Punished

by Sandy Kline

  “Understood. I’ll try and bring him by tomorrow sometime. He’ll want to see Diego. Oh and one more thing.”

  I turn to Diego. “Honey why don’t you get your pajamas on. I’m going to walk Jamarcus to the door.”

  “I know the drill mom. You wanna tell him something you don’t want me to hear. Fine keep your secrets then. By Jamarcus and thanks for helping save me.”

  Jamarcus gives him a warm hug. “Anytime kid, but don’t let there be another time please. Not sure this old heart can take it.”

  After Diego disappears into the bedroom Jamarcus turns to me. “What’s up?”

  “I need a gun.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry; I actually know how to use one. My ex taught me a long time ago and I’ve been practicing fairly recently. Not a revolver but a 9mm. I had a Glock 17 for a while and I also had a colt commander .45 and a Beretta 92FS at one point but I’ll take anything reliable. I’ll pay whatever the cost so don’t worry about that.”

  “What makes you think I can get a gun?” He asks with a sly smile.

  “Ha, if a street smart old school fighter like you can’t score a gun off the street that’s gonna seriously hurt your street cred.”

  Jamarcus laughs. “You’re right I can, but on short notice it may cost you a grand or close to it.”

  “How much of that is your fee?” I ask.

  “You’re a smart woman.” Jamarcus laughs. “But a man’s gotta make some scratch anywhere he can these days. My fee’s a hundred bucks and that’s my friends and family special.”

  “Well I’m glad I rate one of the two at those prices. Seriously though, thanks for everything tonight Jamarcus. If it were not for you I’d be burying my son and not getting him ready for bed tonight.”

  “Seeing him smile and laugh is thanks enough for me. Goodnight Christine.”

  I give him a hug and a peck on the cheek. “Goodnight Jamarcus.”

  Nearly a week passes before I hear from Jake and Jamarcus. Evidently he was messed up worse than I had imagined. Fortunately none of those injuries sustained by him were serious enough to bench him so to speak. Jake calls and invites us over Monday afternoon and Diego is so excited to see Jake again he can barely contain himself. When we get to Jake’s house Jamarcus is there too and Diego immediately demands a blow by blow account of the fight. He can’t figure out why Jake could actually get beat.

  “It’s okay kid.” Jake replies to one of Diego’s questions. “If you’re gonna lose just make sure you learn something from it. A lost fight can be, and usually much more instructive than the fights you win.”

  “You should lose a whole bunch then so you could be the smartest fighter I the world and then you’d beat everybody.”

  Jake laughs. “Doesn’t quite work that way little man. It takes money to pay for your trainers and managers, publicists, plane tickets, hotel and food, your car and your house. If I lose too many fights how am I gonna pay for all that stuff? Plus I’d lose my sponsor and on the West coast Surge is King.”

  Diego mulls the new information over in his head for a bit. “So…you gonna win the next fight then?”

  “Without a doubt. Now why don’t you go ask Jamarcus for another lesson? He’s been dying to teach you.”

  “Thanks Jake.” Diego says as he takes off in search of Jamarcus. Five minutes later I hear them out in the backyard working out. I hear Jamarcus lower rich voice barking out commands and Diego’s shrill voice in response. Jake disappears back to his bedroom. I watch Diego and Jamarcus for a few minutes before heading back in search of Jake.

  I find him sprawled out on his bed reading the Book of Five Rings, and esoteric book by the famed Japanese swordsmen Myamoto Musashi. Supposedly he has the most recorded kills in Japanese history. His first kill was against an adult Samurai warrior who fought with a sword while Myamoto only had a stick. Jake sets his book down, sits up, and pats the mattress beside him. I take the proffered seat and I just melt into his body; I can’t help it. He smells so good in his natural state. He’s wearing a pair of blue jeans and nothing else. He’s not wearing any cologne that I can tell, nor is he wearing deodorant. It’s just all Jake in his stunningly good looking flesh. I press my cheek to his chest and breathe deeply.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask softly.

