by Alex Howell
One of the men then stepped closer to Mason and pulling something out of his pocket asked, “Alright buddy—what’s the matter? Are you off your meds?”
They guy then grinned and revealed the item in his hand to be a large pocket knife. Kareem waving the knife in the air shouted, “Do you need your medicine? Is that it? Well don’t you worry! I’m prepared to give it to you in large doses!” He then lunged at Mason, aiming the blade right at his chest. Mason was able to dodge well enough however, and only received a nick on his arm.
It was a painful gash nonetheless as Mason howled, “Shit!”
Even Mason Walker as daring as he may have been, wasn’t willing to fight four men all by himself. And as such he was steadily forced to retreat, backing further and further down the street as they tried to out flank and surround him.
It was certainly a desperate struggle with Mason just managing barely keep his assailants at bay. He couldn’t hold up much longer like this, but at least his efforts to divert most of the terrorists to the front of the house, was a stunning success.
As the suspects closed in on him, pushing Mason across the street and toward a back alley, the cynic side of Mason was beginning to wonder if he was about to give the ultimate sacrifice—his own life.
But just then he looked up to see Mathew Benton and Raina Martin step around the house and break into an all-out run toward his attackers. With Matt and Raina joining the fray it would be three against four—making them still outnumbered, but with much better odds.
Mathew Benton, out of both the habit of his chivalric desire not to sneak attack his opponents, and out of the pressing need to distract the terror suspects—most especially the knife wielding assailant—shouted, “Alright assholes! Over here!”
The men of course, couldn’t resist turning to look at the commotion, and as soon as the principal knife wielder did so, Mason saw his opportunity, and grabbed the guy’s wrist even as he clutched the knife. He felt the man try to resist but Mason knew that he had the greater will and determination in this knife fight. And even as he felt the muscles in the man’s arm clench up in his attempts to pull free, Mason clenched even tighter as he growled at him, “Give it up already! You’re done!”
Mason had learned to harness his adrenaline a long time ago and, in these moments, he was able to put everything he had into one solitary action. And this time that action entailed grabbing the assailant’s arm and squeezing it like a vice until the perpetrator shouted in pain, “Aghhhh!!” and his hand involuntarily popped open under the pressure, allowing his knife to fall harmlessly to the street.
Raina meanwhile—fearless as usual, ran right up to one of the assailants at full speed, and within just feet of him, while still in mid-stride, delivered what martial artists would call a “flying kick” right to the man’s face. The heel of her foot collided into the man’s head with such force that it knocked him down flat on his back as blood pooled from his mouth and what appeared to be a broken nose.
Benton was the one that moved in next, striking out at one of the remaining assailants delivering lightning fast punches to his face, chest and stomach, causing him to fall to the ground like a sack of potatoes. As quick as Benton’s attack was, the remaining assailant, which happened to be Kareem, the guy who had first answered the door in the first place, still managed to get the drop on him. And Mathew Benton received quite a thrashing as Kareem crashed into him from behind with a haymaker to the back of his head.
Despite Mason’s earlier take down, Kareem proved himself to be a good fighter, his fists becoming a blur as they repeatedly struck Benton on the back and side of his head. The blows were punishing enough that Matt seeing stars, staggered, stumbled and fell to his hands and knees. Kareem fueled by anger and hatred, screamed “Son of a bitch!” as he positioned himself to literally kick Benton while he was down.
The only thing that saved Matt from what would have certainly been a severe beating was Mason rushing over and successfully putting the man in a headlock. Mason’s bicep cutting off Kareem’s air supply, before he knew it, he couldn’t breathe. And soon enough he was gasping, “Please! I give up—I give up!”
Prompting Mason to relax his grip enough for Kareem to be able to breathe, yet not enough for him to get away from him.
The remaining assailant, the disarmed, knife wielder took one look at his comrade locked in the grip of Mason’s muscular arms, and the guy gave up the ghost. He fell right to his knees with his hands in the air to indicate that he was going to surrender.
