Hard Case V: Blood and Fear (A John Harding Novel Book 5) (6 page)

Recognizing my mood, Marla arrived with a refresher. I held it up in toasting form. “Training in the Bay is hell on earth. Here’s to hell on earth.”

We toasted and drank in solemn agreement.

* * *

I pitched batting practice with the same concentration I ran a terrorist operation. I fast pitched with only one goal in mind – don’t hit my players. Being a dedicated coach, I did not make that kind of error. I had struck out the first three batters with three pitches each. I watched them roll their eyes at me. See, although I only pitch at a speed similar to other teams’ best pitcher, I still get the eye-roll because I’m an adult. I stopped the practice.

“Hey… you ladies may not like me pitching to you with respect, but if you think ‘The Jaguars’ plan to let you beat them down out of first place by lobbing ‘hit me’ softballs at you, I believe your judgment is impaired.”

Lynn and I exchanged smiling acknowledgement this bunch of girls on our team were more of the ‘show me’ type player. Al was up next. She walked to the plate all business. She hit everything I threw to the deep part of the park in which we were playing, making my crew of Tommy, Jafar, and Clint get some exercise. I didn’t make the girls shag every ball over their heads, except if they thought they could make a play on an overeager teammate. We had a rule – three strikes or fifteen minutes. Al always went the distance. She led by example. Every girl after her had blood in her eye. The batting practice went well after that. I made a personal note – lead off batting practice with Al. Then came the unexpected.

Lynn coached first base, because we doubled batting practice with run the bases correctly drills. She whistled. Lynn was jerking a thumb at the parking lot on our left. “Look who came to see you work, Coach. I’ve seen his picture. It looks like ‘The Assassin’ himself, Marko… uh… something or other.”

“The name is Hristov, lady.” Apparently, it was a sin not to know Marko’s name.

Lynn cut him off. “Hey Hysterectomy… Vasectomy… Molotov… whatever. This is a girls’ softball practice, Homey. Get your ass off my field before I call the cops… or worse.”

With the girls giggling, and me trying not to, we all watched the veins in Marko’s head pop out. His fists clenched tightly at his sides, before he shook one of them at me. “I wish to speak with the Pug.”

Lynn smiled, waving her hands in a helpful manner. “See, you should have just said that. We don’t have a Pug on the field. Maybe you have the wrong park, Jethro.”

“I am not this Jethro! That man, there,” Marko’s gravel tongue rises in anger as he shakes a fist at me.

“Oh… you mean John. Sorry, big fella, no can do.” Go have a seat on the bench. When John finishes practice, I’m sure he’ll give you a listen.”

Marko’s ADD kicked in, and his attention span went into die mode. He reached to yank Lynn out of his way, only to have her duck inside, grip his jacket with her left hand, while the magically appearing butterfly knife shot forward under his groin. She whispered in his ear. Marko nodded, hands dropping to his sides. He then backed away from the knife, twisted toward me, as he walked away from the field.

“I wait for you, big man. Yuri sent me.” He stormed to a nearby park tree, leaned against it, and folded his arms.

No one will be sending you anywhere soon, chump, I promised myself. “Thanks, Crue. Shall we hit a few balls, girls? Let’s give the shag brigade out there some exercise.”

We practiced for another half hour, and then I called it a day. The girls had a great time, but I was concerned the parents would be hearing another exciting tale of the dastardly Cruella Deville. I worked on a cover story while joining Lynn at the dugout.

“What did you tell my visitor?”

“I told him to go ahead, lay a hand on me, and I’d carve my initials in his dick. Then I told him to wait on the sideline. I bet you thought I was out of control, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t care. Hell… we would have carted him to a car saying we needed to rush him to the hospital. Unfortunately, he would have disappeared on the way there, never to be heard from again.”

“How many girls do you think saw my knife?”

“Too many, but I’ll claim you simply told an observer to stand by a tree to wait for practice to end, and he did so without further argument.”

“Damn, Mellow, you almost sound like you could run for office,” Lynn replied.

I guess I’ll be back to the banana nicknames. “Tommy told you, huh?”

