Balance (48 page)

Michael looks at Rena in utter amazement.

Rena continues, “For every offensive there will be either a defensive or offensive reaction. 
Anticipating
those two actions
is
the first part
of being able to do what I did.
T
he second
,
teaching yourself to trust your
instincts
to
commit to the combination.”

Meg is amazed at the demonstration, “So
,
to be able to do that
,
I need to know the offensive and defensive reaction to
my every offensive move?
”

“It’s not that daunting.
Limit
your offensive array, learning only
the reactions to those combinations.  Once you learn
a
small
catalog,
you
’ll
evolve quickly
, expanding your
repertoire
faster
.
  Does that make sense?”

Meg replies enthusiastically, “
Y
es
.
”

“Great, y
ou can start tomorrow.  Now
,
you have to go shower and
then
meet us for lunch in the dining hall.  We’ll see you later.”

Meg grabs her stuff and races off
,
an
excited
ball of energy
.

Rena watches her leave,
and then
turn
s
to an angry looking Michael.  Smiling, she walks over to him, wrapping her arms around his stoic form.
 
“What, an hour ago you were
thrilled
to have m
e moving around.” She chides
.

“How long have you known how to do that?”

“Michael, you missed several points to my explanation.  You really have to lear
n to be open to the unexpected.  It’
s odd that I
need
tell you
that,
since your entire fighting style is based on reacting to the unexpected.  In answer to your question
…
as to how l
ong have I been able to do that?
S
ince you fe
l
l in love with me and taught me how to fight.”

“So
,
th
is
is something I taug
ht you.  I better stop teaching
or I’ll get myself killed.”

She shakes her head,
“Michael, Michael … you still don’t understand.  I’m the only person in the world that will be able to do that.  I will always be able to do that.  If the day comes when I can’t hit you, it’s because you no longer trust and love me.”

Michael thinks about what Rena just said, completely understanding her now, respecting her intelligence even more.  She is truly an amazing woman.  He leans over and kisses her on her smiling lips
, wiping the Cheshire grim from her face
.

The door of the dojo opens
.  Waters enters, feeling uncomfortable
for
interrupting them. 
“I can come back later…”

“No, no … that’s okay
.” Rena turning to address
him
, one arm still around Michael’s waste, “I was expecting you.  We, Michael and I ar
e taking Meg on a … field trip,
this evening
.  We would like to
enlist
your assistance in this endeavor.  I’ve already
cleared it with
Takada.”  Rena displays
an unusual degree of confidence
in her request
.

Waters,
momentarily confused, considers her,
“Ah, okay?”

“Great. 
Ms. Smith
will be dropping off your attire for the evening and the time of departure.  We look
forward to you j
o
in
ing us.”

Waters
,
completely
taken aback,
retreats
slowly and departs, leaving Michael and Rena alone again in the dojo.

Rena turns back to Michael, putting her arms back around his waist
, smiling up at him, feeling
excited and confident.

“M
ind filling me in on your
obviously
productive
morning
?”

“Sure, in a moment
.
” Rena
pulls Michael’s face to hers, kissing him,
reve
ling
in the
moment
.

Michael and Rena arrive back at their quarters after lunch, having informed Meg
of the plans for the evening
. 
Rena withheld the information regarding
Waters
confirmation
,
wishing
to surprise her.

They
sit down on the couch, where Rena proceeds to
enlighten
Michael
on h
er morning,
expounding upon
information gleaned
from her several conversations.
How
Mr. Black
had been CIA and
about upcoming operations,
Whitemire and Drakos.  T
he doctor
from the
infirmary
believing
the
‘roiders
had been
transferred to another facility.  Finally, she details her conversation with Takada, confirming their suspicions about Meg, Alexander’s assessment of her survival instincts and their plans for her and
them.  The discussion leads to
her intentions for the evening and
her
conversation
with
Ms. Smith
, including the revelation of her acquiescence to Takada’s
design
.

By the end of h
er
debriefing,
Michael i
s exhausted. 
“
My God, you
have
been
busy.  Remind me to never let you get another concussion.
” He yawns, and stretches,
“
Can I run this all through my head for a bit?”
He
asks
,
slid
ing
back
into the couch to get more comfortable, starting to feel very tired.

“Of course
.”
N
estling in against his body,
she
rest
s
her
head
on his chest.
 
With
in minutes
, they’ve both fallen asleep
.

The wall computer chimes, waking
both
from their slumber
. 
They
lie still, eyes open staring into space
,
unaware
the
other awake. 
Gently, he moves
his hand
, caressing her back.
Rena lifts her head
to look up
into Michael’s
face
, her brightly colored eyes
mesmerizing
.

Interrupted by a
light knock
at the door,
Rena look
s
at the wall clock
and
realizes
their evening attire must be
arriving
.

Rising, s
he
opens
the door, find
ing
Ms. Smith
standing
in the hallway,
holding two garment bags. 
S
urprised and
still a little sleepy
-eyed
,
Rena
invites her in.
 
“You didn’t have to bring
our outfits
yourself.  I could have come and gotten th
em.”
She
apolog
izes
.

