Chapter 6
Natalie locked up her apartment and headed downstairs to meet with Ephraim. It was Thursday and her left shoulder was still sore from the maneuvers she was learning Monday night. Tonight was going to be rough she knew but she also enjoyed working with Eph. He hated his full name and said only his mother and his boss would use his full name. He preferred Eph. He was in remarkable condition for his age and considering some of what he had been through. He left Mossad after being shot three times in the lower spine. He wasn't even sure if he'd be able to walk again let alone move the way he could. He needed physical therapy still at times and often went to a massage therapist for nerve damage in his right hip that would act up at times.
Eph was in his 40's and had been with Mossad for over a decade. He was on a mission when he met his wife. She was from the states and had been studying in Syria at the time. They fell in love and when he was shot, on that very mission, it was she that stayed by his side in the hospital. She even transferred schools to Tel Aviv while he was undergoing his operations and physical therapy. When he was given his discharge from Mossad, he asked her to marry him. They moved in with her family at first and have been happily married for 10 years now. She got a job as a translator in Washington 5 years ago and they moved from West Virginia. He opened his gym with the money he had gathered while working for Mossad and their lives seemed quite complete.
Ephraim could speak 6 languages but was only truly fluent in Hebrew, English and Arabic. He picked up French and Persian early on in his career with Mossad and was learning Pashtu from his wife. He held black belts in aikido and judo and studying boxing when he was a teenager. Krav Maga came in his secret agent days. He said that Krav Maga was like the bastard child of a lot of other disciplines. It was as if they borrowed and stole from the others and created something much more dangerous and potentially deadly.
Natalie scanned her card at the inner doors and walked into the gym. A couple of people were using machines and another person was using the weights. Eph was busy at his front desk working away at something. Natalie was 10 minutes early for her appointment, as per usual. He looked up and smiled. He wasn't much taller than Nat, which really helped her feel comfortable enough with him to want to take one of his other classes. He convinced her to do private lessons and that he would teach her Krav Maga. It wasn't one of his regular courses but upon hearing her story and asking a few questions he felt she would do best with it. As he put it, "Krav Maga will give you skills for your size and you can go up against just about anyone regardless of their size. The others will teach you techniques but your size could still be a disadvantage against a larger male in particular." He sold her on it. He also cut her a deal as his private lessons were usually more expensive. He hated to see women feel scared and felt as if it was his duty to help them in any way he could. He admitted he even taught his wife a few things for his own peace of mind.
"Evening Natalie," he said to her, his voice still heavy with an Isreali accent, "How have you been since Monday?"
She rolled her left shoulder tentatively and it still sent a slight pain down her arm, "My left shoulder is still sore from what we were doing."
"No problem, I can change up what we do a bit to give it some more rest. Have you been using the rub I suggested for joints?" He had given her the name of a product from a natural therapy store in the city. He said it was better than what you get at most pharmacies and is very popular in Europe and the Middle East. He wasn't kidding.
"Yes, it's been a huge help, and the witch hazel you suggested is helping with my bruises as well." At first her academic advisor was afraid she was being abused, until she told him what she was learning. He didn't look at her with pity quite as much since she started using witch hazel. It helped with the swelling of new bruises as well as the coloring. She also found they weren't as sensitive to touch anymore either making it easier to keep going with her training and being grabbed or hit in the same spot until she figured out how to avoid Eph's moves.
He smiled and they walked into one of the classrooms. Eph had two. One was larger and built to take classes of approximately 20 students. The classes ranged from yoga to judo and spinning and jazzercise. He had a wonderful female trainer who was able to teach the softer classes while he took the heavier and martial arts classes. The smaller classroom was equipped with mats all over the floor, a punching bag as well as a few other self defense tools like the padded upper torso of a male on a stand. Eph taught smaller self defense classes of usually 5-8 students and his one-on-one studies.
Natalie walked to the far side and set her bag down on the bench that was along the window that faced the mall hallway. This room made her feel safe as very few people would actually see what she would be doing. The larger classroom's window faced the street. She went into her bag and pulled out her water bottle as past experience taught her she would be needing it multiple times over the next hour. She also brought out her wraps. Eph came over to help her wrap her hands but she waved him off, "I've been practicing," she told him and he nodded. Eph did not wrap his hands. He only did if he would be hitting a bag numerous times in a lesson and their one-on-one rarely called for him to show her a punch more than twice.
They started as always with Natalie punching the heavy bag as he called out the various types. Now that she was familiar with their names this was their warm up. After 10 minutes of her punches and a few kicks Natalie's heart was beating fast and she was sweating. They went through a few of the moves from Monday night, but at a slow pace to make sure Natalie remembered how to maneuver her body. Eph slowly started speeding up and threw in some attacks that Natalie learned to defend against last week. He caught her off guard and had her thrown to the mats within a few minutes. He praised her though as she lasted longer than usual and had done remarkably well when he started throwing in the different moves.
"We're going to start learning a bit more with legs tonight I think, one to give your shoulder a rest still, but also because you've learned some of the more basics with upper body. Once we throw in the lower body stuff I can start to show you how to put the two together and then work at some of the more aggressive attacks okay?" He said all this while grabbing the defense dummy. Nat started calling him Buddy, because he was her attack buddy.
45 minutes later and Natalie was sore. She had multiple bruises developing all along her legs. Her right ankle was sore from hitting the heavy bag wrong and Eph suggested wrapping it for a few days. "It's not broken or even sprained really, just a heavy hit" he told her when he checked it out. She sat on the bench huffing and puffing from all the heavy work and was finishing off the last of her second bottle of water. "You did well. Keep practicing the moves, even at slow motion, to get your body and muscles to remember how to move. The muscle memory will come in time."
