MOMENTS LATER
I walked closer to Kenwood, stopping when I was less than five feet away. I looked past him at the men surrounding him. “I’m only here for your boss,” I said to them. “Take a look around. The two behind me won’t get into the fight unless they have to. The ones around the park just need a nod from their leader and they will kill each and every one of you and strip you of everything you have on you. If that happens, it will be because you made the call. This fight is between me and Kenwood, and if you let it play out that way, you’ll walk away alive.”
Kenwood glanced back at his men and saw the hesitation and heard the quiet mumblings. “But you’re not going to walk away free,” he said to them. “He’s got this place surrounded by cops. If you don’t believe that, then you’re just kidding yourselves. You’ll be busted before you can get to the gate leading out of here.”
“He’s not lying to you,” I said. “There are cops with eyes on every single inch of this park. But so far, from what I can see, you’ve done nothing to give the cops reason to arrest you. You lift a hand or a weapon to me or to the two behind me, though, then you’ve crossed a line, and that, as you all well know, leads to handcuffs. And if you should be foolish enough to lift a hand to the ones standing around the perimeter, you’ll be pulling back a stump.”
Kenwood stepped toward me and smiled. “Have it your way, Tank,” he said. “If I can’t take a washout like you, then maybe I deserve to die.”
“I was thinking the very same thing,” I said to Kenwood.
He landed the first blow, a hard right to my jaw. The booze and cigarettes may have slowed him down over the years, but he was still strong and his punches still packed heat. I ducked under a left and then took a glancing swing off my right arm. Kenwood bobbed and weaved as he inched closer to me. I moved from left to right and snapped two quick jabs to his face. I ducked under a right cross and landed with a sharp uppercut to his stomach, then followed that up with two more blows to his rib cage. I had spent a good deal of time working out in Bruno’s gym in my time off the job and had learned a lot from the ex–heavyweight contender. Bruno always preached the old boxing maxim of “If you take the body, the head will follow,” and that was what I wanted to do. Kenwood was more brawler than boxer, and he was trying to close in, jump me, and pin me to the ground. Once he had me there, it would be to his advantage. His weight would hold me down and I would be helpless to stop the barrage coming my way.
Kenwood lunged for me, one hand open, looking to grab me by the hair and yank me down. I landed three quick and hard jabs to his stomach and heard him gasp for air. He pulled away and kicked my right leg, just below the kneecap. My leg buckled, and I waited for him to get closer. He leaned toward me and punched the left side of my neck. The blow stunned me for a second as I scrambled back up to my feet.
Kenwood rushed me, his body bent at the waist, and I spun around and wrapped my hands around his head and slammed us both to the ground. He crashed face-first on the hard dirt, while I let my ass take the brunt of the fall. I lifted his head and smashed it against the ground several times, rubbing his face in the brown soil, raining punches on his neck and back. I held him down and got to my knees and straddled him. I lifted his head one more time, his dirty face now up enough for his red eyes to glare at me. I wrapped my hands around his throat and began to ease it back. I braced one of my knees in the center of his back.
I could feel his neck muscles tighten and knew, from this position, I could snap his neck and end his life. I pulled his head farther back and dug my knee deep between his shoulder blades.
I looked down into Kenwood’s eyes, my body poised and ready to take away the life of a man who had brought pain and ruin to so many.
“Tank,” Pearl shouted. “Don’t do it. Don’t do that piece of shit any favors. It’s not time for him to be lowered into the ground. He needs to go to prison. That’s where his coffin is waiting. Not on this ball field.”
I looked away from Kenwood and at my partner and closest friend. Pearl wheeled himself nearer to me. “He needs to pay,” Pearl said. “For Rachel. For Zeke. And for all the ones he sent to prison for no reason. He needs to pay.”
I took a deep breath and let go of Kenwood’s neck. I lifted myself off him and started to walk away. Then I stopped, turned, and delivered one final hard kick to the side of his head. “That’s for Zeke,” I said. “He would have done it himself if you came at him one-on-one.”
Pearl grabbed my arm and squeezed it. “Proud of you, partner,” he said.
I looked at Pearl and nodded.
Within minutes we were surrounded by Chief Connors and a small platoon of uniform and plainclothes officers. I looked past the cops and watched Alban and his men disappear into the darkness of the park. Chief Connors came up to me and held out a set of handcuffs. “You want to cuff him?” he asked.
I smiled. “I’m not a cop anymore, Chief, remember?” I said.
The chief returned the smile. “You’ll always be a cop,” he said.
I took the cuffs from the chief, walked back over to Eddie Kenwood, and placed both his hands behind his back. I slapped the cuffs on his wrists and locked them in. “You’re under arrest, you son of a bitch,” I said.
I got back to my feet and shook the chief’s hand.
“Case closed,” he said.
“Case closed,” I said, and began a slow walk off the baseball field.