Wolfe Trap Page 14

  “Got her,” I said.

  The other team maneuvered into place, took Leyla’s weight off Paul, and began to lower her.

  She looked up into my face as they lowered her away from me. “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  I smiled, watching until she was safely down before I looked back up at Maria, who was still holding my feet.

  “You want to come down?” I asked.

  She nodded and lowered herself toward the waiting members of the other team.

  I looked at Paul, who watched them lower the two women before looking up at me. The anger I was feeling toward him at that moment faded a bit when I saw the very real agony etched across his face. I reached up with my arms and grasped the bar I was hanging from before letting my feet drop to the next rung down.

  I lowered myself down one more bar to the one Paul was standing on while he had his attention back on the ground, watching Leyla and the medic treating her hand.

  “Team,” I said quietly, just for Paul’s benefit. “Each member has their own strengths and limitations. You have to play to all of them, even if they’re inconvenient.”

  He set his jaw to the side in agitation, clearly not wanting to hear a lecture from me.

  “Or you can just play on your own,” I added as I began dropping down to the next step. “That works too.”

  When I reached the bottom, I stayed in place so Paul could use my shoulder to reach the ground. As soon as his feet touched, Maria walked over and shoved him. “Bastard,” she said and walked away.

  I was about to add insult to Paul’s injured ego when Nick pulled up in his truck. Bailey walked over to him and they had a brief conversation through the window before Nick looked at me. He nodded his head toward the passenger side and I jogged over before getting in.

  “A little excitement this afternoon?” Nick asked as he put his vehicle in gear and we lurched forward, kicking gravel up behind us.

  “A bit,” I replied, fighting some lingering resentment toward Paul. “Where are we going?”

  “The gym.”

  I sighed deeply. “Are you sure you’re up to it?” I asked. “You’ve been doing this every day that I’m not off at some military school.”

  “Don’t you worry about me,” he said firmly. “I can handle anything you dish out.”

  “If you say so,” I replied nonchalantly.

  I could tell by the set of his jaw that I had bruised his ego by pointing out the damage I had been doing to him in our hand-to-hand sessions. Other instructors had taken up some of the slack, but they were less and less enthusiastic about getting on the fighting mat with me.

  When we arrived at the gym, he reached in the back and grabbed his gym bag before leading us inside. There, in the center of the floor, warming up for fight training was Penny Rhodes.

  “No,” I said firmly as I came through the door and saw her.

  Nick didn’t even turn. “It’s not your call,” he said.

  “What’s wrong with me?” Penny asked with a grin as she bent into a stretch, prominently displaying her yoga pant-clad ass.

  “No,” I said again as I plopped down on the bleacher seat in front of the fighting mat.

  “Careful,” she said with a mock pout. “You’re going to hurt my feelings.”

  Nick pulled the padded gloves out of his gym bag and held one up to me. “Come on. You aren’t getting out of this.”

  I shook my head in defeat as I shoved my hand into the heavily padded battle mitten. Aside from preventing me from using my climber’s grip during a workout, it also reduced the impact of my punches on my opponents—my opponents, who by the way, had no such padding on their hands.

  “Come on, tough guy,” Penny said mischievously as Nick finished taping the second glove in place. She jumped up and down with her toes, shaking her arms loose as her breasts bounced beneath her sports bra.

  “Nick, really,” I whispered pleadingly before standing. “Don’t make me do this.”

  He just smiled a devious grin and stood, turning me by the shoulders to face Penny. After I stepped on the fighting mat, he walked up behind me and patted me on the shoulder before placing himself directly between Penny and me.

  Two on one.

  Nick took one step toward me and crouched. The move took me by surprise, as I wasn’t sure what he was attacking until I saw Penny spring over his shoulders with a flying kick toward my face.

  I sidestepped her attack and very carefully pushed her away as she passed me through the air, only to have my feet kicked out from under me by Nick. He had used Penny, and my reluctance to harm her, as a distraction while he went for my legs.

