How I Met Your Mother

As she quietly pushed the study door open, the guard had his back to her and was oblivious to her entrance. He sat in a swivel chair, reading a magazine; ignorant of the danger that he was in. Leah kicked his swivel chair so that he spun round to face her. With a wry grin, her right hand flashed out in a blur too fast to fully see; her extended fingertips jabbed in the man's throat with terrifying ease. The guard stumbled out of his chair, his eyes wide in panic at not being able to speak or, more importantly, breathe.

His stumble was interrupted by Leah's right knee flashing up to meet his forehead in a perfectly placed strike. His head buckled with a brief grinding sound; the bones of his cranium separated and fractured in too many critical places to count, driving shards of bone inward and with devastatingly lethal effect. He was dead the second she struck him, the slumping drop of his body to the floor was merely the encore.

Closing the study door behind her, Leah turned her attention to the upstairs section of the house.

****

Leah reached the second floor where both Karim and Natalia normally slept. In her cleaning duties she'd never been admitted to Karim's room – it was always locked – however now she understood why. She entered the bedroom and the sight that greeted her made her stop in her tracks.

Karim was naked, spread-eagled in the middle of a huge four-poster bed. His wrists and ankles were tied to each corner of the bed and his mouth was covered by duct tape. As Leah calmly walked towards him, his eyes were looking quizzically at her, with a hint of anger flashing behind them as he saw her body suit clad figure approach him. Maybe she was part of the game, he thought, but surely not – she was just one of the cleaners.

Karim's eyes changed from a hint of anger to flat out fear as he watched Leah raise her right leg high in to the air. Driving it down with all the force she could muster, Leah brought her heel crashing down on to Karim's throat. She rapidly followed this by smashing her left elbow into Karim's ribs, directly above his heart. If the first blow didn't kill him, the second one surely did, Leah thought as his eyes bulged in horror as he was left defenceless to his fate.

Turning to leave the room, Leah found herself staring at the black latex cat suit clad figure of Natalie looking at her from the open bathroom door.

"Impressive," Natalia said in broken English. "Did me favour, da?"

"Don't bet on it." Leah replied, dropping into a combat stance. Natalia moved across the room as quickly as she could, but the six-inch stiletto heels she was wearing visibly slowed her progress. Leah knew from her military background that she was well drilled in martial arts – a fact clearly illustrated as Natalia aimed a swinging axe kick at Leah's head.

Despite not making contact, but the stiletto caught Leah's body suit below the right shoulder and tore it, highlighting the power in her kick. Leah reacted quickly, punching Natalia in the kidneys and knocking her off balance. She teetered on the dangerous heels for a moment before crashing to the floor.

Natalia rolled over several times on the floor, in order to put distance between them. Managing to quickly discard the cumbersome shoes, Natalia athletically regained her feet in one swift movement. She leapt forward and aimed a right-handed fist at Leah, using her momentum enabled her to follow this with a left-footed roundhouse. Leah avoided the punch, but could do nothing to evade the kick. Trying to press home her advantage, Natalia drilled three powerful front kicks into Leah's chest, who countered by smashing her elbow painfully into her thigh after the third one. Natalia managed a back-handed blow with her left arm, catching Leah on the mouth and causing a small cut.

The two women circled each other warily, both of them well aware that the other was capable of landing a single lethal blow. As both women appraised each other, the door opened and another of the guards entered the room. He was unprepared for the scene that greeted him. Two women dressed in black one-piece outfits circling each other. He heard Natalia bark something at him in Russian

By the time he acclimatised and processed the order Natalia had given him, Leah had turned around and hit him with a right cross to the face, she then executed a surprisingly powerful throw which sent him flying across the room, causing him to collide with Natalia. Getting to his feet, he produced a vicious looking knife from his pocket and ran at Leah with the blade pointed forward. Using his momentum and her aikido skills, she grabbed his wrist and threw him across the room; the knife clattered as it fell to the floor. Leah grabbed the handle of the knife and threw it at him. The blade buried itself in his heart, killing him instantly.

Natalia used this opportunity to leap at Leah from behind. Using the momentary benefit of surprise, she punched Leah in the kidneys and then gripped her in a stranglehold. Her momentary advantage was lost as Leah stamped on the instep of her bare foot with her right boot before driving her elbow into her stomach. Her chokehold weakened, Leah was able to throw her over her shoulder. Natalia landed painfully on the floor.

Leah knew that if one of the guards from the first floor had heard the commotion there was a chance that any others still in residence might have. She needed to finish this quickly. Leah then moved in for the kill; as she approached, Natalia swept her legs from beneath her, taking her by surprise. As Leah hit the floor, Natalia managed to put her legs round Leah's neck, crossing her ankles to increase the strength of her grip.

Natalia had her in a vice-like grip and was slowly choking the life out of Leah, who tried to loosen the grip, but Natalia was an expert at this type of hold. It seemed that it would just be a matter of time before Leah would surely pass out and succumb to the constricting nature of her powerful leg muscles. Sensing that Natalia wasn't going to do the sensible thing and simply break her neck, Leah tried one last desperate resort.

She tickled the soles of Natalia's bare feet.

This moved produced precisely the result Leah hoped it would as Natalia screamed and her legs opened as a natural reaction to being tickled. Leah rolled clear and managed to stand up, although she was still weak from the relentless pressure of Natalia's legs.

In turn, Natalia lunged forward, but Leah produced a stunning front kick that caught Natalia viciously in the face. Natalia was stunned at the strength of the blow and did not see the right elbow that thudded into her temple. In Natalia's now dazed state she was completely oblivious to Leah as she leapt into the air and brought her right heel crashing down on the back of Natalia's neck.

She was dead before she hit the floor.

Leah was breathing heavily as she surveyed the room – three dead bodies and a job well done in her opinion.

****

By the time she was back in her car she had already arranged the timers on the high-powered charges to detonate in the kitchen where someone had carelessly left the gas on. Having encountered no further problems in the building it had been easy to scour the place for intelligence information o on "The Shadow" – something that had paid unexpected dividends. Patting the two laptops she had recovered along with a raft of documents, Leah drove away from the building and made a resolution.

She had to find a bar – and one that served English cider.

****

Gepetto's Restaurant

Friday, 8pm

"I must say Andy, this new work of yours is fascinating," Diana Ingram said as she skimmed through the manuscript in her hands. "And this protagonist – this Leanne Barnett – where did you come up with her from. She seems so…real. It's almost like I know her." Andrew looked across at Leah and squeezed her hand under the table.

"Oh, you'd be surprised where I found my inspiration," He said as Leah smiled at him. "It's much closer to home than you'd think."