Ronin

by Jan Domagala

  Bane looked at him wondering how the hell he’d come to that conclusion. Yes, it was a bit of a coincidence, but Stryder seemed utterly convinced he was right.

  How?

  Just as Bane was silently asking himself those questions, Stryder was doing the same. He didn’t know how, he just knew that Brown had turned up to kill him in revenge for his five men, and to trash the club.

  Knowing that fact threw up another series of questions such as, how did Brown know he’d be there? Whoever hired him must’ve contacted him with the information, but how did that person know where he was? How had they been discovered when he’d covered his tracks so carefully?

  The only possible explanation he could come up with at such short notice was that they had a mole in Col Sec somehow leaking data to the Alliance asset on the ground, but that didn’t explain how they found him. Only Hardy knew where he was, and he’d kept her in the dark until they left the safe house for the club.

  There could only be one explanation of how the Alliance had learned of their whereabouts; they were under surveillance, possibly even now. He could be in the room with them at that very moment.

  Stryder scanned the faces of those people at the tables. They were all looking towards Brown and his men, all except one.

  NORSKY HAD SEEN BROWN and his men push through and thought that it was about time. He’d watch what was about to happen and see for himself just how good this Stryder was. He would need this information for when he made his move against him. The Alliance wanted him and he was under orders to handle it personally. Failure was not an option, so he would have to watch closely.

  He was watching Stryder, trying to gauge his reaction to the intrusion and gain some measure of the man when he did something quite unexpected. He turned from Brown and looked straight at him.

  As their eyes locked, Norsky knew in that instant he’d been made.

  Stryder knew who he was and panic, irrational and uncontrollable, ran through him churning his insides so that all he wanted to do was escape.

  With a Herculean effort of will he remained seated and stared back at him. Stryder might know his face but this face was temporary and would be gone in a few hours. Stryder would be looking for someone who didn’t exist, if he survived the next few moments that is. His attention would be on his own survival and not on Norsky.

  “THAT’S HIM,” STRYDER said.

  “Who?” Hardy asked tearing her gaze from the large number of angry men heading directly for them.

  “Kurt, what’re we going to do?” she asked.

  “That’s the guy who sent them after me,” Stryder said.

  “Who? These guys? I don’t understand!” Hardy asked, more than a little confused at his apparent rambling.

  “No, the first five at my house, he’s the one who wants me captured. He’s the one who works for the Alliance,” Stryder explained, his eyes still locked on Norsky’s.

  Hardy tore her eyes from Brown’s advancing mob and followed Stryder’s gaze. “That’s the guy who’s behind all this?”

  Bane, overhearing what was said between the two of them glanced over to where they were looking. The guy staring back at them wasn’t anyone he recognised and he said so.

  “That’s not him, that’s not the guy who I met,” he said.

  Stryder turned to him and asked, “Are you sure?”

  “I never forget a face,” Bane answered.

  “Er... guys, can we talk about this later, we have another more urgent problem to discuss right now, like what do we do with an angry mob,” Hardy said, bringing their attention back to the approaching group of men.

  “Not my problem, it’s you they want,” Bane said calmly.

  The group was half way across the room and the farther they got into the club the more panic they caused. Guests started to move out of their way, some hurriedly heading for the exit. When Bane saw that he said, “Okay, they’re intimidating my customers, now it’s my problem too. Tony, you and some of the boys go tell Brown and his party we’re fully booked.”

  “Yes, boss,” Tony said, pressing a finger to his ear where his comm unit was inserted. When he spoke the others in the circuit could hear and he summoned some back up from other rooms in the club.

  In total five men came from the other rooms and stood with Tony who said, “We’re a bit short staffed tonight boss.”

  When Stryder saw the odds were in Brown’s favour he knew he had to do something. Bane would be a useful ally to have on his side and if he was going to make that happen he had to do something to prove he was worth the trouble.

  Stryder stepped around Tony and his reinforcements and walked towards the advancing group.

  Before the changes due to the project had occurred he would never have even considered facing off against a group of this number. It was clearly foolhardy and yet as he stopped in front of them he felt no fear, a tingle of excitement perhaps, but mostly he felt supremely confident.

  “Alexander Brown, I think it’s me you’re looking for,” he said looking at each face in turn.

  “I’m Brown and if you’re the guy responsible for the deaths of five of my men then, yes, it’s you we’re looking for,” said the oldest guy in the group. Where the rest were well muscled, hard looking customers, Brown looked soft, but mean. Not as tall as his men and in his fifties, he had a body that at one time had been lean and hard, now though, it ran more to fat than muscle. His hair was still jet black but his face was worn, like that of a prize fighter long past his prime. Battle scars lined his face like a road map of his life. Eyes full of hatred stared at Stryder and when he had finished speaking his thin lips formed a sneer of contempt.

  “I’m responsible, they came looking for me and found trouble instead,” said Stryder.

  “You don’t look that hard,” said the guy standing next to Brown.

  “I’m sure that’s what they thought too and yet I’m here and they’re in the morgue,” Stryder said looking him square in the eyes.

