Two Feet From Death. by Monkeydoyle Karim thought he was untouchable and he was not far off wrong, he had a huge empire worth millions of dollars. Initially his wealth came from oil, his part of the world produced a lot of the world's supply. However, the oil business was not as lucrative, at least not since the Gulf War, there were far too many outside influences. So he used his nest-egg to embark upon a life of organised and ruthless crime. Drugs, prostitution gambling, you name it and Karim was involved, his empire spread far beyond his Middle Eastern homeland, but still he was not satisfied. His latest idea involved the kidnapping and ransom of rich, high profile women. Vast sums of money were involved, although Karim ensured that he was never directly connected to the deeds. However just recently, a few of these incidents had gone wrong, there was a recent case in France that had put his organisation in jeopardy. A kidnap attempt in Marseilles had ended in a car chase, the culmination being a crash that left the would-be victim, a French actress, dead, as well as two policemen. Worse still for Karim, two of the operatives involved in the heist, were captured by the French police. One of them died during the night, but the other man survived and was interviewed by the French authorities, who then allowed Scotland Yard and the FBI access to the man. This was the third kidnap attempt to go horribly wrong, two other high profile women, along with police officers and bystanders were killed. It was time for action to be taken. Maybe Karim was becoming complacent, he thought that because he had no direct contact with these events, then nobody would be able to point the finger of blame at him. He sadly underestimated the quality of the various law enforcement agencies. But he was fairly safe as long as he stayed in the Middle East. The problem was, Karim became restless and bored, his lavish tastes could not always be catered for. He led a life of debauchery, with numerous fetishes, every now and then he felt the need to travel abroad and cater for his needs. Karim had surrounded himself with a small army of mercenaries, in order to ensure his own private safety and also to enforce his will on others. These people carried out their work in a ruthless and clinically efficient manner, although none of them were involved directly in the kidnappings. Among these hired killers, one stood out from the rest, her name was Tanya, and she was Karma's most trusted employee. Their relationship took on many guises, she was Karim's personal assistant and also catered for some of his outrageous sexual fetishes on rare occasions. Tanya was no ordinary woman, far from it and because of this she held the respect of all Karim's employees. Until the end of the cold war, Tanya was a member of the elite Russian secret service, she had been trained at the KGB training camp at Archangel. She was a strikingly beautiful looking woman, a little over six feet tall, with blonde hair cut fashionably short. During her time with the KGB, Tanya became a highly efficient agent, her looks being a huge asset when working in the field for her employers. She was an expert martial artist, holding black belts in sambo, tae kwon do, judo, savate and aikido. She was also an expert marksman and was trained highly in communications and the use of explosives. Added to this, she spoke Russian, English, French, German and Spanish fluently. The recent spate of kidnappings had been organised by her, through a network of contacts in the criminal underworld. The failure of recent operations had angered Tanya greatly, she was determined that those responsible for the incompetence would be dealt with by her personally. This was a task she enjoyed greatly, as she had a sadistic streak that showed no mercy to her chosen victims. Karim decided it was time for a break from his homeland, he was in need of a change of scenery for a while. Tanya made all the arrangements, they would be going to Australia, to the Gold Coast, the playground of Australia, where all Karim's vices could be catered for. After a meeting of the various police forces and intelligence agencies, it was decided that the British Government would be tasked with bringing about a satisfactory conclusion to the whole series of events. This was a strange decision, as no British people had been kidnapped, but the Anti-Terrorist squad were famed for bringing about swift results. The criminal who was in custody in Marseilles was transferred to London, where he was interrogated to find out who his paymasters were. It was obvious that this would be a slow and difficult process, but they knew that each lead would be followed and eventually the culprit would be found. Once the guilty party was ascertained, then swift action would be taken, none of this was public knowledge. As far as the world's media was concerned, no progress had been made on the matter. The trail was followed, layer by layer, through several different Countries, eventually, the finger pointed at Karim. Karim and his entourage arrived in Brisbane on an internal flight from Melbourne, they attracted no attention, indeed, their baggage was not even searched. They then flew by private helicopter on the short journey to the Gold Coast, they were then taken by private limousine to their hired villa