Dangerous Refuge

chapter Twenty-six



The Ground & Pound gym sulked in the corner of a mostly abandoned strip mall, notable only for its swath of dirty white stucco and black glass windows. A ragged assortment of pickup trucks beaten into varying colors of submission by dirt and sun were parked out front. Lorne’s truck looked right at home.

A glossy white Lexus LS stood out like a coonhound in a cat show. The license plate read STUBBY.

“Looks like the boss is in,” Shaye said.

“You could wait in the truck,” Tanner said.

“I thought we’d settled this. Twice.”

“The deputy is right. This isn’t a game.”

“And we begin one more lap around the track,” she said. “Even if you didn’t need me for my local connections, I’m safer with you than I am driving lonesome back roads and talking to ranchers, which is what Kimberli will have me doing the instant I’m not with you. Whoever the killer is, he or she prefers victims one at a time.”

Tanner wanted to argue, but Shaye was right.

“From now on,” he said, “if I tell you to jump, hide, or shut up, promise me you’ll do it.”

It was her turn to want to argue and discover herself holding the losing hand. “As long as we’re together, fine.”

That was less than he had asked for and more than he had expected. She was smart and independent, and had guts. Taking orders like a recruit wasn’t her specialty.

“Unless the guys inside that gym go all gooey and helpful at the sight of a pretty woman,” he said, “I’ll do the talking.”

She nodded.

“August would like there to be something between you and him,” Tanner said.

She blinked at the sudden change of subject. “There isn’t. Not like you mean.”

“Good. I don’t make a habit of jumping into bed with any female I meet, and after the way we fit together, I’m damn well sure you don’t sleep around.”

She ignored her blush and said, “So?”

“You’re an independent woman, I get that. But all the same, I want whatever we have to be exclusive.”

“You’re bossy. I’m independent.” She unfastened her seat belt. “But the fringe benefits are spectacular. So, yes, whatever we have for as long as it lasts, exclusive.”

That hadn’t come out the way Tanner had meant, but it would have to do for now. “Okay. I’m not very good with words . . .” He pulled her across the bench seat and kissed her until her hands went to his shirt buttons. “But I sure do know what I like. You.”

“If you ‘like’ me any more right now, we’re going to be arrested for lewd acts in public.”

“Mmm, lewd acts,” he said, savoring the words like a fine wine. “Does that mean getting naked, hands on, and mouths, and—”

The truck’s passenger door opened and closed, hard, on his speculations. Smiling, he got out and followed her inside.

Beyond the front door, Ground & Pound was loud and sweaty, with an open floor plan broken up by support beams and movable wall panels for private instruction. The center of the big room was dominated by an octagonal ring that was nearly thirty feet across. Eight chain-link fences, taller than an NBA player, surrounded the octagon. The junctions were padded in battered plasticized canvas.

It looked like child-safety equipment made for monsters.

As pairs of men grappled with each other, the sound of grunts and meat slamming into meat thickened the air. A lot of the fighters had shaved heads. All of them were naked but for trunks and boots, which resembled the fancy padded Reeboks that had been in style when Tanner had gone to high school. They looked more silly than impressive.

Nobody smiled or joked. The Ground & Pound wasn’t for laughs. It was a grim, sweaty path to fame and riches. Or so the occupants hoped. Everyone was looking for a golden ticket out of dead-end physical jobs. All the men were solid muscle, burning so fiercely for their shot at the big time that they gave off more heat than the air-conditioning could handle.

“Holy Toledo, as my grandmother used to say.” Shaye spoke so that only Tanner could hear. “Some of these guys are riding a wave of desperation that’s going to break and send them facedown into despair.”

“Good enough to hope, not nearly good enough to achieve,” Tanner agreed. He had seen plenty of gyms like this in L.A.

“No wonder they’re so serious. They’re trying to put off failure every time they breathe.”

“Steak-heads. And Rua was one of them.”

The man behind the counter looked like he’d been shaved out of granite that was the color of brown skin. His mouth was a thin curve of unhappiness and his black hair was cut down to a skullcap. He didn’t smile when he saw them.

Shaye took one look and knew Tanner would do better with the man than she would. Women weren’t as strong as men, and the meat behind the counter was only interested in strength.