Without even addressing his new captive Mason turned on his comm link and informed Luke, “All clear.”
But there was no immediate answer. Mason looked to Benton, “Luke’s not responding. He might need our help. Let’s cuff these guys and head into the house.”
Raina realizing the dilemma they faced however, looked at the suspects and remarked, “What? We’re just going to cuff them and leave them in the street? I don’t think that would work out to well.”
Mason knew she was right but he didn’t know what else they could do. He asked, “Do you have any better ideas?”
In fact, she did, as she related to them, “Why don’t you two guard them and send me in to get the hostages, and regroup with Luke.”
Mason feeling his protectiveness rise up within him initially scoffed at the notion, “What? Are you crazy? There may still be a terrorist on the loose.”
Raina shrugged her shoulder’s incredulously as she quipped, “So what? If there are—I’ll beat the crap out of them.”
Mason looked down at the man who’s profusely bleeding nose she had practically shattered, and he couldn’t hardly disagree as he conceded, “Alight, just be sure to stay in contact with us on the comm link the whole time and let us know if you run into any trouble”.
12
Unpredictable Outcomes
ABOUT A HALF HOUR LATER IN KYLE GARRISON’S SELF AUTOMATED HATCHBACK, DRIVING THROUGH DOWNTOWN BALTIMORE.
As Kyle stared at the GPS screen, his self-driving car made a sudden right to take them to Oriole Park at Camden Yards—the home of the Baltimore Orioles, Major League Baseball team.
As they drove past the famed works of art in the “Sculpture Garden” Clara remarked, “Wow Kyle, I didn’t know you were a baseball fan.”
Kyle nodded, and explained “Yeah—I’ve got season tickets.”
Pulling into the parking lot he added, “Not sure how much you like baseball Clara, but it sure does beat being bored in the house.”
After parking and getting out of the car, the two of them made their way through security and on up into their designated seats in the stands. Kyle did indeed have season tickets, but they were of the nose bleed variety. And as the players took the field and the game was about to commence, Clara could barely see them.
Squinting down at the field below she remarked, “Uh—great seats Kyle—the players look like ants.”
Kyle staring down at the diminutive looking players replied, “Oh come on—it’s not that bad.”
Clara would eventually have to agree. Even though the vantage point may not have been the best, the cheering crowd and the booming voice of the announcer alone were enough to soon get her excited for the game. She was so engrossed by the latest happenings down below in fact, that by the seventh-inning stretch, she didn’t even notice the drama that was occurring up above.
Because up high on the screen of Camden Yard’s jumbotron, her and Kyle had been captured by the “Kiss Cam”. Anyone who is familiar with sporting events knows that the “Kiss Cam” is a gimmick done by stadiums during downtime in which they capture supposed couples on camera and project them up onto the big screen for everyone to see.
This is then usually followed by suggestive, romantic music and hoots and hollers from the excited crowd, pressuring the two targets to kiss each other. As fun as some might think the gag is, it has certainly led to some embarrassment over the years, since not every guy and girl seen sitting together in the stands are
as intimately involved as might be assumed.
As was most certainly the case with Kyle and Clara. For her part, Clara was completely oblivious, and not even looking up to see her face on the screen, she was still straining to see the players on the field below when the crowd erupted to cheer on their Kiss Cam debut.
Remarking about how strange it was that the crowd was getting excited, she shouted to Kyle, “What’s going on? No one’s made a move on the field, yet the crowd is going wild. What’s the deal?”
Kyle too wondered at the sudden outburst, but he then happened to look up and see their faces on the huge screen, and the audience seeing that at least one of the subjects had finally realized they were on the Kiss Cam went wild once again. Kyle was shocked, but for the natural introvert who was sometimes afraid to act on his own. As such it was almost a dream come true to have a whole crowd cheer him.