in Southport. The villa had been chosen specially, there was a security guardhouse at the entrance to the property. A three hundred yard driveway curved down to the villa itself. The guardhouse was connected to main building by radio, as well as telephone, a small control centre was situated on the ground floor of the main building. None of Karma's party were armed, they did not think it was necessary, also it would draw unwanted attention to them if they attempted to buy any firearms locally. They did not envisage any trouble and the villa was reasonably secure. The Foreign Office immediately alerted the Anti Terrorist squad of Karim's departure to Australia, they had not envisaged this stroke of good fortune so soon. His movements were then tracked, as this happened, planning was under way to move against Karim. When it was learned, that Karim had chosen the Gold Coast as his destination, the finer details of the plan could be put into place. The last thing that the British could afford, would be an International Incident in one of the most heavily populated areas of Australia. It was decided that they would send only one operative to carry out the mission, the Australian Special Forces had promised to assist in any way possible. This was influenced considerably by the fact that an Australian 'supermodel' had been one of the kidnap targets killed in one of the bungled attempts. The person chosen by the British Government to carry out the mission against Karim was a surprising choice. Leanne Travis was a second generation Eurasian, her slightly oriental features gave her an exotic look, although she could never be considered to be glamorous, she was not unattractive. Leanne had left school at sixteen to work for the Foreign Office, who decided she had immense potential and funded her University education. She became an expert on oriental matters and was sent to Hong Kong in the years preceding the hand over to Communist China. In this time she helped the Hong Kong authorities in the fight against drug trafficking in the province. The lifestyle in Hong Kong seemed to suit Leanne, although there was never a great social scene, this did not bother her. In her younger years she was a very good swimmer and runner, but did not consider herself to be the sporty type as she entered her twenty's. During her basic training she had been taught the basics of self defence, this was standard procedure, but she had not taken any great interest in any of the skills. However, a colleague heard her remark that she was becoming bored, so he suggested she attend a martial arts class, where he studied. Incredibly she found she was a natural martial artist, she firstly gained a black belt in karate, and this was done in a very short period. Leanne then began to experiment in various types of fighting and in no time mastered several disciplines. She became a trained 'sensei', teaching aikido, karate, hapkido, kung fu and yawara. This all happened in the space of three years and most of her spare time was spent teaching or practising. Occasionally, her skills were tested in field operations, but any encounters were very brief, she used her knowledge of the human body to inflict damage quickly and efficiently. Leanne spoke several languages fluently, including three Chinese dialects, which made her an invaluable asset in Hong Kong, she had only recently been relocated to the UK, where she was awaiting a fresh assignment. Leanne was briefed secretly about the mission to eliminate Karim, it was decided that he would never be convicted in a Criminal Court. High powered lawyers and frightened witnesses would ensure that no case could ever be successfully be taken up against him. Karim would be in Queensland for four weeks, ample time for her to carry out the job. She flew in to Sydney and decided to drive up to the Gold Coast, she stopped off a couple of times on the journey north, giving her time to mentally prepare for the coming task. Although the Australian Special Services were not officially involved in the mission, they had agreed to keep the villa under surveillance and offer back-up where necessary. A meeting was arranged at the hotel in Surfer's Paradise where Leanne would be staying, she was given a detailed layout of the villa in Southport. After a couple of days, Tanya was becoming bored with life at the villa, she asked Karim if she could take off for a few days and see the barrier reef. Karim agreed and she flew up to Cairns in the far north of Queensland. She spent a day out on the reef, taking in the sunshine and snorkelling amongst the vast array of fish. The following day she headed up to the Daintree river, past the last signs of civilisation, where it was possible to view the huge crocodiles in their natural habitat. Tanya then drove down to the Tulley river and enjoyed a day white-water rafting, this was far better than lazing by the pool on the Gold Coast. It had been arranged to help Leanne in her task by placing her inside the villa as a cleaner, this was arranged through the agency that supplied cleaning staff to the property. It was an ideal way of gaining entry to the building. Leanne arrived for work on the first day wearing a nylon overall and a pair of blue flip-flops, her hair tied in an untidy ponytail, she wore no makeup and attracted no attention from