If only he had a weapon, he would stand a better chance. As he spoke, he
scanned the crowd and spotted exactly what he needed, one of the boss’s men had
a baton, perfect.
“I think that’s for me to decide, you’re in my place now,”
said the man gesturing to the courtyard.
Saki calculated his options. Offense would take them by
surprise and give him more of an edge.
“Did nobody tell you, you just got demoted?” asked a very
serious Saki. His eyes burned into the prisoner’s eyes and Saki could sense
fear. This prisoner was not used to being challenged.
Saki moved and covered the distance between himself and the
boss before his goons could protect him. He landed his foot squarely on his
stomach, not to injure him but to gain momentum as he spun off the boss’s
stomach and laid out five of his henchmen with one flying kick. He landed on
one foot and, as he landed, threw the other one into another henchman with such
a force that he was sent flying into the crowd and took another eight prisoners
down with him. The henchman who had the baton was tumbling towards the floor as
was his baton which Saki caught in one hand whilst dispatching the rest of the
henchmen with two flicks of the wrist.
Saki stopped moving and remained poised ready to strike again.
He had stopped before the last of the henchmen had hit the ground such was his
speed.
When the boss prisoner looked up from his kick to the stomach,
he thought he was seeing things. His men lay all around him. Those who could
were groaning and those who couldn’t were seriously concussed.
Saki had been merciless. Each of his strikes had been
calculated to inflict a great deal of damage. None of the boss’ henchmen would
be fit for anything other than hospital for the following few weeks. All had
received fractures to their limbs, jaws or skulls. The only thing which could
protect Donald and Rachel was a show of overwhelming force and Saki had
delivered.
The remaining prisoners soon dispersed. They were all violent
men but none had ever witnessed such a display of speed and power. The small
oriental man was not to be messed with. The boss offered his apologies and
slunk into the background. Without his henchmen, he was as good as dead, a lot
of prisoners had scores to settle with him.
“Very impressive,” said Donald.
“Thank you, Saki,” whispered Rachel who was still shaking.
Chapter 24
Tom did not sleep well, the news story the previous night had
him very worried. He gave up trying to sleep as the clock hit 7.00 a.m.. He got
up and heard Lela moving around next door. She was practising her martial arts,
as she did every single day. He didn’t how she could be bothered. By the time
he was showered and dressed, she had stopped moving around. As he had not eaten
the previous day, he wanted to go for breakfast and knocked on Lela’s door to
see if she would join him.
“I’m just in the shower, who is it?” she shouted.
“It’s me, Tom, do you want to go for breakfast?”
“Yeah, just give me two minutes,” she replied.
Exactly two minutes later, she appeared at the door dressed
and ready.
“That was quick.”
“Well, I don’t hang around, like some,” she teased.
As they made their way downstairs, a forlorn looking Zach was
coming up the stairs.
“Hey Zach, you coming for breakfast?” asked Tom.
“S’pose so,” was the half hearted response, his feet dragging
his body almost to a stop with each step.
“What’s wrong Zach, you were so happy last night?” asked Lela.
Tom hadn’t even noticed Zach was upset, which was typical when he was hungry,
nothing else mattered.
“My dad just called, there’s a fault on his plane and it’s
going to take hours to fix. By the time he gets here, he’d have to go back, so
he’s not coming.”
“Why doesn’t he just get another plane?” asked Tom.
“There aren’t any he can use, he’s stuck there.”
“Where’s there?”
“Durban.”
Tom
Elle Kennedy
Louis L'amour
Lynda Chance
Unknown
Alice Addy
Zee Monodee
Albert Podell
Lexie Davis
Mack Maloney
C. J. Cherryh