Encounter/Incentive, Part 4 Endgame




Encounter/Incentive, Part 4: "Endgame."  by Raxx.  (For those new to the
story, you can catch up readily by reading Part 3. This chapter most
immediately follows that one. The author encourages feedback and comments
or questions or suggestions for future stories of any kind. email me
at:   kraxxll@yahoo.com 
 
JACK:
How could things go from bliss to horror so quickly? From a night of
carnal delights with the  sexiest, most beautiful, and dangerous woman
I've ever met to a daybreak of pain, helpless in the clutches of a madman
using me as bait to find and kill her? I wake with my hands duct-taped
behind my back, in a hard wooden chair inside a stinking abandoned
basement with leaky pipes and damp, raw air chilling my aching bones. My
jaw swollen from where I was struck only hours before by the first of a
huge man bent of revenge. Bent on finding and destroying my beloved Nikki
for the pain and humiliation he felt at her hands years ago.
 
Pain and humiliation he richly deserved. This man Steve doesn't know what
Nikki told me about him. How he raped her in a drunken stupor at a
fraternity party. How he inflicted violence on Nikki's boyfriend, the
only man she had ever loved...an incident that led indirectly to his
suicide. How Nikki came back a year later, her body and mind--already
honed through years of self-defense training--further prepared through
private tutorials with a Judo master. How she exacted her revenge on this
parasite, humbling him in a fight so one-sided she may as well have been
pummeling a rag doll. How she flipped him and threw him and squeezed his
head between her powerful thighs until he could barely breath; how she
washed his face in his own vomit and left him unconscious with a broken
arm, with no way to explain to his goonish frat buddies how such a large
man, always in control, always the alpha male, had been so thoroughly
thrashed and beaten by a drop-dead gorgeous 125-pound girl.  
 
This man Steve doesn't realize I know these things. But he knows I've
been with Nikki, and seven years since his well-deserved beat-down, he
wants to use me to find her. To beat her. To kill her. To have his
revenge. And right now, I don't know that I can do anything to stop him.
 
STEVE:
I'm close now. I can feel it. This asshole I ambushed in the parking
garage is going to bring the bitch to me, and I'm going to kill them
both. But first I'm going to make her suffer, and beg for mercy. And then
I'll make her suffer some more. Seven years. Seven years I've been
waiting for this chance. Seven years since they found me in that room,
covered in my own filth, my arm broken so bad it never even healed right.
Stuck now at a slight angle so I can't even straighten it all the way
out. That bitch did this to me. Tricked me. Pretended she wanted to fuck
me, and then surprised me with that judo shit. I wasn't ready. She had me
horny from the get-go, and who wouldn't be? She comes in, all legs and
tight ass in that black leather mini-skirt, a fucking 11-on-a-scale of
10-hot...tossing back that long black hair, slinking her way towards me,
batting those green eyes. Fuck, of course I was caught off guard. Then
she's telling me I can fuck her if I can pin her down. Giggling like a
little girl, makes me thinks it's a game. Then starts throwing me to the
floor. Tells me I raped her a year earlier. I don't remember that at
all...but maybe I did. So what? If I did, she deserved it. Probably came
on to me then told me to stop. That's happened before with other chicks
who can't make up their minds. Fuck that. In for a penny, in for a pound,
and that's always how it's been with me. And I never had any trouble from
any bitch I did that to....until her. And she thought I'd forget? She
thought she could walk away from that? Explaining what happened was the
worst part. Everyone saw her go in that room with me. Everyone saw her
come out, and then found me that way. Eveyone knew she did that to me,
and that was the worst. I'd been in dozens of fights in my life and never
lost one. Even against guys as big as me. Or bigger. And to lose to a
girl? To have to admit I was beaten unconscious by a fucking woman???
 
No one ever looked at me the same again. I never had the same respect. Or
fear. I thought I'd hear guys snicker behind my back. And even kicking
their asses didn't make it stop. I couldn't do anything but think of
getting even, but that bitch left school that same night. No one saw her
go. No one had seen her since. I couldn't do anything. Couldn't think of
anything but revenge. Stopped going to class. Flunked out. Had to beg my
own father--who never thought twice about keeping me in the black--not to
cut me off. Told the old bastard I needed time to "find myself."
Bullshit. I needed to find her. And now I'm as close as I've ever
been...and ready. Took all the money the old man would give me and spent
it on martial arts classes--Kung Fu, Ultimate fighting--even ran my own
kind of "Fight Club" ring in this very same tenament shit basement, until
the cops shut it down...and that was 'cause I almost killed a guy. She
wants to try that judo crap on me again? Good luck to her. I'll eat
her for goddam breakfast.
 
