Hope you liked the first part. On with it. Agent Black is only a side figure of our Teen Monster Hunters. Today, meet Sally Strong. She is the real deal. Tough, resourceful, defiant. You should see her in action in the first adventure of the “Teen Monster Hunters”. Now available on Amazon in print and other eBooks.
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The guy was forty pounds heavier and a head taller than Sally Storm and looked a lot meaner. He had a flat nose and an ugly look on his face, with his arms raised and ready to attack.
Now, that’s going to be interesting, thought Agent Black as she was watching from the visitor seats in the dojo, which was a converted factory floor. She had been in underdog fights before in her life, mostly in bar brawls, so she considered herself to be an expert.
Storm was a fifteen year old redhead, slightly on the small side for her age, but with an athletic body. She circled Mr. Mean carefully, her face serious with concentration, even though she did not managed to shed her defiant don’t-care look completely. There had been no violence yet, but it had to happen any second now. Black knew that Sally was a C-average student, with a long list of misdemeanors and disciplinary notes in her school records and always had the last word in anything. She was not a brawler, but a fighter. She lived with her mother in a trailer park at the eastern end of Hawthorne County. Some co-students called her “trailer-park trash” behind her back. But even though all the checkmarks were there, Sally Storm did not give off a single trashy vibe. On the contrary, she was a pretty disciplined person, not having missed a single day of school ever, fiercely loyal to her few friends and helped out in her mother’s Desert Creek Café on weekends.
“Kai!” Like a flash, Sally started with two quick shuffle steps towards her opponent, threw two blazing fast side kicks, followed by expertly executed chops to the upper arms. The mean guy had been prepared for her action and did two blocks and took two steps back to give himself room for a counter attack. “Kai, kai!” Sally pounced once more, two fists towards Mr. Mean, and one was blocked, the other made it through, stopped a mere inch in front of Mr. Mean’s face.
Ouch, that would have hurt, Black thought.
But Sally hadn’t factored in the speed of her opponent. Her fist punches had brought her too close to him, so a foot-sweep of Mr. Mean almost brought her down. But she was quick at her feet, one foot-hold was gone, but the other made a little jump backwards, losing balance, but regaining it. Mr. Mean saw her at a disadvantage and attacked again. Two punches and a chop of Mr. Mean put her in the defensive, all blocked by her, followed by an immediate counter attack of two side kicks again.
Variety, Storm, not the double-kick from the side again! Black tried to give Sally telepathic commands, but of course they did not come through.
Mr. Mean had had the same insight as Black, as they probably had fought against each other many times before. He first punch-kicked her knee, followed by another sweep at her other leg and that landed Sally on the floor.
Fight over! thought Black.
Sally went down with a bang and let out a clearly audible four letter expletive, which was obviously not a Karate term.
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“Next time, don’t use the same move twice,” said Agent Black, leaning on the brick wall beside the door, when Sally left the Karate dojo half an hour later.
Sally looked at her with surprise. Sally’s was an attractive face, though she somehow managed to keep a constant scowl that clearly made her not approachable for date-seekers. “Agent Black. Looking for something secret?”
“No, actually for you.”
“I don’t want to sound too negative, but I might not want to be found by you.”
“We had a good operation together.”
“We had a scary operation together.”
“I had the good, and you the scary part. That sounds like a fair and square balance.”
“Not from my perspective,” Sally said.
“Can we go somewhere? I offer you peace, a soda, and whichever early dinner you’d like.”
“You’re paying?”
“The taxpayer cordially invites us.”
“Desert Creek Cafe,” Sally said simply and started unchaining her bicycle. “You’re here with a car?”
Black nodded. “See you in five.”
Sally looked at Black as she walked towards a brown nondescript Honda SUV and thought, “Now, that is an interesting visit.”
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The Desert Creek Cafe was neither in the desert, nor at the creek, nor did it really qualify as a cafe. It was a premiere and the oldest diner in Hawthorne, right at the crossing of highways 93 and 457, marking the center of Hawthorne.
“So you support the local economy?” Black asked when Sally slid into the diner seat opposite hers.
“I support my mom,” Sally said. The cafe closed at six, and there was still an hour to go, but business was already slowing down.
“Hi, honey, brought a new guest?” Karen Storm came over from the counter to take their orders. She looked like her daughter had aged twenty years, just with raven-black hair instead of fiery-red. Only her eyes revealed the her hard life of a cafe owner and waitress.
“Yes, Mom, this is… Coach Black, our former Hawthorne High football coach and my former soccer coach, too.” Sally maintained Black’s former cover.
Black briefly shook hands with Karen Storm. “Just passing through, Ms. Storm. Catching up with Sally.”
“Then carry on. Can I bring you guys something?”
“Any recommendations?” Black asked both the mother and daughter.
“Glacier Cake is our specialty. And vanilla shake.”
“Combined a million calories, I guess,” Black said. “I’ll go with the shake.”
“And I’ll go with the most expensive item you got on the menu, the Black Forrest cake with all the trimmings,” Sally said.
“Got it!” Karen Storm said and walked away.
“All the trimmings? Will my AMEX cover it ?”
“Cash only, by the way.” Sally pointed at a sign near the cash register. “But there is an ATM right beside the restroom door.”
They looked at each other. Sally did know few things about Agent Black, only that she had a special forces army background. Black’s normal voice could raise to an impressive bark that had whipped the Hawthorne High football team into shape during her undercover mission. A shape which still lasted in the team’s results. Sally did not know exactly Black’s agency, but she was definitely not a travel agent.
“What brings you here?” Sally asked to start conversation.
“My boss has asked me to bring you in to our organization.”
“I thought you are not allowed to talk about your organization.”
“I know. My boss decided to make an exception.”
“You don’t sound convinced,” Sally observed.
“Let’s not even get there. You are fifteen, and Montgomery is thirteen. You both should be in school. Not talking about Moe.”
“You want to take us out of school to join your organization?” Sally asked. “Count me in!”
Black laughed at that. “I know about your lack of interest in school. But no, you need to attend three more years of high school for you, whatever the outcome of the evaluation.”
“Then, why do you want us in your organization? The organisation whose name we still don’t know, by the way. And for what?”
“That’s classified information until you ace your evaluation. And sign a lot of papers.”
“You mean our parents’ consent? Or, in Moe’s case, his guardian’s?” Sally clarified.
“Uh, no, you. Personally. This matter is top secret that even your parents will not know.”
Sally stared at her, then glanced furtively left and right to check for listeners. “You’re kidding me.”
“I kid you not, kid,” Black said.
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