Alexa - Legionnaire : Training an Assassin: Prequel to Alexa - The Series Read Free

eyes. “You’re a man when I say you are.” The older man stood and placed his beer on the porch then disappeared into the house. A while later he came back holding two pairs of boxing gloves. “Here, put them on.” David pulled the gloves over his own fists and tightened the laces with his teeth.
    “Why, Dad? Do you want to fight me?” Zach scoffed.  
    “Yes, son, I do. I want to beat the crap out of you.”
    “You can try, old man.” Zach pulled the gloves on then danced around his dad, trying the fancy footsteps he had seen the boxers do on TV. “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.”
    The punch was telegraphed and slow. David Cohen threw a whopping roundhouse right-hand that connected solidly to Zack's chin. While he had seen the punch coming from a mile away, he couldn’t believe it. His dad was the most good-natured person he knew. Zachary slumped to his knees, the earth spinning. He tried to shake the blow off.
    “What was that for?” he moaned, moving his jaw.
    His father towered over him, poking his fist in his face. “For all the derogatory remarks I had to endure from a snot-nose kid like you. I’ll tell you what happens on Thursday nights,” he said, clasping his son’s arm and pulling him to his feet. “Your mom and I fall in love again. We talk about anything but kids or homework or work or you, you damn smart aleck.”
    Zach stood groggily, shaking his head.  
    “Look at me.” David Cohen connected with an uppercut to the solar plexus.  
    Zach fell with a grunt, clutching his stomach.
    “We remember what made us fall in love with each other in the first place. And now, thank God, you’ll be moving out of the house, and we can go back to the way things were.” He roughly tapped the back of Zachary’s head with a gloved hand. “We can fall in love again. Hopefully Sarah will be as good to you as your mom is to me, then you’ll understand.”
    David Cohen sucked in a deep breath and closed his eyes, then stuck out his hand. “Stand up; I feel better.”
    Zach allowed himself to be pulled up. “Geez, Dad, I didn’t know you were upset about the things I said. Why didn’t you tell me to shut up?”
    “Because you were a child. Today, you’re a man; it's different.” He pulled the glove from his hand and placed his hand on Zach’s shoulder. “Let me give you a piece of advice, boy. One day you will be wiser, and then you need to reach out to the person who cares about you. Your spouse. Not kids, not family. Your wife, she is all who matters in life.”
    “So I have your blessing?” Zach asked with a grimace, out of breath.
    “You do. If the wedding is in Jaffa. And your mom gets to choose the dress.”
    The older man then turned around, shaking his head. “Hopefully they teach you some boxing skills in the army . . .”
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Zach was shaken awake from his daydream when the car swayed once more and slowed to a screeching halt. He swallowed at the lump in his throat. His dad had been right. A part of him was gone, like his heart had been ripped out. He didn’t want to live anymore.

     

June 16, 1992
    Jaffa, Israel
    19:15

    Zachary Cohen was tied to a chair with his head slumped, his chin resting on his chest. His eyes were puffy and swollen shut. It felt like he had been dragged around by his hair. Fresh blood streamed from a cut on his cheekbone, down his neck, and soaked his white shirt a crimson red.
    Someone sloshed a bucket of icy water over Zachary’s head. He spluttered and coughed, lifted his head, tried to focus through swollen eyes. He was in what looked like a hotel room, an ancient and ramshackle place. He panned around the room. No bed. Faded wallpaper hung in strips from the wall. A metal table stood in the center of the place.  
    His kidnapper casually sat on the table. He had one leg off the ground, the bucket on his lap. “Wake up, little man.”
    Whatever, Zachary thought. He wished they’d kill him already; he had no reason for living