.

Jesus Christ, Nick. Come on, man. Come and stop her.

Right on cue, Nick came shooting out the door. Adam leveled him with a glare and nodded at Mia disappearing down the street.

“You’d better go get her, man, I swear to God. Whatever you have to do, you better do it.”

Out of nowhere, a car pulled up next to her. The back door opened and a man emerged and headed straight for Mia.

Unable to believe what they were seeing, Nick and Adam froze for a second.

“Mia!” Nick shouted. “Mia!”

She turned to look at him and the man hit her from behind. She gave a small scream and fell forward, her body limp. Nick saw her eyes close and he knew she had been knocked out.

He and Adam tore down the street but it was too late, the car was too far away. The man hauled her in to the back seat with him and the door slammed. Tires squealed and the car flew around the corner, out of sight.

Nick and Adam ran after it but it was useless. They stopped, panting.

“Who the fuck was that?” Adam said.

Nick stood staring in to the darkness where the car had disappeared and all he felt was fear. “I know who it was. And Mia is in terrible trouble, Adam.”

Chapter Eight

Adam raised one huge foot and kicked Mia’s door open. The wood splintered and the lock exploded and the door smashed in to the wall.

Adam and Nick entered her apartment. Nick flicked the light and hurried over to the dining room table piled high with papers, books and post-its.

“It’s over here somewhere… an address somewhere in East Colfax.”

“No surprise there, I guess,” Adam muttered.

The flipped through everything, dumping papers on the floor as their search became increasingly frantic.

Adam stopped. “Nick.”

Nick looked up. Adam was holding a yellow post-it.

“I got it. Let’s go, man. We’ll call the cops on the way.”

**

“Wake her up, for fuck’s sake. Throw water on her or something.”

“Danny, please… she’s hurt.”

“Yeah, I know. That was the whole point. Now wake her up, or I’ll do it.”

“I don’t think…”

“Yeah. Yeah, I know you don’t, you dumb whore.
I
do the thinking. Fine. Go stand over there.”

Mia slowly became aware of the pain in her head. She tried to move but her hands and feet were tied to something.
A chair?

A wave of freezing cold washed over her and she gasped in shock.

“Wake up, bitch.”

She forced her eyes open.

“About time. Jesus.” He set down the dirty pail.

She was soaked through, and started shivering. He must have used the coldest water he could find.

“What… where…”

“Shut up. I’m the one asking the questions.”

Mia looked around the room and saw Justine standing in the corner. She looked away quickly, trying not to let any spark of recognition cross her face.

My God. This must be Danny… and if he has any idea that Justine tipped me off… oh, my God. We are in big trouble.

“So.” His black eyes glared down at her, furious. “Who gave you this address?”

“Nobody.”

He shook his head. “Liar.”

“Nobody. Really.”

Justine watched from across the room, shaking. She had been shaking for hours now, ever since she and Danny had sat outside Mia’s building, waiting for her to come out. They had followed her to that club and Justine had watched in speechless horror as Danny hit Mia and threw her in to the back seat. Justine had prayed for a cop to see her erratic driving and pull her over, but no luck.

Danny knew a lot about Mia, but Justine had no idea how. What Justine
did
know, for sure, was that sooner or later, Mia would have to crack under Danny’s questions; there was no way once Danny started hitting her that she’d be able to hold out. Justine was sure that tonight was the last night of both of their lives. She wanted to run, but if she did, Danny would kill her before she got to the parking lot.

Danny moved closer to Mia, his large body tense with anger. “I’m going to ask one last time: how did you know this address?”

Mia’s eyes met Justine’s and Mia saw the sheer, all-consuming terror in them.

I’m not going to tell, Justine. I promised you that.

“I figured it out… I put all the pieces together.”

“You’re fucking lying, you bitch.”

She swallowed her fear, fought to stay calm.
Nick and Adam will have seen what happened to me outside the club; they’ll have raised the alarm by now. All I have to do is hang on until the cops talk to Tom and he gives them this address. Just keep him talking. Keep Justine safe.

“No, I’m not lying. I’m not new to this game, you know.” She tried to look believable. “I’ve done this kind of work before in Asia… lots of it. I know how to ask questions and connect the dots. I have my sources on the street. This was me. All me.”

Justine closed her eyes in relief.

The man regarded her calmly for a few seconds and nodded.

“OK, so you’re going to keep lying to me. I don’t like that very much.”

“I’m not –”

He punched her in the face and the force of it snapped her head back. She cried out in pain.

“You are. You
are
lying.”

