Friday. 07:30 Washington Dulles Airport. Delta Terminal

John had no problem with what he did. Everyone else was worried about if they got caught. He made a mistake of casually saying the system accidently upgraded everyone to first class and their rental house was upgraded to a rental mansion. This was their introduction to John’s predilection to hacking systems and getting things for free. They were not impressed at all.

The truth of the matter was John could afford all of this without much effort. Maybe this was just him rebelling against authority and corporations. Or maybe John was, at his heart, a cheap asshole that was ok with using unethical and downright illegal means to receive free upgrades. The truth of the matter was likely a little bit of both. John was wondering when LeCroix would message him and remind him even he was not above reproach.

The core group of friends was present. Alice was sitting next to John and talking his ear off. Andern and Jessica were across the aisle from them. Andern was watching a movie on his tablet while Jessica had her head on a swivel thinking someone was going to jump out of someplace in the terminal and catch them.

The newcomers to the group were Kevin and his girlfriend Theresa who were sitting in the row behind John and Alice. Rounding out this motley crew were Nathan and his roommate Thomas. John didn’t know either of them that well. Not that it mattered, they were fast friends with Andern, and they were part of their boot camp platoon that weren’t in the Vernon clique. They jumped at a chance to leave campus for a week to kick back and relax.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Delta Airlines flight 2346 with service to New Orleans will begin boarding now. We’d like to invite servicemembers and any family members they are traveling with along with our Platinum Medallion members to board at this time.”

“John, you didn’t need to do all this to board first.” Jessica glared at John as she spoke barely above a whisper.

“Wasn’t worried about boarding on the plane first, didn’t want to sit in peasant class.” John tapped her shoulder and pointed in the direction of the line forming to board the plane.

The group fell in line and boarded the plane. Alice was bouncing with excitement as they got situated into their seats. The rest looked like fish out of water. None of the others have ever flown in first class.

“Guys, my bad if I ruined flying for you in the future. Flying in the ass-end of the plane is the worst.” John said smugly.

Drinks were served before the flight. Nothing like a cold beer to get the day started. After the plane was in the air, they were offered a warm, moist towel. All of them looked at Alice and John to determine what to do with the towel. Breakfast was then served. Another round of drinks was enjoyed shortly afterwards. To kill the time movies were watched, lots of talk and general excitement was had by all. Jessica appeared paranoid throughout the flight until right after they had landed.

The grouped walked through the terminal and exited the secure area and proceeded toward the baggage carousels. There they almost witnessed the breakdown of a man they thought was immune to that. John was cursing and complaining that his bags are always pulled off the plane last. Today was no different, the very last bag that came down on the carousel was John’s. Andern swore he saw steam leave John’s ears. Something was mentioned that he was going to write a sternly worded letter to someone. The group laughed and got into a couple cabs and headed out to their home away from home for the week.

13:30 New Orleans, Rental House

They arrive at their temporary home for the next week. The kitchen was fully pre-stocked with food, snacks, and the group brought with a bunch of alcohol they purchased at the duty free shop. John looked at the humidor on the counter, smiled and opened up his carryon bag. He pulled out a zip lock bag that contained three wooden boxes full of cigars and put the cigars into the humidor.

“Alright, master bedroom upstairs is mine and Alice’s room. There are two other rooms upstairs and three on the main level. There’s a detached in-law suit that is behind the pool.” John was immediately interrupted by Ander.

“DIBS ON THE SUITE!” Andern fumbled with the sliding glass door and booked it to the suite.

“Right. First come first serve on the rest of the rooms. You might want to check with a couple of the rooms, they may share bathrooms.”

Just then they heard Andern jump into the pool.

“That’s a good idea, I’ll take the room behind the kitchen here.” Jessica said as she walked toward the room.

Everyone dispersed and began searching the rooms. John and Alice walked up the stairs to the master bedroom. Which was less a bedroom and more like a proper house for most people.

“Holy shit.” John exclaimed. “There’s a living room and study before you get into the master bedroom. Man, I knew rich people’s homes could be excessive, but this is amazing.”

“Honey, wait to you see the bathroom. It’s bigger than your room back at the dorms.” Alice was walking out of the bathroom.

“Shut up. Seriously?”

John turned around and locked the doors. They then walked through living room into the study. Off to their right was the closet, to their left was the door to the Master bedroom. From the bedroom they could get into the master bathroom. Which was actually almost twice the size of his room in the dorms.

