Bravo Force

by Robin Pentecost

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30  At the Salle

Pru’s stomach was beginning to grumble. She’d had an early and  hasty breakfast; now she was ravenous. And it was only 11:00.

She was beginning to consider tracking down the sergeant major for a rat bar when the very man appeared at her door. Maeve O’Leary followed him.

The sergeant spoke in English. “I believe you were expecting this person, Ms Whiteside.” He bowed and ushered Maeve into the room, then turned to leave.

“Wait, Sergeant,” Pru said. “I don’t know your name, Sergeant, I’m sorry. The captain didn’t introduce us.”

“I am Sergeant Major Xing, m’am.”

“Then, let me introduce Sergeant Major Maeve O’Leary, OSG Special Ops, North Africa.” Pru gestured to the woman, who was at least twice the size of Sergeant Xing. She smiled and offered her huge hand.

“A pleasure to meet you Sergeant,” Maeve said.

Pru added, “Sergeant, you and the Sergeant are going to have a lot in common for the next few days: she is my chief of staff. I hope you will take the opportunity to get acquainted.” Sergeant Xing bowed and left with suitable courtesies.

When the sergeant had disappeared, the two women embraced briefly. Pru’s hug was returned gently. “Maeve, I’m really glad to see you. Thanks so much for coming. I hope Captain Ish didn’t give you a hard time about it.”

“No, m’am, not a word. He still thinks you saved his bacon at Ouled Naïl.”

“Maeve, it wasn’t me, it was you. You talked him into listening to me. But, come sit down. I need to bring you up to speed.”

Maeve sat down and they went over the events of the morning. Maeve had gotten some files to read before she left Cairo and had some background on the case. She’d also talked with Luther over her own secure wrist com. Pru filled her in on her talk with Baltar or Batuk or whoever it had been on the com.

“The big problem is developing a dialog with this guy. The small problem is getting some kind of rapport with Captain Jiang. She’s pissed off that I’m not military, not Han, and not someone she can control.

“But the biggest problem is that I’m starving. Come with me. You may not be hungry, but I could eat rare bear.”

Pru rose and they started down the hall. As she passed the captain’s office, she glanced at Maeve and knocked on the door.

“Enter,” called the captain.

“We’re going to lunch. Would you like to join us?”

The captain nodded and stood up. She walked toward them. “Yes, I will. May I suggest a suitable restaurant?”

Pru introduced Maeve to the captain and, as they continued down the hall, the captain put her head in another door. “Sergeant Xing! You will join us for lunch, please.”

The restaurant was small and excellent. Pru looked over the menu and suggested some specialties to Maeve as the others ordered. She chose a favorite dish of her own, one that was not particularly heavy. They continued to speak English in deference to Maeve’s lack of Mandarin.

Lunch was as fine as Pru had expected it to be. The talk was polite and not professional, the two sergeants getting to know one another, exchanging bits of their military backgrounds in cryptic, non-commissioned-officer argot.

Pru and the captain chatted inconsequentially for most of the meal, until finally, the captain said to Pru, “I hope you won’t think it impolite if I mention a matter of business.”

Pru had noticed that the captain’s attitude toward her was somewhat less hostile. “Not at all, captain. I assume it’s nothing confidential,” she said with a confident smile.

“No. Ms. Whiteside, I have read the file you gave me access to. I believe I may have misjudged you to some extent. You have a most unorthodox approach, which put me off at first. I am prepared to consider your approach to this matter rather differently.”

“Thank you for saying so, Captain. I really appreciate it. We’ll work on it together, shall we?”

They left the restaurant, walking along the street in the Beijing Sector. Beijing was still the capitol of China, but the Beijing Sector was only one in a huge, interlocking Controlled Area that covered an extent of northeastern China that rather dwarfed any of the North American CAs.

They had walked for a few minutes, when Captain Jiang touched Pru’s elbow.

“This is an excellent Salle des Armes, Ms Whiteside. You said you wanted some exercise. Is it too soon after lunch for that?”

Pru, not at all surprised at the suggestion, said, “No, not at all. By all means.”

In the Salle, it was clear the captain was well known. They all went into the changing room and stripped to their briefs, Sergeant Xing and Maeve as well. The women put on sports bras, as was customary.

In the practice room, Pru and the captain squared off, while the other two watched for a moment.

As was her habit, Pru watched carefully as her opponent attempted dominance on the field. Once again, she settled into the calm void of the moment and waited until she detected the almost undetectable decision for attack, thinking – far back in a corner of her mind – as she did so, ‘Neo-Tantra does help with this.’

The captain began the attack, but in her calm detachment, Pru had noticed her opponent had a tendency to favor her left side and evaded the attack, pressing her own into an opening that appeared for only an instant. She connected solidly and pressed further, wiping the captain’s feet from under her. Pru followed her to the mat, looking for a pin.

