The Fighter’s Block: Cole, Book Two

by Hadley Quinn

  Van scoffed with a smile. “Well besides my sister running off to do God-knows-what, I’m absolutely fabulous.” He paused for a moment, seeming to look Cole over more carefully. “Ah, that’s right. You hate flying. Fuck, you must really hate flying,” he laughed. “Dude, you look like shit.”

  Cole frowned at him as they tossed their things into an SUV and then climbed inside. “Who told you I hate flying?”

  Van dropped into the passenger’s seat next to him. “Leah. Said you’re like a kid with a massive case of ADHD trapped in quiet reading time at school.”

  He at least smiled. “Pretty much.”

  Cole pulled onto the street and veered east. He wasn’t used to having someone with him while he worked. Not even Sam was ever with him; they were usually tending to two separate things pertaining to a case. But he hoped that Van could help, not hinder. He was a smart guy and could offer some force if it was needed, but Cole was hesitant to ever put him in danger. Yes it was Van’s sister that was in this mess, but Cole was the professional. He wasn’t so sure about letting a friend get involved.

  “So fill me,” Van finally said when they were on the road for a minute.

  Cole took a moment to assess his answer. He’d thought long and hard on the plane and it was the only thing that made sense to him. It was farfetched, but he was going with his instincts.

  “I’m not one hundred percent on this one,” he answered.

  “I don’t care. Just say something I can think about. I just want something to chew on right now.”

  Cole nodded, feeling he could relate to that helplessness. “I’ve just been thinking a lot about this whole Scarlett/Alex/Leah/baby situation… I’m pretty sure it’s all connected.”

  Van glanced at him as they pulled to a stoplight. “Well yeah, but in what way?”

  Cole looked at him and said, “I think that Scarlett is pretty tight with Alex Mills.”

  Van was obviously surprised. “Isn’t he still missing?”

  “I don’t think he’s ever been ‘missing.’ I think that Scarlett knows exactly where he is, and I think they’ve been conspiring together this whole time.”

  “Alex and Scarlett?”

  Cole barely nodded. “She might not have known about the baby, but the two of them definitely know each other.”

  “Well I think I want to fuck them both up right about now.” Then he was silent for a while as they drive a few more miles. Finally he asked, “So where are we heading?”

  Cole gave him a funny smile and asked, “You ever been to a brothel?”

  Van’s expression was priceless. “Do I look like I frequent those things? Fuck no.”

  With a laugh Cole said, “Well you’re going to now.” Upon noticing the reluctant expression on Van’s face he added, “Hey, you wanted to come with me and this is where I’m starting—where I first found Leah. I’d rather you wait in the car, but I need to go start some trouble; ruffle some feathers, maybe get somebody to make a move in this fucking game.”

  “Then I’m in.”

  Cole parked the SUV by the back entrance along the fenced parking lot and they climbed out. This time he was prepared for a different approach than he’d had before, and instead of being clandestine about his doings, he decided on a more direct tactic. He had someone with him this time, so his normal methods of silent operation weren’t dependable right now.

  “You should wait here,” he told Van. He didn’t expect compliance, and didn’t get it, so as Cole slipped through the gated entrance, Van was right behind him.

  The bouncer on the back step straightened quickly and reached for his gun. “Who the fuck are you?”

  “I have an appointment,” Cole answered.

  The guy was instantly suspicious, but before he could react, Cole clocked him in the side of the face and knocked him out cold.

  Van stared down at the guy on the ground and raised his eyebrows. “I take it that’s a specialty of yours. Ha, oh my God, I’ve got your cage nickname.” He paused for effect. “One Hit Wonder.”

  Cole gave him a look.

  “Hey, think of all the meanings it could have,” Van added with a grin.

  “Yeah, my mind already went there.”

  “Ha ha, well dude, you can knock that shit out with one punch. It’s a fucking compliment. Well, if people connect it that way…”

  “Yeah, well ‘One Hit Wonder’ doesn’t work for me,” Cole shook his head. But he was amused. Only Van had the guts to mess around with him like that.

