Foreign and Domestic: A Get Reacher Novel (13 page)

The second big guy didn’t skip a beat. He came in at Cameron with a right jab. Cameron danced back and felt the wind from it rush by his chest.

He grabbed a wooden chair that was left from the thrown table and twisted at the waist and slammed it into the guy’s exposed lower ribcage. He looked like an Olympic discus thrower except far less graceful. Cameron wasn’t a graceful fighter. Far from it.

If he had taken a moment to look at the expression on Li’s face, he would’ve seen that she was watching him in utter horror.

The chair had shattered and splintered and broken across the guy’s ribs. Cameron heard the mixture of breaking wood and bone. He had broken more than a few ribs. No question. He knew it, and the guy definitely knew it because he fell over on top of his friend, just landed on the guy. Now there was a heap of maybe three hundred pounds of disabled football players piled on top each other like they’d been tackled in the middle of a game.

Chad said, “What the hell? Bro! Those’re my friends!”

Cameron moved toward him, slowly.

Fear came across Chad’s face—that was obvious—but he didn’t back away like Cameron had expected him to. The other guy, however, looked at his two friends on the floor and let go of Li.

She jerked away and ran to the bar.

Cameron glanced over at her quickly then saw the rest of the patrons staring at him. The bartender was on the phone. Probably calling the police.

Cameron looked back at the last two guys.

He said, “Come on,
Chad
. What’re you waiting for?”

Chad said, “Come on man. We were only messing with her.”

“She’s not yours to mess with.”

“We get it, man. She’s yours.”

“She’s not
mine,
either, Chad. She’s a person. She belongs to herself.”

The short guy with the sleeve tattoo started to crowd in a little too close for Cameron’s comfort. Cameron kept his eye on his position.

Cameron said, “Chad, I made you a promise.”

Then Cameron exploded into action a second time. He charged at the short guy. The guy jabbed with his left, which surprised Cameron a bit because he thought the guy was right-handed. It was a mistake on Cameron’s part, and the jab hit home right in his midsection. It hurt for an instant, but he had been hit before. His mind overrode his pain, and he whipped forward. Powered from the ground up. Toes to his knees. Then he snapped forward from the waist and hit the guy square in the face with a monumental head-butt. Not the hardest he’d ever delivered—he didn’t want to kill the guy—but powerful.

There were two outcomes.

One. The guy’s nose broke. Cameron heard it. Chad heard it.

Two. The guy flew backward off of his feet, straight into the jukebox which wasn’t as sturdy as the manufacturer had intended. The guy’s mass broke through the glass center, and he landed in it. He remained stuck there, grabbing his broken nose. He didn’t scream like the big guy with the broken ribs. No, this guy wailed. But his cries were drowned out because the one thing the manufacturer did do right was make a jukebox that would still play music even after a broken football player was flung through it.

And right there. Right then. Cameron saw something he had never seen before.

Chad Cooper, the starting quarterback of a college football team, started crying. Like a baby. Tears rolled out of his eyes and down his face. His cheeks turned red, and his eyes glassed up.

All his life, Cameron had gotten into fights defending the helpless, and in that time, he had seen all kinds of people from bullies to international criminals. But none of them had cried like this. Not a single one.

Chad started begging. He said, “I’m sorry.” Over and over.

Cameron approached, and Chad backed away and continued to plead.

Cameron said, “Are you sorry?”

Chad said, “Yeah, bro. I’m so sorry.”

Cameron stayed quiet. Thought about what to do next.

The guy was an idiot, but he wasn’t a murderer. A cheat, maybe. Perhaps a liar. But nothing that really deserved broken bones. Plus, he had backed down.

Cameron grabbed him by his collar. Fast. Chad didn’t expect it and started shaking violently.

“Ah, man. Come on, bro. Please don’t break off my fingers.”

“Relax,” Cameron said and he half-dragged the guy across the bar, through the pile of his friends, and over to Li.

He said, “Tell her.”

“Tell…tell her what, bro?”

“Tell
her
you’re sorry! Not me!”

“I’m…sorry.”

“Now tell her that you’re nothing but a piece of shit.”

“I’m a piece of shit!”

Cameron pulled him back from Li and spun him around and said, “You’re going to pay our tab. As a gesture of how remorseful you feel about what you did.”

Chad nodded like he had never agreed with anything else more in his life, and the bartender acknowledged it with a nod.

Cameron said, “And one more thing.”

“Wh-what? Anything. You name it, and I’ll do it.”

“Put your throwing hand across the bar.”

“What? Why?”

“Do it. Lay it nice and flat.”

Chad shook even more than before, but he did as he was told.

Cameron clenched his fist like a hammer and pulled it up over Chad’s fingers.

Chad started to squirm. He shut his eyes tight.

Cameron hovered his fist over Chad’s like he was going to hammer down and break it.

He did it once. Twice.

Li shook her head and mouthed, “Please don’t.”

Then Cameron backed away from the bar and kicked the guy square in the groin. Not full force and not too hard, but hard enough to make his point.

Chad dropped to the dirty floor, holding his groin with both hands.

Cameron looked at the bartender and said, “He’ll pay our tab.”

He took Li by the hand, and they walked past the other patrons and out into the night.

Sirens wailed behind them.

Chapter 18

CAMERON AND LI WALKED BACK TO HER CAR,
and Cameron put her in the passenger seat and dumped himself down in the driver seat. He moved it all the way back, looked over at her, and asked for the keys, which she gladly handed over.

