Mistress AC-0002

M y mother always told me, ‘Georgetta-Lynn, don't play with your food. There are consequences for misbehaving.' I think I must have heard her say that a million times growing up. I was never one to obey. Even as I looked at the small crowd before me, I knew I was about to be in a shitload of trouble. Not just from Jack. No one was going to be happy with my rules. Not Percy or Kelvin. Not Shane or even Vera, and she'd helped me make most of them. I was walking the line of dangerous and stupid, and I knew it. That didn't change my mind. I needed a challenge. I needed to feel alive. I used to, but I wasn't cut out for civilian life. For elite life. Even with help from Elec and the medical staff over the last few months, I had not been successful in conceiving a child. Over five years total in trying. Never once or a maybe. Not even an almost. Nothing. And Jack was always busy or gone. That left me being a less-than-stellar wife. After all, I had my own stupid job. But I even felt I was failing as a boss. I couldn't do anything right. What I could do was kill. I could maim and put holes in bodies. I could snap bones. I'd always been good at making people bleed.

"Alright. This game has no time limit. There are fifteen weaponless slaves running free in the expanse of forest behind me. You've all been out there. It's thick. It's unforgiving. There are tons of places to hide. We all have a gun and knife, but you know the risks. These slaves will not go down without a fight. It's you or them. As simple as that sounds, I've decided at the last moment to spice it up. Here are the rules. You can use your own gun, or you can use one of mine." I gestured to the box one of the three guards I'd brought with us held. "If you use your weapon, you get two slaves deducted from your score."

"What?" Percy's hands came to his hips.

"If you use one of mine," I continued, "you start off clean. No negative deductions."

"What's the difference with the guns?" Shane brought Vera in closer as he looked at me skeptically.

I smiled, glancing at the box. "Only half of the bullets in those guns are real. The other half are blanks. Fate holds your life in its hands when you pull that trigger. Maybe the first will work. Maybe the first couple will fail."

"Are you insane?"

Kelvin's mouth was slightly parted, but I saw the smile that was beginning to cross his aged face. He had to be pushing seventy. I didn't know Master Three well, but he was a board member and one of Shane's good friends.

"I'm down." Vera walked forward, the challenge and determination heavy on her face as she grabbed one of the guns. "I've been practicing my shooting. I'm confident."

"My fucking ass." Shane shook his head. "I'll be keeping my own gun, and you, my dear, will be glued to my side. I don't like you out here in the first place. I'm not sure about this game."

Percy's head shook. "Me either. I'm keeping mine too. Those slaves are convicts. They're murderers. If you're not fast?—"

"Where's your thirst for excitement, Percy? You got a damn knife and a guard. You're fine." Kelvin stepped forward, grabbing one of the guns from the box. "I'll make it even between all three of us and play on the wild side."

"Jack? Do you want to tip the scales and give us more points?"

At my smooth tone, his head shook. Not as an answer. I knew that look. He was raging, and he saw right through me. That only had me pushing to stand taller as I gestured to the box.

"Alright. I guess all of our teams are starting at zero." My voice was slightly clipped. "Also inside are helmets. The moment you turn on the night vision goggles that are attached, it'll start recording and track your position. The last thing in there are earpieces. We'll all be wearing those. We'll stay in teams, each with our own guard. Two teams will be on each side of the land, and one team will hunt down the middle. The trackers will alert us if two teams get too close to each other, that way we're not being mistaken as slaves. Any questions?"

At everyone's head shaking and grabbing their equipment, I smiled. "Perfect. Let's go hunting. Jack." I waved him and one of the guards forward, pulling my gun free from its holster. We were all in black pants and long-sleeve shirts, but my outfit wasn't new like the others. It was fitted and equipped with special pockets. It was well used from back in the day when hunting didn't happen in a cage.

What a time that was. They weren't all good memories. I had scars littering my body from bullets and stab wounds. A burn along my ribs that brought on an infection I was sure would kill me. I was a collage of catastrophe and chaos. I wasn't the best at my job with the Jane Doe Foundation, but I gave it everything, and I did love it. Saving women of all statuses. Children. Being there for them at their most terrifying moments… I had purpose…once . I wouldn't think of the bad people I had to save. Or cover for. Or kill for.

