by Sandy Kline
“Where would we even look?” I ask. “Assuming that’s what we decided to do?”
“What do you know about this Cutter guy and his crew?” Jamarcus asks.
“They’re an outlaw biker club out of Oakland. They use some dive bar in East Oakland as their base of operations. From what I could gather from my ex, they deal heavily in three things; guns, drugs, and the sex industry. They’re mostly into meth and steroids and have a number or girls working for them throughout east and west Oakland. I really don’t know anything about their gun business.”
“Is there any chance they’d help you get your son back? Is there any reason they’d want to help you?” Jamarcus asks.
“None that I can think of. If they never got the 25k from Jake then we can promise them Jake’s winnings if Jake wins tonight.”
“That’s never going to work. The only way they could get your son back in time is if they’re involved in his disappearance. We have to face the fact that for us to get your son back it would take days. Our only option is to get to Jake and tell him to throw the fight.”
“I think your right. Tangling with Cutter and his crew would take the whole night and wouldn’t accomplish a thing.”
I look at the timer on my watch. We have exactly 68 minutes.
“How much time do we have?” Jamarcus asks.
“67.5 until round three will be over.”
“Then I better get out there and try the doors again.”
“Jamarcus gets back out of the car and I sink farther into the darkness of my heart and mind. Now I remember why people do drugs. Right now I’d take just about anything if it would make me feel different. Not even better…just different.”
I can’t sit still. I get out and begin my pacing. After a while I look at my timer. Another ten minutes have been shaved off my son’s life and Jamarcus is still not back. That has to be good. Maybe someone let him in otherwise he’d be back. Cautiously I allow myself a tiny glimmer of a sliver of hope. When Jamarcus finally does come back around the corner of the building I can tell by his posture alone that he didn’t get in. I look down at my watch. Another seven minutes have ticked away. My son has fifty-one minutes left.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Nothing. Just more of the same. Me calling, knocking, banging and kicking to no avail. I tried the numbers I have for Surge management but no one’s answering their phones either.”
“Why’d you call them? It’s not like you can tell them he has to throw the fight.”
“They can pass a message to him to call me. I’d say it’s an emergency.”
“Ok…”
We pass the next thirty-five minutes doing the same thing we did the first fifty minutes or so and it’s getting us nowhere. Between crying jags, raging jags, hair pulling, and punching out Jamarcus, I’m pretty sure by now I look completely deranged. I’m about to start screaming at the poor man again when I hear the radio on.
“What are you doing?” I ask.
“We might as well listen to the fight so we know exactly where we stand as far as time left and what’s going on with Jake. Maybe he did get the message. Maybe he will throw the fight. Maybe this will be alright Christine.”
“You think so?” I ask.
He doesn’t reply and he refuses to look me in the eye. I decide to drive around watching for security personal or any doors being used while we listen. The fight starts off with a bang! SHU is psyched up and aggressive from the get go. I’m terribly afraid he’s going to hurry up and win the fight.
“SHU’s kicking Jake’s ass!” I yell to Jamarcus. “He might even lose in round one.”
“SHU’s a real fighter Christine, but don’t count Jake out yet.”
I can’t believe it. Jake is going to win the fight and my son is going to die. This cannot happen to me again! I don’t understand I’m a good person. I’ve never done anything wrong. I do the right thing and I raise my sons to be good people yet everywhere I turn trouble follows me. It’s enough to make me think that if I get out of this with my son alive I’m going to disappear somewhere on some island or something and become a hermit or something. I’ll go somewhere where no one can find me and drop off the grid. No TV, internet, radio, or anything electronic but the lights. I’ll go to Mexico. If I get my son back in one piece we’ll move to Mexico and Jake can come or stay I don’t care anymore. We’re about to go around the corner of the building when something catches my eye.
“That door over there.” I point to a door about fifty feet in front of us. “I swear I just saw that door closing.”
I put the car in gear and speed over to where the door is. I screech to a halt just in front of it and Jamarcus jumps out and runs up to the door. I wait with my heart pounding as he grabs the door handle and pulls on it. I doesn’t budge!
“Dammit!” I scream. “Mother fucking door!” I pound the dashboard with my fists.
I roll down the window to shout at Jamarcus as he pounds on the door with his fists.
“Forget it!” I shout. “Just get back-”
Suddenly the door opens. An official looking guy dressed in black sticks his head out. Jamarcus says something to the man and starts to push his way in but the man puts his hands on Jamarcus’ chest and pushes him back. I watch in desperation. Why won’t the man let him in? Suddenly Jamarcus reaches into his pocket and takes out a piece of paper. He thinks for a second then scribbles something down on it. Next he takes out his wallet and proceeds to pull out a number of bills. I watch in amazement as Jamarcus tears the wad in half and gives the man one half of the pile of bills. What the hell is he up to? Then he appears to thank the man and comes running towards me.
“What the hell was that?” I ask as he gets in the car.
“Our only chance to get Jake to throw the fight. What was the tearing the bills for?”
