Kim Soo Hyun knew the ancient martial art secret of how to induce an adrenaline rush into his system. Jason had used it many times but had never seen or known of anyone else who could do it.
A buzzer sounded. A silence smashed the atmosphere; both Jason and Kim Soo Hyun rocked gently back and forth on their toes. Kim poised like a cat getting ready to pounce on a mouse.
Kim’s pupils dilated; they had turned jet black. Jason moved slightly to his left and Kim pounced, striking forward with an ear shattering “Kia”.
Jason swung his body at an angle and dodged the blow, bringing up his arm and counter punching. Kim blocked the punch and span on his right leg, as he was twisting his left leg shot from his body at Jason’s head. Kim’s heal smashed into Jason’s right cheek so fast even the judges missed it. Jason threw himself to the ground and swung his legs towards Kim knocking him off balance. Kim’s legs flared wildly in the air as he was falling.
Before he hit the mat Jason pounced and thrust his knee in Kim’s chest and threw a right punch. He pulled it but it still made light contact with Kim’s nose.
All four judges raised hands. Jason was a point ahead. A contagious gasp spread in the crowd. Who was this little blond guy? How could this be? One more point and Kim Soo Hyun would be out of the competition.
Jason gingerly felt his cheek with his finger and rubbed his tongue over his teeth checking they were still in place. The kick was so fast he was lucky to get away without losing a point, but it hurt he could feel the side of his face throb. If Kim hit him a second time it would all be over. Jason Steed was no doubt brilliant at martial arts, but he was still a thirteen-year-old boy with the same pain threshold as anyone his age.
Not taking any chances, Jason concentrated and induced an adrenaline rush into his system. The ancient method of a rush would provide more speed, strength and concentration. His ears went numb to all the sounds of the arena, his eyes dilated and every muscle fiber in his body recoiled.
Jason flicked his blond bangs back over his head and stared at Kim who upon noticing Jason’s eyes suddenly became very worried. As a buzzer sounded both boys stepped forward and engaged in a battle of blows. It was game on and Jason Steed was giving the performance of his life. Each punch and kick from both boys was blocked and counter attacked. A split second and a kick would come up only to be blocked by a forearm. Wong Tong’s eyes widened as he watched his protege in action. Never before had he seen Jason engaged in a fight with such a very capable opponent.
Kim and Jason gasped for air; the fight was intense, all four judges stunned by the performance and standard of fighters. Every other contestant who had yet to fight was panic- stricken. None of them could have competed at this level and were not looking forward to taking on either fighter. The judges heard a smack; one of the boys had taken a direct facial hit. At this point it was unknown who, since the punches came in so fast and were equally as fast blocked, so the blur of fists made it almost impossible to judge.
A trickle of blood oozed down Jason’s nose. He could taste his own blood. Red spots danced in front of his watering eyes. The punch on the nose he received was starting to take effect.
Jason tried to keep his distance while he recovered his breath. How much longer would the round last? The sweat was dripping off him. His arms felt like lead weights were attached to them pulling him down. He was angry with everyone, everyone who thought he could easily win as if it was simple. How dare they think he could simply win the World Championship that easily?
For the next minute Jason used every defensive technique he had ever been taught, but he knew that in truth he was relying on his instincts, dodging and weaving as the ring seem to close in on him, the crowd cheering, the press camera’s flashed and the toughest opponent he had ever come across constantly attacked him.
Knowing he was in serious trouble Jason suddenly switched to Judo. He caught Kim’s wrist and twisted it, pulling at the same time.
Jason bent down and threw Kim over his shoulder and threw him on the ground. A follow up punch this time to Kim’s ribs was pulled at the last second.
The audience once again gasped, waiting for a reaction from one of the judges. All hands went up and Jason won another point. With two points out of three he had won the first round and knocked Kim Soo Hyun out of the championship.
Jason noticed blood pouring from his nose; he gripped his nostrils and walked off towards Wong Tong.
Wong placed a towel on Jason’s face and walked him away.
