Girl Takes The Oath (An Emily Kane Adventure Book 5) (2 page)

“Yeah, well your eyes haunt my goddamn dreams.”

“You’ve been careful, I take it? No foolish risks?”

“You know the SEALs,” he said. “Everything is preparation… and more firepower than anyone we might meet.”

“If you come back in a bag, mister, I will hunt you down, whatever inferno you end up in. And you know I can do it.”

“I hear you ran into some, uh, turbulence on your surface cruise,” he retorted.

“It was nothing, really,” she said. “A shore-leave fracas. Your buddies, Cho and Kuragin, it seems they irritated some toughs in a bar outside Chinhae, and before they knew it we were outnumbered four to one.”

“Kuragin’s such an ass,” Perry snorted. “He can get in a fight in a church.”

“Well, Cho’s no diplomat either, you know. I mean, the whole cruise he’s rattling on about showing us the sights, how he’s got family in Busan, and what does he do but get in a brawl on his first day there.”

“You saved their bacon though, right?”

“Whatever.”

“Well, I’m sure having to be rescued by a middie on a summer cruise humbled those two.”

“I don’t know, maybe. But I kinda like ’em as is, you know, with a bit of bluster and bravado.”

Perry smiled and said, “Me, too.” He paused to look into her eyes, black as coal and deep as the abyss. The fire that occasionally flared at the bottom—he’d seen that too, once, and didn’t really care to see it again. “What was all the yelling about on the bridge just now?”

“Nothing, really. More of Gunderson’s schemes, that’s all. Van Doren finally saw through her.”

“She really has it in for you, doesn’t she?”

“Yeah, her and her boyfriend, Bauer.”

“I remember him,” Perry said. “He joined the karate team my last year, right? He’s a 1/C now, I suppose.”

“That’s him.”

“He had some good skills, as I recall.”

“Not bad,” Emily conceded. “But not nearly good enough for being such an ass.”

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Chapter Two

An Unexpected Blow

“They can’t be serious, right?” Theo Leone asked.

The idea that Emily could be responsible for the cold-blooded murder of three Chinese security agents in Kathmandu made no sense to Andie Cardano’s big brother. He knew there had been some trouble when she visited Nepal in the summer after high school, but he also knew her too well. Her skill in hand to hand combat gave him pause, since he’d never seen a fighter quite like her—and coming from a SEAL, that was saying something. But murder? He didn’t know how to reconcile that with everything else he knew about Emily. After all, a little more than two years ago, the girl had risked everything to rescue his nephew from a North Korean hit squad.

“It came through State, from the Chinese ambassador. It’s an official request for someone they’ve identified as Emily Hsiang,” Michael Cardano replied.  “State sent it to Ortmann at the Department of Justice, and he passed it on to the Asian Pacific desk at the Intelligence Directorate for analysis. Renfield put two and two together and notified me.”

“But there’s no extradition with China, is there?”

“No, not yet, but with State trying to negotiate a treaty, it hardly matters.”

“And who the hell’s Emily Hsiang anyway,” Theo hissed, “and what’s she got to do with our Emily?”

“It’s an alias her parents crafted for her years ago. I think the last time she used that passport was to visit your sister and me when we were in hiding in New Zealand.”

“Then how’d the Chinese find it?”

“I’m not sure,” Michael said, as he pondered the question. “I bet if we check, we’ll find out the Chinese scraped some data out of border control at Auckland Airport. That means they must have a mole in the NZ Security Information Service. I’ll need to let Tucker in Wellington know about this.”

“Do the Chinese know who she is?” Theo asked. “I mean, have they connected that name to the real Emily? I don’t care about a mole on the other side of the world, Michael. Our family owes her everything. We can’t let the Chinese take her.”

“It’s not time to panic yet. There’s a lot of bureaucratic layers to get through at DOJ before they find out Hsiang is a dead end. At that point, the Chinese will have to show more of their cards to proceed. I’ll have a word with Ortmann about making the process even stickier.”

“Have you told Andie yet?”

“What do you think?”

“What about Ethan and Connie?”

“If Connie knew, she’d camp out on a roof opposite the Chinese embassy with a sniper rifle and start taking people out.”

“Michael, these are your security people. You have to let them know.”

“I haven’t told Emily yet, either.”

