The Recruit (12 page)

Hands reached around her neck, it was the muscly guy. She could tell by the strength of his grip as air was squeezed from her throat. Another guy punched her across the face, leaving her dizzy for a moment while he followed up with a few more in her ribs. Each blow intense as she struggled for breath. The one holding her started to drag her along the ground, back to the side of the factory shed. She reached out a hand, catching the edge of it. Rusty tin slid past her fingers. Her other hand grasped at the arm holding her neck. Was this how she was going to go out? Were they going to rape her? Maybe leave her for dead?

Not if she could help it.

Jaz planted her feet and pushed backwards as hard as she could, knocking the guy off balance. His arm loosened its grip, allowing her to spin around and punch him in the kidneys. She would have followed up with a kick to his privates but the other three were still coming at her.

And then there was the rain, going about its own business.

Jaz wiped the drops from her eyes as she aimed a kick high and got one of the advancing guys in the head, sending him sprawling sideways against the tin wall of the old factory. The crack of his collision echoed out into the night like lightning. The guys swore at her, calling her names and looking very pissed off. No longer were they interested in taking her home, but wanting to seek revenge on her connecting hits and punches. Guess they weren’t expecting a fight.

Blood filled her mouth as a fist connected with her lip. The taste on her tongue ignited a primal need to return the favour. She swung a punch back and gave the yellow-eyed guy a solid crunch. Blood smeared her hand as his teeth left an imprint.

‘Get the fucking bitch,’ wailed another who was off to one side.

From her quick count, three were still trying to get up off the ground; one was holding his nose and the other she could take.

But then he flicked out a knife. An overhead streetlight glinted off its smooth shiny blade.

Oh, shit.

She saw two more blades being unsheathed beside her. Okay, the odds were really stacked against her now. An uninvited thought entered her mind. Her body drawn into the shadows, sliced and diced into bits. Who would find her body? Would they recognise her?

She had no other option but to keep her cool. This was the fight of her life. Jaz took on the immediate threat in front of her. They circled each other. Him with the knife. Her with her hands. The blade seemed only small but the damage it could inflict was great.

He struck out with the knife. Jaz dodged it. She watched his movements, saw the rain dribble into his eyes and waited for her time. He lunged again. She counter-attacked with a swift kick, using her boot to knock his knife from his hand and sending it flying to the road.

Jaz then spun around and shot out both arms to get the other two guys with knives. One blade cut across her hand, causing a red line to appear, and she wasn’t sure what happened with the other knife. The guy was still armed, she had to keep moving. The blood was slippery through her fingers, the rain making it run faster. She was hurting all over but told herself this was just like the training sessions with Tick and the others. Move past the pain and keep going. Breathe. Mind control. Jaz was trying her best but the extra knives were making it hard for her to get to them. Every time she hit one down they just got back up. Did she have a chance of running away from them? It was looking like her last option. Run for help. She should scream but Jaz wasn’t sure if she was capable. She’d never been a screamer. Wouldn’t know how to start. She’d always dealt with things quietly. Refusing to call for help. Would that now be her downfall?

Beanie Guy lunged forward with his knife and she ducked out of the way before throwing a punch to his kidneys then followed it up with another, sending him sprawling backwards. She snatched his hand with the knife and bent it back until he dropped it in pain. The knife flew into the gutter after she kicked it away. Then she pulled Beanie Guy into a tight headlock. She intended to use him to get away. Somehow. At the moment she was playing it by ear.

She said a silent prayer, hoping she would survive this. The guy still wedged underneath her arm started to fight so she tightened her grip, squeezing the air from his just like they’d done to her. She had one at her mercy, but what about the others? They’d all bounced back. Getting up and coming towards her. Blood down their faces. She had hurt them good, but not enough to stop them.

As her mind raced about what to do next, the guy closest to the road fell with a thud. It was like he had narcolepsy; he lay there, still. But she hadn’t even punched him.

Someone else had.

The remaining three were in a half circle around another person. Jaz’s jaw dropped as the rain eased off. The other person was Ryan.

‘Ryan,’ she mumbled, relieved.

