Kiana Cruise

by Jody Studdard

  Her jaw dropped open.

  He was a saseong – a grand master.

  In taekwondo, there were several ranks divided into two sections, junior and senior. The junior section was divided into ten different ranks, commonly referred to as color ranks. Your rank was shown by the color of the belt you wore. A newbie started with a white belt, then worked his or her way up to a black belt. After obtaining a black belt, you were in the senior section which was divided into nine ranks, which many people referred to as degrees. First degree was the lowest, and ninth degree (grand master) was the highest.

  Kiana had never sparred against a grand master before. As such, she was immediately cautious and more than a little intimidated.

  “Show me your stances,” he said.

  She did as told. She took her place on the mat next to him and went through a series of the most common and useful taekwondo stances, including the attention stance (charyot sogi), the closed stance (moa sogi), the walking stance (gunnun sogi), the parallel ready stance (naranhi junbi sogi), the rear foot stance (dwit bal sogi), and the sitting stance (annun sogi).

  “Very nice. Your form is flawless, young Kiana. Now show me some hand attacks.”

  She went through a series of her favorite hand attacks, including both closed and open fist strikes.

  “Good. Now show me some blocks.”

  She went through a series of some of her favorite blocks, including the single forearm block (wae sun palmok), the low block (najundi makgi), the rising block (chookya makgi), and the palm block (sonbadak naeryo makgi).

  “Now some kicks.”

  Kiana smiled. She liked all aspects of taekwondo and she was good at them all, but to her nothing was better than kicking. She never really knew why, but right from the start as a young girl she had always liked kicking the stuffing out of things. As a result, however, she had found it slightly funny, and quite a bit ironic, that she had taken up softball and not soccer. But then again, that was probably Michael’s influence, since he had always liked softball so much.

  She went through a series of her favorite kicks, including the snap and sweep kicks she had used to take down the first instructor, O’Reilly, and also a roundhouse kick (dollyeo chagi), an axe kick (naeryeo chagi), and a spin kick (bandae dollyeo chagi).

  “Impressive. It’s clear you have had some good instructors. Your form is perfect and your concentration intense. But you are much too slow. If you want to be truly effective you must double your speed.”

  Kiana was surprised and a little taken aback. Over the years, she had received little criticism from her taekwondo instructors. She had always been the star. She had progressed from rank to rank faster than any student in the history of her school, and she had spent the majority of her time sparring against boys since they were the only ones who could give her a challenge (other than the school’s instructors, of course). And even the boys had had their hands full facing her, and one year she beat fifteen of them in a row.

  “We will spar,” Master Gwon said. “And you will increase your speed. Or you will pay the price. Understood?”

  And so began the most horrific beatdown Kiana had ever received. She tried to use her best moves on him, the same moves that had won her tournament after tournament, but none of them were effective, not in the least. Punches, kicks, and even combinations of both were blocked effortlessly. He moved so fast and so smoothly it almost seemed inhuman. Kiana was speechless.

  “Faster,” he said.

  She threw blow after blow, as fast as she could, but nothing had any effect. He blocked everything.

  “Faster.”

  She did as told, increasing her speed to a level she didn’t even think possible, and couldn’t help but notice she was breathing heavily (possibly harder than she had ever breathed before), and she was covered with sweat. Beads of it ran down her sides and dropped onto the floor below her.

  And then, without any warning whatsoever, he turned the tide on her. Up to that point, he had been doing nothing but blocking her attacks, but he began to mix in a few of his own. The first was a simple open-palm strike aimed at her chest. It caught her completely off guard and sent her tumbling flat onto her back.

  “You must be faster. Both with your attacks and with your blocks. But do not focus on one to the detriment of the other.”

  She climbed to her feet and began again. Unfortunately, her fate was exactly as before. She threw five or six punches, and an equal number of kicks, then found herself flat on her back, the result of a snap kick to her midsection. A few seconds after that a sweep took her down, and a few seconds after that a roundhouse hit her in the side of the head. It hit her so hard she saw stars and had to shake her head so she could see clearly again.