Theo chewed over that last remark the entire drive from Langley to his sister’s house in Charlottesville. Should they even tell Emily? And if they did, what could she do about it? She had enough on her mind with her studies. The irony would have tickled him, what with his brother-in-law in charge of the National Clandestine Service at CIA, if it didn’t hit so close to home. But, for all the resources at Michael’s disposal, he was practically powerless in the face of an apparently inexorable legal process that threatened to tear his family apart.

It took a few minutes to negotiate the long front drive to the estate in Charlottesville, and to clear the guards manning the forest gate. Andie met him at the front door, wearing an apron and with two little kids peeking around her waist, Li Li giggling on one side, and Stone glowering suspiciously on the other.

“What’s so important that it brings you all the way down here, bro?” she asked.

“There’s been a development involving our girl.”

In the kitchen, Andie listened to Theo’s news more dispassionately than he expected, though her chin quivered slightly at first. When he reached for her shoulder to offer some comfort, Stone inserted himself between them, barely reaching the interloper’s waist.

“Don’t you recognize Uncle Theo?” Andie cooed at the boy, bending over to kiss his forehead.

“He’s a brave little man,” Theo chortled. “And he seems to have imprinted on you like a duckling.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do for her?”

“The Chinese haven’t showed all their cards. I’m pretty sure the legal process is just a feint. Even if it isn’t, they’ll have to show some hard evidence before State and DOJ will act on their request, and we both know there can’t be any.”

“I hope you’re right.”

“Hope? Do you actually think she could have murdered anyone?”

“No, of course not. I’m just… I don’t know… Theo…” Tears glittered in the corners of her eyes, and Theo felt the trembling in her hand, and tried to squeeze some reassurance into it.

“We’re gonna have to find a way to tell Ethan and Connie, you know, without setting her off.”

“Have you told Emily yet?”

“The soonest I can see her in person is the weekend after next, and I don’t think we should talk about it over phone lines.”

