Diamond Steele vs. Chance Owens

[Konrad Raab]

2 RP Limit for singles

3500 word max per RP

Deadline: 11:59:59 pm ET Wednesday, October 19, 2022

[Chance Owens]

[Denver, Colorado. It’s home to multiple sports teams, including the Avalanche, the Rockies, the Broncos and the Nuggets. One of the bigger cities in the state, it enjoys not being part of the daily shooting tragedies currently hitting the United States. And being in one of the states with fully legal marijuana sales has its advantages! But not everyone benefits from it. Even in a place like this, there are people who struggle to get by. Corporate greed is running rampant and leaving people on the verge of homelessness and starvation. Could you imagine a world without suffering? Where everyone could get everything they needed without putting themselves or their families at risk? I can. Sadly, that will never happen as long as billion dollar corporations are given free rein over our income and natural resources. The rich must be held accountable and pay their fair share. It’s the only way we can keep their greed at bay until we can find an equitable balance between wealth and societal prosperity. There are people in Denver who are struggling against a system designed to keep them down... Here’s one of them now!]

A man who’s clearly seen too much looks both ways at a clearly marked intersection then steps back and waits. He’s a tall one, even for Denver. The closest any other man at the intersection can get to matching his height is one whose head reaches the bottom of this man’s ear. A light blue long-sleeved shirt and matching dress pants cling to his muscular frame and combine with his blue eyes to make his short blond hair look more vibrant than it already is, and that’s pretty damn vibrant. The black dress shoes he’s wearing are polished to a shine that reflects the light of the sun that’s almost directly overhead. Oh, did I mention he’s six foot two? I didn’t? Well, silly me! He is. The strap of the tan duffel bag on his left shoulder is rather incongruous in comparison to how he’s dressed but it isn’t gaudy. It actually provides a nice contrast. His right hand lifts up to take hold of a woman’s left arm and gently tug her back when she’s about to step down into the street. The white walk signal is immediately replaced by a steady red hand. “They really need to do something about the timing on this street light.”

The woman he pulled back stares at the red hand before turning to look up at him. “You knew?”

His head bobs in a nod. “Yes. This whole neighborhood needs an overhaul.” He rolls his eyes and rescues a black youth from going through that same intersection mere seconds before a line of traffic rolls down and rumbles over where he would have been walking. “But I’ll be happy if they fix these damn lights!”

The youth he rescued turns around and has to look up a fair bit to see his face. “Thanks for pulling me back, mister.”

The smile he gets is warm and genuine. “You’re welcome.” He feels a tugging at his duffel bag and turns his head to see what’s going on. A small child approximately eight to ten years of age is trying to open the zipper, but it won’t budge. His left hand moves and opens the zipper enough for the clearly starving little girl to reach in with both hands.

The little girl comes up with a brown paper bag that has her first name on it. She can’t help a tiny gasp of surprise and delight. “Thanks, mister!” Then she scurries off the way she came with the bag held close to her bony chest.

He closes the zipper and smiles as he waits for the light. “She’s gonna get out of this part of town sooner than she thinks.” Tucked into the bag of food is an envelope for her mother.

The black youth hides his smirk by rubbing his face. “We need more people like you in this town.”

The woman standing slightly behind him covers her smile. Now she knows who the blond man is! “We certainly do, young man.”

The blond man studies the lights across the street and tilts his head slightly to the left. He can usually tell when the timing’s off by hearing a series of loud clicks before the turn arrow comes up. Those rapid-fire clicks make him grumble under his breath. “We have ten seconds before this light screws up again after it turns green.”

The youth recognizes him by the way he speaks and nods. “They’ve really let these lights go downhill in the last couple of years.”

“Yes, they have.” The walk signal comes up and he immediately launches himself into the crosswalk. He can hear the other two hurry to keep up. Their feet touch the sidewalk across the street and he can hear some of the drivers cussing as they go by. A glance back over his shoulder confirms his suspicion when he sees the yellow light turn red. “We would have been paste if I hadn’t heard the clicking.”

Hurried footsteps from ahead of them has him turning back around. An older black man comes rushing up and puts his hands on the youth’s shoulders. “There you are, Reggie!”

Reggie gives his father a tremulous smile. “We only just made it across before the light turned red, Dad.” He turns to look at the blond man and his smile grows. “Thanks to you, Chance.”

The blond man identified as Chance returns Reggie’s smile with one of his own. “Right place, right time.”

Reggie’s father laughs and holds out his hand. “Thank you, Chance.” He knows who Chance is. “I’m Jermaine Roberts.”

Chance laughs and shakes Jermaine’s hand. “It was my pleasure, Mr. Roberts.”

“Oh, please, call me Jermaine.”

“Thank you, Jermaine. My parents taught us not to use a stranger’s first name without their permission unless we already heard someone say it.”

