Murray McDonald - Assassin

Breakfast was forgotten, they had a plane to catch. Zach, with a renewed vigour, led the way back down the stairs, taking two steps at a time. Lela and Tom struggled to keep up, eventually catching up with him in the foyer where he had come to a complete stop.

“What’s wrong?” asked Tom but Zach did not need to answer. In front of their block stood Yuri and his gang. They’re keen, thought Tom, it was only 7.30 a.m.

“Hi guys,” said Tom. “We’d love to stay and chat but I’m afraid we’ve got a plane to catch.”

The cordial approach was worth a try although the look on Yuri’s face suggested not. The humiliation of the previous day had been too much for Yuri. He was not going to be happy with anything less than a fight.

Zach was big for his age and a similar build to his father, tall, broad and very fit. He was an army child and more than capable of looking after himself. He manoeuvred Lela behind him, shielding her from the gang. Zach had not witnessed Lela’s skills first hand and although he had heard rumours about them, he assumed they were greatly exaggerated.

“Come on guys, whatever’s wrong, I’m sure we can just talk about it like adults,” said Zach

As he tried to reason with them, Chen, Ahmad, Oleg and Tristan came bounding down the stairs. Tristan had seen the gang arrive and had tried to warn Tom and Lela. Finding their rooms empty, he had woken up the others.

“Ah, my little brother Oleg, I’ve missed you, you know. I had to go and buy a punch bag but it’s just not the same,” laughed Yuri, ignoring Zach.

“I’m not your brother any more, thank God,” replied Oleg shaking. He had not seen Yuri since the previous year.

“Guys, Chen and I can handle these guys if you want to get going,” whispered Lela to her friends.

“Where are we going?” asked Ahmad.

“What do you mean where are we going, we’re staying right here,” replied Zach adamantly. “We can’t leave Chen and Lela to these guys,” he reasoned

“You’re right. Chen, do you want to come with us?” said Tom.

“No thanks, I think this’ll be more fun but thanks for the offer,” replied Chen who was very excited. Lela had mentioned that they might get some decent practice in soon.

“Are you guys mad? There are 14 of them, 7–1 are not good odds,” said Zach exasperated. He could not understand why his friends were not sharing his concern.

“I know,” replied Tom. “They should have brought a lot more!”

Yuri’s gang consisted of 14 boys, 8 Russian, 3 Japanese, 1 Korean and 2 Indonesian, aged between 16–18. The Russians were all older and larger than their Asian counterparts but the Asian boys stepped forward first, all assuming martial art stances. From these, Lela could identify their specialisms. Two of the Japanese took a Karate stance, while the other assumed an Aikido stance. The Korean took the classic Taekwondo stance while the Indonesians assumed the Kuntao stance, a method Lela was very familiar with. Many islanders near Penaraja practised it.

“Not so smart now, are you?” said Yuri, smiling at Lela.

Lela smiled while Tom grabbed Zach and pulled him back towards the door of their block, leaving Lela and Chen exposed to the gang. Zach protested but Ahmad, Oleg and Tristan helped Tom pull him back into the building.

“Lela, be good,” shouted Tom before the door closed.

“What the hell are we doing? We can’t leave them out there,” said Zach.

“We’re going out the back way to get to the airfield. Zach, they’ll be fine. If you want to worry about anybody worry about Yuri. I think Lela may lose her temper with him. That wouldn’t be good.”

“You guys are insane,” replied Zach.

“The insane ones are those idiots in that gang. They’ve got no idea who they’re messing with. I’ve seen Lela in action. They don’t stand a chance,” said Ahmad.

Zach gave in and followed the guys out of the back door. They climbed into the school’s golf carts, ready to make their way to the airfield.

“It appears your friends don’t think you’re worth helping,” said Yuri, enjoying the moment.

“Maybe they don’t think I need the help,” said Lela evenly, adding “Chen, would you mind if I deal with these guys myself?”

“Not at all, whatever,” he said as he relaxed against the wall of the building.

Yuri’s smile began to falter. He knew Lela was very good, he had witnessed her in action the previous year. However this time, he had six martial arts experts in his gang. All trained from a young age, they had all won prizes in their respective countries and were all older than her. Why was she not phased?

It took him less than ten seconds to find out.

His guys responded to her step forward, moving forward to take her on. The first guy threw a punch which she deflected into a second punch which another guy had thrown at her. The gang were not playing around. The force in each of the punches was so strong that Lela’s deflection resulted in a gut wrenching crunch as an Indonesian fist collided with a Japanese one. When a high kick was launched at her by the Korean, she waited until exactly the right moment before twisting her body and again deflecting the trajectory of the attack. The force of the assault was again massive, resulting in the Korean smashing into the wall of the building and crumpling in a heap to the ground. The next two ran and launched simultaneous assaults. Schoolboy error, thought Lela, as she simply stepped out of the way and allowed the two boys to crash into each other, resulting in a tangled heap of broken bones. The only gang member who had not moved was the Japanese aikido expert. He had watched his less experienced friends go down with little effort from Lela. In fact, she had not thrown a single punch and five of his friends were in agony. He knew that only a true master was capable of what Lela had just done. He walked towards her and bowed deeply, offering his appreciation and recognition. He knew he was no match for her and did the honourable thing. He helped his friends up and they left, leaving Yuri and his gang to her mercy.

Lela looked across to a very lonely Yuri. The rest of his gang were slowly slinking away.

“Well?” said Lela to Yuri. His gang stopped slinking and started running.

“Sorry,” replied Yuri before running away as fast as he could.

Lela and Chen ran around the building and caught up with the rest of their friends just as they were about to leave.

“Well?” asked Tom.

“Wicked!” replied Chen.

“No!” was all Zach could say, observing that neither had broken into a sweat nor had a hair out of place.

Ten minutes later, Zach, Tom and Kisho were airborne and on their way to Durban.

“Fantastic!” said the President of the USA. He had said little else since Beaumont had entered the office.

“Donald Kennedy, in an African prison, charged with over 2,500 deaths! It just doesn’t get any better!” he said. “You, young man are a star, well done.”

“Thank you Mr President,” replied Beaumont.

He had come into the office expecting peace and quiet. It was usually empty on a Sunday. However, the President had been alerted to his whereabouts and had arrived 20 seconds later, hardly able to hide his glee over the latest news.

“So what next? Trial and execution?” asked the President hopefully.

“No, it’s best you don’t know just now.”

“Fine, just tell me one thing, are you planning a tragic ending?”

“Very. But there is just one thing I wanted to tell you about,” said Beaumont.

Beaumont had had no intention of telling the President but as he was there, he thought he may as well prepare him.

“General Powers has become a liability, he’ll be retiring today.”