I was going to do it anyway. I had to. A man's not a man if he isn't willing to stand up and fight when it counts. And as far as I was concerned, this counted a whole d.a.m.n lot. Even losing was preferable to bowing out. I was going to leave this ring as Killer Kellan, not Kellan the Coward. I'd never backed down from a fight in all my life, and I wasn't about to start now.

I forsook my robe and threw open the door to the long hall that would take me to the ring. I was taped up and ready to go, still a little sore from all the beatings I'd taken lately, but driven just the same. Sometimes, determination was enough to make the difference. Sometimes, if you just wanted it more than the other guy, that went a long d.a.m.n way.

I didn't know if that was true for me and Tutera, but it was all I had. That, and a girl worth putting up a fight for.

I was immediately overwhelmed by the crowd. I'd seen their numbers in pa.s.sing earlier, but now they were on all sides of me, screaming, roaring, a sea of dark faces amid the lightning strikes of camera flashes. I tried to ignore them, tried to focus only on getting onto the mat, but their collective cries shook my bones. This was unreal. I felt like I didn't belong.

As soon as I'd made it past the ropes, I stared right into Johnny Tutera's eyes. This kid was all muscle, and although he was a few inches shorter than me, he more than made up for it in bulk. Johnny was the full package-both quick, and a brick house. He could take a hit like n.o.body I'd ever seen, and he could dish it out just as hard, if not harder.

He was the kind of fighter I'd expect if Muhammad Ali and Ronda Rousey had a baby. I was good, but I wasn't good enough to take a Rousey-Ali mashup.

I stalked over to him after giving a rea.s.suring nod to the ref. And I held out my hand. "Honor to fight you, man. You're one of the best."

Tutera gripped my palm. "Thanks, man. Can't say I've ever heard of you, though."

"Slummin' it, huh?" I said, letting go.

"Just gettin' a taste of the other side," Tutera replied. Then he sniffed conspicuously and touched the side of his nose. "Startin' to get a taste for it, if you know what I mean."

Great. So Tutera was hopped up on c.o.ke, on top of everything else. He was a maniac sober. I could only imagine what he was like amped up. This was going to go badly for me. I just knew it.

At least it's not one of Vic's crazy death matches, I thought.

The ref came over to let me know it was time to start, and I backed away from Tutera and into my own corner. I did a quick scan of the crowd, but with so many faces, it was near impossible to make out Parker's. I tried looking for her goody two-shoes getup with those s.e.xy librarian gla.s.ses of hers, but I couldn't find those, either. I didn't have more than a few seconds to spare, though. Maybe she was just too far back for me to see her.

Tutera and I came to the center of the mat to hear out the rules. They were the same every time; I knew them by heart. I focused my attention on Tutera instead, on the wild look in his eyes-the controlled chaos brewing in his gaze.

Be cool, Kellan. Be cool. I took a deep breath through my nose and looked to the ref for permission to start.

And just like that, Tutera was on me.

I'd barely managed to get my hands up before I was blocking multiple blows. Tutera came in fast and hard, wasting no time in probing for a weak spot. I kept my hands up and danced backward, leading him around the ring. The strikes I couldn't dodge hurt, but Tutera was being impulsive. It must've been the cocaine, or maybe his ego. Either way, maybe that was something I could use to my advantage once he got tired.

If he got tired. c.o.ked up the way he was, I wasn't sure he would.

As I pivoted to try to get in a body blow, Tutera raised up and hit me right in the side of the head. I knew the crowd was cheering, but I was momentarily deafened by the force of his fist. I stumbled to the side and Tutera kicked me hard in the thigh, sending me down to the mat. I rolled just in time to avoid a stomp that would've cracked my ribs, and was back up on my feet within seconds, though my hearing was still fuzzy.

My heart hammered in my chest. f.u.c.k, that was close.

I didn't give Tutera the opportunity to get the drop on me again. I went after him this time, swinging for his face, backing him up toward the ropes. I got him once in the cheek, but at the expense of taking a knee to the stomach. I guarded just before the blow and was able to keep most of the air in my lungs, but I still had to back up and give up ground to Tutera, who seemed only too thrilled to take it from me again.

As I tried to push him back, he raised his knee again and I dropped a hand to block him, but that was a mistake-he was only feinting. I knew the second my palm made contact with his thigh. There was no force behind it. The punch that came hurtling at my face, however...

