Chapter 22: The Spy

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Blindfolded, Sophia felt the callused hand close over her neck. She rotated her shoulder and turned to one side, breaking the hand’s grip. She maintained contact with the arm, measured the next attack and deflected the attack ever so slightly past her head. As she did so, she stepped on the inside of the attacker’s knee, breaking his form. She could almost sense the next blow. She turned to one side. The attack brushed past her stomach. She touched the attacker’s wrist lightly, thrust her hips forward just a couple of inches.

If this weren’t an exercise, she would’ve broken the joint in his elbow using only her hip.

‘Good.’ Sergey, her instructor, removed his arm and untied her blindfold. ‘You’re improving fast.’

The base’s resident martial arts instructor was a bulky man with a weathered face and silver hair. The black T-shirt tucked into army camouflage pants and boots was as close as he came to gym clothing.

He held up the palm of his hand at Sophia’s eye-level. ‘Press your forehead against my hand.’

She did as he instructed, not sure what to expect. Another trick, perhaps? The old man was fond of those.

‘I’m going to apply pressure. I want you to resist.’

Sophia pressed her forehead hard against Sergey’s hand, pushing the hand away.

‘Easy, yes?’ he said.

‘Yeah.’ Sophia pulled her head back.

‘Do not stop,’ Sergey said.

She pressed back into his palm, pushing his hand back towards him. She was winning. Then he wiggled his hand. Suddenly, he was pushing her backwards with ease. Sophia stumbled across the gym’s floor.

She took another step to gather her balance. ‘How did . . .? That was strange.’

What was strangest of all was this fighting system of his. In one sense, it was strangely familiar, and in another it was like nothing she had ever learned. And she had learned a lot.

Sergey smiled.

‘Why didn’t you teach us this in Project GATE?’ she said.

‘Denton recruited me for an earlier project. Problem was, my system had a habit of unraveling the operatives’ programming. You see, I teach people not just to fight but also to think. To free their body. To become a warrior. That cannot happen when you are a programmed soldier.’

He paced the gym, thumbs hooked into the front of his pants. The bare floor wasn’t padded to prevent injuries, and Sergey had insisted it remain that way. A real fight will not have padded floors, he told her.

‘I teach an arrangement of principles,’ he said. ‘They are malleable, adaptive. But Denton’s operatives are programmed and imprisoned. Restricted. And Denton wants it that way. He doesn’t want them to become too powerful.’

Sophia ran a finger across the scar at her eyebrow. ‘I’m sure Denton wasn’t happy about you leaving just when he needed you.’

He shrugged. ‘He found another instructor. Now, do you see what I did to your forehead?’

‘Yeah.’ She sniffed. ‘But it doesn’t make sense.’

Sergey approached her. She readied herself for an unexpected attack.

‘Your brain can resist against one axis, but not against two, or three,’ he said. ‘By shaking my hand, I confuse your brain. This is one principle I am trying to teach you. This system is three-dimensional; in every possible way the warrior will disturb, disrupt, confuse. When the enemy attacks, the warrior can deflect, she can stretch time. If she must absorb a strike—’ He indicated his stomach. ‘Here, punch me. Hard.’

Sophia wrapped her thumb over her knuckles and dropped a solid punch into his stomach. He exhaled sharply and quickly, hips moving for the briefest of moments. She knew how to throw a punch. And that punch should have dropped him to his knees.

‘If you cannot avoid it, if you must absorb it, you can disperse it.’ Sergey clamped his hands on his hips. ‘I rotate my hips. Just a bit. The energy from your punch dissipates outwards in a spiral. Once you are more proficient, you can throw the energy anywhere you want. You can even throw it right back at your opponent.’

Sophia nodded. ‘I think I get it. But I can’t do it.’

‘But you will. Soon enough.’ He offered her his arm. ‘Grab my arm. Hold it tight.’

