She shook her head and laughed. “Fucking asshole!”
They continued playing pool for another ten minutes before trouble erupted in the bar.
“Hey, dickhead,” shouted one of the security guys to the Irishman in the Hawaiian shirt. “You honestly think you got a shot with her?”
Jericho and Julie looked over to see him gesturing to the barmaid.
The Irish guy turned and stared at him. “With Jess here?” he asked. “Oh, me and Jess go way back,” he glanced at her and smiled, “don’t we, darlin’?”
She returned the smile, her cheeks flushing red. He looked back at the security guy. “Now if you could do me a favor and leave me your sister’s phone number before you fuck off, that’d be grand.”
Jericho smiled to himself. “Brave sonofabitch, I’ll give him that,” he whispered.
“Or stupid,” countered Julie.
He shrugged. “In my experience, it’s a pretty thin line between the two.”
They stood transfixed, along with the few other people in the bar. The Irishman appeared unaware of the attention. And the security men probably didn’t care.
“What the fuck did you say?” the guy replied, leaning in close and getting in his face.
The Irishman turned away from him. “You heard. Now piss off, would ya? I’m tryin’ to appreciate a well-earned drink here.”
Another security guy stepped forward, tapping his friend on the shoulder. “Hey, I know this guy,” he said. “This is Ray Collins. The loud-mouthed, womanizing drunk with a gambling problem. Typical fucking Irish prick. You’re a disgrace, Collins!”
Collins stood, knocking his stool over. He pointed his finger at the man who spoke. “Hey! I resent that,” he said. “I’m not a fuckin’ drunk!”
Jericho smiled and placed his cue down on the table, crossing his arms across his chest.
Julie looked at him. “What are you doing?” she asked.
He shook his head. “Nothing. Just watching.”
Collins stood his ground, keeping his right hand raised. “Back the fuck off,” he said. “Walk away now, the lot of ya.”
The three men formed a line in front of him and spread out. The first guy who spoke took a step forward. “Or what?”
Collins looked along the line and sighed. “Ah, bollocks….”
He stepped forward, dropping his shoulders and whipping his head toward the nearest man to him. The headbutt connected — his forehead smashing into the guy’s nose, causing blood to splatter across both their faces.
Over by the pool table, Julie nudged Jericho. “Imagine if you did that?” she asked quietly. “You’d kill someone.”
Jericho raised an eyebrow. “Hmm… yeah, must remember that,” he replied absently, looking on at the ensuing bar fight.
The remaining two men rushed Collins, taking an arm each and pinning him against the bar. The recipient of the headbutt scrambled to his feet, standing in front of him. He unleashed four big punches to Collins’ ribs and sides, alternating left, then right, with each one.
Jericho tensed his arms and took a deep breath, trying to stay calm and talk himself out of intervening.
Julie turned her back on the proceedings and placed a hand on his forearm. “You look like you’re fixing to do something stupid,” she said, quietly.
Jericho looked at her with a humorless smile. “Or something brave…”
She shook her head and smiled. “Is this that line you were talking about?”
“It could well be, yeah.”
Suddenly, Collins pushed himself off the bar, breaking free of the grip they had on his arms. He pushed the guy to his left, putting a little distance between them. He then turned and threw a left body shot to the guy on his right, catching him in the stomach. Finally, he launched a right kick at the guy in front of him, catching him in the balls, causing him to double over.
It looked like he might get the upper hand, but the guy on his left jumped him, slipping a chokehold on him from behind and holding him steady. The other two men recovered and took it in turns launching horrendous shots to Collins’ body and face.
He had no chance.
“That’s it,” said Jericho, pushing past Julie. “Wait here.”
He strode over toward the bar, his eyes fixed on the nearest of the two men punching Collins. As he approached, he threw a straight right hand of his own, connecting flush with the guy’s already busted nose. The impact sent him staggering backward and over a table, sending it, and the chairs around it, scattering across the floor.
“What the—?” managed the other guy throwing punches, before Jericho grabbed him by the throat, heaving him effortlessly over the bar and sending him crashing down onto a shelf of dirty glasses. The guy grunted as they shattered from the impact, and Jericho glanced over and watched as he rolled to the floor, bleeding from a thousand tiny wounds along his arms and face.
He looked at Collins, who met his gaze and raised his eyebrows in silent thanks. He then bent his knees suddenly, dropping his weight and freeing himself from the choke. He lashed his right elbow back, hitting the remaining guy in his stomach. He turned as the guy was keeling over and delivered a strong left knee into his face, sending him sprawling backward.
He leaned forward, his hands on his knees, catching his breath.
“You alright?” asked Jericho.
“Aye… am alright…” replied Collins, standing up straight and extending his hand. “I’m Ray.” He nodded at Jericho’s eye patch. “And you must be Blackbeard?”
“It’s Jericho,” he replied, shaking his hand and ignoring the attempt at humor. “You can take a beating, I’ll give you that.”
Collins shrugged. “I can hand them out even better. It’s just these limp-wristed fuckers travel in packs. Shouldn’t have let ‘em get the jump on me.”
“Anyone ever told you that mouth of yours is gonna get you killed one day?”
Collins laughed. “All the time… Bastards!”
“You boys finished jerking each other off?”
They both turned to see Julie standing there, her arms folded across her chest and her eyebrow raised.
“And who might you be, pretty lady?” asked Collins, seemingly forgetting everything that had just happened.
Julie playfully patted his face with her palm. “Someone you will never see naked,” she replied, stepping past him and standing in front of Jericho. Her head was level with his chest, and she looked up at him, smiling. “Wanna get out of here?”
Jericho looked over her head and raised an eyebrow at Collins, who laughed and shrugged back. He looked down at her, staring into her brown eyes. “Lead the way,” he said.
She headed for the door. Jericho set off after her, stopping when he was level with Collins. “You gonna be alright?” he asked.
“I’ll be fine,” he replied. “Thanks for the save. You better watch your back though…” he nodded over to the door, where Julie was stood waiting, “…I think you’re about to have a rougher time than I just did!”
“We live in hope,” Jericho replied, patting him on the shoulder and walking off toward the door.
They stepped outside, both taking in a deep breath of cool air, looking around as dusk gave way to nightfall. They set off walking back to the GlobaTech compound.
“Just so we’re clear,” said Julie, after a moment. “You absolutely are not getting laid tonight.”
Jericho smiled but didn’t look at her. “It hadn’t crossed my mind.”
They made their way back to the base and headed for the tenement buildings that housed the live-in employees, which were situated in the far right corner, close by the perimeter fence, in the shadow of the mountain range behind.
There were three large tower blocks in total. Jericho was in the nearest one to them as they approached, on the third floor.