Our Cause (Let the Monsters Live in Fear Book 1)

by Jennifer Jane Jennings

  Damon, Connor, Chelsea and Dereck moved in on Kat who manoeuvred to ensure she was in front of Damon and not surrounded.

  “The strongest attacker isn’t always the biggest or most aggressive. You need to deal with the strongest and the most aggressive first. The five of us are all black belts in our own right and are all confident. One is the strongest. I’d be surprised if you didn’t know or at least suspect who that is. It’s something you just sense. On the beach, when I was attacked, the strongest was Brandon Underhill. It was clear he was the leader and the strongest. If I could’ve defeated him, the name Emily Jones would never have been needed.”

  The moment Kat finished speaking, Dereck charged her, and Damon moved in on her. Kat moved to the side so she was just fighting Dereck. Dereck threw two round head-level punches with less than a second between them. Kat ducked the first making Dereck alter the direction of his second punch. She blocked it and simultaneously threw a palm heel strike, stopping a centimetre from his nose and brought her knee up hard and stopped a centimetre from his groin. Dereck acted as though he had been hurt and dropped his head forward. Kat grabbed his head and pretended to pull his head into her knee strike. Kat attempted to step away but needed to duck Connor’s punch which almost hit Dereck. She spun around with a blade hand to the temple, stopping less than a centimetre away. Connor fell to the floor as though he’d been knocked out. Damon threw a punch towards Kat’s face before Connor hit the ground. Kat caught his arm and did an outside hooking block. “This could break his arm or dislocate his shoulder if I hold my ground. If I step into it and pivot, I can use his body weight and throw him to the ground.” Kat performed that move and watched Damon do a perfect forward roll while Chelsea attempted to sneak off. “I’m going to let her go and get out of here myself. Unless she’s going to get backup, which I doubt, she’s not a threat to me.” The five of them walked to the centre of the ring. “There will be more demonstrations at the end of class. We’re going to learn basic self-defence. Can our usual students please line up in the front row, so everyone knows how to line up?”

  They bowed and filled the front line with the higher belts lining up at the right-hand side of each row. Kat, Damon, Connor, Dereck and Chelsea helped the new students into line before running to the front.

  I better get used to being in charge with Sensei Damon in my class. It just feels weird, though. Kat smiled. “Heels together, bow.” She bowed with the enormous class and demonstrated each move she asked the class to do. “Roll your fingers into a fist and tuck your thumb over them to hold them in place.” Kat took them all through punches while Damon, Connor, Dereck and Chelsea walked around correcting and helping people. “Punching is important but it isn’t our strongest strike. A palm heel strike hits with the bony part of your hand and is a great weapon in self-defence. They’re also great for any girls with long nails who don’t like making a fist.” Kat took them through over a hundred reps of palm heel strikes with the others correcting and assisting. “Go get a quick drink and line up in the same spot.”

  Kat ran over to Damon as they got their drinks together. “How am I going?”

  Damon’s smile matched his words. “You’re amazing, Kat. You’re doing a fantastic job.”

  Kat gave Damon a quick hug. “Thanks!”

  Kat lined up out the front with a huge smile. “Strikes are important but blocks are my favourite. Not only do they block a punch, they can trap, takedown, dislocate or even break a bone. Take your arm across for the outside hooking block. This is the block I used against Sensei Damon.”

  “We’ll finish off with two more demonstrations. Couples often get attacked by at least two males. Sometimes females are involved, but it’s rarely even numbers.” Kat stood in the middle of the ring with Damon.

  Chelsea walked up to Damon with Connor and Dereck closer to Kat. “Have you got a light?”

  Damon shook his head. “I don’t smoke.”

  Connor and Dereck grabbed Kat. “Give us your wallet.”

  Damon looked at the audience. “I have several choices. Let’s see how each pans out.” He moved like lightning, grabbed Chelsea by the top of her head and put his arm across her throat. “Let her go or I’ll kill your girl. I can easily break her neck from this position.”

  Connor shrugged. “Do it. She knew the risks.”

