by Myles Knapp
“Well, uh…no.”
“Then get out of my face and back on the mat, or I’ll have Amy Taser you again. Lordy, just when I thought maybe you were growing a spine.”
The students had cuts on their hands, blood stains on their clothes, and bruises on their butts—a couple had even lost teeth. Gavin the Vegan had dropped out saying he just couldn’t hurt someone. But the next day he was back sporting a broken nose and two black eyes. His mind had changed after he’d been mugged at his ATM.
Everyone was learning; and in the one-on-one bouts you could see visible improvement. If asked, they would have all said they were less afraid than when they began.
CHAPTER 47
After class, Richard was in the men’s room, washing off blood, when his cell rang.
“Mr. Johnson, this is Alyssa with SF General; Mary Ellen momentarily regained consciousness and asked for you.”
“I’ll be right there. Is she still in the same room?”
“When they upgraded her condition from critical to serious, they moved her out of intensive care. Now she’s in Room 431A. She’s weak, disoriented…mostly asleep.”
“I’ll be there shortly.” Richard hung up and dialed Pay. “The hospital called. Mary Ellen regained consciousness. She asked for me.”
“I’ll go, too. She’s the best witness we’ve got. Meet you there in about twenty.” With a click he was gone.
As Pay walked toward Mary Ellen’s room, he watched a nurse remove a name tag from its holder beside the door. She folded the tag and tossed it in a wastebasket. “If you’re here to see Mr. Silva he’s been moved to the second floor.”
“No. I’m here to see Mary Ellen.”
“As I told the other gentleman, we just gave her a sedative. So she’ll likely be out of it for hours.” She gave Pay a thorough once over, taking in the worn motorcycle boots, scarred knuckles and vivid forearm bruises. “Please don’t upset her. She’s better, but she’s still weak and badly hurt.”
Pay wished Chase was around. When it came to charming women in the ‘caring’ professions—nurses, teachers, and the like—Chase was better than Pay. Even in shorts and a T-shirt, Chase came off as a high-end detective caring for his clients. Even dressed in a suit and wearing his best smile, they always put Pay in the thug category.
But Chase was at HQ. So Pay did his best to look sincere and non-threatening as he handed the nurse a card. The one that read only: 24-hour emergency number. No names, nothing to track back to him or the team. “Hard to know looking at me, but I’m one of the good guys. A real bad guy beat her. If anyone causes trouble, I’ll protect her.”
The nurse looked Pay in the eye, slid the card into her pocket with a small nod and a tight, not entirely convinced smile.
Pay was used to the aftermath of violence, but even he thought Mary Ellen looked ghastly. If he hadn’t known from the stuff he found in her apartment that she was twenty-three, he would have guessed she was more along the lines of a teenager getting her driver’s license.
Richard was holding her hand; he didn’t look good either.
Mary Ellen’s skin was gray-white where you could see it through the bandages. The only spots of color were bruises, scabs and staples the doctors used to close the cut above her right eyebrow. And the bright yellow fluid in her catheter tube.
Richard looked like he’d lost too many Revenge School fights.
“How’s she doing?”
“The nurse says she’s weak but stable.”
“She talk at all?”
“She’s been unconscious since I got here. Nurse says the drugs they gave her will keep her out for a while.”
“You should talk to her.”
“Pay, she’s unconscious. What’s the point?” Richard shook his head and stared out the window.
“Guess you’ve never been in the hospital after a beating, huh?”
Richard looked at Pay like he was crazy.
“‘Course you haven’t. I’ve been beaten silly a bunch of times. Friendly voices really help. My mom. Brooke. Chase. Sometimes the nurses or the docs. You have to have a reason to get well.”
“What should I say to her?” Richard knew it would be up to him. Pay wasn’t Mary Ellen’s friend; they’d never even met.
“Tell her the docs say she’s gonna be ok. That you’re here because you care and want her to get better. Try telling her you want to help find the guy who beat her. But watch the pulse meter. You don’t want her to get agitated. There’s no hurry. We’ve got time.”
“Can you stay with me for a while?”
“Sure. You want me to wait in the hall? Give you some privacy?” Pay reached toward the small of his back and pulled out a paperback. “I’ve got a good Jack Reacher. You can have it when I’m done.”
“I’d rather you stay.”
“Ok.” Pay pulled up a chair, moved the reading light alongside, and rested his feet on the bed frame. Pulling his iPhone out of his pocket, he stuffed in the ear buds and settled down to read.
CHAPTER 48
For three hours, Richard talked quietly in Mary Ellen’s unconscious ear. Pay wasn’t paying much attention, but when she mouthed the word ‘water,’ he put down his book, moved to her bedside, and showed Richard how to feed her ice chips.
She quietly sucked on the ice, eyes closed. Then nodded, before silently drifting off.
An hour or two later Pay, finished with the novel, was sleeping quietly. Richard was about one-hundred pages into the book when Mary Ellen squirmed. “Throat hurts.”
Richard moved to the bed, as Pay roused himself. “Hi Mary Ellen, it’s me. Richard.”
“Throat hurts.” Mary Ellen swallowed.
