FUGITIVE

CHAPTER 15

8 YEARS AGO

GERMAN POLICE ACADEMY

I squeeze the trigger and 8 shots later, there are 8 holes on my target sheet, all in a straight line. Sergeant Walter watches me from a distance and I can make out a small smile playing on his lips.

I've been here barely six months and I have consistently been on top of my class. I don't mean to boast but nobody has even come close to my level. It has become quite boring to be constantly good at everything. However, I have two more years to complete my training and if I'm lucky somebody just might rise to the challenge.

I walk over to the break room after firearms practice. We have a self defence class in 30 minutes and I'd really like to rest up. Just as I stretch my legs over the coffee table, Sergeant Walter walks in. I stand up straight and salute.

He chuckles and gestures to lower my hand.

"Quite an impressive target practice, Officer Schulz", he says. "It has been quite a while since I've seen such precision in shooting. I have to say, you look like my most promising recruit this year."

I smile and thank him. "I just focus on the target and nothing else sir. Precision follows."

He pats my shoulder and turns around to leave. "I hope you're prepared to fight. Today, you spar."

I watch as he leaves and collapse on the chair. I haven't practiced sparring in a few days and it's going to be difficult to kick ass, especially because most of my fellow recruits are men. Even though self defence is second nature to me now, I don't think I'm getting away easy this time.

I walk over to the fight room just before we start. I see Ilse standing a few feet away and looking at the mat with wide eyes.

"Did you know?", she asks me. "Apparently they're pitting us all against each other. It's going to be a competition of some sort."

Ilse and I are the only female recruits this year. We joined on the same day and became fast friends. It's good for women to have each other's back right?

I give her a look she knows quite well and she sighs. "Obviously I'm not scared. They'll make us fight each other and I know you won't really hurt me even though you ARE better than me."

I shake my head. "I don't think we're fighting each other, Is. They're picking random names out of the box", I say as I nod my head towards the Sergeant.

Sergeant Walter gives me a look as he calls me forward. I get the most fit recruit in our batch pit against me. As he steps on the mat, he gives me a really nasty smile, which clearly means that he's going to crush me like an ant. It is quite difficult being a female recruit, but its even worse when you're a good one.

As soon as the bell rings, my opponent gnarls at me like a predator at its prey. I keep my feet light and slightly bounce on the mat. The trick here is to stay agile and tire him out. We go around in circles, waiting for each other to make the first move. I can see in his eyes that he is getting impatient. All I need is for him to run out of patience and make the wrong move.

Just as expected, he charges at me with full force, hoping I would retaliate. I simply move out of the way and he tumbles from the force and falls on the ground. We hear Is let out a small chuckle from behind me and his face turns red.

There's fire in his eyes as he waits for me to throw the first punch. I get closer to him and as just as I wanted, he gets tempted to get in a punch. Just as he hurls his fists towards me, I dodge it and sweep his feet from under him. As he lands on his back and is immobile from the impact, I grab his hand and flip him. I lock both his hands behind him and dig my knees into his back. After struggling for a few seconds, he says the safe word, signalling his forfeit.