NIKKI:
Not this time. I won't let you take another man from me, maybe the first
man that could make me happy since James, all those years ago. I would
have stopped you then, in the garage, when I saw you hit Jack and throw
him into the back of his car, but I knew if I took you down there, there
might be witnesses. And what I'm going to do to you, Steve, is final. The
broken arm was a warning...I told you that seven years ago, and you
wouldn't listen. Now I'm going to keep you from hurting anyone--ever
again.
 
I took a chance that you would take Jack somewhere
hidden...underground...like a rat returning to his lair. You'll
threaten Jack to tell you where I am, threaten to kill him, but I won't
let you lay a hand on him, because I'm following you, you son of a bitch,
and when I know I've got you alone, you're going to pay. I won't let you
hurt Jack any more than you have, and that was already too much. I was
following him down to the garage to tell him I canceled my photo shoot in
Milan...to be with him. To finally stop running from a real man who would
love me, and I could love back. To tell him he didn't have to wait for my
decision any more...that I was ready to forgive myself for what happened
to James...and stop torturing myself with these anonymous challenges to
strange men: "If you can pin me, you can fuck me." Replaying my revenge
on you, Steve, with men who didn't deserve the humiliation that you did.
Making them feel small and weak by defeating them, pinning them, mocking
them at losing a physical contest to a beautiful woman. It didn't make
things better. It didn't bring James back. What it did do was lead me to
one good man...a man you're trying to take from me...and I won't let you.
You want me, Steve? You're going to get me, and it's going to be the last
thing you ever get to do.
 
JACK:
All I can do is stall for time, but I can tell it won't do any good. He's
going to kill me if I don't tell him where Nikki is, and probably even if
I do. But I won't tell him. Won't let him near her, if I can do anything
about it. He knows I'm awake now. Best I can do is play dumb.
 
"Why are you doing this? I've never seen you before in my life. What have
I ever done to you?"
"You? You're nothing to me. You're an insect. But you know where that
bitch is, and you're going to bring her here. And I won't waste any
energy killing you with my bare hands, even though i could. I'm saving
that for her."
 
He shows me a gun, complete with silencer that he twists on to the
barrel.
 
"One shot, and you're gone, asshole. No one would know. They'll find your
body here chewed up by rats.  I used to come here to run my underground
fight ring before the cops shut it down. But that was more than a year
ago, and no one's been back since. You know why I chose this spot?"
 
"I don't even know what you;re talking about...how can I....?"
 
"The dumb-show act is wearing thin, Jack."  He puts the gun against my
temple. "You were with her twice at that same hotel. This year and last
year--to the day. I've been tracking her for years, waiting for the right
time. I could have gone after her last year, but I wasn't ready yet. And
she has a talent for disappearing. She kept slipping away, showing up in
some other part of the world. But then I started bribing the right
people, got rooms bugged. I knew she was coming back here to see you
again--for a wrestling match for the right to fuck her. So I started my
fight club here to be ready. And now I am."
 
So he knows. Knows about Nikki's challenges. And if our room was bugged,
he knows that...
 
"Did you beat her, Jack? No. Of course you didn't. She kicked your sorry
ass. I admit it--she's good--for a chick. She's got some moves, knows
some tricks. I know she told you what she did to me, even though she
never would have beat me if I knew she was planning to. I would have been
ready for her. Like I am now."
 
He takes out a cell phone and flips it open. "Call her. Tell her to be
here in half an hour or I'll put a bullet in your head."
 
"Don't waste your charger, asshole", I tell him, trying to sound less
terrified than I am. "I won't call."
 
"You don't have to, Jack."
 
The voice startles both of us. Husky, yet silky and sexy all at once.
Nikki steps out of the shadows, her long black leather trench coat
clinging to her legs in the cold of the dank basement. Neither of us can
find words, but I notice Steve tense up, and a slight tic twitches the
corner of his right eye and a look of hatred flashes across his face. She
glances quickly at me, a look that says "Don't worry..I'll get you out of
this", and then fixes a steely glare on my captor.
 
