Twenty-Two:

My nerves danced ablaze as I stood with the 38. Caliber pointed at my face. Licking my lips, I folded my hands into my jean pockets on either side, and I casually swished my finger along with my smartphone screen, and I pressed at the bottom-center of the screen three times, hopefully activating my last number back to Henry.

“Hands where I can see them bitch!”

Ronny snarled out in a grave tone and even I felt the edge of his raw violence a bit perturbing. There was something more visceral, something primal about this. He had a nearly manic look I had seen in the eyes of abusers before. He was not going to be talked down, that was one thing I was certain of at this moment.

“Chill out, you can clearly see where my gun is. No need to shoot one off preemptively or anything!”

He glared at me as I giggled in a slightly dry tone.

“I’ve never understood your brazenness when you are looking down death. You’ve been very fucking lucky to make it to twenty-nine the way you dare to test your betters, girl!”

His southern sexism was on full display now. I had never liked Ron Grimshaw, but I’d never realized that he was such a bigoted sexist either. His gruff and stern routine at work was just about commonplace amongst the sea of alpha-male types. No wonder he was fine with his brother discarding his wife as if she were garbage.

“Look, the way I see it, you’re still going to have a gun on me, Ronny Grimshaw. It’s not as if begging is going to make this situation play out any better. At least I can spend my last moments with dignity and my head up.”

Ronny’s nostrils flared and he growled, “I wish I could show you how much worse I would be to you. But I’m not stupid enough to leave trace evidence on your body.”

 His implied meaning was not lost on me, but it was hardly a confession or even an acknowledgment of guild from the crime I have suffered previously. Nonetheless, my body felt like razor ice all over. Everything chilled and everything seemed to cut to the bone. My fists clenched white-knuckled. Something was degrading in having such a horrible act rubbed in your nose. Especially to a strong alpha-female type like myself. Even now, I have a hard time accepting that I was caught off guard.

“Just like Noland, you’re hiding behind your gun while you confront me. The big strong men terrified what I might do to them if the fight were ever allowed to be fair.”

I said, smiling darkly into his cold blue eyes. He knew I was challenging him, baiting him.

“Do you really think I’m that stupid, Gina?”

He asked in an incredulous voice and I shrugged slightly causing Ron’s hand to twitch slightly. I was acutely aware of his trigger-finger right now. He had his finger hovering so close to the trigger, I knew I couldn’t rush him without being shot first. Ron had all the same training as I did, and he had been a Marine before he was a cop. I am not sure I could take him, because he is highly trained, and he has the build of a flipping linebacker to boot!

“It’s worth a shot, girl’s gotta try everything she can. Besides, I’d so kick the living shit out of you. What were you, a basic bitch in hand-to-hand? Pretty sure you never took the advanced courses, so I’ve got a real shot at killing you with my bare hands.”

My tone was cold and clinical. I was playing up my confidence by a large margin, but not my skills. I am a multiple blackbelt and I have been trained in every advanced hand-to-hand training the military has to offer. While Ron’s massive weight and power advantage bother me, I know I have the finesse of all the technical skills allotted to a girl far too obsessed with melee combat. Martial arts were one of my bonding rituals with my dad. As an adult, it became a way to both honor him and to meditate on that connection and keep our love alive even years beyond their passing.

“Your little taunts are not going to work on me, Gina. I am going to end your life, but first, you’re going to tell me where that bitch is hiding.”

I frowned slightly and I said, “Which bitch, you’re so damn sexist, I am losing track of whom you’re referring. I mean, you could be referring to the bartender your brother’s banging as we speak. Or you could be referring to your own damn wife for all I know. Hell, you could even be referring to Henry, I mean, come on.”

He ground his teeth, and he pistol-whipped me in the face, but I leaned into him before he could recoil, even as my head spun from the dizzying strike. I had been preparing myself for a cheap shot since I was doing everything in my power to make Ron want to hit me. I’d honestly expected his blow to be heavy, but I felt almost staggered by the crushing force of metal with his gorilla-like strength.

I stepped in, and my left leg firmly wedged between his legs, and I pushed my left palm up and to my left, catching his gun-hand and I caught his left hand as it snaked out, and slammed my forehead across the bridge of his nose as he leaned down in our struggle. It was a mistake for him to come inside my defensive parameter.