  Damon looked at the crowd. “Only make threats you’re willing to keep.” He let Chelsea go, and they went back to their previous positions.

  “Give us your wallet,” Dereck growled.

  Damon looked at the audience. “Things can be replaced. People can’t.” He threw Dereck his wallet, which made Dereck let go of Kat to catch it.

  Kat pulled away from Connor and ran to Damon. She looked at the audience. “It could be that simple. Give them your wallet and get out of there. Go home and cancel your credit cards.” She ran back to Connor and Dereck, and they grabbed onto her again.

  “Now your phone and car keys.”

  Damon threw his keys then phone to Dereck who caught the keys in one hand and let the phone land on the floor, his grip on Kat was still firm. The actual phone was in the office without its case. “Let the girl go.”

  “When we’re done with her.”

  Kat circled her hands, breaking their grip and took four big steps backwards so she was behind them. Damon ran in on them at the same time. She turned to the audience, “If I couldn’t fight, I’d keep running and call the police with my phone. But as I can fight…” Kat showed she was almost as fast as Damon by moving forward and doing a double knife hand strike and stopping a centimetre from Connor’s temples. Connor fell to the ground as though he’d been knocked out.

  Damon brought the blade of his foot to Dereck’s knee, stopping less than a centimetre away. Dereck fell to the floor as though it were broken. Damon turned to the audience. “If he were just after my stuff, I wouldn’t have broken his leg, but it’s much harder to rape a girl when you have a broken leg. Hopefully, by the time it heals, he’s lost the urge.” Damon offered Dereck his hand who took it and jumped to his feet. They bowed to each other and moved to the outside of the ring with Connor.

  Kat walked into the centre of the ring with Chelsea. “We’ve all heard the story, two girls get attacked by multiple men. Today, it will only be three. Regardless of how many men attack two women, the rules are always the same – do whatever it takes to get you both out of there, and stay together.”

  Damon, Connor and Dereck walked over to Kat and Chelsea. “Hey, girls.”

  Connor walked in between them, separating them from each other. He looked at the audience, “Now it’s one on one and I can help attack one of the girls if I choose.” He did a knife hand strike stopping just before Chelsea’s temple and threw her over his shoulder. He started walking away while she pretended to be unconscious. “I could do whatever I wanted with Chelsea, and Kat needs to protect herself from two men while worrying about Chelsea. We have her at a physical and psychological disadvantage.” He walked back to Kat and placed Chelsea on her feet before returning to Damon and Dereck who had moved away. They walked towards the girls. “Hey, girls.”

  Kat and Chelsea stayed close to each other and walked past the three men, leaving about a metre between the two groups. “Hey. Have a fantastic day.” Both girls smiled and kept walking.” Kat turned to the audience, “It could be that easy. Be happy, friendly, confident and don’t give them the opportunity.”

  Kat and Chelsea turned around and started walking towards the men. They tried the same tactic as last time but the men split up. Damon moved in front of them. Connor and Dereck walked on either side.

  Kat took Chelsea’s hand and shouted, “What do you want?” She turned to the audience, “Your voice is a great weapon. If someone’s around, they could help, call the police, take a photo, tell someone or mind their own business. I don’t know what they’ll do and neither does your attacker. They could either risk it or leave us alone. If they decide to leave us alone, they’ll walk on; othe
rwise, they’ll attack us. Holding onto each other stops us from being dragged off, but also limits what we can do. We need to work together. Whatever it takes, right? Three men against two women is not a fair fight. We won’t fight fair either.”

  Kat and Chelsea held each other’s hand firmly, guarded their faces with their free hand and lunged forward doing a reinforced two-handed uppercut into Damon’s groin, stopping a centimetre from contact.

  Damon fell to his knees. “With that force, that’s me out of the picture for at least a few minutes.”

  Kat looked at the audience, “It’s two on two now. They are stronger and wish to hurt us, but we are fighting for our lives. We’re going to have a better chance if we can use both our arms. We also need to stay close and be aware of where our friend and her attacker are at all times.” Kat and Chelsea kept hold of each other’s hand and took four big steps backwards so they were away from Damon. Connor and Dereck followed them, trying to look menacing.

