Net Force - Tom Clancy [78]
Yeah.
This is my base. Then with my left hand, I pull your arm down and slightly behind me. This is the angle. Humans only have two feet, so no matter how they stand, they are always weak in at least two directions. Youre strong right now forward or backward, but if I make a diamond pattern using your feet as the center line, you have no power at ninety degrees.
Geometry, he said, grinning.
Absolutely. So then I use my right hand up here on your neck. I could have punched or poked, but for now, I just put it there. Elbow down. This is my leverage. So now Ive got all three-base, angle and leverage. What happens?
I go down?
Right. And if I add just a hair of drag with my right foot against your foot, the beset, then you go down a little faster.
She applied a little pressure, tugged with her foot, and Rusty dropped flat onto his back. He slapped the mat hard. He came up.
One more time, she said. Slow, so you can see it.
He punched. She blocked, stepped in, corked her hip against his thigh. Its important to get in close, so you can feel your attacker move, she said. In silat, you stick to your attacker. It feels dangerous, especially if you are used to outfighting, but if you know what youre doing, inside is the place to be. Use your eyes for distance, your body in close, so you can sense motion without having to see it. You feel my hip, how its pressed in there?
Oh, yes, maam, I surely do feel that.
She dropped him again. Shed caught the not-so-veiled sexual tone in his voice. She grinned. If he liked that, wait until she stepped inside and showed him the dalam.
Saturday, October 2nd, 12:18 p.m. Quantico
Alex Michaels prowled the hall, too wired to eat. Gridley was working the background on the cane the hitwoman had tried to use against him, and he had people doing seines on the net, following up on the New Orleans VR bank robbery. All the information they could gather was flowing into Net Force, and there wasnt anything he could do to hurry it up. He had a meeting with his top people scheduled for 1:30 p.m., and until then, nothing new to pick at.
He knew Toni usually worked out at noon, and it gave him a place to go, so Michaels headed toward the gym.
When he got there, he saw Toni and the big FBI trainee she had taken on as her student in her martial art. They were standing face-to-face, legs entwined, her waist pressed against his crotch. As Michaels watched, the man reached across Tonis chest, appeared to cup her right breast, then twisted awkwardly and threw her to the practice mat.
Michaels stopped and frowned. For some reason, he felt a stab of irritation.
Toni laughed, rolled up and faced her student again. They moved, he punched, she ducked under his arm and upended him with a move Michaels couldnt quite follow. They both laughed as the feeb trainee came up again. She said something to him, moved in close, pressed her hip against the inside of his thigh.
At this point, the man saw Michaels and said something to Toni. She turned and spotted him standing by the door.
Hey, Alex.
Again, that surge of anger filled him. What was this? Toni had the right to teach this yahoo anything she wanted to teach him, it wasnt his business. He knew that. But still, that nagging irritation in Michaels resolved itself all of a second into something he could identify:
He felt jealous.
Bullshit. Come on. Toni was his second in command, that was all. They didnt have any romantic notions about each other. And even if they had, it would be stupid to act on them. He was her boss, and office romances were dangerous.
Certainly if she wanted to spend her lunch hour rubbing up against this feeb bodybuilder, that was her affair.
He shook his head, tried to rid himself of the thought