Hard Case VII - Red Waves (John Harding Series Book 7) (39 page)

I took a deep comical breath once I crossed into The Warehouse. The food smells coupled with the distinct clink and clatter of an excellent bar nearly brought a tear to my eye. Marla walked over in front of my gang.

“Right this way. I have the entire rounded end of the bar for my favorite customers unless you’d rather have a table right away.”

“Oh Mar, lead the way.” I followed along to the furthest corner where I noted we already had nearly everything imaginable laid out for our pleasure. I shifted into the spot with an obvious brothers’ combination. The Beam brother brought a tear to my eye on the way down. Marla refilled it instantly.

“Alexi said to forget anything else but a little pleasure, so enjoy. How’s the baby, Lynn?”

That began an iPhone photo session with our best friend waitress while we imbibed and shared photos, life gossip, Marla and Alexi news, and a slight mention of our adventures tonight. As all simple reality faded into our hearts with a pleasant aura of normalcy, in came the outside ingredient we didn’t need: Rock Costigan, all six foot, seven inches, and three hundred twenty-five pounds of fight game reality. I made a mental note to outlaw my stupid idea of meeting fight opponents here. From now on, I’ll fly to wherever the hell they want to meet. My cop friends enjoyed having the heavyweight UFC champion in their bar though which redeemed the action a bit. My Monsters were neutral. They measured Rock Costigan’s half a dozen big black entourage companions in suits and sunglasses, chuckled and sipped their beverages. Alexi was at his side with a less than enthused look on his face.

“John? I am very sorry to interrupt your small celebration. Mr. Costigan called me. It seems he was in town personally to monitor Dragon Hands’ fight with you. It was indeed his film crew at our arena. He called to request a formal meeting with me as an intermediary.”

I drained my second Beam brother and held out my hand. “No problem, Alexi. Hi Rock, I’m pleased to meet you.”

Rock smiled hugely, gripped my hand, and made the error not King Kong or Godzilla can pull off. He wanted to make me cringe. Heh…heh… I returned his grip with ever increasing pressure until his smile faded and sweat formed on his upper lip. I released him as Alexi turned away to hide his amusement and my Monsters enjoyed the moment because my smile never faded.

“Recon!” Lucas barked.

One of the entourage reached for Lucas. Casey snatched his wrist and put him on his knees. “Don’t know what this is all about, but no touching. You Snow Whites don’t want to be over extending your welcome. Keep civil or we put you out of the bar.”

Costigan did the smart thing, backing his boys away as if they had a choice. “I apologize. I need to discuss a bit of business with John Harding.”

Lucas walked into his air space without hesitation. “Show respect, bright boy, or we’ll teach it to you and your crew. I know you think you the baddest thing on earth. You move on Recon in this bar, he’ll rip your heart out. Then the rest of us Monsters will shoot your boys in the head if we can beat Crue before she slits your throats. Believe it or not… I don’t care. I’m game for it all tonight. Hell, boy… you eyeball me much longer and I’ll cheat Recon out of showing you your heart.”

“We don’t want trouble… only a word.” Costigan realized the elemental truth. He walked in amongst killers.

Lucas glanced at me. I nodded. He stepped back near Casey who handed him his Beam brother with a smile.

“For their safety, send your entourage outside, Rock,” I told him. “This is an Oakland PD bar, the finest in the city. You’re safe here, except of course for idiot mistakes.

There were some barks of acknowledgement from my Oakland PD brethren, who survive in a hellhole of a city without backup.

“Agreed,” Rock said. He turned to his crew. “Go wait in the limo. I’ll be fine.”

They did as told, eyeballing my Monsters whom they couldn’t stand against for even a second. Jess, Dev, and Tommy shared chuckles at the grim faced entourage much to their displeasure. Anyone of our Snow Whites was a match for Costigan’s bunch. It didn’t matter. Intimidation ploys are part of the racket. His came up short. I didn’t want any trouble. I have a curious nature. I couldn’t figure why the UFC champ decided to buy a stand-in fighter for a back alley street fight and have it filmed.

Tommy shifted away from me some to allow Rock space enough for his bulk and then moved around him to hear what he had to say. My Monsters and Snow Whites shifted closer to hear the conversation too. Lynn in particular was enjoying the extra entertainment having already predicted the unpredictable Cheeseburger element of coming to The Warehouse. Alexi moved next to Tommy. Rock didn’t like it.