Pay leaned over the bed. “You’re going to be fine. Docs say you are doing great and will have a full recovery. You were seriously hurt, girl. Emergency had to put a tube down your throat. Good news is Richard saved your life. Bad news is your gonna have a sore throat for a couple of days.”
Mary Ellen swallowed and winced. Her eye’s flicked to Richard. “Wha’ you doin’ here?”
“I like you and I want to help.”
Mary Ellen’s face twitched into a small ‘oh-my-God-my-face-hurts’ smile. “Thas’ nice.” Her eyes drifted shut and then slowly reopened.
Richard smiled back. “Your nurse says the drugs are going to keep you out of it. If you could answer just one question for us, it would really help. Who did this to you?”
“Back tomorro’?”
“Sure, I’ll come every day.”
“Good.” She took a slow breath. “Don’t kno’. Big, fat guy. Huge, fat guy.” Her eyelids drooped and, with that, she was out.
Richard leaned over, kissing her lightly on the forehead. “I’ll be back in the morning.”
Pay waved Richard down the hall to the deserted visitors lounge. “We need to know more about this fat guy.”
“Sounds like the guy who beat me up.”
“Chase and I talked to a bouncer from Centerfolds. He’s got some kind of scam going with a big, fat guy.”
“Mary Ellen wouldn’t be into anything crooked.”
“I don’t have any reason to believe she is. But a couple of days ago, you didn’t know she was a stripper.”
“So what’s next?”
“You keep working hard at class. Chase and I will hunt down this fat guy.”
CHAPTER 49
Early the next morning Richard stopped by the hospital. The doctors said moments after Richard left the previous night, Mary Ellen had experienced a severe anxiety attack. They’d given her medicine to slow down her heartbeat, and intravenous Valium. When that wasn’t enough they’d induced a coma. The nurse said she might sleep for the next few days.
Richard left flowers, chocolate, and a card. On his way out the door he wrote on the dry erase board: ‘Richard was here at 9 AM
and will be back this afternoon.’ Then he headed to his Revenge School class.
After the morning class, Pay pulled Richard aside. “How’s Mary Ellen?”
“The doctors said she had a really bad spell. Her pulse went out of control so they put her in a coma. But even unconscious, she looks better. Her skin isn’t that sickly gray anymore, and there’s a little tinge of pink to her cheeks.”
“Sounds like we got a couple things to take care of.”
“Sorry, Pay, it was a long night. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“This afternoon Chase and I are working on finding the fat man.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Beat the living crap out of a lying turd from Centerfolds. So far, he’s our only clue.”
“Can I help?”
“Nope. This one’s right in my wheel house.”
“Ok. What’s the second thing?”
“Peggy tells me a while back some guy ripped you off.”
“Yeah. I see him around my neighborhood once in a while.”
“Can you prove he stole from you?”
“I sure can. The guy still wears the Rolex my parents gave me for graduation. It’s engraved with my name.”
“Want it back?”
Richard’s face lit up. “Heck yeah! That jerk stole my laptop, the watch and my backpack.”
“Ready to get it back by yourself?”
The smile turned to a frown. Richard’s gaze bore a hole in the floor. “I don’t know. Do you think I’m ready?”
“Readier than you were. You’re going to have to stand up to him. Take back your stuff. Things get out of hand, we’ll keep you from getting hurt too bad.”
Richard chewed on his lip. “Not counting the watch, he stole about twenty-five hundred dollars’ worth of my stuff. I want to get even, but standing up to him…? I don’t know. ”
“Aw, he’s just a street punk. You can’t stand up to him, you’re not gonna have a chance against whoever beat Mary Ellen.”
“Damn.”
“Sucks, don’t it? So what you gonna do?”
“About Mary Ellen?”
“Today you visit Mary Ellen. And start thinking about how you can figure out where the mugger lives or works.”
“Once I find him, I’ll need your help.”
“Sure. That’s what I do.”
“What do you think I should do first?”
“He’s your thief. To get even you need a plan.”
“Well, all I really want to do is punch him in the gut and get my watch back.”
“Ok. Anything else?”
“Not really.”
“Seems like you’re letting him off a little easy.”
“Maybe.”
“He humiliated you?”
“Uh, yeah.” Richard couldn’t look Pay in the eye.
“And he’s probably stealing from other people in your neighborhood?”
“There are a lot of people who seem to be scared of him.”
“So you really just want your watch back?”
Finally Richard made eye contact. Pay could tell he was torn between what he really wanted to do and what he thought was socially acceptable to say. “Getting even is a new concept for me. I’m pretty sure I’d be happy just to get my watch back. But, I’d like to know what you’d do.”
“Hard for me to imagine someone ripping me off like that. But I guess if someone did, I’d break ‘em up. If I couldn’t get my stuff back I’d want the cash equivalent, plus extra for my trouble. More than cash, I’d want my pride. And I’d want to be damned sure he’d never steal anything from me again. In fact, I’d want him so damn scared he left town.”
“You can do that?”
“It’s what I do.”
“But what can I do?”
“First, you find him. Then, we find out where he keeps his cash or assets. Then we steal your stuff back and you beat as much living hell out of him as you want.”
