Seastead, Tahiti
I need to drop everything and teach her niece to become a warrior. I love her, so I say, of course. Then she tells me I have one hour to do it. I tell her there is no way in hell I can do that. She says, ‘You’re going to want to do what you can with her. She’s in real danger.’ Then she tells me about the kidnapping. Of course, I heard about it. It’s a small community. I owe Janice a couple of favors so I agreed to do what I can in the time I have. How’s that sound?”
“You know Janice set me up to be here today, too. She told me she was taking me to the range where I could practice with the pistol she gave me.”
The robust, middle-aged instructor was just slightly shorter than Bella. She had long, dark brown hair, pulled off to the side in a ponytail. When she finally smiled, her eyes squinted, deep dimples contrasted with her high cheekbones, and her intimidating demeanor vanished.
“Yep, Janice is a piece of work. I’m glad to meet you, Bella. I’m Gina. We both have stories. I’d love to hear yours, but now is not the time. We have work to do.”
The gym had no machines, and the only weights were half a dozen kettlebells of various sizes. A heavy bag hung off to one side, a speed bag for punching dangled in a corner, and a couple of large-diameter ropes snaked off along a wall. The rest of the gym was sparse. No trophies or pictures and no martial art belts or banners. Just hardwood floors the shade of straw, and ivory walls.
“Let’s see what you got. Down on the floor, plank position. I’m counting.”
Gina planked head-to-head with Bella. “Your butt’s dropping. The exercise stops when you fail. It’s why men hate planks… they cannot see how failure can amount to anything good.”
Bella laughed and slumped to the floor.
“Okay, that wasn’t half bad. You got core, but you can always have more. Now push-ups. They have to be perfect. I’m counting.”
She popped off five pushups before Gina interrupted her. “I said push-ups. What are those?”
“Push-ups… girl push-ups?” Bella said.
“There are no such things as girl push-ups. What you’re doing are knee push-ups. They don’t have a gender. If I wanted you to pump out knee push-ups, I would have said so. We do push-ups, contacting the earth with toes and hands. As you lower, the space between body and floor goes away evenly… like this.” She sprang into a push-up position and repeated a dozen perfect push-ups with speed and power. “Okay, let’s go. One… two… three…. that one is sloppy, it doesn’t count. Try again.”
Bella’s arms gave out and she collapsed to the floor.
“Needs some work. How about pull-ups?” Bella hadn’t noticed the horizontal bar hanging from the exposed rafters. Gina walked under the bar, stretched her hands into the air. Then she jumped the extra foot needed to grasp the bar and knocked out a dozen pull-ups. She jumped down, barely winded.
“I don’t even think I can jump up that high let alone pull myself up like that.”
“Trying and failing is how you eventually succeed, but if you cannot try it, you will never do it. Remember, though, we are women and understand failure is a form of progress. You just mosey right up to that bar and jump up like your life depends on it.”
The jump brought her fingertips almost to the bar. She landed off balance, and Gina moved to the side and let her fall onto the hardwood floor.
“Did that hurt?”
“Yes.” She rubbed her knee where a red welt was already showing.
“What did you learn?”
“The floor is hard.”
“What else?”
“You will not be there for me when I fall.”
“Good insight.”
“What else?”
“I’ve got to try that again!” Bella positioned herself directly under the bar and leaped upward. She grabbed the bar with both hands and hung there. She strained to overcome the force of gravity pulling her down. She willed herself to do just one pull-up, but the strength in her shoulders and chest was not there, so she let go. This time, she landed with her knees bent and stayed on her feet.
“What did you learn?”
“I learned I want to do a pull-up.”
Gina’s white teeth showed through her repressed smile and her dark brown eyes sparkled.
“You’re right. There is progress in failure. I’m going to do more of that,” she said.
“No time like the present. Follow me—its burpee time.” Gina squatted and placed the palms of her hands on the floor and then kicked her feet out behind her in what looked like the beginning of a push-up. But then she recoiled her legs back under her and sprang up into a vertical leap.
It took Bella too long to complete the first one, but once she got the hang of the sequence, she kept up to the slow, precise timing of Gina’s example.
