Zero Degrees Part 3: Miss Murderess Read online

  That day if he tried something, as I knew he would, I was prepared for his ass. Well, sort of. I was prepared for everything but being doused with cold water.

  “Okay, have it your way,” Black said with a snicker and did just as I was hoping he would. When he reached for the pressure points on my head, I timed his ass perfectly. Just as his hand touched my forehead, I grabbed his index finger and thumb with both hands as he had trained me and turned, twisting each limb in the opposite direction, exerting excruciating pain.

  Surprised, he suppressed a muffled scream as his eyes bulged. He tried to pull his hand away. I held on tight and watched the expression on his face as I seldom did when we spared and always he would masterfully find a way to take me down.

  But not that morning. Just the sheer feeling of the student out witting the teacher was the adrenaline rush I needed to get me out of my bed to tussle with his ass. I was determined to beat him that morning.

  I saw his next move as he tried to hide the grimace of pain on his face. Suddenly, I dodged the blow before it even came. He always called his blows “light taps”, but they always felt like I had been punched by an eight hundred pound gorilla. The blow was intended for me to release the hold on his hand, but I didn’t. As I ducked the punch and watched the startled expression on his face, I turned, applying more pressure to his fingers. He winced in pain. I saw the riveting expression on his face. It was shock. The student was defiantly about to defeat the master.

  I propelled myself to my feet as I twisted his fingers. I was only wearing panties and a bra as I continued to hold him. Black tried to smile at me. That was one of his tactics. The smile died when I applied more pressure. It was replaced with a frown and a grimace and then some semblance of his pride returned when he barked in a thick baritone voice.

  “What did I teach you to do now? Remember you have to move swiftly and take your opponent out fast!” Black yelled at me in obvious pain. Those were his usual instructions before he would take me down, but not that time. It sounded lame and I wanted to laugh.

  The student had finally outsmarted the master.

  I had his ass.

  Watching him wince in pain, I didn’t even care about what I was trained to do next. Fuck training. I began to squeeze even harder. It was for all the mornings he had rudely woke me up, thrown cold ass water on me and yelled to startle me out of my peaceful sleep. I squeezed harder and saw a vein pop out of his forehead. That’s when I knew I had him.

  I smiled.

  He gave me a cautionary shrug, like he was disappointed that I wasn’t doing as trained. That was the last thing I remember before he hit me with one of his “soft taps” in the pit of my stomach, then squatted down low in one sequential motion and leg whipped me. The move swept me off my feet so high that while I was in the air, I couldn’t help but admire the beauty of the art. His graceful move had such style, such eloquence. Then I landed on my ass hard with a loud thump and saw stars in 3-D.

  He laughed at me hilariously. For a moment he keeled over with both hands on his thighs, whipped at a tear from his eye and turned his head. That was all I needed. Just as I had been trained to counterattack at any moment, I seized the opportunity and swung my body counter clock wise. That motion whirled and whip lashed his back legs with mine using the momentum of my lower body strength and knocked him off his feet. He landed hard on his ass next to me and I glowered at him with satisfaction.

  It was my turn to laugh at the expression on his face as he frowned and held his butt, rubbing it. At first I thought he was upset with me. Suddenly, like the sun shining from behind dark clouds, he began to smile. I could tell that it was a proud smile. His throaty voice rumbled with giddy laughter in a thick baritone that vibrated throughout the shack as we both lie on the floor on our backs. He reached out and placed his hand around my shoulder.

  “I have to admit…” He hesitated as if considering his words carefully. “That was a good move. You caught me off guard, but you shouldn’t have allowed yourself to get in that position in the first place. You have to hurt your opponent with maximum speed and power, but you have learned more in a few months then some people have in years. You’re a natural. You also hurt my tailbone.”

