Ch. 1, Part 2

A few minutes later found both men in full boxing gear. Jasper in his teeshirt and jeans, as well as blue gloves and pads, and Sam in some second-hand gym uniform that might have been stolen from a closed down highschool. Sam, owner of a gym though he was, had a considerable amount of weight to his credit, and the uniform was certainly not the most flattering thing he'd ever worn. It was a miracle of self-restraint that kept Jasper from laughing up a storm.

 

Climbing into the ring, Jasper wasn't overly surprised to find that in sunk and creaked under his weight, and considerably more under Sam's. That did not mean however, that he wasn't concerned. It wasn't so much the ring collapsing under him that was frightening, but rather the possibility that it might cause Sam to collapse on top of him. There was no Agency training program for that.

 

Sam, it seemed, had decided that it was important to warm up. Warm up, in this sense, entailed imitating moves from a badly researched boxing movie, in between bouts of flailing his arms wildly. It was almost sad. Jasper stretched a bit, yawning more from actual lack of sleep than the desire to appear nonchalant.

 

"Alright," Sam said, stepping into the corner opposite Jasper. " I think we should do this freestyle, you know, give you a little better chance than just with boxing rules."

 

Jasper shrugged. "Sounds good to me. I mean, you're the expert."

 

Karen stepped into the middle of the ring. "Okay, guys, you both ready?"

 

Sam nodded, and Jasper did the same. Of course, he felt bad for Karen. He had never read her in. She still believed his cover: that he was an investment broker at Stark-Blaine Investments. In reality, Stark-Blaine was a cover company housing Agency interests, which included Jasper. Karen probably thought that her brother was about to get showed up.

 

"Okay.....go!" She shouted cheerily, stepping out of the ring.

 

Sam approached, still using cheesy movies as a baseline for his moves. Jasper walked calmly forward, keeping his hands in front of him, but not making any atempt to attack. It was a risky strategy against a trained fighter, hinging on the hope that they would be caught off-guard. Against Sam, though, he would have to hit himself to make anything risky.

 

As expected, Sam saw it as Jasper being a novice, and tried to press his advantage by coming hard and a relative version of fast with a right jab aimed for Jasper's head. Jasper brought his own left arm up, using his wrist to deflect, rather than block. Sam's precarious balance was thrown to the wind, and he stumbled. Jasper, all reflex, delivered two rights to his chest, and an elbow to his head. Even wearing the headgear, the blow knocked Sam's head back, exposing his chin. A single left hook sent him to the floor.

 

It occured to Jasper that it might have been smarter to at least give Sam a convincing show of his accountant cover's lack of skill. Something about the man though, just screamed "Hit me!".

 

Karen climbed back into the ring as Sam blinked back into knowing which country he was in. She ran over to him.

 

"Are you okay?" she asked.

 

"Yeah," Sam replied, pushing himself up into a sitting position. " just a little shaken."

 

Jasper offered him a hand, which he accepted, and together they managed to get him onto his feet.

 

"You didn't mention that you and Bruce Lee were friends." Sam mumbled gruffly.

 

"Yeah," Karen added. "When'd you learn all that?"

 

Jasper shrugged. "I took a couple weekend classes when I moved to New York." he said. "You know what they say about the streets there and all."

 

Before either of them could reply, Jasper's phone, sitting over on a chair with his keys and wallet, began to vibrate. Both he and Karen headed over to check it. She got there first, checking the caller I.D. , and turning around to address him.

 

"Isn't Peter Barkley your boss at that law firm?" She asked.

 

"Yeah, is that him?" Jasper answered, extending a hand for the phone. Karen nodded and gave it to him.

 

In truth, Peter Barkley was Jasper's handler. Barkley was the guy who was between the guys who gave the missions, and the guys who accompished them. That normally meant that when he called you personally without any notice, something big had gone down.

 

"Hello." Jasper said, answering the call.

 

"Grey." He said, in his usual terse manner. "Where are you?"

 

"Uh, Miami, visiting my sister, why?"

 

"There's a situation. You're on a plane in one hour to be briefed."

 

"What, now? Can't you just call Kingsley?" Jasper asked, reffering to the agent that normally took the assignments while Jasper was on break.

 

"Kingley is dead. Don't be late." Barkley ended the call, leaving Japser is shock. Adam Kingsley had been with Jasper for his entire career.

 

Karen appeared beside him. "Gotta go?" she asked.

 

"Look, i'm sorry, it's just that they really need me, and-"

 

"Go, Jas." She said. "You can buy us dinner with the bonus you get for this."

 

Jasper forced a smile. "Best place in town. I promise."

 

"Yep."

 

Jasper felt bad, but he didn't have a choice. If a operative was dead, something was seriously wrong. The Agency was like a wall: It protected operatives with covers, completely backed up false I.D.'s, and anything else they needed, but once one part of the wall gets knocked down, the whole thing was comprimised.He just hoped that didn't mean he was next.