Strictly For Cash by James Hadley Chase Read Free Book Online

and opened a cut under his right eye. He was swearing at me now, and I went after him, jabbing at his face with lefts and rights. He kept covering up, trying to protect his damaged eye. I got in close and socked him in the body. It must have dawned on him he wasn't going to get an easy win, and in a frenzy of rage and desperation he suddenly cut loose.

    He caught me with a right swing that had all his weight behind it. It was a stunning punch, and it dazed me. As I groped my way into a clinch, trying to get my head clear, he butted me in the face. I reeled back, covering up, and as he rushed, I slammed a left in his face, but he knew he had hurt me, and kept coming, throwing punches from every angle. I rode most of them, smothered the rest. It was a hectic minute, but I kept my head, knowing he was certain to give me an opening, and he did. He slung a wild right that left him as wide open as the ocean, and I stepped in and hung one on his jaw. He went down as if he had been cut off at the knees.

    Before the referee could start a count, the bell went. The Kid's handlers rushed into the ring and dragged him to his corner.

    I went slowly back to my stool and sat down. Pepi was waiting for me. "Next round, you fixer," he snarled in my ear. "That's orders."

    "Get away from me!" I said, and greatly daring, Waller shoved him off the apron of the ring and began to sponge my face. Waller was breathing heavily and grinned excitedly at me as he worked over me.

    "You're doing fine," he said. "Watch his right. He can still punch."

    I looked across the ring. They were working like madmen on the Kid, flapping towels at him, holding smelling-salts under his nose and massaging the back of his neck.

    "Well, I guess this is it," I said. "Last round coming up."

    "Yeah," Waller said. "Anyway, he's been in a fight. You ain't cheated anyone."

    I looked over my shoulder at her. She was smiling again, and waved to me.

    The bell went, and I moved out. The Kid started to back-pedal. He had a gash down the side of his nose, a cut under his right eye, and there were great red patches on his ribs where I had socked him.

    I trapped him in a corner and nailed him bang on his damaged nose. Blood spurted from his face as if I'd slammed a rotten tomato against a wall. The crowd screamed itself hoarse as he wilted and fell into a clinch. I had to hold him up or he would have gone down. I wrestled him around, trying to make it look good until he got a grip on himself.
    "Okay, play-boy," I said in his ear. "Throw your best punch."

    I broke and stepped back. He shoved out a left that wouldn't have dented a rice pudding. I ducked under it and came in, wide open. Somehow he managed to screw up enough strength to let go with an upper-cut. I went down on one knee. I wasn't hurt but if I were going to take a dive I had to prepare the way for it.

    I bet the yell that went up from the crowd could have been heard as far south as Miami.

    The referee stood over me and began his count. I looked over at the Kid. The relief on his face was comic. He leaned against the ropes, blood dripping from his cuts, his knees buckling.

    I shook my head as if I were dazed, and at six I got up. The Kid's face was a study. He had been sure I was going to stay down. Instead of coming in, he began to back away, and that got a jeering laugh from the crowd. His seconds yelled for him to go in and finish me, and with pitiful reluctance he changed direction and came at me. I made out I was wobbly, but I slipped the left he threw at me and landed another jab on his gashed face. At least he was going to earn his victory. Gasping with pain and fury, he lashed out as I dropped my guard. He caught me on the side of the jaw. Down I went.

    I had walked right into it, intending to catch it, and I caught it.

    For the first three seconds I was out, then I opened my eyes and found myself flat on my face, looking right down at her. She was standing up, her eyes like twin explosions, and as