"Hey, Steve. Long time. How's the arm?"
 
Steve doesn't care for that reference. I see his giant ham of a fist
clench and release, clench and release again. He's glaring at Nikki and
hissing through an equally clenched jaw.
 
"Here's how it's going to be, you cunt. First, I'm going to blow a hole
in your boyfriend's head, and then I'm going to rip you to pieces. I'll
leave you just alive enough to fuck you, and then I'll finish you off.
Any last words for Jack?" 
 
The gun's at my temple again. I shut my eyes, and try not to give him the
satisfaction of whimpering. The next voice I hear is Nikki's, as calm as
if she's ordering from a dinner menu.
 
"Same old predictable Steve. I'm disappointed, actually. Thought maybe
you wouldn't be so scared this time."
 
Steve's eyes dart back and forth. He expected her to beg for my life, I
guess. And I was at least half hoping she would as well. But knowing
Nikki, she's already thinking two moves ahead. I can tell Steve doesn't
want to, but asks:
 
"What the fuck are you takling about?"
 
"Come on, Steve. Do I have to spell it out? We both know this is between
you and me. It has nothing to do with Jack. If you were really confident
you could beat me--straight up--man against woman--you wouldn't have to
kill Jack first. But back in that part of your tiny brain that can't
handle what I did to you seven years ago is a fall-back plan...you kill
Jack, and you hope it's traumatic enough for me that I lose my focus--get
emotional--maybe even cry like you expect a woman would...then you attack
me. It gives you an edge--an edge you need because you know--deep
down--one on one...that I can take you. You couldn't beat me seven years
ago, and you can't beat me now...not in a fair fight, anyway. And I gotta
say, Steve...that's kinda sad. I mean, I expect you've been using all
this time to get ready for a rematch...maybe took some boxing
lessons...hit the gym 6 or 7 times a week...but still, you can't bring
yourself to take on a girl in a straight-up fight, because you know
you'll lose. Same old Steve. A little fucking pussy in a big boy's body."
 
It's a hell of a gamble she's taking, but it seems to work. Steve takes
the gun from my head, and his breathing is almost out of control. I can
feel the hate coming off him like waves of heat from a grill. He tosses
the gun to the floor and I silently will Nikki to go scramble for it, but
she doesn't even move. Just stares at Steve with a wry smirk slightly
turning up the corners of her beautiful mouth.
 
"Have it your way, bitch. First I'll tear you to shreds, so you'll know I
didn't need any help beating you, and then I'll make you watch as I kill
this asshole."
 
"OK, Stevie. Let's see if you can back up those big tough words."
 
Nikki slinks out of her black leather trench coat. Underneath
she's wearing a skin-tight pair of black leather pants that hug her
perfect ass and accentuate her impossibly long legs. A pair of jet black
combat boots with a square heel add a couple of inches to her statuesque
height. It's damp and cold in this basement, so cold you can see your
breath with every exhale, but Nikki seems unaffected in a sleeveless
white T-shirt that clings to her long torso and shows off her smooth,
long, toned arms. Nikki is a fashion model--one of the world's most
beautiful women--but she's also an easy six-footer and a good 6'2" in
those combat boots, and she appears every inch the intimidating kick-ass
Judo and Jiu-Jitsu black belt I know her to be. I catch Steve staring
along with me as she gathers her long mane of black hair into a ponytail
and ties it behind her head, the subtle rise and fall of her toned biceps
popping with the movement.
 
I've never been so scared in my life. I fear I could die at any moment in
this godforsaken pit, and yet this woman's raw sexuality and
heart-stopping beauty is so overpowering, so mesmerizing, that I still
feel myself getting hard at the sight of her in those black leather
pants and white T-shirt, preparing for combat.
 
I'm starting to feel she'll get me out of this, until i notice Steve
shedding his own coat, revealing massive tree-trunk arms rippling with
veins tearing across muscles the size of softballs in his wife-beater
tank top. Even with Nikki at 6'2" he's got two more inches of height on
her and must out-weigh her by 100 pounds--all of it muscle. He hisses and
drops into a kind of karate or kung-fu stance and starts ripping at the
air with flashes of his hands in impossibly fast circles and jabs. He
lets out a roar as he does this, eyes bugging from his face, spittle
flying through his teeth. My heart sinks, my erection fades, and Nikki?
She actually laughs.
 
