53. CARSON

The big man is much faster than he has any right to be.

He’s easily six-nine and probably four hundred pounds, but he’s on me in a flash, wrapping his tree trunk arms around me in a bear hug from behind. He straightens to his full height, lifting me a good three inches off the ground.

It presents an interesting challenge from a physics perspective: my arms are locked in place and I have no leverage since my feet are off the ground.

Luckily, I don’t need leverage to use my trapezius muscles to whip my head backwards.

The back of my skull connects squarely with the bridge of the big man’s nose and I hear cartilage snap. He reflexively drops me and reaches up to touch his shattered face, allowing me time to land, drop to my back and piston my right foot upwards into his balls.

Again, thanks to physics, I have the upper hand because I have the stability of the ground under me. Combine that with the hours I spend in the gym with Matthias every day and my odds in this confrontation are actually pretty good.

Now might be a good time to mention that Matthias is a retired four-time world mixed martial arts champion. When I say he kicks my ass, I mean he literally kicks my ass.

The big man is reeling backwards, consumed with pain I’ve inflicted to two of his most vulnerable areas, giving the perfect opportunity to finish this with a couple of shots to his kidneys and a shin kick to the base of his thigh where it meets the knee.

Pain explodes in my temple and the world goes wobbly for a moment. When my vision finally clears, I see him still stumbling but flailing wildly. It’s my own damn fault for underestimating him – his arms are almost as big as my legs. If there’s one thing that physics can’t compensate for, it’s mass. And the big man has that in spades.

I reach down and throw a handful of dirt into his face, sending him staggering backward, following it up with a stomp kick downward to his knee. That does the trick; his leg collapses inward and twists at an unnatural angle.

He’s not getting up from that. Now to finish with Red Dress.

I scan the area: she’s gone.

Shit. I underestimated her ability to recover from that punch. If Matthias finds out I couldn’t knock out a woman, I’m really in trouble.

Then again, I get the sense she’s no ordinary woman.

A crowd has started to gather – typical New Yorkers, only show up when the fight is over – so I head back down the way I came as fast as I can go. I pull out my phone and call Cassie.

No answer. Shit.

All right, don’t panic. Clear, rational thinking. You’ve always been able to do it before.

Yeah, but you’ve never been in love with a woman in danger before.

I thumb Maksim’s picture in my contacts. He picks up on the third ring.

“Tovarishch! What is up, dog?”

“Maks, listen carefully,” I pant as I emerge from the park onto Madison Avenue. “I need you to meet me at my apartment immediately with everything you have on your uncle. Photos, records, anything tangible.”

The line is silent for several moments.

“I don’t have time to fuck around, Maks! Really bad things are going to happen if you don’t!”

“Ennh, Carson, I’m not really wanting to do that…”

“Listen!” I bellow. “Cassie is in danger, and if anything happens to her, I swear to God I’ll spend my last dime making sure every member of your family ends up deported back to Russia and thrown into prison to rot for the rest of their miserable lives!”

I know I’m not serious. I think I’m not serious. But right now, I’m being pushed. And there’s no limit to what I’ll do to the person who threatens the woman I love.

“Bozhe moi! Cassie is in danger?”

“If you only take one thing seriously in your entire life, Maks, this has to be it! Get what I need and get to my place! Now!”

I end the call and sprint harder toward home. A cab blares its horn at me as I cut across the avenue and into its back seat. I gasp out my address and throw a hundred dollar bill at him. He takes off like Dale Earnhardt, Jr.

Long minutes tick by as my heart hammers in my chest. I can’t have found Cassie again, only to turn around and lose her like this. I can’t!

After what seems like an eternity, I see my building. I jump out on the fly in the middle of the street and sprint to the front door.

Chuck’s eyes widen as he sees me coming, and he throws open the door.

“Everything okay, Mr. D?”

“No,” I say. “Buzz me when Maks gets here, will you?”

“Will do, sir.”

I stab the button for my elevator and, thank heaven for small favors, it’s already on the ground floor. It takes me up the eighty stories at a painfully slow rate, allowing me time to think about every possible horrible scenario that could happen to Cassie.