  We giggled some more and not once did his eyes dart down to my semi nudity in lacy panties and bra. Our relationship was like a student and teacher, or maybe even a father and daughter. I was in awe of what I was learning from the man who was also my father’s friend. Needless to say, I didn’t know that those lessons would be so valuable later, nor did I know the real motivation behind that sort of training. What I did know was he was making me a natural born killer with an arsenal of weapons at my disposal, and even a disguise. Being a quick learner was always my forte. My I.Q. was a little over 189 and the average IQ was around 100.

  I stood prepared to get dressed as my body adapted to the morning chill. There was a gleam of perspiration on both our foreheads. With my adrenaline pumping, I was suddenly wide awake and looking forward to our early morning workout.

  As I put on my pants I couldn’t help but notice how toned my body had become in the past few months. I even had nice, feminine, muscular thighs and taut abs.

  There was an electric heater by the bed that glowed orange iridescence in the dim of the room. For some reason a thought occurred to me as I stared at it. I became slightly annoyed because I had been through months of strenuous training and I still hadn’t had the pleasure of killing that bitch Peaches, or that muthafucka Roberto yet.

  Black walked over to the window and peered out into the abyss of darkness. It was like he was paranoid because he was always watching for something. It was something he was not telling me about. Sometimes he made me feel like at any minute he was expecting to be ambushed.

  With his back turned to me, he gazed outof the window and said as if reading my thoughts,“Look Zero, don’t let the taste for revenge overwhelm you and cloud your vision. Right now your priority is to be properly trained physically and mentally to eliminate your enemies. You have to focus on that other shit after that. Are we clear?”

  “Clear on what?”

  I asked getting sick and tired of playing his

  games. In my heart I felt like Black was training me for something else as well and there were some things he was hiding.

  I continued, “I just don’t understand why I’m doing all this damn training. When am I going to actually assassinate a muthafucka? I feel like I’m going crazy and shit!”

  Damn, I needed some real, kick some ass or shoot a muthufucka action! Something.

  I had to relieve some stress and training and meditating in different climates wasn’t doing it. That shit was just making me an ornery bitch.

  Black turned away from the window and

  looked at me with a raised brow.

  “Patience is a virtue Zero. You will learn. In due time you will make the ultimate sacrifice… in due time…” he muttered, but I could tell his thoughts were someplace else.

  The moment lingered awkwardly and I tried to reason with my mind, but came up short again.

  “Yeah, whatever,” I said and resisted the urge to ask him what the hell he meant by the “ultimate sacrifice.” He walked out of my room and closed the door.

  I had been training for almost six months to

  be an assassin. I knew that I was ready, but I had to prove it to Black before I snapped and killed his ass.

  The first few months following the death of my mom took a toll on me. Black came up with the brilliant idea for me to train in different climatic environments.

  My passport said that my name was Beth LaCrois. That shit sounded like a white chick who was married to a Haitian. None of the strenuous, crazy, dangerous stunts he had me doing out in Alaska, or the African desert even got a slight reaction from me. As a matter of fact all of the sweat, blood and tears that I had shed for my mother and friends that I couldn’t see only made me want to fight harder, go longer, be stronger.

  I often
thought of Zeus and the love that I couldn’t let go of. I knew that my feelings for him could possibly be my weakness, like Superman’s kryptonite. It was clear that avenging the slaying of my mother and father were motivating me, but part of my desire to keep training was the thought of killing Peaches. I also learned that Black and his operatives had something else in store for me. It was another mission and the real reason I was trained so efficiently as a killing machine. Things were still moving just as slow for me as they were for the Karate Kid.

  Not only did Black have me training past the point of exhaustion, but he also made me partake in daily meditation sessions. The only good thing about them were the quotes that he made me read from The Art of War. I could remember reading the same quotes when I was in juvie. The only difference was the fact that I was older and fully understood the strategies that were being explained in that book. There was really an art to the concept of war and I was learning it first-hand.