“Yep. You better go talk to that idiot before he goes ballistic, and I have to put him down like a rabid dog. I’ll go tell our boys about the altercation. That will give you some time to talk with your playmate.”

“This should be good. I have no clue what Yuri would want to talk with me about.”

“If Yuri’s here, are you going to talk with him in that limo I see out in the parking lot?”

“Sure, Crue. Why?”

“The boys and I will be watching. If you drive away with him, at least wave that you’re okay. We have a date on a cruise today. Casey, Jess and Dev are already loading their fishing tackle.”

“Thanks for the reminder. I’ll keep that in mind. If they drive away to kill me elsewhere maybe I’ll still wave.” I continued on to Marko while Lynn laughingly met our guys coming in from the deep outfield.

“Hey, Marko, what’s with the visit business during my coaching stint? Yuri could have called Alexi if he needed to meet again,” I said.

“Yuri wants a meet with just you,” Marko snarled, poking a finger in my chest. “You should not have kept him waiting.”

“I see you like to talk with your hands. I like to break things. Poke me again, and we’ll have to postpone the fight while your broken hand mends.”

Marko grinned. “We see soon who gets broken. Come with me.”

He led the way to Yuri’s limo while I began looking forward to my training session. This guy was way too confident. Marko and Yuri weren’t dummies. They’d seen the films of my Rattler fight. Jafar had searched everywhere for some clips of Marko’s fights. He had them on a movie clip with Tommy, Jess, and Dev commenting on them in voice over for me. I would be training with those in mind, but it appeared I would need a bit more imagination to figure out what Marko might have up his sleeve. I hated guess work, but sometimes it’s all we have. At the limo, Marko opened the rear door, and I slid in opposite Yuri. He was by himself. Marko sat next to his boss.

“For a guy who doesn’t like my company, you seem to be seeing a lot of me by choice.” Yuri wore his smug grin mask. In addition to training, I’d better hone my detective skills. I smelled a rat, and these two made me uneasy.

“I wanted to speak with you about the coming match without Alexi or your partner in attendance,” Yuri explained. “I like sure things. This match means a lot to Marko’s rise into the UFC, and my getting a piece of the action around here. I’m sure Alexi informed you that access to his port facilities would also be part of a win for us. I have an offer for you. If you will make a believable fight of it, but lose, I will add five hundred thousand to the fifty you were offered. It would also mean Marko won’t kill you in the cage.”

I kept my face in neutral while he talked. Maybe this was what they were so confident about. “I’m surprised Alexi didn’t mention he tried to pay me to take a dive. I don’t do that.”

“He did tell me, but we are offering much more money than you ever dreamed of making on a fight,” Yuri replied. “No one need know about any of this. I certainly would not tell anyone. Depending on the side-bets which will be huge, I could cut you in for another hundred grand in addition to the offer. You also have a business which could profit greatly from a collaboration like I’m offering.”

Time to put my suave politically aware personality into gear. Otherwise, I see murder and mayhem before I exit the limo. “While I appreciate your very generous offer, as I stated before, I don’t do that, not for any price.”

I’m afraid Yuri hadn’t thought his ploy through before putting it into effect. I could tell by the stunned look on his face, he had figured I would jump at the chance to screw over everyone in my life who trusted me. Now, he was left with a refusal, and no way of knowing whether I would tell Alexi or not. That would mean in his kingpin mind he would have to kill me rather than allow me to leave the limo. I decided to put his mind at ease. We needed more info on his cohorts.

“I don’t speak about deals made to me. If you’re thinking I’ll run out and tell Alexi, I don’t do that either. This offer will remain between you and me. If we’re done with the meeting, I have training to do.”

“You’ll regret this Harding,” Yuri said as I opened the limo door, watching for any movements I didn’t like.

“It’s possible, but my answer is the final one. Good day, gentlemen.” Man I’m slick. Maybe Lynn’s right. I should start running for office.

“I kill you in the cage,” Marko promised me. “It will matter not how much training you do.”

That’s what you think, Jethro. “Let me know how that works out for you, Marko. I don’t like your chances; but then again, anything’s possible. Bye for now.”

