Aimée Thurlo - Restless Wind

“It’s packed,” she said. “I never thought so many people would be interested.”

“Yeah, it’s popular, and most who come bet heavily on their favorite fighters. The promoters switch locations all the time to avoid getting raided, and there are rumors that officers are being paid to look the other way. I got tonight’s location earlier from a source at my workplace.”

Three big goons with handheld radios stood beside the only entrance, a double door at the side of the structure above a small loading dock. After handing over a forty-dollar admittance fee for the two of them, they walked into the two-story structure. Judging from the signs outside, it had been a former maintenance garage for oil service company vehicles. But whatever oil smell might have lingered was overwhelmed by the odor of dust, beer, stale tobacco and sweat.

Hundreds of people were crowded around a hexagonal, wire-covered framework atop a makeshift stage in the center of the big room. Two slightly overweight men were swinging wildly at each other with bare fists. Between the grunts from the center of the ring, and the ebb and flow of voices from the crowd, the place literally vibrated with the rawness of underground life.

Ranger held her hand tightly, and when he glanced over at her, she was looking down at her feet. He was certain she’d never seen anything even remotely like this.

Dana didn’t say a word, though she would have had to shout to be heard, and he couldn’t think of anything to say that would help her now. Finally she looked up, holding her head high at last, and gave him a stiff-lipped smile.

Ranger switched his gaze to the people around and ahead of them, ignoring the shouts, raised beer bottles and the money being waved around. He was searching for Jimmy Brownhat.

The people were crowded elbow to elbow around the cage. Ranger surveyed the faces slowly and methodically. Then, at long last, he spotted Jimmy across the room, standing on a pallet against a wall, high enough for an unobstructed view. He was shouting encouragement to one of the fighters.

As the crowd roared almost in unison, Jimmy looked away, shaking his head. Judging from the groans among the cheers, one of the fighters had either just delivered a knockout punch, or his opponent had thrown in the towel. Jimmy jumped off the pallet, and started walking in the direction of the entrance.

“He’s leaving. We need to catch up to him before he disappears,” Ranger said, elbowing his way through the mass of people.

The press of the crowd forced Ranger to switch directions quickly, but as they went through a maze of angry losers, he felt Dana’s hand slip away from his. Ranger turned around, but before he’d even taken a step, three people pushed in between them.

Looking around, Dana waved him on. “Go! I’ll catch up.”

Dana changed directions, heading for the closest open area. Just as the mass of people around her began to thin, someone grabbed her arm.

“Hey!” she yelled, turning around. A tall, dark-haired man with a tattoo on his arm held her in a painful, viselike grip.

“Come on, baby,” the man said, yanking her so close she could smell the beer and tobacco on his breath. “If you’re looking for company, you’re in luck. Let’s meet my brother over by the door, then take a walk to my van. The three of us can rock the night away.”

Terror gripped her. Hastiin Sani had died trying to keep the others from hurting her. Now Ranger would be forced to take on two drunks. She was certain it would happen once he spotted her being strong-armed outside. Anger swelled inside her. No one she cared about would ever again be harmed because of her.

She looked up into the man’s eyes and smiled. “Sounds like fun!”

He eased up on his grip, and she kicked him hard in the knee. He howled in pain, and as he bent over, she chopped down on the side of his neck with the heel of her right hand. Her aim was off and she mostly struck him on the back, but the force of the blow sent him down to one knee-the injured one.

With a scream of pure rage, the man hurled himself at her. She sidestepped the tackle and stuck out her foot, tripping him. His momentum dropped him facedown on the floor.

“Look, I don’t want any trouble,” she said, backing away. But it was too late. Without a fight in the center ring, everyone’s attention had suddenly shifted to the rear of the room-to her and the man she’d just knocked down.

“Fight, fight, fight,” the chant started up, like kids in the schoolyard during recess.

“Twenty dollars on the babe,” someone yelled from behind her, followed by a chorus of laughter.

The drunken, wannabe rapist outweighed her by at least one hundred pounds. He wasn’t going to back away, not with all eyes on them. She looked around for Ranger, but three men were struggling to hold him back. He’d get away eventually, but for the next minute or two she was on her own.

The man howled with rage and charged at her like a bull. She tried to step aside at the last minute and trip him again, but this time he was ready. He grabbed her arm as he went by, spinning her around. They nearly fell together, but somehow he kept them on their feet, yanking her back against him by the hair.

Pinned to a man with biceps the size of a side of beef, she panicked. She struggled wildly to break free, scratching him on the face but that only made him angrier.

“Got you now, witch!”

Then she remembered her lessons with Ranger. His arm had been in the same place. Dana sagged as if giving up. Then, as his hold eased somewhat, she rammed her elbow right into the man’s midsection as hard as she could and stomped on his instep with the heel of her boot, putting everything she had into it. The man yelped in pain, letting go as he stumbled back.

“I’m not done yet,” she yelled, arms up in a defensive stance. The drunk staggered away, then disappeared into the crowd.

“Hey!” Someone behind her called out.

Remembering that her opponent had a brother, she spun to face the new threat. That’s when she saw that Ranger had managed to break free.

“Give it up for the lady,” a tall, thin man shouted from the edge of the crowd.

As the people laughed and cheered, Ranger scooped her up, threw her over his shoulder and hurried out the side door. The novelty over, the crowd’s attention quickly shifted to the next two combatants climbing into the elevated cage.

Once they were outside in the parking lot, Ranger quickly did as she asked by setting her back down, and they hurried back to the car.

Ranger finally spoke as they were racing down the street in the Ringer. “So much for staying low-key.”

“Hey, at least my wig stayed on. Good thing I pinned it in place.”

He stared at her. “That’s all you have to say?”

Dana opened and closed her fist. It hurt like crazy, but she was pretty sure she hadn’t broken anything. “What else could I do with my bodyguard AWOL? And, just for the record, I didn’t appreciate that caveman routine when we left. It’s not a comfortable method of travel.”

“But effective. Nobody wanted to have ‘the babe’ thrown at them. We got a wide berth.” He looked at her, and then burst out laughing.

She glared at him for a moment, then finally started laughing, too.

“I can’t believe I lived through that,” she said at last, tears of laughter running down her face.

“Crazy Louie’s one mean drunk. But you ate him alive,” he said, admiration in his gaze. “But why didn’t you just pretend to go with him? I’d have seen what was going on before you ever reached the door. Didn’t you think I could handle him?”

“It wasn’t that, or even that he’d said his brother was going to join him and you would have been outnumbered. I made up my mind right then that no one else would ever be hurt on my account,” she said, then added, “even if my hand is black and blue in the morning.”