Chapter 3

Mike left Truda and returned to the main office. Linda the receptionist handed him an ID on a cloth strap to hang around his neck.

“This passkey is used to get into the gym, your office, and most of the areas within the gym. It will also be your house key. Go see Ira, now; Karla will be done in a few minutes.”

After a few minutes signing forms for Ira, Linda called to Mike, “Mike, she’s off the phone now; you can go in.”

“So are you all set up with Truda? What did you think of her?”

“Aside from the fact that she could have been the poster child for the Aryan race?”

“You don’t know how close to the truth you are. Her grandparents escaped from Germany after the war, settled in Argentina, and then made their way north to Brazil. I’ve seen pictures of her parents. They are blond, blue eyed, extremely athletic, and look half their age.”

“Truda gave me a vitamin supplement that her father developed. She told me I should take it daily.”

“Mike, I would do what she tells you; she really knows her stuff. I’ll let you in on a very big secret about the Arena. When I first inherited this land from my grandparents, all that was here was the farmhouse and a large, roofed, open-air riding arena. My grandfather bought this property with the idea of turning what was a riding camp, into a world-class training facility. Unfortunately he never got to see his plans turned into reality. I took his plans and, with the money from my trust fund, completed the basic structure. It was during the construction that we discovered that our only source of water was nearly tapped out. I was told that our only course of action was to drill a new deeper well. We had to drill nearly 1,500 feet before we broke into an aquifer. According to the drillers, the water was the purist that they had ever tested.

“I hired a couple of instructors and opened the gym. At first we attracted only a few members. It was apparent that the gym could not compete with those closer to the city. What I needed was something different, something innovative, something no one else was offering.

I turned the place into a training camp for women. Members stayed here, and trained here, for as long as they wanted. We had the cabins refurbished. We started seeing an increase in interest in the camp, but were still not making a profit. We had some really good people; Truda, Linda, Debbie, and Min Lee, our martial arts instructor, all came on board. Truda introduced her vitamin supplement and her strength-training program.

“After several months we began to see some remarkable results. The women who were staying here began to get physically stronger, more so than those women who only worked-out here and returned home. Later, when we started the Amazon Combat Arena, we noticed that the effects were not as dramatic for the men. Truda and I are not sure what exactly is causing the increase in muscle mass that the women are experiencing. It might be the supplement, or the water, or the camp itself, or some combination of all three.”

“What do you mean the camp itself?”

“About two years ago, we had a woman from Sedona, Arizona come here to train. She told us that she felt the same type of vortex energy here that she felt in Sedona. It seems that the Arena is built over a source of electrical energy. She referred to it as a masculine vortex; they tend to be very energizing and are perfect for increasing ones resolve and stamina. I told her not to mention anything about this vortex to anyone; the last thing I needed was a bunch of New Age Hippies hanging around the area.

“That’s enough talk for now. Let’s get you settled in.”

They got into Mike’s car and drove up to and around to the back of the large farmhouse. Karla guided him to a parking space under a large free-standing shelter. Besides Karla’s Hellcat, there was a vintage Corvette Sting Ray, two late model Porches, a Jaguar F-Type convertible, and a Hummer H2.

“Are all these yours?”

“No silly, just the ‘Vette and the Hellcat. The rest belong to the girls. We’ll have to do something about your ride; we’ll talk about a new company car tomorrow.”

Mike reached into the back seat and grabbed his two duffle bags and turned to follow Karla into the house. As he turned back to lock his car he noticed the license plates on all of the cars; VLKYRI 1 thru 6.

Laughing to himself, he wondered what his plate would be. Obviously, not in the same series as these; maybe BTENMAN if the rest of the women were anything like those he had already seen.

Karla led him up to the second floor. There were six bedrooms on the floor. Karla’s was at the head of the stairs. She turned to the left,

“This is Truda’s room; this is Debbie’s, she’s our wrestling instructor; this is Min’s, she’s our martial arts specialist; this is Donna’s room, she’s in charge of our mixed martial arts program, and this is your room.

They had just walked a complete circle around the center staircase. As she opened the door of his room she continued, “Each room shares a bathroom with the room next to it; your room shares a bathroom with mine. The bathroom doors are kept open unless the room is occupied. If you see the door closed, please respect your neighbor’s privacy. When you leave the bathroom make sure the doors are open. You’re the first man to have a room here. I’m sure you’re going to see some sights that you wouldn’t normally expect to see, so try to keep an open mind. This goes for in the gym as well. We all work hard and play hard, and we employ the spoils system; to the victor goes the spoils.”

Mike wasn’t entirely clear as to what she meant by that last statement, but he was sure it would become clear as time passed.

