Hi-jacked / FRW

12

Chapter 13

Annie Goes to Franks with the Seals.

5:50 AM Day 16, Road into Frank's Range:

Annie elected to spend the night with Auggie even thought it meant she had to get up early to be at the range by six when Frank would expect her. She'd only done that a couple of other times, but she just wasn't able to make herself leave. Auggie'd gotten up to make her coffee and fill a travel mug so she was wide-awake. She had left a message for Frank that she would arrive early and meet him for breakfast in his cafeteria. As she came around the final corner, she could see through the trees that the cafeteria light was on. She knew the Seals weren't scheduled to arrive before 9:00, so she and Frank would have time for a debrief about the combat parts of her last five months. She knew Frank already understood a lot because he'd been at the award ceremony. That still blew her mind.

She'd had Joan talk to Calder and confirm to Calder that Frank had been cleared by the DPD to work with Annie by providing after-action critiques. He'd even reviewed un-redacted parts of her reports and submitted written critiques after Carlisle and what Annie called 'The Warehouse.'

Frank had made very few criticisms. He did write that she took an unnecessary chance when she left the snipers alive. She should have arranged in advance for someone to take them into custody while she went on with the mission. In truth, calling for someone to take them in earlier than she did hadn't occurred to her because it might have raised an alarm at the warehouse. He eventually came to see it from her point of view.

After reading Frank's written critiques, Annie wasn't looking forward to what he might say after she told him she gunned down a defenseless Henry Wilcox in the alley or that she didn't take the earlier shot. She was anxious to hear what he thought about the shot at the car.

She knew from their phone conversation yesterday that what he called her cottage had been put back pretty much as she had left it and was ready for her to occupy tonight.

She regretted missing Jo and Megan's farewell this morning, but the time evening before last with Jo had turned out well. She was really looking forward to the weekend at the car show and Memorial Day with Auggie's parents. She also needed to tell Frank that she and Auggie were engaged. She hoped she and Auggie could go ring shopping after she returned from this training session. Auggie agreed that with her history, and no training for nearly six months, these days at the range with Frank and the Seals were important.

As chance would have it, her phone rang just as she came to a stop. She checked the screen and saw Megan's name. She answered, "Hi, Megan."

"I had hoped to see you this morning. Auggie said you had an appointment that wouldn't reschedule."

"I just arrived at Frank's. He could fit me in for two days with the three Seals you met. I don't get to train with others, and there is a huge benefit to that, even though I usually fight alone. One important reason is that group training helps me anticipate what others might do if I'm fighting a team."

"You haven't been there for nearly six months, or maybe a bit longer?"

"Correct. And I miss it."

"Annie, thanks for your assistance in running down Pearson and Rickman. The FBI has gotten credit for that. "

"You earned it. Thank you for making yourself, Jo, and the resources of your office available. Megan, we made a good team. We teamed this time. Nobody, meaning me, went off the rails."

"No, you didn't, but those of us who know you weren't surprised that you can be a superb teammate."

"Thanks. You and Jo were all-in as well. Nobody had their foot out the door. Not even Rossabi."

"Speaking of Rossabi, with his help, the rumors are that the CIA took down Henry, but nobody is confirming anything. It may remain a mystery. Apparently, nobody has any interest in digging into how that really good thing happened. Everybody who cares already knows, and they aren't talking."

Annie didn't like all this talk on unencrypted lines, and she saw Frank look out the door, so she said, "Frank just looked out the door at me sitting here in his parking lot for the second time. I think I need to get in there. Megan, thanks, and I hope we get to work together again. Even though the circumstances never seem to be anything like normal; I do enjoy it."

"You're welcome and thank you. Don't be a stranger."

Annie said, "I won't," and ended the call.

She grabbed the envelope that had the new contract for Frank and headed for the door.

When she walked in, Frank held out a full and steaming coffee cup to her. She looked up at his rugged face and saw that his eyes brimmed with tears. She said, "Frank, put it down."

When he set the cup down, she stepped over to him, gave him a hug for the first time in their association, and said, "Thank you. I'm alive because you offered me training. I owe you more than I can repay. And I was thrilled that you were at that award ceremony. That whole thing took me by surprise." Then she released him and stepped back.