  “Now, if you’re still interested in talking to me then we can take this outside. There’s no need to scare the customers any more is there?” Stryder added to Brown.

  “Oh, there’s every reason. If it hadn’t been for Bane passing my name on to the guy who wants you, then I wouldn’t have lost five of my crew,” Brown replied full of malice.

  “You do know that that guy was an Alliance agent, don’t you? If Col Sec find out about you helping him, I don’t think they’ll look too kindly on you. Treason is the term they use,” Stryder said.

  “The Alliance you say?” Brown said, slightly taken aback. This had added a new dimension to the situation. He thought about it for a second then said “Well, I’ll never tell, I’m sure Bane won’t either and you won’t be able to once we’ve finished.” He gestured with a wave of his hand for his men to grab him.

  Stryder saw the gesture and his reactions went into hyper-drive. All movement around him seemed to slow down a fraction, whereas he was outside of it moving as always, so that when the first attack came he saw it coming and could take action.

  The group had bunched around Brown, standing to the side and behind him as he spoke with Stryder. As soon as the guy standing next to Brown made his move the rest of them surged forward allowing Brown to retreat behind them to safety.

  The blow was a simple straight right to the jaw except that Stryder saw it coming from the first twitch of the attacker’s shoulder.

  He simply moved to the right allowing the punch to sail past his head. Then, dipping his right shoulder, he hit the thug with a right uppercut that lifted him off his feet to sail backwards and land on his back, although Stryder didn’t have time to actually see him land because he was kept busy with the rest of Brown’s muscle.

  Two more rushed him aiming punches at Stryder who deftly stepped out of the way of each blow dropping each man with a punch to the jaw.

  Before he knew it he was blocking punches left and right, delivering blows of his own, both punches and low kick
s at knees, as more and more of Brown’s men threw themselves into the fray.

  Already he had taken care of three of Brown’s men, laying them on the floor unconscious, but the odds were stacking up against him. He was strong and fast but when surrounded by so many men intent on beating him to a pulp it was just a matter of time before the blows began to get through.

  Hardy watched in fascinated horror as Stryder took on the entire group. Bane had come to stand next to her and watched clinically as if it was some prize fight. Tony and the reinforcements just stood ready to intervene if Bane judged it necessary.

  Although the club had emptied once the fight started, so far there had been no damage so Bane was quite happy to just watch the show, to see what this guy had got.

  Hardy couldn’t stand by any longer and do nothing. She made to step forward but Bane placed a restraining hand on her arm and, without taking his eyes off the melee, said, “You don’t want to go and get yourself mixed up in this, not a pretty thing like yourself.”

  She tore his hand away and pushed past Tony grabbing one of Brown’s men who was about to attack Stryder from behind and, spinning him around, punched him flush in the face with a straight right. The guy’s nose exploded in a spray of blood as his head was snapped backwards. Before he could vent his fury on her she kicked him between the legs, which wiped the anger from his face to be replaced with a rictus of agony. Then she finished him off by bringing up her right knee into his already damaged face as his head came down. The blow lifted him off his feet and sent him crashing to the floor.

  Stryder turned, having sent another thug to the floor, to see Hardy finish off the thug behind him and he felt enormous pride swell inside him, but then his peripheral vision caught sight of another attacker coming at her from her blind side.

  She saw Stryder glance at her and she smiled when she saw him smile, but then she saw his expression change to one of alarm.

  The attack was from her blind side, but because she’d seen the direction of Stryder’s glance she had an idea where it was coming from. The punch caught her on the left side of her face but as she rode it the effect was diminished, it just served to anger her rather than take her out.

  Her attacker continued with a left cross to the stomach but by that time she had recovered enough to bring both arms up to cover her torso and deflect the blow. Then she hit him a terrific punch to the face with a left back fist, which he never expected, and this snapped his head around almost sending him to his knees.

  Hardy followed up with a right cross to his jaw, putting all her body weight behind it and the man went down, lights out.

  Stryder felt like applauding but instead he received a terrific blow to the back of his head as someone smashed a chair across his shoulders. Pain erupted across his back, shoulders and head as the chair splintered across him. The force of the blow sent him to his knees and within seconds there were three more men kicking and stamping on him.

  He went down as the blows continued.

  For the first time during the fight he was in a position where all he could do was cover up and try to defend himself.

  Hardy saw him go down and literally leapt to his defence. She landed on top of the nearest thug who crumpled under the surprising weight. She kneed the thug beneath her on the side of his head then tore him away from Stryder sending him spinning across the floor to land at Tony’s feet.

  The guard turned to look at his boss enquiringly and Bane said, “Okay Tony, take out the trash.”

  15

  Having one of his attackers pulled off relieved the pressure on him somewhat, but Stryder still found it difficult to regain his feet. His opportunity came when one of the remaining thug’s attention was diverted by Hardy turning to face them after tearing one of them off Stryder.

  Seizing the opportunity the diversion afforded him, Stryder managed to uncurl a little and lash out with his foot at the thug who had looked over at Hardy. The blow wasn’t powerful enough to incapacitate, but it did unbalance him and enabled Stryder to block the remaining attacker’s blows. Before he could conjure up a counter attack, his assailant was suddenly sprawled out on the floor at the feet of the man mountain Tony.

