England, 2008
“Fucking cunt!”
Pain exploded across the side of her face first and then through her shoulder as the force of the unexpected slap knocked Aidan to the sidewalk. A spray of blood painted the concrete when she exhaled through her nose. Her eyes flooded with tears as the air left her lungs and agony followed the kick to the stomach. If she hadn't learned how to take a hit to wrestle she would have had internal injuries. As it was, she could feel her ribs starting to bend as a huge foot planted on her side and began to press.
“Hey you fuck!”
Air surged back into her lungs as the weight suddenly lifted when Belinda clotheslined him from behind. Blurry-eyed and aching all over, Aidan forced herself up to her feet. She wiped her eyes with the back of her sleeve just in time to see Linnie bounce his face off of the hood of the nearest car. The taste of blood filled her mouth as she sucked in a breath.
There was an unfamiliar heat boiling in her chest, nestled somewhere behind her heart so that she could feel it warming her spine between her shoulderblades. Belinda let him fall to the ground and brushed her hands off. No. Not enough. A ragged scream tore free from her throat as Aidan tackled him into the side of the car. The much larger body rolled over her once, but she came out on top through some careful leveraging.
The impact radiated through her fist before she realized she had even thrown the first punch into his jaw. The second came just as easily, and the third. She lost count. His head hit the concrete below at least twice. Her knuckles were bleeding, her forearm was numb. The rest ached all the way to her shoulder but it all led to satisfaction filling her brain.
“Okay, Aidan, stop.”
No!
Again. Again. Again. The pain surged as her arms were hooked up from behind and she was dragged away in a loose full nelson. She almost threw an elbow back, but quickly realized that it was Belinda. Suddenly she could hear the sounds of the street again and see something other than the man on the sidewalk.
“Enough, Aidan. Stop, he's down. Come on, let's get out of here.”
The entire car ride and subsequent trip up to the flat was a blur. She didn't remember any of it and was a bit startled when she abruptly realized she was standing in the kitchen. Thankfully Elsie was sound asleep on the couch and didn't stir when they entered. Belinda ushered her right back to the bathroom and planted her on the edge of the tub. Her heart was still hammering in her ears. The blood was drying and making her skin feel tight.
When the door clicked shut, Aidan looked up. Belinda, in all of her six-foot-one glory, had a look on her face that Aidan had never seen before. It made her stomach tighten slightly as bile rose in the back of her throat. When she exhaled, it made a shaking, squeaking sound.
“What was that?”
“I... I don't know. I just... He hit me and I got pissed off. He deserved everything he got. Don't tell me I should be sorry for it.”
“I don't think that at all. But I've never seen you lose control, and don't tell me that you didn't.”
“No... I did.”
Belinda had soaked a wash cloth in cold water as they spoke and now stood towering in front of where Aidan was sitting on the end of the ancient bathtub. Two hundred and twenty pounds of woman coming at her with “mom face” was no less imposing than it was coming at her with a clothesline. When she received the order, there was no room to protest.
“Head back.”
The lightest touch of the damp cloth to begin wiping away the dried blood sent white spots dancing across Aidan's vision. Despite her best efforts she must have made a sound and flinched, because Belinda put a huge hand on the side of her head to hold her still. Aidan braced her hands to either side of herself on the tub to maintain her composure.
“You're going to have a huge shiner. It's already starting to show.”
“I'll just say it was a training accident. Not like that isn't believable after what happened at the gym last week, right? Fucking ancient equipment.”
“Well, they might have bought that...”
Linnie reached down and picked up one of her hands, making Aidan hiss. The movement of her head to look down at them sent a spike of pain through her skull, which made her hiss again. Both hands were covered in blood, skin torn, knuckles swollen.
“...if it weren't for these. I don't think anyone is going to have trouble putting two and two together, honey.”
“Well then I'll just say that I got into a fist fight and leave it at that.”
Aidan carefully disengaged her hand so that she could use her adrenaline-clumsy fingers to pick at the opposite knuckles After a few moments they came away with a small, hard, and previously white object. She held it out between herself and Belinda; a tooth fragment.
“Good job, girlie. I'm proud, I really am. I've always wanted to see you lay into someone like that.”
When the big blonde leaned over to look her in the eyes, it was hard for Aidan to not lean back away from the look she was getting. The slightest motion made her dizzy, however, which Belinda seemed to have anticipated because she reached out and steadied her by the shoulder. “Concern” and “blame” had very similar appearances on Belinda's face.
“But with control. ...How's your head?”
“Pounding.”
“How's your heart?”
“Pounding.”
“I'll get the whiskey. You wash your face and your hands.”
How the giant woman moved as quietly as she did, Aidan had never understood, but she crept out of the bathroom and closed the door almost without a sound. It took two tries to stand up from the edge of the tub, and on the second she had to brace one hand on top of the toilet seat and the other against the wall. Her legs were shaky and every other part of her hurt.
When she looked into the tiny mirror above the sink, she didn't recognize the woman looking back at her. A blue-black mark had mostly appeared on her left cheek, spanning all the way from the side of her nose back to her ear. Dried blood covered her upper lip, her chin, and even part of her neck where she had just been letting it run down her face in the car. Her hands were shaking as she turned on the water and began to wash them, scouring at the dried blood there.
