Page 2 of Destined to Fight

No matter how hard she tried, Kelly couldn’t pull her gaze from the man. His red hair stood out under the lights of the plaza, and she would swear she could see the color of his eyes, gray as his suit. As she passed, he turned and entered the building and his driver pulled the car out so another could pull in to its place.

As the man disappeared, he took the tingling in her fingers with him. The trance she had been in faded and her mind returned to normal, bringing up so many questions with it. What were these people doing going into a business building in the middle of the night? Why did the sensation in her hands feel exactly like it had the day her mother slapped her? She’d never forget that day. But what did this have to do with it?

Curiosity brought Kelly back to the Star Plaza building almost daily over the next few weeks. During the day, it was business as usual. People came and went just like they did at any other building in the district. At night, it remained quiet with no occupants.

Finally, exactly a month after she’d first seen the man enter, the black SUV pulled up again as she jogged by around midnight. It wasn’t the same make or model, but it had the tinted windows and blank license plate. A red-haired man got out of this one without the help of his driver. Just as the man before him hadtrg87, this one locked eyes with her. His pull was not as strong, and the sensation in her hands was not nearly as noticeable, but she felt it all the same.

This man cocked his head at her as she passed. He pulled his phone from his pocket and seemed to dial without looking at it. She couldn’t hear what he said from across the street, but it felt like he was speaking of her. She slowed to a stop and played like she was tying her shoe, watching him as she undid the laces and retied them. He never took his eyes off her.

Not wanting to draw too much attention, she stood and carried on with her jog, the tingling in her fingertips dwindling as she put distance between herself and the building.

The next evening, Kelly read the local news on her laptop.

“Dallas Council Votes to Offer Assistance to the Homeless in Hopes of Cleaning Up Neighborhoods.”

The city council was not known for providing anything to those in need. The headline interested her, but the story proved to be a dead end. A close vote, blah blah, government grant, blah.

She continued her evening runs by the Star Plaza each night for the next few months. Every thirty days, she caught sight of the first man she’d seen entering the building. Her fingers would tingle, they’d lock eyes, and after a few awkward moments, he’d break eye contact and go inside as she jogged by.

Then, the following day, the city council would meet and make some decision that would improve the well-being of the people. They met twice weekly, and most meetings did not end in anything beneficial, except when it followed an evening when those people met in the Star Plaza.

Something was going on in that tower. Those people had an influence on the city, and a good one at that. She wanted to know more. She wanted to be a part of it.

Nothing about the building or the people made sense. Who drove cars with the lights off in the middle of the night? Who entered a dark building at midnight and left at 4 a.m.? And why? They were up to something and her gut told her to find out what it was at any cost. Her old bosses would have called her insane and, hell, maybe she was. Kelly couldn’t bring herself to care though, because she’d never needed answers to anything like she needed them now.

Suddenly the lights in the locker room went off, snapping Kelly out of her thoughts.

“Aww, come on!” she yelled, but nothing happened and no one responded. The lights in the locker rooms were motion-activated, and apparently, everyone else had left while she’d been lost inside her head. The dark didn’t bother her—it was just slightly inconvenient. Her vision was good enough in the dark after her eyes adjusted.

A sudden sense of urgency had Kelly washing her hair quickly and then scrubbing herself with a loofa and body wash. After rinsing off, she wrapped one towel around her body and put her hair up in another. A quick flick of her arm pulled the shower curtain aside, and suddenly the lights in the locker room came to life.

“Fuck!” She raised her free hand to block her eyes as they adjusted to the light. The drawback to her comfort in the dark was that her eyes were sometimes overly sensitive to light.

Kelly reached back into the shower stall and grabbed her soap, loofa, and shampoo and dried them all off with the corner of her towel as she went back to her locker and stowed them in her bag. She quickly put on the black leggings and black turtleneck. She never bothered with underwear or a bra because it cost money and was and more to wash at the laundromat. Besides, they were unnecessary. Kelly had been gifted with small breasts that didn’t require support and she thanked the powers that be almost daily for that. She brushed out her long brunette hair and put it back in a tight bun. Normally she was the ponytail type, but she needed her hair out of the way tonight.

Kelly put on her shoes and packed her bag. She threw the towels in the bin as she walked out of the locker room. No one was left in the gym now, and Dom was closing things down.

“Good night, Dom. Thanks.”

“No problem, Kel…” He stopped talking as she walked by and did a double take. “I thought you said you had plans tonight.”

“I do,” she said coolly.

“What, robbing a bank?” he joked.

“Wouldn’t you like to know. See you tomorrow, Dom,” she said as she continued to the door.

“Hey, Kelly.” He looked at her seriously and she stopped for a moment, “whatever you’re doing, please be careful.”

That made her laugh. “Oh Dom, you know me. I’m never good or careful.”

With that, she went out into the night. She unlocked her trusty Excursion and tossed her bag in the passenger seat before climbing in. The engine sputtered a bit before it came to life, just like it always had. Few things in life had never failed her, but this truck was one of them. She patted the dashboard as she put it in drive. “Let’s go, big girl.”

Bishop Briggs’s “White Flag” came on the radio as she pulled away. Just what she needed to pump her up for the evening’s excitement.

2

Kelly parked her Excursion in one of the free parking garages downtown. Usually, she would drive all the way to the top so she could watch the stars as she fell asleep, but tonight, she parked on the ground floor. There weren’t any other cars in the garage—never were at this time of night.

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