The man walked purposefully toward Ryker as the youngster scuttled back to his crew. Amelie looked up at the guy as he approached.
‘Hugo?’
‘You need to get your boy and leave,’ the man said, in heavily accented English, as he glared down at Ryker.
Ryker brought both hands onto the table, got himself ready to spring into action, just in case.
‘Because?’
‘Just leave. I’m giving you a chance. Take it.’
Ryker glanced at Amelie. Wariness had taken over. But wariness of Hugo or Ryker?
‘Your boys are that bothered about losing a pool game?’ Ryker said then paused. No answer. ‘I can get Henrik to come back over here if it’s really necessary.’
‘No. You’re going to get up from that seat, and both of you will leave this bar.’
Ryker’s attention diverted to the kids. Two of the lads had broken away from the five and strode up to Henrik. One tapped him on the shoulder. Henrik spun. The lad shouted in his face, gesticulating. Then poked his finger into Henrik’s chest, causing Henrik to backstep.
Enough.
Ryker went to get up. The speed with which he moved caused Hugo to flinch.
Then Henrik threw a punch…
Ryker groaned inwardly. The boy’s friends descended on Henrik en masse. Ryker went to shove Hugo away but, sensing the threat, the guy cracked his beer bottle against the wooden back of the booth and the glass shattered into pieces leaving the jagged neck in his hand.
‘Too late,’ Hugo said, teeth bared. ‘You don’t move until it’s over.’
Ryker decided not to point out the inconsistency in the man’s mixed instructions. Instead, he reached out and grabbed Hugo’s wrist. Stamped down onto the side of his knee to cause his leg to buckle. Twisted his arm and brought him to the floor, his hand holding the glass propped in the air on the edge of the table. One push was all it would take for Ryker to pop the elbow joint, or with a bit more effort snap the forearm if he really wanted to…
Amelie scuttled back in her seat, apparently terrified of Ryker all of a sudden.
‘Drop the glass,’ he said to Hugo.
Squirming in pain, Hugo did so.
‘Leave him!’ Ryker shouted over, with enough force to get the attention of everyone in the bar.
The skirmish between the teens faded to a standoff. Henrik, clothes and hair skewed, brushed himself down. Most of his supporters had deserted him, keeping their distance from the fight. His playing partner looked on, seeming as shocked as she was disappointed, and she didn’t attempt to give Henrik either aid or comfort.
Ryker let go of Hugo and shoved the guy away before storming toward Henrik.
‘Come on.’
Henrik seemed reluctant at first, as though he’d wanted the fight, and was angry with the interruption. But they both made their way to the exit as Hugo, and one of the teens, hurled abuse in French. Ryker understood most of the insults, which largely centered around their mothers and sexual acts. Not the most hurtful of taunts for two people who’d barely ever known their mothers.
They carried on out, Ryker intent on marching straight to the hotel before having it out with Henrik as to what the hell had just happened. But they made it all of five yards from the bar before the call came from behind them.
‘Hey!’
Henrik stopped and turned. Ryker groaned and did so too.
Men and boys and a few women piled out. Hugo, his friend, the five from the pool table, others too.
‘You told us to leave,’ Ryker shouted. ‘We left.’
‘Have you any idea who you’re talking to?’ Henrik shouted in turn, much to Ryker’s annoyance.
Naturally, the testosterone-charged group didn’t take kindly to that.
‘Why don’t you come and show us.’
Stepping forward were two men. Well, one was nearly a man – the burly teen – plus Hugo’s companion from the bar. A bigger, bulkier, meaner-looking man than Hugo, in fact. Which made Ryker curious as to why it was Hugo who had arrived at Ryker’s table to do the dirty work initially. But he was even more curious as to why these people felt so riled by his and Henrik’s presence.
‘Come on,’ Ryker said, pulling on Henrik’s coat. ‘We don’t need this.’
Henrik shoved him off. ‘Don’t we? They were six on one against me. And what? You’re going to walk away from that?’
‘The odds are even worse now. So yeah, I’m walking away.’
‘So much for protecting me. Some father you’d make.’
‘This is protecting you. Now let’s go.’
Ryker went to grab Henrik again but the boy wrestled free once more, then patted down his jacket and his jeans.
‘You looking for this?’ said one of the pool players, stepping forward with a phone held aloft.
Henrik stormed forward. Ryker rolled his eyes and set off after him.
‘Give it,’ Henrik shouted.
‘Henrik!’ Ryker said. ‘Leave it.’
He went to grab Henrik but then the agitator tossed the phone to the ground and lifted his heel and stomped his foot down onto the device.
Henrik growled and raced toward him. Ryker raced too. He reached out to try and grab Henrik yet again but the two youngsters barged into each other, fists flying, grappling. Ryker got a hold of Henrik’s coat around the neck, but no sooner had he grasped the fabric than a big meaty hand took hold of him in the same position and pulled him free.