“Are you going to hold him while I hit him?”
“Hell no. This isn’t torture. You’re going to have to do that yourself.”
“But you’ll help me?”
“Yeah. But Chase and I can’t be men for you. You gotta man up on your own.”
CHAPTER 50
The emergency hotline number rang. Pay hadn’t given that card to anyone in a long time so it was probably about Mary Ellen. “Emergency Hotline.”
“The nurse at SF General gave me this number. She said you were helping my sister, Mary Ellen.”
“Not sure what you’re talking about.” Pay wasn’t going to give anything away until he was sure about the caller’s identity.
“I want to know what’s happening and how I can help.”
“With what?”
“Ok. You need some proof. You’ve got Mary Ellen’s background information, right?”
The choice of words and the attitude—short, aggressive, not polite but not rude either—made the caller sound like she had a military background. In his mind, Pay could picture her. Late twenties to early thirties. Caucasian. Fit and muscular, but not thin. Non-smoker.
“You know her father died in a car wreck, her mother’s been dead for years, and she’s got a big sister who’s ten years older, right?”
So far she was right on. “Tell me more.”
“Her father’s name was Robert Samuels; mother, Mary Jane Samuels. Most of her life Mary Ellen lived in Portland, Oregon. Now she’s a med student and an, um…exotic dancer.”
“If you say so.”
“I’m her sister. Barbara Jane Samuels. Special Forces, just back from Iraq.”
Pay agreed to a meeting later that day.
Pay decided to meet Barbara Jane in the hospital cafeteria. She told him to watch for a short haired brunette, five foot nine, who looked military.
Scavenging a discarded newspaper from a chair near the coffee machine, Pay started with the Business section. He was in the middle of an article about Google Glass apps, when he felt a tap on his shoulder. “You must be Pay.”
Pay glanced up from the paper and saw a mid-thirties brunette, khaki slacks, worn running shoes, light blue crewneck T-shirt. The body could only be described as world class military—hard and lean.
“I’m Barbara Jane.” She smiled warmly and extended her hand. “You can call me Barb.”
Pay decided it would be a good time to break out his best grin. The one that Brooke said made him look boyishly delicious.
Barb handed Pay a set of dog tags. “That do it, or do I need to slam you to the ground and slit your throat with my K-Bar?”
In his mind, Pay compared the woman in front of him with the pictures they’d found when they searched Mary Ellen’s place. “Let’s go see your sister.”
CHAPTER 51
Mary Ellen lay there, still in a coma, while Pay explained the situation. Then made his excuses and left to meet Chase. They’d planned a surprise visit to Rock Duncan.
Duncan opened his front door, saw Pay’s police baton, and blanched. His left arm, the one not in a sling, reached behind his back.
Chase laughed.
Pay’s baton smashed down on Duncan’s collarbone. The same one he’d crushed just days before. Rock screamed like he’d stuck his hand in a blender. The gun he’d been going for crashed to the floor.
Chase winced. He’d heard enough collarbones destroyed to last a lifetime.
Duncan collapsed. Pay kicked him in the gut and Duncan puked on a stack of Hustlers piled on the floor.
“I hate weasels that beat on women. Even more than I hate being lied to. Told Chase he was too nice to you. My turn now.”
Duncan moaned and rolled toward the gun. Pay stomped on his wrist. For just a second, breaking bones were the only sound in the room. Rock scre
amed, and Pay jammed a small couch pillow in his mouth. “One more move and I’ll break both your arms at the shoulder. You’ll have to hire your momma to wipe your ass.”
Blubbering, Duncan rolled into a fetal position.
Chase smiled. He liked it when scum got what they had coming to them. “You think you can handle this big man? I’ll search the place while you finish with him.”
“Yeah. I got it.” Pay scowled at Rock who was crawling away. He stepped on Duncan’s ass and pulled the pillow out of his mouth. “We watched the videos and know there’s more than you told us. So here’s how it goes. I’m not gonna play guessing games with a turd like you. You got thirty seconds to capture my interest. Tell me a good story, a story I believe, and that’s it. Neither one of us wants to know what happens if you lie like a fool. Got it?”
Rock murmured something Pay took for ‘yes.’
“We know you’re hiding something. We know it has to do with the dancers, wealthy men, and the fat guy.” Pay bounced the baton lightly on Duncan’s forehead. “You got thirty.”
“Man, I don’t know nothing.”
“Twenty-five.” Pay picked up a dish towel off the floor.
“I don’t know anything I didn’t already tell you.” Duncan was starting to quiver.
Pay read the towel’s label. “‘100% polyester.’ Guess it’ll do for a gag. You got twenty. Hey Chase, can you find me a big cotton towel back there? I’m gonna need something bigger than this to mop up the blood. Fifteen.”
“Ok. Ok. Listen.”
“I’m listening. Ain’t hearing anything but crap. Ten.”
“I told you a guy pays me to give him leads on rich guys who come to the club.”
“Five.”
“I’m talking!”
“Better tell me something you didn’t tell me already.”
“Fat man pays for video of rich, married guys getting it on with our girls. And Middle Eastern guys. Pays double if I get some kind of contact info.”