“I had hoped we could talk in private, Harding.”

“You should have called me. I’m in the phone book. You chose the entourage route. It doesn’t work with us. Besides, Alexi produces most of my fights, and Tommy’s my manager. We’re all family here at the bar. My brothers and sister wish to know more about this ‘Dragon Hands’ production you bought into. It has some bad threads connected to it. I’d like to know if you were only interested in the Dragon Hands part or if you know Enos Cabrerra and Rand Dosti. They work for a New York Albanian gangster named Victor Sopa.”

Only surprise and a little shock showed on Rock’s face. I could feel Tommy relax next to me. He knew if I had seen recognition in Rock’s features, Rock and his crew would be coming with us Monsters, whether they liked it or not. I don’t give a shit if he’s the UFC champ or not. If he’s collaborating with terrorists, I’ll break his ass right here.

“I don’t know any of those men,” Rock replied quickly. “I contacted Dragon Hands, Simon Chan, after seeing the YouTube match where he nearly squeezed your head off. I wanted another opportunity to see you in action with a true ground and pounder with great choke moves. You ruined that idea. Chan looked real good for a couple minutes.”

“Did you offer him a title shot if he beat me?”

Rock chuckled. “Yeah, I did. He would have deserved one if he beat you. I had more trouble with the ‘Berserker’ than you did. You choked his ass out. That leg kick of yours is damn impressive. You can’t blame me for arranging a preview.”

I shrugged. “As long as you don’t have anything to do with Victor Sopa, we’re good. If I find out different, I’ll be around to see you. I fight in the UFC, but it’s not the only thing I do.”

Rock looked around at my smiling Monsters. “Yeah, I see that. I don’t like your chances of getting a title shot, Hard Case.”

“Pussy!” Lynn didn’t like what she was hearing. “What the hell did you come in here for, Betty? I thought maybe you would be pretending you’re a man and offer Cheese a title shot.”

Rock was very dark skinned but his face took on a bit of a blush as my Monsters yucked it up over Lynn’s pronouncement. He began to say something Lynn would have slashed his throat over so I nudged him.

“Don’t Rock. Lynn Montoya Dostiene is the most dangerous woman alive. If you spew something stupid, none of us could keep you alive for more than a few seconds. Tell me what brings you here. We’ll keep this all business if you don’t mind.”

Rock took a deep breath and nodded in agreement, turning his attention to me. “Since Chan couldn’t make you inconsequential and I’m not giving you a title shot, I wondered if I could hire you to help me beat ‘Berserker’. He came a little too close to upsetting me. You took him easily. I’ve even got a blurb in mind for the collaboration – ‘putting Berserker between a Rock and a Hard Case’.”

Not bad. “Good one, Rock. No deal though. I’m sorry, but I have my own responsibilities to attend to. Maybe someday you’ll change your mind about the title shot or ‘Berserker’ will take your title.”

“You humiliated him in the cage. I doubt he’d ever give you a shot.” Rock straightened away from the bar. “I won’t be changing my mind about giving you a title shot. You’ve killed men in the cage. That gives me an out with the UFC board. They’ve been none too happy about your rise in the UFC. They thought after Rattler beat you, it would mean an end to possible cage mishaps. You took Rattler apart. He wasn’t the same fighter when I gave him a title shot and I knew it. I’m not certain how I’d have done against Northman if you hadn’t cleaned his clock first. Thanks, by the way. No title shot, Harding, but it’s just business.”

“I understand. Nice meeting you, though.” I held out my hand but he looked at it as if it were a rattlesnake. “If you just shake as an acquaintance, I don’t take it personal.”

Rock shook my hand like a man then with a smile before turning to go. As he passed Lynn, he stared at his death a split second too long. Lynn smiled. “Bye Betty… your vagina is showing.”

He froze as some of the Oakland PD nearby and all of my Monsters and Snow Whites enjoyed Lynn’s farewell. When he turned, Lynn was doing butterfly knife tricks no human eye could follow without ever looking away from Rock. It startled him. He hurried the hell out of our Warehouse bar meeting place. The next Beam brother went down in sipping smoothness with just the right tang to it while enjoying the show with my family.