He was clearly having a hard time with his emotions; his lips quivered a little, and he covered it by turning to pick up her coffee and hand it to her before he said, "Forgive me, Bugs, but I nearly lost it when they told me you were a traitor, a rogue agent. When I got the story of how you'd been killed, I couldn't believe it. You'd have eaten that desk jockey for a snack. There was no way some idiot could beat you in that kind of a standoff. I thought it must be fake, but when the months went by and there was no change, I thought you must really be dead. But, I never believed for one second you were a traitor. Not one second."

"Thank you for that. There were a few that never believed it."

"I called this colonel I know, who shall remain nameless, that was at the restaurant in Carlisle. He said he didn't believe it for a second either. He figured you'd been thrown under the bus by your management. It took everything I had not to go after them."

Annie said, "You should know that Auggie was in on the deception from the beginning. I'm going to go out on a very slender limb here and tell you something that's highly classified. Calder Michaels is the man you have to deal with on my contracts, so you should know he's one of the good guys. He was in on it from the beginning and actually did shoot me in the vest with four rounds of nine-millimeter target loads that would barely cycle the gun. He did it at my request."

"I appreciate you telling me that. It will go a long way to keep him alive should we ever meet face-to-face away from a crowd."

"I was so glad to see you at the award ceremony. I didn't even know it was happening. If I had, I might have left the country."

Frank grinned and said, "I told them that. But I had to leave because I couldn't face you the first time in front of all those people."

"I understand completely. Again, thanks for coming. It meant a lot to me that you, Peters, and his team were there."

"Wouldn't have missed it. But I do want you to fill me on what's happened where you can."

Annie said, "Oh yeah. I told you I'd only popped seven caps since I was here last. I have permission to tell you about the fights but not about their context. Want to hear about them?"

"That's what I'm talking about. How about some fresh muffins, or fresh bagels slathered liberally with cream cheese and strawberry jam?"

Annie laughed and said, "Now you're talking. All of the above?"

Frank smiled for the first time since she'd entered the room and gestured toward the breakfast bar he had set up. There were some blueberry muffins, lemon cake muffins, and fresh bagels. She didn't know how he managed that, but there they were, and it wasn't the first time he'd done that. These had become almost standard since she was considered to be a graduate of the school. She plated two muffins, cut a bagel in half and slathered it with butter, cream cheese, and strawberry jam. She took the plate to the table to sit across from Frank who had fixed himself a bagel with cream cheese only and had poured himself another coffee.

Annie took Frank through the fights in the last five months. They discussed the shot at the car quite a bit. Frank said she'd done it right, but he would arrange for her to have a chance to practice that next time she was here. He could set up a moving car to moving car shot using a remote controlled car if she wanted that, but he thought firing in and around a car might be more useful. He hadn't had her do that before because her fights usually didn't involve cars. He did say that he'd look into a trailer that had part of a car mounted on it that they could tow behind various vehicles. He thought he could make it so it would duck back and forth.

When they arrived at the point in the story where she was alone in the alley facing Henry for the last time, she paused for a couple of seconds and then said, "Frank, I just stood there and put two bullets in his heart." Frank offered his hand. She said, "Frank, it wasn't much of a shot."

He said, "I disagree completely. It was a hell of a shot. Not hard technically – not for you anyway – but hard mentally and emotionally because you are not aggressive, assaultive, or murderous by nature. You had to force yourself to do this."

She agreed, "Yes, you are right. I had to force myself to pull the trigger. It was the first time I shot someone who wasn't trying to kill me. That still makes me an assassin. I'm still struggling to come to grips with being an assassin. But he was truly evil, Frank. He was the human incarnation of a scorpion. He told me we kept expecting him to be what he wasn't. The only way to stop him was to kill him. So I did."

Frank told her, "The ability to do that, to follow your convictions, without it being your nature, was what I looked for in our first couple of sessions. When I saw it, I knew I had to make sure you were ready for that moment should it come. Your victory over Henry was more mental than physical. Moral courage won out over avarice, treachery, and greed. It doesn't always, but because of your solid core values, it did this time."

