Finding Justice (Dancing Moon Ranch Book 12)

by Patricia Watters

  He was momentarily distracted when the back door to the lodge opened and Julia stepped inside. For a moment she stood near the door, scanning the room, and on spotting him lying prone on the floor with Sergei beside him, her eyes grew wide with surprise, then bright with amusement. Walking toward them, she said, "Is this what marshals do off duty?"

  Mario raised himself to sit back on his heels, and replied, "My friend here has his sights set on competing in the National Marbles Tournament, and I was giving him some pointers."

  Julia eyed him dubiously. "You still play marbles?"

  Mario laughed. "I am now. Or was."

  When he started to get up, Sergei said, "Can you teach me some more moves?"

  Mario glanced at Julia. "Don't let me interrupt," she said. "Actually, it's Irina I wanted to see." She looked to where Irina was sitting with her eyes focused on the video game in her hand, unaware that Julia had entered the lodge. When Julia sat beside her on the couch, Irina looked at her in surprise, then put the video game aside and waited in anticipation of what Julia would do next, which was to cross her hands over her heart, then open her arms to Irina, a message Irina clearly understood when she moved into Julia's arms for a hug.

  After they'd separated, Irina looked at Julia, who made a fist and rocked it up and down, while nodding her head, indicating the word, 'yes', then she placed three fingers together and moved her hand from side to side while shaking her head, indicating the word, 'no'. Then she pointed to Irina to do the same, and together they rocked their fists up and down while nodding, and moved their hands from side to side while shaking their heads, which made Irina laugh.

  "Good," Julia said.

  After that, Julia pointed to her mouth and made a movement with her fingers like smacking lips, as if eating, then patted her stomach, and repeated the sign for smacking lips, then pointed to Irina, and back to her own mouth, followed by rocking her fist up and down, while nodding.

  Irina rocked her fist up and down while nodding, showing Julia she understood what she was asking, while telling her she wanted something to eat.

  With that, Julia pulled a Granola bar out of her pocket, one of the bars Mario left behind, and handed it to Irina. When Sergei looked around like he wanted one too, Julia signed to him, using the same hand movements, and to Mario's surprise, the boy bobbed his fist up and down.

  "Here you go," Julia said, while handing a Granola bar to Sergei. "While you and Irina are here, we'll learn some sign language so Irina can talk to us that way. Has anyone ever done that with her?"

  Sergei shrugged. "Someone tried a while back, but then we were moved. She points or draws pictures when she wants something, but most people don't like talking that way."

  "Then while you're here, we'll start learning how to talk to her. I have a book with pictures on how to sign. It's easy to follow, and after you leave, you can take it with you and help Irina learn, but the book's only a beginning. Irina will need special help to be able to talk to you and people who sign. It's fun to learn. I learned when I was about your age."

  Irina tugged on Julia's arm, and when Julia looked at her, Irina placed her hands across her heart then opened her arms, and Julia pulled her up to sit on her lap, and hugged her again.

  When Mario looked at Julia, he saw the sheen of tears in her eyes, which had him thinking that this was a woman who had a big vacancy in her life, and he wondered why. She was a beautiful woman, she obviously liked doing things for people, like making a Christmas decoration for his door, she was good with kids, and she'd devoted her life to making video games that helped kids deal with their fears. But there was a disconnect somewhere.

  He was distracted when Grace returned to the room, and spotting Julia, said to her, "I'm glad you've decided to come mingle. It's time you left your cabin."

  Julia glanced at Mario, like she was caught off guard, then said to Grace, "I finally found my boots so I could walk in the snow. But mainly, I wanted to see Irina. She responded right away to signing. I learned signing years ago and still have my book, and I'd like to work with Irina while she's here. Maybe she could come to my cabin every day for a little while, and Sergei too if he wants. He could play video games."

  "Of course they can come, if you feel up to it," Grace said. "Meanwhile, they have a gingerbread house to decorate before dinner." She offered her hand to Irina, who looked at Julia, then at Grace's hand, and slipped off Julia's lap and walked with Grace toward the kitchen.