“I don’t –”

Another punch, this one to her mouth. Mia tasted blood and the fear became real and huge now. She struggled against the ropes and the man stuck his face right in hers.

“You know how I know you’re lying, you fucking bitch? Because I have
my
sources, too. And my favorite source told me quite clearly that you told him about how you got the address.” His eyes bored in to hers. “That you have someone on the inside.”

What the fuck? I have told exactly two people on this planet about Justine: Nick and Tom. Tom… no. No way. He works to save these kids! Why would he? So, Nick? No. Impossible. It’s Tom.

He saw the shock on her face and he grinned. “Yeah. Always helpful to have someone on the inside myself.”

Mia found her voice. “But – why would he? Tom cares about getting kids
out
…”

“He also cares about large amounts of cash. He provides information that keeps me ahead of the cops; I provide him with a nice lifestyle. It’s win-win, really.”

Mia remembered now how upset and frustrated Tom had been when she had refused to give him the source’s name.
So that’s why. That asshole.

“Then Tom misunderstood… there is no source on the inside. Just a bunch of sources outside with small bits of information that they don’t even know the meaning of. I gathered enough to make sense of the puzzle… that’s how I got to you.”

Danny straightened and gazed down at her. “So. You want to do things the hard way.” He smiled. “I like the hard way.”

The last thing Mia saw was his fist coming at her face. She closed her eyes and screamed. Screamed again. Then she fell in to darkness.

**

Nick got out of the car and looked around the parking lot. Empty.

“I’m going in there.”

“Nick – wait!”

Not many people could physically stop Nick from doing what he wanted to do, but Adam was one of them. His massive arms clamped down around Nick’s chest and he held him from behind.

“Fuck, Adam… let me go!”

“No.”

Nick struggled, but it was no use: even with Nick’s strength, trying to break Adam’s grip was like trying to break a steel bar with a feather. He calmed down and slumped, tears in his eyes.

“It’s going to happen again, Adam.”

“What is?”

“Somebody that I love is going to be killed right in front of me, and I won’t be able to stop it. We can’t wait for the cops… we need to go and get her.”

Shelley
. Slowly, Adam relaxed his hold. “Nick. Listen to me.”

“OK.”

“Are you listening?”

“Yeah.”

Adam let him go and the two men faced each other. Adam saw Nick’s tears and his hard blue eyes softened.

“Nick, this is not going to be anything like Shelley, I promise you. We’re going in there to get Mia, we’re not waiting for anyone. OK? That isn’t even up for debate. But before we go charging in, we need to know how many there are.”

“God, Adam. We can each take five easily.”

“If they have guns?”

Nick fell silent.

“Right. Exactly.”

“So what do we do?”

“You stay here. I’m going to take a look.”

Nick nodded even though every cell in his body was telling him to run through that door to Mia. He watched as Adam crept around the side of the building, peering through windows; it looked like an abandoned storage space. Nick looked behind him, in to the poorly-lit street, squinting to see if anyone was hanging around.

Adam came back and Nick almost jumped at him.

“So?”

Adam didn’t want Nick to know that he had seen some giant guy punching Mia. If he did, he’d bust through that door for sure.

“OK. I saw one guy and one woman. No guns, at least none at hand.”

“Mia?”

“Yeah, I saw her. Listen, we need to go down what looks like a long hallway, so there may be other people. Let’s take it slow, OK? If we get caught, we’re no good to her, Nick.”

“I know.”

“Are you hearing me?”

Nick stared at Adam and took a breath. “Yeah. Yeah, I hear you.”

“OK. Let’s go.”

The men snuck through the door and down the hall, stopping every few steps to listen. Nick counted eight closed doors and when Adam tried them, they were all locked. Adam pressed his ear up against one and his face blanched.

“What?” Nick whispered. “What is it?”

“Kids.” Adam could barely get the word out. “Kids crying.”

They stared at each other, horrified.

“The cops are on their way,” Nick said, trying to think straight. “They’ll help the kids.”

“Yeah. Yeah, let’s get Mia.”

They heard shouting and scuffling at the end of the hall and they picked up the pace a bit, trying to keep quiet.

Nick poked his head around the open door in to the room where he heard yelling. He saw a dark-haired man shouting at a small blonde woman. She was cowering in a corner, terrified. Her nose was bleeding.

“Get me some more water, bitch!” he shouted. “Now!”

“Danny…” The woman was begging. “Danny, please. You’re going to kill her.”

“I’m going to kill her anyway,” the man said. “She knows about Tom.”

