Hello all, I just thought that I would post this small amount of another book that I'm giving a go here. I would appreciate your feedback even if its just a small comment.
Thanks. Enjoy.
Chapter 1:
Starbright. The flashiest restaurant in Northern California. In which, sitting at one of the many glass topped tables in the ornate marble hall, was what looked like your average business man. A common misconception. The man’s name was in fact, Ashley Kirk, Ash. And he was the head of the youth division of CIA agents. Although, on the outside he looked quite ordinary, he had dressed carefully. He was wearing an expensive hand tailored suit and a Wallace and Gromit tie and he had a brief case beside his chair on which he kept a cautious hand at all times. Yet concealed in his blazer lining was a V8 6mm pistol with 5 shots. He also had strapped to his wrist, a watch which sent a continual signal to the CIA by which they could locate him if trouble arose. Ash was never one to take security lightly, and the files he had in the briefcase needed to be kept safe at all costs.
“Can I get you anything?” A waitress had approached him wearing an immaculately clean uniform.
“Water” replied the Ash opening the briefcase and laying an official looking file on the table.
“Anything else?” the waitress asked making a note of his order. He waved his hand dismissively. In truth, he was waiting for someone, she was late and Ash did not like lateness from the members of the youth division. He glanced around the hall taking in his surroundings, he couldn’t for the life of him imagine why Greg, head of special operations had arranged for this vital meeting to take place in a restaurant, and this restaurant of all places. In his opinion a less public place would have been more agreeable, or at least somewhere where the girl he was meeting wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb; he highly doubted that she would have dressed for the occasion. At that moment however the door to the restaurant opened and in walked a teenage girl looking very out of place in jeans and a leather jacket. Ash sighed; she was worse than he had imagined. A waiter at the door motioned to take her jacket but she glared at him causing him to draw back his hand, looking at her suspiciously. In her jacket she, like Ash, had security methods, although she wasn’t allowed a gun she had knife tucked into the lining. He must have pushed aside all suspicion and asked her where she wanted to sit because she replied in a loud carrying voice.
“Actually, I’m meeting someone, he’s over there” she indicated Ash; he inclined his head and gestured her over.
“Your late” he stated.
“Yes, there was a lot of traffic out and the taxi driver kept asking me if I was sure I had the right restaurant” she said grinning and sitting in the chair opposite Ash without invitation.
“Yes, it is a bit much I agree, but the boss was adamant.” said Ash unsmiling, he very rarely smiled.
“So, what’s the news?” She asked glancing at the file.
“We need new agents” Ash stated opening the file that lay on the table. “After those… unfortunate accidents with James Stanley, Richard Bleakhorn and Jessica WiIlmott we need three replacements, and they’ve got to be good, Samurai are on the move again.” He finished, a grim expression crossing his normally composed features. Had anyone at the other tables been listening in on this conversation they wouldn’t have understood what Samurai meant, however the girl sitting across from Ash showed no sign of incomprehension instead a flash of annoyance crossed her face.
“And how do you propose to find new agents?” She queried “The CIA member’s kids are already employed, well, except little Sarah of course, but she’s two” she raised her eyebrows.
“Yes, I can see where you are coming from, however we’ve already thought this through, we will hold a martial arts national competition in August, the final three left standing in the specified competition will become our new agents.” Ash said looking at the file “In fact it’s all arranged, the competition date is set for the 10th of August in New York and we already have 120 competitors, who will have to in turn fight our other youth agents and win to proceed in the competition.”
“What about intelligence testing?” she stated with the air that she felt his plan was pathetic, not to mention full of complications.
“That will be tested after they win; they will attend our agent training school” said Ash “Any questions?”
“Yes actually, so say we found three winners, we told them all about the CIA and they didn’t want to join up, or worse they were undercover members of the Samurai, it would look rich telling them all our secrets only to have them blab them to the rest of the world, yeah real smooth!” she said glowering at Ash.
“Calm, Liz, calm I swear you need to get anger management classes, look we weren’t about to tell them everything straight away. They will go to our training school, get brought in slowly, most kids dream of being secret agents anyway, then we will tell them what will be expected of them, if they don’t like it well we will have to dispose of them…”
“Why would they choose to come to our training school? And what about their parents? They won’t be too happy if their child just disappears!” quizzed Liz seemingly unconcerned for the life of the winner if they refused the CIA’s requests.
