Christopher Golde' Publications

Amid the confusion, Jason looked over his shoulder and could see that most of the attackers were pursuing him.

              ‘Good, that’s what I was hoping for, our guys will easily defend against those left chasing them,’ he thought, as he weaved through the now scattering crowd.

              The number of people about, though light, was having the desired slowing effect he had hoped for on his pursuers. Jason, on the other hand, easily slipped through the crowd, weaving in and out through vendor stalls, but keeping his aggressors just in sight, to keep their attention focused on him. He was unarmed and they were well armed, but he knew that with his training, they were probably more disadvantaged under these circumstances.

He suddenly stopped behind a vendor wagon and waited. The first attacker to appear didn’t even see it coming, as he flew backwards with the back of Jason’s fist in his face. The perfectly placed hit, pushed the pursuer’s nose bone into the frontal lobe of his brain and Jason knew he wouldn’t be getting back up

              The second attacker came from the other side of the wagon, weapon drawn. Jason had already recovered his stance and grabbing the end of the semi-automatic, reversed it in one swift movement, using the man’s own thumb to put just enough pressure on the trigger, to release five bullets into his chest. His heart exploded and he was dead.

Guandi Temple – Eastern China

The third was further away and saw what had happened to his two accomplices, so decided to just fire indiscriminately in Jason’s direction. Before the first bullets had even left the barrel of his gun, he was dead. Jason had already sent a vendor’s chicken carving knife hurtling straight towards his left eye, piercing the man’s brain, killing him instantly and leaving him no time to stop the reaction of pulling the trigger as he fell backward. The fired bullets from his gun, danced harmlessly on the ancient outer stones of the surrounding wall.

              ‘That was the three from the car taken care of,’ he thought, ‘now I have a few seconds before the rest get here.’

              He kept in the line of the vendor’s cart and ran towards the wall that was surrounding the fortress where a few other vendors were selling their wares.

              As the first of the others came into site, Jason heard sirens in the distance, but approaching fast.

              ‘Good, that should see Pietta safe,’ he thought, as he looked for some cover.

              He rounded the corner of another vendor selling corn, as the closest of the aggressors was raising his weapon. As he passed the corn, he grabbed a handful of metal skewers and slipped sideways in behind the van. In one movement he swung his whole body up and around, landing on the top of the van with the aid of a tie down rope. In the same movement, he slid across the roof of the van and launched himself off into space as he simultaneously prepared the skewers in his hands as weapons.

              The gunman approaching the van was poised ready to shoot and never even saw Jason descending from the skies, till it was all too late, and a skewer protruded from his right temple. Jason used the limp body for a soft landing and saw out of the corner of his eye, another thug lining him up from a distance.

              Jason had a pre-set plan which had been formulated as he flew, but suddenly there was an unforeseen circumstance. A little girl had wandered into the line of fire between him and the attacker and would almost certainly collect a bullet if he fired. He would have to change his next move now to save the little girl. There was no time to think or hesitate. Jason covered the distance between him and the small girl in blinding speed that even surprised the gunman.

              As his body wrapped around the little girl, covering her completely, the gunman let fly a volley of shots. At the same instance, Jason pulled a second chicken knife out of his sleeve that he had picked up before and let fly from over his left shoulder, straight towards the assassin’s chest.

              As the gunman looked towards where he had just fired, he saw several bullets bouncing from the dusty surface of the ground around his target. He was about to fire again, when suddenly he noticed that there was a large steel kitchen filleting knife protruding from his chest. He automatically dropped his weapon, grabbing at the length of greasy steel blade and fell to his knees on the ground.

              The small girl pulled herself clear of Jason’s body and ran backwards screaming, as tears filled her beautiful brown eyes. An old man ran to Jason’s prone figure and rolled him over. He could see a patch of blood spreading rapidly across his raised side and looked over his shoulder to see if more attackers were coming. He could hear voices yelling, but since he could see no-one yet, he called to some young boys nearby and they dragged Jason, unconscious and bleeding profusely, out of sight.