John hugged Alice tightly from behind and kissed her as she leaned back. “So soon?”

“No times better then now.” He went in for another kiss.

“So true.”

They had plenty of time to play in the pool. For now, they needed each other and desperately wanted that embrace. It was going to be interesting to see how soundproof that room was. That wasn’t going to stop the two lovebirds from giving in to their passions for the next week though.

13:35 Poolside

“Jessica, five bucks they are fucking right now.” Andern was floating in the pool with a beer in hand.

“Of course, they are, that’s a sucker bet.” Jessica frowned

“Jessica, five bucks says you and I hook up before the week’s over.” Andern continued.

“Do you just want to give me the money now and we’ll call that bet good.”

“Oh, you’re no fun.” Andern was pouting now. “Couldn’t hurt to try.”

“Maybe if you tried to be a little suave and smooth like your friend up there that could happen.”

“So, you’re telling me there’s a chance?” Andern almost dropped his beer in the pool.

“Andern, you are pathetic.” Thomas sat down put his feet in the pool.

“Yeah man, that really was pathetic.” Nathan sat down on a chair in the shade,

“You both suck. But man, this is heaven isn’t it?” Andern tried to take a sip of beer and instead spilled most of it in the pool. “Damnit. I need another beer. Nate, toss me one.” Nate reached into the cooler and tossed one at Andern. “Oh mother fucker. Kevin’s getting some now too, they ain’t here.”

The group laughed and got back to relaxing and drinking. About 45 minutes later Kevin and Theresa walked out. The pool crew all looked at them.

“We know what you were doing.” Andern shouted from the other side of the pool. He was already well on the road to annoying drunkenness.

“Shit, they still going at it?” Kevin said, completely ignoring Andern after taking a gulp of his beer.

“Your one to talk” Andern shouted. “Nate, beer me!”

Theresa and Kevin jumped into the pool. Theresa swam over to Jess and began chatting. A few minutes later Alice and John walked out onto the pool area. Andern didn’t notice John.

“Sup, he’s been pouting the whole time.” Kevin laughed.

Kevin saw John smirk as he ran towards the pool. John jumped toward the water and curled up into a cannonball and landed near Andern. And sure enough, he caught Andern unawares.

“Son of a bitch. My beer! Oh, you asshole. You got me good.”

“Dude, no time to pout or be down. We’re on vacation.”

For the next couple hours not much happened except swimming, drinking, relaxing. Lots of bullshit was said. There was some searching around the house to find what all could be done. There was a putting green in the backyard. A couple of trees on the estate had swings on them. There was also a gazebo with a couple of tables inside. The garage had been converted into a gym. That was important, some exercise was going to be needed to work off all the calories from the alcohol they were consuming.

John and Alice decided to relax on one of the swings.

“Man, it’s gorgeous here. Glad you’re here with me.”

“Well, I can’t say I approve of how you ‘paid’ for us to get here but it is quite relaxing.” Alice kissed John on the cheek. “I’m also looking forward to seeing what the grill master is going to make for us tonight.”

John looked at his watch. “Holy cow. It’s damn near time for chow.”

“Nope, you’re not moving for a little while. I want to enjoy this sunset with you.”

Meanwhile at the garage Andern and Jessica were getting a brief workout in before dinner. “Jess, you figure out your focus yet?”

Naval cadets generally got to choose what what division they wanted to serve in. Some cadets whose talents were clear or obvious to a specific area that they excelled in typically didn’t get a choice and were assigned their specific focus. They didn’t have to announce what it was until the spring semester but often times by the end of boot they knew what they wanted to do.

“Nah, not yet. John’s gotta be doing command, right?”

“Haven’t heard but I’d be shocked if he wasn’t. Kevin and Thomas are doing engineering, I think. Theresa is doing medical. Nathan, I think is going ops. Haven’t heard what Alice wants either. I’m going back and forth between ops and medical.”

“No offense Andern, but medical isn’t your thing.”

“Yeah, pretty sure ops is going to be it. I don’t see myself going anywhere with command. Don’t have any connections to make that work.”

“If I had to pick one now, it’d probably be ops too. But medical would set me up for a career post military. I do like having that kind of security.”

John and Alice were walking back to the house and walked by the garage.

“Speak of the devil. John, are you going command, right?”

“Focus? Yup, though I suspect I’ll probably have a dual role with recon when I’m on frigates or destroyers. At least until I’m in command of a ship.”