"Let me guess, Steve--you jerk off to Steven Segal movies, dont you?"
 
Steve's got no comeback for that one. Instead he bellows like an animal
and flies at Nikki with a series of thrusts and jabs aimed at her head.
She's able to evade these attacks with mongoose-like side-to-side head
moves and contortions of her upper body, but Steve's only missing by
millimeters. He's also following his arm attacks with spinning kicks that
have Nikki backing up and to the side and back again across the room. She
ducks and twists and turns and each time I wince because the margin of
error for her is razor thin. Steve's inches from connecting, and Nikki
doesn't have time to launch any kind of counter-attack.
 
I've wrestled Nikki. I've seen video of her wrestling other men. I've
seen her impressive Judo moves, her vice-grip jiu jitsu holds, but I
never knew she could move this fast. Her quickness is in fact the only
thing that's keeping her alive right now, and I hope beyond hope that
these near-miss salvos are at least tiring Steve out. After another wave
of attacks, I have my answer.
 
Steve rips a backhanded fist at Nikki's head. She cranes her neck
backward and a knuckle barely misses her lips. Still leaning backwards
she arches her body underneath a spinning kick and actually back-flips
out of harm's way like a gymnast on a mat, handspringing back once,
twice, and again, landing on her feet on the cold cement floor a good 30
feet back from Steve's original point of engagement. I wait for the sign
that these fruitless attacks have Steve gasping for air, and Nikki can
finally go on the offensive, but my heart sinks immediately as Steve,
barely breaking a sweat and as furious as a bull, comes straight at Nikki
again, no sign of fatigue hindering him at all.  
 
If Nikki's concerned, she doesn't show it. She stands stock still as
Steve approaches, and I can just see a flash of her black ponytail as she
ducks in succession under two fast jabs and a right cross aimed at her
head, and for the first time since the fight began, she strikes back.
Coming out from under her crouch Nikki takes a sharp upper-cut jab at the
side of Steve's body, nailing him right about where his kidney would be.
Steve grimmaces but it slows him down for less than a second, and Nikki
has to leap back as Steve twists his torso around like a dervish, huge
fists again missing his target by mere inches.
 
There's a heavy wooden table about 5 feet behind Nikki, streaked with
dried blood, probably from the victims of Steve's old Fight Club, and
Nikki flings her long arms backward as Steve advances again, arching her
back and grabbing the edge of the table while bringing her knees up
quickly to her chest in one fast motion. Steve's almost upon her when she
pushes off from the table, fully extending her long legs straight into
Steve's face. Her heavy boots connecting in tandem with Steve's mouth
send a spray of blood into the air as Steve's head snaps back and a groan
escapes his lips. He staggers back and I expect him to fall or at least
retreat, but instead he glares at Nikki and spits a broken tooth onto the
floor. I'm getting the feeling that no matter how hard Nikki hits this
beast, it won't be hard enough. She needs to use her best
skills--grappling and judo--to gain the upper hand, and I'm despairing
that she'll ever get the chance.
 
But Steve's ego may be his undoing. Only two blows have been landed in
this fight, and they both belong to Nikki. Her calm demeanor is also
getting into Steve's head. He's probably used to his opponents cowering
before him, and it's doubtful any of them ever kicked him square in the
face as Nikki just did. Nikki watches him as he spits more blood from his
mouth.
 
"Want to take a break, Steve? Maybe call one of your old frat buddies and
ask him how to fight a girl?"
 
Nikki's playing him like a fiddle. Any game plan Steve may have had seems
to go out the window as he rushes her again, this time going for a broad
tackle, arms out-stretched, trying to engulf her as he leaps in fury.
Nikki lets him come, and perfectly times a twist of her body as Steve's
bulk descends upon her. She lets his full momentum come through, gliding
him over her back and deftly grabbing his wrist on the way to complete a
full Judo "Ippon" throw. Steve's body strikes the hard floor hard, his
massive back taking most of the impact. My chair actually jumps with the
resulting reverberation. I'm desperately hoping this will keep him down
at least long enough for Nikki to get my hands free from the duct tape.
Not only do I want to get out, but I'd like to at least try to help her
defeat this bastard. But now that's just my male ego talking. She
probably wouldn't even let me.
 
