A Cup of Coffee

A Jack Reacher Fan Fiction Story

By Fictional420

Please note that I DO NOT own Jack Reacher and that the original books were written by Lee Child

Jack Reacher opened his eyes and felt his body jolt a little as the bus stopped. He looked out the window, he was in Jacksonville. Reacher figured that they served coffee somewhere, who doesn't? He walked through the aisle of seats and to the front of the bus where he thanked the driver and stepped out into the night air. It was a quarter to eleven o'clock according to the internal clock in his head, some places should be able to serve coffee at this time. Decent coffee he hoped. Reacher scanned the street and watched the bus drive away, few cars were left on the road. He spotted a small cafe, from where he stood it looked clean enough. He made his decision and started walking.

The cafe was clean and bright, its lights made it stand out from the dark and dimly lit street. Multiple booths lined the wall, and behind the counter, a tired, young waitress glanced up as he walked in. Reacher found a booth at the end of the cafe where he could see the reception, the door where he came in from and outside, through the window. The tired waitress came over, she probably had a rough night. Reacher could see that they served alcohol here, maybe a couple of guys came here, got drunk and became a problem. It wasn't a very rare scenario.

"Hi, I'm Samantha and I'll be serving you tonight." said the waitress, forcing a smile. "Can I get you something?"

Reacher smiled back, not wanting to give the tired Samantha any problems while he was there. "Coffee, please."

Samantha attempted to hide her mild confusion, "Coffee, is that all?"

Reacher guessed that most people would order food with it, but he just wanted something to drink. "Yes, no cream, no sugar."

Samantha nodded and started walking behind the counter and Reacher leaned back and watched the street.

Until then, the street had been empty with only a couple of cars passing by. But now, there were four men stumbling and shuffling on a drunken path towards the cafe Reacher was in. He watched them. They were clearly very drunk, Reacher was surprised they were managing to walk without spewing everywhere. They shoved each other and tumbled through the door as Samantha brought Reacher his cup of coffee, she was trying to stay as far as possible from the drunken men as she walked back towards the counter.

"Can I help you gentlemen?" she asked, from behind the safety of the counter.

The leader of the four turned around and put his hands on the top of the counter and Samantha inched backwards a step.

"We'd all like some beer, young lady," said the man, clearly struggling to string the words together.

"We don't serve alcohol to intoxicated people," said Samantha. "Can I get you something else?"

The man clearly wasn't happy and he slammed his hands on the table, making Samantha take some more steps back.

"Look 'ere, we asked nicely for some bottles o' beer, lady!" he slurred, "It ain't a hard question."

"I'm sorry, sir, but I can't serve you any beer," said Samantha, nervously.

Reacher took a long sip from his cup of coffee and slid out from behind the booth and tapped the drunk man's shoulder as he was about to raise his next complaint. The drunk guy spun around and Reacher could smell beer on his breath.

"Hey, she can't give you beer okay? You're drunk." said Reacher.

The man wasn't listening, his drunk brain just wanted beer and logic no longer existed. "She can, or I'll get it myself. It got nothin' to do with you." he said, pushing Reacher back.

Reacher sighed, this was not going to end as well as he had hoped. "Are you deaf?" Reacher asked. "Let me explain it to you, all in words of one syllable, then you'll understand. You. Can. Not. Have. Beer." said Reacher. "You. Are. Drunk."

The man seemed to understand that he couldn't have beer anymore, not because he was drunk though. Because of Reacher. In the drunk man's head, Reacher was now a problem, something preventing him from getting what he wanted. Something to get rid of. "Get out of my sight, you," garbled the man, "Or we'll take it outside."

Reacher didn't mind a fight, he could handle himself fine. He could handle himself since his early childhood. So he said, "Alright, outside."

The man seemed amused, in a stupidly drunken way. "Really?" he said, "Can ya count? There are four of us and one of you." he sneered.

Reacher walked to the door and opened it for them, "Bring four more of you and it'll be a fair fight." he said, "Outside. Now."

The drunk man and his buddies started filing out the door. "Should I call the cops? An ambulance for you?" asked Samantha.