“We eat dinner at six; after dinner we have a staff meeting, and the rest of the night is free. Oh, yeah, we have satellite TV, including access to our own web site library. After you unpack, come downstairs and I’ll give you a quick tour of the first floor.”

The first floor consisted of five rooms: a large living room; a dining room; a library lined with book shelves filled with books; a large game room with several pin ball machines, a pool table and a card table; and finally a large commercial kitchen staffed by three small women.

As Karla and Mike were completing their tour, three women entered the living room.

“Good, I’m glad you guys are here. It’s my pleasure to introduce Mike Wilson; he’s our new boxing instructor. Mike this is Debbie, she’s our wrestling instructor.”

“Hi Mike, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I hope we’ll get to work with each other; maybe you can show me how to improve my boxing skills.”

Mike was momentarily at a loss for words. Debbie was stunning; about six feet tall, with broad shoulders and thickly muscled arms. Her shoulder-length dark hair framed her face perfectly, accenting her high cheekbones and dark brown eyes. As he felt the firmness of her grip he was reminded of the strength she possessed as demonstrated by her lift he had witnessed earlier in the gym.

“Pleased to meet you, Debbie; I look forward to working with you.”

“Mike Wilson, this is Min Lee; she’s our martial arts instructor.”

“Hello Mike, welcome aboard.”

Although not as big as Debbie, Mike could tell that Min was extremely well-conditioned, and someone he would not like to anger.

“Hi Mike, I’m Donna; I’m the MMA instructor. I look forward to working with you. I hope you can teach some of my students to become better strikers.

After dinner, the six members of the management team sat around the table discussing the events of the day. Taking a sip of his merlot, Mike sat overwhelmed by the presence of the five female warriors, each beautiful in her own way and all physically dominant in their manner. Although they were all friendly towards him, he kept wondering if he could indeed fit in -- and, more importantly, compete -- with this group of Amazons.

“Mike, I want you to start working with your group of male boxers tomorrow right after Truda is finished with you,” Karla announced after getting his attention.

“Fine. I want to assess the skill level of all of the boxers, men and women, in the next couple of weeks. I thought I’d start off by getting in the ring with each for, say, a four-round sparring session. I’d like to film each session so I can study them afterwards.”

“That sounds good to me. Why don’t you start with the guys this week and next week you can work with the gals. I’ll set up the ring time, and filming schedules.”

Mike glanced around the table, more than one of the women had a smile on her face and a gleam in her eye. Truda looked as if she could barely contain herself.

‘Why do I feel like I’m about to step into the Roman Coliseum?’ thought the self-condemned man.

For the next couple of weeks, his days started out with Truda putting him through a series of strength and endurance tests, in order to determine his base-levels, and ways to reach his full potential. While he was on the treadmill one day, he witnessed his first male vs female wrestling match.

Karla stood in the center of the ring, mike in hand, and introduced the combatants.

“In this corner, standing five feet ten inches and weighing 210 pounds, Rob Hill. His opponent, standing an even six feet tall and weighing 190 pounds, the Amazon Arena’s own, Linda Jones. Debbie Romano is your referee. This is a freestyle wrestling match; the best three out of five falls, there is a one hour time limit.”

Debbie called them to the center of the ring and gave them final instructions. The two wrestlers shook hands and returned to their respective corners. At the sound of the bell they moved towards the center of the ring, slowly circling each other, looking for an opening. Rob made the first move, sinking low attempting to capture Linda’s leg. Before he could pull her leg out from under her, Linda grabbed him around his waist and, with a mighty display of strength, pulled him off his feet and threw him across her right shoulder, in an effort to place him in a back breaker hold. To his credit, Rob was able to squirm off the side of her shoulder. Unfortunately, Rob fell nearly six feet down to the canvass, landing squarely on his back.

Momentarily stunned, he was unable to avoid Linda’s knee-drop to his unprotected stomach, forcing most of the air from his lungs. Looking for a quick pin, Linda grabbed hold of his wrists and quickly positioned herself length-wise over his body. Dropping to her knees, Debbie slapped the canvass twice before Rob managed to lift his right shoulder off the mat.

Linda used her body as a battering ram, slamming down three times in rapid succession, driving the air out of his lungs once again. Debbie started her count, reaching two again before Rob was able to lift his shoulder of the mat.

From his position on the treadmill it looked to Mike more like two lovers making out than a wrestling match as Linda moved her face directly over Rob’s looking directly into his eyes. Rob was so distracted by her overt sexuality and his inability to breath that he failed to notice Linda wrapping her legs over and around his. Only when he felt her feet lock onto his ankles did he fully understand the predicament that he was in. Slowly but steadily Linda began to spread her legs apart until Rob began to feel sharp twinges of pain in his knees and in his groin. With a confident smile Linda straightened her arms, pushing Rob’s shoulders to the mat and arched her back forcing his legs even farther apart.