those inside the villa. As she went about her chores, she noticed that Karim's bedroom was towards the rear of the property, she did not see him on her first day and there was a 'do not disturb' sign on the door. One guard was permanently on duty at the rear of the building, this led directly on to a private beach. Access to the property could only be gained by a set of sliding patio doors, the guard sat outside these on a pleasant verandah. Leanne knew from her surveillance reports that there were eight guards with Karim, as she tidied around the pool area she caught her first sight of Tanya. Tanya was going through her martial arts exercises, culminating in a strenuous kata routine. The other guards were merely lounging around, enjoying the sunshine. Later that day, Tanya decided to arrange her own entertainment, she did not wish to visit the casinos and night-clubs, as the others tended to do. She contacted the local martial arts association, to arrange some sparring, eventually she was put in touch with someone who could help her. Her contact was an Asian man called Tommy, who arranged a private session in a dojo. Tanya was quite specific, she required six experienced fighters and recommended that they bring protective equipment. She was offering them $250 dollars Australian each, for around an hour's work. Tommy assured her it would be no problem and discussed the arrangements with Tanya over the phone. That night Tanya drove to the address that Tommy had given her, it was a couple of blocks back from the seafront and the dojo was attached to a gym. She sat outside in the car and waited for the lights in the gym to be switched off, it was now after ten in the evening. Eventually she got out of the car and entered the dojo by a side door, the room was not very big, maybe just bigger than a tennis court. There were six men in the room, all dressed in gi, five were Asian and there was one tall black man. Tommy introduced himself to Tanya, he and the black man wore black belts, the others were a mixture of ranks. Tanya put down her bag in the corner of the room and slipped off her sandals. She was wearing a pair of lime green cycling shorts and a grey sweat shirt that was cut off below her breasts. The men eyed her curiously, she was a stunning looking woman and very athletically built, they were certainly not going to under-estimate her. All of them had head guards and chest protectors, except Carl, the black fighter, he did not own any protective gear, he thought to himself that maybe he should have been better prepared, this woman looked like she meant business. "OK guys, who is the best fighter among you?", said Tanya, after a moment of uncertainty, Tommy stepped forward and they moved into the centre of the mat. They bowed to each other, a second later Tommy was flat on his back, a vicious roundhouse from Tanya's left foot caught him to the side of his jaw. He did not even see it coming and was stunned at the speed with which she had landed the blow. She motioned for the others to join in and come at her, two of the men ran at her from the rear, another roundhouse with her right foot took both of them out at once. The two remaining Asians moved in from either side and leapt forward with high kicks aimed at her ribs. Tanya calmly stepped back and the two men collided, she kicked them both behind the knees and delivered back-handed blows to their chests, which sent them both staggering backwards. As all this happened in a matter of seconds, Carl had not even thought of how to tackle this amazing opponent. Tommy got up and ran at Tanya, aiming a series of kicks and punches at her, she blocked them all with complete disdain, before punching him in the stock with her knuckles extended, she then grabbed him in a side head-lock and squeezed until his face went purple. She let him drop to the floor, choking and coughing, as she did this she was walking towards Carl. "Come on big boy, lets see what you are made of", said Tanya as she kept on advancing towards him, she suddenly kicked him on the inside of each thigh with her stiffened toes, the pain was excruciating. Tanya then executed a perfect tomoenage throw, Carl landed about twelve feet away, winded and with two 'dead-legs'. Tommy was still trying to recover and was down on his haunches, the four other men decided to attack her all at once. They rushed her from all four sides. The frontal assault was met with a staggering front kick to the face, she then leapt in the air and simultaneously kicked two of them in the stomach, as they approached her from each side. As they bent double from the blow, she grabbed both of them in a headlock and squeezed, the remaining attacker grabbed her from behind. The sole of her left foot caught him in the balls, she then stepped on his instep and knocked him out cold with a raking back kick. She then let the two men free from their headlocks and pushed them to the ground with a foot to their faces. "Come on boys, this is too easy, I thought you could fight!", at this one of the men swung a haymaker, which she avoided easily, she grabbed his wrist and used his momentum to throw him across the mat. The two men whom she had just pushed to the ground both lunged at her, again neither man made any contact. Tanya raised her right leg high in the air and brought it down with a stunning