I gave him a message to give to Jake. Then I took out 10 one hundred dollar bills out of my pocket an-”
“What’d you tear them for? And what were you doing carrying that kind of cash in your wallet?”
“I learned a long time ago to be prepared for anything. For the longest time I carried five hundred but for some reason a couple weeks ago I upped it to a grand.”
“Fortuitous timing.”
“Good thing I did. That was the only way to ensure he gives Jake the message. I told the guy if he delivers the message when he comes back to this door I’ll give him the other half of the bills. He can still use them. Just take scotch tape to each one and any bank will take them and give you new ones. I told him I’ll know if he delivered the message or not and I’ll know if he looked at it. I think he thought I was crazy but he promised to do it.”
“How do you know he won’t look at the note first?”
“I don’t know. But we’ll know if Jake gets it in time. I had to write something that would tip off Jake but no nosey security guard or manager or other fight official.”
“What did you write then?”
“Party down on the third floor.”
“That’s pretty freaking vague Jamarcus.”
“To you yes, and to anyone else looking at it yes but to Jake it’s code; if he remembers the old code that is.”
“What do you mean?”
“Years ago when I first started training Jake seriously I taught him that sometimes it’s better to lose than win. He of course asked me how he would know the difference. I told him in the thick of the fight he wouldn’t but if I ever told him to party down that meant to throw the fight no matter how well he was doing. If it said party up that meant to win even if there was a prior arrangement. And the third floor bit stands for the round he is supposed to go up or in this case down in.”
“Oh my god, what if he doesn’t remember? We’re talking about my son’s life here. Why didn’t you just bust in there and tell him yourself?”
“Number one, he’ll remember. I drummed that into his skull every day in early training and when he went back to the Blood Sport circuit I remi
nded him again. He’ll do it. No way could I have busted in. They have a strict rule that once the fight starts no one, not even the owner of Surge is allowed in. It’s pretty fucking amazing that the dude who answered the door even talked to me. I think he was new or something. Plus a thousand dollars fast cash didn’t hurt. He probably doesn’t even make a hundred bucks on the night for his job. No, if I’d have forced it I would have been thrown out no matter what I said.”
I’m not sure if I dare allow myself to feel relief. It just all seems too dubious. I’m about to ask when we’ll know we’re in the clear when the radio blares to life. The crowd on the radio is going crazy. People are screaming, the announcer is shouting trying to be overheard. It’s over folks! As unbelievable as it may seem he has don-”
And the radio cuts out. “Fuck!” I shout and pound the radio with my fist. “Not now.” I shout. “Not now.”
I start messing with the controls, trying to tune back into the station. For a second I hear more celebrating, and then it disappears once again.
“What does that mean?” I shout to Jamarcus. ‘What’s going on?”
Jamarcus looks at his watch then appears to be calculating something while I fiddle with the radio again.
“Well?” I ask. He looks grim.
“It’s too soon Christine. That only puts the fight in the middle of the second round.”
My heart comes crashing down into my feet. I start pounding the steering wheel again and again until I have to stop for fear of breaking my wrists.
“Are you sure it’s too early?”
“There is the chance that my original calculations were off. Even if I was off by two minutes it would put the fight as ending near the beginning of the third.”
“Well?” I ask.
He does not look happy. “I don’t think I miscalculated. This ain’t the first time I’ve calculated out a fight.”
I put the car in gear.
“What are you doing?” He asks.
“I’m moving to another place that may get us better reception.”
“What do you think the crowd was screaming about? Would they scream louder if Jake won or if that other guy won?”
“I don’t know.” Jamarcus replies. “Since Jake is a local boy I’d think he has more fans here than that SHU guy. Although he is popular though. What do you think?”
“I don’t fucking know. The stupid radio lost the signal just as the announcer was going to declare the winner.”
“But we’re okay if Jake lost right? Even if he lost it in the second round we’re okay right?”
“Not necessarily Christine. If the kidnappers were that specific on the round, that probably means they have a ton of money riding on bets placed that their man will win in that specific round. For Jake to have lost too early or too late is almost as bad as him winning.”
“Nooooo no no, you gotta be kidding me. That can’t be. If Jake lost it has to be alright.”
“I’m sorry Christine, but I think I’m right. Maybe or timing was wrong. Maybe it did end in the third round. Check your phone. They’ve probably sent you a text by now.”
“Oh shit I forgot.”
I dig around in my purse until I come up with the phone. I press the button to turn it on but nothing happens.
“No!”
I press the button again and again but nothing happens.
“What’s wrong?” Jamarcus asks.
“It’s dead. The fucking burner phone they gave me is out of battery. What am I gonna do now?”
“Let’s go back to your hotel and charge the phone. Maybe your charger works for this one too. Or we can go to my gym. I know I have more than one charger lying around my desk.”
“Yeah, let’s go there. I’m sure my charger won’t work for this one.”
“I am so sorry Christine. Everything that can go wrong just keeps going wrong. But don’t worry. If they’re going to return your son alive then they won’t kill him just because they can’t get ahold of you for a few minutes.”
“I hope to hell you’re right.”