She moved a little too confidently and the captain twisted and evaded the attempt, leapt to her feet and launched a deadly kick toward Pru’s midsection.

Pru rolled, evaded the kick, and caught the captain’s foot as she began to recover. Pru pulled, the captain fell toward her, her hands looking for a hold as her weight brought her in contact with Pru. Pru turned and used the captain’s weight to throw her to the mat, dropping her knee to the woman’s chest, and planting her hands on the captain’s shoulders, pinning them as her knee knocked the wind out of her opponent. The captain tapped out and Pru jumped up, releasing her.

The captain rose, a grin on her face. “Well done,” she said. “You surprise me. Another?”

The second bout started more slowly, the captain having learned not to underestimate Pru. This time, Pru began the attack with a feint that she knew the captain would see through and which the captain ignored, allowing her to take the advantage briefly. Pru landed on the mat prepared to evade the follow-up pin attempt. She was quickly upright and coming in with a series of chops and blows that backed the captain across the mat. For several moments, they exchanged a series of blows, none of which were intended to injure, rather to produce openings for other attacks. Pru saw the force of the captain’s attacks increasing and began to withdraw, returning to the center of the mat. When the captain launched a particularly vigorous attack, Pru side-stepped, allowing a blow to fan the air as she hurled the other woman forward in the line of her attack, her leg in perfect position to send the captain sprawling. Pru did not go for a pin, choosing instead to allow the captain to rise and recover. In a moment, the captain renewed the attack along the same lines as before. Pru now decided not to accept a ritual attack-response pattern and ducked beneath the woman’s arms. She threw her arms around the captain’s waist, picked her up and slammed her shoulders on the mat, releasing her waist and pressing on the backs of her thighs to hold her on the mat. Second pin.

A little dazed, the captain rose and steadied herself. She shook her body like a cat, bowed deeply and extended her hand.

“Enough. Thank you. You are most unorthodox – but you told me that earlier. I should have paid attention. Please, accept my apologies for my attitude. And, when it is appropriate, please call me Lia.”

“Lia,” Pru said, “thank you. I am Pru – short for Prudence. Just don’t call me that.”

Lia grinned. “Prudence is a virtue. You possess it. But I would never accuse you of it.”

Both of them heard a crash-thump and turned. Maeve O’Leary had been taken down by the much smaller Sergeant Xing. They rose, noting that the others had stopped.

Pru asked, “How’s it going? You about done?”

Xing came to attention and replied, “We are each three for six, m’am. The next fall decides.”

Pru looked at Lia. “Would it compromise anyone’s ‘face’ if we declared the match a draw?”

“I don’t think so, Pru. We have better things to do than establish dominance. I’ve wasted too much time on that already.” She turned to the two sergeants. “I hope you are willing to agree that you are evenly matched?” Both of them bowed, and the four went off to shower and dress.

As they walked back to the OSG building, Maeve murmured to Pru, “Where did you get that style? Never seen anything like it.”

“I made it up. When I was a kid here, I tried all the different martial arts I could and put together what worked for me. It tends to surprise people. That gives me an advantage, at least at first.” Pru looked at her burly chief of staff. “What do you think of Xing? How in hell did you end up 3-3?”

“He’s really a very good fighter. Proof that size isn’t the only factor. And, he’s a good guy. We get along well. I think this is going to work.”

Pru said, “When we get back, I want to contact this Baltar or Batuk or whoever he is. I need to put some pressure on him.”

“What have you done so far?” Maeve asked.

“I still haven’t gotten him to give me a name. But, I could tell from the way he spoke Mandarin that he is a Uighur speaker. So we speak Uighur. For some reason, I told him my name is Kanar; it’s a Uighur name. There’s something funny going on, and I need to get a better line on it. Trouble is, I can’t spend all my time in contact with him. I have to keep Lia under control – well, that seems to be improving – and still move us forward.”

“Do you want me to spell you on it?”

Pru looked at her. “An Irish girl speaks Uighur?”

“No, but I speak Turkish. The languages aren’t totally dissimilar. I’m sure I can make myself understood. I’ll listen while you talk to him and let you know.”

“How’d you learn that?”

“The short answer is, I lived in Turkey for years as a kid. Probably something like you growing up in China. And, I had a friend who was Uighur. She was in Turkey for school, so I know a bit of the language”

“Speak to me,” Pru said in Uighur.

“I am a Turk, and I understand your concerns. But, since our people subjugated most of the Middle East for centuries, we probably have more in common with the Han.”

Pru laughed. “Not bad. Definitely a heavy Turkish accent. Just don’t say that to this guy. We’ll try to work you in. Do you have a Turkish name you use?”

“Just call me Merve.”

 

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