2 Weeks Later Friday. 16:30 Miami Intelligence Office

Not that John was counting down, almost to the hour, when he’d finally get a proper break from working. Ten excruciatingly long days full of reviewing financial documents, credit card statements, and wire transfer records. John was cursing whatever god he pissed off in a previous life to get assigned to the cases he was working on. A blind squirrel could have determined the current individual being examined was a criminal.

That was the part that was especially galling. He was guilty of felony levels of rampant stupidity, even more so than the wannabe gangster, with his complete lack of attempting to hide anything. The local authorities or the feds should have gone after him with how he had managed his bank accounts. He had seen videos of this man and it wasn’t a matter of the man having brass balls the size of the moon. At least in a situation like that John could respect the man for doing what he was doing. But the man was simply an idiot. He finished up his final report and sent it off to Mark. The important part was this god-awful case was now closed.

“Adios, cya in a week boss.” Exclaimed John.

His first week off. No work, no responsibilities, and nothing hanging over his head to do. Absolutely no responsibilities, exactly what the doctor ordered. To say that John was looking forward to this was an understatement. A week on the beach, lots of golfing, grilling, and given that Jess was going to be around a whole lot of sex.

“John, enjoy your time off. Don’t get arrested, I won’t be bailing you out.” Mark waived but didn’t look up.

He was focused on a report that John had sent him moments ago. Besides, if he did get arrested and could talk his way out of it, all it took was a simple terminal for John get him out of trouble. Or at a minimum delay the inevitable.

“John, why are we not driving there together?” Jess, who was also happened to start a vacation, bounced around the corner. She said this loud enough for everyone on the floor to her hear. Everyone knew they were kind of a casual item.

“I’m golfing at 06:00. Rental house isn’t available until 09:00. You don’t golf, aren’t able or likely willing to wake up at 04:00. I figured you’d just show up after I’d check in and get the place ready.”

“Hrmmm, I’ll forgive you. Can you send me the directions?”

“Sure. You get the food and drink this time, seeing as how I’m renting the house.”

“Are you though? Did you give yourself a free upgrade?” Jess smirked.

“Yes, I am, and no I didn’t bend the rules this time. I’ll send you the details, it’s thirty minutes south of downtown Tampa along the gulf. Think you can be there by 11:00? “

“Yup.”

Jess was beaming with joy and excitement. There was no way she couldn’t be excited. A week of not working, relaxing, whoring about, eating great BBQ, swimming in the ocean. That sounds like a perfect week. Of course, she either forgot or failed to realize that John was going to golf every morning. Not even sex could keep him from hitting the links there.

Saturday. 11:33 Tampa Bay, Gulf Coast Rentals

Jess parked the rental car in the driveway. Fashionably late as always. Though this time she had a decent enough excuse. Jess went to three different liquor stores to get properly stocked up on drinks for the week. She stepped out of the car and saw the front door open, and John walked out.

“Holy shit, you look like some old dude you know. Is your spirit animal a geriatric man?” Jess had completely lost it.

She was almost rolling on the ground at his golf attire. She was laughing so hard snot was flinging out her nostrils. It was neither ladylike nor attractive, but this was true to who she really was.

“I will have you know I look like a fucking boss out on the course.” John said walking towards her, still wearing his golf outfit from that morning.

It consisted of some very bright knickers, an equally bright shirt, vest, even louder looking long socks and a driver’s hat. If you remove the colors, he’d look like a dapper gentlemen golfer from the 1930s. But the colors of his outfit just assaulted one’s eyes. The confidence it takes to wear an outfit like that is impressive though.

“If you pull out a pipe I’m going home.”

“Well, it’s not on me, it’s on the table next to the pool.”

“Not believing you. And no, you look a fool here and on the course. I’m not going to lie, if I didn’t know about the rest of you and I saw you wearing this, I probably would head back home.” She was motioning at John, as one would pointing at a big problem. “And do I need to mention that socks and sandals do not and have never gone well together?”

“Man, so shallow. I’m surprised with you.” John slapped her ass as he walked by her. “I’m wearing sandals because I don’t want to ruin these socks.”

