Justifiable Homicide: A Political Thriller (Robert Paige Thrillers Book 1) Read Online Free PDF Page B

one. Ever since 9/11, the FBI and other federal agencies had gone nuts. They saw terrorists behind every blade of grass, and they didn’t mind shredding the Constitution to get them. He couldn’t trust them. They had become as much of a threat to Americans’ individual freedom as the terrorists. Maybe more so.
    He wouldn’t do anything for now. It was Tuesday, and he would be busy all day. He wouldn’t have time to pursue Rodriguez’s murder, and they wouldn’t do anything to him until he started to ask questions again, or at least they wouldn’t if they were men of their word.

11
    9:30 p.m.
    The Parking Lot
     
    Class had finished at nine, but a couple of students wanted to ask questions after class, so he hung around for a half hour to answer them. He walked toward his car in the darkened, practically empty parking lot. Most of the evening students had already gone home.
    He’d been distracted all day because of the photo and note. It’s all he could think about. He couldn’t focus on his work because of it.
    He thumbed through his keys as he passed a black van parked two spaces from his car. The side door slid open.
    His head snapped around. Two men stepped down from the van.
    One moved off to Paige’s left. The other walked straight toward him, sliding his hand into his right pocket. “You really need to stop asking questions about Raul Rodriguez. People could get hurt.”
    He pulled his hand from his pocket. There was just enough light in the parking lot to see that he had brass knuckles. The man picked up speed as he got closer.
    Paige tensed up. Then he recalled the words Sensei Kimura had told him when he hesitated to attack. “Take a chance.” Attack first.
    Paige unleashed a powerful front kick to the guy’s groin, followed immediately by a punch to the face, stepping forward as he launched it, putting all 180 pounds of his weight into it and letting out a blood curdling yell. Paige felt the guy’s nose cartilage snap. As the attacker flew back from the impact of the punch, Paige gave him a round kick to the head with all he had, slamming the heel of his foot into the guy’s temple.
    The attacker dropped. His head hit the concrete like a coconut. He was out cold.
    Paige spun around. A row of beefy knuckles flew at his face, grazing his chin. Paige slammed a side kick into his attacker’s solar plexus, but couldn’t fully extend his leg because he was too close. Paige was off balance. The guy’s forward movement nearly knocked him to the ground.
    This second guy was larger than the first. Paige moved to the side and regained his balance. The big guy just kept coming. Luckily for Paige, he was fairly slow on his feet.
    Paige didn’t want to spar with him. That would take time. The first guy might wake up any moment. It would be two against one. Time to do something he had never done in karate class, an illegal move that would have gotten him disqualified in a tournament.
    He let loose with a kick to the stomach. The guy’s hands dropped. Paige delivered a flurry of punches to his unprotected face. It wasn’t enough to knock him down, but it was enough to disorient him long enough to set up a kick to the kneecap.
    As the attacker raised his arms to protect his face from the punches, Paige let out a yell and slammed his heel into the guy’s kneecap, causing the man’s leg to snap backward.
    His target screamed and dropped to the ground. He clutched his knee and rolled to one side. But he was still conscious. If he had a gun, he could still be dangerous. Even deadly. Paige had to knock him out, which meant kicking him in the head. Paige jumped to the side, positioning himself. He delivered it football style. If his head were a football, Paige would have just kicked a fifty-yard field goal.
    Both of the aggressors were out cold, but they wouldn’t stay that way for long. The parking lot was deserted. No witnesses. Paige could hear some cicadas chirping away, but other than that, the night was