The Unstoppable Tony Winters Read online

  She took a deep breath, then closed her eyes.

  “Yeah. This… It wasn’t what I wanted.” Then she got up and fled the room.

  Standing behind the sofa, Dan watched the stuff on the television and then looked away.

  “I can’t believe this. Do you know how long I’ve worked to make something of myself? To build the franchise? Twenty-two years. Now, in an instant, we get this.”

  It was clear he was pretty upset, but Anthony didn’t get why that was. Lenny looked horrible, his face drawn, but it seemed like he was having his life pulled out from under him at the moment.

  “Um… Really, why worry? This isn’t about you, or Leverage. I can see you being upset with certain people, but you’d look better if you stood by them. At least through Sally’s fight. Besides, she’s almost to where she needs to be. Still, if she has to go, then she does. I’m a little bummed by it. I don’t suppose I could buy her contract from you? You accept coupons, right?”

  The man left then and came back ten minutes later with both Sally and a bunch of papers. He signed over his part right then and there. Just for the fighter. She could walk at any time, but would still need to be out of there the next day. The man wouldn’t budge on that part. Still, even if she had to leave then, there was no remaining contractual duty for the female fighter. She could even still do her fight, if she was ready in time. The man putting it together was in Las Vegas, so would have to be gotten in touch with. Don Teevan.

  At eight calls started coming in, just as he was getting ready for bed. That was fine, but Rick wanted to talk to him directly, meaning Dan chased him down the hallway, holding the phone.

  “Hello? Tony Winters here.”

  Rick sounded annoyed, to be truthful.

  “Can you hold out there? I can start over in a bit. This is…”

  “Don’t drive tired. Sally needs to be out of here by noon. I took over her contract? That means we need to get her a place to stay. I don’t know if she drives. Let me check on that? It will be for about three weeks and I rather she didn’t stay with us, directly, if that’s okay? Or too close to any of the fighters. She might start trying to date them and…” He was being too nice and it wasn’t his business.

  That Rick didn’t start out by screaming that was a sign that he was probably a religious saint. Anthony knew that he kind of didn’t want the burden of an adult woman who, when he thought about it, wasn’t even a very good fighter yet. Not horrible, but nothing to take home to meet the family.

  Instead of a reasonable reaction, or putting things off, Rick did the other natural thing.

  “You aren’t sleeping with her, are you?”

  There was no hesitation then, just a sigh.

  “Not even a few clandestine cuddles. I just don’t want to waste the time I spent learning how to fight like Diego Valdis. Hear me though, I get what Dan is doing here. He had one rule regarding sex. Don’t do it while you’re here. Like, at least four people have broken that. We all get to see why it was a bad idea, too. This is going to screw with people. The fighters here, Dan… Sally even, though it was at least partly her fault.” He paused. Just waiting.

  Rick did the same thing, until Tony came up with something. It was a bit dark for his good boy act, but he let the words come out anyway.

  “You know, I think next time I’m going to not be as helpful? I probably shouldn’t now, but it’s too close to the fight to screw Diego out of his trip. This is all for him, now.” He didn’t mean that, but faked it pretty well, as Sally came to find him, looking anxious.

  He covered the phone with his hand.

  “Do you drive? Have a car here?’

  “Yes on the driving, no on the car. That’s back home. Why?”

  He waved his hand in the air and spoke openly.

  “We might be able to get you a place to stay while you train. That’s for three weeks? There are real rules. You can’t have sex, or even flirt with anyone for that time. I mean that! It’s all training and practice for the whole thing, or the deal is off. Also, no drugs. Nothing. Not even caffeine. You won’t gain weight, since you’re eating with me each day and nothing else. Is that good? If not tell me now and I’ll get you a bus ticket home. That would be cheaper and less work. I’m going into real training here and this is going to be extra work for me…” He glared a bit, not even pretending to be nice about it.

  Sally smiled brightly and tried to hug him.