  While Sergei was collecting his marbles, he said to Mario, "Are you really in that marbles hall of fame or were you fooling me about winning a national title?"

  "I'm there, and my sister has a scrap book with photos of me and my trophy."

  "Can you teach me more while I'm here? I really want to go to that tournament," Sergei said.

  "I can teach you some, but in getting ready for any tournament, you have to learn more than just winning marbles from the guys at school. It takes a lot of practice to be able to put back spin or English on your marble and consistently hit your target. It’s all about strategy, learning to read angles, and controlling your marble for accuracy. But you also have to learn sportsmanship. Make it to the Nationals and you'll vie for sportsmanship awards of $500 each for a boy and a girl, but you have to commit. There’s a lot at stake at Nationals."

  "Can you teach me more tomorrow?" Sergei asked.

  "If you're willing to learn, I'm willing to teach," Mario replied.

  "I'm willing," Sergei said. "What will you teach me first?"

  "How to lag," Mario replied. "That might not sound too exciting, but since whoever wins the lag goes first, lagging's one of the most important things you should practice, because going first can mean winning the game before your opponent even gets a shot."

  "I'm pretty good at lagging," Sergei said. "I usually get my marble real close to the line, or at least closer than the other guys."

  "Do you toss your marble, or knuckle down?" Mario asked.

  "I toss it," Sergei replied. "But I practice that a lot."

  "I always knuckled down because I could control the marble better," Mario said, "and most of the time I could get my marble right up against the line and win the lag, so we'll start with lagging. But you also need to learn sidespin, which stops your shooter marble on impact, keeping it in the ring and giving you an extra shot."

  "Far out!" Sergei offered Mario a high five, which Mario looked at for a moment, then smacked with his palm. He couldn't remember the last time he'd high-fived anyone. But then, he couldn't remember ever having a kid look up to him like he mattered. It was an odd, but strangely rewarding feeling.

  After Sergei left, Julia said, "Tonight I want to hear the rest of the story. You filled in some of it last night, but you never mentioned being a national marbles champion."

  "Okay, I'll fill in a few more details, but tonight I want some details too. I'm still curious why you ended up sitting in front of a computer with your butt in a chair instead of on a raft challenging rapids."

  "I'm afraid my life isn't as colorful as yours," Julia said, "and like I told you before, writing video games is far more practical than riding rafts down wild rivers."

  "I suppose," Mario said, though he wasn't convinced she was being straight with him, and somewhere along the way he intended to dig deeper. "You spent some time making my door decoration. Thanks for doing that. It's nice. The next thing you know I'll be dressing like Santa and passing out gifts."

  Julia laughed. "That would definitely spoil your image, and I actually like both images."

  Mario caught the light shining in Julia's eyes, and saw her run her tongue over her lips, and noticed the pulse beating in her throat, although he knew she was unaware of the powerful signals she was sending him—the unheard, untouched, unseen chemistry passing between them that he too couldn't deny. "I'll try to live up to both images," he said. "Meanwhile, I'll get on with my paperwork so I'll be ready for that homemade meal, and you'll be ready to learn some self-defense, and we'll
take it from there." He squeezed her arm and left.

  CHAPTER 5

  Julia looked across the table at Mario, who seemed intent on instructing her in self-defense while they ate, which touched a special place in her heart because, in his own way, he was telling her he cared. She knew intuitively that he wasn't a man who'd romance a woman with flowers, and endearments, and romantic cards, but he was a man who'd lay down his life for the woman he loved. He'd already put his life on the line for her when she was a stranger. But over the past few minutes, having come to the conclusion that if she allowed him to verbalized as much as possible about self-defense, that would preclude his having to physically demonstrate the moves to her, and everything that entailed.

