The Eternal Defiance Read online

  Harrison by passed the long line to “The Dog Crew Nightclub”. Man… if looks could kill he thought as he glanced back at the party-goers still waiting their turn in the queue.

  The hundred dollar note he shoved in the bouncer’s top pocket won him over like a charm, and he assertively stepped through the entrance doors of the club. The Dog Crew was one of the swankiest places in town and only the who’s who got in.

  The room was dimly lit and immediately he surveyed the situation and sourced out his target. His thoughts were on the job he was paid for, and his guess was that his target must have pissed off someone pretty high up; to pay the amount of money he was offered to do the poor bitch in.

  The edge of the dance floor was jam-packed of eager males eying and ogling for the next pretty pickup. Females danced and teased in their scanty tight nightwear. Glitter and light flashed as they moved seductively on the floor well aware of the male audience in their view.

  A burst of noisy laughter coming from one of the private booths in the far corner took his attention and he veered toward it.

  Harrison had studied the girls file for a week and knew she wouldn’t be too hard to convince in leaving with him. Also he never left home without his trusty Glock which was tucked just inside his right boot for reassurance, just in case he needed backup.

  Since stepping into the club Harrison felt all eyes upon him. He was a good looking guy and knew it. There was never any shortage of female admires. He dressed well and moved with self-confidents which usually gathered the unwanted attention of most jealous boyfriends.

  A slender female stepped into his view and flashed her bright blue eyes in his direction, blocking the way to the slim stairwell that stood between him and his target. “Hello hansom,” she said in a soft mischievous tone.

  “Maybe another time,” Harrison responded with a playful wink.

  She giggled slightly and went on her way.

  Now that his path was clear, Harrison walked up the two step stairs toward the booth. With the loud music beating in the background, quickly he regained his composure and gave a thought about to what he was going to say to the mark. This job was different to his usual jobs. He didn’t have to kill this one, but rather take her back to her gangster boss where he wanted the pleasure in killing her himself.

  A whistle ripped through the stale air piercing his eardrum, scattering his thoughts as he moved with poise toward the booth where two men and a woman sat sculling shots, each man with his own slutty looking woman hanging off an arm.

  As Harrison approached their table one of the men noticeably saw him coming and his stern face froze as he advanced toward them. The other one glanced at his buddy’s surprise and then turned in Harrison’s direction.

  The guy on the right pushed his flirty female out of the booth and she hurtled onto the floor, leaving her short skirt wrapped around her waist. “Hey dude this is a private party. Get your kicks somewhere else.”

  Harrison stood his ground and didn’t move a muscle, glancing from side to side to the obvious hired muscle. “Blake Forbes you need to come with me.”

  The two women obviously knew their place leaving the table and walked toward the crowded bar giving the men a wide berth.

  “Who’s asking?” the woman in the middle responded warily.

  “Mr Smith your boss is asking,” Harrison replied staring directly at the white Caucasian female. Her dark long hair was pulled back in a light pony tail which framed her face perfectly. An unexpected and odd feeling came over him as he gazed down at her sparkling emerald green eyes. She was a stunner alright, but he needed to keep his thoughts on the job at hand.

  There was silence for a second other than the loud rap music thumping in the club. When both dark males on each side of her stood up, their facial features changed to that of a prowling cougar and hovered quickly to Harrison’s side. Both nearly seven foot, towered over him breathing warm fumes of vodka down his neck.

  Considering his next move Harrison was just about to reach for his weapon when one of the males threw a week punch towards him, but Harrison saw it coming and weaved quickly out of the way.

  Harrison snapped to attention and grabbed his arm, twisted it behind his back and flipped him over, sending his forehead straight into the table in front of him, rendering him unconscious and then landed on the floor in a heap. The bigger they are the harder they fall.

  The other male to Harrison’s right wasn’t as hesitant as he went for the groin kick.

  Harrison blocked, jumped and threw a roundhouse kick, followed by a quick hook kick to his opponent’s chest.

  Stunned for only a second he returned with his own karate moves. Both hitting and kicking back and forward neither one giving up the fight. Tables broke. Glasses flew as both men delivered equal blows.

  Finally… the big man dropped after a punishing two minutes when Harrison delivered a devastating blow to the man’s head while he was on his knees.

  There was no time for a breather when he noticed the crowd on the dance floor open up. A huge security guard with shoulders wider than a normal sized door width heed through leisurely and made his way to the private booth. “Yo man, everything okay here?” he asked in a deep husky voice.

  “It’s all good my man, we’re just leaving,” Harrison stated while straitening his Armani suit jacket and then wiped his blooded nose with the back of his hand.

  “It’s okay, the gentleman is leaving now that he’s broken up my man Quin’s face,” Blake said unperturbed and waved the security guard away.

  While keeping an eye on all opponents Harrison was still aware of the guard only moving a few feet away, but still floating in the vicinity. “I’ve been instructed by my client Mr Smith to collect you and bring you back to his ranch where… I assume he intends to interrogate you. But… none of my business,” he announced calmly.

  The woman now looked noticeably tenser when she hissed, “you’re kidding right?”

