Fight Card Presents: Iron Head & Other Stories

by Jack Tunney

  Flannigan hit the canvas and Lucas stepped back.

  The crowd exploded with cheers.

  The big man rocked around in agony as the referee counted.

  "Three! Four!"

  Roy The Sledgehammer Flannigan tried to push himself up, but instead grimaced and fell flat on his face.

  "Five! Six! Seven!"

  He rolled over, and tried to sit up, managing to get to a halfway point.

  "Get up!" Lucas said.

  Flannigan held the position for a second, then dropped flat on his back and laid there with his eyes closed.

  "Ten!"

  The bell sounded and Lucas put his hands in the air.

  ***

  Alone in the dressing room, Lucas leaned over a table, breathing through his mouth. His nose had been packed with gauze, but still a few drops of blood leaked from it. The door behind him opened and he turned.

  Bobby and the other security guard from the ranch pushed their way through it and spread out. Bobby carried a baseball bat and the other man brandished a crowbar.

  Frank McCord followed, pushing Roxanne in front of him. He wrapped one arm around her neck and pointed a pistol at her head.

  "Just two men this time, McCord?"

  "That's all I'll need. I'm holding all the cards." He pressed the gun against Roxy's head.

  Everything inside Lucas went still and quiet. He'd replaced his imported suit with a light blue button-up shirt and a black, flat-brimmed Stetson along with jeans and snake-skinned boots. The Colt rode comfortably in the shoulder holster beneath his leather jacket.

  "You made me a pile of money, boy." Frank stopped, tightening his grip around Roxanne's neck.

  Fear shone in her eyes.

  The slow burning flame of fury erupted into an inferno inside of Lucas. "A pile?"

  "A hundred thousand dollars at ten to one odds. A man would be a fool not to bet on that." He motioned his two henchmen forward. "I always hedge my bets so I win either way. Now you're going to have a little accident."

  Lucas smiled and put all thoughts of physical pain out of his mind. His eyes were puffy and would be swollen shut tomorrow, but right now he could still see through them. He dropped his hands to his sides, flexing and curling his fingers. They were sore, but limber enough for what he had to do. "What kind of accident were you figuring on?"

  "The headlines tomorrow will read that after the fight, the hometown hero succumbs to injuries sustained. Apparently, he suffered a fractured skull…"

  Bobby slapped the bat against the palm of his hand, the sound echoing in the dressing room. "I'm going to enjoy this."

  Lucas smiled and brought his hands up to shoulder level with the palms out, knowing full well he was in no shape for any kind of physical altercation. "Wait just a minute…"

  "Do it," McCord said. He gestured with the gun again.

  As soon as the muzzle swung away from Roxanne's head, Lucas went into action.

  The gunshot from the Colt reverberated loudly and a blue hole appeared in the center of Frank McCord's forehead.

  Roxanne stood in place and McCord's body fell away from her. She never uttered a sound.

  Both men stopped their forward motion, shocked into immobility. The tall man lunged with the crowbar raised.

  Lucas shot him twice in the chest and he pitched to the floor.

  Bobby dropped the baseball bat and put his hands in the air. "I'm not armed!"

  "That's not my problem." Lucas emptied the Colt into the man's torso and his body dropped to the floor with a thud.

  Lucas flicked open the loading gate and punched in new rounds.

  The door slammed open and two more of McCord's men appeared, sliding to a halt as they took in the scene. Before they could react, pistol shots began hammering and both men pitched to the floor.

  A slight wisp of smoke trailed from the barrel of the gun in Roxy's hand. She smiled at Lucas and pitched the gun to the floor. The clanking of her heels echoed in the sudden silence until she stopped in front of him and carefully pressed their lips together.

  "Let's get out of here," he said and took her by the hand.

  "Where are we going?" she asked.

  "Does it matter?"

  He tried to smile when she shook her head and then grimaced in pain. Roxy giggled at his expression.

  The future seemed full of promise and they stepped toward it together.

  MATTHEW PIZZOLATO

  A member of Western Fictioneers, a professional organization for writers who work in the Western genre, Matthew Pizzolato’s short stories have been published Beat To A Pulp!, The Copperfield Review, Pulp Modern, Frontier Tales Magazine, The Pink Chameleon Online, Perpetual Magazine, Long Story Short, and The Storyteller.

  He is the author of the short story collections The Wanted Man and Two of a Kind as well as the novella, Outlaw. He writes primarily Western fiction but has been known to dabble in other genres on occasion.

