by C. R. Daems
"Thank you, Master Lynn." Her face was a picture of determination when I left. By the end of the first year she seemed to be doing at least average in every subject and better than average with her language-French. The first year slid into the second seamlessly. I had managed to visit Clare twice and she had visited the Hill twice. It made my confinement to the Hill tolerable. Normally, I could only visit Clare between assignments or when I was injured. That sometimes resulted in long intervals between visits and a large dose of anxiety for Clare.
I'd only been back a few days when I noticed that Diana's face was bruised and she was favoring her left side. I pulled Herbert aside.
"How did Diana get hurt?" I asked out of curiosity. Witton or the Committee would eventually want me to write a paper on the program I developed and the subsequent results it produced. Diana had proved reasonable at self-defense.
"Not in class. Probably some out of class argument, which she lost," he shrugged. Fights outside of class occasionally happened and the Kazaks usually ignored them. Candidates had to learn to look after themselves. However, I wondered if the mingling of the sexes might not have introduced another element. I know I had some problems resulting directly from being female. That night I picked a shaded spot over-looking a secluded area about a hundred yards from the barracks and sat. At dawn, I rose and spent the day monitoring the students. I made no distinction between the men or women. The self-defense component had been introduced as the second year started and it was interesting to see the effect of Gabe and Jianyu's training. It appeared to have had the desired effect and the women were doing quite well. For the next week, I slept in the area I had selected. On the sixth night, I came fully awake when I heard the struggle in the distance.
"Diana wouldn't cooperate, and you saw what happened to her. You heard the Kazaks, no one helps anyone, and so no one's going to help you." The men laughed as the woman struggled to get free. She managed to break free about halfway to my position. She swept through one's legs causing him to fall. He didn't let go until she kicked him in the ribs. The other one pulled her towards him and punched her in the face. She staggered backward. When he grabbed her and pulled her towards him, she let him and drove her head into his face. Jianyu would be pleased with her performance. However, she should have continued the attack until they were disabled-or dead. Instead, she backed away.
"You'll pay for this." He wiped blood from his nose, while his buddy rose holding his ribs. "When I'm through, you're going to be our ho, and I'm going to rent you out. They spread out each with a knife in his hand. I took aim. Bang. Bang. The two men fell. Megan looked around wildly. When she eventually found me, she walked over and bowed.
"That was well done," I said. "Master Jianyu would have been pleased. However, you should have finished them after you had gained the advantage. Consider that the next time you meditate."
Seconds later three Kazak appeared, guns drawn. I could see students looking out the doors and windows. Fred looked in my direction.
"Master Lynn." He nodded to me. "You seem to have everyone's attention."
"I guess you might as well get them all out here." I rose and walked down to the two dead bodies. I had hit both in the head. Jessie would have approved. He had always said I was a lousy shot. Compared to him I was. He could hit a humming bird at a hundred yards. I couldn't scare one at that distance. With effort, I had improved over the years but usually tended to shoot chest, head, chest for safety, unless they are close. I missed Jessie. He had died defending a client against a Ghost Assassin. Master Johar appeared as the students were accumulating.
"You appeared to have found two of our candidates flawed-"
"She shot them from cover. Diana invited them to-" A tall, lanky young shouted as he approached us out of the growing group of spectators. The two dead men were probably his friends. His rant was cut short as Herbert swept his feet from under him and caught him with a back fist on the way down.
"As Kazak Herbert has so eloquently demonstrated," Johar said quietly into the silence, "students don't interrupt or criticize a Kazak. We owe you no explanations for our conduct. As the senior Kazak on the Hill I could inquire as to the reason for the shooting, except from Master Lynn. She is my equal. But in the end, a Kazak is only responsible to the Committee. They are the sole judges of our actions."
"There is a lesson here. These two men raped Diane a week ago. She conducted herself well and did not complain. The other students conducted themselves well in not helping her." Several of the women were frowning as I spoke. "That will sound harsh, but it is not for you to decide when the rules apply and when they do not. In addition, you must resolve your own problems. However, it is the Kazaks' responsibility to ensure the rules are used to produce Kazaks not monsters. On the ground are two students who used the rules to abuse others students. They violated two rules: your not here to have fun and no sex. But their real mistake was thinking they could make their own rules. You." I pointed to the boy Herbert had upended. He had just managed to rise. "Will drag those bodies to the helicopter pad and wait for it to arrive. You are leaving with them. You did not violate any of our rules; however, you showed poor judgment in defending their actions and lying. I would suggest everyone return to the barracks. Tomorrow is not a rest day."
"You have an interesting way of dismissing students, Lynn." Johar smiled before walking off.
***
Towards the end of the third year, Clare came for a working visit. She had gotten the Committee's approval to follow up with the women candidates. They had finished their academic work, had been practicing self-defense for over a year, and had completed their first year with modern weapons: guns, knives, and batons. The second challenge results would be announced while Clare was here. Only the three men I had eliminated had gone, but I knew one man and one woman would be eliminated in the second Challenge, bringing the total to ten men and eight women. I believed everyone would be surprised by the results. My first Challenge for the women had been more successful than I had anticipated.
