Danger Close by James Sumner (classic novels for teens txt) 📕

in a low circle, using her own outstretched leg to sweep Julie’s out from under her. Unprepared, she also tumbled to the sidewalk.

Jay leapt upright and scooped up the gun she had lost to Collins. She turned quickly and fired two shots, each one hitting one of the operatives in the chest.

There were more screams from all around as everyone nearby scattered. Sirens began to wail in the distance.

Collins recovered and hustled to his feet. He speared Jay from behind, tackling her to the ground by the waist. They both landed awkwardly on the unforgiving concrete. She dropped the gun and wrestled free, then whipped an elbow back and caught him on the side of the face, drawing blood.

As she scrambled back to her feet, Julie moved in front of her, blocking her path to the gun.

“Enough,” said Julie. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? The trouble it’s caused?”

Jay wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. “Yeah… do you?”

She ran at Julie, quickly throwing a short combination of punches aimed at her face and body. Julie stepped back defensively, managing to deflect most of them. One made it through, landing on her jaw, forcing her to stagger backward against the car.

Jay didn’t let up for a second. She pounced like a predator sensing weakness in its prey. Her attack was relentless. Each blow that she delivered was fueled by pure rage.

Julie blocked as many as she didn’t but was holding on. She landed a couple of body shots of her own, yet they did little to slow Jay down.

Collins shook his head, trying to clear the fog that lingered from the elbow he had received. It was chaos around him. Cars had stopped in the street. People were running around, shouting. A brave few stood watching, filming the violence on their cell phones.

Collins absently waved them away. “Are ya crazy? Get the hell outta here.”

He got to his feet and marched toward Jay. Seeing Julie was struggling, he grabbed a handful of Jay’s hair and slammed her face into the side window of the Suburban. She grunted from the impact and dropped to her knees.

Julie nodded her gratitude to Collins, then moved in and buried a kick deep into Jay’s body. Jay rolled away onto her back, wheezing. She paused to catch her breath.

Collins stepped toward Jay’s head and reached down to grab her again. She threw her legs up and over, as if performing a backward roll, aiming to kick him. He caught them both, hooked each one under his arms, and used her own momentum to lift her up.

Jay shrieked as she was hoisted into the air. She tensed her considerable leg muscles, squeezing his body. As his strength faded, she forced her hips up and finished sitting on his shoulders, like a couple at a concert. She grabbed the top of his head and spun herself around, squeezing again with her thighs and pinning his face against her crotch. She then began raining down elbows on the top of his skull with a demonic ferocity.

Collins had his hands on her hips. His head throbbed from the blows. Not knowing how else to stop her attack, he stumbled forward and slammed her down as hard as he could.

Jay’s neck and back connected with the rear door of the car. Her grip on him broke immediately, and she slid to the ground.

Collins fell to his knees. He felt thin lines of blood running down his face from new wounds on the top of his head.

Julie rushed at Jay, bending forward to punch down at her face. She connected with three stiff shots to her cheek and jaw that made her fall away, landing hard and flat on the sidewalk.

She stared for a moment, making sure Jay wasn’t moving. Then she stepped to Collins’s side and crouched next to him. “Jesus… are you okay?”

Collins waved her away frantically. “Get… the bitch.”

Julie looked over and stared straight at the sole of Jay’s heeled boot as it thundered down into her face. She grunted as she sprawled backward beside Collins.

“Ah, shite…” he muttered, seeing Julie land next to him.

He rested a hand behind him, so he could push himself upright. Still dazed, he looked over at their vehicle. He saw the two dead operatives heaped beside it.

Jay was gone.

He lay flat again, staring up at the bright sky. He turned his head to check on Julie. She was doing the same, looking up with a vacant stare on her face.

Every inch of his body hurt, exacerbated by a long, weary sigh.

“Sonofabitch…”

20

It had been a tense but uneventful twenty-four hours for Jericho. Gomez and his men hadn’t returned. There had been no word from the general. Even reports of unrest throughout the city had died down. GlobaTech personnel were keeping to themselves. The men loyal to Colonel Ramirez were doing the same.

It was an uneasy peace, but it was peace nevertheless.

Jericho stood beside Ramirez in the corridor outside President Herrera’s office. A small patrol of Palugan troops marched by, completing their route around the palace interior. Ramirez had a half-smoked cigar in his hand, absently admiring the smoldering tip.

Jericho glanced around at the art on the walls, restless and impatient. Inside, Montez was speaking with various heads of state, trying to rally support to the cause Ramirez was fighting for.

“He’s been on the phone a long time,” observed Jericho.

Ramirez took a long, satisfying drag on his cigar. He slowly blew out a plume of blue-gray smoke into the air.

“Diplomacy takes longer when you cannot threaten people,” he replied with a casual shrug.

The two men looked at each other and smiled.

“That’s why we should be in charge, right?” said Jericho.

“Exactly!”

“Who’s he talking to again?”

“Gianna Salvega. She’s the education minister, I think.”

“Education?” Jericho frowned. “What are they going to do? Give the general detention?”

Ramirez smiled. “He wants to use Miss Salvega’s influence over teachers to rally the local communities and schools to the president’s cause. That’s a sizeable percentage of