I rolled away, the pain from the kick barely registering because I still couldn’t draw air. That was all I could think about. Breathing. Every cell in my body yearned for oxygen. I just needed time to gather one breath.
Buddy Ray turned to his big bouncer. “Pick him up, Derrick.”
“He’s just a kid, Buddy Ray.”
“Pick him up.”
Air. I finally managed to gulp down a few breaths. Derrick’s big hands bunched up my shirt near the shoulders. He lifted me as if I were a light load of laundry.
“Pin his arms back,” Buddy Ray said.
I could tell Derrick didn’t like it, but he did as he was told. He laced his massive arms through mine and pulled back so that my stomach and chest were totally exposed. He tightened his grip, locking me in place. I could feel the tendons ripping across my shoulder sockets. Buddy Ray was still licking his lips, enjoying this way too much.
“Please,” I said as soon as I could gather enough air to speak. “I don’t know Antoine LeMaire. I’m looking for him too.”
Buddy Ray studied my face. “Is your name really Robert Johnson?”
I didn’t know how to answer that one.
He reached into my pocket and took out my cell phone. “I bet this will give us your real name and home address.” Another smile. “So Derrick and I can visit you whenever we like.”
I struggled, but that just made Derrick mad. Buddy Ray flicked my cell phone on-and then his face froze. He looked back at me, his face twisted in rage, and then he turned the camera in my direction.
It was the picture of Ashley.
Buddy Ray’s body started quaking. “Where is she?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying to me,” he said, keeping his voice low. “Where. Is. She?”
“That’s why I’m here. I’m looking for her.”
“So you’re here for Antoine?”
“I’m here,” I said, “for me.”
Buddy Ray took a few deep breaths, and I didn’t like what I was seeing on his face. He looked at Derrick. “We should take him to the dungeon.”
The dungeon?
Even Derrick looked shell-shocked when he said that. “I don’t know, boss.”
Buddy Ray turned back to me. “Here’s what’s going to happen,” Buddy Ray said to me, again his voice a quiet lisp. “With Derrick holding you in place, I’m going to sock you in the gut again. Harder this time. Then, much as you’re going to want to bend and fall back on the floor, Derrick is going to hold you up. And then, if you don’t talk, we will take you to the dungeon.”
The fear on my face made his grin widen. “Wait,” I said. “I don’t know anything.”
“Maybe, maybe not. But really, I should be sure, right?”
I started to buck, but Derrick held me firm. Buddy Ray took his time, milking the moment. He licked his lips some more and then he took out a pair of brass knuckles.
I shuddered.
Derrick said, “Uh, Buddy Ray?”
“Just hold him.”
Buddy Ray slipped on the brass knuckles and slowly made a fist. He showed it to me, like it was something I might want to study before he unleashed it. I didn’t know what to do. I tried to tighten my stomach muscles, but really, how would that help? Then, with the maniacal grin at its widest, Buddy Ray began to cock back his fist. He was just about to let it go when the door behind him, the one he had come through a minute ago, opened. A bikini- clad dancer entered.
“Buddy Ray?” she said.
“Get out!”
It was now or never.
As I mentioned before, I had been trained in combat. In most martial arts schools, you are taught how to punch or chop or kick, how to grapple or use holds or escape them. But for the most part, a fight is about the early tactics. It is about distraction and camouflage and surprise and timing. The girl opening the door had shifted attention away from me for a brief second.
So I had to strike now.
Derrick the bouncer still had me in a killer grip, but we were nearly the same height. I bent my neck forward, tucking my chin to my chest, and then snapped my head back with all my might. The back of my skull landed on his nose like a bowling ball. I heard a crunching sound, like someone stepping on a dried bird’s nest.
Derrick cried out and let me go. I didn’t bother with a follow-up blow. No need. It was more important that I didn’t stay still. No hesitation. There was an open door where the dancer still stood. Moving with everything I had- moving before Buddy Ray could react or Derrick could recover-I leaped over the desk, snatching my phone away from a stillshocked Buddy Ray, and sprinted toward the open door.
No hesitation.
The dancer was in my way. That meant having to run her over, if I had to. A second lost could be the difference between making it out and getting caught. I didn’t want to hurt her, but there was simply not enough room to get by. Luckily for both of us, she saw me coming and slid to the right.
I dived through the door and into what might be called a dressing room. There were costumes and boas and lots of dancers crowded in front of one mirror. I expected them to shriek or something like that when I broke through, but they barely looked up.
“Stop him!”
It was Buddy Ray.
I kept moving, running across the dressing room, banging through another door, and finding myself…
… onstage?
The patrons looked surprised to see me onstage. Then again, so did I. One of the men cupped his hands into a flesh megaphone and yelled, “Boo!” The other men joined in. I was about to jump down, but now I saw the other two bouncers rushing toward me. I turned back, but Buddy Ray was there, Derrick following, holding his nose. Blood leaked through his fingers.
Trapped.
Distraction, camouflage, surprise, timing.
I stayed onstage and ran down it, kicking every beer bottle I could. I didn’t have a plan other than to create a distraction to the point of chaos. The dancers onstage screamed. The patrons started jumping back, crashing into one another, pushing and shoving. It wouldn’t take much. You have a room filled with inebriated, frustrated men who were spending too much money on what really, in the end, was a pretty pathetic Plan B. Testosterone flowed like the watered-down drinks.
Fights started breaking out.
I leaped off the stage, hurdling a group of men. I landed on one, rolled off him, kept moving. The sea of humanity behind me provided a wall. Buddy Ray and the bouncers were trying to get through to me. I turned and looked for an exit.
Nothing.
Buddy Ray and the bouncers were getting closer. I was cornered again.
“Psst, this way.”
I spotted the fire-engine-red hair first. It was Candy. She had ducked under a table. I got down on my hands and knees and started crawling toward her.
Someone grabbed my ankle.
I didn’t bother to look. I kicked out with my foot, mulelike, and somehow I pulled away. I crawled faster, following Candy on all fours. She opened a half door, like an escape hatch, and slid through it. Again I followed her. She was already up on the other side. She helped me to my feet.
“This way.”
We were in a blue room with tons of throw pillows on the floor and a small round stage with a pole in the center. I heard a noise behind us and started for the nearest door. Candy put her hand out to stop me.