I took one hard in the jaw, my teeth clanging together painfully. Before I could even raise my hand again, Tutera had hit me with a left hook that sent me reeling, then a right cross that nearly knocked me off my feet. I put both my hands up again, but Tutera was a demon, forcing me back so fast I almost tripped over my own feet. I ducked a particularly powerful swing, only to end up meeting his knee again, this time straight in the chest.

f.u.c.k. Instinctively, I doubled over. It felt like he'd cracked my sternum with that one. It was a stupid move, but sometimes your body betrays you. It wants to curl in on itself, to protect you from any more pain. Your body doesn't know the rules of MMA or professional fighting. It just knows it doesn't want to get killed.

Folding forward put me almost eye-level with Tutera, and he smashed me right on the bridge of my nose with a head-b.u.t.t. Stars exploded in front of my eyes in all the colors of the rainbow and I toppled back against the ropes, sinking to the ground.

f.u.c.k!

Nose injuries were weird. I could feel the blood coursing down my face, knew the wound was swelling, but it didn't really hurt. It just felt like nothing was holding my face together anymore. It was disorienting as h.e.l.l.

The ref got between us before Tutera could go in for the kill. "Let him up! He's gotta get that bleeding stopped! Folks want their money's worth tonight."

Smart money was on Tutera, I guessed. He backed off and the ref helped me to my feet, then over to my corner so I could get patched up enough to keep fighting. I couldn't see it, but I knew my face was a mess. I could feel how bad the swelling was; the inside corners of my eyes even felt tight. I felt like a Mack truck had hit me. I could barely even hear what the ringside medic was asking me.

"You good?" he said again, much louder than before. I looked up at him dumbly, but nodded. He shined a small flashlight in both my eyes, hesitated, then turned to the ref and nodded. Holding onto the ropes, I stood up.

Somebody rang the bell, and as a ring girl strutted around holding up the card for the second round, I scanned the crowd again for Parker's pretty face. I had more than a few seconds now, but no matter how hard I strained, I still couldn't find her. My heart sank as realization dawned on me. She wasn't here.

Where the h.e.l.l is she? I wondered. Suddenly, I felt very alone-like I had no one in my corner at all.

~ Twenty ~

Parker

c.r.a.p. I was running so late.

The senator had shown up to our meeting at Cafe Franz a whole twenty minutes after I did. He took his sweet time ordering, too, letting me know that he had all the power here. I did my best not to look like I was watching the clock, but I couldn't help it. Kellan was out there suffering through the last fight of his career, and I wasn't there to cheer him on like I'd promised.

I couldn't show Senator MacFarlane my cards, though. Not with so much on the line. So I sipped my wine and ground my teeth and waited for the right moment to sink my teeth into his throat-so to speak.

Once our food arrived and the senator was too busy cutting his steak to interrupt me with small talk, I sprang it on him. "I want to talk about the bill, Senator. That's what we're here for, and I'm not about to waste any more of my time. Not when there's so much on the line for our veterans."

Senator MacFarlane smirked as if that amused him, but didn't look up from his dinner. "By all means, continue."

I didn't even bother with my food, just leaned across the table. "You know as well as I do what this bill is about. It's about giving back to the men and women who have given us so much. They're coming back from serving our country, only to find there's no place for them in it anymore. Giving them job preference is the least we can do. So why haven't you agreed to support it?"

The senator chewed a bite of his steak before answering, savoring every pink morsel. He rolled his eyes skyward. "Well, let me answer your question with a question, Ms. Jones: do you believe in capitalism?"

"Are you asking if I'm a communist, Senator?" I answered, and he smiled.

"If you believe in capitalism, you'll understand my reservations," he continued. "Employers in this country are always looking for ways to lower expenses, and of course, we hope they'll pa.s.s those on to us, their consumers. It's much more economically sound to employ a college graduate or h.e.l.l, even a high school dropout who'll take the job for eight dollars an hour rather than ten or fifteen, which is the rate of pay this bill encourages for the veterans it encompa.s.ses. If we force employers to give preference to employees who will demand higher wages, it's my const.i.tuents who will suffer the consequences. Higher prices on goods and services never make anybody happy except the manufacturers, and they're not my primary voting base." He winked.

I stared at him. "So what you're saying is that, essentially, if employers have to hire vets and pay them living wages, the rest of us will all get screwed?"

