Man Of Mayhem, Pt. 2

[Tommy Knox]

///Man Of Mayhem\\\
Chapter XXXII, Part II

"She's my old lady and I'd die before I let anything happen to her."
- Knox -

Wednesday 2:43 AM [September 11th, 2013]
Athens, Greece

Far from the coast of southern California is where we find ourselves. The grunge of the Nomad clubhouse and smell of exhaust fumes are nothing more than a distant memory. We're far from home, far from no man's land, where everyday is a fight either in or outside of the restraints of the law.

Life on the road is hard, especially when out of the country and living out of a suitcase. Being over seas is different than rolling across country for a gig. After the show is over, you can't just grab your stuff and catch the next flight back home. Well, you can, but then you'd spend all of your time cramped on a plane, sitting beside who knows what and driven to insanity by the hassle just to get on a damn plane.

9/11, a government conspiracy to blind the eye of the public while they gain control of whatever they want, by any means necessary. It's a crock of shit that most people either choose to ignore or are just to blind to see it for themselves.

That's neither here nor there, lets get back to the filth of the hotel room that paints the picture of our scene tonight, early this morning.

The walls are covered in dirt and markings. The light hanging from the ceiling is dim, with a slight flicker every now and then. Along the wall, a small couch sits with a suitcase thrown across it, wide open with clothes hanging from the sides. The APW Overdrive championship rests on top of it all as the dim light from above reflects on the cold metal of the face.

In the middle of everything, there's a bed. Tommy Knox leans back as he sits atop with his back against the headboard. He holds a red bra in his hand as he stares down at it and thinks to himself as silence fills the air. He then raises it to his nose and takes a slow breath as he tries to smell the body that it covered before coming in his possession.

"Niobe, where are you." Knox says as he lowers the bra from his nose and continues to look down at it with a passion and sense of hopelessness in his eyes.

Knox stands up, tosses the bra down to the bed and walks across the room. In the corner by the door, a small refrigerator sits. A light sound hums from the back as it fights on its last leg to keep the inside cool. He kicks it from the side and swings the small door open and then bends over and grabs a bottle of beer.

As he pulls it out, he slams the top on the corner of the fridge and pops the cap off and takes a drink without any hesitation. He then reaches inside and grabs two more bottles with his free hand and backs away before kicking the door closed and sending a loud thud throughout the room.

Knox then walks back over to the bed and places the two unopened beers on the night stand and goes to sit down as a cell phone begins to ring from across the room. His head pops up as he looks over and walks to grab it. He looks down at the caller ID and nods as he flips it open and holds it to his ear just before sitting back down on the bed and getting comfortable.

"Yo" Knox says just before taking another drink from his beer.

"It's done." The voice on the other end says.

Knox thinks to himself for a moment before responding. "Awesome, now there's less competition on the streets for us."

"Indeed it is, brother. Now we can get back to business and move forward on the truck shop." The voice says once more.

"That's what I'm walkin' about, Wallace. Good shit." Knox says.

After hearing Knox acknowledge who is on the other line, we come to the conclusion that it's Wallace, brother and president of the Long Beach charter. With Knox being out of the country, on tour with APW, the two have communicated everyday through the use of disposable phones, "burners".

"Damnit, dude!" Wallace yells.

Knox chuckles to himself with a huge grin from ear to ear. "My bad, bro. I forgot that we're not supposed to mention names and shit. I was just sayin' did you see how bad Mike Wallace did in that Dolphins game the other day, it was horrible."

"Good job there, dumbass. Look, I need to know when you'll be back around." Wallace asks.

"I don't know man, seriously. We have a show in Athens, Greece tomorrow night and after that I don't have a clue. Niobe has been keepin' up with all that technical shit. I'm just here for the party and to defend this strap against any asshole who gets in my way." Knox says as he takes another drink from his beer.

A silence overcomes the conversation before Wallace finally speaks up. "Well, you know that you need to be here if you're going to remain a member of the MC. You don't ride, you don't vote."

"I know, brother. I'm plannin' on comin' back for a few days after this show to catch up on things and handle some business there. I mean, I just beat Envi for the strap so I'm sort of obligated to come on this overseas tour and make appearances and stomp a few faces in the dirt." Knox says.

"If you're planning on coming back after tomorrow nights show then that's cool. We have a few club matters that need to be discussed at the table but they can wait until you get here. Other than that, everything's smooth sailing. I did want to tell you though, that you had a suit come by here looking for you." Wallace says.

"A suit?" Knoxville asks.

"Yea, some dude that said he needed to sit down with you about an opportunity coming up. Hell, he even asked if I knew how to get in touch with Madison." Wallace says on the other end of the line.

"What? What do you mean suit, like a cop?" Knox asks.

