The Cruiserweight (19 page)

“Which I paid for the gas. And if you’re a good
boy, I’ll take you to Walt Disney World tomorrow.”

“Smart ass.”

“You know it. Come on, let’s go. I’m starving
from the trip today.”

They walked a few blocks to the restaurant,
making plans to get food to go and hanging out on the patio of
Brett’s apartment .When they arrived, each placed his respective
order and glance around while waiting for them.

“Kind of empty for being a new place, huh?”
Patrick asked as they noticed it was nearly empty except two booths
toward the back with customers talking in hushed tones. When their
orders arrived, Brett and Patrick grabbed their bags and were just
about out the door when they heard a loud, “You’ve got one spin,
and I’ll shoot!”

Brett turned around, seeing the manager working
a safe while the counter girl who just waited on them froze. “Shit,
Pat, this place is being
robbed!”

“Let’s get the hell out of here!”

Customers who had been sitting in the back
booths started to creep toward an exit where Patrick and Brett
stood, when a second man caught them. “Nobody moves, or you all
die!”

“Look, man, if you’re going to hold anyone,
take me and let everyone else go,” Brett said. “You can even have
my damn wallet. There isn’t much in it, but
—
”

“Kerrigan, what the fuck
—
”
Patrick began.

“Shut up, moron, or you and your boyfriend get
your heads blown off!” the robber bellowed.

The second robber was distracted for a moment
by the shouts that emanated from the back and a struggle ensued
with the manager. The two female customers were able to escape to
the parking lot with the help of their male companions, who
remained behind to help Brett and Patrick.

Brett’s adrenaline went into overdrive. In his
mind, he was back in the ring taking on an opponent. He turned to
Patrick. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Yeah. Tag team time!”

“Let’s do it! You get one of those assholes
while I take down the other.”

Brett leaped over the counter and helped the
manager combat the first intruder while Patrick attempted to disarm
the second man. His leg swept out in a wide, graceful art,
connecting with the robber’s ankles, throwing him off balance.
Without even realizing what was happening, the man found himself
flat on his back, sucking in deep breaths of air that seemed devoid
of oxygen, wincing as he hit the hard floor. His vision blurred for
a moment, but cleared in just enough time to roll away from a kick
to the ribs by Patrick, who punted the man’s weapon out of reach.
Unarmed and still down on the floor, the intruder was
restrained.

“Did I mention I’m trained in martial arts?”
Patrick hissed in his ear. “One move, and I’ll fucking kill
you.”

In the back, the second attacker had twisted
out of the Brett‘s grip, spun around, and attempted to fire his
weapon, but the gun jammed. Cursing, he lunged toward Brett and the
manager.

“Going somewhere, asshole?“ Brett asked,
knocking the assailant back, dislodging the weapon, raining blows
across his shoulder and head. The crack across his jaw sounded like
a gunshot and made his vision blur for a moment, but it was enough
for Brett to gain full control. As the first intruder stumbled,
Brett got him down with a kick to one thigh and a second palm into
his chest.

The robber grunted in pain and fell. Brett
dropped with him, and with his entire weight over the attacker,
laid one forearm across his throat. He knelt across his hips,
sinking his weight to prevent the robber from bucking him off or
kicking up between his legs, and raised his free hand. Blue energy
crackled and burned between his fingers like electricity, snaking
across his open palm.

“Somebody call 911!” Brett yelled. “We have
them down!”

“Already been done, man,” the manager called
back, holding up a phone. “Cops are on their way.”

“Good job. Everybody okay?”

The counter girl peeked up. “Is it all right to
come out?”

“Should be fine, sweetheart. We have the scums
where they aren’t going anywhere except jail.” Brett pulled the
intruder up from the floor with a tight grip on his collar,
dragging him toward where Patrick still held down the second man.
“So were you and your friend getting your asses kicked worth trying
to rob the place?”

The man groaned an inaudible
response.

“I’ll accept that as a ‘no’.”

“Got that same answer from my bad guy,” Patrick
said with a laugh. “You’re the man!”

“Nice to see you haven’t lost your touch as a
tag partner.”

The police arrived a few minutes later, taking
the robbers into custody and gathering statements from witnesses.
Though the customers, counter girl, and manager appreciated their
assistance in deterring the robbery, both officers gave all of them
stern lectures. “All of you could have gotten killed.”

Brett looked both officers in the eye, “I’ve
beaten the shit out of guys bigger than those two thugs. My buddy
is skilled in kung fu and all that shit. Are we free to
go?”

The first officer gave a curt nod. “Yeah, get
out of here.”

“You’re welcome back here any time,” the
manager called after the pair. “We owe you meals on the
house.”

Brett looked back and grinned. “Very kind of
you, but don’t be surprised when we do, Pat and I will be using the
drive through window.”

One of the male customers stared as Brett and
Patrick made their exit. “You know, Jake,” he said to his friend,
“those guys look familiar
…
”

CHAPTER 34

Wrestling legend Count Roger Albany’s death was
the following morning’s lead story. Eddie had created a poignant
sketch of the late Hall of Famer, which accompanied the article.
Also on the front page was breaking news on former tag team
champion and Orlando Wrestling’s newest signing Brett Kerrigan and
his former tag team partner’s participation in the thwarting of a
robbery the previous evening. Though Patrick had given a brief
interview, Brett refused to comment beyond, “I’m just glad
everyone’s okay.”