My hands are shaking so badly I can barely drive. Jamarcus offers to drive but I think I’d be worse off if I was just sitting in the car doing nothing but watching him drive. While I drive Jamarcus fiddles with the radio trying to figure out who won the fight.
“It’s going to be okay Christine.” Jamarcus tells me.
“What do you mean? How can you say that?”
“How do you feel?”
“How do I feel?” I ask incredulously. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“You’re super close to your son. Don’t you think you’d feel the moment he dies? Do you feel like he’s dead?”
I take a deep breath and force myself to relax. I try to quiet my mind and think of my son.
“No.” I say to him. “He’s not dead. You’re right, I’d know it. He’s still alive but they still may be planning on killing him.”
“No I think you’re wrong Christine. If they were going to kill him they’d just do it, dump the body and split before they could be caught. Right at this moment there’s not a thing you can do. His fate has already been decided so just relax and let’s get this phone charged.”
Ten minutes later he’s unlocking the door to his gym. We both rush in as the lights are in the process of coming on. He leads me to his office where he pulls open a drawer and shows me half a dozen older model cell phones. He takes the burner from my hands and starts trying to fit a charger with it. The last one does the trick. Now we just have to wait till it has enough juice to turn on. It takes ten minutes. Ten mother fucking long minutes before the phone begins to boot up. When it finally comes on line a notation comes up saying I have three text messages.
“I can’t look.” I tell Jamarcus.
“It’s going to be good news. If they’d have killed him they would have just sent the one message telling you where to find your son’s body. This is good news Christine.”
“You look then. I can’t.”
“Alright.”
Jamarcus takes the burner phone from my trembling hands and checks the messages. It only takes ten seconds for him to read the first message but it’s the longest ten seconds of my entire life.
“He’s alive!”
“Oh my god!” I scream and then burst into tears.
I cry like I have never cried before. The tears come from somewhere deep in my soul, great wracking sobs. I end up on the floor in the fetal position sobbing and sobbing uncontrollably.
“Christine…Christine, we have to go pick him up.”
“Huh…oh yeah. I…I can’t drive. Will you-”
“Of course. He’s alive Christine, Diego is alive. Jake must have gotten the message and thrown the fight in the nick of time.”
I can barely form words I am so overcome with feelings. I really thought I would be burying another son tonight. I was so sure he would be killed when we couldn’t call Jake or get back in the building. What a night. I continue to cry as Jake drives us the pickup point. Finally I manage to ask where we’re going.
“The duck pond.”
“So they’re going to bring him there then?”
“Uh…according to their last text, he should be sitting on the north side of the pond on a bench.”
“Okay.”
Ten long minutes later we arrive at the small park in Berkeley. I’m climbing out of the car before it even comes to a complete stop. I sprint across the grass to the path that leads to the pond. I can hear Jamarcus puffing along behind me. When I finally get to the pond I don’t see anyone at first. I look around frantically but no one is there. I turn to Jamarcus when all of a sudden a figure steps out of the trees.
“Diego?”
“Mom?”
I take two long steps and sweep my baby into my arms smothering him with kisses and tears.
“Did they hurt you sweetie?”
“No mom. I wasn’t scared either. I knew you‘d come get me. Where’s Jake?”
“He had a fight tonight. I guess he’s still at the arena.”
“He win?”
“No sweetie, he lost.”
Diego’s smile turns into a frown. “Oh man…I really thought he was going to go on a huge winning streak now. Is he going to lose his contract Jamarcus?”
“I don’t know son. I think he’ll be alright. Everybody loses some of the times, even Jake.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Was it close?”
“I don’t know that either Diego.” Jamarcus replies. “I was with your mom looking for you so I don’t know how it went.”
“Then how’d you know he lost?” Diego asks. He’s one smart kid.
“We heard it on the radio honey.” I reply.
“Oh…okay. We don’t have to go to the arena do we mom? I’m really tired.”
“We’re going straight home sweetie. We can see Jake tomorrow.”
“Yeah…that sounds good.”
Chapter Fifteen
What Jake Does
Back at the Arena; Jake vs. SHU…
Where the fuck is my trainer?” Jake demands.
His new Surge manager Brad, the one he doesn’t much like comes over to calm his new fighter down before he fucks up the fight.
“He stepped out to make a call. He’ll be back before the bell, no sweat.”
“Why the hell would he take a call before a fight and go outside to do it no less?”
“Reception in this building is crappy Jake. Has he ever missed one of your fights?”
“First time for everything man.” Jake replies.
“This is the most important fight of your life man, no way in hell he’s gonna fuck this up for you so relax, take a chill pill, whatever the fuck you gotta do to relax but just do it!”
“Alright alright but tell him I’m lookin’ for him.”
“Believe me the second he comes back in he’ll be right here in your corner like I am now. Don’t worry; I’m here for you buddy.”
“Don’t buddy me asshole. You haven’t been my trainer for the past 16 years and you’ve only been my glorified manager for all of ten fucking minutes. So back the fuck off and I’ll relax.”