“Where can I find Derek Uhlig?”
“Man, Uhlig is above my pay grade, but did you check at the place where they hold the fights? I hear they train the Knockout Boy out there.” Moses was busy trying to use his hands to block all the parts of his face I might punch, and his jerking movements irritated me so much I slapped him hard upside the head. He blinked at me with wide, drug-glazed brown eyes.
“Where? And you better have a real address, or I’ll come back here and shoot you and make it look like one of the Demons fucking did it. Everyone would believe that.”
He whimpered, and one of his buddies, who was either too loyal or stupid to flee, flashed me the address on his phone. I copied the address into mine and took off. I didn’t even go back to kick the shit out of Moses when he tossed a beer can at my truck.
The building where Uhlig held fights on the outskirts of New Gothenburg was clearly not used for much else. The upper portion looked like it was a new addition stacked on top of an old skating rink. I considered finding Janus and killing him this time, but as I pulled my truck into a parking spot near the front of the building, I spotted what appeared to be a security guard near a small side door. He was big and bulky with a shaved head that seemed like it was starting to get red from a sunburn.
“Hey,” I said as I got out of my truck. My door didn’t close when I shoved it, but I didn’t stop, simply strode over to him.
“Who are you?” he asked, a snarl showing me his caved-in front teeth. He’d obviously taken a punch or ten.
“Someone who wants to see Uhlig.”
“You can’t just come out here and—”
I bolted forward and sank my fist into his face. He got in a jab to my gut that hurt, but I kept going and hammered him to the ground. The frustration from seeing Ari hurt poured out of me, and all the tension bubbling in me from the effort it had taken to hold back from simply fucking and taking what was mine, what I wanted—my killer—came to a head. I beat the man until his face was bloody and kept going until it was unrecognizable. Teeth littered the ground around him. My knuckles were cut and bleeding and I didn’t give a shit. Eventually he stopped moving, and I dragged him along with me up a small incline to the front. This entrance was nice, with glass doors that were probably meant for the spectators. I checked inside and didn’t see anyone, though I knew there were probably more men skulking around. Someone like Uhlig didn’t stay on top by being stupid.
Inside, grunts and thuds echoed, and I dragged the man toward them, then finally bent and hefted the bleeding lump of flesh over my shoulder. I passed through two open double doors and went down a sloping aisle toward a roped-in ring. Black metal was stacked around, maybe pieces of a fight cage waiting to be assembled. Two men were on ladders securing a massive flat-screen TV to the far wall. Uhlig stood like a man without a care in the world, arms leaned casually on the top rope of the ring while he watched a dark-haired, whip-thin boy, who was all muscle, hammering at a big man covered in body armor.
“Light on your feet,” Uhlig called over.
“Fuck you!” the boy snapped, pounding the poor dummy harder with his wrapped fists.
I cleared my throat, and Uhlig turned toward me. I dumped the man on the floor and crossed my arms.
Uhlig grimaced and glanced around as if he was looking for someone—maybe his men were fucking off and I’d surprised him. Interesting. “Ah, Officer Rogers. I didn’t call you yet.”
The kid in the ring stopped to cackle and point as he raced over to the ropes. “Oh, you whomped Lars. He’s not very good. I told you he wasn’t any good, Derek.” He grinned as he stared at my handiwork, and I decided that even if I killed everyone else, he could live. “Christ, you smashed his face in.” He gave me an impressed nod.
I took a step closer to Uhlig. The scent of blood and sweat swirled in my nose and sent my adrenaline soaring. “If anyone comes near Ari outside of a fair fight again, I’ll do worse than this.” I pointed at the man on the floor.
Uhlig studied his wounded guard with a snarl on his lips and let out a thinking sound. “You’re Ari’s manager?”
“Yes, I guess.”
“I could use him next week.” There was a malicious gleam in Uhlig’s eyes when he glanced at me.
“You’ll have to wait. His back needs time to heal, one month at least.”
“You’re messy. Fuck.” He stomped his foot. “We’ll be in touch. Don’t fuck up any more of my men. They’re not easy to replace, you know.”
The boy in the ring snickered.
“Don’t touch Ari again!” I yelled, so loud my throat hurt. My chest rose and fell too fast.
Uhlig turned toward me and leaned his elbows on the ropes. “It would be terrible if something happened to an officer of the law.”
“Yeah, and it would be awful if someone slit your throat in your sleep. You have a cute cottage on Angel Perch Drive. You can see right over the lake along those bluffs, can’t you?”
He threw his head back and laughed, his straight white teeth gleaming. “We’re even. If any more blood is shed outside of the ring, I will take it as an act of war, and I don’t fight fair.”
“Got it.” I stepped on the man rather than over him as I left, and Uhlig’s laughter followed me out the door. Back at my truck I used a first aid kit I kept in there to clean up my knuckles.
On the way home I stopped and picked up Thai food from a restaurant near my house because I was in the mood for it. Ari was napping on the couch as I came in the door, exactly where I’d left him with a blanket tossed over him. I went out to the kitchen and got a new cold compress, and he barely grunted when I put it on his back, though he did turn to look at me.
“I missed you. Where did you go?”