axe kick to the head of one of the men, he was unconscious before he hit the floor. The second man screamed in anger and ran at her, she thrust out her left palm into the centre of his chest, despite the protector that he was wearing it was an incredible blow. He bent double in pain and shock, Tanya then brought her left leg down and smashed her left heel down onto his back. He crumpled to the floor and lay motionless. This left only three men, Tommy, Carl and one other, the others were completely out cold, all this had happened inside two minutes, apparently with very little effort. " I guess I should have asked for ten of you, may have given me a decent workout" said Tanya in a sarcastic fashion. The three men looked at each other, Tommy was still struggling to regain his breath and Carl was in quite a lot of pain. The other man decided he had taken enough from this blonde amazon, he moved in towards her and aimed about five blows in her direction. None of them connected, she pulled the front of his gi toward her and lifted her knee to his groin, then head butted him full in the face, breaking his nose. Incredibly, she then picked him up and lifted him above her head and threw him at Tommy, knocking him over. She then walked over as the man was getting back to his feet and kicked him three times in the face with her left foot. The kicks were just a blur, he never saw them coming and he soon joined his colleagues in dreamland. Tanya was getting very frustrated, she maybe should have been a little less clinical in despatching her opponents, and it was proving to be a much shorter workout than she wanted. She walked over to one of the prone bodies on the floor and removed the blue belt from the man's GI. "Here tie my hands behind my back with this, maybe you can do better if I can't use my arms". Tommy and Carl looked at one another in bemusement, they were both trained fighters and had reached black belt status, now they were faced by a female, who was confident she could take them both out without using her arms. Tommy was the first one to challenge her, he kicked out several times, but she either avoided the blows or blocked them with her legs. Her response was to sweep his legs away and stamp on his stomach as he landed. Carl decided that she was still extremely dangerous, her feet were so fast and destructive, he had never witnessed anything like her before. Both of his legs hurt, but he had to try and fight back, he advanced on her, hoping she would make the first move. This she did, a flying drop kick with both legs, both of her heels crashed into his shoulders, sending him reeling backwards. Tommy tried to intervene at this stage, but as he made a grab for her from behind, a fierce roundhouse caught him on the chest, she then launched a series of lightening fast kicks at him from all directions, his knees buckled and he slumped to the ground. She turned her attention to Carl, backing him up against the far wall of the dojo, with a number of short kicks to the underside of his jaw, all he could see was a blur of bright green nail varnish on her toes. Finally, she had him pinned to the wall, her right foot under his jaw and her toes gripping his chin, a sly grin on her face, he knew she was about to administer the 'coup de grace'. Suddenly, Carl grabbed her foot and lifted it high above his head, this caused her other foot to be thrown off balance, he half-pushed, half-threw her with all the strength he could muster. Since he had arrived in Australia two years previously, he had become a dedicated rugby league fan, he loved the Brisbane Broncos and had even started to play the game. He decided he would try and knock her over by rugby tackling her. Tanya got to her feet with a look of annoyance, she had not expected this to happen, she would show him a lesson. Then Carl rushed at her, head down and grabbed her with both arms clamping behind her knees, his face was near her crotch, he could see the fury on her face as she looked down at him. He was strong, she could not use her feet, as he had clamped her legs together tightly, eventually he would tire, she would free her legs and he would be in trouble. But he held on and it was stalemate. After about two minutes she realised this, " tell you what big boy, sooner or later you will have to let go and we both know what happens then". "Let go of my legs and untie me, kiss my feet and suck my toes for a while, then you can take the money out of my bag and go home in one piece". Carl had never been a 'foot man', but the prospect was quite appealing, he did as she asked and lifted her bronzed feet to his mouth, they were dusty from the mat , but that didn't bother him. Tanya drove back to the villa well satisfied, she had taken out her aggression on the men in the dojo and had her feet pampered in the process, well worth the money she had paid out. Leanne finally caught sight of Karim on her second day at the villa, she was not too impressed by his appearance, he was overweight and had a pock-marked face. He did not emit an aura of power, but he was feared by those who come into contact with him and as always, fear commands respect. It was on this day, that she overheard two of his guards discussing a trip to New South Wales, it became apparent that Karim wished to visit Sydney, as he had never been there