JOURNEY - on Mastering Ukemi by Daniel Linden (classic books for 12 year olds .TXT) 📕

you come through the front door with that gun at your shoulder and the rest of you right behind. It should startle them, no end. Then we’ll get our stuff. If the other guns are right there I’ll try and grab them when I yell and you might want to think about putting a couple rounds into the ceiling to convince everyone to get down. We’re going to have to play this by ear and I really don’t know what to expect.”

Everyone was quiet. Curtis spoke softly. “Sensei, that is the crappiest idea you have ever had. Someone’s going to shoot you the minute you step through the door.”

“You got a better idea?”

“I’ll go,” he said.

“No. It’s my party.”

“But you’re hurt. You’re limping. You’re so beat up you can’t even stand up straight.”

He was right. I was pretty beat up. Between the knees and the face and the back I wasn’t my best. Hell, I hadn’t been my best for thirty years. “Okay,” I said. “We’ll go. You and I. Chris has the gun and stays with Christian and Bim up here.”

I looked them over. “Okay?”

Chris asked, “What do I do if I see someone with one of the guns? Shoot him?”

“You want to shoot him?” I asked.

“No.”

“Then don’t.”

I walked quietly down the alley completely aware we didn’t have a plan at all. It was a joke, but we had to do something or we would freeze. The wind was quieting and I knew that once it died the snow would begin to fall. Curtis slipped up beside me as I looked around the corner.

Soft light fell from an open doorway about twenty feet down. I walked gently toward it. I was careful to use the tiger walk, rolling the outside little toe first and gently settling my weight on the rest of the foot. When we reached the door I realized we had passed a large window that opened into a room for porters and cook boys to stay. It was empty. The open door led into a hall that climbed back up the slope we had just descended. There were several rooms on either side of the hall and then a short flight of stairs, then more rooms… kitchens or what have you. Light came from the room to my left.

I walked to the opening and realized it was another short hall. Very slowly I looked around the corner. I saw one of the guards sitting quietly on a small stool. His gun was leaning against the wall in front of him. Easing back and turning to Curtis I made motions and tried to indicate what I had seen. He nodded and then I heard a noise. We flattened against the wall, but it was the sound of a woman or a child crying. I heard a slap and then a grunt and then more crying. It was directly on the opposite side of the wall where we stood.

Suddenly I realized that the guard must be sitting next to another doorway and was guarding the rebel leader. I turned to Curtis and saw that he already got it. I motioned that I would go in first and that he should grab the gun. He nodded. We eased back forward and I glanced around the corner again. The guard had not moved. For a second I thought about sending Curtis in first but then decided that I had hit the heavy bag with straight right hands about a quarter of a million times over the last fifty years and if I couldn’t do this now, then what was all the hard work for? I took a deep breath and let it slowly out trying to settle my center and calm my pounding heart. It didn’t do a thing. I went through the doorway with my left foot first, took one step and threw my big right hand with a speed and power that would have made Sonny Listen smile. Just like hitting the heavy bag, I hit that Maoist rebel right between the eyes with everything I had.

I immediately spun to my left and went through a curtain into the next room. The thief was lunging off the bed and trying to get to his weapon on the bunk on the opposite side of the room and I stepped into his way. He went for my throat with both hands. This time the years of training took over and without thinking I spun into a perfect ikkyo, grabbing his wrist and then his elbow on the same arm and spinning tightly. His body flew in an arc and the top of his head slammed into the door frame, an eight by eight timber that did not move. I dropped him and he was very still. Curtis came into the room with the gun to his shoulder and took it all in.

A young girl lay cringing into the back corner of the bunk. She was naked, but did nothing to try to cover herself. She looked terrorized and in shock. I picked up a robe, or blanket off the floor and very gently, very slowly offered it to her with both hands extended. She looked down and after a moment she took it and pulled it around herself. I pointed to the door and she nodded and got up and slipped out of the room.

We looked around. The rebel leader’s gun was on the opposite bunk. I took it and ejected the magazine. This one was heavy, clearly full. I laid it back down and we looked around the room for what we could find. There were numerous cell phones and IPODS, cameras, and other pieces of electronic hardware I could not even identify. There was a Dell laptop. I saw my camera and ejected the memory card, but then, regretfully, left the camera there. None of the rest looked familiar and we moved on.

I saw his trousers on the floor and picked