I Am Phantom by Sean Fletcher Read Free Book Online Page A

me.
    “More?”
Another guy said. “Let’s get out of here, before they call the cops.”
    The
broad shouldered guy swore. “You couldn’t stay out of it, could you?” He leapt
at me, iron raised above his head way too slow. I blocked his arm and twisted
the tire iron from his grip. He tried to punch my stomach but I shoved him
away.
    I
spun out of instinct more than anything else and heard the sound of the iron
pass right by me. He was in perfect position for me to—
    I
grabbed the front of his jacket and pulled him closer to me. He let out a
startled, “Wha—” before I gripped his wrist, popped my elbow into his
throat and tossed him over my shoulder.
    The
irony of the situation didn’t escape me. Not an hour after coming from a class
about fighting, street fighting, no less, and I was street fighting. If that
didn’t prove fate had a sense of humor I didn’t know what did.
    I
had forgotten the other three guys. I turned in time for one of them to punch
me in the chin. Hard. I stumbled out of range and rubbed it. I had faced more
than one opponent in scenarios at the monastery. But those had been primarily
for technique, not for actual combat. I would need to readjust my strategy. I
couldn’t be content with finishing a pretty set of moves if it only took one
guy down and left me exposed. I would need to adjust, use the training I had
just learned. Trial by fire.
    Two
guys charged me. I picked one and tackled him. We hit the ground hard and I
drove the back of my head into his face with a CRACK and kicked out with both
legs at the other guy. They connected and he fell back and gave me enough time
to get up.
    I
checked where Cody and Matt were. Matt had picked up a fallen tire iron and
held it hesitantly in his hands. Cody—
    The
other thug punched Cody in the face so hard I heard it from where I was
standing. He toppled over, blood streaming from his nose and chin. The thug
went to follow with his tire iron.
    I
moved, filled with a rage the likes of which I had never felt. For that instant
all my learning with the monks about patience vaporized, replaced by an intense
hunger to hurt those who had hurt my friends very, very badly.
    I
saw every movement, frame by frame, every detail as though time slowed for me
alone. The man’s curled lip, spittle flying from his mouth, the streetlight
glinting off his tire iron, how many steps it would take to execute a kick to
his stomach.
    I
flowed like I had the hundreds of times in the monastery courtyard. Under the
other guy’s arm, cupping his wrist in my hand and hurling him like he weighed
nothing into the other man.
    With
the man who had punched Cody, everything just kind of happened. I blinked and
the guy was a bloody, groaning mess on the pavement, his arm bent the wrong
way.
    The
reality of what I had done hit me then. I had just pummeled another human
being. What would Sonam have thought of that?
    “Sorry!
Sorry!” I said to the men’s crumpled forms. “Oh man! Are you—oh man! I’m
so, so sorry!” Cody was sitting up and looking at me like I was crazy.
    “Come
on, Drabe. That was fine.” Then to the woman still cowering near the car. “He’s
a little bit sheltered is all.” I went over and helped Matt get Cody to his
feet.
    “I’b
fine! I’b fine!” Cody said, fighting a very bloody nose as Matt shelled out
fistfuls of tissues from his pocket. “Dickwad got a lucky shot.” He flipped a
bloody finger at the thugs’ groaning forms.
    “We
need to get out of here,” I said. “Matt, grab his arm.”
    “I
can walg,” Cody protested. “Let’s just geb back to the dormb.” He got up and I
ran ahead to check on the couple we had just saved. The woman was helping the
man in to their car. I ducked under one of his arms and helped her ease him
into the passenger’s seat.
    “Thank
you! Thank you!” she said, gulping back more tears. “If you hadn’t come
along—”
    “Is
he going to be okay?” I asked. The man’s chest rose and fell, but