~Chapter 3~

~Chapter 3~

~June 7th, 2019- Josh Taske’s House in Eugene, Oregon
That morning Wraith woke early and went downstairs to get breakfast. He had known Josh for about thirty years, and had become close friends with Lexy over the last five years since she had met and then married his old friend. Being one of the ones to have built the original house and having helped remodel parts of the house to accommodate the kids, Wraith knew the house like the back as his hand.
Wraith got himself a bagel and was halfway through it and the Business section of the newspaper when Lexy came in dressed in a tank top and athletic shorts. She was wiping sweat off her face and neck, and obviously had been working out.
She threw a smile at Wraith, “Hey, I thought I heard you up. How you feeling this morning?”
Wraith set down his newspaper, a smile playing across his thin mouth.
“I feel just fine, why the sudden interest?”
Lexy shrugged and grinned at him, “Well, since Josh has had me taking martial arts classes and Nathan and him have been teaching me when they have time, I thought maybe you’d let me spar with you. Nathan says you are even better than him at close combat.”
Wraith laughed slightly, “I see. Well Nathan exaggerates greatly. He has spent far more time studying the fine art of hand to hand combat than I have. But I would love to spar with you.”
Lexy’s eyes lit up at her eagerness to show off her hard-earned skills.
“Okay then, see you in the workout room?”
Wraith nodded and picked up his plate.
“Be there in a minute.”

It was actually two minutes later that Wraith, who changed from his red button-up shirt into a black tee, met Lexy on the large blue mat in the middle of the Taske’s workout room.
Wraith stood at ease, his keen green eyes watching Lexy.
“So, do I go easy on you, or what?”
Lexy stood at the edge of the mat opposite from Wraith, left leg straight with the toes pointing towards Wraith, right leg bent and foot turned away from Wraith at an angle.
She cocked her head at him, “I guess just use whatever you feel necessary.”
Wraith shrugged dismissively, “Okay then, ready when you are.”
The two combatants circled, Wraith at ease and Lexy obviously on edge with excitement and nervousness.
Wraith noted her tension, “Relax, the more relaxed you are the better your senses will be and the faster you can respond to your opponent.”
Lexy nodded and tried to calm herself. She was partially successful, but Wraith could still see the tightness of the muscles in her arms, legs and neck.
Wraith’s sharp eyes and mind took in every detail of the young woman before him. She had been in good shape when he had first met her, but she had grown obviously stronger. Her movements were fluid and graceful from her four years of training and practice. But she was still uneasy on her feet. Having an opponent, especially one she knew, seemed to tip her of balance.
So, Wraith saw the high kick coming in from his right before Lexy even brought her foot up. His mind flicked through all the possible counter-moves, and in the second before Lexy’s kick connected he came to his decision.
He brought his arm up and deflected the kick with his forearm.
“Relax, learn to control your body with the minimum amount of effort.”
Wraith launched four fast punches that Lexy deflected with her forearms and palms. She then struck with the heel of her hand at Wraith’s throat.
The palm-strike was deflected and Wraith aimed a similar strike at her stomach. Lexy brought her arm down and caught the strike with her wrist. Wraith let loose with a one-two-kick at Lexy’s head, both of which she ducked.
Wraith smiled at her skill, “Good, you are a bit shaky on your feet, but it is good.”
Lexy smiled, “I think that was a compliment.”
Wraith’s mouth turned up into a rare smile, “Shall I try harder?”
Lexy shrugged, “Fine with me.”
Wraith shifted slightly, almost unnoticeably, and launched a series of kick-boxing parries aimed at Lexy’s head.
Lexy ducked the first ones, then caught his kick with a hand and, twisting sharply, attempted to spin Wraith off-balance and floor him.
Wraith went with her twist and, rolling swiftly on his shoulder, came to his feet just to her right. Lexy swept her foot down in what would have been a lethal drop-kick, but Wraith jumped over it and, upon landing, lashed out with a similar kick that knocked Lexy’s feet out from underneath her.
Lexy arched her back and somersaulted backwards to a standing position.
Wraith took two steps forward and aimed a palm-strike at Lexy’s chest.
Lexy deflected it with her hand and kicked straight at Wraith’s solar plexus. Wraith caught her foot and held it, but Lexy, using his hands and chest to push off of, brought her other foot up to kick him square in the stomach.
Wraith fell back, reeling slightly but not winded. Lexy moved forward and kicked at his head. Wraith ducked her kick, as long with her next three.
Lexy aimed a fourth kick at Wraith’s chest, and that’s when Wraith made his killing move.
Catching her foot between his arm and side, he flicked his index and middle finger up behind Lexy’s knee, and then let go.
Lexy gasped as she tried to put her weight on her leg. It felt as if she had hit the funny-bone in her knee, and when she tried to use her leg it buckled underneath her.
Wraith took a single step made the motion of a palm-punch to her solar plexus.
Then he smiled at Lexy, “You’re dead.”
Lexy rubbed the back of her leg, which was already going back to normal.
“What did you do?”
Wraith grabbed a towel and wiped sweat from his brow.
“I hit the nerve behind the knee, then caved in you rib cage. You’re dead.”
Lexy smiled ruefully, “I guess so.”