By the time she was all cleaned up, her skin was a little red from scrubbing. She bit the inside of her lip, and promptly hissed as she discovered she had a split there from the slap. Shaking that off, she turned her side toward the mirror and hesitantly lifted up her shirt, staring at the image of the massive purple-red bruise that was forming. Her eyes closed as the pain surged when she ran her fingers over it.
- - - - -
New York, January 2nd, 2016
Aidan ran her hand over the sides of her leather jacket, smoothing them down and looking at the reflection in the car window to be sure that nothing showed through it. Her knives were tucked against her side, well within reach. She had no idea what to expect, she just knew that it wasn't good. Still, she moved with supreme confidence as she strode toward the man who was waiting in the glow of the headlights from his own vehicle.
It was dark and cold. The pier was mostly abandoned. Part of her wanted to sneer at the showmanship of it, but she kept that out of her expression. She kept everything out of her expression. The suit the man was wearing easily cost five grand, his shoes probably about the same, but it was subdued, not gaudy. For scum, he had taste.
“You must be Aidan Carlisle. I wasn't sure what to expect, but I admit, I didn't imagine you would look so lovely... and capable.”
“What has Elsie gotten herself into?”
“Right down to business, then? I like that. Could I invite you to sit in my car instead of out here in the cold?”
“I'd prefer to stay out here.”
“For once in my life, and probably the only time, I'm not the bad guy here, Miss Carlisle. Your girl has gotten herself in way, way over her head, and she's reached a point where I can't help her. Now, before you start throwing accusations, yes, she does owe me too. Soft spots aren't generally my thing, but I find people have a very hard time paying you back if they are dead.”
The words he chose, the tone he used, the goons that were around but out of sight... She took it all in and processed what it meant, how it fit into the situation. Mob was a bit out of even Elsie's ability to get herself into trouble. After a moment, she just repeated herself.
“What has Elsie gotten herself into?”
“With me? It's a tiny debt, barely even worth my notice, but I've got a reputation to keep and I can't walk around letting things slide. She owes me five hundred.”
Aidan didn't move because she didn't want to startle any itchy trigger fingers.
“I've got that much in my pocket right now. I'll take care of her debt.”
“That's fine, I'm willing to let you settle up for her, but that is just the debt with me, and that is not her biggest problem.”
“What is?”
“Five hundred doesn't cover that.”
“What does?”
“...Let's say two thousand for the whole story.”
“Done.”
“How do I know you're good for it?”
“Because this coat cost almost two thousand. If your men can resist shooting at the slightest hint of movement, I'll give you the money right here and now.”
The man nodded and made a gesture with two fingers for her to hand it over. Aidan reached slowly into her pocket and withdrew the thick, folded wad of bills. Not comfortable or foolish enough to get closer, she tossed it to him. He promptly handed it off to one of his men to count.
“Your friend is not a smart girl, Miss Carlisle. She came to me for a loan to pay off a debt to someone else. Had she told me her plan was to gamble in order to try to get more, I would have advised her against it.”
She rolled her eyes in spite of herself. Yes, that sounded like Elsie, never asking for help until she had dug herself in too deep.
“Who was she trying to pay to begin with?”
“That is a long story.”
“Well how about we skip the story. You are obviously a man with connections and the ability to make things happen. You know who she needed to pay and why, but you gave her the money, so obviously there is no loyalty or ties there, otherwise you would have done them a favor and passed along the knowledge, yes?”
The man raised his eyebrows briefly at the deduction, his only indication that she was guessing correctly.
“How much to get her from wherever she is to me, tomorrow?”
He laughed and shook his head, wagging his finger at her as he paced back and forth a few times.
“That is outside my line of work, and not easily done. You want the girl tomorrow... ten grand to get her.”
Lifting her hand slowly, Aidan clicked the unlock button for the car, seeing the flash of the headlights reflecting off of the vehicles in front of her.
“It's in the glove box.”
Upon being signaled, one of the men moved past her and went to the car to retrieve the cash. He must have given a sign, because the man in front of her gave a mildly impressed look. The idea that she was giving him too many hints about just what she could pay certainly had crossed her mind, but for the moment there was little choice.
“She'll be back to you tomorrow. Same time, same place.”
“Unharmed.”
“In precisely the state we find her, not a hand laid.”
“How much to fix what she's gotten herself into?”
“Now that, Miss Carlisle, is going to cost a great deal more, and it's not something you can pay in cash. Nor is it something I can or will help you achieve.”
“But you can give me the information?”
“You've already paid for it. I'll have everything you need all neat and down on paper for you to tomorrow to read so you don't have to listen to me tell it. Does that satisfy you?”
“I'll accept it.”
“But you're not satisfied?”
“Very little satisfies me, Mr. Mendoza.”
He smirked.
“You do look like a woman with interesting tastes. The girl and the information, tomorrow.”
With a nod, Aidan retreated to the car. It wasn't hers, of course. She wasn't stupid. She wasn't giving anyone the ability to track the license plate and figure out where to find her. As she slipped behind the wheel and back down the pier, she never took her eyes off of Frankie Mendoza where he stood, staring back at her. She didn't even let her gloved fingers touch the radio, the only thing to break the silence was her own words.
“What a fucking mess. God dammit, Elsie.”