Balance (19 page)

The wall computer chimes.  5:15AM.

Michael wakes.  He lies in bed for a few
extra
minutes
, contemplating
.  The day ahead of him will be harsh,
like
every day for the last six months.
 
He thinks about his schedule
this morning
, rifle range followed by hand-to-hand with Takada.
M
ore focused in the morning
,
he’s
thankful
range work
is
first
on his schedule
, marksmanship being
his weakest area.

M
orning
activities aside
,
he and Rena have matching schedules
for the rest of the day, starting with
an hour of free time after hand-to-hand.  They always spend
the hour
together,
sparring
, Rena meeting him at the dojo
. 
He’s glad
the free session
is
before lunch, it’s less likely
she’
ll be frustrated.  He can
tell when she’s had a bad day …
when she walks into the
dojo
with ‘her fierce’ walking in next to her.

He recalls the incident a
few weeks
ago, when he hadn’t been paying attention to her
mood,
and he’d recommended
sparring
with knives.  She’d didn’t mean to get so caught up in the training, but seventeen stitches in his
side devastated her for weeks
, refusing to train with him again.  It took all week to get her to agree.  Today was the
i
r first session since the unfortunate incident
, and he was looking forward to it
.
 
He tried to explain i
t was his fault anyway.  If he’d been paying attention, she wouldn’t have hit him.  He got distracted w
orrying about her in the
field;
concerned
she
might
get into a situation he could
n
o
t
extract her
. 

Lying in bed, Michael
confesses to himself …
t
hat’s what this is all about,
w
hy he gets up every morning
and trains, so
Rena is nev
er hurt, never taken from him.
 
They’ve been together for six-months,
long enough to know how he feels about her. 
Introducing
emotions
, expressed emotions
,
into their
current situation could be
awkward
. 
He needs
Rena
to
feel
confident
he’s
focused
, level headed,
when
desperate circumstances arise
.  Emotions will just complicate things.

T
he wall computer chimes. 5:25AM.

Rena lies in bed, staring at the sterile walls and ceiling.
Immersion training
first thing in the morning
, right after breakfast, so she has a little time to relax,
with no need to shower
.
Ms. Smith
always want
s
her without any c
hemicals on, as she always says,
‘
Au Natural
’
.

W
orking with
Ms. Smith
,
Rena’s
learn
ed
so much from the
Immersion Team
,
t
he
ir
experts point
ing
out how to recognize different types of peo
ple and behaviors
. 
It hadn
’
t occurred to
her
, until a few weeks ago
during an
exercise
,
there could be field operatives
,
loyal to other
Elite
,
immersed in the same
environment
.  These would
be people, trained like her
,
experts in concealment, detection and manipulation.  She would not only have to be able to identify these other agents, but keep herself from
discovery
.
  This revelation concerned
Rena
so much
,
she
asked
Ms. Smith
to work with her
,
and Michael
,
on identification and concealment under
such
circumstances.  Normally
, Michael,
as Dispatch, would
n
o
t get
in-depth
immersion training
, relying on Rena to provide lead intelligence. 
She
wanted to make sure,
were
Michael
to
participate
in
an immersion
, he could effectively identify threats, as well as protect himself from detection.  Michael was all for the additional training, telling
Ms. Smith
that whatever
was
necessary to
protect Rena, he would do.
  No questions asked.

Ms. Smith
,
captivated
by
Michael and Rena,
offered
to do whatever she can
to help make sure nothing h
appened to either one.  They’
ve
become
her favorite pupils,
remarkably astute, and
like sp
onges, soaking up everything
offered.
F
rom concea
l
ment to background development, t
hey want
ed
to understand it
all, especially Rena,
always working to appreciate
how the piece
s
fit together.
  Exhibiting
uncanny
talent
in
devising background profiles,
she shows an affinity for
detect
ing
gaps or inacc
uracies that
, if
discovered
,
could jeo
pardize
an
immersion. 
B
ecom
ing
so
proficient
,
Ms. Smith
often
include
s
Rena
in background development session
s for active
immersions
.

Michael doesn
’t
spend as much time with
Ms. Smith
’s team, usually only at
Rena’s
request
, recognizing
a
n
invitation
was
usually
for a
very
good reason.

Ms. Smith
determined
immersion opportunities
would
be limited for
him
.  His good looks
and demeanor
, pretty much limited
him to bodyguard, male escort or
hairdresser
, which is
alw
ays a
subject
of teasing from
Rena and the
Immersion Team
.
  Of course
,
h
e and Rena look fabulous together, so playing the part of a couple
is
always an option.
  She
had
a
large picture
of
the pair
,
together in their formal wear
,
hung
in the studio as an example of
visible chemistry
for
other Infiltration Teams
. 
Even
present
ing
Rena and Mi
chael
smaller framed version
s
for
each of
their quarters,
Ms. Smith
doesn’t
even try
to conceal her efforts to bring them together, to form a bond greater than the professional one both pretend to maintain.  She knows the love exists between them, their
stubbornness the only hurdle.

Takada initially started training only Michael,
intent
on refining his hand-to-hand skills, primarily focusing on just exposure to
various styles of combat and defense
.

Michael spen
t
hours reviewing
fighting
style
s from all over the world
.
Aikido
;
a
Japanese style using an opponent’s b
alance and momentum
against them,
Hapkido;
a
Korean
discipline
utilizing
submission
and hand-to
-hand weapon combat,
Karate;
utilizing
vital point strikes and throws, F
ilipino styles focusing on self-p
reservation,
Taekwondo;
a
Korean style of fist and foot strikes and Jeet Kune Do;
an American
form
focusing
on
close-quarter
combat for maximum damage. 
Michael
combine
s
aspects f
rom all
, evolving
a
style
all his own
,
and
entirely unique
.

H
aving mastered hand-to-hand combat
, Takada
advanced
Michael’s
training to include weapons and short-range
combat scenarios
.  Michael started by learning to fi
ght with standard combat knives
, then
progressed
to
more
exotic
weapons
; katana, shuriken, throwing knives, staff, garrote and anything else he can get his hands on
.

Once Takada felt Michael had a strong
foundation
, he brought Rena into
the
sessions
. 
K
nowing
they
were training on their own
,
Takada
,
wanted to make sure Michael
could teach
Rena
properly
.
 
A
l
though not as physically gifted as Michael
,
Rena
displays
remarkable aptitude,
grasping combat
sequences
remarkably
fast.  Michael’s form
melds
several
fighting
styles
to
gether to
amazing
effect
.
 
Whereas
Rena
’s
,
like a dancer
,
seems
almost
choreographed,
several moves strung together to
compose
a graceful
ballet
of
lethal
precision
, combining elements of diversion and
distraction
.

Takada and Michael work with her to develop her self-preservation skills, moves
meant to
disarm or disabl
e
an opponent.  If forced into a confrontation, the goal
is
withdrawal
without killing, diffusing the
situation effectively with minimal damage to the assailant.
  As
an Infiltrator,
terminating
a mark
, personally,
could bring undue attention, limiting h
er usefulness.