"The cops won't be necessary," said Reacher. "I won't need an ambulance, they probably will when I'm done... persuading them."

Samantha just stared at him nervously as he exited the cafe and out onto the empty street. The men were waiting for him in a half-circle facing the door. The street wasn't lit very well apart from the light coming from other late-night shops and from the cafe windows behind Reacher. No cars drove by, it was almost midnight, people were sleeping or staying at home watching movies. Nobody should be able to see them.

"You still want to do this?" said the leader. "I can let you off, we can make a deal."

"I should be the one saying that to you," replied Reacher. "But I won't let you off, and I don't make deals."

The leader didn't say anything, he just shook his head and smiled. He started running. He and his three buddies thought they were pretty strong, that they were the top. Maybe they were, compared to the other people around here. But they were nothing compared to Reacher. Reacher grew up in the army and hadn't been out longer than five days. In the army he was a military policeman, every person a guy arrested was a trained killer. The soldiers fought armed and unarmed, they knew how to kill fast and silent. They were dangerous. So a military policeman was trained better. Better armed and unarmed. Better fast, better silent. The drunk guys? Nothing but civilians, a bunch of idiots who wouldn't last a minute against a guy like Reacher.

The drunk guy was in range and swung a fist at Reacher. Reacher saw it coming and ducked under. The drunk guy had too much energy and stumbled past Reacher who thrust his elbow against the side of his head and kicked his legs out from under him. Reacher heard the bones in the guy's right leg snap, he had kicked him with his left foot, a small mercy. Had Reacher used his right, the guy's legs would have bone splinters coming out through his leg. The man managed a small yelp before his head hit the concrete, Reacher figured he wouldn't have to worry about him later. One down, three to go.

Reacher knew that in every group there is a hierarchy. There's the leader, their enthusiastic followers and then a couple of reluctant ones. The reluctant ones always run. So really, when it's four on one, it could be reduced to three or two who actually fight. Out of the three remaining drunk men, the next two rushed at Reacher. They were side by side, a mistake. Reacher stepped forward directly in the middle of the two followers and used both elbows to hit the side of his heads. As they fell Reacher punched the one on his left in the stomach and kicked the other again in the head. Both of them were going to the hospital for a couple of days. The last man was hesitant, he wasn't smart enough to run. Reacher sped towards him and launched a punch at his jaw. The man fell down hard and Reacher grabbed hold of his wrist and squeezed until he felt bone crunch.

"You come back here ever again and I'll double your time in hospital. You'll never know when I'll be here." said Reacher.

Reacher then hit the guy in the head, a slight concussion and a headache, adding to the list the guy was gonna wake up with.

Another in the hospital joining his buddies. Reacher turned and went back to the cafe, leaving the four unconscious men on the sidewalk. They'll wake up with one hell of a hangover. He saw Samantha emerge from a door behind the counter. She seemed calm, she probably didn't see the fight. Or the four unconscious men on the sidewalk.

"You call an ambulance?" asked Reacher.

"Yeah, they'll be here soon," replied Samantha. "I got you a cup of coffee, a fresh one. In a takeaway cup too. I'm assuming you don't want to be around when the ambulance gets here."

Samantha passed him a coffee cup, it was a paper one with a lid. Still hot.

Reacher half smiled, "Right."

Reacher took the cup, "They won't be bothering you again any time soon."

Reacher started moving towards the door, "Thank you, I guess..." said Samantha.

Reacher smiled and stepped out into the dark street. He headed back the way he came, towards the highway. He figured he'd head south, maybe visit that place his brother Joe mentioned before. Margrave was it? Reacher had nothing else to do, might as well head there. Reacher walked on, an ambulance passed by, sirens blaring. Reacher kept walking, a cup of coffee in his hand.

THE END

Thank you for reading, I really appreciate it! If you could go back and leave a review for me that would be really great. Any constructive criticism will be helpful, not abuse. If you do feel that you want to rave on about something stupid, PM me, don't annoy the other decent people trying to leave a nice review.