The senator chuckled. "Boy, you really have a way of boiling things down."

I drummed my fingers on the table. This was an argument I'd heard before, and one I had prepared for. I said, "Okay. Let's talk about McDonalds."

Now the senator frowned. "All right. What about it?"

"You remember Occupy Wall Street?" I asked. He vaguely nodded. "They wanted fifteen dollars an hour for fast food workers, and everybody and their mother said that if the minimum wage went that high, we'd see ten-dollar Big Macs the very next day. That's your argument, right? That paying workers more will result in higher costs for consumers?"

"It's basic math and common sense," he answered. I smiled.

"I'm not sure Seattle would agree with you."

"You're losing me, Ms. Jones," the senator warned. "I'm not sure what McDonalds and Seattle have to do with this bill you're so gung-ho about."

"Seattle pa.s.sed a wage-hike on restaurant employees back on April first," I told him, pausing to take another sip of my wine. I was going to need it if I wanted to get through this without screaming at him to Google the misinformation he was spewing. "There was some real concern from business owners and politicians, as well as corporations, that raising wages that high would have a negative effect on growth, as well as inflation. But this year, more permits than ever have been issued for restaurant openings, and the cost of a meal has seen no substantial increase. Everyone there seems pretty happy with more equitable wages."

"One city mandating a wage-hike for one set of businesses is hardly comparable to the effect something like that would have on an entire state," Senator MacFarlane said with a smugness that made me wish he would choke. "I love our veterans as much as any red-blooded American does, Ms. Jones, but I have to think of the greater good here, too."

"You're right," I agreed. "One city isn't comparable to a whole state." The senator sat back, satisfied, until I added, "Let's talk about New York, then, which has approved a similar wage-hike for fast food workers. Or for that matter, the increasing number of cities who have taken setting a higher standard for a living wage to heart. This bill wouldn't even propose a sweeping measure like that. This would be beneficial strictly to veterans, and honestly, neither of us can say with any certainty that they'll be demanding that much compensation. And honestly, Senator, the alternative of not supporting this bill has way worse consequences for everyone, including those 'Joe Schmo' const.i.tuents you're worried about."

"Okay. I'll bite," the senator said, abandoning his meal for the first time this evening and focusing his attention solely on me. "How so?"

I hadn't planned on it when I came here, but since I couldn't get my mind off him anyway, I told Senator MacFarlane about Kellan. I told him about what Kellan had experienced after coming home from Afghanistan, and all the vets he knew who were in the same boat. I interwove my narrative with some of my own independent research on how vets with PTSD or other, physical injuries often couldn't get a job due to their sacrifices. I told him about the illegal fighting rings Thom and I would be exposing soon, and ended on a note about the human interest piece I was writing on Kellan and how it would be interspersed with details about this very meeting.

"So," I concluded, "this could either look really bad for you, or really good. Either I pepper my article about a vet who has served his country well with details about how you're working hard to ensure people like him get a fair shake, or I make sure to mention how you're so worried about fat cat corporations complaining that you wouldn't even entertain the idea of giving our vets the opportunities they deserve. I hear you're coming up for re-election soon. Which story do you think your const.i.tuents would prefer?"

The senator sat silently for several moments, just staring at me, his face an unreadable blank slate. I stared right back, refusing to even check the time on my phone again. I wanted to, desperately, but I got the impression that the senator and I were currently engaged in a battle of wills. Kellan would never back down from a fight, and he'd never let anything distract him from winning, either. I wasn't about to let him down by showing weakness now.

Finally, the corners of the senator's lips quirked just a little. "I see I underestimated you, Ms. Jones. I have the feeling that people do that a lot."

"All the time," I answered. "It's my greatest a.s.set."

The senator chuckled. "Well, I'm impressed. And intimidated, if I'm being honest. Obviously, I'm not interested in having my name on a piece that pits me against veterans. In the hearts of Americans, vets will win over politicians every time-as they should." He clasped his hands. "So, I think you should write that I've changed my mind. That in light of new evidence, I've seen what a great boon this would be for our state, and I'm ready and willing to fight for the social changes that will pay back our vets for all they've given us."

My heart leapt into my throat. My stomach felt like it was dancing. I blurted out, "Really?" before I could stop myself, then covered it up with, "I'm exceedingly glad to hear that, Senator MacFarlane. Now, if there's nothing more to discuss..."

