They thought they were home free, and Matt pressed 30 for his mother’s floor. However, the number did not light up and the elevator car remained open and still.
“You probably need some kind of access,” Freddy said.
The security guard appeared. “May I help you gentlemen?”
“Um, yes,” Freddy replied. “We’re with –”
“My mother lives here,” Matt interrupted.
The next few minutes were surreal as Matt and Freddy rode the elevator to the thirtieth floor. Matt never would have expected his mother to tell the security guard to send him up. He thought she would turn him away. Why would he expect anything else?
Matt took a deep breath and let it out in a nervous ripple. He was far calmer preparing for hockey games than he was right now.
“Take it easy,” Freddy said. “It’ll be fine. Whatever happens, at least you’re trying.”
Freddy slapped Matt’s back in encouragement.
On the thirtieth floor they walked down the hall until they reached her unit number. Matt hesitated for a second and Freddy gave him a shove.
“Okay, okay,” Matt said.
He knocked on the door. After an awkward moment or two, it opened, and Matt came face to face with his mother. She looked the same, for the most part, and in many ways appeared healthier than Matt remembered.
Matt’s mother looked at her son and waited for him to say something.
“Hi, Mom,” Matt said.
Matt pointed to Freddy, who had purposely dropped back a little to give them space.
“This is Freddy Rozelli, he’s –”
“I know who he is.”
“Right…okay…I – um, I…” Matt stammered. “I…I sent you e-mails.”
“Yes, you did.”
“Okay…so…” Matt stumbled, trying to start over.
A loud beeping sound could be heard from inside.
“I’m about to go on a conference call,” she said matter-of-factly.
“I know how Dad treated you,” Matt blurted out. “For years, I’ve tried to cloud my head up and block it out, but I remember. I should have done something that night, but I didn’t. I should have punched him in the face and kicked him in the stomach, but I didn’t.”
Matt looked down at his feet. Just one more comment and then he had to get out. He was reaching his limit.
“I should have said this a long time ago, but I didn’t have the guts. I’m sorry…you’re better off without him…and me.”
His mother seemed like she might waver for the first time as her eyes looked watery and she bit a trembling lip.
Her computer beeped again.
Matt turned around to face Freddy. “Let’s take the stairs.”
The stairwell was close to his mother’s apartment, and as Matt took flight down that exit Freddy paused before following.
“He’s our goalie in this tournament that’s going on,” Freddy said to Matt’s mother. “Did you know that?”
Matt’s mother said nothing.
“We have one more game tomorrow night,” Freddy added. “It’d be nice if you came. Matt told me you were good luck for him whenever you showed up.”
With her computer beeping incessantly in the background, Matt’s mother slowly closed her front door.
91.
Diana worked an hour later than she was supposed to in the emergency ward. Alex told her to go to her parents’ house after her shift was done or maybe just stay over at the hospital, but she had no intention of doing either.
It was just past midnight and she walked into the staff lounge again for a vending-machine sandwich and stale black coffee. Neither item was advisable or healthy at that late hour, but she had a feeling she would need some fuel to get through the night.
As Diana sat down and watched the all-news channel on TV, her mind was racing. Going to Corey Peters for help had been a long shot, but she just couldn’t think of a better option. She grimaced as she drank the bitter coffee.
Everything would work out. It had to.
She normally walked to the apartment from the hospital on a pleasant night like this. However, tonight she called a cab and made sure that she was holding her cellphone the entire time. The cab pulled up near the front of the hospital. Diana hustled over and got in. She glanced around, and then asked the driver to take her to the apartment building where she planned to live again with Alex.
As the taxi pulled away, Diana noticed a car pulling out of a nearby spot and falling in behind them. She didn’t turn her head, but she saw the black car in the rear-view mirror.
Diana felt her heart rate go up and she tried to slow it down by taking a few breaths. It was time for the dominoes to start falling.
This time when Alex heard the buzzer go off downstairs, he just hit a button to grant access. He felt himself becoming disoriented, and the subsequent knock on the door sounded louder than it probably was. Alex answered it and there was Havock, standing behind one of his two goons.
The scene resembled a mafia film and added to Alex’s feeling of how implausible this whole situation was. He left the door open and went back to sit at the dining room table with the duffel bag of money by his feet.
Havock came in and one of his two associates closed the door and leaned against it. The other one came in further and stayed near his boss.
“Aren’t you going to offer us anything to drink?” Havock asked.
“No,” Alex replied.
Havock chuckled and sat down at the end of the dining room table closest to the door while Alex sat at the other end. Alex picked the duffel bag up and threw it aggressively across the table at Havock. The associate closest to Havock didn’t like that and stepped forward like he might pounce. Alex glared back at him.
“Let’s try to keep our big-boy pants on and not throw tantrums,” Havock suggested as he propped the bag back up on the table and unzipped it.
Havock took his time sifting through the stacks of cash. After he seemed satisfied, he zipped the bag up again and handed it to his associate.
“Weren’t there three stooges before?” Alex asked. “Where’s Curly?”
