Broken Highway: A Thomas Highway Story (4 page)

“Does that worry you?” Willis said.

I just glared at him.

He smiled, clapped me on the shoulder. “I’m
just fucking with you, Highway. Lighten up, bro.”

“I’ll lighten up when this thing is
over.”

“Which it will be soon.”

“How do you know?”

“I’ve got a source inside the club,” Willis
said. “A chick I know named Savannah.”

I raised my brow in mock surprise. “You know
a stripper? Imagine that.”

“Yeah, hard to believe, isn’t it? Anyway,
she says he and his boys have pretty much hit the wall. He should
be coming out any minute.”

“He’s got some friends with him?”

“Did I forget to mention that?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Willis said in a tone
that suggested he was anything but. He was obviously enjoying
himself.

“How many?” I said.

“Just two.”

“Just?”

“Hey, it could be worse.”

“It could be better.”

“It could always be better,” Willis said.
“But unfortunately for you, this time it isn’t.”

I looked at him with a sideways glance. “I’m
starting to wonder if this back injury of yours is real,” I said.
“Or just some ploy to get me to do all the dirty work.”

“You know I wish I could handle this
myself,” Willis said.

“Yeah, yeah, I know. I’m just messing with
you,” I said. “So how should we play it? You want me to take him
while he’s still in the club?”

“I’d rather not do it with a crowd watching;
especially the one that’s bound to be in there. Too many unknown
variables to account for. Not to mention the bouncers.”

“That makes sense,” I said. “What did you
have in mind?”

“I figure you can go in and pick a fight
with them, and then when the whole lot of you get thrown out, I can
step in and offer a hand amidst the confusion.”

“I thought your back was hurting too bad to
mix it up?”

“I never said it was hurting. I said the
doctor told me not to stress it too much. But I’m sure I can offer
a little assistance if necessary.”

I was about to say it sounded like a decent
enough plan to me when Willis’s cell rang out in a short burst of
music, something with a country twang to it. He picked up the phone
and looked at the readout.

“That’s Savannah. I wonder what she
wants.”

“Well answer it already and find out,” I
said. “I can’t stand any more of that crap you call music.”

Willis smiled and pressed a button and
brought the phone up to his ear. “What’s up, baby?” A pause. “No
shit? All right. Thanks. I’ll settle up with you tomorrow.” He cut
off the connection and dropped the phone into the center
console.

“Settle up?” I said, my brows raised.

“You’re damn right,” Willis replied. “I’ll
settle her up and nice and good.”

I laughed and shook my head. Typical Willis.
“So what did she have to say?”

“That Pedroza is on his way out the front
door.”

“Right now?”

“As we speak.”

My adrenalin spiked. “Should we make a move
now? Or follow him and see where he goes.”

“I say we take him right here,” Willis said.
“Who knows where he’ll end up.” Willis looked around. The parking
lot was empty. “And we’re clear, so we should be able to get it
done without any interference.”

“Then let’s do it,” I said. “You got your
cuffs on you?”

“I got zipties in my pocket, ready to go.”
Willis said. “But we have to come up with a plan quickly. Here they
come.”

I turned my attention to the club, where the
three men were stumbling out. They walked in a line; Pedroza in the
middle and his two buddies flanking him. They were all about the
same size, which made them about 2 inches taller and 20 pounds
heavier than me. All were moving erratically and talking loudly. It
was obvious they were wasted. Which went a long way towards evening
the odds.

“We’ll keep it simple,” I said. “I’ll keep
them distracted while you sneak around behind them for the
endgame.”

“You don’t want to approach them
together?”

“Hell no,” I said. “If these guys see two
men coming—especially if one is you—chances are they’ll just make a
run for it. And I don’t feel like chasing anyone down.”

“But if you go by yourself—”

“I should be able to get up on them before
they know what hit them,” I said. “And even if not, it’s not like
they’re going to see me as a threat. They’ll probably be chomping
at the bit to kick my ass.”