“They will attend because we will make sure they are excluded from their last school if they refuse to come and the only school that will offer them a place will be ours, I expect most of them will cooperate without complaint” he said allowing himself a brief smug smile. “Once they have graduated then we will tell them and their parents the whole story, they’ll have no reason to suspect anything before that point. They will then sign the secrecy act; if they prove to be difficult then well you know what happened to your parents.” Liz’s smile faltered, Ash seeing that he’d upset her pressed swiftly on “So what do you say, you in? We wanted to have you as the final opponent as you are the best youth agent we have ever had. “Ash said glancing at Liz’s expression, hoping this would have softened her.
“Yeah alright” she said glancing up and forcing a smile “I’m in, but if this all goes wrong it’s your fault not mine, “ok” she said holding out her hand.
“Deal” replied Ash shaking it pleased to see that that awkward moment appeared to have passed. He returned the file to the briefcase “Shall we leave?” he asked gesturing towards the door.
Ash and Liz stood and left deep in whispered conversation about the upcoming event, a CIA security guard met them before they had gone more than 4 steps, he too was armed.
Across the hallway a man dressed similarly to Ash in a suit and tie stood up and followed at a distance. He had a tattoo of a samurai sword just visible beneath his hairline on the back of his neck.
Chapter 2
“Wake up Jay” whispered Liv in Jay’s ear “Wake uuppp” “GET UP ALREADY YOU LOSER”
”w..What?” said Jay groggily?
“Its morning come on we’ve gotta get to karate class, I’m gunna kick your sorry butt again today” she laughed and ran off to get changed.
”Uh” groaned Jay rolling out of bed and rubbing his eyes, he stood up stretched and went across the landing to the bathroom. He cleaned his teeth and spiked up his blond hair with gel. Returning to his room he pulled on his karate uniform, a crisp, but loose, white shirt and white trousers and then a certain coloured belt. Jay tied his orange coloured belt around his waist (For those not familiar with the karate belt system, here are the colours’ in ascending order, white, yellow, orange, green, blue, brown, black which is the best). Jay had passed two exams and failed six; this had earned him the title ‘the little pussy’. What made this worse was the fact that his sister was already a brown belt and she was 10. He failed mostly because he wasn’t exactly what you would call physically fit and was always short of breath. In a proper fight if someone kicked him in the stomach then he was done for. Today though he had his 3rd attempt at earning his green belt and he was determined to win. The reason for this was not because his sister was constantly mocking him or because of his crappy title but it was because of a National competition that had just been announced. The final 3 competitors would win $500 and a chance to attend a professional karate and martial arts school. To win you had to fight and beat different opponents some of which were students from the school and impress the judges with your moves. The catch was that you could only enter if you were at green belt level. Liv was entering and found it hilarious that Jay wasn’t yet a high enough level, this had made up Jay’s mind, he was going to win that green belt today if it killed him, he had to show Liv and win that place at karate school. Liv poked her head around the door, she was already dressed and she had a piece of toast clasped in her hand. “Hurry up Jay, if you want to get some training in before your exam we need to leave” she said looking at Jay “Now” she prompted. Jay stood up and followed her out to the car, on the journey Liv was constantly ribbing him for being an orange belt still but Jay wasn’t listening. In his mind’s eye he was imagining him in a really nice training gym surrounded by professional martial artists who were begging him to teach them his moves. “Jay? Come down off the cloud of crap Jay, we’re here” Liv said waving her hand in front of his face. They stepped out of the car and entered the old gym, this was the where their karate lessons where held. The gym had old wooden flooring that got cleaned about once a decade, it had no changing rooms and it was usually a dump. It had a training trampoline in the corner for white belts to learn the basic moves and there were faded mats that matched the colours of your belts on the floor, this was where the different belt colours trained for themselves and fought each other. Then at the front of the gym was the big mat where you got coached by either Dave or Jen and taught new moves respective to your belt colour. It was also where all the exams happened. At the back through a little brown door was the office where Matt sat and observed students through a dirty window that over looked the gym. Matt was the chief coach at the karate class, although he never did any coaching, instead he sat and wrote out notes about the various students to decide when to enter them for their exams. When it was time for an exam Matt would come down out of his office and assess you he would then hand you your next colour belt, or give you hell if you failed. One of his preferred phrases was,
“You little crappy loser” he would have used worse language but that would have lost him his job. Liv went straight over to the brown mat and started sparring with a guy called James, she had him on the floor within seconds and then she knocked him out. Jen, another training instructor, came over congratulated Liv on her technique and threw a bucket of freezing water over James. He woke up, stood and shook hands with Liv promptly spinning her in a vicious turn and kicking out at her stomach, Liv was ready for him though and she dodged the kick and got James into a tough arm lock “Don’t make me head butt you James” she said threateningly “Ok, ok I give up, your too good” said James through gritted teeth.
