The Unstoppable Tony Winters Read online

  Anthony smiled at him anyway, hoping it wasn’t anything serious.

  “Robert Shiller. He’s one of the people that works here. He’s been working with Nick lately…”

  “God… Don’t tell me that Nick hit on him? That… We can’t have that kind of thing here. I know that everyone was saying it was fine last night, but…”

  The words shocked him a bit. His Tony act didn’t even have a way of dealing with it. Finally, Anthony took a deep breath.

  “I wouldn’t worry too much. Any hit things take to begin with will fade in a few weeks. No. Robert is nearly ready for his first pro fight. MMA. I just don’t know how to set that kind of thing up. Raul mentioned it. Actually he asked my opinion on when he’d be ready, but my take on that was that he figures it won’t be long. I think he needs more conditioning, but I kind of say that automatically, about almost everyone.” Including himself.

  Rick went blank then and looked down.

  “Right. Crud. I’m… I’m not really a homophobe, but this kind of thing is more accepted now and a lot of the fight game is run by older people. That’s mainly boxing, so… I need to not be a wimp about this. Nick’s our guy and if we have to take a few hits to help him out, then we do it and don’t look back.”

  There was a bit of fear in the words, but also a fierceness. Like he actually meant it, deep in his soul. Even as the idea shook him, for some reason. That was probably because he feared losing his business. Only, no one was even going to quit the gym due to a couple of guys there liking each other. Most places probably had that going on.

  That didn’t mean that his uncle could see that. Still, there he sat, getting ready to jump into the water, even thinking that he might not know how to swim. Because their pal needed them. Though, he was almost certain that Rick barely knew the man at all.

  Which after a bit, got him to think even more of the man. Anyone could be scared, even if it wasn’t rational. Not everyone bothered to try and do the right thing. In fact, most people didn’t. Not the ones that Anthony had known most of his life.

  So he nodded.

  “That’s the plan. Anyway, I was going to ask to use your office, for all my important screen viewing time, but I can see that won’t be happening right now. Before we leave though? I can get copies of things to take home?”

  That got a nod. They had the internet there, but not where Rick and Jen lived. To Anthony that was perfectly normal, but everyone else seemed to think it was odd. Then, most of them walked around with phones all the time. Anthony didn’t have one of those, though he had before. Back when he was running drugs for one of his mom’s boyfriends for about a week. His name had been, oddly enough, Rick.

  Now that seemed a little sick.

  Dating someone that had the same name as a sibling like that.

  Standing up, since he was done for the time being, seeing that his uncle had made a note about Robert, he started out.

  “Oh, hey… Can you be around tomorrow? Two light days in a row probably won’t kill you.”

  That got Tony to smile.

  “After the morning run? I don’t want them to get all lazy. Plus, I need to keep my own work up there. The answer though is, yes. Is there something happening?”

  That got a shrug, which seemed a bit cagey. Like he was trying to hide things. That probably wouldn’t be bad however. At least Rick didn’t seem to be all serious and glowering about it. That might be wrong, but so far the man hadn’t been a bad guy. The worst thing he’d done was act like Nick liking dudes was an issue and even then had been willing to work with everyone to make sure things went smoothly. So, if it was something horrible, it would probably show on his face.

  “Yes. It won’t really be about you too much. Still, some people want to meet you.” Then he waved Anthony away. Because clearly, he wanted to hide things.

  He got out of there and tried not to worry about it. That didn’t happen of course. It was kind of a lifetime problem for him. Secrets meant bad things were coming. Hidden things were problems that you just didn’t know about yet. The idea left him feeling freaked. There was nothing he could do about it either. A sense of impending doom hit him then, even as he knew that Rick wasn’t going to hurt him, or send anyone away.

  The thing was, inside, Anthony didn’t trust that. Even as Tony told him that everything was fine. That meant that he, someplace in his head, understood that part. He was still sweating as he went to hand people towels. His breath was coming faster than normal too. It wasn’t so bad that he couldn’t hide it however.