“He’s serious, John.” Tommy sighed. “That boy ain’t giving you a shot. Damn shame.”

“I am the Walrus!” Jafar danced around with his iPad. “I have the handshake on video. It just went straight to YouTube with the caption ‘The Rock breaks on the Hard Case’.”

Lucas hugged him. “Damnit, kid, if you ain’t the most entertaining sock puppet I ever had.”

Everyone in the bar wanted to see it with all of us laughing at the added ingredient Achmed put in the mix. He immediately went into the back room of the bar. Moments later the YouTube video of our handshake played on all the screens to raucous enjoyment of Achmed’s adlib. Jafar was indeed ‘The Walrus’ after that one.

Alexi shook his head while watching it on a loop. “That video may get you a title shot, John. When Costigan sees it, his head will explode. I warned the idiot not to do the handshake challenge with you. He chuckled and said ‘worry about the lightweight, gramps’. I enjoyed your usual handshake challenge response very much, John.”

I held up my Beam brother. “To Achmed the Dead Terrorist. You are the best, little brother. Drinks are on the house.”

“On me,” Alexi said quietly, squeezing Marla’s hand across the bar. “I made so much money tonight, I didn’t need the politicos there. I am very happy the night ended without a gun battle. Thank you, John. Jack is also very appreciative you didn’t kill Mr. Chan.”

I gulped from my ice cold Bud brother with satisfaction. “I thought about ending Hands tonight. I’m glad it didn’t come to that. The ‘Loners’ are another matter we would appreciate extra eyes on, Alexi.”

“Absolutely,” Alexi stated with emphasis. “All eyes will be on the so called ‘Loners’. When you are on mission soon, if anything surfaces from them, I will destroy everything they have ever touched.”

Oh yeah. I toasted my very good friend, whom I nearly killed outside this very bar. The good Lord does indeed work in mysterious ways. “Thank you, Alexi.”

“I think we should elevate Alexi into our fight game, brother,” Tommy said. “I don’t need all the bullshit surrounding this big play. What do you think about finally coming in with me and John in this UFC stuff? They all call you anyway.”

Tommy’s offer surprise Alexi. “I…I would be honored. You two are family to me along with all the so called Monsters and Snow Whites. I would be glad to act on your behalf within the fight game.”

“Great idea, Tommy. It will free us up in a lot of ways. Welcome aboard, Alexi.” I toasted our new partner as did all of our extended killer family paying rapt attention to the conversation.

Lynn put Achmed in an affectionate headlock. “The Walrus definitely stirred the beans on this title shot stuff. Nick McCarty’s buddy Kabong will have to compete with ‘The Handshake’ instead of cat videos. That baby will be viral within hours. If it doesn’t do the trick, I may have to go viral myself with a little ‘Rock’ talk.”

“Please don’t, Lynn,” I said. “Let’s save the world first. Title shots are a thing for future consideration. We have a violent stage of our own coming soon. I for one am anticipating ‘The Ride of the Valkyries’ above all else, especially if we ride in on it to Iran.”

The amens rang out from my brethren with heartfelt toasts. Yep. Soon it would all be on the line, and I couldn’t think of anyone I’d rather be on the battle line with. Who needs title shots when I had Victor Sopa, Muslim mutants, and the nation state of Iran in my sights? Oh… yeah! Add in the company of killers without peer, assorted weapons of utmost capability, and a threat to the nation we all loved – hell yeah! I admit my brothers Beam and Bud added to the moment.

* * *

“Oh God… I… think I had a mind meld,” Rachel gasped out, clutching Nick in a desperate sweaty grip.

Nick stroked the side of her face with affectionate feather soft touch. “I know I did. It is a decided vocal and physical outpouring when Viper is engaged elsewhere, leaving us with the very compliant Quinn.”

“I saw your face before you allowed Jean to go roller-skating with her friends. Did you have a problem with the Dad?”

Nick rolled over on his back, remembering the effusive Dad, father of Deidre Conyers guaranteeing all would be well. “Yeah, baby. Ron upset my alarm bells a bit. Viper’s taking Cracker with her. They both have iPhones and instant messaging. I know I shouldn’t give it a thought but there was something about Ron. He felt more like a used car salesman than a dad.”