  “Leave us alone!” Chelsea yelled.

  “Not likely,” Dereck replied as he and Connor both threw punches.

  Kat and Chelsea let go of each other and used a simultaneous block and strike. They both used a head-level block. Chelsea used a palm heel strike which stopped two centimetres from Dereck’s nose and Kat used a Knife hand strike that stopped less than a centimetre from the side of Connor’s neck and his Carotid Artery. Connor dropped to the floor.

  Dereck looked at the audience, “I’m the only one still standing and I’d have a broken nose. With that strike to my nose, there would be a lot of blood, I’d be in pain and find it hard to see. I wouldn’t stand a chance against both of them. I can choose to fight, run or help my mates, but they’ve won already, both in my head and in reality. Some may choose to go down fighting. Honestly, I have no idea. No one can tell you exactly what they will do. You need to choose what you do.”

  Kat moved closer to Chelsea and stared at Dereck. “Run.”

  Dereck threw a punch at Kat who blocked it and brought her knee to his groin while Chelsea brought her knife hand strike towards his temple. He turned to the audience, “Knocked out and kneed in the groin. They win.”

  Damon and Connor stood and joined the others in the centre of the ring. They all bowed to the audience.

  Kat waited for their applause to subside, “Thanks for attending our class. If you enjoyed it, you’re welcome to become members or visit casually again. If you have any questions about the demonstrations or what we learned in class, please ask us now. If your questions are about my attack, please ask me privately while I’m with my parents.” Kat looked straight at Meredith’s cameraman. “I am only sixteen. I shouldn’t answer questions about my attack on air or without my parents present.”

  Annalise Maitland raised her hand. “Sixteen or sixty, you are amazing. You couldn’t have taught this many people before, yet you ran the class as though you had done it a thousand times. I’m definitely joining up because of how you and the other Senseis ran this class.”

  Jamie Sanders smiled and raised his hand. “This class was even better than I anticipated. I’m definitely in.”

  Half the room raised their hands immediately and the others followed.

  Kat glanced at Damon who looked up. She took the hint that she should answer, “We’ll go upstairs and start signing people up. You are also welcome to join up later. Thanks, everyone for coming. Self-defence is extremely important.” Kat bowed and started walking to the edge of the ring closest to one of the doors. People started moving out of the way to leave a clear path for Kat and Damon, Connor and Chelsea who were following her. They clapped and cheered as they walked out of the room. Dereck stayed until the last of the crowd left.

  Kat had lost count of how many people she had signed up when she looked out the front window expecting to see cars driving out but instead saw cars also driving in. She tapped her mum’s arm, who was signing up people next to her, “There’s more.”

  Damon was on the other side of her. “I think most of today will be as full on as this morning, and tonight will be crazy. Take a rest in the office or go home whenever you need to.”

  Kat shook her head. “No. I’ve got this.”

  Alpha stared at the news footage of Kat saying, “The five of us are all black belts in our own right and are all confident. One is the strongest. I’d be surprised if you didn’t know or at least suspect who that is. It’s something you just sense.”

  Alpha sighed. “The girl’s wrong. Damon Knightly isn’t the strongest. She is. We need to change that before she realises it.”

  38

  Damon looked out the gym’s front window to see his father’s black convertible Lexus take the last available car park. “Ah, reinforcements have arrived.”

  Lucas, Josh and a young, blonde woman Kat had never seen started walking for the door. She wore a Knightly Karate singlet, shorts and running shoes with low cut socks that showed the Knightly Karate tattoo on her left ankle. She was five foot two, busty yet weighed under fifty kilos and had silver-blonde hair plaited down to her thighs. Despite her size and femininity, she was the fiercest looking woman Kat had ever seen. “Is that your cousin Violet?”

  Damon smiled. “Yeah. Dad must’ve picked her up on the way through. He probably texted me, but we’ve been so busy, I haven’t looked at my phone.”