Annie felt some relief. She'd hoped for that assessment based on her conversations with Auggie and Chief Peters, but to hear it from this highly respected mentor was validation she really needed. Her voice still had a little tremor when she said, "Thank you. I needed to hear that from you." The reservation was that she wasn't done confessing yet.

When he said, "Well, shall we take a look at your cottage and see if I got it right?" She felt her body tense with the need to reject that way out of what she needed to do next.

Instead she took a breath, summoned her courage and said, "I have one more event to tell you about. But, it isn't easy for me to tell this part of the story. I want to relate it to you because I did it, and I have to live with it."

Frank's voice was matter-of- fact when he said, "Tell me about it, Bugs. You can tell me anything, and it stays right here. What happened?"

She could hear the uncertainty in her voice but couldn't do anything about it when she said, "I surrendered to Henry's goons to get close enough to him to kill him. I was in an office building as Henry's prisoner. A heavily armed team assaulted the floor of the building we were on. I expected a team to attack that would give me a chance to kill Henry. This team sprayed automatic fire at random. They were literally hosing down the office killing everybody they encountered. Man. Woman. It didn't matter. This was not what I expected. I was really under pressure trying to keep track of Henry, stay alive, and get a chance to kill him if I could. Two of Henry's people thrust Henry and me behind an overturned table. It was dumb. That table wouldn't stop a three-eighty - never mind the submachine gun bullets they had coming our way.

One of the guards pushed Henry over to one side and got him out of there. The remaining one stood up to shoot at the attackers and was killed almost instantly. His stupidity kept me alive for another few seconds since I was on the floor and the bullets directed at him went over my head.

"My focus was on Henry. I had to force myself to look from side-to-side to hold back the tunnel vision and keep from freezing. One of those glances showed me that the dead man that had been guarding me had dropped his gun right next to me. I grabbed it, moved over to where I could get up on one knee; let my vision tunnel in on Henry's head. I was aware of plaster, glass and bits of furniture floating across my vision between Henry and me. He moved in slow motion. I finally had the front sight on his head. I could see the fear on his face, then I heard a voice behind me say 'put the gun down'; my vision jiggled, and I felt the muzzle of a pistol pressed down against the crown of my head. Henry said, 'Don't shoot her,' in a voice that sounded like panic." She stopped talking and buried her face in her hands for a few seconds. She took a deep breath and lifted her head to look Frank in the eye.

She summoned everything she had left in a vain effort to put some substance into her voice, but it still sounded like a little girl to her when she said, "I can't tell you what I was thinking in that moment. It seemed to last a lifetime, although I know now it was no more than a couple of seconds. I had a choice, pull the trigger, maybe kill Henry and certainly die almost before he did. Or I could put down the gun and hope I might get a sure chance to kill Henry later. I can't tell you what went on in my head because ... I just don't know. I do know I kept my eyes on him and I put the gun down. I felt like a coward and hated myself for not having the courage to pull that trigger when all that was required was a little dying, but in retrospect, it was not a certain shot. So I put the gun down."

She couldn't look him in the eye and pushed her chair back while she said weakly, "If you ... oh God ... if you ... don't want me-"

Frank was off his chair and around the table before she could finish that sentence. He squatted down to put himself at her eye level, gathered up both her hands and barked, "Annie! Look at me. Look right here in my eyes." He had never spoken that forcefully to her before; she raised her eyes to look at him and in an instant knew it would be okay. She saw concern, fear for her well-being, but no condemnation at all. No part of his expression or his gaze was other than concern, fears for her, and buried under it all, approval. When she met his gaze, he said, "What you did was not cowardice. It was the exact opposite. You bet your life that you would get a better chance, and you did. Your instincts served you well. You read him in that moment and saw the odds were in your favor if you were still alive, so you elected to live instead of take the copout. Real time decision making is your most valuable talent."

Annie heard her voice regain its usual confidence, tinged with a bit of wonder, when she sat back up straight and said, "You really believe that. I can see it in your eyes. Thank you for your faith in me. I really needed to see that. It gives me all of my self-respect back. Without it I'm a shell going through the motions."