 It's moot anyway because even as Nikki turns and approaches my chair
Steve's back off the ground and coming at her again. Turns out I am able
to help, because she's got her back turned to him and he's less than a
foot away when I yell "Nikki!" just in time to alert her.
 
Steve may have steeled his body to the point where a kick to the face, a
shot to the kidney, and a throw to a cement floor won't completely stop
him, but they have slowed him down a bit. He takes a large roundhouse
swing at the back of Nikki's head, but this time she ducks under the blow
with room to spare and while Steve is still off-balance from his swing
and a miss, she drops to the floor and gets her leather-clad legs tangled
in between Steve's, deftly taking out his plant foot at the ankle and
following through by lifting her other leg up under his thigh, thrusting
hard outward in a smooth motion that again sends Steve to the floor and
onto his side.
 
Nikki's down there with him and now she's in her element. I see her reach
for Steve's left wrist as he's trying to scramble to his feet. She grabs
hard with both her hands, setting him up for an arm-bar as she maneuvers
her legs to clamp down between his shoulder and wrist. If Nikki can
complete the hold, the fight's over. She can break his arm like she did
seven years back and we can walk out of here unscathed.
 
But something's wrong. I can tell by Nikki's face, showing the first
signs of real worry since the fight began. Her mouth is grimmacing in a
tight show of frustration. She doesn't have his wrist controlled well
enough in her hands, and without that grip just right her legs on those
tree-trunk arms won't have much effect. A combination of the sheer size
of his hands, the band of muscle around them, and the sweat pouring off
have Nikki fumbling for a proper grip and one of her hands comes loose.
She has to abondon the hold and instead tries to move her legs from
Steve's arm to either side of his ribcage, hoping to get a sharp enough
squeeze to snap a couple. It's a good idea but Steve shifts the heft of
his torso so he's lying on his back instead of his side and Nikki can't
get her thighs where she wants them.
 
Now she's straddling atop Steve and she knows there's no way she can pin
his arms down but before he can protect himself she does what she
can--she pulls her fist back and starts pummeling Steve with rapid
jackhammer blows flush in the nose--once, twice, three, and then
four times, until there's finally a soft kind of gushy sound with a hint
of splintering that's Steve's nose being broken. He lets out a howl of
pain and bucks his hips, pushing upward with his arms in a frenzy of
motion that tosses Nikki off him into the air. Nikki lands on her hip but
quickly rolls to her feet as Steve rises as well, cowering and covering
his broken appendage, backing away from Nikki, who smiles and moves in to
end it.
 
And this should be the end. I actually feel myself sigh with relief as I
see Nikki move with a confident swagger toward Steve, whose once handsome
face is now awash with his own blood from nose to mouth, his 6'4" frame
reduced to a slumping humpback of fear, knowing he's finished, knowing
he's tried everything he can to beat this woman and has come up far
short, and now has no recourse but to back away in anticipation of what
she can still do to him. But Steve literally stumbles upon a way out, and
my relief turns to dread in a flash.
 
In his backward retreat, Steve's foot knocks against the gun he earlier
tossed to the floor. The clatter it makes stops all three of us at once
as we all stare for an instant at the weapon. Steve grabs it up in
hungrily and nothing Nikki can say now--no taunting of his manhood--will
make him relinquish it.
 
Through his broken face Steve starts cackling like a madman. His only
indecision now is about which one of us to kill. His arm is shaky, but he
moves his arm back and forth, pointing first at me, then at Nikki, and
back again to me. Seems he's made up his mind.
 
"Back off, you cunt! I'll fucking kill him right now!"
 
Nikki is for once at a loss for words. She's less than a foot away from
Steve but she does what he says and takes a step back, staring at the
gun.
 
Steve finally feels like he's in control for the first time since the
fight started, and he wants to milk it. He's in no rush to shoot me. It's
the only advantage we have left.
 
"What now, huh? What are you gonna do now, bitch?" He's yelling at Nikki
without really looking at her. His broken nose is swelling up on his face
and his words are slurred through his swollen lips where Nikki kicked him
and broke a tooth. "I told you I was gonna kill your boyfriend and make
you watch...I told you so!"
 
The gun is still pointed in my general direction. I make a choice.
 
"Fuck it, Nikki", I say. "Finish him."
 
"I'll kill him!" Steve yells. "I mean it...one step and he's a dead man!"
 
