Three days later
Saturday
The Ford Focus completed a reasonable handbrake turn, at the end of the parking lot, before it powered back towards the centre of the open area and executed a perfect, if not exactly straight, emergency stop. The vehicle then accelerated backwards at speed before it flicked around in a good attempt at a J-turn. The car drove around the edge of the parking lot, clockwise and returned to the entrance, where the SUV was parked and pulled up sharply.
"Fucking women drivers!" Dave exclaimed, as he jumped out from the passenger side, the moment the car had stopped. He was followed a few seconds later, from the driver's side, by a laughing Chloe, who grinned from ear to ear!
"Hey! Watch what you're saying, cunt!" I growled.
"I've seen your driving, gorgeous!" Dave laughed. "I speak from experience!"
"Our turn, Joshy boy!" I said and directed Josh to the driver's side. "Think you can match that!"
"Easy!" Josh said and threw a smug look at Chloe, who scowled in return.
"That was fucking awesome!" Chloe said, as I climbed into the car.
We had been at it for four hours and both Chloe and Josh were doing very well. We were using a large, currently unused, parking lot that, in southern Chicago. The plan was to give the kids some more wheel time and also to teach them some defensive and offensive driving. So far they had both learnt to perform a handbrake turn, a J-turn and also had an introduction to drifting. Right now we were letting them get in some fun driving. Chloe tended to have rather a heavy right foot, just like me! Josh liked speed, but was a bit more cautious and preferred to be in better control of the car, when driving. Chloe would get a little carried away with the gas and find herself out of control and skidding off sideways! Needless to say, I thought I would be buying some new tyres soon!
Marty would be coming by later, with Speedy, so we had a decent car with some power and rear-wheel drive! I made a mental note to talk with Dave about obtaining a replacement for Speedy, for Hit Girl to use of course!
Later that afternoon
Safehouse A
The training for this afternoon was to be about disarming.
I wanted to teach Chloe and Josh what to do if they were attacked by somebody armed with a blade or a firearm.
"A knife. In this case a Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife. To us, when we are wearing our combat suits, this knife has no real affect. We can grab it by the blade, using our gauntlets, without injury. We can also deflect the knife, without injury. Lastly, we can be stabbed, also without injury," I explained. "Now, don't get complacent, you might not always be in your combat suit! You know what I mean, don't you Chloe!"
"Yes, Mindy, I do; the bank!" Chloe confirmed.
"Luckily, that time, we were facing a group of dickheads, who were just completely out of their depth and Chloe despatched one very smoothly! Okay, that went well, but in a similar situation you may find yourselves facing competent cunts, when you have no armour and no weapons. So what do ya do?"
"Wind them up, by pretending to be a brazen little hussy?" Josh suggested, with a smug sidewise glance at Chloe.
"Yes, Chloe's unorthodox distraction did help! Unfortunately, you just don't have the legs, Josh!" I replied and we all laughed.
"Normally the knife would be used as a hand-based weapon, not thrown. Therefore, there are different methods available, including the obvious; deflecting the weapon, to point elsewhere; preventing the attacker from bringing the knife to bear and keeping you distance, then they can't stab you, or slash you. Most importantly, keep your cool, clear your mind and focus. Ensure that you always have plenty of room to move, so don't get yourself pushed into a corner or against a wall. You can't fend off the attacker, if you get pinned. Anticipate what the attacker might do, quite often they may not be trained, so they will telegraph their actions."
"Sacrifices may have to be made. Concentrate on protecting your face, neck and vital organs. By face, I mean your eyes primarily, plus you don't want any nasty scars! One stab or slash in the wrong place on your body and you will be neutralised instantly; game over! If you need to defend yourselves, use your forearms. Yes they might get cut, but the cuts won't damage anything vital and you will still be able to fight."
"Dodging and weaving is always useful; the more lithe and agile the better! Keep in motion; a moving target is the more difficult to stab. Pull your body away from any strikes; stomach, head, legs etcetera. You may have to wait to disarm the attacker; an experienced attacker will make sure he is ready, before he strikes, as they will then be open to attack and being disarmed themselves. Always remember that you can back off and rethink things. If you keep your distance, you will be safe. A seasoned attacker may try to lower your defences by making half-hearted attacks, causing minor injuries and weakening your resolve."