"Yes, I absolutely believe it. I also absolutely believe you are one of the most courageous people I've ever met. Woman, you have courage in places others don't even have places. You surrendered yourself into the custody of an insanely evil man who had effectively supervised your execution to get close enough to kill him. You kept your head through two team attacks, and used your ability to read and manipulate people against a senior Chinese Agent, under extreme and life-threatening duress, to take him and his armed guard down bare handed and escape. Then you completed your mission and did the exfil with thousands looking for you on their home territory. Annie, it doesn't get better than that, ever.

"That was, in a word, incredible. But with all that, the moment that was the mission was when you put your gun down to take a shot later. On top of that, every accomplishment you have from that moment forward, including taking down Henry, is because you made that decision. Your record of service, your list of accomplishments is far from complete, all because you made that decision.

"Knowing the story now, I completely understand and totally agree with the Distinguished Intelligence Cross award. It was way more than well earned. Well done, Agent Walker."

Annie closed her eyes and was almost dizzy with relief. She suddenly knew she wouldn't depend on it ever again, but in this moment, the opinion of this mentor counted for more than any other opinion. Including Auggie's.

She felt herself start to rock, opened her eyes as Frank grabbed her shoulder to keep her from falling, but she didn't need it. She felt whole. She wished she hadn't needed his approval as badly as she did, but she also knew that after this, she'd be her own best critic. It was really the moment of her graduation.

Frank released her hand and her shoulder, pulled over a chair and sat down a few feet away while she collected herself. She finally looked at him and said with heartfelt sincerity, "Thank you. I am not ashamed to say I desperately needed your approval. I won't need it again. I think that was truly the moment of my graduation. But I don't want to stop training here with you. I have a lot more to learn."

"You are right, that was the moment you became my true peer and probably my teacher. I can school you in technique; teach you tools, but when it comes to the field, your skill at applying them under incomprehensible pressure is on a level I can't match. Could never match."

# # #

6:30 PM Day 16, Cafeteria at Franks Range.:

While she waited for Frank to come back with a new recoil spring assembly for her Glock 26, Annie reviewed the training with the Seals in her head. They were fun to train with and really good sports. My handgun skills are superior to theirs in every way, but their team tactics give them a huge advantage. I'm not going to be in their position, with an assault team I train with regularly, but had I trained with others and practiced team moves, I'd do better under pressure if there were friendlies in the fight. Eyal, Jo, any military group trained in close quarters battle. Plus, if I trained with a team like that, I'd develop my instincts for what an opposing team would do when I'm fighting them alone. But who can I train with? Peters, Max, and Lew are headed back for the South China Sea, or soon will be. I know from firsthand experience that's an impossible commute. Auggie can't train with me ... wouldn't that be cool ... but it can't happen. Calder is the acting DC; he's still covert, but if he gets the job permanently, he will be overt. Waste of time training with him.

Jo? Uh ... she's in Philly, and she's FBI. I've not seen her shoot. She's coordinated, tough enough with some to spare. I need to think about this. I wonder what Frank would do to vet her? Assuming she could get here to train with me on short notice. She does fly. She needs to do some flying just to keep her ratings current. I wonder if she rented a plane and flew down here would it count toward her rating retention? I wonder if there is anyplace close by she could land. I could pick her up and deliver her back to the plane - we'd be here at the same time pretty much every time.

Annie was totally lost in thought to the point that Frank's return surprised her. He noticed, and while he handed her the new recoil assembly for her Glock 26, he said, "You were thinking pretty hard. Might have seen some smoke coming out of your ears. Care to share?"

Annie picked up the slide for her 26, inverted it, slipped the barrel into place, popped in the new recoil spring, gave it a quick visual inspection, then turned the slide right side up, picked up the receiver, aligned them, pushed the slide on, habitually checked for an empty chamber and then did a quick function check. Gun was just fine. That all took about fifteen seconds while she decided how much to tell Frank. In the end, she set the gun on the table, looked in his direction and decided to tell him the whole thing.

