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Maddock’s lunge didn’t come close to Bones, who saw it coming and sidestepped with time to spare. Bones swung his own knife toward Maddock, but Maddock had already dropped into a roll and evaded it easily. As Maddock came to his feet, Bones struck again.
Maddock parried the sideways thrust from Bones’ knife-wielding left hand, as well as the inevitable cross from the big man’s right hand. The two had sparred so many times that neither man had a move which could surprise the other. Maddock allowed the momentum of his left hand to shift after the block and the jab made contact with Bones’ chin.
Bones licked his lips but otherwise showed no sign of the impact. He wrapped a huge fist around Maddock’s upper left arm and pulled the smaller man closer, attempting to deliver a head butt. Maddock managed to tilt his head just enough that the blow was glancing rather than incapacitating. Then he jammed his knee upwards in a groin strike which elicited a groan and slight bend at the waist from Bones.
As Maddock dropped into a leg sweep, one part of his brain told him that this was not the right move if he wanted to finish his opponent. But another part wanted to see Bones on the ground and vulnerable. The sweep succeeded and Bones went to the ground harder than a smaller man would have.
Maddock sprang to get a knee in the big man’s back, but Bones was already rolling as he hit the ground and Maddock’s spring ended with his knee in the dirt. The two men both got to their feet quickly and started circling each other, Maddock staying just outside Bones’ longer reach.
For just a second, Maddock blinked and questioned the fight. He could have sworn he saw a similar look on his friend’s face. But the moment passed and in its place reappeared the overwhelming urge to hurt Bones.
Bones attacked first, a clever feint with both his legs and his right elbow hiding the eventual strike with the knife from the left. Maddock had seen the move before and he met Bones’ elbow with a crunching block that caused the knife to soar into the low foliage to the side of the game trail. Rather than press his advantage, Maddock shuffled back, wary of Bones’ superior ability in ultra-close quarters.
At least that’s what he told himself. Once again, another part of him questioned why he didn’t finish it when he had the advantage. Bones must have been thinking the same thing.
“That might have been the last mistake you ever made, micro-man.”
Maddock didn’t respond, just kept looking for an opening. Sweat was already pouring down his brow and his heart was auditioning for the Olympic hundred meters. Once again, Bones made the first move.
This time, the leg normally used for the feint ended up as the primary weapon. The pain from at least one broken finger created a flash of blindness as Bones’ heel launched Maddock’s knife out of his hand. Maddock had felt far worse, but this stunned him enough that he stumbled backwards and sank to the ground.
Bones stepped forward, a giant foot serving as an impending wrecking ball. Maddock wasn’t sure why Bones paused, but in that instant Maddock no longer felt any anger or desire to inflict harm. As loud as he could manage, Maddock screamed at his friend.
“Bones, what are we doing?”
––––––––
Angel Bonebrake was pissed. Unfortunately, she had no legitimate targets for her anger. She’d already busted open one heavy bag during her morning’s training, something that normally only happened in the last couple weeks before a big fight when she visualized her opponent. Her trainer had merely raised his eyebrows and told her to take the rest of the day off.
Sometime around mid-afternoon, worry started to accompany the anger. At first, she figured that once again Maddock’s boat or his crew had taken priority over her. She knew Maddock loved her, but that didn’t make it any easier to stomach. But Maddock wasn’t answering his phone. Neither was Bones, and neither man was on their boat. The Sea Foam remained in its slip, as it had been late last night when Angel went down to investigate.
She had held off contacting any of the crew until the worry set in, not wanting them to think of her as the frail woman needing reassurance. But Maddock had never actually blown off plans entirely. A call to Corey Dean, the crew’s techie, confirmed that they all were enjoying some much needed R&R and didn’t expect to see Maddock or Bones for over a week.
At five o’clock Angel dialed another number, one she only had in her phone because Maddock had borrowed it on a few occasions. Jimmy Letson answered on the first ring.
“Hi Jimmy, I don’t know if you remember me. It’s Angel Bonebrake.”
“Of course I remember, and it’s showing that your phone called mine. I need you to tell me something to verify that it’s really you.”
“I, um, what are you talking about?”
“I’ll tell you once you answer the following questions. In one word, how would you describe your brother?”
Angel chuckled. “Bones is an assclown.”
“Right answer. I would also have accepted ‘asshat.’ Anyway, someone’s been spoofing your phone, that’s why I asked. For all I know they could be monitoring your phone so we need to keep this short.”
“Jimmy, start at the beginning, dammit. What the hell is going on and where are Maddock and my brother?”
Letson gave a brief summary of what had happened with Maddock receiving the texts and the phone spoofing, as well as the claim that Angel had been kidnapped. “I saw the photo attached to the text. It was realistic, no obvious signs of being doctored.”
Angel could feel the anger returning. “I wasn’t kidnapped! But when I find whoever claimed I was, they’re going to wish they’d chosen a different target.”
“I don’t know who supposedly kidnapped you. But obviously they were trying to lure Maddock and Bones for some reason.”
“Sounds like it worked.”
“Yeah. I have the exact coordinates where the phone I gave to the guys stopped transmitting. It was in Shenandoah River State Park. I actually got hold of some satellite footage of the area, but the tree cover is too thick to pick anything out.”
“Then that’s where I’m headed. Is there anything else you can tell me that would help me find them?”
“Well... After the phone went offline I did some more digging. It seems that there have been a few disappearances in that area over the past decade. There’s one local sheriff who has done some investigation and even contacted the FBI a couple years back. They told him it was just random disappearances and they couldn’t spend any resources on it. Other police in the area figured that was the end of the story, but this guy seems not to believe it. You could give him a shout, see if he has any ideas.”
Angel thanked Jimmy and hung up. She packed her bag while her mind raced with all she had learned. A grim smile appeared as she considered someone trying to get one over on Maddock and Bones. Those two had been friends for so long that they didn’t even need to communicate to be on the same page. Right now they were probably working together to kick some serious ass.