Without giving it too much thought Kyle quickly tapped Clara on the shoulder to get her attention. She turned to him and asked, “What?” At which point Kyle went in for the kill, and as Clara’s mouth was still hanging open from her inquiry, he proceeded to plant a kiss on her bottom lip.
It was just a quick little peck, but in no way expecting it, Clara’s reaction was swift as she shoved Kyle back and exclaimed, “Ewww!!! Gross! What is wrong with you!!”
The whole stadium hearing and seeing her reaction broke burst into uncontrollable rounds of raucous laughter. It was only then that Clara happened to look over and see the giant screen capturing her every move. She gasped, “Oh my God!!!”
She then watched as the screen went into an instant replay of Kyle’s kiss and her reaction. Preserved for posterity the replay showed every detail of her public spurning of Kyle Garrison as she knocked him backwards into his seat, followed by a witty announcer’s booming voice exclaiming, “And it’s r-e-j-c-t-e-d!”
Kyle meanwhile was completely mortified. And inching lower and lower in his seat, he could be heard muttering, “Just dig me a hole and bury me already.”
MEANWHILE, OUTSIDE A SUSPECTED TERRORIST SAFEHOUSE IN DC
Mason Walker and Mathew Benton stood guard outside the front of the house while Raina went inside to search the premises. Although both Mason and Benton’s sense of male pride felt a little funny sending her in ahead of them, they both knew that she was more than capable of handling herself.
Slipping into the house, Raina made her way to the living room of the compound. Here she looked around the corner to see one man standing guard over a group of terrified hostages on the couch. The man had his back turned and didn’t see Raina’s approach, but the hostages have a clear line of sight, and their eyes widen in a mixture of shock, confusion, and fear as they see her standing before them.
Although the hostages remained silent, their slight change in expression got their captors attention as he turned to see what it was that they were looking at—but it was too late. Even as he was in mid turn, Raina already had the drop on him, forcefully kicking the man in the chest, spinning him around like a top. Losing his balance, with a loud thud, the suspect fell like a box of rocks.
Standing over him, Raina panted, “This—this is getting almost too easy”.
It wasn’t over yet however, and even though the man had the wind knocked out of him by the kick, and was cut and banged up from the fall, he still struggled to get up. But his efforts were too little, too late, as Raina had already positioned herself behind him, and putting the man into a choke hold, knocked him unconscious.
Raina then called up her colleagues in the comm link and informed them, “It’s all clear guys. Come on down.”
13
Impulse and Paralysis
MEANWHILE AT CAMDEN YARDS, BATLTIMORE, MARYLAND
Kyle had been rejected by women all of his life, but this particular one hurt—it hurt really bad. Being spurned on live TV on a giant jumbotron in front of thousands of laughing spectators would certainly be frustrating for anyone, but for Kyle this perceived affront from Clara Walker felt particularly egregious. She knew that he liked her, and yet if he showed even the simplest measure of affection, she dropped him like he was a bad habit.
But in reality, Kyle knew he couldn’t really blame her, she was put on the spot just as much as he was—still he had hoped that she would at least humor him as thousands of onlookers watched. In the end, both of them were so embarrassed from the whole ordeal that they quickly got up and left, not wishing to remain for the rest of the game.
It was only once they were out of the stadium and in the Sculpture Garden of Camden Yards that Clara spoke to Kyle. Stopping in front of a life size statue of Cal Ripken Jr., Clara approached the emotionally wounded Kyle Garrison, “Hey Kyle…”
Kyle stopped, and only daring to look at her out of the corner of his eye responded quietly, ‘Yeah?”
Clara sighed, “Kyle look… I’m sorry if I embarrassed you.”
Kyle pleased enough just to get the sympathy she was offering, found his mental state immediately changing course. And as he turned to her, he shook his head, ‘Oh no… I should be the one apologizing to you that was incredibly impulsive of me.”
