As such, she was pretty happy. Despite being outnumbered three to one she had managed to win what she considered a good number of rounds.
“Not bad,” Master Gwon said. “But tomorrow, I will expect you to win at least ten.”
So she did. The next day, she won ten rounds, the day after that she won eleven, the day after that thirteen, and the day after that fifteen. The absolute highlight was the final round of the fifth day. Kiana knocked down all three of her opponents within the first ten seconds, all with blows that were so devastating none of them even contemplated getting back up. She just stood there, for the remaining ten seconds, as the three of them rolled around on the floor in pain.
“What do you think?” she asked Master Gwon. “Fifteen out of twenty. That’s seventy-five percent. That’s not bad, right?”
Master Gwon grinned. “It’s good. But twenty out of twenty would be better.”
With a smile and a slight bow he turned and left.
Kiana sighed. Taekwondo instructors. She had had many over the years and they always had one thing in common: no matter what you did, no matter how well you did, they always thought you could do better.
Chapter 11
That weekend, Kiana and her fellow teen students got a nice (and totally unexpected) surprise. A day off. It was the first time they had been given a day off since their training had begun, and since it was only a three month program they had all started to think they would not be given any time off until its conclusion. But sure enough, Harrington walked into their barracks and told them to pack up their things and meet him in the training facility’s main parking lot in an hour.
He then drove them to Las Vegas, which was about a three hour drive from the training facility. The agency had rented them two rooms (one for Kiana and Jennie, the other for Jamie and Smitty) in a casino on Las Vegas Boulevard called the Luxor. It was really cool and was shaped like a massive, black pyramid, with some sort of huge light on the top. Harrington told them to have a good time, he gave each of them two hundred dollars for food and entertainment, and then started to head back to his van.
“You’re going to leave us here?” Kiana asked. “By ourselves?”
“You’re USIA agents. You can handle yourselves for one night, right?”
None of them really knew what to say. Kiana thought it was a little odd the agency would leave four teenagers in Las Vegas (of all places) overnight by themselves, and she knew Michael wouldn’t approve, not at all, but at the same time, she kinda liked it. She had been to Las Vegas a few times before and she had always had a good time. A night there without parents and with two hundred dollars in her pocket would be something to remember.
“We’ll be fine.”
“Stay out of trouble. I’ll be back at noon tomorrow to get you. Meet me in the parking lot and don’t be late.”
He turned and left. The four of them took their belongings up to their rooms, then went out ‘on the town’ for a while. They rode the roller coaster at the New York, New York casino, then headed along the Strip and watched the dolphin show at The Mirage, then went to M&M’s World (Kiana ate so many M&Ms she nearly made herself sick), then went to the HardRock Hotel for dinner. All-in-all it was a good time and it was a much needed break for them all.
The only bad thing, however, was they were all so tired from their training they couldn’t stay out as long as they had originally wanted. Originally, they had been so excited they had planned to stay out all night, but by 11:00 pm they were completely exhausted. Jennie fell asleep during the cab ride back to the Luxor and they all had to wake her and help her walk back to her room.
That night, Kiana slept like a baby. Her bed in the Luxor was much more comfortable than her bunk at the USIA’s training facility, and to her the pillowcases felt like pure silk.
As such, she woke the next morning feeling better than she had in weeks. The four of them got breakfast at a small restaurant not too far from the Luxor, then decided to wander around the Strip a little more since it was only 10:00 am and they still had two hours until Harrington would arrive to pick them up. Unfortunately, however, that was when their fun ended. They were walking through a parking lot behind one of the casinos (Kiana wasn’t sure which one since they had all started to look alike to her) when they heard a commotion from not too far away. They looked over and saw two young women, both in their mid-twenties, talking to a group of men. The men were pretty rough in appearance, with scruffy faces and dirty clothing, and there were at least four of them, maybe five. The women looked like they were trying to get into a nearby car but the men had stopped them.
“Get out of my way,” one of the women said. She was tall and had bright, red hair and the gaudiest lipstick Kiana had ever seen. “We had a good time last night but we already told you we’re leaving now.”
“Maybe we don’t want you to leave,” one of the men said. He was a brute of a man, at least six feet tall with dark eyes and a thick mustache. “Maybe we’re not done with you yet.”
“Stop it,” the second woman said. She was shorter than the first and had short, black hair. “We’ll call the police if we have to.”
She started to reach into her purse, clearly to grab a cell phone, but the man with the mustache moved forward and snatched it from her before she could dial anything.
“Hey,” she screamed.
The first woman tried to grab her own phone, to call 911, but another of the men grabbed her before she could do anything. In retaliation, she slapped him across the face with her free hand.
That’s when things got really ugly. Completely enraged, the man backhanded her and sent her sprawling onto the ground. He then jumped on her and started to slap her repeatedly across the face.
“You like that? You like it? I bet you’ll like this even more, you little tramp.”