  As I crashed down onto my back, I saw a smile spread on Penny’s face after she landed gracefully on the ground.

  “I see,” I muttered toward her.

  Nick was on me before I could roll away, pounding at my ribs and head with a flurry of fast punches. I let my ribs take the abuse and used my arms to protect my head before scissor kicking my legs apart and arching to the side to throw Nick off me.

  “That won’t work again,” I said as he tipped to the side.

  Swinging my leg up quickly, I hooked my heel under his jaw and pushed him backward.

  As we both rolled to our feet, Nick grinned at me. “We’ll see.”

  Penny launched toward me again. A combination punch followed by a knee kick to the ribs. Once again, I let my ribs take the brunt of the punishment and instead, defended my face and head.

  When her next spinning back punch came whizzing toward my nose, I brought my hands up sharply, trapping hers between the cross of mine.

  “This is going to hurt,” I whispered to her as I sensed Nick sweeping in behind me.

  Penny’s smug grin vanished as I yanked her arm down and to the rear. I swung her over my hip and let her absorb the knee that Nick tried to lay into my back. It caught her in the stomach with a solid blow intended for me.

  As Nick refocused his attention on her, I jumped up high into the air, stepping up on Penny’s shoulder to get extra height, and wrapped both legs around Nick’s neck. His right arm flew up in a meaningless defense as I flung the weight of my upper body toward the floor, flipping him down with a jarring thud to the ground.

  Before I could arrest his hand under mine, Penny jumped toward me with a heel kick aimed for my head. I flattened out and let it graze my shoulder before shoving her roughly in the direction she was traveling. She fell and rolled several feet away.

  “You’re still distracted by the sweet smell,” Nick said as he slipped his arm under my chin—he was going for a choke out.

  I tried to slip my hand between his arm and my neck, but the damned glove was too fat and wouldn’t squeeze through the tight opening.

  “Sorry about this,” I said before bringing my elbow down hard into his ribs.

  He grunted from the impact but didn’t release.

  “You’ll have to do better than th—”

  Crash!

  My elbow slammed into his ribs once again, creating a bigger gap as he loosened his grip. Penny was back on her feet and coming toward me as I tried to pry Nick’s arm from around my throat. As she stepped in for a body blow, I pulled down hard on Nick’s arm and spun my body sharply so that he fell away from me.

  The sudden loss of restraint propelled me forward, and I landed with a thud on top of Penny—face-to-face.

  As soon as she got her bearings, she tried to bring her knee up to my crotch. I scissored my legs out, spreading hers apart, while simultaneously pressing my elbows onto her arms, effectively pinning her. The unfortunate position also pressed our groins together.

  “This is why I didn’t want to fight you,” I said with a grin.

  A blush rose to her cheeks after she struggled unsuccessfully to free herself. “Would you mind getting off of me?” Penny asked with a smirk.

  “Can I think about it for a second?”

  Nick groaned from behind us, prompting me to roll away from Penny and take a defensive
position. He was lying on the mat with his arm twisted grotesquely beneath him.

  “Shit,” I muttered as I ran to him.

  “You pulled it out of the socket,” Nick moaned as he tried to roll over.

  Penny joined us and helped him to a seated position.

  “Hold him,” she said quietly.

  “Wait—” Nick began, but his protest turned into a wail of agony as Penny pushed his limp arm forward, letting the ball socket reconnect.

  “Son of a bitch!” Nick yelled and rolled back to his side, pounding the floor with his other fist.

  I began pulling the tape off my gloves with my teeth so they would slide off.

  “Pack a bag,” Nick said, his voice muffled in the mat.

  “What?” I asked as I slipped the first glove off and began unwinding the tape on the other.

  “Pack a bag,” he said again through a pain-filled grimace. “You’re getting out of here.”

  “Where?” I asked, confused.

  “I don’t know… Fort Huachuca.”

  “What’s at Huachuca?”

  Impatience flashed across his face. “Do it,” he said through gritted teeth.

  I pushed myself from the floor and turned away bitterly before walking to the door. As I reached the dorms, Dylan and Eric walked toward me.