“Say I’m the best and that I’m totally fit” she coxed
“What?!” he yelled
“Say it” she said tightening her hold.
“Ok, you’re the best” James squealed
“and” she coxed
“and you’re totally fit” he gasped out. The other brown belts started laughing at him.
“Thank you James that’s sooo sweet!” she said in a girly girl voice releasing him. She turned then to look at Jay, “get on with it Jay, you wouldn’t want to fail your exam again would you?” at this the whole hall except Liv and his fellow orange belts erupted into a round of “Aww the little pussy will fail, aww the little pussy always fails, aww”
”SHUT IT YOU LOT” yelled Jen who had always had a soft spot for Jay. The babble died down. Jay walked over to the orange mat dying with embarrassment. “Don’t let them get you down on the day of your exam Jay” Jen said “Get some training in, you have half an hour” ”Ok” Jay replied half-heartedly.
”Hey Jay are you alright” said a small voice from somewhere below Jay’s knee.
”Yeah Kyle I’m just great, what with my sister being better than me and everyone calling me a wimp and the fact that I can’t enter that competition because I’m too crap!”
”Aww never mind Jay, I’m taking my green belt exam today too, maybe if we both pass we can enter together” said Kyle punching Jay playfully in the stomach.
”Yeah whatever Kyle, it’s alright for you, your 9 and I’m 14, I’m ****”
”Language Jay” said Jen but she smiled to show him that she was only joking.
”Kyle, come on its time for your exam, Jay you can’t watch sorry” Kyle left with Jen looking worried. Jay turned his back on the exam proceedings and began to spar with Joe, he beat him which made him feel a bit better but Joe was only 8 so it wasn’t much of an achievement. Jay finished the fight just in time to see Kyle running at him brandishing a green belt
“Jay I did it Jay! Are you pleased?”
”Yeah sure Kyle” Jay replied
“Jay! Over here please” it was Matt calling him from the big mat
”Go get ‘em Jay “shouted Jay’s various orange belt chums. Jay nodded and walked over to face his test. Through the window of the gym a young boy was watching the club unnoticed by Matt who would have told him to shove off. He was wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a Samurai sword emblazoned on the front.
Chapter 3
“Ok, ok I give up” said Jay from on the floor after his second fall.
“Right” said Matt “2 all and 7 minutes left remember the first to 3 wins”
“Right” said Jay wiping the sweat from his brow and facing Jen again. She mouthed “don’t worry I’ll let you win” Jay shook his head and mouthed back.
“No I want to earn this!”
“ Ok” she mouthed sarcasm clear from the look on her face.
“Fight” shouted Matt. Jen came running at Jay before he even had time to think, she lashed out with an upper cut which found its target smashing into Jay’s jaw. Jay recoiled in pain only to see Jens hand rise into the air and aim for his head, he pulled himself together dodging her karate chop and kicking out at her stomach to try and wind her, she was ready though and she dodged and aimed a kick and Jay’s face. Jay dodged this and in the split second where her guard was down he punched her hard in the stomach. Jen curled up gasping for air. Jay raised his hand to deliver the final blow to put Jen on the floor when to his surprise Jen raised one arm to show withdrawal. Jay looked worried; it was unlike Jen to withdraw this early on in a fight, he must have done something bad.
*****
“She’s suffering from internal bleeding, that was some punch young man” said the Doctor smiling down at Jay “Not to worry, cuts and bruises on the inside heal in much the same way as cuts and bruises on the outside, so Jen will be fine in a couple of days”
“Thank God” said Jay unable to stay silent a moment longer. “Can I see her” he asked.
“Yes of course, Matt is in there with her” said the Doctor gesturing to the door. “Right” said Jay he opened the door and there stood Matt towering over him a grim expression on his face
“WHAT did you think you were doing Jay?” he bellowed
“I…I….fighting Matt” said Jay in a strained voice
“Well that was some fighting young man, I have never seen a punch in the gut so strong, not from any of my previous students which is why I am proud to present you with this” Matt said holding out a parcel, Jay opened it and inside he discovered a brown belt.