  Chapter 3

  ZERO

  The fact was that after months of training I

  wanted to have some fun. I had been through enough and all work and no play was making me a real bitch. We ended up going to Miami for a little relaxing and fun in the sun, or so he led me to believe. Once there I fell back in love again with Miami’s serene tropical environment, teeming with beautiful bronze and brown people from all ethnicities.

  I met Black’s son Miko. He was half Asian, tall dark and fine as hell just like his daddy. Miko had swag and his handsome eyes weren’t just slanted from him being part Asian. I could tell that he had been smoking on some good weed and I wanted some, bad!

  Black had agreed to let him take me out on the town.

  “Since you only like to train when you see fit, maybe it is time you relax for a minute,” he said with a disappointed look on his face.

  He then glanced around the elegant hotel lobby with the same paranoid look that was part of his demeanor. We were staying at the Four Seasons and the place was nothing short of luxurious. My suite was on the first floor and had a nice spa and grandiose amenities fit for a princess. I could walk out of my room right onto the beach with its majestic tide that seemed to be beckoning for me to join its glorious sunshine. I couldn’t resist. I ran five miles on the beach and went on a $5,000 shopping spree a few hours later. I also got my hair and my nails done. Damn, it felt good to be back in civilization.

  Later that day Black and I sat in the extravagant lobby with people navigating around us. I was dressed with my legs crossed in a chic short, gold Gucci dress with brown designer Versace sandals that showed off my manicured toes. My hair was stylishly done in natural, long dazzling curls that cascaded over my right shoulder. I knew I was looking good because every man and a few chicks that walked by stared at me invitingly.

  “I don’t think you’re focused enough.”

  “What?” I asked.

  He had completely caught me off guard. I was staring at a handsome Cuban dude with smooth, bronze toned skin. I hadn’t had sex in months and he was looking tempting as I caught him ogling my thighs in the short dress. The crazy thought occurred to me that I’d never had sex with anyone other than Zeus and he was black. I also didn’t know that Cuban men could be so damn fine, well other than my late Uncles. Being half Cuban myself, I guess the attraction was imminent.

  I shook my head out of the daydream causing my curls to bounce over my breast.

  The handsome Cuban continued to stare.

  “I’m not focused?! Are you serious? I trained for four months in the fuckin’ cold ass Alaskan Mountains. Then in a hot ass desert in Africa with lions, poisonous snakes and wild shit running around. I survived all that bullshit and you’re still claiming that I’m not focused. Really?” I asked in a loud, ignorant tone as I narrowed my eyes at him. Again suspicion stirred in my gut like a pit of snakes about to strike. I leaned forward in my seat and asked.

  “Is there something you’re not telling me?”

  A hard look came over his face. It was like when a man is reading a woman and discovers that she is a lot smarter then he thought and he had underestimated her.

  Suddenly Black flashed me a serious expression. He was wearing a designer brown linen suit with beige soft loafers. His wavy hair was cut close. He had sharp features like one of those African statues with the chiseled face of a warrior. He wore a thin, sculptured moustache and beard, with a four o’ clock shadow that gave him that rough, but suave looking appearance.

  “Okay. I am going to tell you something and you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone,” he said and peered around the room.

  I gave him an understood nod and uncrossed my legs. Who could I possibly tell if I wanted to?

  “I work for the US Government. It’s a special clandestine agency that takes out all the bad guys and you have been trained for a top assignment.”

  I threw my head back and laughed out loud. As usual he was terrible with jokes.

  He didn’t respond, but looked at me with a blank stare like he was dead ass serious.

  The smile died on my face as reality set in.

  “May I ask what the hell that has to do with me?” I responded in clipped tones as I watched him. My suspicions had been confirmed.

  His eyes darted around the lobby and I noticed the earpiece. At times he would stop talking as if he was listening to voices when he wore it.