“I was out of my depth,” Jason sniffed in a muffled nasal voice. “He was brilliant. I didn’t think I could beat him.”
“Oh my gosh you made me very proud Jason. How does your nose feel?” Wong asked. “It looks like he caught you pretty hard.”
“It feels like it has been ripped off, put in a shredder, thrown on a fire and stitched back on again with barbed wire.” Jason moaned. “My cheek feels sore too.”
Wong angrily waved his hand at a cameraman who was trying to take Jason’s picture. All of a sudden Jason leaned heavily onto Wong Tong.
“I feel sick. I need air,” Jason wheezed, his legs starting to buckle.
Wong Tong placed his arm around Jason to hold him up and walked him towards the locker rooms. An army of photographers and news reporters followed. A woman in a navy tight-fitting skirt forced a microphone in Jason’s face.
“Jason that was amazing. How old were you when you started martial arts?” She asked.
“What does it feel like to knock the current World champion out of the competition?” Another asked.
“Jason is it true you were born in Hong Kong?” Another reporter asked, “You are now favorite to win the contest.”
The army of reporters battled to get an interview and picture of Jason. Infinity agents from the audience forced their way through the crowd to protect Jason. Trapped in a corridor near the locker room with reporters on both sides, Wong Tong pushed the emergency exit door open and escorted Jason outside. An agent followed; Wong Tong tried to close the door on him.
“It’s okay sir, I will keep them back if you take care of Jason.” The large man said before speaking into what appeared to be his watch.
Outside the fire exit Jason took in his surroundings. It was the back of the arena; a few television crew trucks were parked with large cables going into the building. On the other side were large dumpsters, each marked for recycled paper, glass and plastics.
Jason leaned against the wall and nodded at Wong Tong. “I feel better already. I needed air. I thought I was gonna pass out. How’s my nose?”
Wong inspected Jason’s face. “You are lucky it’s not broken and has stopped bleeding. Are you okay to carry on?”
“Yeah, I always get exhausted after an adrenaline rush; the punch on the nose didn’t help matters. And he caught me with a hard kick to the side of my face,” Jason said rubbing his face just below his eye.
Wong Tong looked at the Infinity agent who was standing against the door and looked back at Jason. “Do you know him Jason?”
Jason looked up at the man who had an earpiece in his ear and was still talking into his watch.
“No but he’s a good guy I hope. Probably someone who is watching me with the agency I work for,” Jason shrugged.
Wong Tong looked back at the man and back at Jason. “This spy stuff you do. Is it that dangerous you need a bodyguard now? Jason you should stop this.”
“It’s complicated. I feel better; how long have we got until our next fight?” Jason asked.
“Two maybe three hours, so you should eat something,” Wong Tong said lovingly rubbing Jason’s shoulders.
“Yeah, Okay let’s go back in and make a dash for the locker rooms,” Jason suggested.
A high-pitched whistle whizzed by and the man at the doorway turned, clutching his neck. He slowly pulled a red feathered dart from it. He looked bewildered at the dart and fell to his knees. The same high-pitched sound came again.
Jason felt a sharp sting in the back of his neck; he instantly removed it and turned to see where it had come from.
“Shaolin Monks.” Wong Tong said in a horse voice.
Six hooded men dressed in orange approached. Three of them had blowguns, a long bamboo pipe for shooting tranquilizer darts.
“Shaolin. Who are they?” Jason asked. He fell back against Wong Tong and started to feel drowsy.
“Shaolin are Chinese, like a cross between a Ninja and a Samurai warrior.” Wong Tong warned, his eyes narrowing.
A dart whizzed its way to Wong Tong. He raised his hand and caught it between his fingers before it could do any damage to him. Jason fell to his knees. His vision was becoming blurry; his head was spinning, scrambling his thoughts. Although he had pulled the dart out quickly, some of the tranquilizer had reached his blood stream.
