13
'Mr Rushton?'
Padaleki's voice sounded again down the corridor. Traff pushed himself further back against the cabinet. Shit! He thought he might have had enough time to get into the white rooms and try to question Starsky and the blond. What was he supposed to do now? He could either hide, hope the man wouldn't find him and then try to make his way back upstairs, or he could bluff his way out. He decided on the latter and suddenly burst out of the room, rushing up the corridor towards the owner.
'Mr Padaleki! Thank goodness. I was…um….needing to….um….drain the main vein , so to speak and I think I took a wrong turning. Ended up down here'. He feigned discomfort. 'Can you point me in the right direction? It's getting a little urgent!' he smiled a wan smile.
Padaleki's eyes narrowed but he said nothing and took hold of Traff's arm. 'Certainly, yes. It's understandable. It is a bit of a rabbit warren down here. Wouldn't want a prospective investor to be watering his shies huh?'
They backed up through the big white door and Padaleki showed Traff to a sumptuous navy blue and white tiled bathroom. Traff went inside and shut himself inside a cubicle, waiting for a while before emerging and washing his hands, His mind was working overtime. Did he have enough now to tell Dobey? What evidence would the big black Captain need to be able to close this club down? He'd see the facilities and he'd been told about the fighting, but it wasn't illegal if the fighters were all volunteers. And the men he'd spoken to had seemed happy enough. Damn! He needed to see a fight and he needed to see why his two friends were there, hurt and segregated from the rest.
He adjusted his cuffs and straightened his collar in the mirror, his green eyes staring back at him in mockery. Great undercover work Tommy! For Gods sake get something concrete back to Dobey and get Curly and Blondie out of here NOW!
Traff went out of the bathroom, meeting up with Padaleki again. He smiled in mock relief. 'Thanks. I needed that! Too many G&Ts before I came out'.
He followed quietly as the owner took him back up to the ground floor.
'Do you want to watch a match before you make up your mind?'
Traff nodded. 'Sure. Is there something on tonight?'
'No, we close on Mondays. It gives the boys time to rest up between bouts. It isn't much of a show if they're too tired. And the crowd won't pay if the fighting isn't first class. Maybe you could come back tomorrow. We have a good schedule then. We have three fights, but the stars of the night will be two men who've never fought together in the arena before. They're quite new and very well matched'.
'Yeah? What're their names?' Traff asked with a sudden feeling of dread.
'Oh, we don't go by names here. Most of the boys quite like the anonymity. We have colours and numbers instead. The two guys tomorrow – the ones I was telling you about. They'll make quite a show. We've got heavy forward bets on them already. They'll be real money makers, those two'. Padalei smiled appreciatively.
'OK, so what do I look out for then? Which numbers?'
The owner leaned forward conspiratorially. 'I don't usually pass on tips. But, hey, for new money! These two fight like tigers. And not just with their fists. They really think about their next moves. Brings another dimension to the fight, you know. We got them both at the same time and they're pretty equally matched, but the blond stands just a little taller and he's a bit heavier. I'd put my money on him, although the dark haired one is like a terrier dog. All fire and brimstone. He won't go down easy'.
Traff's stomach turned, hearing his two friends described like animals and his mind went back to the betting that had taken place in 'Nam when bears were held on chains and encouraged to rip each other to shreds. He plastered a bland look onto his face. 'And their numbers?'.
We've designated them as Blue 1 and Green 1. Green is the blond. I'd go all out on him'.
They'd reached the front door now and Padaleki held out his limp cold hand again, happy that this new prospective investor seemed interested enough to come back tomorrow.
'Mention my name at reception and I'll have complimentary tickets for you and a guest. Best seats in the house!'
Traff shook the slimy hand. 'Well, till tomorrow then. Um….just one thing, Mr Padaleki. The white corridor I found by accident. What are the rooms for?'
A shadow fell across the owner's face, but it was a fleeting look and the small man forced himself to smile. 'Isolation wing. Sometimes, when the men get colds and the like, we ask them to spend some time in there. Saves infecting the rest of the boys. There's no-one there at the moment. They're all A1 – as you'll see tomorrow'. The owner suddenly seemed too anxious to get Traff out of the place and the soldier obliged, wanted to rid himself of the small slimy man and the evil place. He tipped a smile back at the owner, and left without a backwards glance.
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'It's a good clean operation for the most part – till you get through that door, then its more like a prison wing' Traff told Dobey an hour later. It was almost midnight and the police captain looked absolutely drained. If it was possible for him to look pale, then he did and the huge black circles under his eyes made hi m resemble a panda. His eyes drooped and he ran his fingers through his short, wiry hair.
'And you saw them?'
Traff nodded. 'Yeah. I've seen 'em in better shape, but other than cuts and bruises, they just seemed exhausted. They were both asleep, or drugged. I was gonna try an' get into the rooms, but then Padaleki came back and I had to scarper quick'.
