Blindside (Michael Bennett #12)(72)

Henry was distracted for a moment. Most people have never seen a Taser deployed. It’s an interesting show.

Then he regained his common sense and faced me with the pistol once again.





CHAPTER 100





THE AFTERNOON SUN was over my shoulder now and in Henry’s eyes. Good. I needed any advantage. I wasn’t about to let Henry point that gun at me again. Before he’d even brought it on target, I stepped closer and slapped it out of his hand. I have to admit, my initial response was to punch him in the face, but at the last second, I realized I needed to eliminate the pistol from the equation.

I wasn’t worried about Terri Hernandez. She was as smart and as tough as any cop I had ever met. She was also impressively efficient. She was on top of the stunned driver even before I’d slapped the pistol away from Henry.

I did something I never do. I gave a prisoner a chance to fight his way into an escape. I faced off against Henry and let him see that my hands were empty. It’s not a smart tactical move and not what a cop should do. But this little son of a bitch had caused me a lot of heartache. And I’d let him run his mouth on two different continents. Now it was time that he learned a lesson.

We squared off. I was going to give the young Estonian a chance to show me just how his showy beach muscles would help him in a fight. Big biceps had never helped in a street fight.

Henry raised both of his hands and balled them into fists. Then he started to dance like a boxer. He was loose and casual. It looked pretty good. He danced and circled away from me a few feet, throwing a quick left jab out into space.

I turned and adjusted to close the distance between us.

He danced a little farther.

Then I lunged at him. I used my long legs to really cover some distance. But Henry easily skipped backward and somehow now there was even more room between us.

Terri Hernandez shouted something at me. She sounded muffled and far away, but I couldn’t take my attention off the feisty young Estonian.

For another twenty seconds, all of it spent in frustration, Henry kept dancing just outside the range of my fists. We covered the majority of what was left of the road, and now the East River was not far from me. I was close enough to smell it. I also had sweat trickling into my eyes. This was turning into a regular workout. The only problem was that Henry didn’t look like he was working as hard as me.

Henry planted his feet, and right at that moment I realized the joke was on me. He had purposely led me away from any backup. I realized immediately that Terri Hernandez had shouted for me to keep close just in case.

I was an idiot, and Henry’s smug smile didn’t make me feel any better.

Now he cracked his knuckles and peeked over my shoulder to make sure we were far enough away from Terri. Then Henry said, “I love so many things about America.” He almost shouted it. He was showing me he wasn’t nervous.

Oddly, I felt a flutter of nerves. But I stayed in his game and said, “It’s nice when visitors appreciate the country.” I sucked in a little extra oxygen. This would be a longer fight than I had anticipated.

Henry said, “I love the freedoms and wealth as much as I love the hypocrisy of Americans. You have this vast continent, yet everyone crams onto an insignificant little island like Manhattan. Why is that? It feels like something lemmings would do.”

He slowly circled me as he kept talking. Now it was Henry who was looking for an opening. “I also like how you let lawyers and the threat of lawsuits govern your behavior more than the government. And especially I like how you are all utterly convinced that the world needs you. Like you’ll ride to the rescue if there’s a problem.” He threw a few more punches in the air.

Then he looked right at me and changed his tone. “You know what else I love?”

“What’s that?”

“Your media outlets have to fill time with drivel. Every detail of the lives of celebrities is broadcast at all hours. Every aspect of police investigations is reported. Like the stories of your recent shooting. The one where you gunned down an innocent youth for no reason. You know what that tells me?”

“That you watch too much TV?”

He gave me a polite smile and shook his head. “No, it tells me that no matter what happens between us, you won’t use a gun, even if you grabbed one. It would look too bad for you.”

“The day I need a gun to deal with a little punk like you is the day I retire.”

“If you ever get a chance to retire.”





CHAPTER 101





I HAD LISTENED to this bullshit long enough. The smart-ass had been asking for a lesson in manners for a long time and had traveled a long way to get it.

I didn’t have thoughts like that often, but this was a fight I had been waiting for. I held my right hand just behind my right leg as I balled it into a fist. I pictured hitting the computer genius so hard I knocked him into the river behind him.

Maybe my expectations were a little high.

Henry feinted with his left hand, then threw a hard, round kick right into my ribs. It knocked the wind out of me and shook my confidence at the same time.

As I sucked in air hard, I realized I hadn’t expected him to be so good with his feet.

Henry gave me a smile and said, “I do a lot to stay in shape. Lift weights, run, and I’ve been studying Tae Kwon Do with a master in Estonia. I finally get to use it. Too bad I couldn’t find a more worthy opponent.” To emphasize his comment, he made a quick turn and caught me in the stomach with a spinning back kick.