“You can justify it however you want,”
Willis said. “But I know you, Highway. You want to have all the fun
to yourself.”

With a straight face, I said, “Well, we
wouldn’t want to place any undue stress on your back, would
we?”

Willis laughed, shook his head. “All right,”
he said. “Have it your way. But don’t get too cocky. Even wasted,
those three are some formidable foes.”

“Don’t worry about me,” I said. “I’m a SEAL,
remember? I eat guys like this for lunch, or breakfast in this
case.” And with that, I stepped out of the car and started walking
directly towards them.

Pedroza and his crew saw me heading in their
direction and immediately stopped their chatter and turned their
eyes towards me as though they could sense the danger I
represented. So it appeared that sneaking up on them wasn’t going
to be an option. Oh well, I guess I was going to have to do things
the hard way. Fine by me.

We continued moving steadily but unhurriedly
towards each other, my mouth affixed in an subconscious smile, my
mind planning out the first couple moves in advance.

I was thirty feet away and closing when
Pedroza whispered something to his friends, who both nodded. All
three men stopped. Pedroza was standing half a step back from his
friends.

“And who the fuck are you supposed to be?”
Pedroza said.

I didn’t answer. Nor did I slow down. I just
kept on moving towards the three of them like an unstoppable engine
of destruction. I was within fifteen feet of them now.

“Oh, so it’s gonna be like that,” Pedroza
said.

I nodded, my smile growing wider. I’d
forgotten how much I enjoyed stuff like this. My body was singing
in anticipation, begging for action, longing for the dance to
begin. The hundreds upon hundreds of hours spent training for
battle had conditioned me to feel no fear, consider no doubt. I was
completely focused on the task at hand. I was in the zone.

“Fucking come and try it,” the blonde-haired
guy on Pedroza’s right said. He clenched his fists and stepped
forward to meet me, his arm already in motion.

Without breaking stride, I slid gently to my
left, easily avoiding Blondie’s wild swing. Before he could regain
his balance I cracked him with an overhand left to the jaw followed
immediately by a right elbow to the back of his head. As Blondie’s
upper body leaned forward from the blows I grabbed the back of his
neck in a Muy Thai clench and pulled his head down with both my
hands and blasted my knee up into his face, breaking his nose and
sending him to the ground in a heap, unconscious.

I was turning back towards the other two
before Blondie had even hit the ground. Pedroza’s other friend—a
tattooed bald dude—was nearly upon me and moving quickly, his arms
spread as though he was going to tackle me to the ground, leaving
his chest wide open. Stupid.

I finished my turn, and using my back
shoulder as a counterweight, took one step forward and hit him with
an open-palm strike to the center of his chest.

The blow cracked Baldie’s sternum and
stopped him dead in his tracks. I kicked him on the outside of the
knee, buckling him, sending him down to one knee, then onto the
ground. Both hands were over his chest and he was wheezing like a
deflated bagpipe.

I could sense Pedroza nearby, and turned
just as he was throwing a right-hand at my face. I shifted my
weight to better absorb the blow and turned my head. Instead of
connecting solidly, Pedroza’s blow glanced off the side of my head.
Juiced on adrenalin, I barely even felt the blow at all.

Pedroza followed his first punch with an
overhand left, but I was ready for it. I stepped in towards him,
and turned my body into the blow, rendering it essentially
harmless.

Pedroza backed off quickly, perhaps sensing
he was outmatched. For a moment, I thought he was going to run.
Then his eyes narrowed and his nostrils flared and it was obvious
he wasn’t going anywhere. He spread his feet out to shoulder length
and raised his hands in a classical boxer’s stance.

“You should have followed your first
instinct and started running,” I said.

“Run from a douchebag like you?” he said.
“Not a chance. I’m gonna fuck you up, bro.”

“You think so, huh?”

“Better believe it, bitch.”

“Then let’s see what you got,” I said,
squaring up with him, mimicking his stance, making him think this
was going to be a boxing match. A fair fight.