***
I met Clare as she exited the helicopter. "Welcome my love." I gave her a long tight hug and a kiss. I had to admit seeing Clare often and without injuries had been wonderful. If for no other reason than she had been relaxed because didn't have to constantly worry about me being injured or killed while protecting a client.
"I understand the women are doing well. And Jody?" Clare asked. She knew Jody had been having trouble with the school courses and languages.
"She reminds me a lot of me. Somehow, my analogy of a language to street slang turned her around. She is fluent in French and doing well with Russian. Psychology was easy for her. I wonder if it has something to do with growing up in bad neighborhoods. Anyway, her other subjects were average. She's better than average at self-defense and guns, but marginal at batons. She's passed the second Challenge, and will pass the third easily. But don't tell her that. She needs to continue to fight with everything she has if she's to have a chance to pass the forth and fifth Challenges." As we reached the Kazak living area, Johar met us.
"Welcome to the Hill, Clare. I understand this is a working visit and you are going to interview the women candidates. We are all impressed with them. Your soul-mate did a good job."
"I'm impressed any of them survived a year with her, and more that some of them impressed her. I love Lynn, but her idea of good is everyone else's idea of perfection." She turned and squeezed my arm and kissed me on the cheek.
***
The transition from the third year to the fourth, called the second Challenge, wasn't very impressive. Master Johar assembled the students to announce the results.
"Charlie Fidel and Mary Lo Tilla, you have failed the second Challenge and will leave on the helicopter tonight. The rest of you will be allowed to continue."
And so began the student's fourth year. That night after a quiet dinner, I sat on the couch with Clare leaning against me. I cherished these moments with her, feeling loved and having
someone who cared about your life, your feelings, and your happiness.
"That was very exciting," Clare quipped. No medals, no certificates, and no long-winded speeches. Yet, I'll bet each of those people felt like they had been given the medal of honor."
"You're right. They are fighting for a dream and each Challenge is one step closer." I could remember my nerves at the end of each Challenge and the euphoria after I knew I had passed.
"I've talked with all the women. They all recognize without that year with you, they would have failed long before now. They understand now that the rules they thought excessive were necessary. I'm not an expert on what it takes to be a Kazak, but I see you in a few of them."
"Yes," I pulled Clare closer to me and kissed her, "at least one will make Kazak." My money was on Jody, Megan, and Carla, but telling Clare may distort the outcome, since she would be re-interviewing the women who were staying and something may slip.
"Clare..."
"Yes, my love. I know. Witton and I have become good friends over the past few years. Now that I'm not screaming at him over you being injured, I've come to realize you're more to blame than him. You and your damn rules. They make you the perfect bodyguard and the perfect target. You...want to return to the field." A tear leaked from one eye and hung on her cheek. It stared at me, making my heart feel like it had been slammed with a hammer. "I hate it, but I understand. I love you and you're a Kazak. I don't want to change you but I don't know what I'd... Witton says you have a tendency to shoot first and then ask questions. I told him I want you to learn to shoot first faster. He didn't say no." The nights that followed were especially passionate, not knowing when we would see each other again and under what circumstances.
***
I stood in front of the women candidates, feeling some pride at their success.
"I will be leaving in a few days. I miss the action although most assignments are 99.9% boredom and 0.1% fighting for your client and your life. But it's the reason I fought to become a Kazak. It's an exciting and rewarding profession. You have done well, to pass two Challenges. You all know Gabe. He wanted to make it to the Hill and spend a few years here. It was good he failed, since he would have been disappointed. He wanted to learn the Kazak secret fighting methods, but as you know, the first few years are academic, basic self-defense, and work with guns and knives. He already had a year of college and knew more than basic self-defense and didn't want the life of a Kazak. Each of you has the potential to make Kazak. But the reality is that at very most only four of the twenty-one remaining candidates will succeed-maybe less. To succeed, you will have to want one of those positions more than life. I know. But even those who don't make it will learn a lot about themselves and will have learned skills that are in demand. Good hunting." I spent the next several hours with them reminiscing about our time in Las Vegas. It was an emotional moment. In a sense, I had given birth to them.
CHAPTER THREE
"Hi, Boss. I bored."
"Is this Lynn, the trouble maker? The one who is on every government shit-list?"
"The very one."
"Since you've been away, my workload has been cut in half. I get almost no complaints, and I don't have to spend hours explaining you're a woman and a reasonably good Kazak."
"When do you explain? You always leave it to me to explain when I show up and they're expecting a man."
"You could dress like a man." He laughed. "Welcome back, Lynn. The Committee is very pleased with the results of your new first Challenge for women. And it is fortunate that you are eager to return to the field at this time, because they have an assignment for you." I could almost see Witton smile.
"You mean I didn't have to beg. And you told Clare!"