John pointed over by the door where he left his golf shoes. He opened up the rear gate of the vehicle and grabbed a bunch of groceries. Two trips later the couple had stocked the fridge and John found that she had lived up to her side of the bargain. There was plenty of food, beer, snacks were in the fridge, several bottles of increasingly expensive whiskey and wine were on the dinner table. Lastly a humidor full of cigars that John brought with was sitting on the counter.

Jess had already began changing her clothes, which were laying on the floor heading to the bedroom. She walked out in a bikini. She grabbed a beer and a cigar and walked out to the patio and laid down on a pool lounger.

“When in Rome.” He muttered as he opted to get into a suit too.

“How in the hell did you afford this place? I know how much I get paid but Jesus…”

“Seventeen hundred dollars a night. That includes a round of golf each day, which I should remind you I’m getting up for every morning. Your womanly ways are not stopping that by the way.”

“Mhmm, this is above our paygrade you know. Deets, now.” Jessica wasn’t going to let this one go.

“So, I was getting paid what you did roughly 6 years ago. I also had no expenses as I lived on base and was a minor ward of Naval Intelligence. And I also may or may not have been day trading for the last five and a half years.”

“So, your rich as fuck then?” She took a drink and drag on her cigar. “So, I don’t have to worry about being associated with a scoundrel that hacked this reservation?”

“Rich is relative. Oh, come on, would I do that?” John was lying and he was reasonably confident Jess knew the truth.

He cut the tip of the cigar and took a test draw. He took the lighter from Jess and lit up his cigar. He took a long drag and let the smoke out.

“Like that time, you flew first class from Titan. You exited via the premium dock you know. I literally was there.”

“That one doesn’t count. I had a damn good reason for that. And to reiterate and assuage your fears, I paid for this place.” John showed her the transaction on his tablet.

“Ok good. How about that time you flew from Titan to Terra Nova. Originally you were scheduled for a naval troop transport, but then you actually flew there on a private star liner.

“The old man didn’t seem to care too much about that one. LeCroix chewed my ass out for that though.”

“So, what’s today’s op?”

“Well, I figured I’d enjoy a drink or three, and this cigar. Then fire up the grill and make lunch. Have a round or two with you, hop in the pool and then figure out dinner.”

Jess blushed; John had that effect on her. “I think that’s an awesome start to our vacation.”

8 Days later Sunday. 08:30 Golf Coast Rentals

Every day was nearly the same. John woke up early and went golfing. When he came home Jess made fun of him for the golf clothes he chose to wear. They would then have sex, relax by the pool with drinks after their morning dalliance. Eventually lunch was made, followed by more sex and relaxing by the pool. Occasionally they’d switch things up and relax by the gulf or go swimming in said body of water. Dinner was had roughly at the same time each day, followed by even more sex, a campfire, more drinks, cigars, and then finishing the day off with more sex. It was a hedonistic trip which the two had thoroughly enjoyed.

John woke up around 08:30 with a mild hangover. One nice thing about his enhanced genetics was a resilience to hangovers and needing less sleep compared to a baseline human. Jess was snoring and sprawled out across over two thirds of their bed. She was sure to wake up sore and hungover.

“Fuck me that hurts.” John made a mental note to drink less than he did the previous night.

He got drunk as easily as everyone else his size does. But as long as he doesn’t overindulge that badly he won’t feel like this again. But overindulge they did the previous night. The evening and morning were a torrid combination of sex and alcohol. Fueled by the realization that reality was lining up a knockout punch. So to combat that they continued with the drinking.

He slid open the patio door and jumped into the pool. “Well, that didn’t make things feel any better.” He hadn’t noticed Jess was staring at him.

“Dude, every single time we hook up this happens. I wake up sore all over with a horrible hangover. Good god I’m sore.” She jumped into the pool next to John. “But I suppose it could be worse. A week off with a hot guy in a mansion, eating good food and screwing our brains out.”

“Up for another round?” John asked.

“Ugh, honestly no. But then I’m not really one to say no.” Jess thought he was adorably incorrigible.

She actually didn’t want too, but one more for the road couldn’t hurt. After they finished doing their business in the pool it was time to clean up and head back to Miami.

While they were cleaning up and packing, John was trying to understand his relationship with Jess. He wasn’t ready to settle down and didn’t really want to give Jess the wrong impression. He liked her, a lot in fact. But he didn’t see her as a wife or life partner. She was too much like him to make it work. He had resolved himself to have this uncomfortable conversation today.