He quickly learned there was no such thing,
not in the real world.

Shortly after we squared up I took a
half-step to my right, as though I was going to start circling, a
classic boxing strategy. As Pedroza shifted his lead foot to stay
with me, I lashed out with my trailing foot, striking him squarely
in the groin. Pedroza let out a tortured groan and fell to his
knees. He started rocking back and forth, his hands covering his
crotch, his face red from exertion, his eyes bugging.

He was just about to fall face-first to the
cement when Willis grabbed him from behind. Willis yanked Pedroza
to his feet and started marching him towards the Blazer. Pedroza
was in too much pain to fight back. He just shuffled along, moaning
the whole time.

“Thanks for leaving me
something
to
do,” Willis said as we made our way back to the Blazer.

“What can I say? Things got a little out of
hand.”

“Are you sure you didn’t have it planned
that way the whole time?”

“Well, you did say you couldn’t put any
stress on your back, so I figured I’d just take care of it
myself.”

Willis laughed. “You’re a piece of work, my
friend. A real piece of work.” He stuffed Pedroza into the back
seat and closed the door.

“So,” I said. “Until next time?”

“Is there going to be a next time? I thought
you didn’t want my charity.”

“Yeah, well maybe I was being a little too
rash. This was kinda fun.”

“I thought you’d like it,” Willis said.
“It’ll be good to have you on board. The way we’re growing, I could
definitely use the help.”

“Then count me in,” I said.

“Cool,” Willis said.

“So that’s it?”

“Almost,” Willis said. “Just one more thing
and then we’re done.”

“What now?” I asked, pretending to be
annoyed.

“Come with me to drop him off.”

“What for?”

“So you can meet the lawyer. She’ll want to
see the man that brought the mighty Pedroza in for her.”

I waved him off. “Nah, man. You can take the
credit. Maybe she’ll be so grateful you can get a little action out
of it.”

“I told you before,” Willis said. “It wasn’t
about that. She’s not my kind of girl. But you, on the other hand,
you could use a girl like her.”

Something about the way he said it was
strange. And then I saw how he was looking at me. Grinning like the
Cheshire Cat and with mischief in his eyes. And then I got it.

I scoffed and shook my head. “That’s what
this was all about? This whole thing was just a ploy to set me up
with the lawyer?”

Willis shrugged. “I had to try something. I
couldn’t just stand by and let you rot in that basement forever.
You needed to get your life back, bro.”

“So I take it your back isn’t even bothering
you?”

“Not a bit.”

I laughed. Un-freaking-believable. But I
still didn’t understand one thing. “If you were trying to set me up
with the lawyer, then what was last night about?”

“That was just for fun,” Willis said. “A one
night thing to break your funk, get you back in the saddle.”

“And Amber?”

“She knew the score going in,” Willis said.
“She’s cool with it. She knows you couldn’t handle a girl like her
for long. It’s not your style. But this lawyer, she’s right down
your alley. I got a good feeling about this one, Highway. I think
you two will hit it off.”

I thought about it for a moment. Willis
always did have a sixth sense when it came to women. Maybe it was
time to see if it worked for others too. “You said she was hot,
right?”

“Smokin.”

“What the hell,” I said, feeling optimistic
for the first time in as long as I could remember. “Why not give it
a shot? What’s the worst that could happen?”

“You could fall in love and get
married.”

“Only in your world is that a bad thing,
Willis.”

“Yeah, I am kind of strange like that,”
Willis said, clapping me on the back. He went around the front of
the car to the driver’s side.

“So what’s this lawyer’s name?” I asked over
the hood as we climbed into the car.

“Josephine,” Willis said. “But she told me
to call her Josie.”

###

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Brian Springer has been writing for ten
years, most of which were spent managing a large brick and mortar
chain bookstore in between stints as a financial planner and
playing in the Spanish Professional Baseball League. He holds a
Masters in Business Administration from the University of San Diego
and currently lives in Temecula, California with his wife Kimberley
and their two children.

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