The robbery story featured interviews with the
responding police officers, who said the assailants were in
custody. They stressed to the public that despite “appreciating the
efforts of Mr. Kerrigan and Mr. Sanchez-Garcia, we don’t encourage
our citizens to get involved in those kind of situations. We’re
lucky there were no fatalities or serious injuries.”

Sullivan read the article with interest,
wondering if Karen saw it. He’d agreed up to a point with the cops
for Patrick and Brett to get involved in such a dangerous
situation, but on the other hand, the story was great publicity for
them. Sullivan planned to call her later to request an additional
interview for her report from Orlando.

*****

“I’m going to wring his neck!” Karen said,
reading a newspaper article while having breakfast with a group of
reporters.

“Whose?” another writer asked.

“Brett Kerrigan’s!”

“Wait
…
you
know
him?”

“You could say that.”
I’m carrying his
child.

“How exciting! There’s rumors going around he’s
going to do the PPV on Sunday.”

“If you’re trying to ask if I have inside
information, I’m sorry to disappoint you. I don’t.”

“So why are you going to wring his
neck?”

“There was a fast food place almost robbed last
night. Brett and Patrick interfered with the muggers. What were
they thinking?”

“I heard something about that on the news
earlier. There were two guys who stopped the robbery mentioned, but
no names were specified. Of course, I was preparing for this
breakfast meeting, so I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Getting in the way of a robbery attempt was
still a stupid move on their parts, especially Brett. He just
signed with Orlando Wrestling, at least that’s the latest
buzz.”

“Why not give him a call?”

Karen pulled out her phone. “Not a bad idea.”
She dialed Brett’s number and was silent for a few moments before
hanging up. “Great. His voice mail.”

“Maybe he’s still asleep.”

“Yeah, I guess being stupid and acting like a
hero takes a lot of energy. I‘ll have plenty of time to scold him
later. At least no one got hurt, so maybe I’ll take it easy on
him.”

*****

Brett let out a loud, long groan when the phone
woke him. Cursing, he opened one eye and glanced at the clock.
Jesus, eleven-thirty! I must’ve been exhausted last night.
He sprinted out of bed and dug out the phone from his jeans, still
crumpled on the floor. “Go ahead, your fifty cents.”

“What were you trying to do last night, get
killed?”

“Karen?”
What was she doing in
Orlando?

“Were you expecting someone else?”

“I didn’t recognize the number. What brought
you to Orlando?”

“Something for work, then I read about yours
and Patrick’s parts in botching a robbery attempt. Where have you
been the last two weeks?”

“Busy as hell. I called your office the other
day. Sullivan said you were out. Everything okay?”

“Sure. A few
…
things came up.”

“Oh. I thought maybe you came down with swine
flu or something.”

“No. I’ve been lucky in that aspect. I got a
flu shot at the beginning of the season and it’s supposed to
protect me from both, plus I’ve taken the necessary precautions. I
heard about your signing with Orlando Wrestling. How is the new job
working out?”

“Fantastic. I’m grateful for Stephanie giving
me a shot. I hadn’t planned on considering it and just doing
independent shit, but with all the new stuff happening there and
the economy, and the money she offered, I couldn‘t say no. Are you
free this afternoon? We could catch up.”

Karen was a little wary. “Sure.”

“If you have plans, we can get together this
evening.”

“Brett, I’m open the rest of the day. I just
finished a breakfast meeting.”

“Great, say your hotel, two
o’clock?”

“Works for me.”

“All right, dear, looking forward to seeing
you!”

They exchanged “I love you’s” before hanging
up. Brett began to sing off-key as he headed to the shower, looking
forward to the afternoon ahead. The PPV run-through wasn‘t until
the following afternoon, and he planned to make the most of the
free time he had the rest of the day
—
with Karen.

He glanced at the paper with dismay after his
shower.
Did the reporter need to mention my and Pat’s names?
Worse, did the story have to be on the
front page? Even if
Karen didn’t read it, one of her colleagues would have told her
about it nevertheless. It no longer mattered. He still had an hour
before they were supposed to meet, he spent the spare time making
business calls, grabbing some breakfast, and scanning the major
wrestling sites.

Brett’s heart sank. The robbery story made it
onto a few websites.
Great. Not only will I risk being mobbed by
fans when I leave the house, I’ll also get a bunch of shit from
people tomorrow at the run-through. What’s the big deal? Pat and I
didn’t do anything different than a like-minded
person.

He finished getting dressed and slipped out of
the house before Patrick woke up. There was no better time to run
some errands before meeting Karen.

CHAPTER 35

Karen had everything in place when Brett
arrived. He took note she appeared a little curvier than the last
time they were together, and he wasn’t complaining. He apologized
for the slight delay.

“You’re a little late? I didn’t notice.” She
noticed the large manila envelope in his hand. “What’s
that?”

“Oh, this is for you.”

“Brett, you didn’t have to bring me
anything.”

“This is the rest of my
Men in the Raw
feature. I didn’t have time to get a frame, but I signed it as
promised.”

Karen pulled out the magazine. “A cover shot
!”

“You like it?”

She kissed him and offered him a soda from the
honor bar. “Fabulous. Where’s the rest?”

“Page twelve. I think you’ll be pleased with
the stuff you didn‘t get on the scans.”

She flipped through several pages before poring
over Brett’s photo spread. “These are incredible. By the way, are
you able to finish the rest of your independent dates now that
you’re with OW?”

He nodded. “Stephanie gave the okay to worked
the dates I’ve already booked, but if I want to do anything else, I
have to clear it with the creative goons.”