  He continued. “Your father took several tests when he was in the Army that qualified him to work for the agency that I speak of. His assignment in Cuba was solely to infiltrate and destroy the Gutierrez Cartel and that included your uncles. While on assignment his cover was blown. He was never a drug dealer Zero. He was simply working undercover. To destroy something of that caliber you have to do it from the inside. When he was found out the cartel’s leaders had him killed. The assassination of your father was not merely because of your mother. This has a lot to do with you Zero. My superiors in high places have been watching you ever since you committed your first murder as a child and like your dad, you were cold blooded, but calculated. You can’t teach that Zero. It’s a part of a person’s DNA. It’s who you are. Think of it as a gift that you inherited from your father.”

  “What the fuck do I have to do with your so called clandestine government agency? You lied to me!!?” I was livid. He had led me to believe that I was being trained to kill the Gutierrez Cartel, mainly the sadistic brother Roberto, so that I could go back to having a normal life with the dude I loved and the friends I missed dearly.

  He exhaled like he dreaded what he was about to say next and then shifted around in his seat. He looked around the room and then added, “It was never my intention to lie to you, but we had no way of knowing if you make it through the rigorous training to be one of our operatives. Almost no one makes it through that training. No one!”

  “Hello, you’re not listening. You lied to me. Suppose I don’t want to be one your operatives and for the last fucking time, what the hell do I have to do with your agency?!” I slammed my fist down knocking over a bottle that was on our table. It fell with a loud crash. People stopped and looked at us, even the handsome Cuban dude that had been eyeing my thighs.

  I didn’t give a fuck.

  “Shhhh,” he hissed with a generic smile as the waiter walked over and began to clean up the glass. Black hinted with a raised brow for me to chill and then looked around the lobby like he was expecting something to happen.

  As soon as the waiter left I asked with grit in my voice.

  “Tell me what the fuck is going on. NOW!”

  “Okay, listen, I did come to help you with the Gutierrez situation and it was part of your training, but the government does have a secret service sort of like Big Brother watching. As I stated earlier your name came up in the data base for a potential after it was found out that you were J. Rowe’s daughter. Then you killed the guy Goody and that’s what really started it. Then there was the well-organized military stratagem you used to kill those members of the Ca
rtel,” he said confidently. “We’d been trying to take them down forever.”

  “You’re lying. No one saw that attack. That’s impossible!”

  “We saw it Zero, up close and personal.”

  “If so why wasn’t I arrested with my people?” I reeled forward in my seat.

  “The Gutierrez family was under surveillance at the time of your brilliant assault. It’s not just that. We saw the whole thing on satellite and on the cameras hidden there.”

  My eyebrow arched with a tight line across my face as I looked at him in disbelief.

  “I don’t believe you and I want no part of your organization. You told me that I had a choice after you trained me to kill Roberto. I don’t work for the fuckin’ government and I didn’t sign up for this shit. I’m outta here!” I wore a hateful glare as I picked up my handbag and stood to leave. He grabbed my wrist tight whirling me around to face him.

  Automatically I moved to counter his grip with a blow to his throat. He caught my hand in mid-air as I swung.

  “Stop! Please!” His eyes begged, but his voice didn’t. I saw something in his eyes. It reminded me that he was my teacher; a man who had earned my respect. I obeyed his command and my body relaxed. I could feel my pulse racing and my heart palpitating. I needed to get away from him. He was a man that I suddenly realized I hardly knew.

  People watched.

  We had made a scene.

  Black released my wrist and continued, never taking his eyes off mine. His intense stare was trying to tell me something.

  “We also know you killed that guy Money too,” Black said calmly as he studied my reaction.

  I almost fainted. I was shocked beyond comprehension as my heart continued to race. “H…how do you know that?” I asked in a shaky tone. It even sounded foreign to me as I sat on the edge of my seat.

  “Oh, we know. We watched everything from a distance as you tortured and maimed his body. Just like your father would have done in his younger days. Exactly like a trained assassin would have done to learn intelligence. You have amazed many in the agency. Mainly my superiors.”