  “What happened on the confidence course?” Dylan asked as the pair approached.

  “Ask Paul,” I replied with more agitation than I had intended as I pushed past them to go inside.

  “Where are you going?” Eric called at my back.

  “Fort Huachuca,” I replied over my shoulder.

  “Huachuca!?” he said as the two of them followed me in. “Why are you going there?”

  “Apparently, so Nick can have a couple days off,” I replied sarcastically.

  **

  9:15 a.m. on Tuesday, October 26th—CIA Headquarters, Langley, Virginia

  JOHN TEMPLE ran to his desk to answer the phone. He’d just come from the morning White House INTEL briefing prep meeting on the executive level.

  “Temple,” he answered breathlessly, leaning across the front of his desk.

  “I need you to convince Kobe to come back to the farm,” came Nick’s bitter voice.

  “Morning, Nick,” John said sarcastically. “I’m fine. How are you?”

  “Cut the crap,” Nick replied. “I can’t do it anymore. He’s injured me more in the past two months than I’ve sustained over the rest of my career.”

  “When you say ‘he’, I assume you’re talking about Scott.”

  “I can teach him anything else he needs, but how the hell do you expect me to teach hand-to-hand to the guy who beat Gaines?” Nick asked. The frustration in his voice made it clear this was a real problem. With Nick’s ego, he must be taking a real beating if he was actually asking for backup.

  “You’ve got authorization to send Scott anywhere for training or bring in any additional help you require,” John replied. “We’ve been over this.”

  “I’ve called Kobe three times… He said there’s no amount of money that will get him back at the Farm. He’s enjoying his retirement too much.”

  John thought about this for a moment before responding. “You’ve offered more money?” he asked finally.

  “Yes…I already said that.”

  “But did you tell him why you need him?” John asked knowingly.

  There was silence from Nick’s side of the call for several beats.

  “Okay…I’ll try that,” Nick said finally.

  “Never mind. I’ll call him,” John replied. “Your salesmanship sucks.”

  “Thanks,” Nick replied sarcastically.

  “No problem. Anything else?”

  “Are you going to need Monkey Wrench for the next day or two?”

  “I don’t think so…why?”

  “No reason…just asking,” Nick said, but John could tell something was going on.

  “Alright. I’ll let you know what happens with Kobe.”

  “Thanks. Later.”

  As soon as the call ended, John walked around his desk and sat, leaning back heavily in his chair. He closed his eyes and imagined the conversation with Kobe, altering his argument and pitch for each expected protest.

  Within moments, he had mapped any foreseeable argument from Kobe and was prepared to maneuver him back into service.

  He picked up his phone and dialed an extension.

  “Pensions,” the woman on the other end answered.

  “This is John Temple down in NCS. I need the contact information for a retiree by the name of Kobe Mason,” John said. “He was an instructor at the Farm up until a couple of years ago.”

  “Can I call you back with the information, Mr. Temple?” the woman asked.

  “Sure,” he replied. “I’ll be here.”

  As he hung up, he smiled with confidence that he could get Kobe to return.

  “Won’t Scott be in for a treat,” he muttered.

  **

  5:30 a.m. on Thursday, October 28th (two days later)—The Farm, Camp Peary, Virginia

  I woke to the sound of the bedroom door opening.

  “Get dressed. Hand-to-hand in twenty minutes,” Nick said as the light flipped on, burning my eyes and sending Eric upright in bed.

  Nick was gone before I had time to respond. I picked up my watch from the nightstand and saw it was only 5:30 a.m., raising my agitation level a bit—I had just gotten back to the Farm from Fort Huachuca five hours earlier and had only been asleep for four hours. What a wasted trip—two days of training on radio and encryption equipment that I had already used, plus a night flight in both directions.

  “Damn it, Nick,” I muttered.

  “What?! What’s going on?” Eric muttered nearly incoherently.

  “Nothing,” I replied as I pulled a clean pair of sweatpants out of the drawer. “Go back to bed.”