“You better take Yuki with you when you go. She’s gonna need her mom, don’t you think?”

~~~~~~~

“I don’t want any part of it,” Trowbridge said, as he and Midshipman First Class Casey Bauer entered the athletic center. At the far end of the main floor, twenty or so upperclassmen in sweats sat with crossed legs around the edge of a large mat. Coach Parker stood in the center of the group explaining some obscure details of the Advanced Combat class they had signed on for. From their present distance, Bauer and Trowbridge could only catch bits and pieces, but one thing that didn’t escape their ears was the fact that “Miss Tenno has graciously agreed to lead the class today.”

“So you’re fine with this?” Bauer asked.

“I’m just saying you need to choose your enemies carefully.”

“You remember at Sea Trials, when everyone was gushing about how good she was at pugil sticks?”

“I know where you’re going with this, Bauer, and let me just say, you didn’t have to face her.”

“So what?”

“You know that bit from
Paradise Lost
, the one we just read in English Lit, where Messiah faces the rebel angels ‘and into terror changed his countenance too severe to be beheld’—well, she can be kinda like that.”

“Give me a break.”

By the time they made it over to the other end of the room and joined the rest of the mids, Parker had turned the class over to Emily.

“Fighting is not the same as sparring,” she said. “The goal is not to win. It’s to subdue your enemy, typically by maiming or killing him. But one thing remains the same, the importance of controlling the initiative.”

Bauer listened blankly for a few minutes, scarcely able to conceal his impatience, until he could no longer keep from interrupting. Her insights into the nature of initiative, the importance of learning to breathe, as well as some Japanese terms she seemed inordinately fond of, none of it meant anything to him.

“Coach, I don’t see how Tenno is qualified to tell us anything about fighting,” he said as soon as he found a gap. “I mean, she won’t even compete with the karate team.”

“This class is optional,” Parker replied. “You don’t have to stay.”

Bauer felt her eyes looking him over, but he couldn’t tell if she resented his intrusion, loathed him, or simply didn’t care. Whatever she felt, it didn’t look as if he’d managed to intimidate her. With her head tilted to one side, and eyes blank, she seemed almost like a feral animal, sizing him up, something perhaps as primitive as a fight-or-flight calculus playing itself out in her heart.

“It’s okay, Coach,” she said. “He has a right to his opinion, at least before we’ve started.”

Just as his girlfriend had predicted, she exuded this unflappable façade, and pretended that nothing anyone else said mattered to her. No wonder so many people found her irritating.

“Fine,” he said. “Why don’t you give us a demonstration? Everyone here is on the team, so we don’t really need to work on fundamentals.”

“Stow it, Mr. Bauer,” Parker began. “It’s not your place…”

“No, he’s got a point,” she said. “A demonstration might be a good way to begin.”

“You and me?” Parker offered.

“I think Bauer wants to show us something. I’ll work with him.” The tiniest smile seemed to wait on the edge of her lips as she said this. “Put your gear on, and show me your best attack.”

As he fished his head-gear, gloves and assorted pads out of his bag, he heard her say “Don’t forget the cup.” When he turned around, he saw her standing in the middle of the mat, in the center of the circle of mids, all intent on seeing what he could do. And she wore no other equipment than her grappling gloves.

“What the…,” he sputtered out. “Where are your pads?”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “I’ll be okay. Now show me your best attack, the move you’d make to finish me off in one blow.”

“What, I’m supposed to hit you with no pads?”

“Trust me, you won’t be able to.”

Bauer fumed as he considered the possibilities. Of course, she meant to humiliate him. But if he could just tag her once in the face, maybe give her a shiner to wear around the Yard for the next few days, it might shake the reputation she seemed to have, that air of invincibility. Still, it wasn’t clear how to begin, or how hard he could actually hit her without stirring up some sort of inquiry.

“Now you can all see Bauer’s hesitation,” she observed for the class. “He hasn’t figured out how to take the initiative in this situation. The rules of engagement seem undefined. If you find yourself in a fight to the death, you need to clear your mind of any doubts before you can act decisively.”

Impatient with her chatter, which seemed to be mainly at his expense, and not waiting for Tenno to give him any sort of sign, Bauer suddenly swung a right hook toward the side of her head, not full strength since he still didn’t know how hard he wanted to hit her, but probably forceful enough to put her on the mat if it connected. Unfortunately for him, it didn’t connect—she merely leaned out of the way, and he stumbled forward, tilted slightly out of balance by the momentum of his own arm.

“That’s what I mean by failing to seize the initiative. A weak punch thrown off-balance.” Turning to Bauer, she said, “Now settle yourself and give me your best strike.”

“This is bull,” he grumbled through his mouthguard. “Put some pads on so I can hit you for real.”

She nodded to Parker, who tossed her his head-gear. “This make you feel better?” she asked as she pulled it over the hair she’d worn close-cropped for the last couple of years, though now she’d begun to grow it out. “Now, show me what you can do.”

A short jab to her face missed, then a hook, then an uppercut. She didn’t block any of them, content to lean out of the way each time, not even taking a step back. His own momentum brought him closer each time, until he was almost too close for most strikes. She grabbed his left hand across the knuckles before he could pull it back. Firm pressure bent his wrist down as she pushed his arm up, effectively rendering him helpless.

“You see the difference, I hope, between aggression and initiative. Those were all good punches, strong, forceful, quick. But he didn’t control the initiative with any of them, and the result is that he’s now completely vulnerable.”

Bauer looked down, wincing, infuriated, thinking he ought to smack her while she spoke… if only he could. And when she released him and began poking him in the throat, chest and arms, ostensibly demonstrating his vulnerability, he swung an awkward right hook at her head. A stabbing pain in his bicep from a knuckle on her right hand and a quick left-handed block prevented him from making any contact, and before he quite knew what was happening or could do anything to prevent it, she had struck him several times in the chest, throat and arms. None of these were forceful, none hurt like that first knuckle, but they still overwhelmed him, a feeling sort of like drowning. He would have liked to block them, but her hands moved too quickly, and when he tried to step back to get out of range, he found himself watching as, almost in slow motion, she crossed one foot behind the other and landed a rather more forceful side-kick, planting the heel of her left foot in the center of his chest. He stumbled back and lost his footing, ending up on his back among the mids seated around the edge of the mat. She said something to the class, but he couldn’t make most of it out, struggling as he was to recover his breath.

“By deflecting the initial force of his aggression, I was able to control the entire initiative of the confrontation, without over-extending myself. Otherwise, I did nothing the rest of you can’t do, no fancy kicks or punches.”

“Is it always a matter of waiting and responding to an attack?” Stacie Carnot asked.

“No. Sometimes you have to seize the initiative at the moment of attack, meeting it head-on, so to speak. And sometimes, you have to steal the initiative first, pre-empting your enemy’s attack. Most people are comfortable with responding to an attack. Those of you who’ve trained in
shotokan
know this as
go no sen
, and the others are sometimes referred to as
sen no sen
and
sen sen no sen
. You need to be prepared to use any of these postures in a fight.”