Later that afternoon the Taske’s next door neighbor, Isaiah Shipman, furiously cleaned his house in a mad rush to be prepared for two little guests he was expecting later that night.
At five-foot-ten, Isaiah made a very unassuming figure with his skinny build and straight brown hair. His face was thin, and he normally dressed rather casually in a T-shirt and jeans.
A neighbor of Josh’s for a number of years, the amateur film-writer regularly babysat and used to housesit when Josh went to work for Matt on his personal security team during his term as President.
On this particular day Lexy had arranged to bring Elijah and Jackson over around five o-clock. But, true to his nature, Isaiah had gotten lost in a script he was working on. And now, at four-thirty, Isaiah was desperately behind on his preparations.
The vacuum roared and the broom swished across the floor. By some miracle, the house was in decent shape by the time Lexy rang Isaiah’s doorbell just after five. Isaiah answered the door and greeted the two boys that accompanied her.
Lexy walked in and spent a few moments talking to Isaiah.
“Thank you for taking the boys. Maria and Lola have a birthday party they are going to, and we have a guest from out of town we are taking to dinner, so this is a real big help.”
Isaiah smiled widely, “Oh, it’s no problem, no problem at all. I actually enjoy having the kids around. Is there anything I should know before you take off?”
Lexy handed him a piece of paper, “Yes, here is our contact information, including the restaurant we are going to and the address and phone number of the girl’s party. I’ll pay you when we get home, if that’s alright with you.”
Isaiah took the paper and looked it over.
“Oh, that’s fine. It’s not like you guys have ever ripped me off or refused to pay me, right?”
Lexy laughed and started out the door, “Exactly! Well, I had better be going; Josh is going to be home from dropping the girls off any minute. Oh, and Elijah brought a DVD to watch, and Jackson has a new CD he might want to listen to. Just so you know.”
Isaiah nodded and, after saying his final good-byes to Lexy, turned to look at the two boys standing in his entry.
“Well, what do you two want to do first?”

Kara McKennick was looking over the sixteen or so girls gathered in her living room. In the middle of the room, dressed in a pretty blue dress, was her five year-old daughter and birthday-girl, Suzie. The sound of the doorbell drew her attention to the front door.
When she opened the door, a smile split her pretty face.
“Oh, Mr. Taske! And you brought Maria and Lola!”
Josh smiled sheepishly, “Please, just call me Josh. And yeah, Lola dressed up but Lexy couldn’t convince Maria to do more than put on a clean shirt and socks.”
Kara laughed and ushered the two girls into the house.
“That’s alright, Maria might be a bit of a tomboy, but I think she is a good influence on my Suzie.”
Josh’s eyes widened in amused surprise, “A good influence? Are we talking about the same Maria who would rather watch old Chuck Norris action movies than cook or go to a tea party?”
Kara smiled at him, “Yeah, I think so. Suzie is too much of a little girl sometimes, and Maria is the one who brings in the snakes and spiders and keeps Suzie on her toes. When Maria is here it’s like Suzie has a brother, and I think it’s good for her.”
Josh nodded in understanding, “Snakes and spiders? That sounds more like Maria. Well, I better get going, what time should I pick them up?”
Kara thought a moment, “Why not somewhere between eight-thirty and nine? If that’s alright with you that they stay out that late.”
Josh grinned, “If they were home they’d still be up to at least ten or eleven. So I’ll be here a little after eight-thirty then. See yah!”
Kara waved and closed the door, going back to her daughter’s little world of dresses and enchanting nights with the prince at the ball.

Josh arrived back at his house around fifteen minutes after leaving his girls at the McKennick’s. Lexy and Wraith heard him pull into the driveway and met him outside.
Today Josh had selected to drive their new 2016 Ford Mustang for the occasion. Up until a week ago he had owned a classic yellow 2009 Mustang convertible, but he had decided he liked the sleek space-age look of the 2016 model better. His new car was black with a blue stripe running across either side of the vehicle. Inside, the black leather upholstery was able to keep the passengers comfortable for even the longest of road trips. The Pioneer Media Center Josh had installed had everything from Sirius and HD radio to iPod and MP3 player docks. Even though Josh’s favorite car was his restored and updated blue 1967 Pontiac GTO, the ‘Stang was his close second.
Wraith got into the back seat and ran an experienced eye over the car’s interior.
“Nice car, 2016 model?”
Josh turned in his seat to look at the green-eyed informer.
“Yeah, you like?”
Wraith ran a hand over the leather seats.
“Yes, very much. But I don’t seem to remember the factory model having a Pioneer Media Center as a standard feature.”
Josh winked at him, “It didn’t, I installed that and sold the factory model to Anubis.”
Wraith nodded, “Of course.”
Anubis was a mercenary that owned and ran a small car repair and modification shop in Portland. Josh had taken a few of his cars to get checked out by him, and even got a Chevy Trailblazer “Tankified”, as Anubis called it. An old friend of Josh, Wraith and Nathan, the big black car mechanic was one of the few active Underworld agents Josh still kept in contact with.
Josh took them to a little Mexican restaurant nearby, and after the three of them had ordered, they set down to talking and officially catching up.
Josh dipped a chip into a bowl of salsa near the center of the table and took a bite.
“So, Wraith, heard anything from Nathan and Scarlet lately? We haven’t seen them for a few years.”
Wraith shrugged, “I haven’t seen either of them in a while either. I know they have a loose partnership going though; they have been working together on a regular basis for the last three years. I think they recently took a job over in Mexico, but word hasn’t reached any of my sources of any assassinations or thefts recently.”
Josh and Lexy exchanged glances and Josh looked mildly surprised.
“Wait, Nathan and Scarlet have been working together? And they haven’t killed each other yet?”
“That’s right. And they seem to be a very good team.”
Josh dipped another chip, “Wow, miracles do happen.”