  “Hmm, well I’ll keep at it, then. Gotta outfit you with the proper title, bro.”

  Cole opened the back door and they entered. He repeated his previous route from before and made it downstairs easily, Van following behind.

  “Holy shit, are you kidding me?” Van scoffed when they stepped into the room full of working girls.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Pretty nice, right?” Cole joked as he headed straight for the hallway that led to the private bedrooms.

  But they were immediately stopped by two of the girls, and right after that, joined by two more.

  “Oh Lord have mercy,” one of them said, looking both guys over.

  “Two of you, my specialty,” winked another.

  “You two are so adorable together!” a third swooned.

  Cole and Van both looked at each other, but instead of laughing at the assumption, Cole said, “We’re here for Scarlett.”

  Another one of the girls scoffed. “Sorry, but she doesn’t work that way.”

  “For sure,” the first one rolled her eyes. “And she’s not even here, most likely.”

  A fifth female appeared and pushed through the gathering of fans. Cole recognized this one; blonde, busty, and wearing a similar tight dress like the last time he’d seen her.

  “These boys are with me,” Diamond said as she linked arms with them on each side of her.

  “Fucking bitch,” one of the women spat out.

  “Hey, whore, that’s not how it works!” another snapped.

  Diamond stepped through the closest bedroom door and pulled Cole and Van in with her. She stopped abruptly after the door shut behind them and shoved Cole in the chest. “What the hell are you doing here?” she hissed at him. “You just march back in here for everyone to see? Do you have a death wish?”

  “What are you talking about?” Cole asked.

  She stuck a long fingernail into his chest. “You coming back here to start more trouble.”

  He sighed and shook his head. “I just need to see Scarlett and I’m running out of time.” He had to assume that big brute out front would be coming to his senses anytime now.

  “Who are you?” she narrowed her eyes at him. “What the hell is going on around here? Everything changed the night you stepped foot in here.”

  “Like what?”

  She didn’t answer right away. Taking in a deep breath, her shoulders relaxed when she exhaled. “Word is, they’re gonna raid this place in a few days—which probably means tomorrow, most likely. Some girls have already bolted ‘cause they don’t want to get busted, but some of us have stuck around for whatever money we can get.”

  “What else?”

  “What else what?”

  Cole rubbed his forehead as a means to maintain patience. “Whatever you can tell me, Diamond. What else has been going on here?”

  Her face softened at the mention of her name. She seemed surprised he’d remembered. But then she glanced at Van and asked, “And who’s he?”

  Cole took a few seconds to consider his options. His instincts told him the situation was in his favor and he had nothing to lose. “He’s a friend. Remember the last time I was here? I was looking for someone?”

  Diamond slowly nodded. “Yeah, you said her name was Leah. But no one works here by that name—”

  “Your hair and makeup girl,” Cole cut in. “What was her name?”

  Understanding set in as she glanced at Van again. “Star,” she answered. “She’s your s
ister, isn’t she.”

  Van didn’t respond, clearly waiting for Cole to make the decisions here.

  “Yeah, she’s his sister,” Cole answered.

  “Where is she? Is she okay? She never came back,” Diamond narrowed her eyes at him. “What happened to her?”

  “She’s fine,” Cole answered. “At least…she was when she left town with me. Now, I’m not so sure. Have you seen her?”

  Diamond slowly shook her head. “No, I haven’t. But I miss having her here. She was a total smart mouth and I loved it,” she smiled. Then a frown appeared. “But, she seemed troubled. I don’t know, maybe I was looking at something that wasn’t there, but I felt like she—”

  Three solid knocks sounded on the door. “Roll call,” a deep voice bellowed.

  “I’m fine, Dirk!” Diamond answered back. She waited a few seconds and turned back to Van and Cole. “That means something’s up. I didn’t give him the safe word, so he’ll move on for now, but your time is up.”

  Cole understood. “Tell me anything you can about this place.”