"I was thinking about the training with the Seals the last two days. I shoot circles around them with a handgun, but their team tactics are awesome. They move like they were part of the same body. I'm not good working with someone else like they are. It's true; most of the time it's me against the world out there. There is seldom more than my footsteps when I'm going into a fight, but I can't help thinking that training in team tactics would be good for me. It might allow me to be more instinctive about what an opposing team would do. Me against many isn't unheard of."

Frank said, "The fact that you were on the receiving end of two team attacks just a couple of weeks ago, for example. I must say you handled that well because you are here."

"I might have done some things differently had I done the last two day's training before that happened. I can't say for sure. Except for the 15 or 20 seconds I had a gun in my hand, I was completely defensive and in total sensory overload. I only remember certain parts of it. Most of survival was feeling the pressure of the battle and shifting to stay ahead of it to the extent that was possible as a prisoner."

"You could feel the pressure of the battle?"

"Sure. It was almost as if I could feel their attack and shift to be someplace else. The guard didn't feel it because I had to push him sometimes to stay out of the line of fire. It wasn't like I saw it coming; I could just feel where it was going to be and avoided it that way."

"You are a natural. I only know two or three others that experience that when they are in a fight. You are already in rare class of fighters with that ability. I had it. It kept me alive. Did you feel the same thing when the second team attacked?"

"Yes, but they felt different and I was gone in less than a minute. They weren't as coordinated; there was a desperation about the way they exposed themselves, but ... oh my gosh; I know why they felt different. They were trying to miss me! I wondered how I survived and the guy next to me didn't. Yet, Henry got me in the car, and it drove away without a single bullet hole in it. That explains a lot."

"You felt that in real time?"

"I felt the difference, and apparently I reacted to it, but I didn't understand it until this moment."

"Do you feel it in the shoot house?"

"No. Not really. The shoot house is noisy, and a lot of crap is happening, but it doesn't feel like a fight."

"In what way?"

"Fights, especially team attacks, have a life of their own; the shoot house is just cacophony. Random distractions like a carnival fun house on steroids. It's good for learning to focus, but there is some sort of method in the madness of a fight that isn't there in the shoot house. The opposing sides have goals. That's not there in the shoot house. At least not when I'm training solo. Training with the Seals, there was more feeling of realism than when I train alone.

"Don't get me wrong, the training we've done in there has taught me to be nearly immune to all the crap going on around me, to tune it out and still stay in touch with the situation. That is a vital skill. When all hell was breaking loose in that office building in Kowloon, I had no trouble keeping my head when Henry's mercenaries were losing theirs. I couldn't do that, not even close, without the hours I've spent in that shoot house. It's probably why I'm alive today. But it doesn't feel like a real fight."

Frank sat looking in her direction, but he wasn't seeing her; he was clearly replaying the day in the shoot house. Finally, he said, "Thanks. You've given me something to work on. I need to figure out how to make the shoot house feel like a real close quarters battle."

"Fights don't always feel like that. When I was trying to escape pursuit in- Shit, I can't tell you about that. Well, okay, a hypothetical version, I was in the woods being pursued by troops, both on foot and on ATV's. I was fluent in their language and could feel and hear them closing in on me. Capture appeared inevitable. It wasn't the same when the team attacked in Kowloon. If I'd known more about team tactics in Kowloon, I might have been able to evade that team and kill Henry before the MSS safe house. It would have been a major victory if I could have done that."

"I can't have you train with people who don't already know who and what you are. Peters and his small team are a rare exception, but Jed's stationed in the South China Sea and won't be back around here maybe ever. If he is, I'll definitely give you a call, but who else is there?"

"May I offer a name? She hasn't shot anybody that I know of or taken down platoons, but she's incredibly level headed under pressure, extremely athletic, and way tougher than I am."

"You are one of the toughest people I know; what makes you think that?"

"She was stripped naked, hung from the ceiling and given two electro shocks that nearly tore her apart. When they tried to get her to talk, she said, 'Go fuck yourself.' I heard her scream in agony in a way that stopped my heart, twice, and she was still able to say that to the bastard torturing her.

