Page 28 of Gunpowder

“Must be a lucrative business, having a fighting ring down here,” Spencer said, taking the silver gun out from under his blazer. He placed it in the plastic bin, along with the knife from his boot.

Blair’s skin crawled at the prospect of being unarmed in Phantom territory but if Spencer was going along with it, it must be okay. He laid the Beretta in the bin. As an afterthought, he took the butterfly knife out of his cargo pants that was hardly sharp enough to count as a weapon anymore, but he tossed it in there all the same.

“You too, big guy. Take all the weapons out,” the man said, unimpressed by Felix’s glowering.

Felix’s shoulders sank and he took the MAC-10 out of one of his inside coat pockets, then the magazine from the other side. He dropped them on top of Spencer and Blair’s weapons with a scowl.

The bouncer raised an eyebrow. “I know you’ve got more than that. Give ‘em up, buddy.”

The lines of Felix’s frown deepened into pure hatred as he pulled the Glock 18 off his back and threw it into the bin. Blair wasn’t sure that the boss was going to leave without putting a few rounds in the man responsible for taking his guns away, however temporary it was.

“All of them.”

Felix took a hunting knife out of the holster on his thigh, a switchblade from his coat’s outer pocket and, after suffering an expectant look from the bouncer, both the fixed blade knives from each of his boots. He turned his empty pockets out with a petulant look that the bouncer met with a smile.

“There we go. He’s between fights right now, who wants him?”

Felix shrugged out of his coat and held it out to Spencer. “He’s mine.”

The crowd parted for the bouncer as he led them to the center of the room. There was a chain link cage about the size of a boxing ring, and the people closest to it began to murmur in anticipation as a new fighter approached. Felix stopped at the gate and pulled his white t-shirt over his head. It was already damp with sweat, thanks to the basement lacking air conditioning and being packed with people. Spencer folded it over his arm with Felix’s coat.

“Kick his ass for Adam,” Blair said.

Felix flashed him a crooked smile as he wrenched the gate open. “You ain’t gotta tell me that.”

He stepped under the lights, murmurs rippling through the crowd. Their hushed voices were no more than a buzz against the music and the much louder thrum of bets being placed. Curses were being thrown at the new contender for the house fighter, but it all began to blend into the same hushed realization as the whispers spread through the room.

Ace, already in the cage and covered in a sheen of sweat and blood, squared off with his fists up. Blair seethed in silence; this was their guy. His jaw clenched when Felix stood across from him with his fingers hooked in the belt loops of his jeans, relaxed as could be. “Come on, red, let’s go,” Ace said.

Felix didn’t move. “Do you know who I am?”

“You’re my opponent. Let’s go, I don’t have all night.”

“Adam Winters of Incindious.”

Their words probably weren’t legible to the crowd, but Blair could hear them from where he stood right up against the chain link barrier with Spencer. The spotlights left no question to the malice in Ace’s smile.

“What, were you one of his boys? Did I off your dealer?” Ace taunted, bouncing on his heels with renewed vigor.

Felix huffed out a laugh. “You really must be at the bottom of the food chain for them to have not told you who I am.”

Blair swallowed. He wasn’t buying the calm facade for a minute. Felix was ready to explode and raze everything around him.

Word had spread far enough through the crowd that they seemed to know who was standing up there even if Ace didn’t, and though their impatience for the fight to start was becoming palpable, there seemed to be a collective decision not to voice their complaints too loudly. Blair’s shirt clung to his back as he watched Ace run his mouth, driving nail after nail into his own coffin. It wasn’t like when Wren took an attitude with the boss. Wren had been needed, and he hadn’t been gloating about mowing down a member of Incindious like it was yard work. But the guy in that cage was dancing on every one of Felix’s buttons.

“I guess you’re in Incindious, huh?” Ace said, taking a long step forward to get in Felix’s face.

“Am I in Incindious?” Felix chuckled, and it soon escalated to a deep laugh that landed just on the other side of unhinged. “You dumb bastard.”

Felix’s boot flew off the ground and drove into Ace’s abdomen, dead center between his ribs. Saliva flew out of the boy’s mouth as he staggered backward. He leaned forward to desperately suck in the air that had just been knocked out of him. A poor choice, as Felix took one step forward to thrust his knee under Ace’s jaw, and Blair heard a sickening crack.

Ace staggered up to his feet, just in time to catch a left hook to the face. He was still reeling when Felix threw an uppercut under Ace’s jaw, knocking the smaller man onto his ass. Ace groaned as he clamored to his feet.

“Don’t worry, Adam lived,” Felix said, sweeping Ace with a foot behind his ankle before he could regain his balance. “And you’re gonna live, too.”

The hair on the back of Blair’s neck stood on end. Spencer was rigid next to him; hell, he had probably sensed the dark turn of Felix’s intentions long before Blair did. Ace had been down long enough for the match to be called but no one was daring to intervene.

Spencer leaned over to say into Blair’s ear, “We have company.”

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