“Alice, what about you?” Jessica inquired.

“I’m torn between medical and ops. Leaning medical though. I need to put some thought into that.”

“Well, I’m gonna go get some food ready to toss on the grill. They have a smoker here too. Can’t wait for some BBQ.”

The couple walked into the house.

“That man gets pumped up for food, sex, and combat.” Andern said shaking his head.

“You’re at least two for three on that list too dumbass.” Jess said before she started the last exercise of the day.

“Well yeah, I mean you’re not wrong.”

19:00 Poolside Bar

Everyone was sitting around the bar outside eating dinner. Everyone was having a good time. The mood was light. The stress and pressure of all those tests were behind them. For now, it was enough to relax and have a good time. John had grabbed some empty plates and went inside. Alice brought in a second set of dirty plates.

“You know, that’s sexy as hell.”

“I know, my ass is hot and you’re staring at it.”

She walked up to him and slapped his ass. “Well, that’s hot too smartass. I’m gonna relax outside for a while until it gets chilly.” She said as she hugged him.

“I’ll be following you shortly.”

He kept cleaning the dishes. Outside Andern and Kevin were arguing about the football season and the odds that Navy makes the playoffs, there was basically no chance of making the playoffs. Just as he was about to walk out John’s phone rang.

“Evening Director. Can’t say it’s a pleasure to hear from you if I’m being honest.” John was annoyed, this didn’t look like a casual call.

“Cadet, good evening. Apologies for interrupting you. We have an urgent issue that I want your help with. Is there a place you can chat securely?”

“Uh, probably in the master bedroom. Let me check.” He grabbed a towel to dry his hands and walked up the stairs and saw a phone terminal there. “Yup, let me transfer to this terminal and encrypt the line.”

“It’s about your favorite subject.”

“Apex Garden.” John interlaced his hands and leaned his chin on them. “We have a line on the driver?”

“Yes. He’s on Earth.”

“Let me guess, in New Orleans.” John could feel his blood pressure rise.

“Mhmm. Sending you the dossier. Someone will be at the front door to collect you. Your new suit and all the gear you need will be in the van. Target is to be captured dead or alive.”

“New suit?”

“Yes, we requisitioned your old suits from the academy. Replacing them are Mark 6 suits, very nice upgrades to your old ones I might add.”

“What are the downsides?”

“They are in a target rich environment. Collateral damage is not acceptable.”

“Roger.”

John cursed as he slammed the call disconnect button. On the terminal. Unbeknownst to John, his friends had already seen the agents as they walked around the side of the house and were waiting for him by the sliding glass door. They were genuinely curious about why they were here and what was in the box. Andern in particular was curious about the box. His current level of inebriation didn’t help when the agents told him they weren’t going to answer any of his questions. That did not stop him from continuing to ask the agents what was in the box.

“Hand it over, I’ll get ready.” John appeared at the door.

“Ah, Cadet Lief. Perfect.” Agent Sherman responded. The box was placed down, John picked it up and walked into the house.

Five minutes later Lief walked back out by his friends in a new stealth suit. At his hip was a pistol magnetically locked to the suit and across his back was a scoped battle rifle. Finally, on his chest was a fairly large bowie knife. The suits power core was humming lightly. The suit was only drawing a minimal amount of power. He walked up to Alice and kissed her.

“If all goes well, I’ll be back here in the morning.” He turned to the Intelligence Agents. “And this is the last time Intelligence gets to exert itself during the bloody school year.”

The agents said nothing, though in truth it wasn’t anyone’s present call to make. That was made way above their paygrade. The last image his friends had of John was him turning around and loading a round into the rifle, he held the rifle near his back and the magnetic holder captured the rifle and held it tight to his back. He turned around in the van and zipped up the face mask.

The festive mood had been ruined. Alice was worried. Everyone just stopped talking, what could they say? Tonight, was supposed to be a continuation of the fun they had enjoyed all day. But right now, a black hole was present that was sucking all the fun away from them. Their friend was just sent off on a mission. Would he be alright? Would he be back? No one knew. Everyone had huddled together, hoping and praying that their friend would come back safely.

When Alice went to sleep later that night she began crying, her boyfriend was willingly heading into a dangerous situation and there she was in a comfortable bed. How could he do that so calmly? Could she ever be that strong? All she wanted was him right then and there. The look in his eyes though, she was worried about that, he was cold and distant, not the normal him. When sleep finally took her for the evening, she was scared.