He pulled a switchblade from his pocket and flicked it open. Its blade was at least six inches long and it sparkled menacingly in the mid-morning sun. He moved it toward her face and touched the tip of it to her left cheek.
Kiana and her fellow students stood there in complete shock as the whole ugly scene unfolded in front of them.
“What should we do?” Jennie asked.
“Let’s call the police,” Smitty said, and he had already pulled his phone from his pocket.
“There’s no time for that,” Kiana said. “They’ll never get here in time. We need to do something now.”
“What?”
“I don’t know. Just come with me and follow my lead. I’ll think of something.”
She led them across the parking lot, directly toward the site of the altercation.
“Stop what you’re doing.” She tried to sound as confident and as authoritative as possible but she was actually pretty nervous since she had never been in a situation like that before. As such, her voice quivered slightly as she spoke.
The men turned to face her. They started laughing the minute they saw her approaching.
“What are you kids doing out here?” the man with the mustache asked. “Go along and play. Mind your own business.”
“Let those women go,” Kiana said.
“Or what? What are you going to do if we don’t?”
“Wait and see.”
That got some good laughs. None of the men could believe they had been challenged by a girl who was half their age and barely half their size.
The man with the mustache released the woman he was holding and walked forward so he could better address Kiana. “Young lady. Those are mighty big words you’re throwing around.”
“I don’t want any trouble. I just want you to leave those women alone. Then we’ll leave and you’ll never see us again.”
The man smiled, then spit a big wad of chewing tobacco onto the ground at his side. “How about this? How about we release these women, just like you want, and then you and your little friend there take their places?”
He pointed at Jennie.
“We’re not going anywhere with you.
”
Kiana was doing her best to sound tough, but in reality she was pretty much as nervous as she had ever been. At the same time, however, she was resolute on her intentions. She was not going to leave these women behind to be preyed on by these men. She would never be able to live with herself if she did.
Then it happened. Without warning, the man with the mustache reached out and grabbed her by an arm. The move surprised her and scared her at first but only for a second. Her reflexes kicked in and her training with Master Gwon took over. As fast as she could, she knocked the man’s hand away, then swept out with one foot and took his legs out from under him. He crashed to the ground in a painful, awkward heap.
Chaos ensued. Seeing their leader had been attacked, the rest of the men raced straight toward Kiana. She took the first one down with a snap kick to his face, then felled the second with a roundhouse to the side of his head. She punched the third in the chest but the fourth grabbed her from the side and pinned her right arm, preventing her from doing anything more with it. She spun around and flipped him away, but in the time it took her to do so the third man had recovered and grabbed her from behind. She would have been in serious trouble but her friends came to her aid. Smitty punched the man in the back, forcing him to let go of her, Jamie tackled the man who had grabbed her from the side, and Jennie kicked another. Their timing could not have been better because the man with the mustache had climbed back to his feet and had rejoined the fight. He ran straight at Kiana and there was complete rage in his eyes.
Kiana’s heart was absolutely pounding in her chest as he came at her. Over the years, she had been in what seemed like a million fights, but all of her previous fights had been training sessions or taekwondo tournaments. There had always been a risk of injury, but nothing like that. If she lost that fight, she and her friends would probably be killed.
As such, it was undoubtedly the scariest moment of her life. The only thing that came close was that fateful day on I-5 when she and Michael had been chased by the foreign agents and had flipped their car. Even so, for some strange, inexplicable reason, Kiana stayed calm and she waited patiently until the man with the mustache was within range. And as soon as he was she sprang forward and hit him with one of the nastiest jump kicks she had ever thrown. She hit him in the chest with so much force she crumpled him as though he were made of jelly. He fell flat onto his back, clutched his sternum, and began gasping for breath.
At that, there was a loud whistle and everyone, including Kiana, looked up to see what had happened. Kiana’s eyes grew large as the whistle’s source came into view.
It was Master Gwon. He had emerged from the side of a white van that was parked a few spaces away and he had a large grin on his face. At his sides were Harrington and two more of the instructors from the USIA’s training facility.
“Well done. Well done indeed.”
Kiana’s head was spinning. What was going on? Why was Master Gwon here, and if he had been here the whole time, why hadn’t he helped them?
But then she started to piece it together. She looked down and saw that the man with the mustache no longer had it. She had knocked it completely off when she had kicked him and it was now laying on the ground next to him. It wasn’t real and was clearly meant to be a disguise of some sort.
It had been a test. Presumably to see how they would do in what they thought was a real-life situation.
The man who had originally worn the mustache spoke. He was still holding his chest and he wasn’t happy at all. “Darn it, Gwon. You didn’t tell me she could kick like that.”
Master Gwon smiled. “Her kicks are impressive, there’s no doubt about that. Agent Doug Williams, meet Kiana Cruise. Kiana, agent Doug Williams.”
“Nice to meet you,” the man said. “I think.”