  But even so, she was not going to give up, not for a second. Quite to the contrary, she was more excited than ever. She had always wanted to improve her taekwondo skills and she had always had aspirations of one day being a grand master herself. As far as she was concerned, she had found the way to do that. There was no doubt in her mind Master Gwon could take her to the next level and as such she was going to take full advantage of everything he would teach her.

  Even if it meant she would get beat to a pulp in the process.

  Chapter 9

  Kiana sat on her bunk with her laptop open in front of her. She was using it to make her daily call to Michael. His eyes filled with concern the minute he saw her.

  “Kiana. What happened?”

  To put it bluntly, she was in bad shape. Her left eye was blackened, her lower lip was swollen, and she had a nasty goose egg on the right side of her head just above her ear.

  “Master Gwon happened.”

  “Master Gwon? They have you working with him? Kiana, I know you’re good but he’s way out of your league. He’s there for the experienced agents and the specialists, not for the teens.”

  “I know. But it was his idea to work with me and he says I’m doing fine. And you don’t need to worry, dad. It’s tough but I can handle it. And Master Gwon is amazing. I’ve never seen anyone like him before even back at my school in Anaheim. If I keep working with him I’m going to be unstoppable.”

  Michael raised an eyebrow. “Unstoppable? Or dead?”

  Kiana laughed. “It’s just a few bumps and bruises.”

  “A few?”

  “I’ll be fine.”

  He didn’t look too convinced, not in the least, but apparently he decided to acquiesce and move on. “How’s the rest of your training going?”

  “Fine. There’s a lot to learn and it’s a little overwhelming at times but I can handle it. And I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We’re going skydiving.”

  “Skydiving? Sweet. Skydiving is always a blast. Do you remember the time we went to New Mexico?”

  He was referring to a trip they had taken a few years before to a small city just outside of Albuquerque, New Mexico. They had spent a weekend there and Kiana remembered it fondly. It was noteworthy for two reasons: it was the first time they had skydived from a hot air balloon (up to that point, they had always done it from an airplane) and it was also the first time they had worn wingsuits (special suits that had extra fabric between the legs and under the arms that created lift and allowed the wearer to soar through the air like a bird). They had enjoyed the wingsuits so much they had immediately gone on a second trip to Twin Falls, Idaho to try them while BASE jumping off of the Perrine Bridge.

  “I remember it well, dad. That was a great trip. One of our best. We need to head there again one day.”

  “I agree. Maybe next summer if you’re up for it.”

  Kiana nodded. Another trip to New Mexico definitely sounded appealing to her. “I’d like that. A lot. Maybe we could go to Twin Falls again someday, too.”

  “Definitely. Just tell me when you’re up for it and I’ll make the arrangements.”

  At that point, she wanted to talk some more but decided she better end the call because she was really tired and she needed to get s
ome rest. She was meeting Master Gwon for another sparring session at 8:00 am the following morning and she knew she was going to need a lot of energy to “survive” it.

  “I should be going, dad. I miss you. Can’t wait to see you again.”

  It was true. She had never liked being away from Michael, even for small periods of time, and despite his frequent absences over the years she had never gotten used to being away from him. Overall, she was enjoying her USIA training, especially her time with Master Gwon, but she desperately longed for the day when she would return to Seattle and be with Michael again.

  And undoubtedly he felt the same way about her. “I miss you, too, Kiana. Give me a call tomorrow when you have some spare time. I want to hear all about that skydiving.”

  “Okay. I will.”

  “And Kiana. No more black eyes, okay? They make you look like a clown.”

  She snickered. Michael had always been an expert at teasing her and he never passed up an opportunity to do so. “Thanks, dad. I’ll do my best.”

  She hit ‘End Call’ and his image vanished from the screen. Five seconds later, she was sound asleep.

