Net Force - Tom Clancy [99]
Thus holding his opponent trapped, Michaels could have pounded his face to a pulp-Jeffries couldnt have stopped him. But he hadnt hit him, hed just held him down.
Jeffries had squirmed, bucked, twisted, screamed for Michaels to let him up.
No fucking way, Michaels had said. Not until you call it quits. Ill sit here all night.
It had seemed like hours, though it was probably only a minute or so. When Jeffries realized he couldnt buck Michaels off, he agreed to end the fight. They called it a draw, and Michaels was thrilled to let it go at that
Scout stopped, marked a weed as his territory and scratched some grass over it with his hind legs.
Michaels smiled at the memory of his boyhood fistfight. Hed been what, all of thirteen? A long time ago.
But the smile faded at the more recent memory of Scouts former owner and the look on her face as shed prepared to brain him with her cane. It wasnt a bloody nose or a black eye shed had in mind, but a corpse. His corpse. That knowledge made Michaels feel a vulnerability he had never known before.
He could have died. Whack! A cracked skull, just like that, and hed never have woken up. Ever.
Intellectually, he knew he was going to die someday. Everybodys path led that way. But emotionally, it had never come home to him until hed sat there in his kitchen after the would-be assassin had fled, sat trembling, the taser gripped in his hand, waiting for his people and the police to arrive. He hadnt been afraid during the actual fight. But afterward ?
He had been afraid. Hed felt helpless.
He hated it, that sick feeling of helplessness. Yeah, he had chased the would-be killer. He hadnt run away or anything, but even though he had done the right thing, he hadnt felt brave. He realized he didnt have the skill he needed. And now, he needed to do something about that lack of skill, get a handle on it somehow. Maybe he should talk to Toni. She was an expert-he had seen that for himself. Before, he hadnt been interested. But now? Maybe she would teach him some of what she knew.
What was that definition hed heard? A conservative was a liberal who had been mugged?
Yes. The idea of being able to take a stick away from somebody and keep himself in one piece while he did it had a great appeal to Alex Michaels just now. He wasnt always going to have a platoon of armed guards protecting him. He needed to be able to do that himself, or he wasnt going to be able to leave his home without feeling fear. And being afraid was no way to live. He wasnt going to bow to that. No way.
Sunday, October 3rd, 8:09 p.m. Washington, D.C.
It had been a long and exciting day for Tyrone. As Bella walked him downstairs to the front door, he wondered how a day could get much more exciting. First there was Bella, then the business helping Jay Gee with the mad programmer in the Corvette. It wasnt every day you got to take a beautiful and bright girl out on a VR chase that was also an official Net Force investigation. His dad had been right-let Bonebreaker match that, if he could.
At the door, Bella said, Thanks for the help, Ty. And letting me go with you on the Net Force thing. It was gi-ganto excitamento. Let me know how it turns out, okay?
Sure. I dont think youll have any trouble with the class, now. You got this stuff glued tight.
He opened the door and turned to say good night.
Bella leaned over and kissed him on the lips. It was soft, quick, but if he lived to be a million, he would never forget that warm and unexpected touch. He couldnt have been more stunned if shed whacked him on the head with a hammer. Call me sometime, she said. Well do something. Mall rawl, BurgerBarn, something.
His brain stalled, his mouth shorted out. When he got partial control back, he managed a stammer: Wh-wh-what about Bonebr-uh, I mean what about LeMott?
He doesnt own me. We arent married. She smiled. See you. She closed the door.
Tyrone stood there, staring at the door, unable to move, to think, maybe even breathe. When his brain came back he had no idea