Chapter 5

Kobra’s wooden hall had a large practice area and a number of smaller rooms at one end. A communal change area, locker rooms, and toilets for the students, as well as equipment storage and an office where the business side of the club was run. After the days classes had finished, in a room only used by the club elite, the Senior Instructor held court at a large desk.

At first glance the room was furnished simply with low furniture, asian art pieces, and tatami mat floors. The traditional Japanese styling was spoiled by a few unusual items. A wall of professionally mounted weapons may have been quite ordinary were it not to contain everything from swords to rocket launchers. A bank of monitors aligned another wall with workstations for half a dozen people.

The Senior Instructor was in discussion with his direct reports. 'Are there any students ready to move up to the next level?'

'Sensei, a number of juniors are ready for their brown belt'

‘Good, let's organize a grading in the next couple of months'

'What about Phillip?’ asked one of the black belts ‘he's really doing well and no one can match him in sparring.'

'I've told you before Phillip has a life away from this club, he has a full time role that may prove useful. However we cannot promote him inside this club any further.'

'But Sensei....'

'No, I've made my decision on this, now onto other business. The Mantel building’s body corporate meets in a little under a month. We need to ensure that they do not open an investigation into the air conditioning. Form a team to ensure things head in the right direction. Sempai Frank!'

'Yes, Sensei' snapped the response.

'Proceed with your report'.

'Thank you Sensei' nodded the Sempai. 'We have completed initial tests on the new delivery system and believe it’s now ready for a field test. The system is much simpler to install doesn't require any special skills.'

'No matter how simple it is I only want it installed by people we can trust' glared the Senior Instructor.

'Yes Sensei' was immediately yelled back by all in attendance.

‘Good. Now Sempai Frank I want you to take care of the body corporate'.

‘Immediately Sensei, but what about the police investigation?'

'That's no concern of ours, they will never find anything useful.’

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