"Actually, you owe me for sharing that information with Clare, so she was prepared for leaving a year early. I imagine you were surprised when she took it so calmly."
"I guess I do. So, what's the assignment? An easy one I hope."
"That's all I ever assign you. I hope you can keep from getting all shot up this time. Right now Clare and I are on good terms."
"That's scary. So what's this assignment?"
"There is a General Sorinson, who has access to troop deployment in Afghanistan. Someone contacted him several months ago and has been trying to bribe him ever since. He reported it to the Secretary of Defense, and they decided he should accept the bribe and agree to provide troop information in the hope of discovering those involved. The CIA believes it's an Al Qaeda cell. Sorinson has been providing them top-secret troop deployments for the past month; however, his contact has discovered that the information hasn't been timely or accurate. They've threatened his family if he doesn't provide them with accurate up-to-date information. He has sent his wife to the Air Force base on Oahu, but his daughter, Karin, refuses to go. She's beginning her third year at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. She doesn't want to interrupt her education for what she considers a minor risk. Her semester begins in two weeks."
"I'm going to be...?" I asked. Bodyguard didn't seem to fit in on a college campus.
"Sorinson has talked to his daughter and insisted she have some kind of protection. They've been fighting for a week. He has some leverage-tuition and men in black suits following her from class to class and on dates. After talking with the Committee, he and his daughter have agreed on a one person bodyguard-neither old nor in a suit of any kind."
"I assume she's expecting a man, who she can keep at arms length or further. You want me undercover and attached to her hip. You had better inform the Committee that it's by my rules or nothing," I said, knowing Witton already understood and approved.
"They are aware of your rules. I believe it's one of several reasons they selected you. Like me, I believe they continue to evaluate your rules. Karin will meet you three days from today, at the Trumbull House for breakfast. She has been staying there while waiting for the start of the school year. Unknown to her, she has been assigned a two person room and no other roommate."
"Well, I'm off to spend your money." When he didn't respond, I continued. "Yes, Boss. I know what my undercover role will be and need to go shopping. The Committee needs to ensure I'm assigned for audit to whatever classes Karin will be taking."
***
I spent the next two days shopping for my new identity. I was getting fond of pretending to be someone else. I purchased five pairs of jeans, multiple scarves, multi-strand Jersey stripe headbands, and ten oversized embroidered tunics. To avoid questions about style, I purchased them from popular name brands like Lucky, Lands End, Guess, and Silhouettes.
***
I stood in front of the white three-story building called the Trumbull House, preparing to assume my new identity. The grounds were well maintained and the property expansive judging from its location, acreage, and isolation. I walked up the stairs, into the foyer, and followed my nose to the dining room. Couples occupied three of the tables. At another table, a young woman sat alone reading a newspaper. She had shoulder-length blond hair, straight nose, narrow chin, and slightly pale skin. She was so focused on the paper that she didn't notice me walk over to the table. That probably made her a good student but a very poor bodyguard.
"Sabah el kheer...good morning, Karin. I'm, Lana, the person you were expecting to join you for breakfast." I smiled not only to be nice but also at her expression of resignation. I had dressed in a brown oversized embroidered tunic, scarf headband, and jeans. I wanted an American look for a Muslim woman: loose fitting clothing to hide the figure and a headband to substitute for a hijab. She nodded and I sat.
"Well, Lana, you're certainly not what I was expecting. Nevertheless, I want it clear that you are not to interfere with me or my activities-"
"Yes, let's get the rules straight. I'm going to be joined to you at the hip. Everywhere you go, I go. No exceptions. If that isn't acceptable, I will change into a dark suit, with an appropriate bulge to ensure everyone knows I'm carrying a gun, and follow two-steps behind you. I will g
o out of my way to make your college-experience a nightmare. Or," I said with a smile, "we can pretend I'm the daughter of your father's influential friend in Afghanistan, who is an important warlord on the side of the Americans. He asked your father if you, Karin, would allow his daughter to follow you around so she could get a taste of college life in America. He's thinking of sending her-me-here next year. You are doing it for your father's sake and his relationships in Afghan. Take your choice."
"You can't do that!" She shouted. Several of the people stopped talking and turned to look in our direction.
"Are you still a young girl stamping her foot because she can't get her way or are you a young woman preparing to enter the real world. There is an Al Qaeda cell out there that wants to kill Americans-citizens as well as soldiers. Your father is working to help find the cell before they succeed. If you were to be kidnapped, what do you think your father would do? Would he just say: 'I don't care. It'll save me the money she costs to attend college', or will he give them real secrets to save your life. Those real secrets will eventually get him caught and court marshaled. As a consequence, he will spend the rest of his life in prison and hundreds of U.S. soldiers will die. Regardless of what you think of the war, they don't deserve to die. And what would happen if they kill you? Your mother would blame your father. Both would suffer for the rest of their lives, because you don't want to be inconvenienced." I felt like an elder counseling a youth. Karin sat there for a long time in silence, alternating between glaring at me and her half empty plate.
