I glanced down at his backstage pass. “Is it something about this thing that might have tipped them off?” I said as I flicked the pass. “Are the colors wrong? Is the font wrong? Something. Something has to be wrong.”
The pounding of running feet in the cavernous halls echoed all the way down to us.
“They’re coming,” I said as I slapped Ace across the chest and started running again. In the distance, I could see a busted up exit sign. “Over there.”
We reached the door, just as two other goons came from the other side, nearly nabbing us as we pushed the door open and ran out into the private parking space for the band and crew.
Dusk had settled in over the city and the sparse lighting threw odd shadows here and there between the tightly parked cars.
“Split up,” I called out. I pushed Ace to one row of cars while I ran in the other direction.
Three of the goons came after me. I jumped up onto the hood of a car, ran up the windshield to the roof and turned to look at what I was dealing with.
The guys were all big and beefy, but they were full of hot air. They were meant to be big and intimidating, but I suspected they had little in the way of fighting skills.
“Let’s see what you’ve got, boys,” I muttered as the first breathless muscle man made his way over.
Before he could even get close enough to think about reaching out to grab me, I jumped up over him and landed both feet on his face. He staggered back and hit the nice little Mercedes beside him before sliding down to the ground, his face a bloody mess. For good measure, I slammed my knee to his face, cracking his nose. His head flew back and hit the car door with a clang.
I turned to the other two who came at me, growling. The tight row of cars made it difficult for them to both jump me at the same time. One of them had to shimmy between the cars while the other followed behind him.
Jumping forward suddenly, I managed to get in a solid punch to the nose, but it wasn’t enough to stop the guy. But the restrained space made it difficult for me to kick or jump him.
I quickly glanced around and noticed the vintage red Cadillac. I leaned over, snapped off the antenna and quickly turned to whip my assailant’s face with it. He put up his hands to protect his face, but the moment he brought them down a bit, I poked him in the eye with the tip of the antenna, slicing his eyeballs, causing blood to squirt out in all directions.
Screaming in pain and now blinded, he was an easy mark. I grabbed his head and slammed it into the passenger window of the Cadillac.
The second goon wasn’t deterred. If anything, he was even more eager to get to me. He was a little thinner, and more agile. As I ran through the row of cars, he caught up to me quickly. He tried to get a punch in, but I ducked out of the way, grabbed his arm and pulled it behind his back.
I’d underestimated his strength. He was able to spin back around and go for me again. I whipped my antenna up between his legs, snapping the tip of the antenna against his nuts.
“You lousy punk,” the goon howled in pain.
I leaned back against the little pink convertible and threw both feet in the air, catching him in the chest. It stopped him for a second as he tried to catch his breath, then he charged me again.
In the distance, I saw two more guys come running out into the parking lot. They immediately turned to chase after Ace.
He had the agility of a big cat as he jumped over cars and even got away from them by throwing himself under a car only to come up on the other side.
But then they cornered him.
“Shit,” I said to my opponent. “Looks like it’s time to say goodbye. Your friends aren’t being very nice.”
Taken aback by my words, the guy frowned then turned to see what was happening behind him. When he brought his gaze back to me, he was met with a swift kick upside the head that sent him falling to the pavement.
Stepping over him, I hurried to find Ace. Despite being thin and wiry, the kid had guts and he could sure hold his own in a regular street fight. But this was different, and he simply wasn’t skilled enough to fight off these guys.
“Do you guys make it a habit to pick on the little ones?” I said as I came up behind the two guys who’d cornered Ace. “Why don’t you try picking on someone your own size?”
“You’re a wise ass for someone who’s about to lose his teeth,” one of the goons said.
“And you’re a dumb ass for not realizing that you’re about to lose your head.”
I ran up to him so fast, he didn’t see me coming. I grabbed his head and quickly brought it down just as I brought up my knee to meet his nose.
I heard the cartilage crumble and even heard the more deadly crack of his skull. I let him go, and he fell to the ground dead.
The guy who’d been holding Ace released him and came to jump on my back, his hands around my neck. I held my breath and remained calm as he tried to choke me. Without warning, I let my elbow snap back to get him in the gut. He slackened his hold of my neck a second, but quickly recovered and resumed a more painful grip.
“Over there,” a man shouted.
More goons were coming out to join the fight. I snapped my elbow back into my assailant’s gut again, then snapped the other elbow. Between both strikes, he lost his grip, but I quickly got a hold of one of his hands. Grabbing two fingers with one hand and the other two fingers with the other hand, I split his fingers apart, breaking them all as the guy screamed bloody murder.
As he fell to his knees and lamented his broken hand, I opened the driver’s door to the delivery van beside us. I pushed the guy up against the inside of the van and repeatedly slammed the door on his head.
Finally rid of him, I turned to Ace, ready to take on the newcomers.
“Ace?” I said as I looked over the hoods of the cars around me.
Silence. Only the sound of my ragged breathing.
No Ace.
No goons.
Shit.
Chapter 8
Dante Black/Parker James
I walked through the rows of parked cars, looking for Ace. Maybe he’d been hit over the head and was out cold somewhere. I even got on all fours and looked under all the cars. But he was nowhere.
Great, I thought as I meandered my way through the parked cars and walked away from the stadium complex.
When I reached the street, I looked around. Had Ace run off on his own, or had he been taken away?
Shit, Ace, where d’you go?
I turned to the right and walked along the east side of the stadium. Hundreds of music fans from the show were streaming out, many of them singing some of Rob’s most popular songs.
“Take me in the morning, and roll me baby… ooh, ooh, ooh,” a drunk young woman sang as her boyfriend tried to hold her steady. “Take me out at night and rock me baby, ooh, ooh, ooh.”
I walked on, going against the tide of fans who seemed to all be heading to one of the many bars down the street.
“Don’t leave me, honey,” a young man crooned. “I’m not finished with you yet. Don’t leave me, baby. You’ll make me lose a bet.”
Two young women wearing tight blue jeans and cropped shirts stepped in front of me, blocking my way.
“Damn, you’re cute,” the tall brunette said as she leaned into me. She looked into my angry eyes. “Yeah. You’re really sexy.”