"Get him, Nikki. By the time he's done shooting me you'll be beating him
into next week. I don't care. I'll die knowing this fucking scumbag had
his ass handed to him again by a girl. Take him down. Do it for me."
 
I'm counting on Nikki's instincts, her physical skill and speed, and that
she knows me well enough by now to realize I'm taking a page from her
book. Steve's a physically imposing guy, but mentally he's not the
sharpest knife in the drawer. If he was, he wouldn't waste his
opportunity debating a guy he's got tied up in a chair. Steve wheels
fully around to face me, pointing the gun squarely at my chest.
 
"Shut the fuck up! You think I'm playing here? You think I won't put a
bullet in your brain right...."
 
Out of the corner of my eye I see Nikki's first move--a judo roll on the
ground away from Steve's field of vision that places her right under his
nose. Steve catches the next flash as Nikki springs up from her crouch
and forces knocks Steve's hand holding the gun upward as she
simultaneously grabs his wrist. A barely audible "Pffft!" noise is heard,
followed by a sharp "ping" as a bullet clangs of off one of the metal
pipes stretching along the ceiling. Steve struggles to bring the gun back
down to chest level and as strong as Nikki is she can't compete with
Steve's massive arms. The gun is moving downward and Nikki knows she has
to try something else. She takes her other arm, crooks an elbow, and
smashes it directly into Steve's already damaged nose and he roars even
louder than before in the throes of pain. But he's also fired off another
shot in desperation, and it hits the floor inches from where I'm still
bound to the chair. Nikki's now worked the gun loose from Steve's grip as
he brings both hands to his face, but she's not sure if I've been hit,
and she turns to me, calling my name. It's a momentary lapse, but a
regrettable one.
 
I yell to her that I'm alright, and then my eyes grow wide as I see her
turn back towards Steve, too late to prevent his desperate spinning kick
from striking her full force in the stomach.
 
Nikki's body doubles in on itself as the force of Steve's kick sends her
flying backwards a good five feet. She hits the ground hard but her judo
training kicks in and she rolls as best she can to absorb the impact. She
comes to a stop underneath a long, metal drain pipe about ten feet above
her that's leaking rusty water onto the top of her head, which is the
least of her problems. Nikki's not making any sound, and I realize it's
because she can't breathe. Steve's kick has knocked all the wind out of
her and her body is in spasms trying to get air into her lungs. Her eyes
are closed and a look of horrible pain has marred her beautiful face.
She' completely vulnerable and fortunately for her Steve is still trying
to recover from her latest strike to his face, which is covered in his
own blood and mucus leaking from his damaged nose and mouth. For a brief
hopeful moment I'm wondering if Steve even realizes his kick connected,
and hope he'll maybe quit while he's behind and run off, but no such
luck. He's shaking his head back and forth, slowly, to minimize the pain
from his broken nose, but his eyes are starting to re-focus and he
catches sight of Nikki across the room, helpless and in obvious pain.
 
And here I am still stuck like a useless lump, duct tape keeping my hands
behind my back, taped to the bottom slat of this chair. But of everyone
in the room, I'm probably at this moment the least injured, so I force
myself to move, and one thing I'm able to do is slide the gun--which fell
near my foot when Nikki forced it from Steve's hand--underneath a rusted
out radiator, out of Steve's sight. There's a metal table near the chair,
long in dis-use, and the sides of the legs are jagged and rusty. I tip
myself over in the chair and nudge toward the table leg, maneuvering the
duct tape to the leg's ragged edge, moving my tied hands as much as I can
up and down the edge to rip through the tape.
 
Steve takes no notice of this. He's breathing through his mouth, watching
Nikki as she struggles to regain her breath, and he begins lumbering
toward her, slowly at first... fists pumping open and closed, open and
closed, as he gains momentum. I try to estimate how long it will take me
to get through the tape, which is starting to tear, and how far Steve has
to cross the room to get to Nikki, and I realize I'll never make it in
time. A cruel smile emerges through the blood on Steve's pummeled mouth,
as he picks up speed and prepares to strike Nikki a series of blows she
won't be able to recover from. All I can do is scream out her name and
watch Steve approach like an out of control freight train.
 
