“The hell is that,” I growled, springing to my feet from the sofa. The protruding gut I’d developed over the last few years was barely a hinderance. None at all if I was angry enough.

  Heading over to the monitors, I drained the last of my bud and hurled it at the trash can. It hit the wall like a missile and dropped straight in. I rarely missed before 9 P.M.

  Moving into the security room, six displays showed the land around my house. No one came out here anymore. Not for anything good.

  Checking the first monitor to see who’d buzzed the gate intercom, I felt my anger grow a little more.

  “Fucking military,” I hissed at the sight of two suited officers and five grunts by the looks of it.

  Dropping a finger on the intercom, I greeted them. “Whatever it is, it wasn’t me. Ain’t left this place in six months. Now fuck off.”

  One of the officers, a big, baldy type with muscles on muscles, leaned forward to speak into the intercom. “This is Sergeant Graham. I’m with Sergeant Eustace. We’re just here to talk, Earl. Now be a good lad and open the gates.”

  Shaking my head, I hit the intercom again. “I ain’t ever been a good lad and them gates ‘r stayin’ closed. I’ll tell you for the last time, I ain’t done nothing and you ain’t got nothing to say to me that I want to hear.”

  The big officer—I’d already forgotten his name—gave the gates a good rattle, testing them out.

  I hit the intercom again. “Get the fuck off my gates, baldy. You break them and I break you.”

  Baldy leaned toward the intercom and jabbed the button again. “You might have been hot shit a few years ago, Earl. But I’ve seen the surveillance footage. You’re a soft, pudgy has-been. Now open up. We need to talk.”

  The other sergeant stepped toward baldy. “Don’t aggravate him. That’s not what…”

  I was fuming now, and hit the comm, speaking over both of them. “Fighting talk, huh? Lucky for you, I’ve settled down lately, so I’m not going to come down there and bust your big, baldy head wide open as long as you fuck off. Now I’m done talking.”

  I hit the intercom again, this time to turn it off completely, though I continued to watch them through the camera. After a bit of heated conversation between them, a smile slowly spread across my face. The stupid bastards had made the decision to pop the gates.

  “Now that looks a lot like invasion of property to me,” I muttered to the screen. I knew my rights, and they sure as shit hadn’t shown any kind of warrant.

  Decisions made all round, I headed to my training room to grab my worn tactical gloves from the side. I slipped them on and did a couple of half-assed stretches before punching the bag a few times. Ready as I’d ever be, I jogged out to meet my visitors.

  I knew they’d have guns, but they’d all lose their jobs if they fired on me after entering my land against my wishes. I also knew that if I met them with a gun or a weapon, I’d most likely get screwed over.

  The route to the gate from my house was a half mile of winding gravel path not big enough to drive a car along, so they’d have no choice but to walk it. Trees lined the way, so we wouldn’t make each other out until we were half a dozen yards away.

  I pounded along the track with a grin stretched on my face. The police had hounded me for as long as I could remember, but while I’d had my run in’s with the military too, this was a surprise. I hated the bastards more than words could express, so it was also a special treat.

  When I thought we must be getting close to each other, I moved off the gravel and onto the narrow grass verge. The stupid bastards were so confident in their numbers and my lack of conditioning that they didn’t even bother to conceal their approach.

  The crunching of gravel grew steadily louder, whereas I was almost silent on the grass. I slowed as I came to where I knew my cameras would get a good view of whatever happened, then measured my approach so that we both arrived there at the same time. Didn’t want to make it look like I’d planned it at all.

  I saw them before they saw me, but I’d give them warning before I hit. Had to abide by the law after all, and I wouldn’t be able to clear myself if I struck first. I knew the big one would be easy to goad into throwing a punch.

  “Oi!” I roared as I stalked out of the shadows. “I told you dodgy bastards to keep off my land!”

  All heads swiveled as one. The sergeant with hair—Eustace, I think his name was—put his hands up in a peaceful gesture. “Earl, we’re seriously here just to talk. It’s about your brother.”

  I felt a rare spasm of emotion that wasn’t anger, twist in my gut. I crushed it down. “Don’t want to hear it. Now get off my land while you can all still walk.”

  “Not until we’ve talked,” baldy rumbled. He was much bigger in the flesh, a good six-six, and nearly that wide across the shoulders. “And I think you’re overestimating your position here. There’d only be one person losing the ability to walk, and I’d make sure of it myself,” he sneered.

  I got the impression that baldy really wanted to test himself against me. That was perfect.

  “Leave it, Dan. You’re not helping matters,” Eustace said. He was a lot older, mid-forties and about my height.

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  I scowled at Eustace. “What did you bring him for? Looks to me like he’s here to make a very clear point. If you really wanted to talk civilly with me, you wouldn’t have brought this giant prick with you. And you certainly wouldn’t let him do the talking.”

  Eustace sighed, “I had no choice. Our superior thought it would be for the best. Now can we sit down somewhere and talk? It’s not just about your brother. We need your help.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh. “My help! I’m fucking speechless. Why the hell would you need my help, and more to the point, why the fuck would I ever give it? If Adam’s dead, just spit it out and then get off my land.”

  “We don’t know if he’s dead. That’s part of what we wanted to talk to you about. You’ll be well paid and…”

  “Blah, blah, blah. I already told you I didn’t want to hear your bullshit. But seeing as I’m in a good mood, I’ll listen on one condition.”

  Eustace sighed. “What is it?”

  “I’ll listen if that big bag of water you’ve brought with you can beat me in a fight.”

  “Absolutely not,” Eustace said firmly.

  Baldy punched his hand, seemingly happy with the development. “Definitely.”

  “Looks like we got ourselves a deal then.” I grinned.

