Hard Case: Boxed Set Books 1,2 & 3 (John Harding Books)

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  “Two, but they were still breathing. The Russian calling the shots was a guy named Alexi Fiialkov. He’s a snake, T. Whether he takes no for an answer remains to be seen. He told me to take a break just like Bonasera and Alexander did. My buddy Alexi also warned me I probably won’t be allowed to fight in the area anymore.”

  “We need a few months off from the fight game anyway, John. After what you did to Rankin we’ll have to give at least three to one odds. Next time we agree to a fight I’ll get us a big sum up front. The Russians will come around. You’re the best draw in the area because even when people think you’ll win they bet against you. It’s weird.”

  “Hey, the OPD and waitresses all like me.”

  “That won’t do you any good with the city council, not to mention the Mercedes and BMW crowd. Jesse told me last night his money backer bets big against you every time you fight. Like I said, we’ll need our money up front.”

  “I believe you’re wrong about the Russian mob, Tommy,” Tess inserts. “What the hell makes you think they’ll come around?”

  Debbie brought over our food. We lapsed into silence while we ate. Tommy shovels some food in before answering Tess.

  “It’s like this, Tess. If John wants to fight, he’ll fight. Hell, none of the fighters want to get busted up for a few hundred bucks a fight. The big money comes to watch because there’s always a chance someone might die with guys like Rankin and John mixing it up. You can bet Alexander and his sock puppet Bonasera made a lot of money sponsoring that gig last night. They get a cut of every bet made plus a nice fee from the sadists demanding to stand right next to the mat for the close up carnage.”

  “In other words you two dopes will take on the Russian mob so Hard-head can get his skull cracked? Shrewd.”

  Tommy drops his happy go lucky attitude. “I know John. He gets ideas in his head sometimes I can’t counter. I back his play if he lets me or I go home and play with my kids. I’m not his Mommy.”

  I take a stab at getting us on track talking about my new business enterprise. I know Tommy’s on board. “Relax Tess. This fight game stuff will blow over. We’re here to let Tommy know you’re interested in a partnership.”

  “Tommy reminded me of why I have so many doubts about partnering with you. What happens when the back alley fight game lets you back in and some guy like Rankin separates your brain from your skull, genius?”

  Uh oh, Tess’s recollection of this morning’s negotiations is slipping away. “I will set up this new enterprise so it will function as well without me as with me.”

  Her look softens a little as I look earnestly at her. She must see a reflection of this morning in my eyes because she blushes. Tess shifts her attention to Tommy. “I’d like in on this if you really think we can make this work.”

  “We can make it work real well, Slinky, but as you’ve pointed out it would be better if we can keep John alive. He’s shoring up some of the holes in our business plan with Devon Constantine. That kid he introduced me to last night at his house looks promising too. It won’t hurt to take this operation for a test drive with John’s new government sponsored bodyguard gig. Your firm’s still fronting the operation I take it?”

  “My firm will work as a liaison in it. From what I’ve learned firsthand in observing John and his buddy you met last night it won’t be much of either an advisory or supervisory roll. It will be a perfect test drive as you say, because other than working the law angle I don’t expect to have much input in anything else concerning our new enterprise. In this venture John’s risking his upfront money and I’m risking my livelihood. John trusts you and so do I. I’m well aware of your business sense. Will a handshake do for now, partner?”

  Tommy shook Tess’s outstretched hand with a nod and a big grin. “I expect by the time we get done with the test drive you’ll have something more official created for us to sign?”

  “You better believe it.”

  Tommy turned to me. “Now that we have the preliminaries out of the way, what kind of trouble are the Russians going to give us?”

  “I plan on staying out of the Russians’ way for the time being unless I spot a shadow. Our government client will be more than a little upset if I have the Russian mob on my tail. It’s anybody’s guess whether my pal Alexi and me have an understanding for real.”

  “I knew when Rankin showed up on the scene the mob wouldn’t be far behind. I know you can take care of yourself but the Russians have a rep for collateral damage.”