Li asked, “Where are we going?”

“Where do you live?”

“Hey. I’m not going to be that easy.”

“I can bring you home and take a cab back to the hotel. That’s what I was thinking.”

She paused a beat and thought about it. It was a logical suggestion.

Cameron said, “You can’t drive. Not tonight. So unless you want to stay in my room, then this is the best way to go.”

Li nodded and said, “Hang on.”

She dug in her purse and pulled out her cell phone. She messed with the apps on it and then showed him the screen.

“Just go here. Follow the directions.”

She had pulled up Google Maps, and it now displayed directions to her apartment.

Then Li said, “Okay. Safety belt.”

Cameron put on his seatbelt, and she put on hers. He put the keys in the ignition and fired up the car and they were off. He held the phone one-handed while he drove and glanced at it occasionally. He’d never used Google Maps while driving before but found it pretty useful.

It led Cameron and Li back to her apartment, which was about thirty minutes to drive to. And that was with light traffic.

Cameron turned onto her street, New Mexico NW Avenue, and drove a little way until he found the parking for her units. He parked on the street and got out, walked around the hood to open her door, but Li was already getting out by the time he got to her.

Li said, “Were you going to open my door for me?”

Cameron nodded.

Li said, “That’s nice. You’re a good guy. Now I really feel like shit for being such a jerk earlier.”

Cameron said, “Don’t worry about it. Understandable. It’s your career. Sorry I interfered with your plans.”

Cameron took her arm to help her walk, not that she really needed it, but that was Cameron’s way. He was, after all, from the South and had been raised by a single mother, and that meant he was always a gentleman, except when fighting. Just the way it was. They walked up a narrow stone pathway and past a matching stone sign that read
Sutton Towers
.

They didn’t speak until they reached the lobby, and Cameron went in with her. She walked with him to the elevators and pressed the button.

She said, “You can come up. You don’t need to leave just yet. It’s only—” Li took her cell phone out of her pocket and looked at the screen. She read the time on the screen.

Cameron said, “10:35.”

“Yeah. How’d you know that?”

“I don’t know. It’s like a habit. Sometimes, I just know the time.”

Li asked, “Do you want to come in?”

Cameron said, “Is the Pope Catholic?”

And he immediately felt stupid after saying it. It was not only the worst line he had ever used, but it was the dumbest thing he’d ever heard come out of his mouth.

Li didn’t seem to mind. She smiled and took her keys out of her purse and held them in her hand.

Cameron smiled wide because this was a good sign to him. In his experience, whenever a woman took her keys out before she needed them, it meant she was ready to go. Sometimes that could be a bad thing like if you were on a date with a girl and she did that, but not in this case. Not when they were waiting for the elevator to go up to her apartment. To Cameron, that meant she was just as excited and nervous as he was.

The elevator came, and they got on. Li pressed the fourth-floor button and stood close to Cameron as they rode up. At Li’s door, she got it open, and they went inside.

Li’s apartment was a small studio, maybe six hundred square feet. But it had updated flooring, and the kitchen was particularly nice. Granite countertops in a light color. A deep stainless steel, farmer’s sink was installed in the center of the north counter. The cabinets were painted black. The appliances were all stainless steel and matched like they were bought as a set. A big double-door fridge with a pull out freezer drawer on the bottom rested neatly in the wall. The only thing that was lacking was the lighting. Li flipped a switch, and the lights blazed on. They hung down from the ceiling on long wires just above a bar that seated three. And those seemed to be the only lights in the room besides some lamps near the sofa. No light fixture on the ceilings.

The sofa was right in front of the bed, which was made up, something that Cameron had stopped doing in the last six months. It made no sense to make the beds in the motels he slept in.
What was the point in that?

He pictured Jack still making his. Military life had probably instilled that in him, but Cameron hadn’t had that life. Not the same. At least not in every way.

Cameron said, “Nice flat.”

And then he wondered why he’d called it a flat.

Apparently, so did Li because she said, “Flat?”

Cameron said, “Yeah. That’s what they’re called.”

“What is this, London?”

Cameron stayed quiet, and Li stared at him.

She said, “Never mind. Stupid joke.”

She laid her purse down on the bar top and then kicked her shoes off against the wall. She turned and slipped her coat off, hung it up in a small closet near the front door.

She asked, “Want some wine?”

Cameron wasn’t big on wine, but he didn’t think that the setting allowed for him to turn it down even though he really wanted coffee. Coffee versus a beautiful woman. This was a serious dilemma, but in the end, the woman won.

Cameron said, “Sure.”

“Take your shoes off. Just leave them near mine.”

Cameron did as she asked.

Li walked to the cabinets near the fridge and opened them and pulled out two big red wine glasses. She bent down out of Cameron’s sightline and came up with a bottle of wine. Cameron didn’t recognize the brand, but then again, he wouldn’t have recognized any brand. It looked expensive.

Li poured two glasses, pretty full, and stood near him. She placed his down on the bar top.

She said, “Can I ask you a question?”

Cameron nodded.

“Why’re you looking for Jack Reacher?”

Cameron stayed quiet.

She said, “I mean, the guy abandoned you. So why look for him?”

Cameron said, “It’s not like that. He never knew about me.”

“Yeah, but if he had, what makes you think it woulda made any difference?”

Cameron said, “Guess I don’t think about it like that. You can’t live your life based on what might’ve happened. I just have to find him. That’s all.”

“Why? Are you hoping to make up for lost time or something? You think this guy will just embrace you and all will be good?”