"Nah, man. He didn't smell like a pig. If anything, he looked like a salesman or some lame ass shit like that. He's no cop, I'm sure of that. He wasn't even snooping around or anything. He pulled up to the clubhouse in a cab and came to the front office of the garage and asked for you. He looked like he was lost by the expression of his face." Wallace says.

"Oh, that's crazy. I have no clue who he could be but thanks for lettin' me know." Knox says as he finishes off his beer. He places the empty bottle on the night stand and grabs another, slams the top to the edge of the stand and sends the cap flying across the room.

"So, things going good for you on the road with APW? We're cheering for you, bro." Wallace says.

Knox takes a drink and leans his head back and rests it against the headboard. "Everything's goin' good so far. Me and Niobe are climbin' in the ring with Gates and Biggs tomorrow night in a tag match. I'm willin' to bet that they think it's goin' to be easy with a woman in the ring but little do they know that I'm goin' to do everything that I can to keep her out of harms way. She's my old lady and I'd die before I let anything happen to her. Don't get me wrong, she can handle her own but when I'm in the ring with her, I'm not goin' to let anything happen to her."

"Heh, I hear you, bro. I saw what you guys did to Biggs last week. That was brutal." Wallace says.

"That's nothin' compared to what I'm goin' to do to him when he's standin' in the ring across from me, scheduled in a match against Tommy fuckin' Knox. I busted my ass to get where I am today. It wasn't easy, not by far. Takin' out each and every person, one by one, it was sure as shit no easy task. I did what had to be done, at any means necessary. I did what needed to be done to survive and I'm not about to lay down or get one upped by some APW veteran. These two chumps have been in APW for some time now. They've put in the work to make Overdrive what it is today. I don't give a fuck. I'm here to take APW to tomorrow and revolutionize the brand. After all, I took out APW's top commodity, Evan Envi, and now it's my time to shine!" Knox takes a drink from his beer as the adrenaline begins to pump through his body. He breathes a little heavier than earlier as the conversation gets him excited and ready to wage war tomorrow night.

Wallace laughs on the other end as he can tell Knox is getting excited by the sound in his voice. "Calm down, brother! Save all of that energy and bottle it up for the night. When you climb in that ring for real with them standing across from you, crack the top and unleash it on their asses once and for all. Don't hold anything back. You took out a lot of big names to get where you are and if taking out a few more is what has to be done to maintain your level of competition and dominance, then so be it. Fuck 'em all!"

"Fuck 'em all! I fought hard to get where I am. I put my body on the line at Shockwave to win that strap fair and square. I earned this opportunity to be where I am today and to tell the truth, I fuckin' love it. I don't plan on steppin' down from this high any time soon. I want APW to throw it's legends at me, one by one, two by two, it doesn't fuckin' matter to me. Send them my way and I'll knock them down one after the other, pair after pair. I'm the Overdrive champion now and I'm in the drivers seat. Everyone else that isn't rollin' with me and Black Hand are nothin' but passengers ridin' bitch." Knox quickly jumps to his feet and takes another drink from his beer as the adrenaline flows even more through his body. A slight tremble comes over his hands as they shakes rapidly.

"Damn, bro. I can tell that this conversation has gotten you ready for action. Shit, what time is it there?" Wallace asks.

"Two fifty-four in the fuckin' mornin'." Knox says.

"Hah, looks like you're not gettin' any sleep any time soon." Wallace says.

"No shit, I'm fuckin' ready to climb in that ring right now and rip those fuckers apart. limb by limb. Thanks for gettin' me worked up, asshole. Now I'll have to drink myself to sleep." Knox says.

"Well... you can always get Niobe to help wear you out." Wallace says.

Silence fills the conversation once more as Knox thinks to himself and stares down at her clothes beside his suitcase. "I'll keep that in mind. She's actually sleepin' in the other room right now."

"Go wake her the fuck up and get to it!" Wallace demands.

"Nah, man. She's been exhausted all day. She's out cold and I don't want to bother her. She's the smart one, she actually rests the night before big matches." Knox says as his tone lowers and the tremble in his hand dies down.

"Pussy." Wallace says with a tone of amusement in his voice.

"Kiss my ass, bitch." Knox says.

"Well, bro, I have to get off the phone. I have a few things I need to handle downtown with the permits and everything for construction. I'll holla at you tomorrow.

"Cool man, hope everything goes as planned." Knox says.

"Me too, it will, we can make sure of that. We know the right people. Good luck tomorrow night, champ. I know you don't need it but too much luck is never a bad thing." Wallace says.

"You can say that again." Knox says as he takes another drink from his beer.

"Later, bro." The phone the clicks as the connection is interrupted.

Knox then walks to the bed and sits down, tosses the phone to his side and looks down at Niobe's bra once more resting on the covers. He then picks it up and looks at it as the scene slowly fades to black.