"You just wait until we get back to our apartment tonight. Blanks, Georgie?"

"You're not afraid, are you, Jack?"

We were barely into the lining of trees before I was spun in his direction. Jack's arm was a vice at my lower back, hooking me in so tightly that I'd have to fight if I wanted to be free.

"You're upset. You're angry and bored. I get it, but you're pushing it. This game changes nothing. You're still going to be those things, and aside from a night of maybe losing one of our friends because they don't have the training you do, you'll still suffer. Let's not go down the same route we did last auction. Talk to me. What can I do?"

"We've talked. There's nothing. I'm dealing the only way I know how."

"You could go back. You could be on their board. Oversee the Jane's and their work. Elec's tried to talk to you about it. He wants you there."

Anger had me breaking Jack's hold before I could think about what I was doing.

"And I told him no. We're focusing on starting a family. We need an heir. Besides, he knows better than to push me. I'm done with the Jane's. I'll never return with my mother in charge. Gabriella can go to hell. I never want to think of her again. I'm not even going to think about Elaine, the golden girl , practically running the show now. Fuck them both."

"No. Go back to what you said first. Focusing on a family? You were just drinking wine. That doesn't show me that you're taking this seriously."

I stiffened, forcing back the tears. " I said I'm trying . Jack…This is the first night in longer than I can remember. I?—"

"No. I know you want an heir as bad as I do. I shouldn't have said that. I'm sorry. It's been a while since you've had anything." He let out a deep breath. "I'm overstressed. I miss you like crazy. Forgive me for that. It's just, I want this, Georgie. I want it a lot. It's all I can think about lately."

"Me too."

"Do you forgive me?'

"Yes. Except for the part where you're trying to push me back towards my mother."

"Gabriella was upset at almost losing you. I saw her, Georgie."

"I've said it a million times. You saw an act . I was barely able to walk when she blamed my injuries on my carelessness in front of the entire Jane Doe board . She said I was irresponsible and a liability. She's my mother . She should have been supporting me and let someone else take my case. She didn't. Gabriella made me look like the guilty party. She blamed me when she's the one who sent me. And how many times did she do that?"

"What happened was out of your control. Everyone knew that."

"Which time, Jack? Which time was out of my control? I can think of three off the top of my head where I failed. Nearly half a dozen more where I almost did. How can someone so trained and good at their job be so unlucky? I surpassed all of my peers. I was the best. No one came close to my skills. No one . Why did bad things keep happening? Was it coincidence or sabotage?"

His eyes scanned behind me but came back through his narrowed stare.

"Georgie-baby, we've talked about this. You've gone over those same three a million times with me. We found no sabotage. Bad things just sometimes happen. There's nothing different that could have been done."

"Wrong. With Celeste there could have been." I held tighter to my gun. "Each choice is a different path, and I admit on hers, I fucked up. Or…walked into it, if I was set up. It shouldn't have happened. I was so careful. I was sure—" The memories had me shaking my head. "Maybe had I not left and gotten coffee that morning, I would have made it to Celeste's apartment in time to stop the bullet that exploded her brains all over the fucking pillow I'd brought her hours before. Coffee, Jack. An addiction. A habit. It didn't matter how careful I was, or how much I covered my ass. I should have gone without it until I had her safely back at headquarters. Had she not been through enough hell? All that running and hiding for what? Just to die when she finally thought she was safe with me? I had her for less than a day and she got killed." My head shook again, and I couldn't stop it. "All because I left to get us a fucking coffee. God, I can still hear my mother. ‘You were trained better than that' . And she was right. It's the first damn thing you learn when you get to your target, and I left Celeste alone. I was stupid. So fucking stupid. But that almost…satisfied look from my mother. She was happy I failed. She?—"

"You learned. You paid for your mistake. You have the scars of what the foundation did to you. You never left them alone again after that."

"I didn't. But what about Christian?"

Jack's jaw parted in anger and yet shock. "They found the two of you after you saved him. They shot you both, but you still managed to get free and carry that boy's dead body to safety. Seven miles, Georgie. Seven, in near-freezing temperatures. I almost lost you."

