Hired him last minute.
Standing in front of Home Depot, looking for work
Needed bodies.
The bigger the better.
Size matters.
All the time.
I've been the head of security at a lot of places.
Worked Security at a lot more still.
Learned that while I would rather have warriors, primed and ready for violence at any moment, having larger, more dangerous looking individuals is more important than having persons who are actually dangerous.
I just needed someone who looked dangerous.
A massive body to discourage bad behavior.
His body seemed to fit the bill.
6' 9" 348 lbs.
You have to be pretty drunk to swing on a man that large.
Only had a month to train him.
Knew he wasn't a fighter.
Over the years I've developed a nose for that.
Have employed some monstrously over-sized people who couldn't fight gnats off themselves.
Jokingly called them "Big for Nothings."
Also had some relatively small individuals who were deadly.
Lethal guys always have to show their virulence.
Big "teddy bears" rarely have to fight.
Put him with one of the aforementioned Pernicious bouncers, a 5' 10" 206 lbs. head breaker, named Hassan.
Hassan was my go to guy.
Two black belts.
Jiu Jitsu.
Krav Maga.
Even before the training Hassan was a bad ass.
Out of the 30 guys I had working for me at the time, he was the one I would want at my back the most.
Figured as long as I had Hassan working with my "Big for Nothing" temp guy, everything would be okay.
Even worked with the newbie, who had decided he wanted to be called "Diablo" myself.
While he was green he wasn't scared.
Hassan and I had pretty much trained the regular patrons.
They knew if they got out of line we would bust their head.
The regulars had seen both of us in action several times.
Knew this was not what they wanted.
Once one of the most dangerous clubs in the city, with the infamous moniker, "The bucket of Blood" Hassan and I had transformed our after-hours spot.
Had the place humming like a finely tuned machine.
It was high time I had taken a vacation.
I promised my sister a European tour, now that I could finally afford it I was making good on the promise.
8 days.
Only needed someone to keep my finely tuned machine running for 8 days.
Perhaps I was being naïve, felt like a trained gorilla should have been able to step into my shoes for that short period of time.
Still sent 'Diablo', who's real name was Eugene, to work with my hitters at other clubs.
Let him see how Security should be done.
I didn't need him to be another me, just needed him to keep everything the way it was for 8 days.
Didn’t quite work out that way.
Had been taking the touristy pictures where it looks as if you’re holding the Eiffel tower, and shopping for things only found abroad.
When we returned to the hotel, I had several emergency messages from the states.
Somehow between my finding him outside of home depot, and him working with Hassan, Diablo had become a security expert.
Had been busting heads at clubs for years.
While I hadn't heard him lying personally, had heard the tales he spun to my guys.
I knew he had never worked for the rappers he said he had, or fought the many skirmishes he lied about.
Perhaps he started believing his own lies.
Maybe some patron felt the need to make him prove the things he was saying, whatever the reason, someone made Diablo fight while I was gone.
I don't think I'll ever get the story completely right.
Just know from the police reports that my guys got into an altercation.
Eugene was getting the worst of it according to all reports.
Those same reports say that he started the altercation and that by the time Hassan arrived to rescue him, it had become a free for all.
Spent the 14 hours on the plane trying to figure out what I was going to say to Hassan's girlfriend.
I spared no expense for funeral arrangements.
At least I hadn't known Diablo that well.