  Chapter 10

  Kiana’s training continued and she had no choice but to admit it was the toughest three months of her life. Master Gwon worked her like a dog, as did the rest of her instructors. She and the other teens did more things than they imagined possible, including skydiving, hang gliding, rock climbing, SCUBA diving, and even target practice.

  “We get real guns?” Kiana asked.

  “No,” Harrington said. “The agency won’t allow teen agents to use real guns. Using teens as agents is controversial enough, and it’s feared the teen program would be shut down permanently if we started allowing you to use real weapons. As such you’ll be armed with tranquilizers. At least until you’re eighteen.”

  “Tranquilizers?” Jennie asked. “You mean like the ones they use on animals?”

  “Similar. The ones the USIA uses look exactly like real guns but they shoot small, bullet-sized darts. Each dart is filled with enough tranquilizer to drop an average-sized man immediately upon impact.”

  “What kind of range do they have?” Smitty asked.

  “About half the range of a normal pistol. But despite the limited range they are effective if used properly.”

  They walked to the shooting range near the far end of the compound. It was really nothing more than a long, flat piece of land with a bunch of benches on one end and a row of targets on the other. Harrington gave them their guns and then a quick rundown on how to load and aim them properly.

  For Kiana, it was a completely new experience. She had never held a gun before, even one that shot tranquilizers, and she was surprised how heavy it was. She turned it over and over in her hand and wondered if real guns were as heavy as it and she imagined they probably were. She’d have to ask Michael and maybe he’d let her see his.

  That brought up an interesting issue. Over the years, Michael had introduced her to many things, presumably to prepare her for a life as an agent, but there had been one huge, glaring omission. He had never taught her how to shoot a gun. She wondered why. Perhaps he didn’t like guns. Or perhaps he just wanted to put that lesson off as long as possible since guns were so incredibly dangerous.

  Unfortunately, however, she didn’t get a chance to ponder it any further because Harrington finished his explanation and told the four of them to step forward and commence shooting.

  There were four targets at the far end of the shooting range and plenty of space between each, so all four of them could practice at the same time. Kiana laughed as her first shot missed the target completely and hit a sand bank in the background. She hadn’t expected the gun to have such a kick. It wasn’t overwhelming, by any means, but it definitely had to be taken into account when aiming. Her next shot was a little better and she actually managed to hit the target but barely, right on its outermost edge.

  “Very good, Kiana,” Harrington said. “You’ll get it. Like everything, it just takes a little time and a lot of practice.”

  From that point forward, he strolled back and forth from student to student, giving each of them tips as they shot and they all improved rapidly. In no time Kiana had gotten to the point where she could hit the target every time and shortly after that she got her first bull’s-eye (it was probably more luck than anything but she bragged about it anyway).

  And that was the start of their training with firearms. From that point forward, they were expected to put in at least twenty minutes of practice each day. Kiana usually did more since it was her nature to excel at everything she did, but to be honest no matter how good she got, and no matter how much she improved, shooting never excited her very much.

  Taekwondo, by contrast, was a different story. Nothing excited her more than taekwondo. She practiced with Master Gwon twice a day, once at 8:00 am for an hour and once again at 4:00 pm for two. As always, the training sessions were brutal and in no time Kiana’s legs and arms were covered with bruises, but it didn’t faze her at all and if anything it just made her more and more motivated. In no time she had learned a lot and her speed, stamina, and form had all improved dramatically.

  But there was one day, about six weeks into their training, when Master Gwon did something that caught her completely by surprise. When she showed up for her 4:00 pm sparring session the other three teens were there, waiting with him in their workout gear. This was unexpected because up to that point he and Kiana had always trained alone.

  “The other students will be working with us for the next week or so. I imagine you are growing weary of sparring with me every day so I thought I would mix things up and have you spar with them for a while.”