"Try counter-attacks when possible. Block with one arm and strike with the other, preferably into the attackers face. These counter-attacks may be better than trying to disarm the attacker and failing. You understand all of that?"
"Kinda!" Chloe admitted.
"A lot of it is logic and common sense," Josh said.
"We really don't give you enough credit Josh! You are a really intelligent kid, I'm very impressed!" I replied as Josh blushed and Chloe scowled. "Josh is right. Self defence is logic and common sense; in a lot of situations people fail because they over think things, or just couldn't focus and think through the problem facing them. You rush in, you die, simple as that! Even I have made that mistake, several times, but thankfully I got out, by the skin of my teeth!"
"Another good and useful skill to learn is Krav Maga. This is all about getting away, not the fighting. Some might say that escaping is cowardly, but you must know your limitations and sometimes it is better to leave and heal, before attacking again. He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day! Krav Maga concentrates on blocking and defending at the same time. There are situations where you just can't escape, so you must create an exit, or buy time to be rescued. Krav Maga can do that for you by breaking the attack pattern of the attacker, then you can start to get control of the situation. Initially we will focus on single attacks, that is one-on-one. Then we can move onto multiple attackers. Those attacks are my favourite; you should be able to manage four simultaneous attacks easily. Let's start some practice, masks on, as this will be full contact!"
..._...
"Okay Jackal! Stab me!" I challenged.
Jackal held the fighting knife with the blade pointing downwards and started moving towards me. I turned squarely towards him, then he lunged forwards, almost catching me by surprise! I fended off the knife in his right hand, but the little shit, had pulled his other fighting knife and now held it to my throat, in his left hand!
"You move, you die, Hit Girl!" Jackal growled.
I threw myself backwards, moving my throat away from the blade and kicked Jackal in the chest as I finished off my back flip. Jackal fell backwards, dropping both of his knives, I dove forwards, swept up both knives and held them to his throat. I quickly whipped them away, as I got flashbacks of doing almost the same thing to Josh, a few months ago and almost killing him. I think the same thing must have happened to Josh, as he ripped off his mask and gasped for air.
"You okay, Josh?" I asked, very concerned and I could see tears in his eyes.
"Just brought back a nasty memory, that's all!" Josh admitted and smiled up at me; I could tell that the smile was forced. I was appalled with myself for not thinking before I put the blades to his throat. I could still see the small scar, from where I had cut him that last time. Chloe pulled off her mask and her eyes were blazing as she glared at me.
"I'm really sorry Josh, I didn't think, you kinda caught me off guard with your moves!"
"Honestly, I'm fine Mindy!" Josh said pointedly, then turned to face Chloe. "And don't you start either, Chloe!"
"Let's call it a day!" I suggested and pulled off my mask.
I left Josh and Chloe on the mat and went to the armoury. Just as I had hung up my combat suit, Chloe came in. She looked very angry.
"That was uncalled for Mindy, you scared the shit out of him!" Chloe exclaimed. "Just like last time!"
"I've said I'm sorry, I just reacted, okay!" I retorted.
"Just stay away from him!" Chloe said fiercely.
"No you won't Mindy! Chloe, I don't need protecting. Mindy did not do anything wrong. I'm glad this happened here, rather than out there, when some cunt has a knife to my throat!" Josh said, as he came into the armoury. "Mindy, will you help me get over this, er, problem?"
"Of course Josh. You know I would never hurt you. I'm sorry that I nearly killed you in New York, believe me, please!"
"I would have done the exact same thing! You've done nothing wrong, Mindy; I just have some more healing to do, that's all!" Josh said, then turned to Chloe and glared at her. "If hear about you giving Mindy a hard time over this, then we're gonna talk, you and I and you won't enjoy it!"
Chloe looked a little shocked, this was another side of Joshua that neither of us had seen before.
"I understand and I'm very sorry, Mindy; I overreacted," Chloe said.
"Good, all made up? Let's get back to our lives then!" Josh stated and left the armoury.
Chloe and I were left staring at each other, rather uncomfortably!
"You know that I would never hurt Josh, don't you?" I insisted.
"Yes, of course I do! I don't know why I said that," Chloe said and she looked upset.
"It's called love, Chloe and there's nothing wrong with that, nothing at all!" I said and gave Chloe a hug.