  “I’m assuming you want information about Damien Glenn. The Feds have been through here. Not officially, you know. But I can feel it. Been there before.”

  “So what about Damien?” Cole asked. “Do you know him well?”

  “Not really,” she shook her head. “He keeps a pretty low profile. Comes through here now and then to check on things, look for his next elite girl sometimes or… one that shouldn’t be here.”

  “Meaning?”

  “An elite? Someone new to hang on his arm for the week. Everyone here has high hopes it’ll be them someday. And the ones that shouldn’t be here? Word is, he’s got special clients, you know? Ones that…like ‘em young, if you get what I mean. Girls lie about their ages all the time and Damien can sniff ‘em out quick. I kinda thought Star—eh, Leah—was a young one, but he seemed to leave her alone. He started coming in here more often after she began working here, though. I really thought that’s why, but I guess I was wrong,” she shrugged. “But I haven’t seen him in a couple weeks. He came in a couple days before you were here, and I haven’t seen him since. I thought maybe you were a cop or snitch and he got busted, and then the new guy took over.”

  “A new guy?” Cole questioned. He was almost pleading silently for her to give him information that confirmed his suspicions.

  “Yeah, never seen him before. Good looking, though. Younger. Thought maybe Damien brought in a new manager or something, but then I never saw Damien again.”

  Cole pulled out his wallet and selected a photo from behind his cash. “Is this him?” he asked when he showed her.

  “Yeah, that’s the guy,” she nodded. “Wow, he’s better looking than I thought—”

  “Alex Mills,” Cole informed Van, and Van nodded.

  “No, that’s not his name,” Diamond said. “It’s some old, stuffy name. Harold.”

  Puzzle piece, bam.

  “This is Harold Westman?” Cole asked her.

  “Well I don’t know his last name, but that’s his first name.”

  Cole turned to Van and said, “We need to go.”

  Both of them moved for the door, but Diamond stepped in front of them. “You’re not going to make it out of here,” she warned them. “I guarantee whatever you’ve already done has already been relayed to Damien. Or…whoever. I can help you out of here, just give me a chance to work around whatever’s going on out there.”

  “We need to stir things up a bit. Thank you for everything, but we’ll be fine.”

  When he gave her a wink, she might’ve blushed when she smiled. “Well…”

  Cole carefully opened the door and peeked out. He could see a bouncer at one end of the hall talking to a pair of hookers, and when he opened it further, he saw that the left exit where he came from was blocked with two more but their backs were to him.

  Without pause he stepped into the hallway and immediately headed for the bouncer with the two chicks. The guy didn’t even have time to pull his gun before Cole pummeled him in the face with his fist, knocking him to his ass. He smashed his knee into his chin, hurling him backward, and assuming Van was right behind him, Cole took off for the exit that led to the strip club upstairs.

  “I hope you know where you’re going,” Van told him from behind as they ran up a set of narrow steps. “Sasquatch and Goliath are right behind us.”

  “Of course I know where I’m going,” Cole answered. Sort of. He knew where these stairs led, but after that was a sea of the unknown.

  The door he opened brought them to a large dressing room—complete with barely dressed women, tons of costumes on hangers, and wigs lining the far wall. An overall reaction of gasps and exclamations filled the room as the two men squeezed through the bustle of bodies for the other hallway.

  Cole picked the closest stripper and pulled her close to him. “Hello, gorgeous,” he smiled.

  She sighed and smiled back. “Well hello, sexy. God, that smile—”

  “Do me a favor and keep security occupied for a minute?”

  She looked confused for a second until the door to the stairs opened again and banged hard against the wall. Two burly men were panting for air as they glanced throughout the dressing room.

  Cole flashed the girl another smile and said, “Thanks, doll. I owe you big time.”

  He took off out the exit with Van right behind him, and they ran down a hallway where the music was getting louder from the strip club.

  “Smooth,” Van told him, nodding behind him to the dressing room. “I think it might have even worked. You’ve got a pussy killer of a smile, bro. Obviously you’re aware of that.”