"But you didn't. He died, Jack. Not me. I should have pushed us further that first night. I should have put more distance between me and his abductors. That's what my mother said."

"Who cares what she said. That's. Not. Your. Fault . A million times, you have to let that one go."

"He was four, and an Elite. He was one of us."

"And he died in your arms instead of on a dirty mattress under some monster. Baby." Jack wrapped back around me as I held in the sob. "What's this really about? You want to go to a beach that bad?"

A groan left me as I added the smallest amount of resistance to his hold.

"Fuck the beach. I'm done talking about this. Let's just hunt."

"So you can keep tempting fate? One of these days, you're not going to win, Georgetta. I don't see your rush to die. I know you hold a lot of pain inside. I know what you've seen and undergone has had an effect. How could it not? We're not incapable of emotion. For years we've been trying our hardest to be happy. It's not enough for you. The options are winding down. I ask for time, but I see yours is running out."

"My patience is what's running out. Hurry. Everyone's already got a head start."

I lifted my helmet, strapping it to my head and adjusting the goggles. Jack let me go, doing the same, but I could feel him move in close. I flipped the night vision on and began to walk deeper into the thick brush and trees, trying my best to ignore the memories that haunted me. Memories that I felt . But Jack was wrong on one thing. I couldn't feel anything else anymore. Not rights. Not wrongs. Not regret on my current decisions. Just…pain for my failure. Sadness that nothing I did turned out right. That nothing I wanted worked out. I should have known by now. You'd think after everything I'd been through, I'd expect this. Maybe I did. Maybe that's why I'd spent the last few years eagerly becoming a heartless monster. If I was one of them, I wasn't on the losing side. I wasn't the one hurting. Hiding. I was in control, and I'd been doing this long enough that I was finally good with that. There were no more victims, just opportunities to die a little more inside. Secret mental masochist? Oh, yes.

"Testing. Testing?"

I clicked the button, temporarily turning on my mic. "I hear you, Percy," I said, lowly. "You're in the middle with Kelvin, correct?"

I adjusted the earpiece, narrowing my eyes at the bright limbs and tree trunks before me. I took in everything, allowing my training to push to the front as every sight and sound amplified.

"Yep. We're in the middle. So far nothing. Fifteen slaves. That doesn't leave much room in the forest if they don't stick together. They'll be spread out and all over the place."

"Keep your eyes open." I kept each step light as I scanned the illuminated darkness before me. "You're absolutely right. They'll probably do both. Either way, they're fish in a barrel, and that could become dangerous. Once these slaves realize they can't get free, desperation's going to kick in. They'll hide, and when they find themselves trapped and hunted?—"

"They'll become desperate."

Shane's voice had me nodding, even if he couldn't see.

"That's right," I agreed. "They'll fight or flee. Be ready for both."

I turned off my mic as we moved down the slightest decline, maneuvering over fallen branches and large rocks taller than my knee. The cool air almost burned my lungs, and the chill couldn't be mistaken as I stayed alert.

"Careful," Jack said quietly, helping me between two rocks that were positioned at an odd angle. A twig snapped as I stepped down, and my arm shot up. A blur of dark hair jetted behind the side of a large boulder towards the middle of the forest. My smile was automatic, and proof of how far gone I was. Seconds passed as I zeroed in.

"I see him, too," Jack breathed out.

But I didn't reply. I counted: one, two, three.

Again, movement eased out to stare at us. He couldn't see, it was too dark, but he sensed us. Maybe he'd even heard me.

Four…five…

Hesitation didn't exist as the man's head peeked out again, only instinct as I squeezed my index finger.

Blank.

Bang!

The impact hit right in the center of his forehead and blood spewed out in an explosive spray behind him. What I saw should have been so fast the action shouldn't have registered. It did. Time slowed. The bullet shot free. IMPACT. Blood and brain matter shot out in all directions. Red substance and chunks of meat stuck to the tree.

My breath caught.

My pulse soared.

For the hell of it, I shot another hole in his head as he was falling, hitting perfectly on my target. The man jolted, bouncing the smallest amount as his dead body hit the ground. At that moment, I was free, envisioning him as past demons that would never leave me.

Alive.

YES. In that moment …I was home.