“Got everything?” John asked.

“There’s half a bottle of that scotch on the table. I don’t want to see alcohol for a while. Oh hey, your humidor box is still on the kitchen table.”

“Good call. Thanks.” John cursed at himself as he walked back in. That humidor was expensive, as were the cigars in it. Looked like they had gone through over half his stash in the last week.

“Not going to lie, that Macallan 24 was good, but I wasn’t in love with it. Next person or the cleaner can have the rest of that bottle. Set destination to 154 Maya Dr, Miami. Fastest route please.”

A feminine robotic voice confirmed the destination, and the pair were heading back to Miami. Jess had fallen asleep before the car had finished backing up out of the driveway. John looked at her and got annoyed. The important conversation needed to happen but now it’d have to wait.

Thankfully, for John, she was only asleep for an hour. A little bit of drool was forming on the right side of her mouth.

“Oh damnit. I drooled on the door.”

“Sexy as fuck.” John laughed.

“Ugh.” Jess was using her shirt to clean up the drool. “Hey, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about us. Look, I know I’m the older of the two of us and I just wanted to let you know that I don’t think there’s going to be an us in the future. I mean, I’m not going to say no to us, like what we’re doing now, but your too much like me to be my husband you know?”

John just looked at her dumbfounded. And then he let out the biggest belly laugh he had felt in a long time. Jess was visibly confused then it dawned on her.

“That was not the reaction I was expecting. I thought I was going to break your heart.” Jess was in a state of shock.

She had always been good at reading people. And this young pup in the car with her was a telepath. So, he obviously had to know what she was really feeling at that moment. Or that everything she had just said was a lie.

“Sorry, I am not laughing at you. I was thinking the same thing. We’re basically two of the same people. Marrying you would be a fucking disaster. No offense.”

“Disaster, eh?” Jess was now pouting. “So, Mr. Jedi Mind Tricks, why didn’t you just take a peek in my mind.”

“You’ve got plenty of barriers up. I couldn’t read it without you knowing I was snooping around. Besides, I wouldn’t do that unless you asked me too.”

“Ahh, a scoundrel and a gentleman.”

“Go back to sleep.”

And with that Jess just smiled and drifted back to sleep. John just chuckled a little. He took control of the wheel and wanted to drive awhile. There wasn’t much traffic today, though to be fair they were zooming through back roads and hadn’t gotten to the interstate yet.

Two hours later the car was rolling up to Jess’ condo. “Thanks for the week. That was amazing. Sorry about the snoring and drool.”

“No problem. That was mighty sexy by the way. I feel sorry for the poor bastard that has to deep clean that side of the car.”

“God you’re an ass. I do mean it, thanks for everything. Cya Tomorrow.”

“You’re welcome. Adios. VI, return to rental lot.”

An hour later John is getting dropped off at the gate to the base. He hadn’t missed his temporary apartment on base. Truth be told, he didn’t really want to come back. Work was going to be awful on Monday.

But as the only exercise he had for the last week was swimming, and his diet of red meat and alcohol was decidedly unhealthy. He quickly changed into some gym clothes and ran to the gym. He was going to have put in an epic workout before he got to play Russian Roulette at the cafeteria.

John lost not once but twice in the cafeteria on Sunday.

9 Weeks later Friday. 16:00 Miami Field Office

John was sick and fucking tired of analyzing financial records. Or interviewing with incompetent criminals. In general, he was sick of being an analyst at a desk. He missed being a field agent. The rush, danger, and the uncertainty of how things would play out were lacking.

But right now, there was a going away party happening in the main conference room. Mark and Jess along with a couple analysts were in the conference room with John. There was a big cake and work appropriate drinks.

“So, let me get this straight. You, a former field agent, has to go through boot?” Aaron, a field analyst asked incredulously.

“Well, when Old Man Aspern promoted me to field agent I didn’t really go through boot at the time. Had to pass the trial of course but never got sent to boot. Shouldn’t be too hard. Not like I need the haircut and I suppose it’ll be a good work out.” John just shrugged.

The truth was he didn’t actually want to go through with boot camp, but he wasn’t going to try and pull rank or any shenanigans to get out of it. Besides, it may be a good opportunity to knock a few stuck-up recruits down a peg or three.