  “I hear you, T. We’ll stay far away from the fight game. If they get cute I will teach them what collateral damage really means. Anyway, I needed you to know about last night so you can keep your eyes open.”

  Tommy stood up. “Always. Have a nice Saturday, my friends. Call me when you get word from Government Inc. I’m going home and kick back with the family. You need any cash, John?”

  “I’m good. When you’re done collecting bank my cut.”

  “Will do. Bye Slinky.” Tommy walked away with a wave at Debbie.

  Chapter Eight: YouTube

  Tess smiled at me. “What do you have planned for the remainder of the day?”

  “Negotiations if you’re still in a bargaining mood.”

  Much later after we broke off contract talks Tess and I sat outside on my front step sipping coffee, enjoying the sunny autumn afternoon. To say it had been a lovely interchange would be an understatement of epic proportions. I’m a natural born pessimist so waiting for the other shoe to drop like it did the first time Tess and I tangled romantically is the natural order of things. She didn’t disappoint me.

  “I need your help, John.”

  “You didn’t have to sleep with me to get it.”

  She laughed. I thought that was a good sign.

  “I started coming to your fights again because I was working up the nerve to ask you for a favor. Then Government Inc. as Tommy calls it ensnared me in their roundabout plan. When you took offense to my meddling and naive adventurism, I lost my shot at talking to you about a problem my… Jesus! I’m such a hypocrite!”

  Tess looks away from me grasping for words to go on - no way I’m helping her out with this word puzzle. She’s piqued my curiosity as to what the hell she’s talking about but I’m not keen on guessing games. Since I don’t have much in common with Tess anyway, I figure this hypocrite statement refers to her disavowing my violent tendencies and suddenly finding herself in need of them. Hell, I’m relieved. At least she’s not talking about dumping me again like a used condom. Still avoiding any direct eye to eye contact Tess starts again.

  “I have an older sister Lora. She was the main reason I settled out here on the West Coast. My Mom lives with her. Lora’s eight year old daughter Alice is a sweet kid. A couple months ago Alice started having trouble with another girl who lives half a block down the street. They attend the same grammar school. Lora started noticing my niece acting weird – screaming in the middle of the night, sleep walking, and fear of things she was never afraid of before. Alice admitted the girl down the street had started telling her she was going to kill Alice. My Mom’s freaking out. At first-”

  I wave my hand in front of her as the Twilight Zone music starts up in my head. “Hold on, Tess. One eight year old little girl is making death threats to another little girl? Russian mobsters I can help you with. My expertise with childhood consisted of my old man beatin’ the crap out of me until I turned fourteen. I’m sure your sister has tried all the usual steps – call the parents, call the teacher, call the police? I’m sure you’re not nudging me into whacking the little girl so what can I do?”

  “I’m so tired of listening to my sister’s whiney-ass voice I’m about ready to kill the girl and her whole family. Lora thinks I can somehow sue these people into making their eight year old behave. My Mom can’t understand why I haven’t already taken care of everything.”

  Wow, Tess is really seething. She looks straight at me this time, her teeth clenched.

  “I tho
ught maybe you could advise me. I’m all against violence. Then reality slaps me upside the head and all I can think of resorting to is violence. Lora called me again last night.

  “It’s escalating?”

  “The little girl’s Father began making threatening phone calls. Lora’s a single Mom and her ex-husband lives in Arizona, hence my Mom moving in with her when my Dad died. Lora married Chuck when they were both eighteen and right out of high school. She was pregnant with Alice. The happy couple moved in with us while they attended college together. With my Mom babysitting Alice, while helping Lora and Chuck financially, Lora forged her way through college in spite of Chuck’s protests and their moving around. They’re still friends and Alice spends summers with her Dad, but he can’t really do much with a situation like this.”

  “And I can?”

  “Forget I mentioned it.”