“Tag, you’re it,” she said in a low voice.

Tanner wasn’t surprised.

“Looking for something?” the man asked. His tone said he didn’t care.

Tanner put his hands on the counter before him and leaned into the man’s face. “A dude called Stubby.”

“Mr. Stubbs doesn’t see walk-ins.”

“I’m not here for training. Got that covered.” He smiled his cop smile, cold and uninterested.

“He’s not here.”

“You just said he didn’t see walk-ins, which is like saying he’s here but you don’t want to help us. Too bad. Stubby wants to see us.”

Shaye put a hand over her mouth and coughed rather than laughing out loud.

The man’s skull turned purple underneath the short pelt of hair. “What do you want?”

“Antonio Rua. He trains here.”

“Tony hasn’t been around in days,” the man said sourly. “Lazy bastard.”

“Then Stubby must have a hole in his schedule. We’ll help him fill it up.”

The man scowled, but was smart enough to know that Tanner wasn’t the least bit intimidated. He just had the kind of patience that wasn’t going anywhere until he got what he wanted, and a confidence that said he didn’t have to prove himself to anyone.

“Wait here. The fighters don’t like to be bothered.”

“Yeah, I could feel the love all the way from the parking lot,” Tanner said.

She coughed again.

“You need some water, honey?” Tanner asked. “I’m sure the receptionist could find some.”

She shook her head and tried to squash her laughter. It shouldn’t have been so funny, but watching Tanner casually face down the gym’s tough guy amused her. Tanner didn’t bluster or posture or yell, he simply, calmly knew he would win if it came to a throw-down.

So did the “receptionist.” He turned on his heel and stomped off into the center of the sweat and noise.

“It’s a good thing I’ve already decided that I like you,” she said with a voice that loosened his knees. “You can be a donkey, but you’re very hard to pin the tail on.”

“Rent real estate in your opponent’s head, take them off their game.” He shrugged. “Same reason ass-poking and crotch-gouging are used in these fights. It’s not the pain, it’s the shame.”

“I didn’t know you fought.”

He shook his head slightly as he glanced around the ersatz dojo. “Not like this. The people I take on are fighting for their lives. These guys are tough in the sense that they can absorb pain. The ones who make the big time can give and take a whole lot of hurt and be smart at the same time. It’s a real scarce combination.”

“That’s what I keep telling these dumb sacks of meat,” a man said as he walked up. “The ones who get it move on to the next rung of the fight card, and the next, until they find someone smarter or tougher than they are.”

“Mr. Stubbs?” Shaye guessed.

Stubbs didn’t live up to his name. He was nearly as tall as Tanner and probably had twenty pounds on him. He was too old to be active in the fight game, but still in shape. His T-shirt had ripped-out sleeves because they didn’t fit around his biceps. His chest looked like a well-cut sculpture. His thighs bulged beneath his faded jeans.

“Yeah, I’m Stubbs.” He looked at Tanner. “Is there a problem?”

“We’re trying to learn a bit more about a guy, Antonio Rua. People call him Tonio or Tony. He trains here.”

“Name’s familiar,” Stubbs said.

“No surprise. He’s enough of a regular that your receptionist missed him after only a few days.”

The boss gave the counter steak-head an unhappy look before concentrating on the unwanted guests. “Let’s talk in my office, Mr.—”

“Detective Tanner Davis.”

Stubbs didn’t ask for a badge.

Tanner didn’t offer one.

Shaye felt invisible, so figured no one would notice if she followed along quietly behind them.

As they wound through the gym, Stubbs pointed out the brightest prospects, pretty much ignoring the guys who’d never be more than glorified practice dummies. Tanner was more interested in Stubbs’s information about Rua than hearing about the rest of the clients, but he nodded in the right places.

She ghosted behind, treading water in a testosterone sea. The place was cleaner than she had expected, with the sharp scents of bleach-based disinfectants, male musk, and a hint of copper, which she realized must be fresh blood. More than one of the men she passed had a face like a fright mask.

“Occupational hazard,” Stubbs said, following her glance. “Even the best bleed here.”

“How good was Rua?” Shaye asked.