A Shaolin fired another dart at Wong Tong and again he caught it. Jason fell forward and was on all fours trying to focus. Wong Tong stepped over Jason. He stood with a leg either side of Jason, his legs bent in a defense stance, his arms outstretched on either side of him.
The first Shaolin pounced forward and leapt towards Wong Tong. Effortlessly Wong Tong moved his body to one side and threw the attacker across the pavement. Another attacked throwing a kick that came inches from Wong Tongs face. He deflected it and chopped the man’s ankle with the side of his hand.
The attacker screamed in pain and collapsed on the ground holding his broken ankle. Jason fell to the ground and rolled on his side. Wong Tong kept his position with a foot either side of Jason’s body.
The Shaolin Monks surrounded them and drew their swords, brandishing them in the air. Wong Tong glanced down at Jason. The boy he had taught everything he knew. A western boy, who became greater than even he could have ever imagined. Jason’s and Wong Tong’s eyes met. No words were spoken but no words had to be because emphasis that rendered their meaning unmistakable. A bond that was greater than friendship, greater than love.
As the Shaolin warriors closed in, Wong Tong stood motionless at the ready like a mother wildebeest protecting her calf from a pack of lions. And just like a mother ferociously protecting its young, Wong Tong would defend Jason even if it meant his own demise.
Chapter Seventeen
Infinity scrambled every agent they had in the search for Jason. Before they had time to inform Raymond Steed of Jason’s abduction, news got back to Great Britain that Jason was disqualified from the karate championship for failing to turn up in the next round. Rumors were that he was injured too badly to continue and so he simply dropped out of the competition. The British karate associations were disappointed, as they knew he could have won.
His father was expecting a call but he was surprised to see Scott Turner at his door letting himself in. Brenda’s eyes narrowed in disapproval.
“He’s not home Scott he’s still in Germany,” Brenda tutted. “And you could knock first.”
Scott ignored her and looked at Ray. “Have you heard from him yet?”
Scott kicked his shoes off in the same fashion Jason always did, leaving one on its side the other upside down in the hallway. He made himself at home and ignored Brenda’s glare.
“No but we read he won the first round and beat the previous champion. The newspaper sports section says he was hurt in the fight, had a nose bleed and dropped out,” Ray suggested.
Scott nodded and paced up and down before speaking again.
“Brenda, have you heard anything?” Scott asked.
Both Ray and Brenda glanced at each other. “No Scott, why should I?”
Scott could feel the color rise up in his cheeks; he was unsure what to say so chose to say nothing. Ray had known Scott for a couple of years and could read him better than Brenda.
“What aren’t you telling us? Should I be worried?” Ray asked he placed his hand gently on Scott’s shoulder.
“Um. Well.” Scott stuttered his large brown eyes widened. “We need to call Infinity. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Infinity?” Ray and Brenda said together.
Scott rolled his eyes. “Brenda as head of SYUI I can’t believe they have not told you about Infinity.”
“What is it?” Ray asked.
Scott looked up at both of them; he felt surrounded and wished he hadn’t said anything.
“I shouldn’t have said anything, but Jason’s more than just my best friend and I’m worried about him. I’ve seen Jason in action. When we were in Ireland we were attacked by four men with baseball bats and a shotgun. Jason kicked the living poop out of them; he went through them like it was nothing. I can’t see him getting hurt in a competition badly enough that he would drop out.”
Ray smiled. “Jason is lucky to have such a good friend who cares about him, but he was up against the current world champion, a lot older and bigger. He did well to beat him but he’s not invincible.”
Brenda interrupted. “Infinity. I have heard the name. What have they got to do with this and Jason?”
“He works for them,” Scott said casually. “Oh I definitely shouldn’t have said that.”
“What’s Infinity?” Ray asked. Scott noticed Ray start to get agitated.
“Infinity is a highly secret intelligence service. Rumors are it has members in MI6, MI5, CIA, FBI, KGB and probably even SYUI without me knowing about it. I don’t even know where they are based. They are the so-called good guys and they answer to no one,” Brenda said.
“Scott, are you sure he works for them? This isn’t some school boy spy game,” Ray suggested.