Jaz watched on in horror as the blond-haired guy without a knife collected the bit of cut chain lying by the factory door and started swinging it. Ryan took off his jacket and wrapped it around his left arm. Then he faked a move and the guy launched his chain. Jaz winced as she expected the worst, but Ryan had the chain wrapped around his arm and dragged the guy in so quick he didn’t know what had hit him. He maimed the guy with a poke to the eye and a knee to his nuts before throwing him back. Two left. A guy with a knife lunged at Ryan and Jaz yelled out his name in horror. She ended up distracting the guy, making it easy for Ryan who’d held up his covered arm and attacked with the other. With a sickening crunch, Ryan bent his attacker’s hand, the knife falling to the ground.

The last guy jumped on his back and dragged Ryan to the ground.

In a blink, Ryan had picked up the knife from the gutter and slashed it against his assailant before kicking out the legs of the last guy standing. One minute he was pushed down with the cigarette butts and the next, they were. He was amazing.

Ryan aimed a few kicks, knocking them out. He stood, with bodies around him, and wiped the knife handle on his singlet before dropping it.

He looked so perfect, as if he’d just dusted off his hands like he’d been baking. Instead, he’d just laid out four armed guys faster than she could kick one!

‘Are you okay?’

She just stood there, open-mouthed, with the guy under her arm starting to wriggle again. ‘Let me go, I’m sorry,’ he begged.

Ryan stepped towards her, grabbed the guy she was clutching onto like a Gucci bag and laid him out with his buddies.

‘You should have maimed them, and then they wouldn’t keep coming at you. Go for the eyes or the testicles.’

Jaz still just stood there dumbly. Ryan was picking now to give her a lesson in self-defence!

‘If you want to survive you have to get dirty and think outside the square.’ Ryan was unravelling his jacket from his arm as one of the guys began to move. He stepped towards the guy and swung his leg, kicking him hard. Jaz flinched.

‘Come on,’ said Ryan as he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the road.

‘What are you doing here?’ she finally managed as they jogged to his car.

‘You’re just lucky I drive this way home. I saw you beating up on the homies and came to lend a hand. Sorry, I would have been here earlier but I got a phone call. I hate to think…if I was any later.’ He opened the door. ‘Quick, get in.’

He practically lifted her in before slamming the door. Next thing, he was beside her, putting his SUV into gear and driving off. Jaz looked out the window at the guys under the streetlight. Five motionless bodies. Had Ryan killed them?

‘They’ll be fine…eventually,’ he said as if reading her mind.

After they were well away from the area, Ryan pulled over. He switched on the interior light, put his hand up to Jaz’s face, and caressed her chin.

‘Are you okay?’ he asked, tilting her face to check for wounds.

‘You’ve already asked me that,’ she replied plainly, trying to flick his hands away.

‘Yeah, but you never answered me.’ Ryan moved her arm out of the road and touched her lip.

‘Is it bad?’

‘No just a small split, a swollen cheek, and…oh.’ Ryan pulled his hand away when he spotted it covered with blood.

‘Oh my God, Ryan are you okay?’ Jaz’s heart lurched as she saw just how much blood was on his hand. ‘You’re bleeding? Did you get cut?’

‘No, it’s not mine.’

‘One of them?’

‘I don’t think so.’ Then his eyes grew huge and filled with fear.

‘What…what is it?’

Ryan leant over to her side of the car and started feeling her. ‘Do you want us to get a room?’ she joked.

‘Only you, Jaz, could joke at a time like this. I think it’s
your
blood,’ he stressed.

‘What! I was cut on my hand but it wasn’t deep.’ She showed him her hand covered with blood, but you could see the cut wasn’t bleeding anymore.

‘Does it hurt anywhere?’

Jaz thought about it: her ribs hurt, her feet and hands, her lip, head and a few other spots, just the normal pain. Except for the stinging on her arm, which was slightly different.

She held her left arm up for Ryan to inspect. ‘Here.’

He pulled her arm gently across so he could see it better in the light. Blood was trailing along her hand, dripping off her fingertips.

‘Oh, that’s not good,’ she said weakly. Amazed at how freely her blood spilled.

Ryan sucked air in between his teeth.

It was hard to see anything against the black of her hoodie but when he pulled the material, a hole appeared in the jumper. Red blood stood out against her skin, staining her clothing around it.