  Kiana chuckled. She couldn’t really believe what she was hearing. The other students were all doing a good job with their combat training, but they had been working with other instructors on simple things like self-defense and basic hand-to-hand combat techniques. None of them had any taekwondo experience and they were no match for her.

  And they didn’t look too happy about it either. Especially the boys, who definitely didn’t relish the idea of having a girl beat the tar out of them.

  “Here’s how it will work,” Master Gwon said. “We will do twenty rounds. The three of you will take spots on each side of Kiana and you will have twenty seconds each round to take her down. If you do, you win a point. If she stays up for the entire twenty seconds, she wins.”

  Kiana raised an eyebrow. As far as she was concerned things had just gotten a lot more interesting. She had never fought multiple opponents at the same time (except for one time when she was eight, but she and her friends had just been goofing around). The idea excited her immensely but at the same time she was a little apprehensive. Was she fast enough to handle three opponents at once?

  “This,” Master Gwon continued, “will give the three of you a chance to learn to work together to take down a common adversary. In the meantime, it will give Kiana a chance to push her skills to the limit. Take your places. I will tell you when to begin.”

  The other students spread out around her, equidistant from one another, and readied themselves for the start of the first round. In the meantime, Master Gwon grabbed a stopwatch from a nearby shelf.

  “Begin.”

  It was brutal. Despite Kiana’s far superior hand-to-hand skills, fighting three people at once was a challenge like none she had faced before. She always managed to land at least one good kick or punch, and sometimes two, but usually she could do little more before they grabbed her and pulled her down. Both boys were considerably heavier than her and the minute they got ahold of her she was in real trouble. She lost the first six rounds and was starting to get pretty frustrated before she realized one thing. Despite the fact she had lost each round, a pattern had started to develop. Each subsequent round had taken longer than the preceding one, and Smitty, Jamie, and Jennie were having more and more trouble subduing her. Both boys were sweating badly, breathi
ng heavily, and nursing various injuries she had inflicted on them, and Jennie had a nasty bruise on the side of her forehead from one of Kiana’s roundhouses. As such, Kiana became convinced she would be able to win the seventh round and at one point it looked like she might since she had knocked both Smitty and Jamie to the ground. But then something completely unexpected happened. Jennie, who had gotten behind her while she was subduing the boys, grabbed her by her ponytail and pulled her to the floor.

  “Point,” Master Gwon said.

  Kiana was livid. “That’s not fair. That was dirty.”

  Master Gwon smiled. “When you are in the field, facing a bunch of thugs or terrorists, do you think they are going to fight fair? They are going to do whatever is necessary to defeat you. In the field, Kiana, it is about survival. You would be wise to learn that lesson now.”

  Kiana didn’t like it, not one bit, since to her it was a desperate, nasty tactic, but she had no choice but to accept it and continue. For a few seconds she was angry and considered fighting dirty herself (she knew some good places to land kicks especially when facing boys), but she decided against it. She knew she was good enough to eventually win a round and she knew she could do so without resorting to those types of tactics. She just had to stay focused and, as Master Gwon was so fond of saying, “She had to move like the wind.”

  It took two more rounds but it finally happened. Master Gwon blew his whistle, signaling the end of the round. Much to Kiana’s delight, she was still on her feet. Jennie and Jamie, however, were flat on their backs, rubbing their sides painfully, and Smitty was on his knees trying to catch his breath. He had lost it when Kiana had kneed him in the stomach.

  “Very nice, Kiana,” Master Gwon said. “Now do it without thinking.”

  Kiana had no idea what he was talking about. “Without thinking? What do you mean?”

  “Let your instincts take over. Do what they tell you. Ignore your mind.”

  Kiana really didn’t know what he was talking about but she gave it a try anyway. Instead of trying to form a plan of attack, like she had been doing, she simply let her opponents come at her, then retaliated with whatever move her body felt like doing. The first round was a disaster and she lost quickly, but the next she won, and then another, and then another. By the time they had finished the twenty rounds she had won seven of them, including five of the final six.