"I know she has a 3rd degree black belt, and she's in way better physical condition than I am, but I haven't really seen her shoot or fight. I've been next to her in fights, but I was point and nothing got past me to her."

"She was the FBI Agent you rescued in the warehouse?"

"Yes. She was the brunette FBI agent at the award ceremony. "

"I remember her. She moved like a cat, and she didn't miss much. I wouldn't want to have to take her at my age. Have you seen her in any other situation?"

"She and I were side by side in the hangar when the FBI took down Archie Rickman and Brent Piper. In fact, I took down Piper; she took down the driver. We wanted them alive."

"I know of Brent Piper. He's a moose. How did you do?"

"I put him in the hospital and messed up my ankle while I was doing it. That's why it's all taped up."

"How did she do with the driver?"

"I didn't see what happened on that side of the car. By the time I had Piper on the ground, she was cuffing the driver, and Peters was holding Rickman until somebody showed up with more cuffs. But she was right there calm and cool when we knew it was going down. She didn't hesitate when the moment came; she went for it, all in. Didn't blink. When we were fighting our way out of that warehouse, she recovered from the torture in about two minutes - the time it took to get her in some clothes. She had my six the whole way out. No confusion, no hesitation, both feet in the boat."

Frank went over to a small desk, took out a small pad and pen, brought them to Annie, and said, "Give me her name and number. I'll give her a call. There are two problems: first, she's in Philly and needs to put in a lot of time here to catch up with you, if she even can. Second, once she catches up, your training is about as random and impossible to schedule as it gets. It's going to be hard to get her here when you are here. Third, I need to figure out if she's worth training. The fact that you suggest her after seeing her in life threatening situations gives her a chance for assessment. Do you think her management would support her training?"

Annie said, "Just a second." She wrote both Jo's and Megan's contact information on the paper and handed it back to Frank. Then after a few seconds thought, she continued, "Her boss is Supervisory Special Agent in Charge Megan Burk. Her name and number are on there as well. She was the other female FBI Agent at the award ceremony. She runs the Philadelphia FBI office. I met her in the restaurant in Carlisle. She was the FBI Agent in Charge at the scene.

"Supervisory Special Agent Jo Bell is her second in command. I met Jo and her late partner, Agent Larson, after the take down of the two terrorists south of Carlisle the next day. Her partner, Larson, was killed in that warehouse when they were captured. They kept Jo alive to torture her. They killed Larson to soften her up.

"Burk and Bell were the official leaders of the FBI team that took down Senator Pearson and Archie Rickman. We worked out of a team room in Langley. Both Agents Bell and Burk were cleared for unescorted entry into the DPD with full access. I'm not sure that's ever happened before. Need to know of course, like all of us, but they can drive into Langley, walk in the door and right to my desk.

"They had to be there. I couldn't leave without Peters and his team for security, or I'd have been shot. They had a contract out on me. Brent Piper was the hit man Rickman had hired to assassinate me. I was the actual leader of the team, and Burk will tell you that, but officially the FBI had to be in charge. The CIA is not an investigative agency. We wanted everything to stand up under extreme judicial scrutiny because we were after some high-level government officials and they had tremendous power. Bell and Burk are both lawyers, graduates of U of M and Yale respectively, so we kept our hands clean. It may amuse you to know I had to present the data to your buddy Judge Marks to get the warrant."

"Judge Marks? You know Judge Marks? You know he knows me?"

"I don't know him, but I was in his office recently. He threw Rossabi and Burk out of the office for about an hour while we talked. I know he's been here, seen what I think of as my cottage, and that you and he go way back to his JAG days."

"What does he know about you?"

"More than I'd like. He knows I'm a Covert Officer for the CIA. He signed the order that ratified my FBI NOC with full FBI Agent powers. He's also the judge that approved my Federal carry permit."

Frank chuckled and shook his head before he said, "I can't imagine what it's like to be the person that's supposed to be your boss. It's got to be a lot like teaching butterflies to march."

"If you ever talk to Joan Campbell or Calder Michaels, they may tell you it's a boss's worst nightmare. Joan called Auggie and me her rogue couple."

