sorts. That link could be used as a crude homing device,” Kara said.
“What the hell. Did you just Lo-Jack me?”
“Not quite,” Hunter laughed, “this is a very passive thing and isn’t giving your location away. It’s more of a compass. One tag will point the way to another.”
“Kevlar compasses. Awesome.”
“BD here won’t even carry a cell phone because he doesn’t want to be tracked,” Danny laughed.
I gave him a look and a fake smile. He just grinned in response.
“There is nothing to fear, Mr. Chang. Only members of Team Thirteen can attempt to locate your tag,” Freddy smiled.
“I wonder who might use that feature?”
I winked at the girls and they rolled their eyes. Kara even went as far as to shake her head and mouth “no chance”. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Besides,” Freddy continued, “the tag only points in a direction. It does not reveal your location.”
“Exactly. For that, some kind of a genius would have to position the rest of your team around the city and then use basic triangulation to find you,” Hunter winked.
“Good to know.”
“Here to help,” he smiled.
I looked back over at Elvis, who was lip-syncing to whatever Presley song was playing now, and paying us no mind.
“So they are fully charged and ready to go?”
“That’s right baby,” he replied.
As his huge weasel-like mouth spoke, I couldn’t help but notice it rise up on his left side, much like the King’s famous lip curl. It was truly a sight. I looked over the rest of the team, each of them wearing their tags and fiddling with them in their hands. Their excitement was a long way from wearing off. Assuming that the team wasn’t going to be much good for anything other than smiling at the moment, this seemed to opportune time to test Hunter’s combat abilities.
“Now that everyone has their toys, how about we go see what the kid can do?”
“Works for me,” Hunter said.
Everyone else took their attention away from their tags long enough to nod an acknowledgement and follow us out. I hollered back at Elvis as we left.
“Stay cool, Elvis.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much,” he replied.
Everyone smiled at that and we headed out.
CHAPTER 6
Directly across from the armory is the shooting range. The kid had a pair of pistols under his arms, so I figured that was a decent place to start. We all shuffled in and stared down the long line of shooting lanes. There were two agents down on the left end, practicing, and a range master who waved a greeting our way. Everyone threw on a pair of earmuffs and glasses and we headed past the sound barrier and into the range. I went to the far right lane, so as to not disturb the other shooters. There was a target already hanging on the line, the outline of a person, backed with a few pieces of tough cardboard to keep the paper target from flapping about. You needed a stiffer target when you used some of our range’s fancy functions. For example, a target could be pre-programmed to move back and forth and even a bit side to side if you wanted to increase the difficulty of your practice. I wasn’t planning to start off with anything that complicated with the kid. For now, I just hit the button, and set the target stationary, about fifty feet down range.
“Okay little man, follow my lead.”
With that I twitched my left arm and felt the throwing star fall from my short-sleeve and land between my fingers for a split second before I flipped it downrange. I mirrored this movement with my right hand, sending another star into the target. Left, right, left for three more stars before I stopped to admire my work.
“I call that my shuriken face.”
All of my stars were sticking in the head of the target, two of them as eyes, and the other three as a smiley mouth. I looked over at Hunter, who was staring down-range at my handiwork. I could see the team behind me, trying to hide their smiles. They’d never want to admit it to me,
“What the hell. Did you just Lo-Jack me?”
“Not quite,” Hunter laughed, “this is a very passive thing and isn’t giving your location away. It’s more of a compass. One tag will point the way to another.”
“Kevlar compasses. Awesome.”
“BD here won’t even carry a cell phone because he doesn’t want to be tracked,” Danny laughed.
I gave him a look and a fake smile. He just grinned in response.
“There is nothing to fear, Mr. Chang. Only members of Team Thirteen can attempt to locate your tag,” Freddy smiled.
“I wonder who might use that feature?”
I winked at the girls and they rolled their eyes. Kara even went as far as to shake her head and mouth “no chance”. I couldn’t help but smile.
“Besides,” Freddy continued, “the tag only points in a direction. It does not reveal your location.”
“Exactly. For that, some kind of a genius would have to position the rest of your team around the city and then use basic triangulation to find you,” Hunter winked.
“Good to know.”
“Here to help,” he smiled.
I looked back over at Elvis, who was lip-syncing to whatever Presley song was playing now, and paying us no mind.
“So they are fully charged and ready to go?”
“That’s right baby,” he replied.
As his huge weasel-like mouth spoke, I couldn’t help but notice it rise up on his left side, much like the King’s famous lip curl. It was truly a sight. I looked over the rest of the team, each of them wearing their tags and fiddling with them in their hands. Their excitement was a long way from wearing off. Assuming that the team wasn’t going to be much good for anything other than smiling at the moment, this seemed to opportune time to test Hunter’s combat abilities.
“Now that everyone has their toys, how about we go see what the kid can do?”
“Works for me,” Hunter said.
Everyone else took their attention away from their tags long enough to nod an acknowledgement and follow us out. I hollered back at Elvis as we left.
“Stay cool, Elvis.”
“Thank you. Thank you very much,” he replied.
Everyone smiled at that and we headed out.
CHAPTER 6
Directly across from the armory is the shooting range. The kid had a pair of pistols under his arms, so I figured that was a decent place to start. We all shuffled in and stared down the long line of shooting lanes. There were two agents down on the left end, practicing, and a range master who waved a greeting our way. Everyone threw on a pair of earmuffs and glasses and we headed past the sound barrier and into the range. I went to the far right lane, so as to not disturb the other shooters. There was a target already hanging on the line, the outline of a person, backed with a few pieces of tough cardboard to keep the paper target from flapping about. You needed a stiffer target when you used some of our range’s fancy functions. For example, a target could be pre-programmed to move back and forth and even a bit side to side if you wanted to increase the difficulty of your practice. I wasn’t planning to start off with anything that complicated with the kid. For now, I just hit the button, and set the target stationary, about fifty feet down range.
“Okay little man, follow my lead.”
With that I twitched my left arm and felt the throwing star fall from my short-sleeve and land between my fingers for a split second before I flipped it downrange. I mirrored this movement with my right hand, sending another star into the target. Left, right, left for three more stars before I stopped to admire my work.
“I call that my shuriken face.”
All of my stars were sticking in the head of the target, two of them as eyes, and the other three as a smiley mouth. I looked over at Hunter, who was staring down-range at my handiwork. I could see the team behind me, trying to hide their smiles. They’d never want to admit it to me,
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