  “Hands off! The only contact you’re getting for the next three weeks is grappling and being hit. That’s a yes?”

  There was a brightness in her eyes, along with desperation.

  “Yes?”

  “Fine. Rick, can we get a pickup here tomorrow, before noon? Seriously, sleep first, or send someone. With the van? I want to play video for research while we ride.”

  There was a momentary pause and then an inhalation.

  “I can make that happen. Are you sure about this?”

  He wasn’t. Not even a tiny bit. Still, there was that part where he was supposed to be trying to be a good person. Even if it was hard. Even if everyone in the free world thought he was sleeping with his fighter. That could be worse, since at least she was old enough. Sally also had that quirky charm, so there was that.

  “I am. We can do this. I really feel sorry for Simpson. The poor guy is getting smashed at every turn.” He wasn’t going to suggest they hire him however. There were limits. Even Tony, when he tried to work out what a good guy would do, just made a face and shook his head there. It was kind of refreshing to note about himself.

  “Okay then. I’m getting to bed. Sally, be ready by nine tomorrow. We might have to wait outside. Dan is pretty upset with you. I can’t blame him really. He should be upset with a lot of people here. Grrr.”

  Then he went and put the phone back, with Sally following him. She went all the way to the door of his room.

  “Can I sleep in here tonight? I’m a bit worried that someone might be mad at me.”

  “Nope. Go to your room and lock the door. I’ll see you in the morning. Now, go and sleep, or at least lie there with your eyes closed, if you can’t do that. No more drugs. There will be a search in the morning and before you ask, no, I’m not too shy for a body cavity check. Don’t even try it.”

  “Fine… Fine. I’m not an addict or anything…” She seemed to mean it, but he waved her away.

  “Said every drug fiend, ever. Trust me, I know all the tricks. You can’t fool me that way.”

  She muttered as he closed the door, but then he got to bed and started his daily mental practice. It was more comprehensive now, since he had to go over the new guard that Curtis had worked on with Kevin. It had worked for him against Simpson, in a pinch, so might in a sports fight, too.

  Then he slept, getting up with the sun.

  He wasn’t certain if it would be considered theft or not, but took some food anyway and made breakfast. Then he sat there, waiting and going over things in his mind. Until almost nine, when he checked the news channels. They’d stopped hitting him being punched in the head as often, since there seemed to be a missing young white girl with blonde hair. That was on all the channels. Not that he wouldn’t have traded being a bit embarrassed and put out to have that kid back.

  Taking a moment, he prayed for her safe return. That was what he was doing when the others started to come in. The fighters, just waking up.

  One of them, who had Latino looks saw his clasped hands and then the screen. Crossing himself he lowered his head, almost instantly. Getting the idea. When he looked up, he saw that all of them had at least stopped and bowed their heads. No one else was praying, but the idea wasn’t a horrible one.

  Finally, Curtis nodded at him.

  “You out of here today then?”

  “Yep. Taking little miss trouble with me, too. Just to finish the training and get her ready to fight. Wish me luck? I’m almost certain this is a bad idea.”

  Kevin shook his head then.

  “Nah. She’
ll be all right. Just don’t sleep with her and you’ll be fine. The trick there is making sure that doesn’t happen. She’s pretty persistent.”

  Hopefully that wasn’t going to be an issue for him. Regardless, he’d kind of committed himself already.

  Chapter nine

  At just past ten, the Winters Gym white van pulled up out front. Tony was ready, as was a sleepy and still kind of out of it Sally. She had more things with her, having three bags and a brown cardboard box. Her face looked pale and like sleep might not have been a thing the night before. Not for long at any rate. The dark black and green circles under her eyes were hidden by the rim of her thick glasses, but staring at her he could see the difference.