  Cole chuckled as he carefully opened the door. Yeah, he was aware of it. He didn’t use it often, but when he did, it was usually for deceptive purposes in the line of duty.

  He was paused in the doorway when he was shoved through it.

  “Club,” Van pointed. “Dumb and Dumber are right behind us.”

  “That tall, ugly fucker I already nicknamed Lurch,” Cole informed him as they stepped around a corner. Right took them to the stage; left took them through the busy club. Hanging a quick left, Cole added, “He would have been fun to tangle with but it didn’t get that far.”

  “Yeah, I’m feeling a bit antsy,” Van replied as they maneuvered through tables along the left side of the room. “Why do you get to do all the fun stuff?”

  “Fine, you can handle the next overconfident impediment.”

  And Van’s wish was granted. Just as they were rounding the bar for the exit, another bouncer came at them and Van took him down easily. But it drew more attention, sending two more security guys their way. Cole knew that these guys carried guns, but after he and Van handled business and made an even bigger scene, he knew there would only be more trouble when they got outside—an obvious escape point and they’d have more guys waiting for them.

  “We need to split up,” Cole said as he pulled Van into the hall that led to the bathrooms. “I’m gonna go grab the car. Give me two minutes and be on the west corner, not a second later.”

  “Got it,” Van agreed. He pulled the green “Lick Me” t-shirt up over his head so he was just in a black wife beater. Out of all the choices, he’d picked Cole’s favorite one to bring as a set of extra clothes.

  Cole caught it before Van tossed it in the closest trashcan. “I appreciate the effort to blend in, man, but you cannot ditch my lick me shirt.” He tucked it into the back of his pants and added, “Two minutes. Go.”

  He hoped to God he was making the right decision on this. It would be much easier to get out of this mess if they went separate ways, so after Van stepped back into the club crowd, Cole headed the direction they’d originally come from. The halls were clear as he made his way back through the dressing rooms, receiving the same gasping reactions and smiles like before.

  “You’re back,” the one chick grinned as he practically ran into her on his way by. She grabbed the collar o
f his shirt and kissed him dead smack on the lips, moaning as she rubbed her body up against him. The rest of the girls were giggling and cheering, making comments about who was next, but Cole pulled away and took a step toward the stairs.

  “Sorry ladies, I’m in a hurry today.” He flashed another charming smile as he disappeared into the stairwell, catching the last bit of their commentary that he’ll come back soon.

  He was already behind on time, and it didn’t help when Lurch appeared at the bottom of the stairs, blocking the exit.

  “You’re just all sorts of trouble, aren’t you?” he pointed a gun at him.

  Cole slowed as he stopped on the fourth step from the bottom. “Yeah, I tend to be sometimes.”

  Infuriated, Lurch motioned for him to come toward him. But Cole looked behind the guy, pretending someone was there. The dumbass only had a closed door behind him but he looked over his shoulder anyway. Cole used the wall and handrail as leverage and kicked his legs forward, smashing the guy in the face so he crashed against the door. He stumbled to the ground, stunned, and Cole tossed him to the side so he could squeeze through the exit.

  All he saw were women once again—a couple of them in the halls and then the entire floor of them as he ran through the gentleman’s club and back up the exit stairs for the fenced parking lot. No one was there, so he hopped the closest section of fence and jumped into the SUV. Hopefully he’d timed it right to draw men back downstairs and away from Van so he could get outside.

  Cole drove the car past the parking lot and to the corner he’d instructed Van to meet him at. He didn’t see him. Dreading the worst, he was about to pull around to the other side—just to make sure he wasn’t there instead—but something caught his eye on the building. It was a small window—about three feet wide and two feet tall—six feet off the ground. It was shoved open—one of those push-out, flip-style windows—and a head and set of shoulders were squeezing through it.

  Then Van’s six-foot-one body dropped awkwardly to the pavement.

  “Oh my God,” Cole couldn’t help but laugh. He watched Van pull himself off the ground and run to the SUV, jumping in as it was already starting to roll forward.