He spotted the arcing fist. Ducked out of the way and sent his own balled fist into the man’s stomach. A hard shot. An equally hard target, nothing but muscle. Ryker sent another to the kidney which caused a groan of pain from the man who responded with an uppercut. He was big and strong, but not too fast.
Ryker saw the next shot coming and darted to the side then hammered his elbow down on the man’s back before using the heel of his shoe to push him forward, sending him scuttling and sliding to the soggy ground.
Ryker moved for Henrik again. Three on one for him now. Ryker grabbed the arm of a youngster and yanked hard to toss him away. Then he seized Henrik’s arm as he tried to send a fist to someone’s face. Ryker took a blow to the back. Another to the side of his head. He ducked and used his elbow to fend off the attackers and wrestle Henrik free. He swung Henrik around so the boy was behind him – relative safety.
Men and teens circled in front of Ryker. One of the young men Henrik had tussled with jerked as though to race forward, to get around Ryker and to Henrik, but Ryker sidestepped and lifted his fists, rocking on his toes like a boxer, and the boy backed down.
Hugo didn’t. He darted forward. Ryker ducked. Grabbed the guy around the thighs like a rugby player, lifted him off his feet, and tossed him onto his back with a painful-sounding thud.
Ryker remained crouched, swung left and right on the spot, ready for any further attack.
None came this time. In fact, the previously boisterous crowd looked a lot less confident all of a sudden. Hugo and his burly friend stood side by side, nursing themselves. The bigger man glared over.
‘If we see you here again…’
He never finished the threat. Instead, his eyes rested on a spot behind Ryker.
Ryker glanced that way, but only to check there was no ambush coming. He didn’t spot anyone but stayed poised, ready for another attack.
None came as the group skulked back into the bar, one after the other. When he was sure no threat remained, Ryker put his arm around Henrik and turned around. Looked at the spot where Hugo’s friend’s gaze had settled. Two bright headlights shone back at Ryker from across the street. He lifted his arm to shield from the glare. Moments later the engine rumbled and the car sped up and disappeared in a flurry of slushy spray.
Other than the fact the car was big and dark, Ryker couldn’t be sure what vehicle it was and had no clue who was inside.
But Hugo and his friends obviously knew.
‘Not quite how I expected tonight to go,’ Ryker said as he and Henrik set off for the hotel.
‘No. But I bet you’re interested to find out more now, right?’
Ryker didn’t respond and they walked in silence for a few moments, Ryker waiting for an explanation.
‘So?’ he prompted as they neared the hotel.
‘What?’
‘What the hell were you doing back there?’
‘Self-defense.’
‘No. Before that.’
Henrik tutted, as though offended by Ryker’s question, or perhaps his apparent lack of trust.
‘I only wanted to play pool.’
Ryker laughed sarcastically. ‘Yeah. Try harder.’
‘And I liked the girl. Ella.’
‘You made quite the team.’
‘She was decent. But I’m better. I only had to watch for a couple of minutes to know I could have picked any partner and beaten those two.’
He spoke with such natural confidence. Ryker didn’t know whether to be impressed or not. He’d never realized Henrik was a pool shark. The young man continued to surprise Ryker. Not always in a good way.
‘How much did you bet them?’
‘Fifty euros,’ Henrik said with a wide grin that, caught under the twinkling lights of a bar they passed, looked more than a little sinister.
‘You can pay for our next meal, then,’ Ryker said.
Henrik rolled his eyes.
‘And what happened after the game?’
‘You saw. They started a fight with me. They weren’t happy that they lost, and they weren’t happy that Ella was giving me attention.’
Ryker chewed on that for a few moments. He fully believed that a group of teens – even a group of adults, in a bar, all filled with alcohol – would start a brawl over something so simple, but Ryker didn’t buy it. Henrik wasn’t like that. He wasn’t that… one-dimensional. He’d gone over there to the teens with an ulterior motive. A motive that he was reluctant to share with Ryker.
‘I don’t believe you,’ Ryker said.
Henrik tutted again. ‘You never do.’
Except the story didn’t add up. Particularly when put together with the reaction of the adults. A reaction that had actually pre-empted the teen fight. Hugo had come to Ryker’s table, up for battle, even before Henrik threw the first punch. Why was he so intent on warding off Ryker and Henrik?
‘I don’t believe you,’ Ryker said again as they reached the doors to their hotel. ‘So this is what we’ll do. We’re going to our rooms. We’ll sleep on it. In the morning, you’ll tell me the truth.’
Henrik stayed silent.
‘You want to know what I think?’ Ryker said.
Henrik sighed. ‘I think you’ll tell me whether I want you to or not.’
‘Cute. But I’m thinking you chose for us to come to this town for a reason. A reason you haven’t told me about yet. So, in the morning, you will tell me. Otherwise, we’re done here, and I’m leaving, with or without you. Understood?’
Henrik glared at Ryker, looking riled by the order, or perhaps just by Ryker’s calmness as he delivered it, as though what he’d really wanted was another confrontation.
‘Goodnight, Henrik,’ Ryker said before walking off to his room.