Reggie laughs a little. “You’re not exactly a stranger around here, Chance.”

Chance grins. “I’m the exception to the rule.” He hears a scuffling to his right and instinctively drops back behind the others as they start walking.

The woman with them chuckles quietly. “He gave Tiffany a full bag of food today, Mr. Roberts.”

Jermaine laughs again as he dodges someone’s protruding duffel bag with ease. “Well that’s good to hear, Miss Jenkins.”

Chance’s grin stays in place until he hears that scuffling not that far behind him. “Stay with Reggie and Jermaine, Miss Jenkins. There’s a few rough characters at the next corner.” He sees her nod without comment and deliberately slows down to block the path of the person behind him.

The person behind him waits until the other three are a fair distance ahead before coming to a stop. “Your hearing’s getting better there, Owens.”

Chance shakes his head but he doesn’t turn around. “The light behind us was clicking something awful today.”

“Figures. You see Tiffany today?”

Chance sighs. “I had to open the zipper for her.”

“Damn.” Then they notice the color of his duffel bag. “Where’s the blue one?”

Chance shakes his head again. “The Connors kid made off with it yesterday. Fortunately it was empty at the time.”

“That’s beside the point.”

Chance’s sigh makes him deflate a little. “I told his mother when I noticed it missing. She told me she’d handle it.”

The person behind him puts a hand on his shoulder for a few seconds. “I’ve got something for you.” Their hesitation is clearly evident. “It’s about that unsolved murder you asked me to look into.”

Chance turns to face the person behind him in surprise. “You found something!?” He asked the man he is now looking at to look into the eighteen year old unsolved murder of a seven year old boy in Silver Springs on a hunch.

The other man looks around to make sure nobody’s looking before he takes a manila envelope out of his jacket. “It’s all in here. Be careful, Chance.”

Chance opens his duffel bag and puts the envelope inside before answering him. “I will.” He zips up the bag then exhales deeply and closes his eyes as he tips his face toward the sky. “And don’t worry.” He looks at his source of information. “I know this poor child’s parents. If I think it isn’t safe for me to do the follow up, I’ll give it all to his dad.”

“Mind letting me in on your secret?” He’s referring to the identity of the murdered child’s parents.

Chance doesn’t even hesitate. “His mother is Claire Graham from Silver Springs and his father lives in Tucson, Arizona. The last name is a dead giveaway...” There’s no sign of joy on his face. “His father’s last name is Lamont.”

The man he’s talking to shakes his head to say he doesn’t recognize it. “I don’t know that last name, sorry.”

Chance nods slightly to say he gets it. “The father’s name is Jude Lamont... And he’s a bounty hunter.”

There’s a splutter of surprise from the other man. “The Lone Wolf!?”

“One and the same.” Everybody who pays attention knows who Jude Lamont is.

“How do you know that poor kid’s parents anyway?”

Chance sighs and looks down for a moment. “Claire is my aunt.”

A voice they weren’t expecting to hear in Denver comes from Chance’s right. “You harassing innocent people again, Davies?”

Davies whips around to his left and stares in surprise. “I... Uh... No! Never!”

Chance slowly turns to his right and sees Claire’s first husband leaning on the roof of a sea green Pontiac Grand Am. “Hey, man...” He approaches the car and puts one arm on the roof. “You look like you could sleep for a week.”

Jude Lamont closes his eyes and exhales before putting his hand over Chance’s. There’s a web of thin scars on the back of Jude’s hand and his elbow-length brown hair is only in a ponytail today instead of its usual braid. “I wish I could.”

Something in Jude’s voice catches Chance’s attention and he leans in a little. “Nightmares about Chance or Tyler?” Chance is Jude’s brother who died after being shot by an armed felon they were chasing shortly before Jude’s son Tyler was kidnapped from school and killed.

Jude rubs his eyes before answering. “Both.”

“Does Anna know?”

“She wants me to talk to somebody. I’d love to do that but we’re short-handed at the office.”

Chance turns to his duffel bag and rummages in it until he finds what he’s looking for and puts it on the roof of Jude’s car. “Lupe swung by my worksite last week and gave me this. She told me to give it to you the next time I saw you.”

Jude looks at the brown address book on the roof of his car before picking it up and glancing through it. One of the pages catches his attention and he re-reads it twice. “This – This is her contact list!” The import of him having that hits him and he grits his teeth. “Did she say where she was going?”

“She said she was going home.”

Jude sighs. “I was afraid of that.” For Lupe, home is in Eugene, Oregon. Up until a few months ago, Lupe worked with Jude in Tucson. Her partner Shrike left Arizona five years ago to go back to Little Rock, Arkansas. Now Shrike runs a moving and storage company. For Lupe to give Jude her contact list... Well... It’s not good. It means Lupe’s done being a bounty hunter.

