Page 16 of Astrid
“What’s up?” John asked from his seat on the other side of Astrid.
“I want all of you except for Carl and Astrid to go to the gym,” Morgan said.
“Why?” John asked.
“I think we need to teach you guys hand-to-hand combat.” She held up her hand, anticipating what they would say. “No, we’re not talking fighting like you would at one of your club events, or in a bar fight, we’re talking strategic military hand-to-hand combat.”
“I’m in,” Carl jumped to his feet. “I was a SEAL, I can help train them.”
“Good to know. Astrid you good with this?”
“I am, and I think us women should be there too, and show them how it’s done.”
The men scoffed, but the women all grinned, then the men groaned at the females’ expressions. As a whole, the entire group left the office, and went over to the area with the exercise equipment, and it didn’t take long for them to clear a space large enough for the demonstrations.
Dillon started it off by introducing himself to everyone, and listing his career with the marines. He grinned at Astrid. “No, I never worked with you, but I did hear about the EWMs when I was in. Unfortunately, or fortunately, I was never sent on a mission where your services would be needed.”
“Good to know.” She nodded, and kicked off her shoes and socks. She noted that Morgan, Joyce, and Ava had done the same. As they prepared to fight, Dillon and Carl were off to the side in a deep discussion.
CHAPTER7
When the mencame back over to them, Carl was the one who spoke first, “Okay, I know Morgan and Wyatt are together, and Justin and Ava, who else is paired up?”
“I’m with Joyce,” Alex said, but pointed to the sling on his left arm. “I won’t be much good.”
“I can work with you, so you can protect your hand, but still fight,” Carl said. “Okay, anyone else?” He looked at Astrid and saw she was looking at John, and he smirked at Morgan when he caught her rolling her eyes. “Okay, Astrid and John. But…” he paused until he had all their attention. “The couples that are paired up, will not be sparring against one another.”
“Why not?” Wyatt asked.
“Because, we need you to be at your best, and be honest here, you will pull your punches if you have to hit your partner.” They all nodded and agreed with him. “Okay then, DJ, go after Ava.”
“What? I can’t hit a girl,” he began, then gave a loud umph when he landed on his back and stared up at everyone. “What the hell happened?”
“Don’t swear,” Dillon said as he held out his hand to help his son to his feet. “You weren’t paying attention, and Ava got the drop on you.” He looked at Ava, and she grinned as she held up her hands, and took a few steps back while Dillon talked to DJ about how to plant his feet, and where to keep his hands. As Carl worked the two of them, Dillon told Wyatt to go after Joyce. Those two couples worked out for about fifteen minutes when Carl had Morgan go after Josh, then Astrid after Justin. After some rocky starts, it turned out the men started really listening to Carl and Dillon, especially after picking themselves up off the mat several times.
After thirty minutes, a break was called, and Alex had made sure there were plenty of bottles of water, when Lucas spoke up, “I want to see one of the women take on you guys,” he said as he pointed to his father and Carl. “Show us what all that military training can do.” When the two ‘instructors’ shrugged, Lucas looked at the women, and winced when they saw them scowl at him. “Sorry.”
“I’ll take Astrid,” Carl said.
“Since I’ve already taken Morgan on and lost, I’ll take on Joyce,” Dillon said as he pointed to her. The others made a circle around them, and it was Wyatt who stood next to Morgan, and called for them to begin. In less than a minute, the men stared at the two women in open-mouthed shock when they dodges punches, kicks, and everything the men threw at them. In five minutes, both men were on the ground, grinning up at the women as they held out their hands to be pulled up. Dillon tried to upend Joyce, but found himself down on his stomach with both his arms pulled up toward his shoulders.
“Give!” he called and was quickly released. He sat up, shook his head, and watched just as Astrid gave Carl a hipshot, and the other man flew through the air to land on his back.
“Shit,” Astrid said as she rushed over and looked down at him. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he wheezed out, but it took him several minutes to get his breath back. When he finally sat up, he held out his hand and they shook. “And that, gentlemen, is why you’re going to need to learn how to do the hand-to-hand. I have a feeling if it ever comes down to it, your opponents will be like a bull in a china shop, where you’ll be learning stealth and patience.” He accepted the hand up from John, then the bottle of water handed to him.
“I think that’s all for today, unless you guys want to practice amongst yourselves.” They agreed to do light training, and Dillon went to the bag he’d brought with him, and handed Justin several DVDs he’d brought over.
“Study these, they should help.” Instead of practicing, they decided to go up and watch the films, leaving the women and Carl downstairs.
“Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I am, I have to ask, when did you get out?”
“Four days ago.” She snickered at his bug-eyed look, then felt relieved when he threw his head back and laughed. As they redressed their feet, Astrid asked, “Do you have time to stick around?”
“I do, that’s why I’m here. Morgan gave me a call and said you had some information you wanted to pass along to me.”