At that moment a uniformed officer knocked on the door and came in. He smiled at Traff, handed a large manila folder to Dobey and left without a word. Dobey opened the file and started to read, a furrow appearing between his upraised eyebrows.
'Joseph Padaleki. Born Poland. Raised in New Jersey. Various misdemeanours as a youth. Spent some time in custody at age 16 for arranging cock fights. Then he disappeared off the scene until about 5 years ago. We have a report from police in Seattle. Padaleki was involved in setting up a club for bare fist fighting. The police closed it down after there were allegations of coercion and then two deaths. He was later…..Shit!'
'It would appear our friend Padaleki is keen on using experimental substances to enhance performance'. The big brown eyes looked into startling green ones. 'Maybe to force men to fight? What d'ya think? Is that one step too far?'
Traff blew out his cheeks. 'Dunno. They seemed well out of it, but like I said, I couldn't get to talk to 'em because he found me. He seemed to buy the investor thing though. I guess I need to go back tomorrow night to watch the show huh? he was talking about a blond called Green and another fighter who 'Came in' at the same time – Blue. I thinks that's Curly an' Hutch. We need to get 'em out of there tonight'.
Dobey sat back in his chair. 'We have 18 hours, give or take. I want to get more men in there as back up, with you as a front ok? Can you handle it?'
The dark haired soldier nodded. 'No problem. How many men are we talking about? We need to find a balance to make sure we aren't too conspicuous'.
'I'm thinking four men, and maybe we can get a woman to go as your "date" for the night. Leave it with me. Go home and get some sleep. Can you be back here for, say, 6:00pm tomorrow?'
Traff nodded and got up slowly. 'We need to get 'em out of there, Cap. If they are using some kind of drug, it'll get bloody'.
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'Get them ready. We have a big investor coming tonight and I've promised him a good show. I want those two ready to fight'.
Padaleki stood in his wood panelled office next morning, cigar smoke curling around his head looking like a satanic halo.
Matwick wrung his hands and bobbed his balding head. 'they've both got severe bruising, Sir. Um….they would provide a better show next week maybe. I need to make the final test on the drug. I need to be sure that it's powerful enough to overcome even a bond like they share. If it doesn't they….' He tailed off as Padaleki fixed him with a stare.
'Are you telling me that your wonder drug might be flawed?' he asked angrily.
'No, no. It'll be fine!' Matwick gabbled. 'It's just with those two…..They're very strong minded you know. With others it will definitely work'.
'But that's why we took them for you' the owner ground out. 'You said they were the most strong willed guys you could think of. Are you telling me now that all our hard work won't pay off?'
Matwick almost bent double as he grovelled in front of his boss. 'It'll be fine. They'll have no choice. I'll increase the dosage past maximum. You'll have a good show Sir'.
'I will have a good show' Padaleki said icily. 'You wouldn't like to be on the receiving end of some of your experiments, would you?' he threatened. Make it worth my while and I'll give you a bonus. Fail, and, well….'
The doctor visibly paled as he backed out of the room, trickles of nervous sweat coursing down the side of his florid face. He closed the door behind him and hurried back down the corridor.
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'Get up' the guard nudged the bond with the toe of his boot. Green opened his eyes with a soft groan, pushing himself up into something like a sitting position.
'What're ya gonna do?' he asked quietly.
'We're going for a little walk. You'll like it. You've got a big night ahead of ya' the big an leered as he saw the fear flash across Green's face. The blond couldn't remember why, but each time he saw the white uniformed orderlies, a deep throb of pain set up in his body and he felt a feeling of dread.
Green pushed himself to his feet and submitted quietly to having the cuffs and collar buckled around him, his hands being pulled behind him and secured there with a chain that fed back up to the collar. Without another word, the orderly pushed him forward and he walked tiredly up the white corridor and into a shower room. He felt a sudden feeling of dread, but quietly, the two guards unclipped his wrists and watched as he stepped out of his pants. As they secured the chain from his collar to the eyelet in the tiled wall and handed him a tablet of soap, they stood back.
Green enjoyed the feeling of the shower. It went a little way to reviving him and the hot water eased the tension in his bruised muscles. He soaped his body and winced at the various small hurts The guard turned off the water and handed him a towel, watching in a bored manner as he dried himself and handed him another towel to wrap around his hips. Taking hold of his arms, the guards pushed him through another door and into a room he'd never seen before.
It was curtained off into small cubicles, each with a table at its centre as he was pushed towards the closest. As he entered, he caught sight of an olive toned, tanned and muscular body on a table in the next cubicle. It lay on its back and a masseuse was working his hands up the brown furred chest. At the movement of the curtains, indigo eyes opened and looked directly at green, making him feel both ill at ease and at the same time, oddly comforted.
His guard pushed him towards the table and as he lay down, they fastened the chain from his collar to the metalwork. Moments later, a large muscular man entered curtained off area and Green closed his eyes as an intense, but soothing massage began.