Thinking it over, Clara for her part, was ready to assure him, “Don’t worry, I don’t blame you at all Kyle. With that crappy Kiss Cam on us and the whole damn crowd going wild, you felt like you didn’t have much of a choice but to perform.”
Clara sighed, “I’m sorry my reaction was so negative.”
Kyle mistaking her sympathy for affection, found himself wondering if there was hope for them yet. And with a twinkle in his eye, he quietly informed her, “Well Clara… you know even in baseball they sometimes have redo’s.”
Now almost regretting her apology, Clara tried to pretend she didn’t hear the last few words he said, as she literally turned her back on him, spun around and briskly walked toward the parking lot where Kyle’s car was waiting for them. She had left his desires once again unrequited, as she coldly called after him, “Come on Kyle—let’s get the hell out of here.”
MEANWHILE BACK AT THE TERRORIST SAFEHOUSE IN DC
With the suspect down for the count Raina turned her attention over to the hostages. They still weren’t quite’ sure if she was friend or foe. Sensing as much, Raina was quick to inform them, “Hey! It’s alright guys! I’m here to rescue you!”
The frightened woman, who appeared to be the mother of the children, and most likely the wife of the former Navy SEAL that was being targeted spoke up, “Who are you?”
Raina pulled out her badge and informed her, “I’m part of a team of military contractors sent to rescue you.”
The woman was a bit bewildered by the explanation as she muttered in astonishment, “Military contractors?”
Figuring explanations could come later, Raina bit her lip, and came right over to untie the woman and her two daughters who had been confined to a sitting position on the couch.
Once free, Raina expected them to jump up and follow her to safety, but they just sat and stared at her. Prompting her to urge them forward, “Come on guys we have to hurry—lets go!”
The mother of the family demurred, telling her, “No we can’t!”
Raina was dumbfounded, she had just rescued these people and now they refused to leave? ‘What’s going on here’. She thought to herself
The woman then explained, “We can’t leave, if we do, they will kill my youngest son.”
Raina asked, “What?”
The woman nodded, “Yeah…. Some of the guys on the outside they have my son….”
The woman then looked up to a surveillance camera, and announced with certain conviction, “They’re watching us… And they said the second that they saw me leave; they would kill him.”
Just then Luke Simon, Marshal Oliver, and David Trenton came pouring into the room with guns drawn. The petrified woman, mistakenly believed that they were terrorist reinforcements. This prompted her to believe that her prediction of retaliation was already coming true, as she frantically
exclaimed, “See! I told you! They’ve come here to kill us!”
Luke shot Raina a confused look, as she tried to explain to the frightened woman, “No! They’re with me—we’re all here to get you guys out of here! Now come on let’s go!”
The woman wasn’t having it however as she cried out, “But my son! What about my son?”
Believing that her son was still at large, Raina realized the strain that the woman was under. But all she could think to say for consolation was to tell her, “We will do our best to get your son later—I promise! But for now, you are going to have to come with me.”
The woman was not at all convinced however as she repeated, “No! I can’t! The very second that I try and step out of here, they will execute my son—I know they will! That’s what they told me! I don’t care what you say! I’m a mother! I can’t take that risk.”
Raina, a woman in her late thirties who never had the opportunity to have children of her own always felt a little insecure about that fact. And now it was as if the frantic mother of three was pointing out Raina’s inherent weakness with her own heady declarations of motherly conviction. Being subjected to all of this, she couldn’t help but let the negative thought cross her mind, ‘Oh she’s a mother—I guess I just wouldn’t understand, would I?’
All talk of motherhood aside however, this was a completely new situation for Raina. She had never before had to deal with hostages that had refused to comply. She knew the woman was worried for her son, but the fact remained—the longer they stayed in place, the longer they put the entire mission in jeopardy.
It was times like this that she wished she could momentarily dispense with civility and simply grab her charges by the arm and forcefully drag them out of harm’s way.
‘Marshal would just love that—wouldn’t he?’’ She thought to herself.