  “For god’s sake, Earl,” Eustace snapped. “I’m asking you to help us find your brother! Is that not enough?”

  It was. Of course it was. Adam couldn’t stand me, but I still loved him in my own way. But I also hadn’t had a good scrap in ages, and this baldy bastard was just begging for it. Plus they had broken onto my land. Somebody had to pay.

  Eustace must have noticed that I wasn’t listening and turned to Graham. “Don’t do this. If this gets back…”

  Graham put a hand up to silence the smaller man. “You said yourself this is why I’m here.” Then he set to removing his knee length coat to further demonstrate his ridiculous physique. “You gonna take them gloves off, little man?”

  Compared to him, I was little. Just pushing six-foot. But I agreed and slipped the gloves off.

  He limbered up, throwing a few punches into the air. They weren’t too bad considering his size. I probably should have been worried. You know the old saying a good biggun always beats a good littlun?

  Eustace was still barking out orders to stop, but the back-up they brought made no effort to intervene, watching the two of us with glee. They’d love it if I got my arse handed to me, of that there was no doubt.

  Then it was on. Baldy squared up, boxing guard. “You get the first three shots free,” he jeered.

  Punching first wasn’t in my plan, and I was surprised he was clever enough to realize I had to attack first or he was fucked if this went further.

  “Fair enough,” I replied with a shrug, then produced a high-powered, beer flavored jet of spit that went straight through his guard and hit his left eye. My cameras were good, but they weren’t good enough to pick that up in the dark.

  They’d definitely pick Baldy losing it and coming at me with a sharp jab followed by a heavy right hook. I evaded both punches easily before sending a solid straight right into his solar plexus. The packed muscle protected him a little, but he still bent forward from the blow.

  Perfect! I brought my head up to meet his big old face.

  There was a solid impact, a dull thunking sound like throwing a good slab of meat on the counter. I could almost feel his nose crunching and each individual tooth rattling through the back of my head.

  He tried to grab a hold of me. An obvious response. Rather than dodge, I followed up with a sharp knee to the nuts. His arms went weak, and I stepped back as he buckled over, clutching at his crotch, gasping through a bloody mouth and glaring daggers at me.

  He’d done well to stay on his feet. Time to change that.

  “You know the old saying a good biggun always beats a good littlun?” I asked as conversationally as I could. “It’s bullshit.”

  Then I stamped on the inside of the bastard’s knee, bringing a satisfying crack. As he finally dropped to the ground, keeling over like a felled tree in slow motion, I managed to get in a tasty right hook to the temple. It switched him off like a light before his head even hit the gravel.

  I could hear distant shouting, but I wasn’t finished yet. The others would have to wait. Raising my foot, I brought it down on his unprotected throat.

  It never landed. Something big had hit my chest, and I was carried to the floor myself.

  “Bastards!” I screamed as five unhappy uniforms plowed in to me, all of them kicking and punching and screaming their rage.

  I grabbed hold of an incoming leg and yanked on it. The owner fell nearby, and I rummaged around for his face, searching desperately for eyes to gouge through the barrage.

  One at a time, Earl, I told myself calmly. One at a time.

  I felt something squish under my fingers, but as soon as I managed to get some purchase, he was gone. Most likely pulled to safety. It didn’t matter. There were still others.

  I kept up my own wild kicks and punches, thrashing around as they booted into me. Catching a standing knee, I felt rather than heard it give way.

  As the owner of the leg screamed, I managed to grab an incoming fist. Snaking my hand around the wrist, I held on, hoping to use it to get back to my feet.

  Next thing I knew, it felt like I’d been kicked by a mule. Every muscle in my body clenched up tighter than a duck’s arsehole, and I dropped back to the floor in a spasm.

  I fucking hate tasers.

  Whilst incapacitated, I was tossed around as those who could still walk cuffed my hands and legs. I heard Eustace swearing like he’d stumped his toe. Someone else was calling an ambulance while another nudged me with their foot.

  I growled. “Touch me again, and I’ll hunt you down and break every bone in your body.”

  “You’re back with us then.” Eustace asked, crouching down beside me. “What the hell is wrong with you, Earl? You shouldn’t be allowed to roam free, should you?”

  “Not when the world is full of pussies like you,” I spat.

  “Sergeant Graham and two of the five officers I brought have to be taken to hospital. Doesn’t that concern you?”

  “I got the cameras. You all broke in without a warrant. Baldy threw the first punch, pal. I got nothing to worry about. It’s you lot that need to be worried.”

  “We’ll wipe the cameras if we need to. I actually meant that you seriously hurt three people who had only come to ask for help. You tried to kill Sergeant Graham. We all saw it. Hell, it’s the only reason the others jumped in. Now you’ve possibly blinded one of them and broke the leg of another. These men have families. Do you feel nothing?”

  I laughed as best as I could through my own bloody face. Probably more of a gurgle. “I told you all to leave. It was your choice, not mine. I’d have killed you all if I could’ve.”

  Eustace didn’t speak for a while, so I just concentrated on breathing past all of the blood.

  “I couldn’t stand watching you fight, you know. The disappointment. Every single title defense, I prayed you’d be better. Cleaner. You were so damn talented. Every fighter you faced, you had in your pocket from round one. Why could you not be happy with winning? Why did you take every single fight too far?”

  I gurgled some more and coughed out some blood and a tooth. Through bleary eyes, I could see him shaking his head.

  “I could never understand it. Until now.”

  “Whoopedy fucking do for you. I hadn’t realized I was so complex.”

  Something sharp punctured my neck as I spoke. My words got slower with each one.

  Eustace was crouching down in front of me now. “I actually thought you were, Earl. But… I was wrong. You’re a goddamn animal. Lucky for you, that’s exactly what we need.”