Page 24 of Steel Rain

"I can find my own way home," I mumbled.

"I'm sure you can, but right now you're swimming in an unknown sea without a compass." There was a strange warning in his tone. It was heavy enough that I looked up to see his black eyes boring into me. "Rule two, have situational awareness."

I knew the three rules just fine. He didn't need to preach it to me.

Rule one, look like you belong. Rule two, always have situational awareness. Rule three, if you fucked up the first two, at least look good.

Where did those rules originate? I have no idea. Somewhere in the bowels of military training, someone decided that those three rules would get us through. So far, it had.

"Take the time you need to get your bearings, before you make any moves." With that, he turned away and put his tray on the stack at the window which led to a kitchen. He yelled a thank you to the cooks and dishwashers inside before going out the barn's big doors.

Was that just general mentorship? Or was he trying to warn me of something else? What did he know?

Chapter 12

Ajax

Shewasn’tinthegym at 8AM. I was concerned. But nottooconcerned. Maybe she wasn’t supposed to start yet, though that didn’t seem right. Eoghan acted like he wanted to put her feet to the flames sooner, rather than later.

“Line up!” I yelled, as the bodies on the mat tumbled along, doing rolls from the north end to the mat, down to the south in three solid, single file lines. Each one wore the regulation Brazilian Jiu Jitsu uniforms, or a Gi. Loose pants, held up by a draw string, no shoes or socks, and a heavy robe, wrapped right over left, held by a woven, thick belt that was looped twice around the waist and tied at their bellies.

For our purposes, they all wore white belts. The lowest rung, since none of them had martial arts experience. Mine was black, the highest of belts, because I had trained with Carlos Gracie, Jr. himself, back in the day. He had presented me with the belt himself.

“Side fall!” I barked, as three lines of men jumped into a side fall position.

They forward flipped, landing on their side, slamming the mat with their hand to help break some of the force of their fall.

As they came down, they let out akiai, or a “shout” from deep in their belly. Some of them say the japanese sound, “kiai”. Other’s do a “hiyah!” or any other barbaric yawp. It was a sound of energy released from the body. I didn’t care what they yelled, as long as they got the air out of their lungs before they landed, so that they didn’t get the wind knocked out of them.

They alternated sides, until they got all the way to the end of the mat, then jogged back to the other end to line up for the next exercise.

The door opened loudly, and in she came. The one woman in their ranks, as of today. Sin “the She-Wolf” Flanagan.

“We start promptly at eight!” I barked at her.

She rushed in, a bag over her shoulder. She dumped it against the wall, along with everyone else’s personal effects. I scanned her body, hidden in the bulk of the Gi. It wasn’t very flattering. It wasn’t meant to be. But even that was alluring to me. She was comfortable in it, as if it was as familiar as a pair of old sweatpants.

As my eyes scanned to her waist, where a purple belt cinched her Gi jacket shut, I smirked. So, shewasformally trained after all. I filed that information aside for later.

“Sorry, Master Chief,” she said, breathless. Did she run here?

I did like that she knew my rank. Someone had done her homework. Or, at least, she’d squeezed someone for gossip. Probably O’Malley. Was she as fascinated with me as I was with her?

“Don’t be sorry, just fix it.” I waved her over to the mat. “And it’scoach.”

I might not be coaching anyone for the underground arena. But it was my title. I refused to give it up, when it was my one remaining pride and joy. Something Eoghan’s debt couldn’t pull from my clutches.

She toed off her shoes at the edge of the indigo mat and gave a quick bow with her hands at her side. Then she stepped onto my sacred mats, and seamlessly joined a line, following along the drills.

“Back fall!” I barked.

Three at a time went down the mat, their backs facing front, as they leapt up in the air so that they fell only on the points of their toes and shoulder blades, their hips thrust up, and their hands at a 45-degree angle at their sides, again, slapping the mat to lessen the impact of the fall.

I liked the noise of bodies hitting the mat. The sound of their yells, the heavy breathing, the rhythm of it was as familiar to me as the sound of my own beating heart.

My life might be shit right now, until my debt to Eoghan was paid. But there was a silver lining. It was this gym.

The gym was honest. The gym was faithful.

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