  That night they closed at six, since it was getting too hot for anyone to work any longer, no matter how tough they were. On the nice side, Tony managed to get all the different videos that he needed to be looking at and started right in, hogging the television in the living room. There was, it turned out, a plug in for thumb drives on the side. That meant you could play things from the computer right there, on the large screen.

  First he analyzed Clyde Sumner again, since he had special orders there. The problem was that, when he was pushed, if any fighter ever came at him full out… There was no external change that he could see. Even though the man would suddenly start to win. Not perfectly, but Tony thought he got the idea. Clyde was known as a feather-fist, but when he knocked people out, it was always after they’d actually pushed him for a while.

  In short, he was hiding his actual strength most of the time. That he was actually a hard puncher was his secret weapon. That kind of thing was almost insane, but Tony got it. The man just wasn’t right in the head.

  There was a strangely fixed look to his eyes. He never showed fear, even when hit. Even if he was technically being beaten all over the place. He only had one fight game, but his speed and technique were spot on all the time. He never lost it. Clyde didn’t let go and start brawling. On the good side, as good as he was and the guy was excellent, the man didn’t change from one fight to another. The only new thing he ever brought was hitting harder, even if it only barely showed in his body posture.

  That it had taken Anthony that long to get it made him feel like an idiot.

  “Duh. It’s right there.”

  The words got Jen to walk over and settle on the sofa, on the other side, away from him.

  “Hmm?”

  Anthony ran the scene back, speaking while it played a moment later.

  “Watch. Every punch, he uses almost perfect form. His entire body is committed to it. But he isn’t using hardly any power. Not until… Here… see?”

  She shifted forward and pointed at the screen.

  “There? I see. So, what does that mean?”

  Rick was still in the office, hot or not, talking on the phone. That meant he wasn’t there to fill her in on what they were looking at. She got the idea as far as the technical portion, since she was a fighter and had real striking skills of her own.

  “My best guess is that he’s mental. For real. Not… Psycho or anything like that. What’s the one were the kids don’t talk and don’t really get what other people do?” He knew the word, but it was escaping him at the moment.

  “Autism?”

  “That’s the one. I think he might be autistic. A great fighter, but he has rules that only he gets. That’s not going to be easy for me to duplicate. Plus, he won’t go down easily. Steve is going to have to really put him down for it to work.” It was hard to explain, but the woman just started to nod.

  “Don’t tell Steve that part? We don’t want him to feel bad for the man he has to fight. That…”

  Anthony got that. Tony did too, which was interesting. He should have been feeling bad for the man, but the truth was, Steve was his friend. That meant he helped him out first. The other man was a pro fighter, not some guy on the short bus. Clyde would mess a person up, if they got in the ring with him. Possibly even if they weren’t really able to fight him. That was down to his mindset. It was driven. Focused beyond all reason.

  Then, Anthony could have been totally wrong about his little diagno
sis. Something was off, but he wasn’t exactly a doctor. Not yet.

  “No doubt. I’m probably wrong, though it still works for the sparring session coming up. I need to improve my form. Power too, but there’s only so much I can do for that in the next few days.” It was his own constant problem, as far as working with everyone at the gym.

  The truth was, he wasn’t a big person and he tended toward thin, not muscular. Plus, he was young. The difference in strength was a real thing, too. Someone like Denny was nearly twice as strong as he was, for instance. Nick was close to that and as far as he knew, they didn’t lift weights or anything like that. Steve was a lot stronger than he was as well and the man only weighed about ten pounds more than he did. Maybe less than that, now.

  Tony had been eating well for a few months. Healthy, which was starting to add some muscle, he thought. That’s what the goal was.