“The attempted assignation or capture of him, I believe it was Boudicea. I told Infinity and they decided to put Jason in the competition and draw her out,” Scott said.
Brenda held up her hand to Scott. “Wait. You suggested it to Infinity? How do you know them?” Brenda asked.
“I worked it out that Jason wasn’t going to a normal school and eventually he owned up and told me,” Scott was interrupted by Ray.
“We can chat about this later. If you are worried Scott do you think something went wrong?” Ray asked.
“I hope I’m wrong so I thought I would check with you to see if you had heard from him before I call them,” Scott said.
“You can’t just call Infinity; they’re not going to be in the phone book,” Brenda shrieked.
“Can I borrow your phone to check?” Scott asked.
Ray gestured with his hand towards his office. Scott made himself comfortable behind the desk and lifted the phone. Just as he was about to dial the doorbell rang. Ray looked out the window.
“This can’t be good,” Ray stiffened.
Three black Mercedes parked in the driveway. Ray opened the front door. A man climbed out of the first car. He was immaculately dressed in a black suit, with a white shirt and no tie. The man smiled as he paced towards the front door.
“Raymond Steed. Let me introduce myself. I’m Dexter, I work for Infinity, and I’m Jason’s handler,” Dexter said offering his hand. “And you must be Brenda Steed and if I’m not mistaken, you must be Scott Turner. We have spoken, Scott on the phone.”
“Is Jason safe?” Scott asked.
“Ah well can we go inside and talk? It’s a rather delicate matter and highly secret.” Dexter said.
Once inside the house Dexter took in his surroundings.
“You have a very nice home Mr. Steed,” Dexter continued. “I work for an organization called Infinity. We are very much like MI6 or your SYUI but we operate worldwide and have agents in every secret service and many world leaders and military heads. We take only the best and as you know Jason is the best of the best.”
“So it’s true Jason was working for you?” Brenda said.
“We would rather call it training. We educate some of the world’s most gifted and talented teenagers. And as we all know, Jason Steed is no normal thirteen-year-old boy; he was suspended from his last school and expelled from an American acad
emy. Where he is now he is among other teens with abilities. The education is first class plus we teach survival skills etc,” Dexter said.
“Dexter answer Scott’s question. We can discuss what school Jason goes to later and this Infinity thing. How is he?” Ray asked.
Dexter nodded and gave a tight-lipped smile. “A good question deserves the right answer. Honest answer is, we let him down. We used him to lure Boudicea out of her lair and we suspect we failed and she has him.”
Ray stepped forward and clasped Dexter’s shirt with both hands. “If any harm comes to my son I will personally hold you responsible and see to it that this Infinity program is closed down,” Ray growled.
Dexter gave a weak smile. “That wouldn’t work out well for you Mr. Steed. Let’s try and stay positive after all. We all want Jason back.”
“How did she get him? I thought you had agents watching him?” Scott said.
“From what we can gather a professional team of assassins took him. One of our agents was hit by a tranquilizer. We located others near Mr. Tong’s body; we suspect that one knocked Jason out.”
Scott’s eyes widened. “Mr. Tong’s body, you mean Wong Tong? Is he dead?” Scott gasped his eyes almost popping out of his head.
“I’m afraid so. None of the blood at the scene matches Jason’s, so by all accounts he’s unharmed. You can be assured we have every agent working on this. Infinity is the most powerful secret service in the world. When one of our agents is taken we will not stop until every stone is unturned. I promise you we will double the effort because he is a junior agent and our best agent at that.”
Ray sat heavily on a couch. Brenda sat next to him and held his hand.
“Scott I need you to come with me; we need your help.” Dexter said.
“Wong Tong is dead?” Scott gulped, “Jason is gonna be so upset he idolizes him. And oh boy will he be angry. Believe me I have seen Jason angry and it’s not pretty.”
Ray sprang to his feet. “You’re not taking Scott anywhere. If you can’t protect Jason how can we trust you to look after Scott?”