“Uh. Ma’am. Ma’am!” I turn to the source of the voice, “wha-what do you think you’re doing? You can’t go out that door.” I take in a deep breath trying to calm myself because I really don’t have time for this rent-a-cop. I pull my badge from my back pocket and show it to him. “Gaveny Fleming? Seriously? That’s not a real name. What did you do, make this in your parent’s basement?”
“It’s Gavenia, dipshit. But you should address her as Commander Fleming.” Jackson jumping to my defense takes me by surprise.
I’m not able to think about it for too long though because my phone starts vibrating in my pocket. “Yeah Parker?”
“We’ve landed, where are you?”
I give an annoyed glance at the rent-a-cop, “Some wannabe cop is standing in front of the side exit refusing to let us pass because apparently my badge looks fake.”
Parker starts laughing and I can hear Jessie in the background telling him to give her the phone. “What’s going on Gavy? By the way I think you broke Parker.” She must cover the phone with her hand because what comes out next is muffled, “babe, breathe. Deep breath. Oh my goodness. It can’t be that funny.”
I roll my eyes and glare at the rent-a-cop who shifts his weight seeming uncertain, “Jessie. Jessie!”
“Yep. I’m here Gavy. What’s going on?”
“I’ve got an issue with a rent-a-cop.”
“Just kick his ass.”
“He’s a civilian Jess. That would be a PR nightmare.”
Jessie lets out a snort, “PR nightmare? Really Gavy?”
“Well it would be!”
“Do you want us to come in and rescue you from the big, bad rent-a-cop?”
I fight to hold in a laugh, “Don’t worry about it Jessie. I’ll figure out something.”
“Okay. Let us know if we need to come in and save you.”
A smile stretches across my face, “Oh shut up would you?”
“Ten-four Boss. We’ll be waiting.”
I slip my phone back into my pocket. “Look, man, I will have you arrested if you don’t let me through right now.”
The rent-a-cop shifts his weight again as if weighing his options, “If I let you through I’ll los-”
“You’ll lose your freedom because you’re obstructing justice and keeping a federal officer from doing her job. So once again let us through or I will have my team come in and arrest you for obstruction.”
Worry slips into his eyes, “Okay, but please don’t tell my boss. I need this job. My wife just had a baby.”
I feel a tinge of regret, “Just let us through and if your boss brings it up just give him my card and I’ll explain the situation.” I hand him a card with my direct line on it. He moves out of our way and we push through the double doors with the Urics in tow.
Once we’re in sight of the helicopter, Jessie and a few SEALs make their way over to us. One of them recognises Jackson, “Adair? I didn’t think I’d see you again.”
“Just happened to be in town, Garrett.” Jackson replies, causing my brows to pull together for a second.
Jessie is the only one that catches my look of confusion over the lie. She gives me a look that tells me we would be having a conversation about it later. “Chief Petty Officer Adair? It’s good to see you again. Just happened to be in town huh?”
He pauses for a second before answering knowing that she knows he’s lying about why he’s here, “Yep, and I’d like to get back to the game.” He turns to me, “if that’s okay?”
“You’re not in the Military anymore, Jackson, you’re good.”
He gives me a stiff nod before walking back to the arena. I turn my attention back to those around me; the SEALs have loaded the Urics into the helo, but Jessie is still staring at me like she knows something I don’t. Parker sticks his head out the door, “Jessie come on we’re loaded and ready.”
She looks over her shoulder, “I think I’m going to stay and hang out with Gavy and her family.”
Parker hops out and jogs over to us. He grabs Jessie’s face and gives her a long kiss earning the whoops of the SEALs in the helo. He breaks the kiss and leans his forehead against hers, “You ladies have fun. Love you Babe.”
Jessie gives him another quick kiss, “Love you too.”
As Parker’s jogging back toward the helo I remember the box I pulled from one of my attackers, “Hey Parker!” He stops and I jog toward him; handing him the box, “I need you to analyze this. Off the record. Don’t let Lastner find out about it. I pulled it off of one of the Urics. I’m pretty sure it weakens the abilities the chip gives us so don’t turn it on unless you have to and even then make sure you’re alone.”
Parker nods, “You got it boss.”
He heads back to the helo as I head back to Jessie, “What was that about?”
“I’ll tell you later. Come on, let’s get back to the game. It’s probably already started back.”
The rest of the game goes on uneventfully. Reid’s team wins six to two, but Jackson is gone when we get back inside the arena. I search the town and find he’s gone back to his hotel room. Of course he wouldn’t just leave, that would be too easy. We go out to celebrate Reid’s win with Corey and their girlfriends. We split up when they get word of a party happening across town. As soon as they leave Jessie starts peppering me with questions. “So what did you give Parker? Why is Adair here? What’s going on between you guys? Are you guys secretly dating? Is there a reason you didn’t tell me?”
“Slow down Jess. Can you let me answer your first questions before you start jumping to conclusions?” She gives me the whole zipping her mouth shut bit and looks at me expectantly. I sigh, “there was a box on one of the Urics. Jessie, they were barely trained, either that or they were inhibited by this box. I got really tired the longer I was around them, but when I turned it off I felt a little better. I was still tired but it wasn’t as bad. As for Jackson, I don’t know why he’s here. He said he needed to talk to me about something, but he didn’t stick around after the game to talk so who knows.”
“This is big, Gavy. You don’t think they’re trying to develop a jammer do you? That would make sense though because of you mostly but also could you imagine the damage the Urics could do with that technology. Our big cities are almost completely dependent on Chipped now and that’s not necessarily a bad thing; given that we do so much good.”
“Exactly. I don’t think they’re going just for a jammer though. I was really tired when I got done fighting, and it wasn’t much of a fight. I didn’t really try to use my abilities because Parker was worried that they might just be here to check out my abilities, so I don’t know what effect it might have had on me. I’m worried though that maybe they’re out to permanently damage the chips.” Jessie and I exchange a look at my revelation, “but the big question is how would they protect themselves against the jammer?”
“Maybe the actual users aren’t chipped?”
“That would make sense. I’m sure the jammer works from far away, or it will once they develop it further. We’ll have to wait and see what Parker finds.”
After a few minutes of silence Jessie looks over at me, “Oh no you don’t. You’re not getting out of the Jackson conversation so easily. Spill it. You like him don’t you?”
Author: Kailan Counahan 