The limo sped off once I closed the door. Al and my crew were waiting for me. Al looked relieved. She senses things no one else does. So does my crew, but they were simply smiling. They didn’t care what happened in the limo. Once I exited it, everything was cake with frosting. Clint put away his .45 caliber Colt from under the towel he was holding. I have no doubt the limo would have never made it out of the parking lot. He knew where I was sitting in the limo. Clint would have put a clip into the idiots on the other side of me, while running to get a better shot at the driver.

“Did you have a nice meeting, brother?”

“Yeah, Clint, it was very enlightening.”

“They wanted you to take a dive,” Tommy said with conviction.

Tommy knows how this business works, inside and out. He knew Yuri and Marko would have stayed the hell away from me unless they were worried. Then they would bypass Alexi, and do a meeting like this. I don’t have to break my word. I knew Tommy would figure it out the moment those two arrived at the park.

“You’re right, partner, and they offered some big money – over half a mil. I guess they must have finally decided to watch the Rattler fight.” That was my guess. Being the arrogant assholes they are, Yuri and Marko may not have even done their homework until the match was agreed to.

Tommy smiled. “Arrogance, overconfidence, and easy wins does it to these idiots every time. It looks like you were right, John. For them to offer that kind of money on a two bit, backstreet warehouse fight, they have a lot at risk.”

“I know you don’t take a dive for anyone, Dad. Can I go swing while you talk?” Al gets bored with business.

“Sure. We won’t be long.”

“I know,” Al replied with a giggle. “You get to be the Great Banana this afternoon since it’s a school holiday.”

I put on my Dark Lord mask of evil retribution. Laughs were about all it drew. That’s fine, because I planned to embrace the training rather than bitching about it. “Go on. Don’t think I’ll forget how much you’re enjoying my torture though.” I switched to my fist up Dark Lord voice. “The Dark Lord will have his revenge, young acolyte!”

On cue, Al spun, dipped her head, and said, “Yes, Dark Lord.”

She ran off immediately to play on the playground. As I watched where she was heading, I noted movement with my peripheral vision. A guy left his vehicle to plod along nonchalantly toward the playground, along the outskirts. He halted as he came parallel with the swing set Al chose. My people were the best in the world. They missed nothing.

“Son-of-a-bitch! Kornev put a guy onto my girl, Al! Excuse me boys. I have some business to attend to.” Lynn turned to flank the guy. “Call Denny. Clean up on aisle seven.”

“Wait, Crue,” I said. “Let’s put away the equipment in my soccer mom van while we keep an eye on him. I have his license plate number now. If he’s shadowing Al, he’ll follow us, or make a report. Either way, we can collect him later. Run the plate, J. Make sure an actual person owns it or we may have to collect him now.”

“On it.” Jafar ran over to his car, and in minutes jogged over to us. “His name’s Jordan Azi. I sent him on to Denny. Laredo’s with him at home base. They are working over the names associated with Yuri’s operation from Boko Haram, Soldiers of Allah, and a Pakistani based group, Jamaat al-Fuqra. Denny wanted to make sure we had pictures of all the players known to be associates. They’re running the Azi name now.”

“Good. Let’s load our gear, and wait for Denny. If Azi looks promising, you and Clint could tail him, Crue.”

“Oh, hell no, Dark Lord. I have a boat cruise scheduled this afternoon. I’ll ride with you and Al. Let ‘the man from nowhere’ tail Azi if we don’t snatch him right now.”

“Is that okay with you, Clint? I don’t want Crue to miss a neat torture session on my training cruise.”

Clint had been enjoying the whole thing. He nodded agreeably. “Consider it done. Do I observe only?”

“For now,” I replied, carting the team bags over to my newly acquired soccer mom van. “We’ve found out one piece of info here. Yuri’s having my family tailed. We all know where that will get him. Both Tommy and I will have to start taking extra precautions until we end this Yuri business.”

“The moment I heard about Kornev, and then met him, I’ve been taking a lot of extra precautions,” Tommy stated. “I hope the big bad you’re after comes in range by fight time. That Boko Haram bunch kidnaps and robs for a living. Ain’t that special our government thinks we should have some of our own Boko’s for diversity’s sake?”