  “I’m’ fine. How’s Diego? Jamarcus kind of filled me in on everything. Sounds like he had quite an ordeal.”

  “I think they were pretty nice to him from what I was able to get out of him. I’m pretty sure he had no idea just how close he came to death.”

  “That’s good. The kid is amazingly resilient. He’s had to go through a lot hasn’t he?”

  “Yeah…I’ll be glad when I can offer him some security. It’s been a crazy couple of months.”

  “So what’s the plan now?” Jake asks.

  “I’m not really sure. I guess I need to make sure that this whole nonsense with the kidnappers, my ex-husband, Cutter, Dr. Frazer, and anyone else is over. I could go back to Oregon, would go back to Oregon if I thought that fleeing the state would take the heat off my back but I don’t think it will.”

  “You think there’ll be more problems?” Jake asks.

  “I don’t know Jake, you tell me. You seem to be in the know about everything. So do I have anything to worry about or not?”

  “I think I’m the one in danger now. I threw the fight which means I’m going to be under the microscope for the foreseeable future. The California State Athletic Commission is looking into the fight for signs that I may have thrown it. They’ll be going over that third round frame by frame. Actually they’ll watch from the last 30 seconds of the second round and up until the time I get knocked out in the third. Someone will be looking into the note that was passed to my corner. I understand that Brad, my Surge manager has the note but I don’t know if he has shown it to anyone. He may keep it to leverage it against me in the future. He also had one of the torn hundred dollar bills and will be looking for the other half as well as the guard who handed him the note and bills. It’s a mess, that’s what it is Christine, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. When I think about how close I came to dooming your son by winning that fight…scares the hell out of me.”

  “Me too. Your man Jamarcus, next time you get yourself a winning purse, he deserves a big bonus. He went through great lengths and put his career as a trainer at jeopardy to help my son and get a message to you. He is also responsible for saving my son’s life and I want that rewarded. If I had the money I’d do it.”

  “Don’t sweat it. I’ll take care of the man. I agree he deserves a giant bonus and one day he’ll get it.”

  As nice as it is sitting here with Jake, I still have my doubts about him; very faint ones, but nevertheless the doubts are there and will probably have to be addressed at some time in the near future. Speaking about the future, I have to figure out what to do. If we go back to Oregon it’s not like Jake can follow up there. His life is in California. His trainer is here, his sponsor is here and everyone one on his team from his new manager to his publicist and his personal assistant; it he has one. Point is, he stays here and if I want him in mine and Diego’s life we have to stay here as well.

  Chapter Seventeen

  The Job Offer

  Jake’s second fight for Surge is rapidly approaching. There are maybe four more weeks to prepare. This next fight might be the most important of his career. Surge is expecting big things out of him. He’s been offered a five figure bonus for a win by the third round and a six figure bonus if he can win it with a TKO in the first round. Both Jake and his manager and trainer are eager to leave the last fight behind them as well as the controversy surrounding the loss.

  While the California Athletic Commission was never able to prove he threw the fight but the general consensus was that he did and the ramifications have been fairly serious. For a while nobody wanted to fight him so the pot had to be sweetened. Surge also had to rebuild Jake’s personae as the underd
og fighting for the downtrodden and disenfranchised. He is the force that has come to balance the scales of justice. He is the phoenix rising up from the ashes born anew. If the fans can’t get behind that no one can. So by the time Surge was able to get a fight for him he is about as well liked as he has ever been since his last run as an amateur fighter. Turns out lots of people love the phoenix and the underdog story and when the tickets went on sale they were sold out in an hour. Pay per view subscriptions prior to fight day are up 300 percent and by the time the fight was set to air on Pay per View sold millions of single event orders for the three hour event culminating in the fight between The Punisher who is also being dubbed as the new phoenix, and Jakes long-time friend turned enemy and arch nemesis Randall, King of Pain, King. The least Jake can make on his next fight is fifty grand if he loses. If he winds that amount triples. Then there are the other bonuses he can collect on like best submission hold of the night or best take down or knock out of the night. He could end up with just south of two hundred grand if he has a spectacular night.

