Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━┛
Hungry Like the Wolf: Duran Duran
"Nicely done." Matty says as I slam Jake, my training partner, on the mat. "You on the other hand, Jake, hit the showers and you better be perfect tomorrow."
"Yes, ma'am." Jake gets up and we shake hands before he leaves.
"I'm sorry."
"What?" I turn to her with a heaving chest and she closes the door.
"Sammy was your dog first. I'm sorry." Matty nods.
"No, he wasn't mine." I shake my head. "How are the others? Riley?"
"They just got back. They completed the mission. So get your ass in there. Two minutes." She leaves and closes the door.
I watch her leave further away through the window and I clench my jaw. My chest continues to heave up and down and I whip around. I yell and deliver a hard spin kick to the mannequin. I make it fly all the way back and I flex my fingers before making a fist. I wipe my jaw and grab my hoodie off the chair.
I put it on over my sports bra and take my ponytail out from the back. I put on my watch and then my father's ring. I tighten my jaw and make my way out of the room. I head down the hallway and take my hair out of my ponytail. I place the tie around my wrist and open the door to the main room, now entering.
"Whose arm is that?" I look at the x-ray on the screen.
"We're getting to that. Right about now."
"You got out alive, and you managed to recover the stolen data tapes, but Jack is in the infirmary with an axial fracture to his left radius. So what went wrong?" Matty questions.
"This one's on me. I was so focused on stopping that motor, I-I used a technical term Jack didn't know." Mac tells her.
"Hold the pipe perfectly normal? Yeah, I was listening."
"Uh, what's so weird about normal?" Bozer mutters.
"In physics, it means perpendicular." I tell him.
"Well, there's no guarantee that Jack would know what the word perpendicular meant either." Matty inquires.
"Look, normally like normal-normal, not physics normal I can translate technical terms into Jack-speak, and I didn't this time. His injury's my fault." Mac nods.
"Yeah, whose fault is it that the two of you jumped into the jaws of death? Look, I love Jack as much as it's possible to love Jack. And he's one of the best operatives I've ever met, but when mistakes like this nearly get agents killed, it's my job to ask if this is the right fit. Maybe you need a partner that can speak your language." She quickly glances at me and I look up, then locking eyes with Mac.