She held his arm as hard as she could. He shook it a few times, but she did not yield. She watched as he reached for her elbow with his other hand, brushed his palm down her arm, then shoved her off. Her grip was broken before she realized what had happened.

‘Wait. Let me do that again,’ she said.

She held his arm even tighter this time and watched him reach over. He brushed his hand swiftly down her arm, towards her wrist, then, with a minimal amount of effort, discarded her hand. She looked down at it. She had no idea how that worked.

She must have looked shocked because Sergey started laughing. ‘Electromagnetic disturbance,’ he said. ‘It disturbs the signals to the brain. No matter how hard you try, you cannot maintain your grip.’

Sophia nodded. ‘I guess it makes sense.’

‘Try to hit me,’ he said.

She didn’t hesitate, shot her fist past his guard. Before it struck his chest, her front leg slipped. She almost landed on her face.

Sergey helped her up, grinning. ‘Did you see that?’ He waved his hand over her leg. ‘I rotated your knee out. Using two dimensions, not one.’

‘I didn’t even see it.’

‘The conscious mind will never be as fast as the subconscious,’ he said. ‘That is why I don’t teach planned reactions.’

Sophia nodded. ‘That . . . is really hard to get my head around.’

‘The common approach in Special Forces training is a handful of techniques, based on gross motor skills, that will usually cover most situations,’ he said. ‘Your training was more comprehensive, incorporating many martial arts. You learned more techniques, but they’re still just techniques. They can be performed under pressure and they shorten your reaction time, but they’re not as quick and effective as the principles approach.’

‘What’s the difference?’ Sophia said.

‘With the principles approach, the brain doesn’t get bored through endless repetition of the same movements. Every movement is unique and will always differ from the last. Instead of a limited number of techniques to pick from, you have an unlimited array of principle responses at your disposal. Your body is trained to develop a creative solution to any combat situation.’ He stepped in and shook Sophia’s arm. ‘But you need to relax. If you want to work subconsciously, you cannot be tense. If you are tense, your brain loses its ability to be creative and to multitask. Not ideal in a combat situation, is it?’

‘Sophia!’ It was Cecilia, calling from the gym entrance. ‘I need a word. Immediately.’

Sophia turned to Sergey. ‘I shouldn’t be long.’

***

Sophia looked up from Cecilia’s computer screen. ‘And we don’t know who tried to send it?’

The desk fan blew strands of hair across Cecilia’s face. ‘No, we do not. We don’t know where it was meant to go or who it was meant for or even what it said. But the communication is unauthorized and highly suspect.’

‘If we do have a spy, they’ll try again,’ Sophia said. ‘Until they find a way through our darknet. And then we’ll know for sure.’

Cecilia shook her head. ‘The spy has no reason to think the communication failed. I picked this up at the end of the line, so to speak. They won’t try again.’

‘Who leaves this base, aside from us?’ Sophia asked.

‘Our supply runners, our scouts. No one else.’

‘Are you going to lock it down?’

Cecilia stood from her desk and started pacing. ‘I’ll have to. Until we have the Chimera vector codes.’

‘What about my next grab?’ Sophia said. ‘Nasira, Lucia and Renée are ready to go, but I need more. My team’s only four strong right now.’

Cecilia clasped her hands in front of her as she walked. ‘Our Desecheo Island defector has given us the coordinates of an operation in France. Grace has been assigned to it.’

‘If there’s anyone who can infiltrate a high-security facility, it’s her,’ Sophia said. ‘I need her on my team.’

‘We’re running out of time,’ Cecilia said. ‘And you can’t take any of your deprogrammed operatives with you. We don’t know if they can be trusted. One of them might have sent the communication.’

‘I’ll need a spotter,’ Sophia said. ‘It’ll have to be you—you’re the only person I can trust right now.’

‘Fine.’ Cecilia kept pacing, thinking. ‘Grace’s operation in France . . . if it’s a trap, it will confirm our suspicions.’

‘Then we need to find out,’ Sophia said. ‘To be sure.’

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