  Over the next couple weeks things are quiet on the home front. No more threats of blackmail or kidnapping and Jamarcus, despite being super busy training Jake, has made the time to give Diego at least two lessons a week. I watched part of his last lesson. He actually stepped into the ring with another kid his same age that one of the other trainers was training. It was a short fight and the other kid had reach, weight, and experience advantage but Diego held his own. It was hard watching my kid get hit, especially when blood was drawn. I wanted to rush into the ring and stop the fight. I think Jamarcus must have read my mind because he moved in front of me blocking me from climbing through the ropes. It was a good bout. Diego actually knocked the kid to the ground once but was a little too slow on the follow up and the kid was able to get back to his feet.

  After the fight Diego’s eyes were shinning. “Did you see me mom?” He asks out of breath. “You see me knock him down?”

  “I was right here honey. I also saw you shake his hand afterward and say good fight. Showing respect is never a bad thing.”

  “That’s what Jamarcus taught me mom.”

  “You’ve got the best trainer honey. You make sure you don’t waste his time and you always do your best.”

  “Oh he does.’ Jamarcus says. “Kid gives a hundred and ten percent every lesson and he did just then. Might have made a mistake or two but we’ll go over that later.”

  Diego takes off to get changed so I keep Jamarcus company while he waits for Jake to finish his work out. We’re about to retire to his office when the gym front door opens and in walks a driver from UPS carrying a large basket of fruits, nuts, crackers, and cheeses. Jamarcus signs for it then examines the card.

  “It’s for Jake.” He says, then opens the envelope.

  “I guess he’s got a following now.” I say, wondering who would send such a huge gift.

  Jamarcus face darkens as he takes out a photo, a piece of paper and half of a one hundred dollar bill.

  “Who sent that?”

  “First Strike!” He spits out the name like it’s poison. “This looks like a screen capture from that that last Blood Sport fight. You know the death match fight? And you know about the half C-note.”

  He looks at the paper. It can’t be the same one he gave to the guard. This one is clean. The word party is written on it. That was the only word readable when Jake’s new manager got ahold of the note.

  “What’s going on here Jamarcus?”

  “First Strike is shady organization that lacks the size and capital to attract quality fighters. They are trying to establish themselves as a top tier company like Surge but the only way they can get talent is by strong arming them. They’re basically trying to force Jake to join them by blackmailing him to soften him up. If he doesn’t switch they could go to the California Athletic Commission with the evidence.”

  “But Jake’s under contract.”

  “First Strike can buy out the contract.”

  “I thought you said they didn’t have the money to.”

  “They’ll launch a smear campaign against him. They’ll probably brand him as an older washed up alcoholic fighter with a terrible professional record. After all he did have a lousy record about a decade ago. By the time First Strike is done with Jake no one will want him and Surge will be falling over itself to sell his contract to First Strike.”

  “I can’t believe it. Jake cannot catch a break. First he has to throw his first big comeback fight and now he has to go fight for some dirt bags or he’ll get found out. Why not just go to the Athletic Commission and tell them he had to lose because Diego was kidnapped.”

  “Can’t do that.” Jamarcus says. “They’ll wonder why we didn’t go to the police.”

  “They would have killed him.”

  “Then they’ll ask why we didn’t immediately go to them to clear up the situation after you got your boy back. No way you can win by telling them what happened.”

  “Then what are we going to do?” I ask.

  “Jake can’t fight for them. If he did they’ll take his winnings to pay for them having to buy out his contract. He’ll be their slave basically. They’ll pile on interest until it’s impossible for Jake to pay off what they paid for him. This is bad Christine, really bad.”

