Vinny sits at the bar. He’s looking at the reflection of the liquor bottles lined up against the mirror. He is sliding his finger up and down his pilsner. As he knocks sweat off his glass as a small puddle builds on the bar.
“Been a long time, Buddy?” Asks the bartender on his way to wipe the puddle.
“Huh?”
“Your finger.”
Vinny sees Kevin walk in through the reflection in the mirror. He looks down at his finger.
“My finger?” asks Vinny.
“Yeah, caressing the side of your glass. A glass with curves”.
Vinny just sits there staring blankly at the bartender.
“I always thought pilsners were shaped like women but I guess that’s just me,” says the bartender giving up on his joke.
“Honestly I wasn’t really paying attention. Sorry. My name is Vin. What’s yours?” Greets Vinny as he extends he hand to be shaken.
The bartender dries his hands with his towel.
“What’s on your mind then, Vin?” inquires the bartender changing the mood quickly.
“I’m looking for a Larry Fine. Do you know him?”
“I certainly do,” replies the bartender. Then he looks over to the only other guy sitting at the bar.
That man moves closer and nods to three men over by the dartboard. That only leaves three other men in the bar, Kevin plus the two men behind him playing pool.
“What’s this all about?” asks the bartender still drying his hands.
“I just want to ask him a few questions. I don’t want any trouble. I’m a government official,” announces Vinny flashing his ID.
“So this is about the Glass boy I take it”.
Vinny confirms his suspicion with a nod.
“We don’t care who you are. In this town we don’t speak of that devil family and there’s consequences for those who do”.
The man, who was at the bar and moved closer, lunges for Vinny.
Vinny easily evades it.
“Please I would much rather a non-violent solution to this confrontation. I can probably take you both rather easily. Let’s not find out if I’m right,” pleads Vinny.
The bartender reaches for something under the bar.
The other man takes a swing at Vinny.
Vinny blocks the punch then bends the man’s arm behind his back. This spins the man from facing Vinny to facing the bar.
The bartender reemerges from the bar with a shotgun. He was startled by seeing his buddy where he thought Vinny would be.
Vinny, using his captive as cover pushes the human shield toward the bartender, at the same time reaches around him and grabs the gun. He twists the gun. This ties the bartender’s arms up in themselves. In the second the bartender takes to straighten himself out Vinny opens the shotgun and dumps the ammo. In the other hand he pushes the man he used as a shield’s forehead into the bar. That man doesn’t get up.
Two of the three men at the dartboard join the fray. The first one to get there tackles Vinny to the ground. One of them yells.
“Grab his gun”.
The two men playing pool start running over with there pool cues.
Kevin jumps from his seat to impede their path. He pushes the first one aside.
The second man smacks Kevin across the face with the pool cue. The impact shatters the cue, breaks Kevin’s nose and leaves a gash above his left eye.
Kevin instinctively throws a haymaker with everything he’s got into his attacker. The punch lands cleanly on the man’s chin.
The man’s eyes roll to the back of his head and he falls down unconscious.
Kevin wipes the blood from his eyes and tries to clear his head.
The man who was pushed aside jumps on Kevin’s back and tries choking him with the pool cue.
Kevin hits his assailant with an elbow blow to the kid's knees. Then he flips him over his back. After the man crashes against the floor Kevin screams,
“Get up!”
The man gets up holding the pool cue in a threatening manner. He swings it wild, missing Kevin twice.
Kevin grabs the pool cue trapping the man’s hands on the cue under his own hands. Then he forces the man to hit himself over the head hard enough to snap the cue in half.
“This would be a very good time for you to leave,” growls Kevin with blood still streaming down his face from his wounds.
The man faces nearly loses all it color and he struggles to free himself from Kevin’s grasp.
Kevin held strong for a moment then releases him.
That man flees in terror.
Vinny first instinct is to shield his gun with his body. The two assailants try to get through his guard but Vinny’s too sly, fast, and nimble. He manages to get the guns safety on while protecting it.
The bartender has been franticly searching for his shotgun shells.
The man by the dartboard that never joined the fight is trying to indiscreetly make it to an exit.
“You! Stay put!” screams Kevin freezing the man trying to get out. Then he grabs a pool ball off the table.
“Hey Bartender,” he yells.
The bartender, who has recently found some shells, is nervously trying to load his shotgun. He looks up when he hears Kevin’s cry just in time to catch the 14 ball in the forehead. The impact drops him instantly.
Kevin hustles to Vinny’s aid. He grabs the first adversary he can reach and easily pulls him from the pile. He presses that man over his head and throws him over the bar. He’s hurled body breaks some bottles and cracks the mirror on it’s way to the floor.
Vinny instantly turns the tide when the battle becomes one on one. He works his opponent into a chokehold and waits for him to faint.
The man who Kevin threw behind the bar gets to his feet. He is bleeding from a dozen tiny cuts with glass probably still inside them. The reaches over the bar for, what he think is an unaware, Kevin.
Kevin turns quickly while drawing his gun from his shoulder holster. He places the barrel right on the man’s head freezing him in his tracks.
“You would never,” the man says spitting blood and calling Kevin’s bluff
“You’re right. I just needed a moment to catch my breath,” admits Kevin followed by a vicious left hook. That hook meant lights out for that man.
“Not so fast you!” says Kevin catching the man whose left trying to sneak out again.
After Vinny’s victim faints he get to his feet and grabs the last man standing.
“You’re coming with us,” says Vinny pulling the man by his arm.
The three men leave together.
Vinny takes the man’s wallet and looks at the liscense.
“Mr. Fine. Why are we not surprised? You are coming with us. We need you to answer a few questions. Please don’t make this any more difficult that it been already”.
Mr. Fine still in shock from what he just witnessed is just staring over at Kevin.
“Sure. What ever you want,” his eyes never wandering from watching Kevin clean himself. “Who is that guy?”
Vinny smiles and replies, “Him? He’s my ‘and what army’”.
To Be Continued...
