Into the Lion's Den

Chapter 1

Jake Bryant lay there wondering what he had gotten himself into this time. He had always tried to mind his own business and stay out of trouble but no matter how hard he tried, it seemed like trouble always found him. His current situation was no different, he was in a sensitive situation and he would have to find a way out.

Pushing himself off the cold tile that was sticky with beer, Jake stood up as a crowd started gathering around him. His head hurt where he had taken a wicked sucker punch. He shook his head as he tried to focus on the two big guys standing in front of him, pissed at what they had done to him while he wasn’t looking.

A minute earlier, while one of them had engaged Jake in conversation to keep him occupied, the other had come up from behind and hit him in the back of the head with something. It had sent Jake to the ground and now he had a massive headache but he wasn’t going to let that stop him from kicking the shit out of both men.

The two men standing in front of Jake were laughing, clearly pleased with what they had just done to him. The one on the left was six five and weighed an easy two fifty. He had short black hair with a matching goatee that was neatly trimmed. His wide shoulders tapered into a thin waist which was evident by his tailored suit.

Standing next to him was another man wearing a tailored suit, although he wasn’t nearly as beefy as the first man. He was two inches shorter and thirty pounds lighter, but didn’t appear to have any fat on his frame either. His blonde hair and fair skin was in sharp contrast to the other man.

Jake had no idea why they had sucker punched him. He had been sitting at the bar, talking to a woman when he was approached by the smaller man that was standing in front of him now. The man seemed agitated that Jake had been talking to the woman and was demanding to know what he was doing. Jake tried to explain to the man that he was just talking to her but the man didn’t seem to comprehend the fact that they were simply engaged in friendly conversation. Clearly, he had thought there was something more to it.

Thinking the woman was the man’s girlfriend, Jake had tried to calm the man down, but he continued yelling at him. Not wanting to be sitting down, which would give the man the advantage, Jake had stood up and began talking to the man, assuring him that nothing was going on between the woman and him.

Jake always tried to avoid confrontation whenever possible, but it had become increasingly evident that it wasn’t going to happen that time. As he prepared to fight the man, he was hit from behind by the bigger man. At least he assumed it had been the bigger man. Jake had actually never seen him so he assumed he was behind him which was why he was able to hit Jake without him knowing it. The sucker punch had completely caught Jake by surprise and the knock to the head had sent him to the floor.

Now he was standing there rubbing the back of his head, feeling blood in his short brown hair. He stared at the two men, knowing they weren’t done with him. Looking down at the floor, Jake could see a broken beer bottle and knew that was what he had been hit with. He was thankful that the bottle hadn’t knocked him out and that the men hadn’t started beating him while he was down. At least now he had a chance to defend himself.

Do you want to tell me why you hit me? Jake asked as he felt the back of his head and winced from the already growing bump.

You were hitting on our boss’s girlfriend, said the bigger of the two men. Nobody does that.

I had just sat down and we were only talking, Jake replied. I wasn’t hitting on anyone.

Looking to his right where the woman was sitting, Jake could see that she had her head down, not wanting to look at what was going on. She looked like she didn’t want to be there. It almost looked like she was being forced to be there, but Jake didn’t know for sure. She also looked like she was sad and embarrassed that this was happening to Jake, but he could be wrong about that as well.

All of a sudden, a man walked through a door on the far end of the club. Jake wasn’t sure where the door led, but he knew it wasn’t an outside entrance to the club. He assumed it led to an area that was off limits to the customers. The man sauntered through the crowd as if he owned the place then stood next to one of the big men. He said something to the big man and the big man said something back to him. They weren’t whispering, but Jake couldn’t make out what they were saying because of the noise among the crowd.

The new man must be the boss, Jake reasoned. He was wearing an expensive Italian black suit with a gray shirt and a black tie with white stripes. He was probably nine inches shorter than Jake’s six foot one and probably weighed fifty pounds less than Jake’s hundred and ninety-five pounds. His black hair was slicked back and he had a single mole on his left cheek.

