The Catalyst (Mitch Rapp)

Chapter 4

"I need to start working out if I'm going to keep hanging out with you two" Elizabeth complained as we sat down in our Bar Prep class.

"Why" I asked taking my seat between her and John.

"Both of you are all lean muscle and I'm chubby" she said.

"Maybe if you didn't drink so much soda" I teased. She loved her Coke.

"You eat cookies like every day" she retorted.

"I work out 7 days a week. He's a drill sergeant" I replied. She knew that I had been working out with John and was on my case to just ask him out already. She knew that I had a crush on him since before everything that happened in London, but also knew that I was too shy to ask him out. Our professor then entered the room and began to teach. About halfway through class, John got a call and walked out to take it. I tried to focus on class, but I was nervous for some reason. I had felt John tense next to me when he saw who had called him. John had just entered the room again when a gunshot rang out. 'Again' I thought to myself. Some people stayed paralyzed in fear while others immediately began to secure the room like we had been taught to in our active shooter training. Elizabeth and I helped herd everyone to the corner while John turned off the lights. Hopefully, the shooter would just think this was an empty classroom. After I made sure that everyone was hidden, I went to hid under one of the tables that we used as desks. It had a waterfall edge so we wouldn't be seen. John joined me.

"They're after us" he whispered to me so the others couldn't hear. I looked over at him. "They want revenge for what happened in London almost two years ago." He elaborated. I didn't ask how he knew this information but had a feeling that whoever had called him told him.

"Then wouldn't they be after James too" I whispered back.

"You and I took out most of them" he replied. I nodded my hand unconsciously grabbing the necklace. I tucked it under the burgundy fleece shirt I was wearing. "The police have been notified so we just have to hold them off" he said still whispering.

"Do they know we are here" I asked.

"Probably. They hacked into the school's computer system." he replied. At that moment someone tried to open the door but couldn't since we had reinforced it with some belts.

"Johnathan Richardson and Olivia Erin Ruiz, we know you are in there. Surrender and we won't have to take drastic measures" a man said in heavily accented English.

"Do I want to know what drastic measures means" I whispered.

"They will start killing people" John answered. My amber eyes narrowed into a glare.

"Think we can take them" I asked him.

"We don't know how many there are and we are unarmed" he replied. I gave him a are you kidding me look. I knew that he was downplaying his skills. He had shown me how to kill with my bare hands sure it was difficult but as long as we could get a gun away from at least one of them we would have a weapon. I tied my hair up so it would be out of the way. He nodded knowing that I was really going to go through with this. "You listen to my orders. Try to incapacitate them." he stated. I nodded.

"What are you two doing" Elizabeth whispered.

"Holding them off until the police get here. It shouldn't be long they've already been called" I replied. She looked like she was about to protest before she just sighed in resignation.

"Be careful the both of you" she replied. She had easily accepted John into our friendship despite also having her own suspicions about him. We nodded before sneaking out the back door. That door was only allowed to open from the classroom, so we had not reinforced it. The door opened up to the staircase. We walked up to where the door that let to the hallway was. We could hear them talking in Arabic. I looked at John in hopes that he would give me some indication that he knew what they were saying. I knew that he was fluent in it. It was one of the few facts that I learned about him that I suspected was real besides his age. He motioned for me to hide in the corner as he opened the door and put the guy closest to the door in a choke hold and pulled him into the stairwell. As soon as the door closed behind him bullets hit the door. John knocked the guy out with his own assault rifle before giving it to me and taking the guy's pistol for himself. The gun fire paused, and we took the opportunity to open the door and return our own shots. I hit one of the three remaining guys in both arms while John took care of the other two. I walked over to the guy that I had shot and smacked him over the head with the butt of the assault rifle and knocked him out. The police rounded the corner as I was going to help John with the last guy. The guy lowered his gun and fell to the floor when he realized that he was trapped between John and I and the police. John and I also dropped our weapons.