Scene 26


Inside the Grant Estate


Several years ago, shortly after I had started my retrieval service, I had a mission from a wealthy client to retrieve an artifact that had been stolen from him. It was one of the few missions where I did not return the target to the client.

It turned out that the client was a collector of rare items, but it didn’t matter to whom the item belonged, only that he had it. I tracked the artifact to a remote valley in the Himalayas. The artifact was being held in a small temple. They had not stolen the artifact; they had recovered it after it had been stolen from them. Not only was this artifact rare, it was old and integral to the beliefs of this sect.

While I do honor contracts, I am not a mere mercenary. I have principles and taking the artifact from the temple would have been wrong. I contacted the priests of the temple and explained to them my situation and my decision.

The priests were very grateful and approved of my decision. My decision to break my agreement in favor of higher principles showed them that I was a good man and they rewarded me. They let me stay at their temple for several months while I enjoyed their hospitality. I did perform small chores alongside the priests to show my thanks.

These priests had developed an unusual style of martial arts. It was called ‘Crafty Buffalo’ and its basic premise is to take an attacker’s force and turn it back against him. During my time at the temple, I learned many of the techniques of this unique art.

As Big Mikey approached me, I began to back away from him. My objective was to get him moving faster by appearing to shrink away from his attack. He would be overconfident and make mistakes.

When he saw my apparent hesitance to engage him, his smile grew bigger in his confidence. I was almost running backwards when he dove for me. Just when he was about to grab me, I spun away, grabbing his arm and flinging him passed me, using his own momentum against him.

Big Mikey is a large man. He had a lot of momentum.

I hadn’t realized just how close I had come to the wall behind me. As I flung Big Mikey past me, his momentum carried him head first into the wall. His head struck the wall and became imbedded by several inches.

Big Mikey pulled his head from the wall and stood up. He was shaking his head and staggering. Then, his eyes rolled up into his head and he fell over backwards, completely unconscious.

I quickly moved back to the door and removed the blockage. My associates poured into the room as I opened the door.

“Come on,” I said. “Grant has got Ms. Ritchgarl. We’ve got to catch him.”