This time, the associate leaning against the door tensed up and looked like he wanted to shoot Alex in the face.
“Thank you, Alex. We got what we came for,” Havock acknowledged, “until next time.”
“There’s no next time,” Alex said. “I’m sure you’d love to turn this into a life of blackmail, but you can forget it.”
“Oh, really, son?” Havock asked. “And what exactly is going to change? You going to care about your doctor lady friend less a month from now? A year from now?”
“Why don’t you man up, leave her out of this and just deal with me?” Alex asked.
“Because there’s no fun in that,” Havock replied. “And no money.”
“I honestly have no idea how men like you sleep at night,” Alex said.
“You ever wonder why things ended up with your father the way they did, Alex? Hmm?”
“There’s nothing to wonder about. He wanted money and he took shortcuts that my family is still paying for. That money there is from our home. My mother worked honestly for it.”
“He came to us because he wanted money, sure, but he went for too much too fast and he couldn’t handle it,” Havock stated. “He was weak, Alex.”
The cab dropped Diana off in front of the apartment building. She was breathing a little easier as the black car she thought had been following her turned off along the way and disappeared. There were a few parked cars across the street here, but that was to be expected. There was no way any of them could have been following the cab. Or was there? Maybe she was catching Alex’s paranoia, but who could blame her right now, or him for that matter?
Diana paid the cab driver and went inside. Alex had told her to stay away ,and she was doing the opposite. She prayed all the risks would pay off.
“Your father had no brains or balls,” Havock said as he continued to pile it
on. “That’s kind of a sad combo, wouldn’t you say so…son?”
“My father didn’t need a couple of brain-dead bruisers protecting him all the time,” Alex responded. “Maybe you’re the one searching for your balls.”
Havock’s two bruisers looked like they were just waiting for their boss to give them the nod and they would be more than happy to hurt Alex.
“You really don’t back down, do you?” Havock mused. “Just like I been watchin’ on TV.”
“I think everyone here knows that if you weren’t holding something over my head, I would’ve put my fist through your face by now…along with these scumbags.”
“Yes, but I do have something over you, don’t I, Alex?” Havock replied, and he nodded at his associate by the door, who pulled out a cellphone and sent a quick text.
“What are you doing?” Alex said and stood up.
Havock’s other man swiftly pulled a gun from his inside coat pocket and pointed it right at Alex’s chest.
“What are you doing?” Alex repeated. “I did what you asked. We had a deal.”
“Yes, we did, son,” Havock replied calmly. “And you held up your end of it nicely.”
Once she made it inside the building, Diana rushed through the lobby toward the elevator. She looked around to make sure she was alone before pressing the button and waiting. The relatively small building only had two elevators, and it was typical of their landlord to put one out of service after ten or eleven at night. Diana looked up and saw the single operational elevator making its way down from the ninth floor.
She’d just managed to notice the nearest security camera had been disabled when she felt a hand cover her mouth. Another arm grabbed her around the waist and easily lifted her off the ground. Diana closed her eyes, but she did not scream. Havock’s third associate spun her around and pinned her against the wall with his hand still covering her mouth.
“Did you do something to her?” Alex demanded. “I want to talk to her right now.”
“You ever look at a mortgage?” Havock asked. “I mean, even with a good interest rate you end up paying the bank a million times more than what you thought your place cost.”
For the first time in a long time, Alex felt the dark wave beginning to wash over him.
“You’re a vile, miserable piece of shit, you know that?”
The associate with the gun took a step forward and kept the weapon trained on Alex.
“So now that you’ve gone and cashed in, there’s no reason you can’t do it again,” Havock said as he got up and started to button his coat.
“I’m not doing it again.”
“Sure you are, son,” Havock replied as though Alex were forgetting his manners. “And just to make sure, we’re going to keep your little doctor friend with us for a while.”
Havock’s third goon maintained his grip on Diana even though she was beginning to wince. She did not enjoy having his hand over her mouth.
“We’re going to make our way back out to the car,” he said. “You do anything stupid and that’s the end of your boyfriend. Understand?”
She nodded.
Alex felt light-headed as the wave came on at full force. Havock continued to button his long coat.
“Don’t you worry, though,” Havock said as he picked up the duffel bag. “We’ll take good care of her until you pick up the same amount as what you have in here. You okay to find another bag?”
“You can’t…” Alex objected. “That’s not going to happen.”
Havock nodded at his man by the door to open it, before turning back to Alex.
“Well, if it doesn’t, I doubt you’ll like what will happen instead,” Havock replied. “I’m not late to the program, Alex. We’ve already got her.”
Diana walked back through the lobby with Havock’s goon as he kept a solid grip on her elbow. Once they were both on the sidewalk, they crossed the street together to the black car, which had obviously taken a shortcut and gotten to the apartment building before her cab.
She made no effort to resist as the goon opened the rear door and threw her into the back seat. He slammed it shut and Diana immediately noticed the inside door handles were missing. The car also had a mesh barrier separating the back seats from the front. She wondered if it used to be a police car.