  Tess stood up. She started down my porch steps. I guess I’m supposed to stop her while pleading for a chance to help with her sister’s domestic dispute. I don’t stop her because I got nothing. I’m pretty imaginative when it comes to unintended consequences. All the outcomes I could think of ended in my mind with me in jail at a time when being locked up was the last thing on earth I needed. Tess stopped, turned around, hitched up her skirt and attacked me. I held my coffee cup out as Tess jumped me, legs encircling my waist and hands applying a choke hold at my neck. To my credit, I didn’t spill any coffee.

  “You… are… so… annoying!” When Tess realizes her assault is only getting an interested smile from me, she collapses with a sigh, head on my shoulder. “Please, John, help me with this.”

  “I didn’t say I wouldn’t help but I’m not sure how. What little I know about these tussles between parents and kids is they get out of hand so quick the situation almost always ends badly. I read about parents and coaches of little leaguers trading punches over some imaginary slight all the time.” I run my fingers down Tess’s cheek. “Maybe a meeting with the school principal, the parents, and the kids would help. I’m having a hard time picturing this other girl’s parents being thrilled that she’s threatening another child’s life. They’d be already talking about drugging or doing a lobotomy on a boy saying those things in this day and age.”

  Tess looked up with a smile. “Would you go to the meeting?”

  Oh crap.

  “Think about it, John. You look like Godzilla… even in a suit. The parents will take one look at you and stifle their kid until she’s eighteen.”

  I’m having a stare down with her from a few inches away to no avail. “Okay. Set up the meeting. I’ll go.”

  “It’s tomorrow afternoon at three.”

  Tess tried to make good her escape but she wasn’t going anywhere as I clamped onto her. I’d been had like a ten-year-old boy at the carnival throwing balls at milk bottles to win a stuffed animal. She squealed in protest as I picked her up and headed for the door. It was time for some more negotiating. Our business dealings go so well, Tess unexpectedly agrees to an overnighter. We spend a quiet Sunday together. Jafar keeps to himself during our visitation and goes out again for the day.

  Tess leaves later when my new housemate Jafar comes home. He and Tess exchange smiles while chatting politely about their day. Watching the polite banter, I’m enjoying the afterglow of a pretty decent day. Even my ribs have stopped aching. Tess comes over and gives me a quick peck on the cheek goodbye.

  “Wear your suit tomorrow, John. You’ll really be a model citizen on Monday. First you get Jafar back in the high school’s good graces and later you handle elementary school problems. I’ll pick you up at two. Okay?”

  “Yes, Princess.”

  “Don’t stiff me.”

  “I’m looking forward to meeting your sister and her little girl. This meeting is a good idea. I’m sure the whole thing will be settled in minutes. It’s eight-year-olds for God’s sake. My only concern was trying to handle this outside of an official setting.”

  “I feel better having you there. Bye, Jafar.”

  “Goodnight, Ms. Connagher.”

  Jafar waits until Tess shuts my door behind her before confronting me like an excited kid.

  “I have heard and seen much about your Friday night fight, John Harding. You nearly killed the big man! Oh… and his nose… that knee was devastating.”

  What the hell? “How do you know anything about the fight, J?”

  Jafar patted his laptop bag. “YouTube.”

  “You’re kidding me? Somebody put an Oakland street fight on that goofy Internet looky-loo place?”

  “Yes. Have you not heard of all Kimbo Slice’s backstreet fights shown on YouTube?”

  “If I go on the Internet, I don’t tune in on YouTube.”

  “Your fight already has over 500,000 views.”

  There’s some good news. Maybe getting out of the fight game is a better idea than I thought. So much for anonymity. “You didn’t happen to check out if any more of my fights are on the tube did you?”

  Jafar’s smile diminished when he saw my face. “Yes, there were many. I… I watched them all while waiting for my Mom to finish shopping. I showed her the one from last night. Is… is something wrong. You are very famous.”

  I patted his shoulder. “Forget it, J. It’s not your fault. I never gave my alley tussles winding up on an Internet site checked by millions a thought before. I do remember other guys talking about street rumbles like Slice’s being watched on YouTube.”