  “When did you get in?” he asked after checking his watch for the time.

  “Around midnight.”

  “And he pulled you out of bed already?” Eric asked rubbing his eyes.

  “Yeah…slave driver.”

  “Jeez,” he muttered as he turned back over tucking his head under his arm to block out the light. “I don’t know what program you’re on, but I’m glad I’m not on it.”

  I ignored the comment as I laced up my gym shoes and headed for the door. “Sorry for the early wake up. Go back to sleep,” I said as I flipped the light off and closed the door.

  I stood outside of the barracks for a second, looking toward the mess hall. I had fifteen minutes until I was supposed to be in the gym and desperately needed a cup of coffee, but the lights weren’t on in the mess yet. I’d have to wait.

  “Shit,” I muttered as I began my walk up the hill in the chilly, late October air. Arizona had been very pleasant compared to the cold blast back here.

  As I reached the gymnasium, I saw two instructors and Nick warming up. All three looked a little bleary eyed but otherwise well rested.

  “Oh, man,” I said sarcastically as I strode toward them. “I feel bad now. You guys should go back to bed. You look tired.”

  Nick smiled as he taped the hands of the two instructors. “We had plenty of sleep…went to bed around nine last night. How about you guys?”

  “I was in bed by 9:30,” Marcus, the bigger of the two, said.

  “Me too,” said Bailey—the “punching guy” from my waterboarding experience. “Slept like a baby.”

  I shook my head in disgust as I plopped down next to Nick, waiting for him to help me equip my padded gloves.

  “Well as long as you guys got enough sleep, that’s all that matters,” I muttered. “I feel much better now.”

  “Stop your bitching,” Nick said as he patted Marcus’s hands, letting him know he was done. “I heard the Black Hawk come in at midnight. I could have brought you in then.”

  “I would have been awake then,” I muttered as he began wrapping my hands, pressing my fi
ngers into a tight curl before applying several heavy layers of tape.

  He chuckled as Marcus and Bailey stretched and warmed up with each other.

  “What’s the lesson today?” I asked.

  “Krav Maga,” Nick said. “I want to see the blocks and counters you’ve been studying.”

  I saw Marcus shoot Bailey a nervous glance.

  “Krav Maga…with my hands taped?” I asked incredulously.

  “You don’t need your hands to block,” Nick said without looking up from his taping.

  I shook my head. Throws and limb traps require the use of hands under normal circumstances. I’d have to be creative to show him anything that would satisfy him.

  “When are we getting back to kicks and punches?” I asked as I stood and pounded my fists together. The padded gloves he’d taped over them allowed for next to no impact at all.

  “As soon as we figure out a way to do this without you putting any more instructors, or me, in the infirmary.”

  I looked over at Marcus and Bailey and winked at them. Nick slapped me on the side of the head with an open hand. “Stop taunting.”

  I laughed as I started to shake the sleep out of my arms. However, any intimidation I might have instilled in either of them quickly dissipated, clearly, as the first flying kick, aimed for my head, snapped me to attention.

  Marcus extended his leg in midair, going right for my face. Though both of them had padded headgear, I wasn’t afforded that luxury, so a head kick would do some serious damage. Fortunately for me, my reflexes had sharpened considerably over the past month due to daily training, allowing me to easily sidestep the attack. I dropped my elbow into the bend of his hip as he sailed by, sending him to the floor, wailing in anger.

  “Goddamn it, Scott! Blocks and counters,” Nick yelled at me from outside the circle.

  “Sorry,” I replied as I reached down to help Marcus to his feet.

  As soon as he had my wrist, he tried to sweep my legs with his feet and Bailey rushed forward with a knee kick attack. I didn’t bother trying to break Marcus’s grip. Instead, I stepped over his sweeping legs, turning his body as I went, resulting in Bailey’s knee crashing into Marcus’s leg.

  “You son of a bitch,” Marcus yelled as Bailey stepped back to let him sit upright. “That’s it. I’m done with this shit.”