“Only you would be so nonplussed about boot camp. Jesus man, that shit sucks.” Field Agent Dwayne Devynne answered.

Dwayne was a former marine void trooper. Proper badass in his own right. When Dwayne met John, he knew right away that he never wanted to be at the opposite end of a proper fight with John. They both knew of that cold fury they could tap into to get a mission done. They were in an interrogation with a criminal a couple weeks back where he saw how John could get things done up close and personal.

“Well, it was fun for my little guy to be back and entertain me for a while. Speaking of which I’ll swing by tonight and send you off properly.” Jess continued with the sexual harassment and yet another example of her diarrhea of the mouth.

Mark just frowned. “Not only did you sexually harass a coworker and did so for basically three straight months and you did it in an office in front of your commanding officer and half of the analysts here.” Half the room was giggling, the other half was trying to hold it in.

John just laughed and interrupted Mark. “Why do you think I called you over yesterday. My ride to Annapolis leaves in ten minutes.”

Jess honestly look crushed at that. She grabbed her phone and looked at the schedule. “Ah shit, quickie?”

“Jess...” Mark was likely going to say something, but Jess interrupted that by planting a big wet kiss on John

“Never a dull moment with you chaps. Lief, been a pleasure. Give’r hell.” Liam slapped john on the back.

“Thanks all. Been a pleasure. Cya around.”

“John, I’ll escort you. Little miss sexual harassment is going to HR to preemptively apologize for her unprofessional behavior.” Jess frowned and split away from the two as they headed over to the main elevator.

“You’re not really going to write her up, are you?” John asked as the elevator doors closed.

“Nah, if you weren’t at least egging her on or an active participant I would have had too. Just going to let her sweat a little. Besides, Jess is practically a workplace daughter of Marie. She’s in HR all the damn time.”

“Somehow that doesn’t surprise me.”

Mark snorted. This was a side John hadn’t seen of him. This was the least rigid he’d been in all the time he’d known him. The doors open and the two made small talk until they got to the door. Several other young adults were waiting at the door. Looks like John was fashionably late.

“Lieutenant Vance, my apologies for delaying you. Field Agent, sorry, Recruit Lief and I had to have a final debrief that ran a few minutes overschedule.”

“Thank you very much Chief. Turns out we had a couple recruits that had to use the facilities. Recruit Lief, you are hereby reassigned to my command. “

John stood at attention and saluted. “Aye, Mam.”

“Recruit Lief, hand your effects to the attendants by the bus. You’re in seat D12.”

“Roger that.” John walked over to the parked bus, handed his back to the attendance and lumbered onto the bus.

He found his seat already occupied. “Oh, is this your seat? Care to switch? Name’s Jacob Andern.”

“No problem. Nice to meet you. John Lief.” The two shook hands. “Where ya from?”

“Middle of god damn nowhere. Valley City, North Dakota. You?”

“Mendes 8. Apparently, a proper shit hole that got shot up by pirates. Got adopted and grew up in Alpha Centauri mostly.”

“Fuck man. Why’d you join up? Scholarship here.”

“Beats being a desk jockey investigating dumbass criminals.” John just shrugged.

“What would you know about that?” the question was asked by the girl in the row behind them. “Name’s Alice.”

“Been working for Naval Intelligence since I was twelve. Combination of dumb luck and me graduating early got me the job. Just finished up an intelligence review for the station chief this morning.” John was digging in the seat pouch to see if there was anything worth reading. He also thought that question was a little overly bitchy.

“Bullshit, couldn’t you make up a believable lie?” Patrice Vernon sneered at John.

“Believe what you want, makes no difference to me.” John looked forward and shut up.

Their CO was getting on the bus. Lt. Vance appeared at the front of the bus and gave them a safety debrief. Along with instructions to be followed when they got to the military airfield. It was impressed upon the recruits to not leave the designated areas. Leaving the areas would result in biblical punishment at boot camp.

It was an hour-long bus ride to the airport. Then another hour flight to Camp Williams where their boot camp would start with his whole class. It was at this moment John realized he should’ve pulled strings. Boot was going to suck. He was going to pass and excel in it. However, it was going to be four shitty, dirty and sweaty weeks.