  After that, with Jen just sitting there with him and Ashley walking through, he turned the video over to the old footage of Diego Vidal. That one wasn’t that great. Then, the man wasn’t exactly a high level pro. He fought a lot, but also had a lot of losses. A bum, in boxing parlance. That didn’t mean he couldn’t pull out some tricks. The thing was, he just didn’t. He walked out and fought the same way each time. Almost like he didn’t study up on the people he was fighting. He just did the same thing, every single time.

  There were almost ticks in his movement each match as well. He took tiny steps, nearly flat footed and did the same thing almost mechanically. There were some changes, fight to fight, but most of them were boxing matches. He looked a little different when he moved in for a throw, but that only happened in two matches and there was no follow-through. There was a slightly close to the body hip toss and a double leg move that pried his head against the middle of the other man’s body. It was kind of different, but they both worked well enough.

  Then he moved back. Letting the men stand back up. Then they basically boxed.

  There was nothing in his performance that spoke of him being a secret grappling master however. Not at all.

  After that he reviewed the Donaldson fights. That was boxing again and the man was a competent southpaw. His power showed on the surface in each fight and his big trick wasn’t one at all. The guy was left handed, so stood backwards to everyone else. That meant he’d gotten used to fighting right on top of people and most boxers didn’t have that skill, so he won. It was really as simple as that.

  Not trivial, just easily seen. The man had a minor organization title because of that one quirk of nature. That and hard work. The thing for Tony to do there was going to be hard, since Denny was good and had been working to figure out how to get around him for weeks now. Literally pushing past, so that he could fight in the center of the ring. Infighters loved the corners, since they left people with fewer places to run.

  At eight he stood up and shook his head.

  “I should probably get to bed. I need to be up early again in the morning. Night.”

  “Goodnight!” Jen sounded perky and like she was hours from sleep herself.

  Anthony figured that it was because she, out of all of them, would be up on whatever was taking place behind the scenes. Rather than let himself sink into depression over the idea, he got into bed and started his nightly mental practice for the next day. It started as a review of everything, in as much detail as he could manage. Then he worked out the specifics of the sparring he was going to need to do soon. Not blow by blow, since that wouldn’t work. The whole idea was going up against another person in a way that would add random elements to what was going on. Still, he had goals for what his part was supposed to be, so that could be gone through rather closely.

  After that he let himself drift off, with only half his dreams being about coming home to find his nifty Hefty bag luggage filled with all of his stuff, on the front porch of the house. That meant he woke up twice that night, covered with sweat. Not terrified at the idea, but scared enough his heart was definitely moving a bit quicker than normal.

  On the good side, even if he felt like garbage the next day, he was up with the sun. So a quick clean-up and two pieces of fruit later, he met with a sleepy looking Steve in front of the gym. They wouldn’t be leaving for the long run for a few minutes, so both just stood there for a bit. Enjoying the relatively cool morning air. If seventy degrees was going to be the new pleasant.

  Finally, Steve grinned at him.

  “Sorry about the other day. I was a bit of a jerk. At the sparring?”

  Anthony nearly snorted, but nodded instead.

  “I know when you meant. You aren’t normally like that. I was working on some things for the next session last night. I think I worked out the hidden trick the Clyde uses.”

  He went silent, flexing a bit, feeling tired. Almost too much to be bothered running that day. It wasn’t totally a physical thing. Anthony could tell that. His mental reserves were just worn down. It was probably a sign that he actually needed a real break soon. Over-work did that kind of thing, or so he’d heard. After a bit he noticed Steve standing there, his eyes a bit wide and hands down and out a bit.

  Using his body language to ask what the trick was. Which made perfect sense.

  Tony laughed.

  “Sorry. I’m not trying for payback here. I’m just tired. I didn’t sleep much last night. Anyway, the secret is that Sumner isn’t a feather-fist. Not due to lack of power anyway. It’s clear what the stats say, but he probably has power close to what you do. It’s just hidden, because he always uses nearly perfect form, so it’s hard to see when he changes up to using it. He will when he gets pressed though and since that’s the fight you’re bringing, it’s going to happen.”