  “Sorry I couldn’t be more discrete but time is money,” he responded.

  “Really well you can tell my boss he can kiss my ass,” and threw down another shot of Vodka, ignoring his ever growing annoyance.

  “So… you want to do it the hard way. That’s fine by me,” Harrison proclaimed.

  He scanned his surroundings once more keeping track of all looming rivals. When his first opponent had regained consciousness and decided to re-join the fight with a body tackle.

  Both plunged across the room smashing hard against a group of party goers sending one woman airborne. But luckily for Harrison one onlooker broke his fall. He bounced like a spring to his feet leaving his groggy attacker to stagger slowly to his knees.

  With one swift movement Harrison rolled underneath him spinning his body throwing a karate elbow strike to the back of the neck and drove his face hard, fair into the carpet and knocked him out cold.

  The security guard came from his left charging his fist directly toward his face, but his fast reflexes saw it coming and ducked quickly.

  Rapidly manoeuvring a roundhouse kick Harrison swung, snapped his foot landing on the guys jaw and sent him flying into the crowd.

  But the big guy wouldn’t stay down. He charged at him again.

  Quickly Harrison side stepped him, lifted his arm and whipped it fair into his Adams apple and crashed him to the ground once more.

  Frozen with fear splashed across Miss Forbes’s face she sat quietly in the booth where she hadn’t moved. “Get your but off the chair-woman. It’s time to go,” Harrison demanded not even breaking into a sweat as he marched toward her.

  Harrison reached forward, wrapped his hands around her small waist, tugged her out of the booth and dragged her ass toward the exit of the nightclub with all onlookers watching in horror. “I told you we could’ve done it the easy way,” he said holding his arm tight against her back so she couldn’t run.

  “Smith is going to kill me you know. I’m not going back there,” she stated as they stepped outside into t
he fresh night air.

  “Well that’s between you two. I’m not your babysitter,” Harrison responded as he paraded the beauty along the unoccupied street.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Precipitously Harrison felt a tug and an unnerving feeling in the pit of his stomach as he led Miss Forbes toward his vehicle parked just across the street. He pressed the alarm button off and the car beeped, echoing in the still dead of the night.

  The recent light shower had left a lingering fresh aroma in the air that reminded him of home just before a dust storm. And the mirrored reflection splashed across the tarred road had a sense of cleansing to it as if it had somehow just washed all the scum away. But it was too quiet and the alarm bells were beginning to ring. Something was telling him to keep his wits about him and don’t let his guard down for a second.

  Once again a shiver ran up Harrison’s spine as he opened the passenger side door. Danger was near, he just knew it! So he swiftly shoved Miss Forbes in, attached a pair of handcuffs to her wrist and to the car door and then slammed the door shut.

  Rapidly he progressed around the BMW and watched for any looming enemies. His heart began to pound hard against his chest as he noticed an approaching vehicle screech around the corner a few metres away and veer toward them.

  He reached for the door handle and what felt like slow motion his door flung open just in the nick of time.

  A spray of bullets sailed toward them and penetrated the soft metal just inches from his fleeing body. The sound of fire ricocheted off the pavement close by and into the still night air, leaving a cloud of gun smoke in the aftermath.

  But… not all had passed without contact. Harrison clenched his shoulder and gripped the pain that ripped through his soul. His stomach involuntarily began to heave and wrench toward his throat, but somehow kept it down for now.

  A deep sense of dread began to wade over him which took his thoughts back to the jungle. Get a grip man! Just get in the car before they come back and finish you off.

  Gradually he pulled himself up off the wet ground and climbed into the driver’s side without even a word or a glance at the woman sitting next to him.

  Hesitantly he sucked in a deep breath and glanced at the bullet wound that had torn the fabric and flesh from his shoulder, leaving the bone protruding through the bloody mess.

  A cloudy haze swept over his eyes as he turned on the ignition, put his foot down on the pedal and drove off down the narrow street toward the highway.

  Vaguely he noticed Miss Forbes glance in his direction. He could hear the resonant sounds as she spoke, but could only work out some of the words. “Your hit, Pull over… before you kill us both…” she yelled.

  He gave the stranger a fleeting look ignoring her demands and kept on driving toward Mr Smith’s mansion, all the while he attempted to keep his mind from drifting off into the darkness.

  All of a sudden he could feel the presence of her warm touch on his arm and her distracting voice that kept him awake. But his mind was elsewhere and panic began to set in. What are you doing man? Where do you think you’re going and how far do you think you’re going to get? He thought.

  “Hello…! Whatever your name is I think you should go to the hospital,” he heard her say.

  “No, I’ll be fine it’s just a flesh wound,” he said still attempting to keep up the convincing façade.

  “Well… at least pull over and let me drive. I swear I’m not going to run! I couldn’t leave you in this state anyway, even though you have taken me captive. And I’m quite well aware of my soon to be execution,” she said with a sarcastic tone.

  He knew she was right! He had to put his trust in this stranger now. This stranger that he’d initially was to send to her demise and now… she was the one who had the say—if he lived or died.