Ron pulled brutally with his gun hand, desperate to dislodge my arm, but I held on, digging my nails into the meat of his palm as best I could around the metal of the gun. I might be a martial artist, but I am also a street-smart woman who grew up in the worst of the worst. Sometimes, claws just must come out to play.

Ron made a low pained noise, and I pressed my knee into his crotch as his legs opened wider, exposing him. At the same time, I managed to dig into his hand more, and the gun finally dropped to the ground nearby. My reward was an elbow to the chin, and I rocked back and my head snapped with the jarring force of his blow. I’d left myself all kinds of exposed to disarm him in a frantic effort, but the gambit had paid off, in that I was now going to have my hand-to-hand.

“Come on Ron, you can hit harder than this!”

I teased him, and I barely managed to deflect a powerful kick towards my abs, and I pivoted and blocked a right aimed for my face. His thick arms and powerful knuckles were damn painful even on glances and blocks. I felt almost as if my bones were creaking in protest to the guard I had raised. This was one of the most miss-matched weight categories ever! I’m about a buck-two, and five-six. Ron has over one-hundred-pounds on me!

I juked and I feinted with a right and then smashed a left-cross into his bloody nose. Ron’s eyes were tearing up, and I caught a back-hand in the lip and I felt my front tooth slice my lip wide on the bottom, and I snapped back, as he rushed at me like an enraged ape. I had no room to kick so on instinct, I dropped to my knees, and I flipped him over my shoulder, and threw him into the poor Nissan parked nearby.

(So much for returning it as-is!)

Ron charged me and tackled me, and I coughed as the air rushed from my lungs. He reached for my neck, and I knew I was a goner if he got his big hands on my throat. I raked my fingers over his eyes like a wild cat, and he snarled and raised on instinct, and I followed him up, punching him in the throat before he could regain his composure.

Ron gagged, and his other arm weakened enough for me to push him off me, and I kicked him in the chin for good measure. I scrambled over a few yards, and I snagged the .38 on the ground and I trained it on him before he could close the gap again.

“Ok, you know the drill, stop, drop, and don’t fucking move.”

Somehow, I managed not to taunt him with the fact that I had in fact won the hand-to-hand struggle.

“Where’d you get this, an eighties shooting?”

I asked, joking mainly because a .38 special was a bit old-school. Ron glared up at me with murder on his bloody and reddened face. Yep, he was not happy about being beaten by a girl, but he could get the fuck in line on that one!

“What are you going to do, shoot me with my own gun?”

He asked, and I smiled coldly at him.

“Do tempt me, please. I mean, you basically told me you wanted to rape and murder me, so I could be forgiven.”

Ron looked like he was trying to consider his options when I cut in again.

“Stop thinking you can regain control of the situation. I will shoot your ass if you so much as twitch again. I fumbled with the door handle on the Nissan, and I opened it carefully not to take my eyes off Ron.

He looked at me with the gaze of a predator etching every detail of his future prey into his mind.

“This isn’t the end, don’t think she’s safe because you survived this.”

My grin was wide and glowing.

“You mean because I won. You need to just come to terms with the fact that women are every bit as tough as men, especially when threatened with the things you threatened.”

I said, and Ron just looked at me with a baleful glare that could have melted butter.

“I would recommend sensitivity training, but I am afraid that you are long beyond that now!”

I told him jokingly as I carefully climbed into the Nissan, and my left hand held the gun on Ron, as my right giggled the wised and I prayed for several long moments as the car sputtered and then finally roared to life.

The second it was on; I threw it in gear and hit the gas. Ron was up on his feet just as the car shot off. Part of me wanted to finish him right there, but I couldn’t justify it, and I pulled my phone from my pocket and held it to my ear.

“Henry, come pick me up. Did you record it?”

There was silence for several long moments before I heard, “Oh my god, are you ok! Honey, I mean, what the actual fuck! His voice soothed me, and I felt my sight darken, and my head seemed to spin.

After another block of swerving, I found a well-lit burger joint to pull into, and I slumped my head back and I felt my blurry mind fading out periodically. I have had concussions before, so I knew the symptoms.

I vaguely heard Henry shrieking to Tomoki in the background. Part of me was amazed that I had managed to work Ron over so well, considering how much damage I took to get the gun off me. Another minute or two and that fight would have turned against me. I could hardly call it a true win. My pride was hurt, and I felt like my head was being pressed in an old thick metal vice grip.

My vision darkened, and I lost all track of time. Even now, I worried he’d catch up to me and find me here, but I had to hope Ron wouldn’t get that lucky.