“You never did tell me what happened between her and Shrike.”

Jude winces and rubs his face with one hand. “She and Shrike got into a huge argument about a year before Shrike left to go home.”

Chance shakes his head. “I won’t ask what the argument was about because it’s none of my business.”

Jude smiles wanly. “Good idea.” He looks at the address book in his hand and lightly taps it off the roof of the car. “Get in, I’ll take you the rest of the way to work.”

Chance knows Davies slipped away while they were talking. “Thanks, I’ll take you up on your offer.”

Jude opens the driver’s side door and unlocks the passenger door. “Door’s open.”

Chance opens the passenger door on the car and carefully gets in, making sure he doesn’t hit his head on the doorframe. His feet immediately take advantage of the reprieve and he can’t help the sigh of relief. “I need new boots...”

Jude gets in and puts the address book in the center console before closing his door and putting on his seatbelt. “Still having trouble finding a car?”

Chance buckles his seatbelt as Jude starts the car. “I swear our landlord knows when Leo or I get a raise...” Leo is Chance’s younger brother.

“You still renting that townhouse?”

“Yeah. We’re looking at an apartment, though. The rent’s gone up four times in the last two years.”

Jude’s scowl is fearsome. “Leave that scumbag to me and Anna.” Anna is the love of Jude’s life. And they know Chance’s landlord.

“He’s all yours, man.” The weight of the envelope in his duffel bag is minimal at present, but it’ll hit him when he gets a chance to look through it after work.

“Thank you.” Jude navigates out into traffic without causing an accident or getting any rude gestures. Of course, his license plate may have something to do with it... It’s a specialty plate recognized by the DMV that reads “LONEWLF”. The “BNTHNTR” plate was retired in favor of this one shortly before the argument between Lupe and Shrike about six years ago. “So who took your blue duffel bag?”

Chance sighs and shakes his head. “Ricky Connors made off with it yesterday. I told his mother when I noticed it was missing and she said she’d handle it.”

“There’s nothing scarier than an angry mother disciplining her child...” Jude sighs and shakes his head as he makes his way to Chance’s worksite. “Blaine got in trouble the other day.” Blaine is Jude and Anna’s firstborn son.

“What’d he do?”

“He tried to take one of my guns to school.”

Chance looks at Jude in surprise. “I thought you keep them locked up.”

Jude’s face is grim as he makes the final turn before Chance’s worksite comes into view. “He figured out how to pick the lock on the gun safe.”

“Anna must have seen him before you did.”

“I’d already left for work.” Jude takes one hand off the steering wheel and rubs his eyes with a sigh. “I swear this insomnia’s going to be the death of me.”

Chance shakes his head as Jude pulls to the curb in front of where he works. “Just between you and me, I think Lupe knew you were having nightmares again. Why else would she leave her address book with me?” He takes off his seatbelt so he can get out of the car.

“She always did tell me to trust my intuition...” Jude rests his fingers on the center console where the address book now sits. “She never ignored hers.” He can’t help a sigh. “That’s what started the argument.”

“Honestly, that doesn’t really surprise me.” Chance opens the car door. “How long are you here for?”

“Three days. Why are you asking?”

Chance hesitates visibly before he answers. “Davies gave me an envelope you might be interested in seeing... I asked him to look into Tyler’s murder for me.”

Jude just looks at Chance for a long time before he says anything. “I’ll pick you up after work.”

“My shift ends at seven thirty.” The tension he wasn’t even aware of leaves him in a rush. “Thank you for not getting mad at me about it.”

Jude’s smile is an easy one. “You had a hunch and went with it. I’d be an idiot if I got mad at you for something I’ve made a living doing.”

Chance returns Jude’s smile before he gets out of the car. “See you after work.” Then he closes the door and turns to walk toward the building he works in. He can hear Jude pull away from the curb and shakes his head as he opens the door and goes inside so he can clock in. The company he works for is pretty decent in terms of pay and time off when people need it. He tucks his duffel bag under his desk before he moves his chair in and turns on his desk lamp. That’s how people know he’s at work. He makes sure his phone headset is connected before settling it in place and turning on his computer. What does he do for a living? He’s a phone jockey for an insurance company. That is to say he’s one of the people who answers the phone when someone calls the insurance company. And if he can’t find the answer, he’ll put them through to someone who can. It’s thankless work but it’s better than nothing. His brother Leo and their parents also work full-time... But Chance has a dream he hasn’t told anyone about. He wants to be a wrestler! And thanks to him following up on a hunch, he has an opportunity to make his dream come true as a member of the Supreme Championship Wrestling roster. He already has his first match booked against someone named Diamond Steele. It won’t be easy... But that’s part of life. Nobody ever said life would be easy. They just said it’d be worth it. All he has to do is play his cards right and he’ll shoot right to the top.