‘Oh shit,’ mumbled Jaz. ‘Is it bad?’

Ryan ripped her sleeve further and she felt his fingers probing her skin. ‘Yeah, I’m afraid so. You’ll need stitches. It’s bleeding badly.’

‘All in your car too. Sorry.’ Jaz tried to mop it up with her other sleeve.

Ryan pulled off his singlet, causing her to momentarily forget everything. ‘What are you doing?’
This was not the time or place to be getting naked!

He didn’t answer, instead he used his singlet to wrap around her arm. ‘Now hold that tight to stop the bleeding.’

‘Oh, yeah, thanks.’ What’s going to stop my shaking, she wondered. Maybe having no shirt on was part of his plan to keep her distracted. Well it was kind of working. The dull interior light cast shadows along Ryan’s muscled abs. She concentrated on counting them.

‘I’ll take you to the hospital.’

Jaz withdrew her arm and clutched it to her chest. ‘I’m not going to a hospital,’ she said shaking her head. ‘I don’t care how much it’s bleeding.’

Ryan was taken aback. ‘Jaz, it won’t hurt that much I promise.’

Jaz laughed. ‘No, it’s not that. I can’t tell Mum about this or she will freak. I don’t need no hospital lady calling her up. Mum would hit the fan and I’d never be allowed back to the gym again, let alone allowed to walk by myself.’

‘Come on, Jaz.’

‘No, I’m dead serious. You don’t know my mother. She’s paranoid as it is. I used to play soccer until one day I went off with someone’s dad for ice-cream without telling her, she freaked out and never let me go back. I can’t go to a hospital. Can’t you just give me a few bandaids and we’ll call it even?’

‘I’m afraid it might need more than that.’ He bit his lip as he thought. ‘How about I take you to my place and we get you cleaned up and take a better look at it?’

Jaz let out a long breath. ‘Yes, I’d like that heaps better. Thanks.’ But after she said that she wondered if she wasn’t putting herself at more risk. Ah, what did it matter, Ryan had just saved her life, he couldn’t be that bad.

‘Okay.’ He turned off the interior light and drove back onto the quiet road.

The interior light may have been off but as each streetlight flashed past she got a glimpse of his upper body.

‘You know, you were awesome back there. Thanks for saving me.’ What else could she say? No other words could express just how fast and methodical he’d been. It was amazing. Now she knew why he looked like he did. He was a bad-ass fighting machine. He was her new super hero.

‘No worries,’ he said. ‘You weren’t bad yourself.’

Despite bleeding, aching and realising just how close she’d come to something scary, Jaz smiled. The adrenaline coursing through her was topped off with Ryan beside her, giving her the best feeling ever. What a night.

‘What
are
you trying to do?’ asked Ryan as they pulled up outside a big roller door.

‘Text one-handed.’ Jaz attempted a smile but it was weak, she suddenly felt tired. ‘I’m just letting Mum know I’m staying at Anna’s for dinner and then letting Anna know that I’m at her place in case Mum calls.’

‘I see.’ A smile tugged on the corner of his lips.

Jaz put her phone back in her pocket. ‘So this is your place?’ There was not much to see except for a big fence out the front.

Ryan pressed a button on his key ring and the roller door begun to move up. He drove his car along a short paved driveway into the open shed.

Without a word, they got out and he led her through a side door.

A security light flicked on and Ryan rattled his keys and pushed open the door on his house. Jaz followed his half-naked body closely down a hallway, past a kitchen and through the lounge room, down another tiled hallway and into a bathroom. One thing she noticed on her travels through his house was how tidy it was. Almost to the point that it looked like a house out of one of those magazines, so bloody spotless as if no one must live there. She couldn’t see any books lying around or coffee cups, no pictures on the walls, just some artwork and ornaments that looked like they came from Africa. Crap, her room looked like a bombsite in comparison.

His bathroom was nice; white with a charcoal grey theme through it. It had a large bench with a sink in the middle and hardly any personal items.

‘Do you even live here?’ she asked. Without warning, Ryan picked her up and plonked her on top of the bench. She was almost eye-to-eye with him. It would help to keep her eyes above his neck and not on his very naked and glorious chest.

‘Like where is your toothbrush and stuff?’