“Mish mas
h, I sent Abigail and Fior to Me
g’s.  I wanted an opportunity to do some work myself, especially on my favorite
pupil
.”

“Thank you, but I wasn’t really expecting to have to do much … work.  I wanted to focus on Meg.”

“Now, n
ow
, my dear,
I will not
allow you to go out in
public, wearing one of my creations,
without you being at your best.  You
a
r
e
representing me,
you know …
n
ot that yo
u
can tell anyone.  Anyway, you’
re
so
beautiful
,
I was getting jealous of Abby and Fi having all the fun.
I wanted you all to myself for once.”

“
Ms. Smith
, thank you.  You’re being far too kind.” Rena
replies a little embarrassed by the compliment.

“
Well young man, don’t you just stand there
grinning like a school boy
, come and get these.
”
 
Ms. Smith
scolds,
holding the garment bags out.

Michael, leaning against the kitchen wall, enjoying the banter o
f the two women, jumps to action.
G
rabbing the bags,
he
tak
es
one to Rena’s bedroom and places
the other in his.
 
“
Ms. Smith
,
not to be rude, but
you
’
r
e
kind of early
,
aren’t you?”
He
asks,
returning
to the common room
.

“You can’t rush a Picasso, Hon.  Anyway, I wanted some alone time with your far better half.  So, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll be in here making a masterpiece.” 
Ms. Smith
, taking her hand,
leads Rena into her quarters, closing the door behind them.

Looking
at the wall clock,
concluding
he has
a
couple hours
before
get
ting
ready himself,
Michael
decides to go back to the dojo for some private training
and
solitude
, giving him an opportunity
to
reflect
on
everything Rena told him earlier.

T
hrowing knives at the wooden mannequin
proves therapeutic for
Michael;
initially
he
experiment
ed
with
various throwing a
ngles,
distances,
and
arm motions
. 
Before long, his attention drifts, p
reoccupied with information overload
,
decompress
ing
the
events
of Rena’s
morning
,
no
longer
paying
particular
attention
to his throwing
,
operating more in automatic
.

Rena warned
him
about talking sensitive information around
Waters
and Meg. 
Waters
, Michael
understood
.  He’
d
always suspected
his handler
was a conduit to Takada. 
Even
surprised if
Takada did not expect
he and Rena already assumed the connection
.

Meg was
unexpected
,
al
though he fully understood.  He
’d kno
w
n
people like her from the
Hustle
, people
if cornered
,
w
ho’d
turn on their own family. 
Ren
a
,
concerned
Meg’s allegiance
will
shift to
who
m
ever
presents the most security
,
expects
it
w
ill
lean toward
Takada
, at least
for the time being
.  Until Meg can figure out where she stands, they will have to
be careful, especially
taking into account
the mutual attraction between her and
Waters
.

Michael
hopes Rena knows what she’s doing
inviting
Waters
along tonight. 
She
believes
Meg
developing
a relationship
with
him
will
destabilize
his
loyalty
to
Takada.
Michael finds
this strategy
interesting, as Rena intends to use two of Takada’s own assets to undermine his influence. 
He
understands Rena wants to protect Meg, but she’s playing a dangerous game with Takada.

Then
there’s
Ms. Smith
. 
N
ever
considering
there would
be
doubt
on that front,
Michael had always assumed her and Takada were two heads of the same monster.  Her arrival at their quarters could be validation of
Rena’s
theory
,
or something more sinister.  He considers returning
,
just
to make sure Rena is
all right
, but he trusts her.  She’s the most intelligent
person he’s
ever met, explaining
things to him that came to pass,
things
no one should have been able to predict.  Then today, how she hit him, not only hit him, knew she would
,
with complete confidence.  Even Takada couldn’t do that.
  There’
s something else in play here
with regard to Rena
, he can feel it
.
 
The question is
;
does Takada realize how intelligent she is
?
  He’s addin
g Meg to the team to protect Rena
, but does he truly
comprehend
her?

Frustrated and d
evelop
ing
a headache
, Michael
decides to return to their quarters
.
W
alking
the fifty-feet
to the dummy to
retrieve
his
knives
,
he
stop
s
dead in his tracks.  He thinks back, trying to recall actually
throwing or even looking at the dummy for that matter.  He can’t remember anything about the last twenty minutes, other than his thoughts
.

Approaching the mannequin
slowly
,
he
looks around to make sure no o
ne else is in the dojo
. 
Perplexed, h
e
quickly
remov
es
the six
knives
…
buried
deep
into the throat of the dummy
,
a cluster
little over two-
inches in diameter.
 
Michael
scans the
floor
around the mannequin,
looking
for the knives he actually threw
,
expecting
them strewn
about
, thinking
the
cluster
was
by someone else’
s
hand.  His mind starts reeling, trying to apply logic to this complete absurdity. 
It was impossible
.

There is only one person he can tell this to, only one person that might be able to explain it.  He
leaves
headed
back to
Rena
.

Apprehensive of
Ms. Smith
’s presence
,
Michael
enters calmly and quietly, hoping
Rena
might be
alone.  The common area remains
empty, but he can hear them talking in Rena
’s
private
residence
. 
He
knock
s
lightly
,
so as n
ot to alarm anyone
.