  “The mixed martial arts match in which your opponent died is on there too.”

  Oh wonderful. You can bet Dennis the Menace Strobert knows about the stuff on YouTube. It makes me wonder what Dennis… oh shit… I race over to the table and grab up my super spy phone and call The Warehouse Bar. Marla answers which I think is a break for me.

  “Marla, it’s John. Don’t let the security tape with me mixing it up with those Russian goons get out, okay?”

  Dead silence. Ah oh. “Marla?”

  “I…I’m sorry, John.”

  “YouTube?”

  More silence.

  What’s done is done. “Can you get it off the site?”

  “I can with what I put on, but it went viral in hours. Once it’s in the public domain getting it back off is nearly impossible because so many people copy and distribute it. You know what viral means, right?”

  “Yeah, Marla. Okay, don’t sweat it. It’s my bad.”

  “Sorry, John.”

  “Take care, I’ll see you soon.”

  “I’ll buy you a few on the house.”

  Jafar looks at me uneasily as I set the phone down. “You fought with some Russians, Sir?”

  “It’s on YouTube too.” I will have to rethink a whole lot of things. One thing I was sure of – Dennis knew of my notoriety and he had something in mind to exploit it. “Dig out your notebook computer and let’s find the fight outside The Warehouse Bar.”

  Jafar quickly dug his computer out and within minutes he was using the various search engines to find the video using variations of my name and The Warehouse Bar. We were watching the clip a short time after that. I breathed a sigh of relief. Marla’s video was so grainy no one could be identified, especially the Russians. Marla screwed me a little with the title though – John Harding Entertains at the Warehouse Bar. Cute. Jafar shows me a few of my fights on You-Tube. They were done with high grade, low light cameras. The videos were very clear.

  “Thanks, J. You can turn it off. At least the one with my Russian friends is nearly useless for identifying anyone. There’s no sound on it either.”

  “That looked very dangerous, Sir.”

  “It was for them. You didn’t do anything wrong. If you hadn’t picked up on the YouTube videos I would have probably been surprised by someone about it at a bad time. This way I know they’re out there. I’m an idiot for not keeping up on this stuff.” The last few days have been far too interesting. With the Twilight Zone school meeting tomorrow afternoon, followed by the beginning of my
assignment protecting Samira, my life didn’t look like it was going to ease up any.

  “Are you still interested in my help on your escort mission?”

  “You’re my key player, J. I will be the big, dumb, well dressed bodyguard while you will be the escort/interpreter. The attention you draw away from me will make what my employers have in mind that much easier. I want to show you something.” Time to let Jafar see the real danger. I picked up my 007 phone, turning it for him to see, when I had the assassin’s mug on the screen scanned from the disc Dennis had given me after the fight. I also showed him the variations of looks he might use. “I’ll give you a printout to study. I don’t want you carrying anything on you or your cell-phone about this guy. He’d kill you without blinking an eye. If you see him anywhere we go let me know in an unobtrusive manner. Don’t point. Don’t look. Just tell me.”

  Jafar took the phone and studied the different looks for a few moments. He returned the phone. “What is his name?”

  “No names. His real name or aliases will do you no good. He’s my problem. Your gig is to be a charming companion for our visiting young lady.”

  “What… what if she doesn’t like me?”

  “Look, my friend, you’re not marrying Samira. Speak politely with her about anything she wishes to converse with you about.”

  “Do you know her?”

  “A long time ago me and a few other guys helped her family relocate to Saudi Arabia from Afghanistan. She was eleven then and I haven’t seen or heard from her since. Samira grew up in a warzone living with stone-age type amenities. Don’t try to impress her.”

  “Don’t worry. I don’t lie well at all and I’m short on things I could impress her with in reality.”

  “We’ll work on that.”

  Jafar silently gave me the thousand yard stare for a moment.

  “You need not answer this. Are you some kind of spy?”

  “Not really. I’m more of a problem solver. I don’t spy on anybody. If I was a spy would I be dumb enough to become a YouTube attraction?”