The interior of the car smelled like cheap alcohol and stale French fries. As Havock’s man opened the door to the driver’s side, Diana suddenly became terrified at the prospect of driving off with him to God knows where. She should have known better than to go to Corey for help, but in her desperate state she could not think of anything else to do.
Diana suddenly heard another slam and looked up in time to see the goon’s face bounce off the hood of the car. As he groaned and slumped down toward the ground, a set of hands belonging to the most muscular man Diana had ever seen grabbed the back of his neck, forced him back to his feet and violently slammed his head onto the car a second time before tossing his body inside the front seat. He quickly zip-tied the goon’s hands together against the steering wheel and padded him down for weapons. Diana’s eyes widened again when he retrieved a gun from right above the unconscious criminal’s belt.
The hulk of a man then opened the back door and helped her out.
“You okay?” he asked.
She nodded before looking up at the apartment balcony.
Havock finally finished buttoning his coat and with one of his men still pointing a gun at Alex, he turned and headed toward the door.
At this point, the dark wave had completely washed over Alex and there was no turning back. He would throw himself at Havock and wrap his hand around his throat until he was sure Diana was safe again unless he died in the process. That was why he needed someone he was counting on to clue in right about now. Havock’s associate by the door had opened it in anticipation of their exit.
“Goodbye, son,” Havock said cheerfully. “See you soon.”
Alex felt everything slipping away. He took a step forward to lunge at Havock and risk being cut down by a hail of bullets when several things happened at once.
“Look out!” Havock yelled at the goon by the open front door.
Before the associate could respond, two large men rushed in from the hall and grabbed him, forcing him back inside. As the associate with the gun redirected his aim toward the front, he yelled out in pain as his legs were clipped out from under him.
Alex jumped on him to gain control of the gun as Isaac Banion scrambled out from under the table holding Alex’s baseball bat. He swung the bat repeatedly, going to town on the associate’s kneecaps. Havock’s man yelped like a wounded animal as Alex ripped the gun from his hand and sprung back up to point it at Havock, who apparently did not carry a weapon and had frozen where he was standing, both hands raised in surrender. The duffel bag full of money was on the floor by his feet.
Another weight-lifting overachiever had rushed into the apartment and closed the door. Except for the fact he wasn’t green, he otherwise resembled the Incredible Hulk.
“You Alex?”
Somehow, Alex felt like he should answer truthfully. “Yes.”
“Give me the piece and go have a seat on the couch.”
Alex carefully handed the gun over, but he did not move any further.
“Go sit on the couch!” the Hulk yelled.
Alex sat on the couch. Completely bewildered by what was happening, he put his hands up purely on instinct.
“Put your fucking hands down,” the Hulk said. “We’re here to help you.”
Alex pointed at Isaac. “That’s my friend. He’s with me.”
“That’s right, baby,” Isaac said and scurried over to Alex. He continued to hold the bat.
“Took you long enough,” Alex complained.
“What are you talking about?” Isaac replied. “That was perfect.”
Havock sneered at the muscle men and dusted himself off again.
“You boys have any idea who you’re messing around with h
ere?” Havock asked.
The Hulk looked at his two pals, who continued to hold Havock’s associate by the door. The other one, who had been pointing the gun, was on the floor holding his knees and writhing in pain. The Hulk’s pals smiled at their leader as he pulled out what appeared to be a baton. He flicked it downward and it flared out into a metal extendo.
In very quick succession, the Hulk walked over to the associate on the floor and struck him repeatedly with the extendo on his hurt knees. The man’s screaming would most certainly draw attention and police to the apartment, and Alex could care less right now.
All he could think was, “Where’s Diana?”
Havock’s other associate sensed his turn coming, and he tried to wrestle away from the two beasts by the door but was no match for their strength. The Hulk went over and punched him in the face, then in the stomach, and the other two let him go as he fell to his knees. The Hulk then went to work with the extendo, whipping him with it all over his body. Eventually, Havock’s man began sobbing from the pain.
The Hulk now turned to Havock, who had lost his cockiness and was now scrambling around the table trying to figure out a way to escape. The Hulk rushed toward him, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and used one arm to slam him down onto the dining room table. As he kept a powerful forearm under Havock’s chin, he lay the extendo a safe distance away on the table and pulled a slip of paper from his pocket. He held it close to Havock’s face.
“You asked if we know who you are. This who you are?” the Hulk asked. “That where you live?”
Havock grunted. The Hulk flipped the paper over to the other side.
“You got a kid, right? And grandkids? This where they live? Huh??!!”
Havock’s eyes looked wild with fear as he tried using both hands to free himself from the Hulk’s grip. He could not budge the man’s forearm at all. The Hulk pointed toward the couch where Alex and Isaac were sitting.
“You will never bother this guy or his lady again. If you do, then the next thing you should do is put a bullet in the head of everyone you care about, because we will get to all of them, no matter where they are or how well you try to hide them. You understand?”
The Tournament Page 48