“I wha… but I only just passed, or maybe even failed, my green belt exam why are you giving me this” he said brandishing the belt in front of Matt’s face.
“Because I think you deserve it, now no complaining, unless of course you want me to take the belt back and you can have a green one?” he queried raising his eyebrows.
“No this one’s good thanks” said Jay putting the brown belt safely in his bag.
“I thought so” said Matt smirking “now weren’t you here to see Jen?” he punched Jay on the arm and left.
“Hey Jay” smiled Jen “That was some punch”
“Yeah” smiled Jay glad to see that she didn’t seem to hate him “Are you ok?”
“Healing” said Jen “And I’m not allowed to teach for 2 weeks” she smirked “I hear you passed your exam” she said looking at his bag.
“Yeah and not only that” Jay said pulling the brown belt out of his bag.
“Wow Jay, Congrats” said Jen smiling at him
“Thanks, I’m going to post my entry form for the competition as soon as I get home” This lead them into a long rambling talk about the upcoming competition, which they got so absorbed in that Jay had to be pushed out of the ward by the Doctor at the end of his visiting time.
Chapter 4:
Jay awoke to his alarm clock and reached out a hand to hit the sleep button. He looked across at his Man U calendar and was shocked to see that it was Monday. He wondered why Liv hadn’t woken him up with the usual jibes about kicking his arse. He shrugged rolled out of bed and got changed reaching into his draw to pull out his orange belt when he remembered his green belt exam and the events at the hospital. He smirked and reached under his bed to pull out his bag, he pulled out the brown belt marveling at how cool it was and tied it around his waist. He ran downstairs to find Liv sitting at the kitchen table already dressed and eating a piece of toast. Jay grabbed himself a piece as it popped up out of the toaster and sat across from her. He smirked.
“Jealous much sis?” She grimaced and then composed her face.
“No” she glanced down at her toast. “I could still beat you any day”
“We’ll see, today at practice I’ll whoop your arse” Jay smirked and then turned his head as he heard the post thud onto the door mat. He looked back at his sister expectantly.
“Fine” she sighed and left the table. She returned a minute later clutching the post an open letter in her hand and a smug expression on her face.
“What?” Jay asked.
“Well, I just received my acceptance and entry number for the competition and the letter says I was lucky to get in because they had to refuse 482 contestants because it was sooo popular.” Jay’s jaw dropped.
“Oh, wait there’s more….205 of the refused entries were late ones apparently so it was good that I got my entry in so quickly.” She smirked again. “Here you are” she handed him an envelope “I expect this is your refusal.” She sat across the table from him and watched as he carefully opened the envelope. Jay scanned the letter quickly. His expression of concern vanished and a wide grin stretched across his face.
“Well, it looks as though I wasn’t one of the 482. And in fact it says that because you got in they couldn’t possibly refuse me because it would lead to arguments. So thanks sooo much Liv!” He grinned. She groaned.
“Damn!”
“Well it’s time to get to Karate class, still up for that fight?”
“Bring it, loser”
****
Jay stepped out of the crowd and into the large group of his fellow class mates who were all waving letters of acceptance, all except one.
“LIV!” Hannah Liv’s best friend who was a blue belt came running up.
“What, what’s up Hannah?” Liv asked grabbing her sobbing friend.
“Did…did you get in?” Hannah asked looking at Liv and wiping away her tears.
“Yes but…”
“NOOOOO!” wailed Hannah. “I am literally the only person who didn’t get in and it’s not fair, I even sent in my entry before you and even Kyle got in and he only sent his entry a few days ago and…wait Jay you only sent your entry a few days ago too… did you get in” she looked at him now pleading him to say no.
“Ummm…. Yes” Jay whispered preparing for a storm.
“Oh NO!”
“Sorry, its not my fault…”
“Yes it is!” she screamed and leapt at him punching him and giving him a black eye. Liv grabbed her a pulled her off because although she hated her brother she didn’t think it was fair for him to get beaten up by a girl.
“Come on Hannah, let’s go train ok?” She gritted her teeth but nodded and turned away from Jay. Jay stood up wiped his face and faced Kyle.
“Ha ha! You got beaten up by a girl!” he doubled over laughing.
“It’s not funny Kyle” Jay said annoyed “Come on. Let’s go inside”
) Such as "