before. With this information, it became obvious that the mission would have to be carried out sooner rather than later. After she had finished for the day at the villa, she contacted her Australian colleagues and agreed that she would need to carry out the mission the following day. Leanne was due to start her duties at ten o' clock in the morning, she would carry out her mission exactly one hour later, she set her watch accordingly. The two guards in the security lodge and the guard on the beach entrance, would be taken out by the Special Forces operatives. At one minute to eleven, Leanne was standing outside the control room in the villa, she would need to act at precisely the right time in unison with the Special Forces. Her watch vibrated silently against her wrist and she quickly and quietly entered the room where the operative on screen surveillance was situated. She had to slip her rubber flip-flops off her feet, as they made too much noise and would hinder her greatly. The guard had his back to her and did not hear her enter the room, he sat reading a magazine, oblivious of the danger. Leanne kicked his swivel chair so that he spun round to face her, she jabbed him to the throat with her stiffened fingers and quickly strangled him with the telephone wire. She noticed on the screen that the two guards in the lodge had been taken care of. Hopefully the guard at the rear of the building would also have been eliminated. She checked to see if the hallway was clear and padded barefoot towards Karim's bedroom, the 'do not disturb' sign was again on the door, she had no option but to enter and finish her task. She entered the bedroom, the sight that greeted her made her stop in her tracks. Karim was spread-eagled in the middle of a huge four-poster bed. His wrists and ankles were tied to each corner of the bed, his mouth was covered by sticking plaster, he was naked and clearly had an erection. Leanne calmly walked towards him, his eyes were looking quizzically at her, with a hint of anger, he thought maybe she was part of the game. But surely not, she was just a cleaner. As she reached the bed, the bathroom door opened, there stood Tanya, dressed in a black latex cat-suit and stiletto sandals. Before Tanya could react, Leanne raised her right leg high in to the air and brought her heel crashing down on to Karim's throat, she 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, his eyes bulged in horror as he was left defenceless to his fate. Tanya moved across the room as quickly as she could, but the six inch heels slowed her progress, she aimed a swinging axe kick at Leanne's head. She did not make contact, but the stiletto caught Leanne's overall below the right shoulder and ripped it so that it hung off her in tatters. Leanne reacted quickly and punched Tanya in the kidney's knocking her off balance as she tottered on the heels that she was wearing. Tanya rolled over several times on the floor, in order to put distance between them, she then managed to quickly pull off the cumbersome shoes, exposing her black painted toenails. Leanne advanced on her opponent, with her hands held high in a typical martial arts stance. Tanya athletically regained her feet in one swift movement, she leapt forward and aimed a right-handed fist at Leanne, her momentum enabled her to follow this with a left-footed roundhouse. Leanne avoided this with ease and stamped behind each knee, causing Tanya to fall forward, she had received three painful blows from this slim slight opponent, this was something she was not accustomed to. Again Tanya rolled away, to give her respite from Leanne, but Leanne kept coming forward. Three powerful front kicks were parried by Leanne, who elbowed Tanya painfully on her right thigh, Tanya managed a back-handed blow with her left arm, which caught Leanne on the mouth, 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. Tanya moved in, kicking twice at Leanne's head, both blows missed and Leanne retaliated by kicking Tanya in the crotch, causing her to cry out in pain. Just then, the door opened and another of the guards entered the room, he was unprepared for the scene that greeted him. By the time he acclimatised, Leanne had turned around and hit him with a right cross to the face, she then executed a perfect tomoenage throw which sent him flying across the room, causing him to collide with Tanya. He produced a vicious looking knife from his pocket and ran at Leanne with the blade pointed forward. Using his momentum and her aikido skills, she grabbed his wrist and threw him across the room, the knife fell to the floor. Leanne grabbed the handle of the knife between the toes of her right foot, transferred the knife to her right hand and threw it at him. The blade buried itself in his heart, killing him instantly. Tanya used this opportunity to leap at Leanne from behind, she punched her in the kidney's and then gripped her in a stranglehold. She held on for about ten seconds before Leanne stamped on her left instep with her right foot, then elbowed her with her left elbow and threw her over her shoulder. Tanya landed on the bed on her back, with her feet in Karim's face, his still erect penis jutting up between her thighs. The two remaining guards then entered the room, alerted by the noise coming from within. Leanne was extremely quick and thrust