Then, I see Nikki stagger to her feet. Her legs are shaky, but the breath
has come back to her in a rush as she takes in as much air as she can,
her round, firm breasts heaving under her white T-shirt with the effort
to recover. She has less than a second or two before Steve will be on
her.
 
What happens next will forever remain one of the most amazing things I've
ever seen...a feat of almost superhuman accomplishment. Nikki crouches
and then jumps up to grab the pipe running above her head and grips it an
instant before Steve reaches her. Nikki's legs spread wide like a skier
hitting his apex point off a high jump, then snap back into a perfect
triangle leg lock that clamps itself around Steve's neck at the exact
moment he arrives. Steve lets out a strangled whimper that's a delicious
combination of surprise and pain. Nikki begins to tighten her leg lock,
her long legs in black leather slowly squeezing around Steve's neck as he
claws frantically at Nikki's boots to free her grip.
 
Steve's muscles are bulging. His desperation is evident, but Nikki has
locked her ankles and this is a jiu jitsu death grip she's practiced a
thousand times--albeit not hanging from a drain pipe in a shit-hole
basement. Steve continues to try and pry Nikki's ankles apart with the
pure strength of his arms, and maybe he could have succeeded...but Nikki
makes sure he doesn't have a prayer.
 
She takes a deep breath, closes her eyes, and my jaw hangs slack as I
watch her pull herself up towards the top of the above-head pipe--along
with a 225 pound man captive in her legs.
 
Nikki has completed her chin-up and Steve's legs flail wildly, as he
vainly tries to gain purchase on the floor out of reach below him.
Nikki's arms are showing off two perfectly round biceps--the size of
smooth billiard balls--as she holds herself and Steve above the hard
cement floor. Steve's still clawing at Nikki's feet, but he's getting
weaker by the second, his face is turning purple through the blood, and
with no way to push off from the floor, he has no leverage to use his
muscle. He resorts instead to balling up his fists, trying to strike
Nikki's legs...but by now the effort resembles that of a mousy actress in
a 1940's film noir, pitifully beating her tiny fists against the chest of
an impassive and uncaring hard-boiled detective who looks on more
with curiosity than even annoyance as she cries and calls him a cad.
 
After a few more seconds, Steve's arms drop to his side and his body
begins to twitch. Nikki releases her triangle lock, and Steve crumples to
the floor like a sack of hammers, his body still making involuntary
spasms. Nikki lets go of the pipe and drops to the floor, landing as
softly as a cat from a windowsill. She puts one boot on Steve's chest and
peers down at him. Then she crouches down next to him, undoes her
ponytail, and in a gesture comical in its femininity considering
the brutal martial punishment she inflicted on her opponent, gently
sweeps her hair to one side of her face as she speaks into Steve's ear.
Even though his eyes are starting to roll up in his head and the
twitching continues, i'm pretty sure he could hear every word, as I did
from halfway across the room.
 
"We both know you're not getting out of here alive, Steve. And just
before you die, I want the last thing you remember on this earth to be
the fact that you were once again beaten by a woman. That's right
Steve...I kicked your ass--again. And this time, there was a
witness--someone saw you get humiliated by the "weaker sex"...all those
girls you date-raped over the years...all the strutting you did, thinking
you were such a big man...what did it get you in the end,
Steve?....except the justice of having a woman half your size beat you
into submission. And you know what, Steve? I really, really enjoyed it."
 
Nikki's just finishing her speech as I free myself from the chair. My
legs buckle under me as I try to stand after the hours I've spent in
captivity and my skin tingles as the blood returns to my flow through my
arms. I steady myself just as Nikki approaches. There's no movie-style
embrace. Nikki still has blood on her mind and she wants to know only one
thing:
 
"Where's the gun, Jack?"
 
I make the mistake of reflexively glancing toward the radiator where I
hid the weapon from Steve. Nikki fixes me a quick look that says "Stay
out of my way" and retrieves the gun. She's walking calmly with it
towards Steve's now still body. He's unconscious, and I wonder if he's
even already dead, but Nikki leans down and checks his pulse, which still
must be beating because she stands back up and aims the gun at Steve's
head.
 
I will my legs to move, and it's painful, but I find myself standing next
to Nikki. She knows what I'm going to say before I can open my mouth.
 
"Don't try to stop me, Jack. I have to do this."
 
"No, Nikki, you don't. You don't have to be like him."
 