  “So what do we do?” I ask.

  “Do what” Jake asks as he walks into the office. “Wow, who got the awesome fruit basket?” He says, grabbing a pear.

  “First Strike.” Jamarcus replies.

  Jake laughs. “Well that’s a waste. No way in hell would I ever fight for them.”

  “You may not have a choice.” Jamarcus replies. He hands Jake the card and he evidence.

  Jake takes one look and throws the stuff on the floor. “Dammit!” He swears. “What the fuck are we going to do now?”

  “We play along. We make them think that we are seriously considering them. We’ll meet with them and try to find a weakness or something. Maybe we can get some dirt on one of them and turn the tables.”

  “That’s one helluva long shot.” Jake replies.

  “And it’s our only play.” His long-time trainer says.

  “Do we have a way to contact them?” I ask.

  Jamarcus looks over the envelope and card. One the back of the card is a phone number. Jamarcus holds it up for us to see. What say we give them a call?”

  “As my trainer,” Jake begins. “You should be the one to make the arrangements.”

  Jamarcus grabs his cell phone and dials the number. He waits for a minute before someone replies.

  “I’m Jake The Punisher’s trainer. What do you want with my fighter?”

  He listens for a second then replies.

  “Fine, They’ll be there.”

  “That was short.” I say.

  “Yeah… they want to meet to discuss Jake’s contract. And get this. They only want to meet with Jake and yourself.”

  “Me?” I ask.

  “That’s what they said.” Jamarcus replies. “They want you at the meeting to keep Jake in line. They know he won’t go ballistic as long as you’re there and in danger.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “No way!” Jake and Jamarcus reply. “You can’t put yourself at their mercy.”

  “I’ll be perfectly safe.” I protest. “They can’t murder me. No way can they get Jake to fight for them if they have just murdered his girlfriend. He’d have no choice but to attack and then go to the police. They just want Jake to sign with them and they’ll do whatever is best to get him to. Killing me is a dumb move.”

  “That does sound logical.” Jake replies.

  “I don’t like it.” Jamarcus complains.

  “We have no other play.” I reply. “We’ll meet and hear them out. They can even give us the contracts and we can take it home and pretend to be considering it. Maybe we can buy a few days to come up with a plan.”

  “If they’re making Jake come to the meeting,” Jamarcus begin
s. “Then that means they’re going to want him to sign right then and there. Otherwise they could have just said I have to come to the meet.”

  “But they can’t have done their smear campaign yet.” I protest. “That’ll take weeks.”

  “They just want me to sign with them then they’ll worry about the smear campaign. I’ll meet with them. I’ll even sign the papers if I have to. When and where is the meeting?”

  “It’s at the kid’s park near Starbucks by the duck pond, the bench on the north end of the pond. The meeting is set for tomorrow at eleven in the morning. I’ll arrive early to scope it out just in case it’s a trap. Have your cell phone with you and put in on vibrate only. If I call you twice in a row and hang up right after it starts to ring then that’s your signal to get the hell out of there by any means necessary.”

  “We should be armed then.” I tell Jamarcus.

  “That wouldn’t be a good idea.” Jake says. “They’ll most likely search us. But I’m sure we’ll be safe. Remember, they’re trying to recruit me for their organization. They’d rather have me go willingly. This is a long term relationship they’re trying to cultivate here. Having a hostile fighter who doesn’t want to be with you causes great stress and expense. They have to guard you 24/7 and always worry about you turning on them. I suspect they may even try to sweet talk me at first and it’s hard to do that when you’re pointing a gun at someone.”

  “I think you’re wrong Jake.” Jamarcus begins. “I don’t think these guys have any thought about what you want or how to make you happy. They’ll start out using brute force and keep using it; in my humble opinion.”

  “So you’ll go there early and scout out the area and then hide somewhere so you can watch the meeting?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “We have to have a plan in place for when Jake refuses to fight for them.” I caution. “What’s that plan?”