  Meaning that she was smart enough not to have taken anything that day to prop her up. Which couldn’t get her out of being searched first. It would be harder for her to get things in a new place, but she probably had pills hidden in her gear. If not on her person. It was going to be awkward, searching for them, but as the van rolled into the gravel and dirt lot, Anthony took a deep breath.

  There was no speaking though, since instead of Rick driving, it was Jen. Next to her was Ashley, in the passenger’s seat. One of them smiled at him, but it wasn’t his uncle’s girlfriend. She just looked tight and a bit upset.

  When they stopped, parking smoothly, Dan walked out of the house to greet them. His face was a bit stern, but only when he looked at the woman standing there with all of her things.

  “Tony… Thanks for coming out. This… The whole thing went sideways on us. I hope we can work together in the future? That sparring was inspired.” Then glaring a little, he fixed Sally with a hard look. It softened after a bit. “As for you… There were some problems. Fix that? I can’t risk every fighter I have right now over this kind of soap opera garbage, or I would have let you stay. You have promise, but you have to get your head together.”

  As lectures went it wasn’t wrong, but Sal just stood there, looking up at the man, seeming tired.

  “Sure. You blame me for all of it. I wasn’t the only one involved here.”

  It was a real point and the tall man looked up to see that Ashley and Jen were walking over to them, seeming a bit less than happy. Long drives could do that, Tony knew. He’d done more than his share of things like that. Sitting for hours wasn’t the most fun thing ever.

  “Hey! Thanks for coming. I know this wasn’t perfect.” Anthony smiled, trying to seem pleasant about the whole thing. Jen walked straight up to him and gave him a huge hug. It was tight, which wasn’t how she normally did things like that. It showed she was concerned though, which was interesting, if not all that needed.

  When that broke, Ash gave him one too, then turned to Sally, holding her right hand out to shake.

  “Ashley Lancaster. Rick asked if I’d let you stay with me? It’s a bit primitive, but I just got an apartment and we put a second bed in for you. It isn’t too far from the gym, so you can walk back and forth.” She didn’t sound thrilled by the idea, but had managed to be kind about it, which was interesting.

  Plus, she had her own apartment now, which was a thing that he hadn’t heard about before. It had to have been in the works for a while. Things like that didn’t happen overnight.

  They started to be helpful and pick up Sally’s things for her, when Anthony held up his right hand.

  “Wait. We have to search her things. I do. She’s been taking speed. That crud has to stop now.” He felt rather proud that he’d managed to keep his language that clean. It wasn’t what he’d grown up with and dealing with drugs was sending him back into his old habits fast.

  Jenny blinked at him and Dan looked away, like his knowing about that kind of a thing and not stopping it was a personal failure. Ash just looked at him, her face blank.

  The only protest came when he got to the cardboard box. Looking inside he got the idea, since it held at least six different adult lady toys. A nice variation in color as well. He nearly left it alone then, blushing. Until he realized that the woman would have probably figured that he’d do that, being as young as he was. So, feeling like he was about to pass out, he reached in, took out a large purple vibrator and shook it. Ashley turned pretty red, feeling embarrassed, but Sally just rolled her eyes.

  That one was fine, but two of the things rattled. Like pills in a bottle. Opening them up he found a collection of things. They were in several colors and shapes, which meant they weren’t all just speed.

  “Uppers for weight loss, downers so you can sleep at night… What is this? Molly?” He held out the pills in question, separating them out in his hand a bit, since there were thirty in all.

  Sally looked freaked then.

  “Um… No? I don’t know how those got there?” She clearly didn’t believe it, which was good, since that would mean she was insane.

  That handful and the second one got tossed into the grassy field without warning. Then he opened up the other things, finding a bag of green and some papers for rolling.

  “WTF, Sally. Fighters shouldn’t smoke. Not even pot. You have to know that. The smoke damages the lungs.” He scattered that, then stared at the geeky seeming woman. It was a good act, but not enough. Not for someone that came from where Anthony had.

  “Now… The rest of this is clean. I think. Ash, could you put that in the van? We need to search her.”