“Keep your elbows tight against your body. We want to work the triceps more than the pecs for this exercise. That’s twenty. We’ll stop there. Your form is falling apart.”
“Wow. When I was just trying to do push-ups, I could do only four. But even with push-ups as a part of the sequence, I can do twenty. That’s amazing! How come?”
“First, you only did three pushups and your form sucked. This time, you were using some of your stronger muscle groups and getting the spring from the previous movement in the sequence. Plus, you’re trying harder.”
“Look, it’s clear. We could go for a run around the arena, and you’d lap me after a mile. Some people are meant to stand their ground and fight, and some are built to get the hell out of a bad situation. You’re one of the lucky ones. It’s best to run. So, here’s what I’m going to do for you. It will make Janice happy and make you way more capable of defending yourself. And I’ll get to finish my workout in peace. Let me see your hand,” Gina said, holding hers out.
Bella offered her hand, expecting to get taken down. But her new mentor drew her finger across her thumb and said, “Shake my hand. Okay, now squeeze it as hard as you can. Really? Is that all you got?”
Bella grimaced as she squeezed as hard as she could.
“Okay, stop now! That’s better. In fact, you’ve got an impressive grip.”
“I’ve been handling fish all my life.”
“That would explain why I can’t feel my fingers. Everybody has their strengths. I just didn’t expect a tall beauty like you to have the grip of an ape. Let’s talk bod-mods. Again, if you get a chance, it’s always best to run. If possible, avoid conflict. But when that doesn’t work, you need quick decisive options to break off an attack.
“Your fingernails are your claws. Got any idea how to use claws?”
“Scratch?” Bella answered.
“Only if you’re looking to turn him on. No. You push your thumbs into his eyes. Or if that doesn’t work, dig at an eye with your fingers.”
Bella visualized the scene and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
“If you hesitate to destroy the attackers’ will to hurt you, you will be dead or worse. This is the best way to accomplish your goals. The eye is sensitive, even in tough guys. If you can cause intense pain and blind them at the same time, you have a better chance of getting away.”
“What about carrying pepper spray?”
“Yep, that’s a possibility. Now I want you to attack me with your pepper spray.”
“I get your point. My nails—I mean my claws—are always on hand.”
“Very good. The pun was pretty lame though.” Gina smiled and said, “I’ll send you some training videos and exercises to get you prepared to gouge your attacker’s eyes. The idea is to keep pushing into the eye socket until you hit gray matter.
“Those nails of yours… next time we meet, I expect them to be less farm girl and more evil porn star. The second easy bod-mod is cutting off that beautiful mane of yours. What you’ve got there is a ready-made handle to gain control of your head. If you’re serious about self-defense, you’ll keep your hair short enough that if they grasp it, you can pull out of the hold with just your neck muscles.”
Gina walked over to a shelf and removed a small box the size of a deck of cards. She handed it to Bella.
“These are old-school, but for the bod-mod that will get you out of trouble faster than anything else, this is the ticket.”
She opened the box which indeed looked like playing cards, but each had a bodyweight exercise with a corresponding number of reps. “This is how you stay conditioned and make your body agile. Move fast, move strong, and move often. Each card is easy by themselves but start stacking the exercises and shuffle the deck to keep your body on edge as you train. It’s the best personal trainer money can buy.”
“Janice tells me you’re going to stay with your father on an aquafarm. What do you do for aerobic conditioning out there?”
“We have a treadmill, but mostly I swim a lot.”
“I guess that makes sense. I’m not really a water person. The idea of swimming in the open ocean would scare the shit out of me.”
“Here, I thought you were a badass,” Bella said.
Gina laughed. “Well, it’s good to know your limitations.”
“Are there many people out there?”
“No, just my dad and his friend, Ferdinand.”
“Sounds like a floating prison. They could make a reality show with me and my dad in a confined space like that and there would be blood,” Gina said, laughing. “Where to after that?”
“I don’t have any plans, but I can help him out. Now that I don’t have a proper job, I’ll focus on my consulting work. When I was a kid, I dreamed of being a nomad when I grew up. Maybe it’s time.”