“At this gym he was close to the top. Little on the short side, but he made up for lack of reach by being able to eat pain like some guys down six-packs. Not that I encourage anyone training here to drink.”

“But he hasn’t been here for a while?” Tanner asked.

There was a meaty smack and a clang of chain link as a fighter was thrown against the barrier.

“Hey!” Stubbs yelled. “You save that for Saturdays!”

Shaye winced. The man had a voice like a jet engine.

“Some of these guys have a lot to prove,” Stubbs said, shaking his head. “They get overexcited.”

“Take shortcuts?” Tanner asked in a voice far more lazy than his eyes.

Without looking away from the fighter peeling himself off the chain link, Stubbs shook his head. When he was satisfied that there was no meaningful damage to the fence or the fighter, he gave his attention to his guests again.

“No. I run a clean shop here. No drugs. No juice. No payoffs.” He counted off the infractions on his meaty fingers. “I find otherwise, I kick ’em to the curb.” The fingers became a fist.

“You could be putting human growth hormone in the watercooler and pumping steroids in the air—I don’t care,” Tanner said. “We just want to know about Rua.”

Stubbs measured the other man, then nodded and led them to his office, which was set off from the gym by a waist-high wall of concrete blocks. A few filing cabinets, a phone, a copier, an old computer, a small desk, and some stacked metal folding chairs occupied most of the space. Stubbs sat behind the desk, where he could still see out over the gym.

Tanner grabbed two folding chairs and pulled them up to the side of the desk. As he and Shaye sat down, Stubbs started talking.

“Rua might have gone places. He was one of the best of the lot here and had caught some Reno gigs. And he looked real good cleaned up. That’s an important part of the game, too—not looking like a mutt on cable TV. About a week ago, he cleared out his locker and quit the gym.”

“Why?” Tanner asked.

Stubbs shrugged and spoke with genuine regret. “He outgrew me. He came in, told me he had the deal, and left.”

“That happen often?”

“It’s the dream of every fighter out there. The good ones move on. The rest hang on.”

“What is ‘the deal’?” Shaye asked quietly.

For a moment Stubbs studied something out in the big ring, then he nodded and turned back to the conversation. “We’re all nothing until the day we get the deal that makes us something.”

“And Rua got the deal,” Tanner said.

Stubbs nodded. “He sure thought so. He was talking about breaking out of the casino circuit and getting second bill on big matches.” He flicked his hand at the gym beyond. “Most of those guys won’t even make undercard material. They might lie to themselves, but they can’t lie to me.”

“Was Rua really that good? Or did someone die and leave him a pile of money?” Tanner asked.

Stubbs gave a rusty laugh. “At this level, money doesn’t win fights. Determination, muscle, and guts do. Undercard status and a good manager—and a sponsor—are the next step up. That’s where Rua is going. He likes fighting a lot better than his day gig supervising a bunch of Mexicans on construction sites.”

“Did you manage Rua?” Tanner asked, wondering if Stubbs cared enough to shoot the man who got away.

“I did what I could, but I have a couple hundred guys in and out of the gym every month.”

“Did he mention a new manager or sponsor?” Tanner asked.

“I got the feeling he was going to Reno. A new job.”

“Did he say where he was going to train?”

Stubbs barked out a laugh. “That would be like telling your girlfriend that you have a piece on the side and like the piece better than her and you’re moving out.”

Shaye could only nod. Stubbs had just described how her marriage had ended.

“What kind of a job did Rua get?” Tanner asked.

“Security detail for some politician’s personal appearances. Holden or Mills or someone—I don’t really keep up unless I have to play nice with the licensing agencies. If you run a bar or a gym, being a sweetheart doesn’t get the job done.”

“Do you mean Hill?” Shaye asked.

“Yeah.” Stubbs snapped his thick fingers. “That was the name. Isn’t he running for county board or something?”

“Governor, actually,” she said.

Stubbs grunted. “No wonder Rua looked so happy.” He gave Tanner a long look. “You have a badge and a lot of questions about Rua. He in trouble?”

“Not anymore. He’s dead.”

Stubbs shook his head sadly. “Head injury?”

“Bullets,” Tanner said.

“Well, shit.”

Shaye thought that pretty much summed it up.