  Kat chuckled. “You don’t usually anyway.” She beamed at the door as Lucas, Violet and Josh walked in. “Thanks so much for coming. It’s been crazy, and we haven’t even got to peak hour.”

  Lucas smiled making their female spectators blush. “I saw some of your class on the mid-morning news. You were spectacular, Kat.”

  Kat blushed at the compliment, not his looks. “It was a team effort.”

  Lucas, Damon and Violet all shook their heads but Violet spoke. “I saw it too. Meredith Wright tried to make you look like a child yesterday. Today, you became more than a role model. You are a beacon; a shining light for anyone who’s ever been hurt or even feared they could be.” Violet smiled and her black eyes twinkled as she held out her hand, “I’m Violet, by the way. Sensei Jacob’s youngest. I heard you used to train with him.”

  Kat shook her hand and was about to reply and introduce Violet to her parents when Pia rushed in.

  “I had to park down the street.” Gareth stopped and looked Violet up and down, a lopsided smile coming to his face. “Well, aren’t you the sexiest little thing I’ve ever seen.”

  Violet’s eyes blazed black fire as she glanced at his wedding ring. “I can’t stand cheaters.”

  Gareth’s smile became broader. “You certainly are a Knightly. I’m in an open marriage. Rambo knows that, but I doubt you’d be interested or he’d approve.” His smile faded. “I’m actually here on business. Two more sisters have been hurt. They’re at Dandenong Hospital, about a thirty-minute drive each way. I know you’re needed here tonight and in the morning, Kat. Any chance you could come now? You should be back here before five.”

  Kat looked at her parents who nodded. “We can come now. Pity Violet and I couldn’t pass as sisters. We’d give those bastards the what for.”

  Violet smiled at Kat. “Definitely. Maybe we could try with makeup.”

  Gareth shook his head. “Na. If we were going to pair Kat with anyone, it’d have to be Dominique. I thought they were sisters before I found out she was Kat’s Mum, but not risking any of you. We’ll find them another way.” He looked at Kat and her parents. “We better go, so we can get you back on time.”

  Detective Xavier Lawless smiled and walked over to Kat, Dominique, Eric and Pia. “I’m glad you were able to make it, Kat. It seems to have been a huge day for you already. Did Gareth tell you the good news? We’re now partners, and he’s a detective.”

  “Um, wow, um, congratulations. That is huge. Um, you’re okay with me being here, Detective Lawless?”

  Xavier smiled and nodded. “The way I see it, you two are going to do this regardless. I’d rather be involved than have yo
u do it behind my back. I pulled some strings so I could be.”

  Kat’s eyes widened. “You pulled strings to make Pia, I mean Gareth, your partner? I thought you were all rule orientated?”

  “I am, mostly. I told my boss, Gareth and I work well together and I wanted him as my partner. That’s the truth. I’m not breaking any rules by doing that. You’re going to see the girls anyway, and now you’ve gone viral, victims from all over the country are going to come to you for help. Being on your side will help the police much more than if we didn’t know what you were doing. We’ll make a great team. These victims are hurt worse than the last sisters. Their attackers seem to be escalating. I hope you can help the girls.”

  “What are their names?”

  Detective Lawless looked inside his clipboard. “Marnie and Shanae.”

  Kat looked at the detective. “Try to remember their names in future. It helps them feel like a person and not just another victim.”

  Gareth couldn’t contain his smile.

  Xavier nodded slowly. “I guess I do it as a coping mechanism. I didn’t think about how that would make them feel. I’ll remember their names in future. I knew the three of us would make a great team.”

  Kat bit the inside of her lip to stop herself from crying. Marnie and Shanae were not only bruised and swollen beyond recognition but Marnie had a broken arm and a broken leg and Shanae had two broken arms. “Hey, I’m Kat. People know me as Emily Jones. I’ll help any way I can,” and I’ll do more than just beat the snot out of their attackers.

  Kat walked out of their room just under an hour later. “After I’m through with those bastards, they’re not going to want to go near another girl let alone hurt them.” Kat looked past her parents and Pia and saw Detective Lawless shaking his head. Oh, fuck. I thought he’d be gone by now.