chapter 9

BLAINE

AS SOON as I got back into the building, I spotted Jordan striding towards me and I braced myself for what was sure to come.

“What the fuck is she doing here? I thought we already discussed this.” He seethed as soon as he got to me, confirming my suspicions.

“In my defense, it was a spur of the moment decision.” I said, putting my hands up. It was a lie. I knew what I was going to do when I traced her to her apartment. I don’t know why I felt drawn to her, but I knew I wanted to see her again.

“She tried to kill you. That’s kind of what we’re trying to avoid, Blaine.” Jordan’s sarcasm was biting.

“So have a dozen other people.”

Jordan shook his head. “I am not going to let you make a terrible decision just because you want to get your dick wet.” He started to stride out.

“You think that’s what this is?” I called after him. “She snuck weapons past our security and made it up to my office where I basically baited her. You think any of these other people here would have thought twice about burying the knife in my chest? But she did. I did all that because you were so sure she has an ulterior motive and now you know she doesn’t, so you’re fucking welcome. ”

Jordan turned and was about to reply when his phone rang. He held up a finger and answered it. As he spoke, I walked over to the window and looked out at the compound.

Jordan had purchased an old military fort just for this and had expanded it so it stretched over an acre or more of land. The buildings scattered around housed a mess hall, clinic, admin building and dorms. One of the dorms housed a construction team that had been here every day for the past week building Jordan’s gauntlet, which I’d yet to see.

Out of the windows of the admin building I stared at Abigeal. She’d put her blond hair in a bun but some strands had started to come loose. She brushed them back as she listened to the black guy next to her talk about something. She reminded me of Jordan; no matter how friendly the conversation was, her expression never shifted from neutral.

What was her story? Had her time in the military made her so stoic? Did it have something to do with whatever was in her Classified file? I knew many ex-soldiers who were as cheerful as they came, though in most cases it was a coping mechanism, so was it something else? So many questions and no answers.

Jordan’s voice pulled back my attention. He didn’t sound pleased. “Fine, she stays. But she doesn’t get any preferential treatment because she saved your life before.”

“Isn’t that enough reason to get preferential treatment?” I countered.

He glared at me “I’m serious Blaine.”

“Whatever, man.”

Jordan checked his watch “It’s time for stage three. Do you want to observe?”

I looked out the window again and saw the candidates who had passed stage two boarding a bus. “Yeah, why not.” We went out the backdoor and got in the car.

Fifteen minutes later- though it seemed longer- the car stopped. We got out and I laid my eyes on Jordan’s creation for the first time. “Good God and all his angels. Are you crazy?”

The whole area had been transformed into a large obstacle course. But this was no regular obstacle course where there were mats to catch you if you fell from the overhead bars. In fact, the spikes underneath the bars looked especially sharp.

Balance beams, tightropes with puddles of muddy water, climbing nets and multiple others were arranged in a sequence. I looked over at Jordan and was that a proud smile on his face?“Isn’t it beautiful?” he asked.

Jordan was the closest thing to a brother I had, but sometimes I questioned his sanity. “This is a bit too much. What scenarios could you possibly be testing them for with these?” I asked, disbelief coating my words.

“You’re asking that, despite all the shit we constantly find ourselves in?”

He had a point there. But things had been calm of recent, and this looked like overkill. Judging by the expressions of the candidates when they sighted it, they seemed to think so too. We were standing on opposite ends of the area, yet I spotted the moment when some of them started to rethink their decision.

Not her though. She took it all in with one assessing glance and… smirked slightly. The first non-neutral expression I’d seen on her. Well, this situation suddenly seemed less distressing.

“They’re going to go in twos so we can compare and eliminate.” Jordan informed me. “I don’t know how well that’s going to dork out for the dwarf triplets, but we’ll see.”

A sudden unease seized me. “I do not want to be followed around by a trio of midgets. No hate, but that is a very disturbing image.”

“If they pass the tests, you’re stuck with them. That was our arrangement.” Jordan replied, his face blank but a hint of smugness in his voice. Fuck that. I’m not going to be a dwarf whisperer. I had to hope Abigeal was going to take them out of the running.

Hours passed as candidates went through the gauntlet, some falling, some passing. It was pretty hilarious when they splashed around in the muddy water, but I didn’t openly laugh at anyone lest they start to resent me. Then this would all be for naught.

I stood up straight when Abigeal stepped up to the starting point with… the midgets. I offered up a short prayer when the blast sounded and they took off running. The midgets had mastered teamwork and worked together effortlessly, so when one broke away from the team temporarily as they swung on the overhead bars, I focused in.

She came up less than a second later and as soon as her hands touched it, I already knew what was going to happen so when she slipped and fell I was striding up to them, annoyance rising inside me. “What the fuck just happened?”

“Sir, she fell, so she’s disqualified.”

“Not if there was foul play involved.” I countered and narrowed my eyes at the dwarfs who had paused “You. Show me your hands.”

“Sir, I don’t see how this is relevant to the-”

“Your hands, now.”

The lady midget reluctantly showed her hands, revealing the grease on her palms. I walked over to the bars and swiped a finger on the one Abigeal had touched, holding up my finger to reveal the grease on it. “Foul play. Disqualified.”

There were murmurs among the people and I raised a brow. “Does anyone have a problem with that?” Nobody spoke “That’s what I thought.”

I watched as Abigeal was re-paired with the black guy from earlier and the bars were wiped down before I walked back towards Jordan who didn’t look pleased. No surprises there. “What are you doing? I thought we agreed on no preferential treatment.”

“That wasn’t preferential treatment. She was sabotaged.” I said in defense.

He just stared at me. “I don’t know what your issue is with her, but you need to fix it, fast. You should be clear-headed on this.”

He wasn’t wrong. I’m not sure what drew me to her, or why I wanted to figure out the story behind those sad eyes, or why I hoped she passed so I could spend more time around her. But she intrigued me and I was willing to see it to the end.