  Rather than seeming upset, there was just a snort from the other man.

  “I can deal with that. Thanks for the warning there. I wouldn’t have figured that out I bet. Okay…” There was a grin then. It was nearly playful. “Is that what kept you up all night? Or is it a certain girl in your life? Hmmm?” There was teasing, but the truth was that Anthony didn’t get the idea at all.

  Rather, he did, but not who he was supposed to be crushing on at the moment. Technically it could be anyone that he knew. Really, it didn’t even have to be a girl. That was the kind of person he liked, but it wasn’t as if he and Steve had chatted about that before.

  “Nothing like that. Who?” Anthony nearly didn’t care enough to ask, but wasn’t shocked when Steve winked at him.

  “I hear that you took the day off to go on a special run with Lexi? She’s not that much older than you. Also, really flexible. A yoga instructor. That has to be interesting.”

  It probably was, but he’d been good there, keeping most of his thoughts on business with her.

  So instead of acting flustered, Anthony just shrugged.

  “I’m working with Denny on her training. That means dating would be a no go, even if I was five years older than I am, which I’m not. She is single though, so if you’re interested you should ask her out? She’s never mentioned you, so it isn’t like that. Then, you’re both working to be fighters, so at least you’d get what that meant off the bat.”

  Steve didn’t need him to go over that part for him. His ex, Gloria, hadn’t gotten the need for constant training at all. Worse, as a fighter, even when he was between major bouts, the man had to stay fairly sober and away from potential trouble. Going out to clubs, bars and other fun things was pretty much a poor plan if you wanted to be great. His girlfriend hadn’t gotten that. Only she had.

  In the end she’d try to demand he bail on boxing and get a real job.

  Which meant being dumped. After all, the world had a lot of women, but only so many boxers with a five and zero record. That was a good sign, as far as careers went.

  The man looked at him then, his head tilting a bit and then shrugged.

  “I might look into that. So, if not lovely Lexi, who do you have your eye on?”

  Anthony felt shy, being pressed like that. Worse he
was also feeling a bit surly that day. Instead of snapping, he smiled and tried to play act being Tony. It was pretty hard suddenly.

  “No one, right now. I can’t afford to be that distracted. My place here… You know, it isn’t all that certain. Not yet. If I screw this chance up, being here…” It was too hard to explain, or at least had been with everyone else.

  Rick and Jen were great. He got that part. He even knew, on some level, that they weren’t going to kick him out. Even if he slipped a little, or was less than the perfect boy at every single turn. There was a difference between knowing that and feeling like it was a real thing, however.

  So it surprised him a bit when Steve, who he’d always thought of as being hard working and kind of a good guy himself, just nodded.

  “I know. They, almost everyone else here, they had good lives. Grew up in good homes and that kind of thing? I didn’t really, so I understand what you mean, I think. You have this one thing. One shot and if you don’t work as hard as you can, all the time, it’s going to slip away and you’ll be left with nothing. The thing there, Tony… that isn’t wrong. You either fight for what you want, or you don’t get it. Nothing gets handed to you in life. Except, maybe, a chance.”

  The words didn’t help really. There was no suggestion as to how to do what was needed or anything, but he nodded anyway. It was strange, but he got something then. Steve Lopez sort of got him. Probably not totally, since you never really knew other people, but a bit. Enough to know why Tony, the new kid, was trying to lead the runs each day. Why some boy was going to climb into the ring with a pro fighter the next afternoon and try to pretend he belonged there.

  Because it was the only thing that Anthony could see that made sense. Even if it wasn’t true.

  They started running at five sharp, alone, even though they should have had Mark with them. He didn’t love long runs. Short ones either in particular, so Tony got the idea. The heavyweight was between fights too, so could afford to take a day or two off from his training schedule, as long as he didn’t do that so often he got fat. It was a danger for the man, it was clear. He had to live on a diet, most of the time, just to not gain fat around his middle.