her flat palm in to the face of the first man, before catching the second guard with a spectacular roundhouse to the jaw. She then kicked the first man in the balls, as he bent double, she lifted her right leg high into the air and brought it down heavily on his neck. He was killed instantly as his spinal cord was severed at the top of his spine, the second man grabbed at Leanne, but only succeeded in ripping the tattered remains of her overalls off her shoulder. She nonchalantly stepped out of the uniform as it slithered down her body, she was now stood in only her panties, her firm dark breasts seemed to have the man in a trance. He reached forward and grabbed her breasts, she did not react and allowed him to fondle them for maybe five seconds. She then launched a front kick to the underside of his jaw, he was now lying across the bed, Leanne jumped on to the bed and stood with one foot on either side of his neck. She closed her feet together so that she had his neck firmly clamped between her feet and twisted suddenly, breaking his neck in the process. Suddenly, Tanya, who was lying on the bed raised both feet and kicked Leanne violently, making strong contact with her bare breasts. Leanne was sent tumbling from the bed and landed heavily on the corpse of one of the other guards. Tanya then freed herself from the two bodies on the bed and moved to confront Leanne. Tanya was now the only one of Karim's entourage left alive, she knew that she had to kill Leanne in order to survive. The two women faced each other, Tanya gripped the plush carpet between her black painted toes as she prepared to do battle. Leanne seemed oblivious of the fact that she was almost naked, she was concentrating on Tanya. As they closed together in a flurry of arms and legs, Tanya gained the upper hand due to her greater physical strength, she finally struck out with the flat palm of her hand. Luckily for Leanne, this again struck her on her left breast and softened the blow, which was intended for her face. Leanne swung two kicks at Tanya, the first one connected with her hip, the second one to her cheekbone knocking her over. Leanne then moved in for the kill, as she approached, Tanya swept her legs from beneath her, taking her by surprise. As Leanne hit the floor, Tanya managed to put her legs round Leanne's neck, crossing her ankles to increase the strength of her grip. Tanya had her in a vice-like grip, slowly choking the life out of Leanne, who tried to loosen the grip, but Tanya was an expert at this type of hold. It seemed that Leanne would surely pass out, her face was turning purple under the pressure of Tanya's muscular legs. With one final act of desperation, Leanne lifted her legs and brought them over, opening them so that they were either side of Tanya's head. She then kicked Tanya several times on either side of her head, but her blows lacked power as her strength ebbed away. She then tried to gouge Tanya's eyes with her turquoise painted toes, but Tanya used her hands to pull the feet away from her face. As a last resort, she tickled the soles of Tanya's feet, this worked immediately, Tanya screamed and her legs opened as a natural reaction to being tickled. Leanne rolled clear and managed to stand up, although she was still weak from the relentless pressure of Tanya's legs. Again the two women faced each other, but Tanya was now confident that she would overcome her smaller and weaker opponent. She lunged forward, but Leanne produced a stunning front kick that caught Tanya viciously between the legs, a knee then lifted her head before a flat palm caught her on her left breast with immense power. Tanya was stunned at the strength of the blow and did not see the right elbow that thudded into her temple. Leanne screamed and leapt into the air and brought her right heel crashing down on the back of Tanya's neck. She was dead before she hit the floor. Leanne casually lifted the phone and called for the back-up team to enter the villa. The scene that greeted the Australian team caused them to look at Leanne in amazement, how could such a helpless looking female cause such mayhem? That night she went out to try and unwind, she was alone and just wanted to try and clear her mind of the day's amazing events. She found a bar in Surfer's Paradise, where they sold litre steins of beer brewed on the premises, Leanne sat at the bar and decided to get drunk. She struck up a conversation with an English tourist, whose name was Danny, she found him attractive and witty, soon she began to unwind. She slipped off her shoes and began to stroke his leg with her bare toes, he clearly enjoyed this, but behaved in a calm and reasonable manner, although his heart was pounding. Eventually they headed for Leanne's hotel room, it seemed that Danny was staying in the same hotel, so they had no problem in trying to sneak upstairs. Danny was curious when he saw the bruises on Leanne's body, she said she was a secret agent and got them in a fight. Danny laughed and then had the most incredible night of his life! The following day it was reported on ABC, that there had been an explosion aboard a chartered deep-sea fishing boat, about forty miles out into the Pacific Ocean. No bodies were recovered, but it was believed an Arab businessman had chartered the boat, there were no local crewmen on board.