  All afternoon she'd been apprehensive, almost to the point of panic, with the thought of the physical contact involved. She couldn't set aside her reaction to Cole, years before, when he'd tried to hold her, and the feel of his arms closing around her triggered the chilling, immobilizing, powerless feeling of being buried alive. After that, having sex with him was out of the question, and Cole wasn't a man who could put physical contact on hold until she could overcome what was slowly beginning to devour her mind and body. The ogre.

  Now, her logical mind told her that having Mario's arms around her while teaching her self-defense moves, or even if he tried to kiss her, was in no way a threat. But she feared her illogical mind, the one still trapped in pitch-blackness and rubble, would take over, maybe trigger hallucinations of things moving in and crushing her…

  "I'm thinking I've lost you," Mario said.

  Julia snapped out of her dark moment and gave a nervous laugh. "You had me thinking about being stalked."

  "Right, so if you're confronted by a stalker, your first strike needs to be fast, precise, and with enough force to inflict injury, which means being prepared to stick your finger knuckle deep in his eye, or crush his windpipe with a side-hand knife strike, or kick him hard enough in the crotch to flatten his testicles. Anything less won't be effective in fighting him off."

  "I actually took judo when I was a kid and I could kick pretty hard and high," Julia said.

  Mario looked at her, first in amusement, then in seriousness, and said, "Your chances of pulling off a high-leg kick to the head or solar plexus are slim to none if you haven't had extensive training. Kicking or kneeing in the crotch can be effective if there's enough force behind it, but it takes a lot of strength to stop a man who’s used to physical aggression."

  "I guess I never factored in the physical aggression side of that kind of man," Julia said.

  "Most victims don't," Mario replied, "which means he doesn't follow the same societal rules as you, so this is no time to be civil. It's hurt or be hurt. So aim for the parts of his body where you can do the most damage. I'm a big man. I can bench press 240 pounds, deadlift 325, and squat 335, but grab hold of my balls and squeeze and you'll paralyze me. It's the one weak link with any man, and the best offensive move a woman can make, but you have to put all your strength behind your move because if you fail to disable, you'll enrage your attacker, and his adrenaline will kick in big time."

  "We have strange dinner conversations," Julia said. "Last night it was mafia executions."

  Mario smiled. "I told you social grace wasn't one of my strong suits."

  "True, but saving damsels in distress is," Julia said.

  "If you're trying to make me into some kind of white knight, you're way off," Mario replied. "Remember, I started out wanting to be a made man."

  "And ended up on the opposite side. So… you were talking about inflicting injury and getting away," Julia said, drawing Mario back to his tutorial on self-defense, hoping he'd get it out of his system.

  "Right. Hands can also be effective weapons," Mario said, picking up where he'd left off. "One effective strike is a knife-hand strike to the windpipe. This is where the fingers are straight and tight together, with the thumb tucked beneath them, and you strike with the side of your hand. The idea is to disable your assailant while you're standing, because once he has you on the ground, you lose any advantage in terms of incapacitating him and getting away."

  "I'm thinking I'll just stay home and not worry about it," Julia said. "You've presented so many options, it creeping me out."

  "That's not the idea," Mario replied. "The idea is to get you desensitized by practicing self-defense techniques with a partner who’s pretending to be an attacker, which will be me while I'm here. Once you’re comfortable doing that, you gradually increase the speed and power of your blows as I come at you, which will in turn increase your confidence, bring out your animal instinct, and open options for your counterattack."

  "Or, I could carry pepper spray and hit my assailant with that," Julia said.

  Mario laughed. "Actually, I picked up some pepper spray for you when I was in Portland. It has heat units between one and two million, which is the most effective spray. You spray it directly in an assailant's eyes, which momentarily blinds him while restricting his bronchial tubes, and while he's coughing, you use a knife-hand strike to his windpipe, and follow that with a knee to his crotch. By then he'll have enough to worry about that you can make your escape."

  Julia stared at Mario, while thinking the scenario he presented was something she could actually carry out, emboldening her some. Maybe a tiny baby step out of her safe haven.

  After finishing his last bite of sausage, and washing it down with wine, Mario said, "That was a good dinner. You ready for some hand-to-hand combat?"