  Matthew is the Editor-in-Chief of The Western Online, a magazine dedicated to everything Western and is always looking for great Western fiction to publish. The Western Online publishes short stories, serialized novellas, Western artwork, historical articles, book reviews and regularly conducts interviews with current Western writers. Also published is a recurring Western comic strip featuring Matthew's Texas Ranger character, Jud Nelson.

  www.matthew-pizzolato.com

  COVER ARTIST

  CARL YONDER

  Growing up a military brat, cover artist Carl Yonder and his family travelled around the country and eventually the world. With all of the relocating, his parents and his artwork were the two biggest constants in his life. Over the years, his initial love of art developed into a passion, which he continues to pursue primarily through sequential art and painting. Carl’s works has been presented in foreign embassies, newspapers, and many other publications. In 2004, he received The Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s 21st Gold Circle Award for his work with Grub Street.

  Currently illustrating the comic Pirate Eye – a hardboiled take on the high seas – written by Josiah Grahn (published quarterly through Action Lab Comics), Carl also has several other comic stories in various stages of development. All of these projects allow him the opportunity to experiment with his art and continue to travel.

  www.carlyonder.com

  EDITORS

  JEREMY L. C. JONES

  Freelance writer, editor, and teacher, Jeremy L. C. Jones lives in South Carolina. He gets up early, writes about music and books for newspapers, magazines, and web pages, then drives over to the college to teach a literature class to non-majors, and comes home and writes some more. It also means he talks to his dogs much more than he talks to people.

  Jones got hooked on boxing by watching Ali with his dad as a kid (and stopped when Tyson bit that guy's ear) and by reading Ernest Hemingway, Jack London, Erskine Caldwell, and Harry Crews in college.

  After years away, Jones has returned to his first love: making stuff up. This December will see the debut of Outlaw Unchained, a monthly series of short stories, novelettes, and novellas (High Noon Press) written by Jones and based on a character created by Frank Roderus. Also debuting in December is the Western Fictioneers Storytellers collections of essays about writing westerns co-edited with Troy D. Smith and the first of the Fight Card anthologies. Jones' first Fight Card novella, and the anthology Old Hounds & Young Pups (Piccadilly) co-edited with Jory Sherman, are due out in early 2014.

  www.jeremylcjones.com

  PAUL BISHOP

  A thirty-five year veteran of the Los Angeles Police Department, Paul Bishop’s career has included a three year tour with his department's Anti-Terrorist Division and over twenty-five years’ experience in the investigation of sex crimes. His Special Assaults Units regularly produced the highest number of detective initiated arrests and highest crime clearance rates in the city. Twice honored as Detective of the Year, Paul also received the Quality and Productivity Commission Award from the City of Los Angele
s.

  As a nationally recognized interrogator, Paul starred as the lead interrogator and driving force behind the ABC TV reality show Take The Money And Run from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Based on his expertise in deception detection, he currently conducts interrogation seminars for law enforcement, military, and human resource organizations.

  Paul has published twelve novels, including five in his L.A.P.D. Detective Fey Croaker series. He has also written numerous scripts for episodic television and feature films. He currently writes and edits the Fight Card series of hardboiled boxing novels under the pseudonym Jack Tunney.

  www.bishsbeat.blogspot.com

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  FIGHT CARD VOLUME 1

  2012

  FELONY FISTS

  THE CUTMAN

  SPLIT DECISION

  COUNTERPUNCH

  HARD ROAD

  KING OF THE OUTBACK

  A MOUTH FULL OF BLOOD

  TOMATO CAN COMEBACK

  BLUFF CITY BRAWLER

  GOLDEN GATE GLOVES

  IRISH DUKES

  THE KNOCKOUT

  FIGHT CARD VOLUME 2

  2013

  RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

  AGAINST THE ROPES

  THE LAST ROUND OF ARCHIE MANNIS

  GET HIT, HIT BACK

  BROOKLYN BEATDOWN

  CAN’T MISS CONTENDER

  BAREFOOT BONES

  FRONT PAGE PALOOKA

  SWAMP WALLOPER

  FIGHT CARD VOLUME 3

  2014

  MONSTER MAN

  GUNS OF NOVEMBER

  FIGHT RIVER

  ADVENTURES OF SAILOR TOM SHARKEY

  FIGHT CARD MMA

  WELCOME TO THE OCTAGON

  THE KALAMAZOO KID

  ROSIE THE RIPPER

  FIST OF AFRICA

  FIGHT CARD ROMANCE

  LADIES NIGHT

  LOVE ON THE ROPES

  FIGHT CARD LUCHADORES

  RISE OF THE LUCHADORES

  FIGHT CARD NOW

  PUNCHING PARADISE

  FIGHT CARD

  SHERLOCK HOLMES

  WORK CAPITOL

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