I stood up and he followed suit, reaching over to shake my hand. "You're a d.a.m.n good reporter, Ms. Jones. I'm looking forward to reading your article, and to hearing more from you, someday."

I allowed myself a little smile and took his hand. "Likewise, Senator. You're doing a lot of good."

Then I walked out of our private dining area, through the main hall of the restaurant, and once I was outside, I sprinted to my car. s.h.i.t. Kellan's fight had started almost ten minutes ago. He was up there getting bruised and bloodied, and I was nowhere to be found. I could only hope he hadn't noticed I was gone, and that I wasn't too late to give him something to fight his heart out for.

We did it, Kellan, I thought as I leapt into my driver's seat and turned the key. We won!

I couldn't wait to tell him to his face.

~ Twenty-One ~

Kellan

I was dying out here.

Tutera was the most vicious fighter I'd ever encountered. It was like once he saw blood, he developed and undying thirst for it. He had to have more. Besides myself, I'd never seen anyone go so crazy over inflicting harm. Was this what my opponents felt like when I beat them? Was this gnawing dread, this unbearable sense of impending doom, the same thing they'd experienced when they looked into my eyes?

I didn't have a whole lot of time to contemplate it. Tutera was on me like a fly on s.h.i.t, and I could just barely move fast enough to avoid the worst of his blows.

The crowd around us was howling. There was enough of my blood on the mat to make it slippery in places. Some of it was Tutera's too, but not nearly enough. My strength and endurance were waning. I could hardly manage to keep my hands up.

Don't drop 'em, I reminded myself through the bleary haze of pain tearing through my body. The second you drop 'em, he drops you.

Maybe that was for the best. Maybe I should just give up, let Tutera win. The longer we went at this, the longer I felt like all I was doing was prolonging the inevitable. I was exhausted, covered in sweat and blood, and at this point, only fighting for my ego.

Parker's not even here to see me. It's not like she'd care if I threw in the towel.

Tutera responded to that thought with a kick to my hip that brought a new stab of agony to those ribs I kept f.u.c.king up. I snarled and my knee gave way on the same side, bringing me down to the mat where Tutera pounced.

We rolled, and I kicked and thrashed as he tried to get me into an arm bar. f.u.c.k. This was bad. Tutera was strong and way more energetic than I was. He could hold out and stay the course. I was flagging, my confidence and will to see this through sinking faster than the t.i.tanic. If he got me into position, I was doomed.

Why fight it? that voice in the back of my head reasoned as I slipped out of Tutera's hold, only for him to grab me again. You know this isn't going to end well. Just lie still and let go. Let him have his win. You were always the sacrificial lamb, Kellan. You were born to lose.

And let Vic have the last laugh? No. No way. Not without giving it my all, at least.

I got a lucky break when I jammed my elbow back at Tutera's face. He wasn't expecting it and I smashed him straight in the teeth. Blood gushed down his chin and I struggled free, panting and stumbling once I was on my feet, waiting for him to get back up.

He did. Slowly. And he looked p.i.s.sed. There wasn't even a splinter of pain in his eyes. Tutera wasn't feeling anything tonight. f.u.c.kin' c.o.ke!

He sprung at me like a tiger, and in my weakened state, I couldn't block the body blows. All I could do was keep my face and my head covered as Tutera pushed me back onto the ropes, landing shot after shot on my ribs, my kidneys, everywhere that would hurt the most.

Pain blinded me for an instant, but it felt like an eternity. And in that moment, everything around me dimmed and slowed. The world took on a gray pallor, and I could feel the shockwaves from Tutera's fists spreading through my whole body, penetrating my bones. I was brutally aware of my ribs cracking again, splintering, threatening to break in half. I couldn't take much more of this. No human body could.

It was over. I had to make it stop.

Knowing the consequences, I raised my head for one last look at the cheering crowd. They weren't yelling for me. They were yelling for Tutera. This crowd had never been mine. They'd always been his. They'd come here explicitly to see him drop me.

Better give 'em what they want.

And that was when my gaze snagged on the single, radiant face I'd been antic.i.p.ating all night. My lips parted as her blue eyes met mine, her fist raised in the air, a pained smile on her face. Parker Jones was out there watching me, cheering me on, dressed in a f.u.c.king silk blouse and a skirt and looking for all the world like the ace reporter I knew she was.