  With not much time left on his side and so close to passing out, Harrison veered off to the side of the road, swerved in the loose gravel and came to a sudden halt just metres from the edge of an endless cliff drop.

  “Far out— you like living dangerously,” She barked with one hand gripped on the door rest and the other fastened around his arm tightly.

  The car headlights shined on the guard rail inches away from the passenger side door revealing how close they were to going over the edge.

  Miss Forbes’s face said it all as she stared at him in horror.

  “Okay…” he said. “You drive then! Go left at Simpson Drive. Stay on that road until you get to the end where you come to a lake. You’ll find a house with large iron gates. Let me know when you get there.”

  Knowing it was time to hand the rains over to the woman, Harrison leant over, unlocked the cuffs and slipped them off her wrist. There was no room between the door and the guard rail to open it he noticed. “Swap with me!” he rasped on the verge of unconsciousness.

  With every ounce of strength Harrison had left, he lifted the woman up and over the console. She felt warm and inviting as he gripped his hands around her waist, gradually eased her over the top of him, and then dragged his butt over to the passenger seat.

  “What about a doctor?” she asked concernedly.”

  “Just go.

  The woman put the car into gear, veered the BMW back onto the highway and followed his instructions down the road. “By the way… I’m Blake! And you are?”

  A minute had passed and he gave some thought to her question carefully before answering. “Harry King,” he responded, then gave up the struggle to stay conscious and let the blackness that beckoned him take over.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Sharply Harrison popped open his eyes with a sense of relief to find that they had pulled in, and parked in front of the large iron gates. “44897,” Harrison announced.

  Blake pressed the code into the intercom and she proceeded ahead as they opened. “This place is like fort Knox. You don’t get too many visitors I’m gathering,” Blake muttered with a light tone.

  Intentionally Harry ignored her comment, moaned and said, “do you think I’d still be alive if my enemies found out where I lived,” he responded.

  “Well… they nearly succeeded tonight.” she proclaimed.

  “You could say that!”

  Blake changed the subject and turned her attention to the large magnificent surroundings ahead. “This place is nice!” she indicated as they drove through the sculptured gardens that hugged the long winding driveway which eventually came to an old mansion nestled next to a lake.

  The earlier clouds had lifted to reveal a clear night leaving the moons reflection shimmer across the surface producing a superlative glow.

  Harry thought what a sight for sore eyes as they pulled up out the front of his home.

  “It was built at the turn of the century,” he stated.

  “Nice… you must be doing well for yourself then huh…?”

  Finally Blake turned off the engine. “I do all right!” he replied and attempted to climb out of the car unassisted. “Woman— get your ass into gear and give me a hand out of the car will you?” He added.

  With her aid Harrison pressed the finger printed code pad and opened the large front doors. “I’ll get the first aid kit and a bottle Scotch, I think I’m going to need it,” Harrison suggested as they headed inside and up the staircase toward the bedrooms.

  They entered the master bedroom with a four posted king size bed and a bathroom to the left with a hot tub in the middle. “Do you think you could help and stitch me up at all?” He requested.

  Blake turned to him with a look of repulsion splashed across her face. She finally answered, “Um… I don’t know... I guess so.”

  Harrison left the room and returned shortly after with a tray of surgical instrument and an I.V bag. He gave her a, it’s okay look and she helped him up onto the bed.

  What have I got myself into? This woman’s going to be trouble—I just know it, he thought before giving her a concerning glare.

  Harrison stuck the I.V needle into his vein with antibiotics and his
own concoction of feel—good medicine.

  Blake helped by cutting his bloodied shirt off with scissors baring the battle scars across his other shoulder leaving him to feel just a little un-nerving with this woman watching his every move.

  “Be warned I could throw up on you at any moment,” Blake blurted with a pale shade of green brushed across her cheeks. She gradually dipped a clean cloth into some warm water and began to clean the wound. “Lucky… it looks like the bullet has gone clean through.”

  Close to a blackout he took another swig of the bottle of Scotch and then proceeded to stitch the huge gash in his shoulder with a needle and thread.

  Finally it was done. The medicine in the drip had begun to take effect and slowly he started to drift off thinking about those gorgeous emerald green eyes of hers which seemed to light up and sparkle like gems when she looked in his direction. Or… maybe it was just the drugs working, he thought hazily.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Smith’s ranch

  “I want him dead!” Smith pressed the button on the cordless phone and slammed it down onto the kitchen bench. “Why are you still standing there? Make sure that bastard is dead, and bring Miss Forbes to me now.”

  “Yes sir…” One of Smith’s men responded as he jumped to attention while standing near the doorway and then exited just as quickly.

  Willy Smith is a distant cousin to the Bray crime family, one of the most well-known notorious families for organized crime in London, but still a powerful and dangerous crime boss in his own right and one of the most feared gangsters in London. He was known to the authorities for being involved in large-scale robberies, assaults, arson, prostitution and murder. He’s known to have made hundreds of millions of dollars from gambling, extortion, and other criminal activities, but the FBI have yet to catch him out on anything illegal.