Kiana really didn’t know what to say, and now that she knew he was a fellow USIA agent, she felt bad for kicking him so hard. She offered him a hand and helped him up.
“You all performed admirably,” Master Gwon said. “I give thanks to all of the agents who helped with today’s training.”
He introduced Kiana, Jennie, Jamie, and Smitty to the other people who were present, including the two women and the five men who had been involved in the whole scene, all of whom turned out to be USIA agents. He then went on to explain in further detail what had transpired.
“All new recruits are required to complete a field test during their time at the training facility. It gives us a chance to see how they will do outside of the facility, in a situation that is both unexpected and dangerous. This was your test and the four of you passed with flying colors. You attempted to help someone in need, you tried to resolve the problem peacefully at first, and when that didn’t work you let your training take over. And most importantly you worked together. I could not be happier.”
“Kiana did most of it,” Smitty said.
Master Gwon nodded. “That may be true, but when things turned against her you were there. You came to her aid when she needed it, Smitty. You, too, Jamie and Jennie. In the field, no agent, no matter how talented she is, will last long without assistance from her fellow agents. As such, you must always work together just like you did today.”
At that, their ‘day off’ in Las Vegas officially came to an end and they started to load into Harrington’s van for the return trip to the USIA’s training facility. As they did, they exchanged pats on the back and quick smiles and they could not have been happier.
Until the next week, when Kiana got two more surprises.
Chapter 12
Kiana was sitting on her bunk in the barracks, reading a textbook about basic interrogation techniques, when she heard the building’s main door open and someone walk in. At first, she didn’t look up since she assumed it was one of the other teens returning from a task. But her eyes immediately got big as she heard a familiar voice.
“Hey, kiddo. Long time, no see.”
Kiana couldn’t believe it. It was Michael. She tossed her book to the side, hopped up, and gave him a hug.
“Dad. I didn’t know you were coming.”
“I wanted to surprise you. I was handling an op in Salt Lake City so I thought I’d swing by on my way home. Of course I had to pull a few strings to get clearance onto the facility, but I have my ways. I can only stay for a few hours, though.”
She smiled. As far as she was concerned, any amount of time would suffice.
“How are you doing?” he asked. “The instructors treating you okay?”
“I’m learning a lot. We’re working on basic interrogation techniques in one of my classes, and in another we did some international law basics, and we’ve got our survival test coming up next week so that should be pretty interesting.”
Michael raised an eyebrow. “Interesting? I remember the survival test well. I hate to say it, but I’m not envious of you at all.”
“What’s it like?”
“Pretty much exactly how they describe it in class. They dump you in the middle of the desert, with just some basic supplies, and you have to make your way back to the training center all by yourself. In the meantime, you just hope you don’t die of sunstroke, dehydration, or both. And watch out for the rattlesnakes - they’re nasty out there.”
Kiana cringed. She had always hated snakes. Especially big ones like rattlesnakes.
Michael was going to say something more about the survival test but got distracted as he looked down and saw her legs for the first time. She was wearing shorts so her legs were fully exposed from the thigh down and they were covered with bruises and scrapes.
“Oh my god. Look at your legs.”
Kiana shrugged. “My training with Master Gwon is pretty intense. I’ve always got a few bruises.”
“A few?” he asked. “That isn’t a few. You’ve got bruises on top of your bruises. Do you realize if you went to school like that they’d immediately think I was beating you and call CPS?”
She smiled. “You have nothing to worry about. Whe
n I return to school I’ll wear jeans. That way they won’t see anything.”
He chuckled. “Speaking of Master Gwon, I saw him on my way over here. He says he wants to see you in twenty minutes, and he wants you in your dobok. He said he has something special planned for you.”
Kiana raised an eyebrow. Master Gwon’s request was unusual. They had already completed their sparring sessions for the day and he hadn’t mentioned anything to her about doing another.
Regardless, she got ready and the two of them headed to the gymnasium. Kiana was actually kind of excited because she wanted Michael to see her in action and see how far she had progressed.
“Master Gwon says my speed has increased dramatically in recent weeks. And my form has improved, too. And I can fight multiple opponents at once. You should have seen me at the real-life simulation in Vegas last week.”
Michael smiled. “I took a look at Master Gwon’s report. He gave you the highest marks possible. Said he had never seen a teen applicant handle the real-life simulation any better.”
They walked in silence for a minute before he said anything more.
“It’s funny. For years, I never wanted you to become an agent. But now that you are, I see you’re excelling. I guess it’s true what people say. Some things are just meant to be.”
At that, they reached the gymnasium. Master Gwon stood on their normal practice mat, but unlike normal, he was not wearing his dobok. Instead, he was wearing blue jeans and a white, button-up shirt. Kiana was immediately confused because she knew he would never spar in clothing like that.
“Good,” he said as they approached. There was a large smile on his face. “Thank you both for coming.”
Kiana Cruise Page 6