“Janice obviously still thinks you’re in danger. Why?”
“Turns out my ex-boyfriend is a terrible guy. She thinks this failed kidnapping attempt won’t be his last.”
“I see. Does your aquafarm have any security?”
“Actually, you’d be surprised. It’s improved since I lived there as a kid. Did you know there are still pirates sailing the high seas? They attack a farm, subdue the occupants, and pull in with a factory ship and steal all they can. Most of the time, they leave the farmers unharmed but there have been plenty of killings in the last few years. The producers came together and decided they needed to fight back. There is a lot of money in fish and bivalve protein and even sea vegetables. A cooperative was formed, and a security company hired. Mostly, they advise and monitor. But you should see the gun pods.”
“I’ll bite. What’s a gun pod?”
“When I was growing up on the farm, we’d occasionally have a sailboat or cruiser come across our operation and get curious. It was fun as a child to get visitors. I met a lot of interesting people. But when the pirates smelled profits, we had to put an end to casual visitors. Now they are met with a radio warning and told to correct course. If they keep coming closer, they get a burst of 308 tracer rounds across the bow. The gun pod is a floating machine gun. AI handles the initial encounter, which alerts the security company, and they take over. The AI cannot use lethal force, but the remote operators have killed pirates. It’s never happened on our farm, but we have four gun pods around the perimeter.
“The last time I was visiting, some guys from the security company were there. They have to maintain the gun pods quarterly and one of the guys showed me how to do a manual override. It was fun. They set out a floating target and let me put a hundred rounds into it. I think the guy was sweet on me.”
“No doubt. That would be the way to win me over,” Gina said.
“It sounds like you’ll be safe out there with your dad, but you cannot hide there for the rest of your life. The next defensive tactics aren’t as good as gouging the bastard’s eyes out, but you should add them to your toolbox. Go for the fingers. You’ve got a grip that can break a finger. Present your finger.”
Bella reluctantly held up her index finger.
“Show me how it moves. That’s right. Fingers flex… period. You get a grip on one finger and one finger only, then crank it to the side or you can extend it backward, but you have to do it fast and decisively. Once he realizes what you’re trying to do, it will be too late. After that, go for the throat. If you have a pen or keys or anything you can use as a weapon, this is the time to use it. Your fist can do the job, but you have to hope the attacker keeps his chin from blocking. Let’s review and get perspective. Why do we fight dirty?”
“If you don’t, you might end up dead or worse,” Bella said.
“Not bad but you need to own it. Personalize it.”
“I’m going to gouge the bastard’s eyes out because there is no way in hell I’m going to end up dead or worse,” Bella growled out the words.
“You just moved to the head of the class,” Gina said with a smile. “Now, why do you think you’re working on pull-ups?”
“So, I can have arms that will look as striking as yours in a sleeveless top?”
“That will never happen—sorry. Let’s think it through. Remember, for our warm-up we did high knee running in place? We were working out but there is a reason for each exercise.” She positioned herself in front of Bella and said, “Standing right there, show me what a pull-up looks like.”
Bella raised her hands above her head and pulled down.
“Now grab the back of my head and do a pull-up.”
Bella pulled Gina’s head down and toward her and let go when her head was against her.
“Do a high knee run in place.”
Bella began a vigorous jog.
“What would happen if you grabbed the back of my head, did a pull-up, and then ran in place at the same time?”
“You’d get a bloody nose.”
“That’s right and when you get very strong and you practice a lot, you will break the bones in your attacker’s face and live to talk about it.”
“I see where you’re going with this. Every exercise has a real-world fighting application.”
“Yep. Look, Bella, you are a sweet girl and I want you to be safe as you move out of this hard time in your life. I hope I offered some direction and look forward to seeing you in person again soon. But in the meantime, I’m going to check in with you once a week and make sure you’re making the progress you need.” Gina shot a smile at the viewing window and waved. “It looks like your aunt is waiting for you.”
Bella went to shake Gina’s hand.
“I know I don’t look it, but I’m a hugger,” Gina said, and the two women embraced.