  That got a worried look from Sally and a baffled one from Jen. He could see that, since Sally was in her little dorky blue hat, black ringlets falling down a bit less than artfully from the sides. She was wearing a bra that day and a dark blue shirt that had short sleeves. That and shorts.

  The first thing he did was steal her hat. She tried to grab for it, but missed. The rim of it, on the inside, had more pills. A decent variety of them. He tossed those instantly and handed the thing over to Jen, who seemed shocked. That got worse when he got to the next bit.

  “Strip.” He waved at the woman, who now, trying to protect the last of her drugs, was acting squirrely as all get out.

  “What? I don’t have anything, you can see…”

  “You haven’t had a bra on outside of training since I’ve known you. Now you suddenly do? Fishy. Nope, take it all off. No drugs. Not until after the fight. Even then… Seriously, I don’t even know if this is worth it. I set like, three rules. No sex, no drugs, work hard. You’re already trying to get past one of them. How can I trust you on the other two?”

  She sputtered a bit, then frowning, pulled her shirt off. She had a tight sports bra under that and stood there looking like she was vindicated. Tony looked at the deep blue thing, which nearly matched her shirt, then walked over, ran his fingers under the lead bottom edge and pulled it out.

  Causing a baggy of assorted things to fall out.

  After that Jen waved at him.

  “I’ll do the rest of this. I… Do you know what you’re doing Tony?”

  He nodded then. Not meaning it at all, but trying to seem confident.

  “Yes. If you have even one more thing on you and don’t hand it over right now, I’m just leaving you here. There are limits. This is moving past them already.” He meant it and apparently that showed, since she started digging in her shorts, in a way that showed she hadn’t taken his body cavity search threat as being real and came out with another bag of weed.

  Tony waved.

  “Scatter it. Nothing more. Three weeks. Focus on your fight, constantly. Do you hear me? There will be no problems and no being lazy. If you can’t do that, speak up now. I mean it…” Not that he could do anything to her if she didn’t toe the line.

  “I will. Sorry. I… I just don’t see it as a big deal, that’s all. Everyone does drugs.”

  Tony, being a good boy, wouldn’t have an answer for that. Anthony did.

  “Sure. It isn’t everyone. One of the groups that stays mainly clean is fighters. I get that some use steroids and drink between fights, but they don’t walk around with a pharmacy in their shorts. The people that do drugs like tha
t are almost all wastes of space. I don’t have time for that kind of person. Honestly, I don’t have time for a hard working fighter that does everything right, so you get me here? Nothing else. Three weeks. Get your head on task, or don’t. But tell me now, because I’m not doing this speech again. I sound like a tool.” He glared then, but she was smart enough not to smile at his words.

  Ashley had to walk away, cracking up. Probably because he’d called the whole thing correctly.

  Loading the box of sex toys and wanting to wash his hands after handling them, he put that into the back of the van. Then moved inside of it, the ladies climbing in after that. Ash was up to drive back, at least for the first part, it seemed. The small drop down screen in the back was already set up to show all of Diego’s fights, however.

  Sally’s were there too, so they went over all of them, discussing the finer points of what she needed to be doing, for eight hours. Ash didn’t speed much, so the trip took longer, but that was all right. It got them in at six and feeling exhausted the two dark haired women left from the parking lot. Sally having been told that she was up the next day for real training.

  Jen seemed tired, but smiled at him as they went into the gym.

  “Do you think this will work? I mean, wrangling a person that doesn’t respect the rules is a lot of effort. Especially for a fight that doesn’t really count for anything. It’s not even an amateur thing.”

  He felt like snapping at her. Thankfully he was so used to pretending to be nice that he stopped to work out a good Tony answer, instead of barking. The thing was, deep inside, he knew that she was right. It was a hassle and there was no payoff for him. The only thing he was getting now was work. Right when he had new things starting that he was supposed to be paying attention to.