Kali on the Ropes: An Action-Packed Suspense Novel by Kaden Ali

Author:Kaden, Ali
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ali Kaden Books
Published: 2024-01-20T00:00:00+00:00

14.

News item from Birmingham (UK.) Weekly Gazette, September 4, 2016:

MOTHER TERESA declared saint before audience at the Vatican.

Mother Teresa, a Catholic nun who devoted her life to helping India’s poor, has been declared a saint in a canonization Mass held by Pope Francis at the Vatican.

The Pope delivered the ceremony for the Albanian-born nun before huge crowds gathered in Vatican City on Sunday morning.

PHILIP READ THE front-page story, and it brought a bit of cheer to an otherwise cold and gloomy day. He drove to the pub at noon to find Paulie already waiting for him at the bar with two of his men. He joined them on the next stool closest to the door. No other patrons were inside. The bartender, a timid man with red hair, brought over three pints of ale and a diet soda for Philip, then briskly returned to the far side of the bar, out of earshot.

Everyone in Birmingham had heard of Paulie, including Philip, though he didn’t fully understand the implication of being invited at first. It was only after telling a fellow fighter at the gym about the request that he learned the true meaning of the summons—not showing up would be taken as an insult. Reluctantly, in jeans and a sweatshirt, Philip went to the pub instead of the gym and sat next to three gangsters in tailored suits. With the way he felt going into his upcoming fight, it would’ve been a day best spent hibernating at home.

Paulie began speaking of his favorite matches, classic bouts that all boxing fanatics liked to reference, and Philip tuned out this quintessential dribble about “Tyson… Ali… Foreman… Lewis…” When he tuned back in, the tone and conversation had changed abruptly and were quite different.

“I need ya to go down in the fourth tomorrow, ya hear what I’m sayin?” Paulie said, lightly slapping Philip’s chin.

What the fuck did he just ask me to do? Throw a fight? Like his friends had told him, Philip understood refusing would be taken as an insult. His mind raced, considering his family, his integrity, his boxing record, all in a fraction of a second. Paulie’s men leaned in to stare at Philip, making his moment of deliberation as uncomfortable as possible.

This mobster is telling me what to do.

“Did you hear what I said?” Paulie emphasized.

“Go down in the fourth,” Philip murmured, desperate yet unable to think of something else to say.

“It’s done,” Paulie said. He drank the last bit of ale in his glass, slammed it on the bar.

“Your career’s done anyway, kid,” Paulie said, standing up to leave. “You gotta focus on survival now.”

In a moment of doubt, Paulie’s words carried weight. Nearing his forties, Philip’s boxing career was indeed coming to an end. He stayed for a few minutes, considering the fight ahead, thinking he’d be lucky to get knocked out in the fourth and lose the honest way. His opponent was a younger fighter from Aston Villa named Bowen with an impressive knockout ratio. It wasn’t out of the question.

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