Merciless Reason Read Online Free PDF Page B

forth.
    â€œGod, Ronan, don’t put dat fella on!” a woman’s voice called out. “Sure, he’s too pretty to spoil!”
    The other women in the room laughed, and some of the men too.
    Then the Axe strode through the mob, which parted like water around him. He raised his fists in the air, circling the ring, snarling like an animal, working the spectators into a feverish excitement. Nate studied him—his gestures, his movements. Pat ‘The Axe’ Healy was the worst kind of opponent: muscular enough to be fearsomely powerful, but without the kind, of bulk that would slow him down. His hands were like the paws of a bear, but he moved with the savage grace of a big cat. By the looks of his face and body, and the gold teeth in his mouth, he had taken batterings in the past—but not recently. There was a cruel intelligence in his eyes. The Axe was a terribly violent man, but he was no mindless thug. He was everything Nate did not want to fight.
    â€œLadeez and Gintlemen!” Ronan bellowed, stepping into the ring. “Ladeez and Gintlemen, we bring you a very special bout tonight. For five years, Pat ‘Dee Axe’ Healy has ruled the ring, since taking the title from the previous holder; de man we discovered wiz none other than Marcus Wildenstern! And what a bettle det was!”
    The crowd roared their agreement.
    â€œWell, tonight Healy defends his title once more!” Ronan announced, his blood up, his face going a bright red. “And baying for his blood is a mighty contender indeed—one who has more reason than most to bury the fearsome Axe!”
    Nate kept his eyes on the floor, but felt his heart skip a beat. Could Ronan know? Surely he wouldn’t—
    â€œLadeez and Gintlemen, I give you a man who disappeared three years ago, after his family wiz attecked and many of dem killed outright! After the family chapel wiz destroyed by a bomb in a coffin , Ladeez and Gintlemen! Here is the man who chased down the blackguard responsible, beat the tar out of him and threw him off a cliff ! Now, after three years of wandering the world, he hes returned to claim his birthright, and with it the bare-knuckle title in Boston, Massachusetts!
    â€œLadeez and Gintlemen, I give you NATHANIEL ‘THE AVENGER’ WILDENSTERN!”
    Nate swore under his breath. There was no escaping it now. But that was just fine. Let the cards fall where they may; he simply did not care any more.
    Rolling his head around, he shook out his arms and bounced on the balls of his feet. On the other side of the circle, Healy spat on his hands and rubbed them together, a man about to start his work. Then he gobbed on the floor and nodded to Nate. There the pleasantries ended.
    They met in the middle of the floor and Healy laid in with a couple of lazy swings. He was feeling Nate out, seeing how he would move. Nate dodged them easily, but was caught on the chin by a jab that seemed little more than a flicker of Healy’s left hand. It rocked Nate’s head back and he staggered, ducking under a right hook that looked powerful enough to shatter his skull. Healy anticipated the duck, coming in hard with a left uppercut as Nate’s head came down. Nate deflected it and came up hard, driving his fist into Healy’s throat.
    It was a good hit and Healy felt it, coughing as he stumbled back towards the edge of the ring. One advantage to being a shorter opponent was that you could punch up, driving up with your whole body—you had less power when you punched downwards. Nate followed him, fists raised, swivelling at the hips as if preparing for another punch. Healy raised his guard, but Nate whipped his shin out instead, knocking Healy’s right leg out to the side. Almost in the same motion, he caught Healy’s left knee with a back kick. Then he brought his foot back down and up hard into the big man’s groin. Instead of hitting soft testicles, Nate felt a hard, piercing pain in