  "Actually, you've given me a lot of very good advice, and with the pepper spray I'll be fine," Julia replied. "Like I said, this isn't exactly a high crime area, and I don't go out all that much."

  Mario shoved his chair back and walked over to where Julia sat, and offering his hand for her to take, he said, "High crime areas don't have an exclusive on sociopaths. People with evil intent can be anywhere. Come on."

  Julia looked at the masculine hand with its broad palm, and remembered after the bombing how it looked, bruised and scraped and encrusted with dried blood after digging her bare-handed out of the rubble. Realizing she had no choice without coming across as the pathetic person she was, she shoved her chair back from the table, placed her hand against his, and stood.

  Mario's fingers closed around her hand, and for a moment he stood looking at her, and when he lowered his gaze, like he was eyeing her lips, and his gaze became intense, she was certain he was about to kiss her. But while she prepared for that, he turned and led her to the open area between the couch and the wood stove, and dropped her hand. "I'll show you some front moves first, then we'll practice what to do if someone grabs you from behind."

  Julia felt her stomach clench on hearing Mario's words, 'practice some grabs from behind,' as images of being restricted filled her mind…

  "Stay with me," Mario said. "This won't take long, but you'll be better prepared if you're ever confronted by an assailant. Every woman should know the basics of self-defense. If I had daughters, they'd start learning when they were in elementary school."

  Julia had a half dozen questions about why he'd never married. He'd made references about what he'd want for his wife, and now he was talking about daughters, so somewhere along the way he'd given up having the family she suspected he might have once wanted.

  "Okay," Mario said, "so you're walking alone, and you're keeping up a fast pace because you want to get to your car, but a man comes from out of nowhere and grabs your arm like this." His hand clamped around Julia's arm, causing her heart to accelerate, and her arm to tense.

  "Good, you've got some adrenaline pumping," Mario said. "When this happens, you only have a few seconds before your attacker has complete control, so your goal is to aim at the parts of his body where you can do the most damage, inflict injury, and get away. A good move is to use the heel of your free hand to strike hard under his nose, but you need to throw the whole weight of your body into the move in order to force him to loosen his grip on you.
"

  Julia realized her other hand was free, though she hadn't given that option any thought, her focus riveted on the hand clamped to her arm. Bringing her free hand around, she placed the heel of it up against Mario's nose, while saying, "Like this?"

  "Exactly, but when you bring it up, use that adrenaline rushing through you to throw the hardest hand-heel punch your full strength allows. But don't forget his windpipe. While in this position you can quickly bend your elbow, and using the outer edge of your free hand in the knife position, crush his windpipe and get away. Go ahead and try it on me, and I want you to use all your strength. And don't worry. You won't reach your goal."

  Julia bent her arm, and coming straight at Mario with all her force, found a palm gripping her wrist an instant before the outer edge of her hand reached his throat.

  "Good try," Mario said. "You can also use the inner edge of your hand to go for the side of my neck, which is not only a bigger target, but it's where both the jugular vein and the carotid artery are located. With this move you can temporarily stun your attacker. But don't pass up any chance to gouge, poke, or scratch his eyes with your fingers or knuckles. This isn't a time to worry about causing blindness. It's his life or yours. Going for the eyes causes a lot of pain, which makes your escape easier, while temporarily interfering with his vision."

  "I think I'm getting the hang of this," Julia said. "Maybe we could have dessert now. It's apple cobbler. I thought it would go well with sausage and sauerkraut."

  Mario looked at her like he hadn't quite heard right. Then he drew in a long breath, as if trying to control a bout of impatience, which was understandable because she'd been, from the start, a reluctant student, when what he was trying to do was to keep her safe.

  "I'll go for the cobbler, but I'm not done yet," Mario said. "There's one more move you can do in this position, and that's to kick your attacker in the knee. It's a vulnerable target from every angle, and a forceful kick can incapacitate him. This is the technique used by law enforcement, and it's effective." Having said that, Mario released her arm.