He nodded to the big man then walked over to where the woman was sitting and took a seat next to her. Grabbing her face with his right hand, he pulled her close and kissed her then turned his attention back to Jake and the two men. Sitting there looking smug, he appeared to be enjoying himself as he had his arm around the woman and a sly grin on his face. It didn’t look like he was in any hurry to stop the fight that was about to take place.

I’m going to ask you again, the big man said. Why were you talking to the boss’s girlfriend?

I just went up to the bar to get a drink and I saw her sitting at the table, Jake replied. She was just sitting there looking sad and I wanted to make sure she was okay.

Did she ask you to check on her? the big man asked sarcastically.

No, she didn’t. I just went over there to ask her if she was okay.

So you’re a good Samaritan then?

I guess you could call me that.

Well, I’m going to call you a dead Samaritan in a few seconds, the man said as he clenched his fists.

Jake turned his attention away from the big man standing in front of him and looked at the boss. I’m sorry if I did something to make you mad, Jake told him, hoping he could diffuse the situation. I just wanted to make sure she was okay. I didn’t mean anything by it.

You should learn to mind your own business, the man said.

You’re right about that, Jake responded.

Jake refocused his eyes back on the two men in front of him, preparing for a fight. Watching the bigger guy, Jake assumed he would make the first move. He was doing all the talking and he was the one that hit Jake earlier so he figured he would be the first to try something.

Assessing the situation, Jake knew he was going to have to be careful how he approached the fight. If they both charged him, there was no way he would be able to defend himself so his only hope was if one attacked at a time. Jake was comfortable enough with his fighting skills that he felt he could take each of them in a one on one fight. The unknown was if they had weapons, which would change everything.

All Jake had was a pocket knife that he kept in the right front pocket of his jeans. Thinking about taking it out of his pocket, Jake reconsidered because he didn’t want to give the two men any reason to pull out whatever weapons they had. Jake knew the odds were good that they each had a weapon so he didn’t want to go down that path. He would just hope this was going to stay as a fist fight because he liked his chances. It looked like that was going to be the case because it seemed like the big man was itching to physically punish Jake, so he watched the big man, waiting for him to make his move.

Looking around the crowd, Jake was wondering if anyone was going to stop the fight or at the very least help him. He was getting ready to go against two men that were a lot bigger than him so he figured somebody would be willing to help. As he looked around the club and the small crowd that had gathered around him, Jake could see that wasn’t going to happen. This looked like a rough crowd and to make matters worse, they all seemed to be pleased that a fight was about to take place. Since none of them were making any effort to take out their cell phones to call the police, Jake figured he was on his own.

Knowing he was going to have to fight the men himself, Jake turned his attention back to the big man. Are you sure you want to do this? Jake asked the man.

The big man looked at his partner then back at Jake. Yeah, I’m sure I want to do this, he answered as he let out a little laugh.

I really don’t want to hurt you, Jake replied. I just want to finish my drink and get out of here.

Well, that’s not going to happen now. We’re going to kick your ass.

Are you going to call off your thugs before they get hurt? Jake asked the boss as he tried to show a lot of confidence.

There’s nothing I can do about it, he replied, raising his hands and shrugging his shoulders.

You mean there’s nothing you want to do about it, Jake corrected him.

The man nodded as his smile widened. Jake figured he was using this as an opportunity to show everyone in the club that they shouldn’t talk to his girlfriend. They probably already knew that since they were most likely regulars in this place, but this was now going to reinforce the message.

Jake wasn’t scared since he had often fought men that were bigger than him. He had also fought men when they outnumbered him, but that didn’t mean he was looking forward to the fight. Unfortunately, there didn’t seem to be anything he could say or do to deter the two men so he resigned himself to the fight that lay ahead.

This is your last chance, Jake said as he suddenly changed the look on his face. It instantly became hardened as he prepared for the fight.

Screw you! the big man shouted and Jake waited for the move he knew was going to come.

Sure enough, the man charged Jake.

Chapter 2

The two big men were only eight feet away from Jake so it didn’t take the bigger man long to cover the distance between them. As the man approached Jake, he seemed to be extremely confident the fight wouldn’t last very long. What he didn’t know was that Jake had been in many fights throughout his lifetime and was very good at it. He had boxed for a few years and could handle his own in a ring. However, he was even better at street fighting which was the case in this instance, so Jake was equally confident.