"Out of curiosity, why wasn't Agent Rossabi put in charge of it? He's the heavy hitter for the FBI in DC. Took down number five on the terror want list and all that."

Annie's heart jumped when Frank said that. She considered for a moment then said, "Frank, Auggie took down number five on the watch list."

"What?"

"He tracked him down in Turkey, captured him, transported him back to the states, and rolled him down the ramp on the back of a cargo plane bound hand and foot into the hands of Rossabi. All Rossabi did was meet the plane when and where I told him to."

"Damn! That's incredible. I wish I'd known."

"Please don't tell him you know. I could go to prison for telling you. But you deserve to know that."

Frank looked at her for a few seconds and then said, "Thank you. Thank you very much. I really appreciate you telling me that."

"You're welcome. Frank, the heavy hitter in DC is Director Ramsey. He's appointed himself one of my Godfathers. You saw him at the ceremony too."

"Yeah, I remember. How did that happen?"

"I saved his ass in Philadelphia, and he knows it."

"You are something else. Look, if you have a few more minutes, there are some things I'd like to share with you. I have two reasons: first, you will now and then see someone that you might want to recommend. Men, I'm not so worried about, but women are special. And before you challenge me on that, please let me tell you some things you might not know, but you'll see they're true based on your own experiences."

"Frank, I'll always listen to you."

"And then do what you damn well please."

"Of course."

He grinned back at her and then said, "The adrenaline reaction, what's commonly called Fight or Flight, works differently in most women than men. In fact, researchers have labeled it Tend-and-Befriend instead of fight or flight, for women. The overall effects of adrenaline on the body are same, but in women they are less extreme than in men for several reasons. First, because the release is delayed by several seconds, maybe half a minute, compared to men, where it's usually immediate. Second, adrenaline levels in women tend to rise more slowly. They have a significantly reduced peak, and they decay slower than in men. Finally, along with adrenaline, women also release oxytocin, which moderates the adrenaline response.

Annie said, "As I understand it, under the influence of adrenaline a lot of things happen. Ability to plan, to create and decide between options is reduced - adrenaline makes me stupid. Fine motor coordination is radically reduced. Sensitivity to pain is reduced. Hearing is reduced. In some people, I'm one, tunnel vision down to a very high resolution three degree visual cone happens. I have to fight that by constantly moving my eyes. The world can be perceived to move in slow motion when the tunnel vision is active. If I let it happen, that effect is very strong. But I move in slow motion too."

"Yup, those are the effects. But, the oxytocin mitigates them, and women appear to have a natural delay in the release of adrenaline. This gives you what I call the three superpowers."

"Seriously?"

"Oh yeah. I know you need to get moving, but let me quickly describe them and see if you don't agree."

Annie checked the time on her phone and said, "Okay."

"The delayed release means that during an ambush, the Middleberg restaurant attack for example, a woman will be better able to assess the situation and plan a response if the situation allows for it. You did that. The slower rise combined with hundreds of hours of training left you with the manual dexterity to pull off some pretty remarkable shooting.

"When the adrenaline hits, you experience the effects, but they happen after you have had time to plan what you will do with your superhuman powers while they last. I would have given a lot to have that ability earlier in my career. You were perfect for the warehouse takedown for exactly this reason. You could plan it, you had enough experience to stay in the zone, and your adrenaline stayed up long enough that it worked for you till the rescue was over."

"I hadn't looked at it like that, but it does make sense."

"Finally, and for you this is very, very, important, women have no social rules related to violence. Unlike men, nearly all of whom grew up tussling with each other, doing ritual monkey dances and throwing some punches, women never learn the rules that go with it. Women don't know the tells for surrender or the tells that say it's time to back off. Women fight completely out of the box. Men almost never claw, bite, or grab hair. Men will nearly always give signs they are moving toward violence. Women almost never do. From a man's point of view, an enraged woman will have made a plan and suddenly attack with full ferocity and no warning. Believe me, that's scary."

"You're right. I almost never freeze; I seem to always have time to plan, and I'm able to react to changes in real time. I'm glad that isn't just luck. The people that say being lucky is better than being good have never been shot."