Ephraim always made her feel good at the end of a class. It was clear that she would be woefully unprepared to go up against someone like him and it often made her feel frustrated that no matter what she did, what she learned, he always had a move to block her. He only did that to show her she still had more to learn, but was good enough to let her get her hits in and to successful perform a move to build her confidence. She appreciated that he always wanted her to feel like she was getting better and that she could do this. Their first class at the end she was nearly in tears and he stopped early.
"You are doing well, please don't feel bad." He rubbed her back as he sat her down and she started to cry in earnest, "It's okay to cry," he told her, "Is it pain?" he asked worried that perhaps this would be too rough for her.
"No, I'm upset," she told him while wiping tears, "I'm a perfectionist and I hate that I can't just seem to do this."
He nodded his head in understanding, "Remember that I have been doing this for nearly 25 years. When I started training it took me 2 weeks before I actually landed a punch on my trainer and I had studied boxing. It will come in time and no one learns it perfectly right away. It takes time. Be patient with yourself Natalie and allow yourself the chance to make mistakes and learn from them." She nodded her head in understanding and had to constantly remind herself that just because school came so easy to her did not mean this would too. It would take time. Be patient. Be patient. Learn from every misstep and failed hit.
Before she left the gym Eph brought her over to the desk. There was only one person in the gym when they exited the classroom. It was an older lady Natalie saw regularly. She came in late at night and walked on the treadmill. Ephraim said she was also in a few of the classes that they ran but she didn't trust people to go for walks anymore and she had trouble sleeping. She liked to walk at night but rarely felt safe. She lived a few blocks away and always took a taxi at night but would walk until she felt she could go home. Usually Eph or his other trainer, Sylvia, were here and they would drive her home.
"I have a couple things for you to borrow," he told her while he pulled a book and a dvd out from a cabinet. "This was my training guide when I started with Mossad. The book will break down attacks and defenses for you and the dvd is actually of my training class. They used to video us to help up better see how to move, where we needed to work etc. There's numerous videos you can watch so you can see the progress of a group and see how well you are doing." Natalie smiled. "I think you'll like the book, you do well with books" he told her smiling. He got such a kick out of her intelligence and book smarts. She was grateful that he would share these things with her.
She thanked him and left the gym to go back to her place and have a much needed shower. She was also going to have to put some ointment and witch hazel on tonight. She could only imagine what shape her legs were going to be in the morning and she was planning on going to NCIS HQ tomorrow. I guess a skirt is out of the question she thought to herself.
After a steaming hot shower and her rub down on her legs and shoulders Natalie finished her usual nightly routine. She brushed her teeth and braided her wet hair knowing if she didn't it would be a terror in the morning. She double checked her door was locked and set her coffee maker to go off in the morning. She took off her towel and dressed in a tank top and underwear. Her side of the building's air conditioner was on the fritz and with just a window and a fan it could get warm overnight still. She climbed into bed and took a sip of the water she kept at her bedside and took an ibeprophen to help with her aches and pains and slipped off to sleep.
When Nat woke the following morning and stepped from her bed her right ankle told her it was not happy to have weight put on it. She looked down and there was no bruising but a little bit of swelling. Before she did anything, even go get her coffee, she wrapped it. Her legs looked like a rosharch test and she chuckled to herself. Grabbing her coffee and adding a bit of sugar and milk to it she brought it back into the bedroom to sip while she got dressed.
Today she would be getting her NCIS security badge and they said they'd have it for her at the front gate. She really wished she could wear a skirt today with the heat wave that was hitting the city but there was no way she could go about with the way her legs looked. Too many people would have questions she wasn't ready to explain. She also had a few first interviews set up and she hoped a couple of them would submit to being subjects for her study.
She pulled out a pair of dressy capris and put them on. The one bruise on her shin wasn't that dark and she felt confident it wouldn't be too noticeable. She grabbed a short sleeved blouse and bra before getting dressed. After that she went to the bathroom and adjusted the few hairs that came loose from her French braid, grateful that for once her hair didn't go crazy on her in sleep. She put on a little bit of make-up and then took her coffee with her to the kitchen. She finished it and rinsed her cup before grabbing everything she would need for today.
In her bag she packed her wallet along with her personal effects she liked to keep with her. She put in a new notebook and multiple pens. She also put in her recorder so she could have more accurate notes later. She like to write down impressions and things she noticed or would like to discuss at a later date in her notebook and keep the interviews to the tape. She also grabbed a few items that would come in handy. She had a rubix cube, play dough and a string of beads. She found it helped people to talk sometimes if they had something to distract themselves and their hands with. It also helped with anxiety. She grabbed something she through Abby might like, it was a little voodoo doll and it seemed appropriate for the goth. She had their interview today and knew Abby would be nervous. She wanted her to feel comfortable and safe. She also planned on interviewing everyone in their regular workspace if she could.
She called for a taxi and went downstairs to the café. It was open and she ordered a muffin for breakfast and went to wait for her ride. I should look into getting my license, she thought to herself, then I could look into a car and I wouldn't have to take a cab everywhere. Natalie was not a fan of buses or subways. She was stuck on a stopped subway one time for over an hour and from that moment she had a fear of confined spaces in public. They only seemed to really bother her if she was surrounded by strangers.
Her ride wasn't long and she gave them the address for NCIS. Her driver was a talkative fellow and she didn't mind. She imagined driving people around all day could get boring. She had no problems talking with strangers, especially one-on-one. She loved hearing their life stories and matching their personalities to the various ones she studied. She really did love learning how people thought, felt and coped. She had decided it was definitely her passion, she just needed to figure out how that would work in a paying profession.