Read Online Noble Beginnings by L.T. Ryan - Free Book Online Page A

was steamy. A group of four men
stepped through the cloud of warm mist and walked toward me. They wore the same
uniform as every person who wasn’t an MP, and had to have been the four biggest
guys in the place.
    I looked back
over my shoulder. Two of the MPs had followed me in and now blocked the only
way out. I assumed the third was positioned on the other side of the door,
blocking the only way in.
    The largest of
the men walked up to me. He had to be six-five, maybe six-six, and had forty to
fifty pounds on me. He licked his lips and grabbed my shirt and leaned in
close. I mentally flinched at the smell of his hot, foul breath as it washed
over my face and invaded my nasal passage.
    “You like
attacking my friends?” he said.
    I shrugged.
“Depends.”
    His lips curled
as he grinned, revealing two missing front teeth, one up top, one on the
bottom. As fast as his smile faded, he brought his forehead down into mine.
    Tears flooded
my eyes, and I felt a rush of blood flow through my nose and trickle down
across my lips. I spun around and reached out for the wall so I could brace
myself and get my bearings. I found the wall, steadied myself and blinked away
the tears. My eyes refocused, and I saw the four inmates forming a semicircle
around me.
    “Guys, look,” I
said. “We don’t have to do this.”
    The big man
laughed.
    I swung my foot
as hard and fast as I could in the direction of his crotch. It connected with a
thud. He dropped to the floor, a huddled mass gasping in pain. I twisted
sideways and drove my elbow into the nearest man’s face. Blood sprayed from his
nose upon impact, a crunching sound preceded his scream. I blocked a punch by
the third man and countered with a shot to his neck, just above the sternum and
just below his Adam’s apple in the soft fleshy spot that offers little to no
protection. His eyes bugged out and his face went pale, then turned a light
shade of blue while he gasped for air.
    The fourth man
landed a blow on the side of my face. I wasn’t expecting it and the force of it
spun me. I regained my footing and charged him as he lunged at me. We met
somewhere in the middle where a grappling match ensued. We rolled on the floor,
fighting for position. I ended up on my back where he managed to get his arms
wrapped around my neck in a choke hold. I arched my back and squeezed an arm
between his, loosening his grip.
    I caught sight
of the MPs. They were leaning back against the wall, laughing at the action.
    I scanned the
room and spotted the big man on his knees, trying to get to his feet. The other
two prisoners posed no immediate threat.
    My legs climbed
their way up the man I was wrestling with until I managed to get my shin across
the front of his neck. A quick shift of momentum and I spun around, coming out
on top with his neck in a death grip between my legs. I arched and twisted. His
mouth opened and his face turned pale and his neck was close to snapping. He
slapped and clawed at my legs. I felt like a savage, yelling as I neared the
moment when I planned to lurch and end his life.
    The MPs
intervened, one hitting me over the head with a blackjack. They pulled at my
legs and freed the man from the death grip. His loud gasps for air filled the
room as he crawled across the slick floor on his belly to the row of sinks.
    I felt my body
pulled from the floor and flung through the air and pinned against the wall.
The MPs held me there while three of the four men stood.
    The door opened
and the third MP stuck his head in. “What the hell is taking so long?”
    No one said
anything.
    He entered the
room.
    “Jesus Christ,”
he said. “What the hell happened in here?”
    I caught his
eye and smiled. “You guys got no idea who you’re messing with, do you?”
    “Shut up.”
    The MP with the
blackjack slammed it across my stomach.
    I grimaced
against the pain, forcing a smile even though I couldn’t breathe.
    “Just end him,
and let’s get out of here,” the third MP said.
    The