Her face darkens but she still won't turn to face me, keeping the gun
leveled at Steve's head. "Don't you dare compare me to him. He tried to
kill me. He would have killed you if I hadn't stopped him. He's a monster
who hates women and rapes them. He doesn't deserve to live."
 
"You're probably right, but you don't get to make that decision."
 
"That's your opinion, Jack."
 
She points the gun closer to Steve's head and without thinking about it I
reach down to grab her arm from firing the shot. Nikki shrugs my hand
from her wrist and transfers the gun to her other hand. Then she takes my
wrist in her right hand and in an instant twists it back, sending me to
my knees, holding me there like a child. The pain is excrutiating, and I
can tell she's holding me to a point just on the edge of breaking the
wrist. I don't doubt that she would, but through clenched teeth and
shooting pain I still speak to her:
 
"Nikki...don't...if you kill him, you'll never be free...you'll be hunted
the rest of your life...your career...everything you've worked for,
gone...you'll be a fugitive...wanted for murder..."
 
"No one will know."
 
"You'll know...you'll carry this with you the rest of your days...you're
not...you're not a murderer, Nikki..."
 
There's a terrible pause when I expect to hear the soft puff from the
silencer. The pain is so great in my wrist tears are blinding my eyes.
But I hear Nikki speak, and her voice trembles with her words.
 
"He won't stop, Jack. If I don't kill him, he'll come after me
again...and you...he can't live with the knowledge that you saw him
defeated in combat by a woman, and after he has his revenge on me he'll
come after you...he's full of hatred, Jack...and the next time, he won't
be looking for a fair fight...he'll abmush us, like the coward he is...I
won't have a chance to fight back, and neither will you....I have to do
this...I have to make sure he never enters our lives again..."
 
"There are other ways, Nikki...we can go to the police...he kidnapped
me...I'll testify...he has a record already, I'm sure...we can put him
away..."
 
"He'll get out. He'll never stop."
 
"Nikki...it just isn't you. Killing him...it's not your way...it's not
what your father would have wanted...it's not...it's not...what James
would have wanted."
 
Another awful pause, but the next sound I hear is Nikki sobbing. She
releases my wrist and the relief is immediate. She drops the gun, and
falls into my arms, burying her head in my chest and she continues to
release all her pent-up rage and sadness. It's the side of Nikki I know
is there, overshadowed most times by her sexuality and warrior persona.
The Nikki of compassion, love, even mercy. I stroke ker hair, let her
cry.
 
"Let's go, Nikki. let's just get out of here. We'll go back to the hotel
and plan our next move from there."
 
"Alright, Jack...I just...I can't think right now anyway. I just want to
get the hell out of here."
 
Nikki and I walk like zombies from the dark basement out into the first
break of daylight. A sliver of the first morning sun stuns us both and we
wince at its assault. Nikki's car is parked just behind mine, and she
gets in, looking at me with something like hope.
 
"Meet you back at the hotel?"
 
"Yes...we'll take off somewhere from there..somewhere he can't find us, I
promise...go ahead, I'll..."
 
I pat the side pockets of my pants. "What is it?", says Nikki.
 
"My keys...I forgot Steve has them...I'll just be a minute..."
 
"Let me go with you...he might wake up..."
 
"Nikki, after what you did to him, he'll be lucky to wake up by next
week. And even if he does come out of it, I hope you'll give me enough
credit that I could take him in the condition you left him in."
 
Nikki smiles. "I know you can take care of yourself, Jack, I'm sorry...I
just..."
 
"Nikki, forget it. Go. I'll meet you in just a little bit."
 
Nikki starts her car and drives off, leaving a trail of dust. I watch the
car to make sure she's turned the corner and go back inside. Steve shows
no signs of stirring, and I didn't expect him to. I find my keys easy
enough, fishing them out of his pocket, but that's only part of the
reason I came back.
 
Because Nikki's right. He won't stop. He'll come after us, make it his
life's sole purpose. We'll never get a chance to rest, to be happy, at
peace...together. And I'm right also. Nikki's no killer, and she
shouldn't be forced to live the rest of her life looking over her
shoulder. She shouldn't have to spend the rest of her life trying to
protect me, either. For once, I'm going to protect her.
 
I pick up the gun. I don't think twice. And fire only once.
 
 
(Please email comments or questions to Raxx at: kraxxll@yahoo.com)