The Third Key (GUARDING THE LIGHT) (2 page)

A flashback of
yesterday
rolled
through
his mind.
H
e
had been
explaining
the
methodology of
effectively
blocking
round kick
s
to his students
at the Warrior Academy,
and
got carried away for a moment.
He told them:
"One
picture is worth
more tha
n
a
thousand words"
,
a principle
he used
a lot
while teaching. H
e requested
an
experienced, six-
and
-a-
half feet high
Thai Boxer to kick him
with
full
power..
.
and he didn’t
block the kick. He could
easily block it
but he s
tood
there
‘
eating
’ that
powerful blow
, demonstrating just
what
happens
if you do not
block or
move from the line of attack.
But, he forgot that he was
not above the pain anymore. Just for a moment he forgot the
11th of November
five years ago.
Since then, everything in his life had become completely
different.

“Good timing, hope
everything
there is as usual…
”
Jason
checked
his
wristwatch
. 7:42
a.m.
, the
last
of 6
sprint
sessions,
and he was
on his way back
to
the
house. Other than some slight twinges in his left arm, and a bird cheeping too loudly outside the house, the day held only the promise of a slightly sleepy normal life.

II.

“Am I going to see her
?”
His thoughts were so loud that they were almost visible
as he turned the last
corner
.
T
ension
evaporated
when he saw a g
orgeous
Japanese
girl
standing
in front of
the
villa
just across his house,
innocently
waiting for a car
to take
her to
sch
ool
.
Somehow
, he was able to understand h
er state of min
d
fro
m one
short
glance
.
Even before s
he smiled back
at
him,
h
e
instantly felt
that
everything was O.K
.
This
‘morning
ritual
’
kept
them
both
satisfied
for the moment,
but
the
future was not clear
.
There was no
physical relationship
,
but it was obvious
when they looked at each other
how much they care
d
. Next to
the
students
in
his
Warrior
Academy
and friendship with Gunnar,
Sumiko
was
a
good part of
the
reason
he did his best at
trying
to live
a
normal life.
He had not chosen to retire in this place
–
but he liked living
in
beautiful
Prague.
In
the
past five years
,
Jason
Raiden
had become
attached to
a
simple life without
much
stress, free of
the
intensity that
comes
with
a ‘hunt and kill the bad guys
'
lifestyle.
He didn’t even seem to miss it.

He was already in front of the house,
and the
metal gate opened automatically
-
but he
did not enter.
He wanted to find the eyes of
Sumiko
one more time
.
H
er ride
had
arrived already, but
b
efore she
disappeared
in
to
the back of the
armored Hummer,
their
eyes met again.
Jason
felt as if hundreds of butterflies were
doing a dance
in his belly but he
controlled them – they would not master him
. Again,
he was
able to read her thoughts
: "I am fine, thank you again! That animal I have to call "father" is afraid and keeps distance from
my Mum and me
. Just please stay here, do not go anywhere! I
depend on you. We depend on you!
I can
not imagine what would happen
if he would lose that
fear of
you
."

Her eyes,
glimmering
with
e
motion
s
,
glowed
even t
h
rough the dark glass of
the
Hummer that
slowly moved
away.

“
W
hat I
am supposed
to
do with this girl?” he often wondered
. H
e knew
that soon he
would have to move forward. A short while before
,
he
had
(quite literally)
scared
the
shit out o
f her abusive father Matsu
moto
,
when he
caught
him
drunk and
beating both
Sumiko
and her mother.
He was not just anyone; Matsumoto
was
a
very
powerful man that
used the
cover of a
Japanese diplomat to protect
and expand
his ‘no rules – no mercy’ underground fighting business
.
Jason
’s
t
h
reats were
all that kept
Sumiko
safe from her father’s
abuse
. Bu
t, he
felt
a lot more tha
n
a
desire to protect her.

“Things
must
flow naturally. She is only 20 and
safe for now
,
but very young
. I am n
ot sure how
,
but
it will all work out”. Thoughts like this
often
rolled through
his mind about
Sumiko
, and sometimes they were so distracting that he just had to put those thoughts aside
.
It’s not that he was looking
for reasons to forget
the
gorgeous
Sumiko
– far from it -
but
on days like today,
there were
important
things
that demanded
his full attention
.
H
e
had
planned
a
five-day
semi
nar on pressure points striking
for the next week
,
critical skills
that were
needed
especially for
serious martial art
students.

Jason
made
hardly any
money from his Warrior Academy
because he
charged
only
a minimal
amount for his lessons and seminars. Martial art
s
were
his
forte
and he really enjoyed teaching,
but he
didn’t
want
to turn teaching
into
a business
like everyone else
. He
carefully selected
whom he
wanted
to
teach
,
and
without hesitation rejected anyone
whose mind
contained
even a small
dose
of evil or malice.
He had
the
ability to feel
the ‘
black souls
’
as well as
those
who had completely sided with evil,
but had
zero
tolerance towards
those people
.
H
e
had
perfected methods of
hunting and killing them for years.

The life he had led
until only five years ago
would be difficult to
imagine for any human mind (even to those with
a
good
dose
of higher knowledge). As a
'Guardian
of
the
Light
' he had endless resources on his disposal. But
,
once he
had
'retired', he was on his own.
While eating
breakfast,
he mused on that
day
–
the
day of
"
coming
back"
to human existence
.
That
was his choice and
despite all
the
trials,
he did not regret that decision.

Taking
a sip of fresh
orange juice
,
Jason
remembered
that
it was Gunnar’s day to present his business proposal. Gunnar
Friedl
was Jason’s best friend and
brill
iant business coach
, whose ideas had made him a millionaire. Though Jason didn’t quite want that responsibility, he was intrigued to see what Gunnar had to show him today
.

“Jason, my friend,
I have
a
great
idea
on
how to triple the
p
rofit we make now”,
he remembered Gunnar
saying. “I’ll fly over in two
days
and
tell you
all about it”.

As financier and advisor, nobody could touch Gunnar’s brilliance, and his lightning-fast mental prowess with spreadsheets was nearly uncanny. He could make an ordinary business plan sound like the new wave of the future. But if Gunnar said they could triple profits, they could
– it had happened before
.

Five years ago,
Gunnar
had
found Jason
unconscious,
floating
on a lake
with no clothes
on
. He
saved him,
took
Good Samaritan
care
of
him
until Jason had fully recovered,
and they
had slowly become
close friends and business partners
.

Gunnar
had become a self-made millionaire by
selling educational programs
online
. His
company was
responsible for
a
few
of the best wei
ght-loss programs
on the market
.