As the man stopped and threw a looping roundhouse, Jake stepped back six inches and the punch easily missed its target. Moving in quickly, Jake hit the man with two quick left jabs to the face followed by a hard right cross that surprised the big brute. Stepping back as the man tried to counter, Jake was able to dodge another haymaker. It was clear the man wanted to land a thunderous punch that would end the fight quickly. Unfortunately for the man, it took him considerable time to throw those punches which gave Jake ample time to react.

After the second punch missed Jake, they both stepped back, assessing the fight so far. The man felt his jaw, moving it around, making sure it wasn’t broken. He didn’t appear to be phased by the punches Jake had landed.

Jake looked at the big man, surprised that he had barely stunned him. Usually when Jake hit someone, they went to the ground. However, this man seemed to be made of granite because he hardly budged. This fight was going to be a little more difficult than Jake initially thought.

Jake could see the boss sitting next to the woman out of the corner of his eye. He was clapping, clearly enjoying the show the men were providing. It looked like he was going to let the fight continue, hoping his men would take care of Jake. As the rest of the patrons from the bar looked on, it was evident they were equally thrilled with the fight and weren’t going to make any effort to break it up.

As Jake looked around, he saw two bouncers standing close to the boss, watching the action. Both of them were standing with their arms crossed, making no effort to step in. Jake guessed this fight wasn’t going to end until one of the combatants went down. He hoped that it wouldn’t be him.

We don’t have to do this, Jake said, knowing the big man wasn’t going to give up.

I’m going to kill you! the man spat back as blood dribbled down his chin.

Suddenly the man charged Jake, not wanting to give Jake the chance to hit him again. Jake threw another jab as the man came close, landing solidly on the man’s nose, but it didn’t stop him. The man used his big arms to wrap Jake in a bear hug and started squeezing the life out of him. Jake actually feared for his life as he struggled to take a breath.

Knowing he couldn’t stay like this for long, Jake took both hands and slammed them down on the man’s ears, hoping it would be enough to force him to let go. Unfortunately, it only seemed to anger him even more and he started squeezing Jake harder.

Jake reared his head back and let loose with a massive head butt, aiming for the big man’s nose. The man managed to lower his head slightly so Jake’s head slammed into the man’s forehead, dazing both of them. As the man staggered backwards, he kept Jake in his deadly grip.

While the man was dazed and stumbling backwards, Jake quickly let loose with another massive head butt, this time connecting square with his intended mark. The man’s nose exploded from the hit and started bleeding instantly as he immediately let go of Jake.

Jake sucked in precious air as he tried to recover from the bear hug. Looking at the big man, Jake saw him stumble backwards, his hands on his nose trying to stop the bleeding. Seeing an opportunity, Jake attacked him with a thunderous right hook. The punch landed on his left cheek, this time sending the man to the ground. With blood running down the man’s face and soaking his white shirt, it was clear he was in a lot of pain.

Momentarily losing sight of the smaller man, Jake saw a slight movement to his right. Turning just in time, the blade of the smaller man’s knife barely missed Jake’s midsection. Stepping back, Jake pulled his own knife out of the front right pocket of his cargo shorts and opened it up.

Jake’s knife, when fully opened was about seven inches with the blade being a little over three and a half inches. Looking at the man’s knife, it appeared his was about the same size, maybe slightly larger.

They stared at each other while Jake kept the big man in his peripheral vision. He figured the big man was out of commission for a few minutes so he knew he needed to attack the small man fast before the big man had a chance to recover. As they stood there waiting for the other to make the next move, the two bouncers started moving in, causing Jake to wonder if they were going to join the fight.

If that happened, Jake knew there was no way he could win. He felt confident fighting two men, but he knew if the bouncers joined in the fight there would be no way he could defend himself against all of them.

All of a sudden, the man sitting with the beautiful woman, the one they had called the boss ordered, Stay where you are and let them finish.

The bouncers nodded and moved back so they were standing next to the boss. Jake knew a bad situation was getting worse. This must be the boss’s establishment so Jake’s hopes of getting out of this place safely were now growing slim, figuring if he beat these two then he would have to fight the bouncers next.

