Net Force - Tom Clancy [12]
This was the first djuru, and a very simple sequence.
One of the newbies, a tall, muscular man in blue spandex bike shorts and a matching FBI-trainee T-shirt, looked at Toni, then chuckled and said something to his buddy.
The second newbie was a short and compact man, a bit on the pudgy side, with a thick bar of eyebrows. He laughed in return.
Toni ignored the two, did the left punch and chambered that arm by her hip, then stepped forward with her left foot, to mirror the moves shed just done.
Days death had affected her more than she would have thought, and Alexs state of mind was also weighing heavily on her. Shed come to the gym to burn off some of her frustration at not being able to reach out to Alex the way she wanted. The workout wasnt helping much, and she wasnt feeling particularly charitable just now.
She finished the series of steps and strikes, made the backfist turn and started back the way shed come, starting into the second djurus pattern. In Bukti, there were eight short forms, or djurus, that many sambuts-prearranged fighting sets-and techniques beyond counting based on those few simple routines.
Spandex and Eyebrows had faced off against each other; they danced back and forth, sparring. Even though she knew she should have been concentrating on her form-her guru would have frowned at her lack of attention-she watched the two men peripherally. Spandex threw a lot of high round and spinning kicks, most of them to the head, while Eyebrows barked several kiais, the karate-style guttural yells used for focus, as he backpedaled and ducked or blocked the kicks.
She figured Spandex for one of the Korean styles, Eyebrows for a Japanese or Okinawan fighting form. Both men looked fairly adept, though Spandex was better.
She saw Spandex grin, then launch a flying-spinning back-kick.
Right out of a bad action movie, she thought. She kept her pace even, trying to pretend she didnt notice them. Her expression gave her away, though-she couldnt stop the smile completely.
Spandex caught it, and he was not pleased.
He did a quick bow to Eyebrows to show he was done, then turned to face her. Something funny, maam? He had a strong Southern accent. Alabama, Mississippi, maybe.
Maam. Well, he wasnt paranoid, because she was laughing at him, however hidden she tried to keep it. And, truthfully, she hadnt really tried very hard to hide it. She had to watch this, the feeling of superiority she got when she saw one of the other Oriental fighting styles. Everybody thought their own system was better; she knew hers was.
Toni was about to the end of her set anyhow. She stopped. She knew she didnt look particularly imposing in her old black sweats, wrestling shoes and sweaty headband. And at five-five and a hundred and thirty pounds, she was almost a foot shorter and probably seventy pounds lighter than Spandex. But his tone irritated her.
No, she said. Nothing funny.
Really? I thought maybe you were, you know, amused by my form or something.
No. Its not amusing, she said. She started to turn away.
Eyebrows decided this was a good time to jump in. He said, My friend here has a second-degree black belt. He waved at her, as if to take in the form shed been practicing. I bet he could teach you some things.
Im sure he could, Toni said. Yeah, how to move wrong. But she kept her mouth shut as she headed for her towel. Might as well shower. She wasnt going to be able to concentrate with these two bozos flexing and being macho. Shed grown up with a houseful of brothers; she knew once the testosterone got to flowing, it was like the full-moon tide, there was no stopping it. Pretty soon, these two would be spitting on the ground and adjusting their crotches, or as