"Luck has something to do with it, but most of it is because you are so aware of your surroundings. You see things coming, but men don't see you coming. Just like the senior Chinese agent didn't see you coming. You ambushed him with an explosive attack that was totally unexpected."

"I definitely did. It was a conscious effort."

She checked her phone again and was about to say something about the time when Frank continued, "You also don't have either of what I call the super weakness in women. You are only the second woman to train here, but I've taught hundreds of women-only defense courses. And most women have both."

"Super weaknesses? Two?"

"That's what I call them. The first is a freezing shame reaction when a woman gets hit. Most women only experience violence when they're on the receiving end. Even then, they're often told it's their own fault. The most common fix is for them to decide they will learn how to fight and a conscious decision to fight to survive. An act of will. You've clearly done that, and I've done everything in my power to nurture that decision."

"I decided that a long time ago. I was on the high school track team during one of our few stays in the states. One of the guys tried to hit on me, and when I turned him down, he cornered me outside the gym, pressed me back against a wall and groped me. Something snapped in me, and I went off on him. I got in a lot of trouble with the school administration. But, after he got out of the hospital, he never messed with me again. Nobody else did either, but I could live with that. I quit the track team and started on martial arts."

"You don't have the second weakness either. Most women are taught to lose to men. Your experience with that male student cured that one as well."

"It certainly did."

"I'm telling you this for two reasons: first, I want you to think about it. Second, you need to know about it to properly assess female student candidates, like your friend, Jo."

"Jo is very much like me but without the experience and training. She has no hesitation about defeating males in her martial arts classes. They don't want to fight her anymore. Therefore, losing to men isn't a problem. I'm pretty sure she has the female adrenaline reactions you described. She was in a full rage when I got to her in the warehouse, but she was able to control it and stay right with me on the way out of there. My take on her is that she won't ever be captured by anybody again. She'll die resisting first."

"I'll give her a call."

She looked at her phone and said, "Oh crap. Frank, I really gotta go. I'm going to get back to Auggie's late now. He worries about me a little."

"I would too. It's none of my business, but how are the two of you doing?"

"We're engaged. We still have some issues to work through, but we're both all in."

"That's great. Congratulations, Annie. You two are the best people I know. Be good to each other. You both deserve it."

"We haven't had time to go ring shopping yet, but we didn't let that get in the way. I'm almost forcing him to take six weeks off. We'll go hang out and travel: maybe go see my sister in California, meet his family in Glencoe over Memorial Day weekend. I don't need much of a ring - I just need him as my husband when it's all over."

"You set a date yet?"

"No, but I'd rather it was sooner than later. Life seems to be going by like a continuous train wreck, and I'd like to get married before it's too late. I'll tell you right now you will be invited, and we'll be crushed if you don't come. I've no idea where it will be. But we'd love to have you there. My family side is my sister and her two kids. She's divorced; well it's about final anyway. I'd be honored to have you sit on my side of the aisle. Auggie's side of the church will be packed."

"You haven't met his family yet?"

"Nope. Hope to over Memorial Day weekend. I hope they like me."

"I've never met them, but I can say with confidence they will love you. Just be yourself, and you'll have a heck of a good time."

"I will." She turned to go and then turned back and said, "Frank, thanks for the talk yesterday."

He held out his hand and said, "You are welcome."

Annie ignored his hand, gave him hug, and said, "I couldn't have done any of this without you." She released him, picked up the case that held her handguns and said, "Thanks for storing these for me. Take care of yourself. See ya next time."

"Yeah. You're welcome. I'll have a car for you to shoot to pieces."

Annie laughed and headed for her car.

EN: Just so you know I wasn't making it up, my references for the dialog between Annie and Frank about women's adrenaline reactions were the paper "Evolutionary and Biochemical Explanations for a Unique Female Stress Response: Tend-and-Befriend" by Lauren A. McCarthy of the Rochester Institute of Technology and Rory Miller's book "Violence: A Writer's Guide."

I try very hard to make sure the action scenes in my stories are realistic. Alas, that also makes them short because other than social violence, posturing and monkey dances, hostile encounters don't last very long.

01/30/2014