Jake refocused on the man standing in front of him, knife at the ready. The man lunged with his knife, but it was slow and clumsy so he stepped to his right while at the same time slashing down on the man’s arm. Jake’s knife sliced through his suit, cutting him deeply. The man pulled his arm back, wincing in pain.

As Jake watched him pull his arm back, the smaller man stepped back, holding his arm as blood started soaking his suit and dripping on the floor. At that time, the big guy recovered from his broken nose and had stood up. With blood still flowing from his nose, he charged Jake. Spinning as the man approached him, Jake sliced the man across his left shoulder, stopping him in his tracks. The man grabbed his shoulder where he had been cut and came back with a bloody hand. Looking at his hand and seeing the blood, the man looked back at Jake, staring at him with fire in his eyes. Jake wasn’t sure if he was more mad about getting cut or because it ruined his suit.

You ruined my damn suit, you son of a bitch! the man roared then looked back down at his suit.

With the big man preoccupied with his shoulder and his suit, Jake let loose with a sweeping right kick to the man’s left knee, connecting solidly and sending the big man to the ground in pain. The knee wasn’t severely damaged, but Jake knew it hurt the man.

The smaller man approached Jake cautiously with his right arm dangling and bleeding. The man tried to kick him, but Jake saw it coming and grabbed his leg, holding it. The man knew he was in a precarious position and tried to slash Jake with his knife, but he was off balance and the knife was too far away so he got nothing but air.

While holding his leg, Jake kicked the man in his exposed crotch. He immediately dropped the knife and fell to the ground, clutching himself as he lay in the fetal position. Jake didn’t normally hit or kick someone there because he felt like it was fighting dirty, but he figured it was two against one so anything went.

Making sure the smaller man was still nursing his wounds, Jake jumped onto the back of the big man, while he was lying on the ground. Grabbing the man by the back of his hair, Jake slammed his head onto the tile three times as hard as he could and rendered him unconscious. Satisfied that the big man was now out of commission, Jake jumped off him as he looked at the two men lying on the ground.

The smaller man stood up, clearly in a lot of pain and started making his way towards Jake. Putting his knife back in his pocket, Jake prepared to fight the man with his fist even though the man was still wielding his knife. When the smaller man was two feet away, Jake let loose with a furious combination that consisted of a jab followed by a right cross. The man stumbled backwards a few feet as Jake quickly followed. The man put up his fists, trying to block any additional punches, but it didn’t stop Jake from landing two more jabs.

When the man bumped up against the wall and a table, sending the table crashing to the floor, he slashed weakly with his knife but he missed Jake by two inches. Grabbing the man’s knife hand, he slammed it against the wall two times until the knife fell to the floor. Now that he didn’t have to worry about the knife, Jake hit him with another combination.

As the man tried to cover up, he tried to get away, but Jake made sure that wasn’t going to happen. If the man moved to his left, Jake shadowed him and made sure he couldn’t escape. The man took a wild swing, but Jake dodged it easily then moved in close and slammed the man several times with punches to his stomach. As the man lowered his guard, Jake threw the hardest punch he could, aimed directly at the man’s nose.

This broke the man’s nose and sent him to the ground. Jake could have walked away at this point, but he was still fuming over the fact that they sucker punched him earlier. Now he wanted them to pay for that kind of cowardice act. While the man was on the floor, Jake kicked him in the ribs as hard as he could three times and knew immediately that he broke a couple of the man’s ribs.

The man rolled on his back, clutching his ribs so Jake climbed on to the man’s stomach, straddling him then hit him with several punches to the face using his right fist. The man tried to block the punches with his hands in front of his face, but it didn’t do any good as the punches still landed with vicious effectiveness.

Figuring that was enough punishment, Jake stood up, looking at the two bodies on the ground. They would live, but they were going to be hurting tomorrow. Covered in blood, they were definitely going to need to go to the emergency room to get stitched up. Jake, on the other hand was in relatively good shape, except for the blood that was matting his hair from the initial sucker punch.