  “Thanks,” Stryder said as he got to his feet. The fight was in full swing now with chairs flying through the air, bodies being thrown around and plenty of blood flowing from battered faces.

  Stryder quickly looked around for the one man who seemed more interested in him rather than the group who had invaded the club. Finally he found him at the far end of the room leaning nonchalantly with his back against the bar watching the fight with intense eyes.

  There you are. Time you and I had a little chat, he thought as he started to walk towards him.

  Norsky, seeing Stryder approach him decided he’d seen enough and walked calmly towards the exit.

  A sound behind him brought Stryder’s attention back to the fight, the sound of a bottle breaking.

  Turning he saw the bottle in the hand of one of Brown’s thugs. He’d smashed it over Tony’s head and was about to thrust the jagged edges into the dazed man’s face.

  Stryder stepped between them, grabbed the wrist just behind the jagged bottle, and twisted viciously. The sound of the bone breaking was drowned out by the man’s scream of pain.

  His misery was short lived though, as Stryder hit him full in the face with a straight right knocking him flying over a table. He was out cold before he hit the floor.

  Stryder spun back around to look for the mystery man, but he’d used the distraction to exit the club. Thinking he would check him out later, he turned back to Tony who was recovering from the blow to the back of his head.

  “You okay?” he asked as his eyes met Tony’s. He was shaking his head, trying to dispel the drowsiness.

  “Yea, I’m fine, thanks,” Tony replied grudgingly. He’d never expected help from these two and it surprised him a little.

  “Good. Time to end this I think,” Stryder said and he searched the room for Brown. He saw him sitting at the edge of the floor, at one of the few tables not overturned, enjoying a free drink.

  There were just a few strides separating them and he set off to close the gap.

  A thug stepped in his way and was quickly dispatched with a punch to the stomach followed by a knee to the face. Nothing was going to stop him reaching Brown.

  Brown got to his feet to meet Stryder, unnerved by the look of determination on his face. Before he could evade him, Brown found his throat grabbed by a hand with unbelievable strength.

  Stryder pulled Brown towards him and reached for his pistol that was still secured in the waistband of his trousers in the small of his back. He saw terror in Brown’s face then, a face rapidly turning blue from the lack of oxygen.

  Stryder fired his Sig P996 straight up, the sound of which brought everyone in the room to a standstill. All eyes were suddenly on him, combatants separated, the fight suddenly forgotten for the time being.

  Stryder placed the muzzle of his Sig to Brown’s temple slowly so that everyone saw it and understood the implication.

  “Okay, now that I have everyone’s attention, how about you all drop whatever weapons you’re holding and separate. Brown’s men over by the exit and the rest of you over by Bane,” he said, his voice sarcastic yet strident.

  “Do it now or Brown gets his brain scrambled all over the floor,” he added more forcefully.

  Slowly the two groups began to separate, carefully. They knew not to make any sudden moves that would turn an already bad situation into one that could become much worse.

  When he was satisfied with the result and loosening his grip slightly so Brown could breathe once more, Stryder said, “Now then Brown, we’re gonna do something you didn’t expect. You’re gonna get your boys together, those that can still walk, and you’re gonna grab those that can’t and you’re gonna get the hell outta here. You’re not gonna get what you came here for, so I suggest you leave. At least that way you get another shot at me at a later
date. If you stay here you’re just gonna lose more of your men because if this carries on it’ll turn ugly.”

  Brown said, “You said we’re gonna do something. You’ve told me what you want me to do, what about the other part of this we thing, what’re you gonna do?”

  “Oh that’s simple; I’m going to let you go,” Stryder said.

  Brown looked at him with mistrust in his eyes; he didn’t say anything but Stryder knew it. “It’s a onetime offer. I’d take it if I were you, before Bane decides he wants your hide.”

  That was plain enough, even for Brown. His shoulders relaxed with resignation. He knew he’d lost this battle but the war would rage on. Not here though, and not now. His time would come later. He vowed that one day he would see Abraham Bane on his knees before him, powerless, beaten and at his mercy and it was with that thought firmly in place that he gestured to his men that they were leaving.

  It was over, for now.

  Stryder carefully released him but kept the Sig trained on him as they all headed for the exit.

  Hardy came to stand next to him once Brown and his group had left and she looked up at him with a smile saying, “Well Kurt, you sure know how to show a girl a good time.”

  “The night’s not over yet,” he replied and as they turned to look at Bane more figures came bursting into the club.

  “Everyone, stand where you are, don’t move and no one will get hurt,” a voice said from the entrance.

  “What now?” Stryder said as he turned to see who the voice belonged to. Standing in a row across the entrance were five Marines from Recon Delta, all armed with standard issue Remm assault rifles aimed at the group of people at the far end of the room.

  “I should’ve known it!” exclaimed Bane angrily then added, “Brown should’ve killed you when he had the chance.”

  Stryder gave him a hard stare, cold enough to chill his blood, and then slowly returned his gaze to the Marines.

  “What’s this about?” he asked, although he suspected he already knew the answer to that one.