At those words, Nick burst in to the room. He ran at the startled man and without one word or second of hesitation, Nick punched him in the face, as hard as possible. The man grunted and went down on his knees, dazed and shaking his head. Nick hit him again, and again, crazed and out of control, his blood pounding in his ears. He saw nothing but red.

Adam grabbed his fist. “Nick, stop! Nick, he’s out!”

Nick blinked and his vision cleared. He looked down at the guy unconscious on the floor, battered and beaten. Nick looked around and sucked in his breath.

Mia was tied to a chair, her face bloody, her clothing and hair soaking wet. She wasn’t moving and her eyes were closed.

“Oh, God…Mia.”

He ran to her and then stopped, suddenly scared to touch her. He knelt down beside her.

“Mia? Can you hear me?”

Mia thought she heard Nick talking to her.
But that’s not possible. Nick is in the club flirting with that woman. Maybe he’s even having sex with her right now.
She turned her head and moaned.

“Mia?” Nick reached out and stroked her face. “Babe?”

She opened her eyes.

“Hey,” he said. “I’m right here. You’re OK now. I’ve got you.”

“Nick?” Her voice was weak and full of pain and it terrified him.

“It’s me. Hold on, OK? I’m going to untie you.”

His fingers fumbled with the knots and she groaned as he lifted her out of the chair and carried her to a dry place. He sat down, his back against the wall, and wrapped her in his arms. Vividly, he recalled that first night they met and how he held her like this in the back seat as she lay helpless on his body, totally dependent on him to keep her safe.

Mia tried to speak again, to ask Nick what he was doing there, but the pain in her head overwhelmed her and she whimpered. She fell in to a black pit and passed out cold.

Nick felt her go totally still. “Mia? Mia!” His split knuckles trailed blood on her face and hair as he touched her. “You promised me you wouldn’t leave me, babe. You
promised
… I need you to keep that promise, OK? Mia?”

The blonde woman was kneeling next to him. “Oh, my God... is she going to be alright?”

Nick looked over at Adam. He was pale and furious but he was calm, calling for an ambulance. Their eyes met.

“Adam, please.”

Adam nodded. “She’s in bad shape,” he said to the 911 operator. “You need to hurry.”

“Three minutes, sir.”

He came over to Nick. “Is she awake?”

“No. She’s out again.”

Adam sat next to Nick and put his arm around his friend. Nick was shaking wildly, rocking back and forth, tears coursing down his face, begging for Mia to keep her promise. And Adam hoped with every fibre of his being that she would.

**

Dr. Sam Inglis stared in astonishment at the young woman lying unconscious and beaten on the stretcher, and then at the young man shaking and pale and teary in the waiting room.

These two look very familiar.

“Is she going to be OK? How badly is she hurt?”

“I can’t say right now. I need to examine her carefully.” Sam glanced down at the man’s swollen and bloody hands. “And it looks like
you
need some medical attention, too.”

“Huh?” The man’s gray eyes stared down. “No. No, I’m fine. My hands have been worse, believe me. Just take care of Mia.”

“Mia?” Sam blinked. “Oh, yes. You two were in here – what? Two months ago? You’re Nick, right?”

“Yeah.” The man was shaking worse than before. “Please help her.”

“Sit down, man, before you fall down.” The huge man next to Nick pushed him in to a chair. Nick subsided without a word of protest and Sam looked down the hall to where Mia had been taken.

“I’m Adam.” The giant extended a massive hand to Sam. He shook it, astounded at the man’s strength.

“It’s good to meet you, Adam. OK, I’ll go check her out right now. I’ll be back soon and tell you how she is. Alright?”

Both men nodded.

Adam looked at Nick, worried as hell about him. Nick was the color of paper and was still shaking. Adam took off his coat and put it around Nick’s shoulders.

“I’m OK, Adam.”

“You are
not
. You definitely are not. Now, if you want me to drag you down the hall and have them look you over for shock, I can do that. But if you want to stay here and wait for news, then you need to warm up and calm down. You hear me?”

“Yeah.”

“Nick?”

“I said, yes.”

Adam sat down next to him. “She’s going to be OK, man. We got there in time.”

Nick shook his head. “This is all my fault.”

“No, it’s not.”

Nick was quiet, thinking about Mia’s face when he made love to her: so hot and sexy and full of joy. Her face when she smiled at him in the sunrise, her eyes golden and sweet. The he thought about her face when he took off and left her in bed, naked and alone and confused, without any explanation. Her face when she saw him kissing that woman, her face when she turned at his panicked shout, her face when that asshole hit her and knocked her out.