Jake looked at the boss and his girlfriend. For the first time that evening, the girlfriend seemed to have a happy look on her face. It was clear that she didn’t like the two men Jake had just put down. Although she couldn’t show it, she did appear to have just the slightest grin.

Jake looked at the bouncers, waiting for them to make their move so he took out his knife and stood prepared with the knife in his hand, ready for what was going to happen next. They probably weighed as much as the big man, but they had a lot of fat on them. Jake wasn’t too concerned about them if they decided to join the fight now since it would be two on one again. As long as they didn’t charge him at the same time, he should be in good shape.

The bouncers looked at the boss, waiting for him to give the signal to attack Jake. By the looks on their faces, Jake could tell they weren’t too eager to fight him after what Jake had just done to the other men. The boss just stared at Jake then started clapping with a big grin on his face as he stood up and started walking towards Jake.

Walking over to Jake, he looked at the small man lying next to the wall then stepped over the big man as he approached Jake. It was evident the man wasn’t going to fight him so Jake put the knife back in his pants while he relaxed a little. He still wasn’t a hundred percent relaxed because the boss could pull a gun out and shoot him, but Jake didn’t think that was going to happen since there were so many witnesses standing around.

Get those two off my floor and get them out of here, the boss said to the bouncers. I need to talk to my new friend.

Chapter 3

The boss stopped then looked back at his girlfriend and gestured with his head that she should follow him. Getting up, she walked around the big man lying on the floor and joined her boyfriend. They walked by Jake and the boss signaled him to follow as well.

Not having any clue what the boss wanted, Jake hesitated, unsure if he should follow or not. The boss stopped when he noticed Jake wasn’t following him and signaled again for him to follow. Deciding he might as well see what the boss wanted, he nodded and followed the boss as he watched the bouncers attend to the men on the floor.

Looking around the darkened gentlemen’s club, Jake could see the patrons were going back to their tables as the women went back on stage to resume their dancing. The music started playing as everyone got back to what they were doing before the fight started.

The club was rather large, probably five thousand square feet and had a U-shaped stage for the women to dance. There was a two foot wide table that lined the stage and followed it the length of the U where men could sit and get a close up view of the women. At any given time there were three women dancing along the stage, one in the middle of the U and one each at the end of the U. There were poles in each location so the women could use those as part of their routine.

There were forty tables spread throughout the rest of the bar so people didn’t have to sit right up front if they didn’t want to. In the back corner was the bar where a bartender made the drinks and the scantily clad waitresses would pick up the overpriced drinks and take them to the patrons.

In the far corner of the club were steps that led up to a private area. There was an entrance that was covered by a door of beads and Jake assumed there were probably four or five booths up there where people could receive private dances. He didn’t know for sure if that’s what the area was used for, but throughout the evening, he had seen some of the dancers lead men up there for a song or two so he figured it had to be a place for private dances, away from the prying eyes of all the other patrons.

Walking through the crowd, they made their way to a table along the side of the club. The music continued to play as the next stripper got on stage and started dancing, shaking her body much to the delight of the men as some of them made their way to the stage so they could give a dollar and get a face full of tits in return.

Please join me, the boss said as he sat down in the booth, waving Jake to take the seat opposite him.

After waiting for the woman to sit next to the boss, Jake sat opposite of them and waited for the boss to speak. That was very impressive, the boss said. Those are my two best men and I’ve never seen anyone do that to them.

Thanks, Jake replied as he looked behind him, afraid to get sucker punched again.

He always preferred to sit with his back against the wall so he could see what was going on, but the booth was along the side of the building so no matter which side he was on, he wouldn’t be against the wall.

You fought well.

I didn’t realize it was going to be a dirty fight until one of your guys hit me from behind.

Yes, I didn’t think you would get up after that happened, he replied.

He’s lucky I didn’t kill him, Jake snarled.

Well, thanks for not killing them, the boss said with a laugh. As I said, they are my two best men and I would hate to have to replace them.

Jake shrugged his shoulders as he looked at the woman next to the boss. She was gorgeous with her long blonde hair that was slightly curled and hazel eyes that peered into Jake’s. Wearing a nice skirt and sweater with boots that went to her