2 Weeks Later, Friday. 21:00 Halsey Field House

The crowd was losing its shit. The Naval Academy had just sunk a three-quarter court buzzer-beater to beat Duke, the former number one ranked team in the nation. The student section was apocalyptic and freaking the fuck out. It was technically an ugly win, but a win is a win after all.

The basketball team came over to the student section, interlocked arms, and they, along with the student section, began singing the school song. It was exciting and fun. In the three-plus years that they had been at the academy, their basketball team hadn’t defeated any ranked teams and had been somewhere between God awful and terrible.

As they were filing out of the stadium John received a call, “You’re a go.”

The call ended as soon as it began. Though John knew what the message meant. He squeezed Alice’s hand lightly as they were walking.

“Business calls?” she said looking up at him.

John sighed, “Yeah, likely won’t be home until early Monday morning. Though I’m hoping I can be home Sunday.”

Alice stopped and hugged him, “Just be careful. Don’t be reckless.”

John smirked, “Hey, it’s me we’re talking about.”

Alice squeezed harder, “Exactly. Please be careful, for my sake.”

“I’ll do just that, and I’ll try to message you tomorrow morning before things get messy.”

Just as John had said that an unmarked car pulled up and stopped. Two marines stepped out and called John over. He waived to his friends and entered the vehicle.

23:30 Citation CJ9x

The business jet was at its cruising altitude flying over the Gulf of Mexico. John was sitting up front reading the dossier of their target, Jillian Dexter. She was a highly intelligent and motivated businesswoman. She was also single and borderline desperate to find a husband.

John was impressed with her credentials. She was the salutatorian during her undergrad and graduated a year early. She got her MBA two years later while working. Her tuition reimbursement from them was rejected due to a simple mistake in the filing. Within ten days of that notice, she was hired by Textron Munitions where she’s been ever since.

What bothered John was the lack of connections. Why select her? Her ascent in the ranks could be predicted. But that alone wasn’t enough. They, both John and Naval Intelligence, were missing something though.

“You look troubled,” Special Agent Carr said as she sat down across from John.

“Why her?” John looked up as he closed the file, “It doesn’t make sense. She has no connections. Her family has no connections. She appears to only have an above-average intellect and a drive to match.”

“She’s easy on the eyes too. Maybe it’s that she didn’t stand out too much. She’s one of the elites but not the elite of her peers.”

John looked out the window, “She’s got to be hiding something, I know it.”

“Who isn’t hiding something?” Carr chuckled quietly, “Irrespective of that, we don’t even know if she’s connected to this group. And maybe she was recruited through happenstance.”

“Well, unless she’s some high-priced hooker or doing a ton of sketchy shit on the down-low then all of the real estate, cars, jewelry, and watches she purchases is pretty hard to explain.”

“I can’t deny that. We need to discuss how to approach her. The whole ‘casual bump into’ approach won’t work.”

“I’m aware. Thanks to that idiot driver of her she always travels with a pair of bodyguards,” John sighed, “It’ll have to be at the bar or the gym.”

“And what if you can’t get her to talk to you?”

“Then I try to steal her tablet. Or kidnap her and then our telepaths do their thing.”

“We’d like to avoid any more violence, thank you very much. We were able to purge any record of you being there.”

For the rest of the flight, John read the dossier and schemed. His prey was intelligent, he had to be on the top of his game. The smash and grab strategy, while effective, was a little too messy for this operation though.

01:55 Corpus Christi - Port Royal Ocean Resort and Conference

John walked into the lobby of the hotel. He was tired but not overly so, he did get an hour or so rest on the jet. He walked straight to the front desk.

“Good evening, room for one. It’ll be under John Lief.”

“Good evening, let me take a look for you,” the front desk clerk said, “I have it right here, and it’s been prepaid.”

“Perfect, is the bar open still? I’m famished.”

“Yes, it is.”

John smiled, “Excellent, would you be so kind to send someone up to my room with my two bags?”

“Absolutely, the bar and restaurants are down the hallway behind you and will be on your right and left.”

John smiled and turned around. He headed down the hallway. His earpiece rang out when he reached the hallway. John flinched and grabbed his tablet and turned down the volume a bit.

“She is confirmed at the bar,” an agent said.

“Never gets old charging drinks to the Navy,” John chuckled to himself as he walked to the bar.

John pushed the doors opened and walked straight to the bar. He saw his target at the bar and was being flanked by a pair of large men guarding her. He pulled out a chair at the end of the bar and sat down. A bartender noticed their new customer and greeted them.

“Good evening, what can I do ya’ for?”

“Evenin’, I want the largest Guinness you have and a menu. I need some food. Fucking charter company screwed me rotten today.”

“No problem. Here’s a menu and I’ll get your beer in a moment. Are you opening a tab?”

“Charge to my room please,” John paused and pulled out the envelope with his key in it, “Room 1604.”

A minute later the bartender came back with the beer, “Know what you want to eat?”

“Thank ya’ and I do. I’ll take an order of the hot wings and cheesy breadsticks.”

“The gut bomb combo,” the bartender said laughing.

“I’m ok with hating myself a bit tonight, I’ll work it off in the gym tomorrow.”

John could see that Jillian had overheard and smirked at his comment. He then picked up the beer and took a big swig of it. Two large groups had entered the bar, with one sitting down on the other side of the bar from John and the other on his side but nearest the door.

Ten minutes later the food showed up and John scarfed it down. He finished the beer and stretched his arms. He ordered another round.

“So how long are you here for?” the bartender asked.

“Flying back Monday morning. The wife went on a shopping trip with her sister to London yesterday. I needed to get away from things for a couple of days.”

“Ever been here?”

“I have not. What do you recommend?”

John and the bartender continued their chat. He’d excuse himself to serve another customer that was belly up to the bar or when a drink ticket came in. But John was the only one there that seemed to want to interact with anyone there.

“Don’t look, she’s getting up and leaving the bar, will let you know where she goes,” an agent tracking things had said.

John waited in the bar for ten minutes. He slid a fifty-dollar bill across the bar and thanked the bartender. If his target went back to her room, then the night was over. John didn’t need that much rest, but it would be welcome. As he walked out of the bar his earpiece rang.

“She went back to her room. She’s taking a phone call currently.”

“Roger, heading back to my room for a nap then.”

04:45 Health and Wellness Center

John walked into the room and smiled. n one hand was a small container that was full of rice, white fish, and spinach. Not exactly his ideal breakfast but it’d be good for the workout he was about to start in on. John’s other hand held a backpack that contained a couple of protein shakes and some water.

He began to stretch and get loose. After about fifteen minutes he walked over to the dumbbell station and picked the one hundred fifty-pound pair. John sat down on an incline bench and began to pump iron.

“How much of that are your genes versus hard work?” an agent asked John through his earpiece.

John grunted, “Little bit of both,” he exhaled as he rested the dumbbells on the bench between sets, “though the genes prevent me from getting so bulky. I’d really have to do some insane lifting and eating to do that.”

“Fascinating. The target’s arriving in ten.”

“Roger.”

John finished that workout and replaced the dumbbells. He brought his kit with him to the bench press. There was a pause so he could eat some food and take a drink from one of the shakes. He then added a pair of forty-five-pound weights and a twenty-five-pound weight to both sides of the bar.

John leaned down onto the bench and began pressing the bar. He did the reps very slowly because he wanted his muscles to feel the full motion of the rep. Slower, more methodical reps seemed to build strength for John rather than doing max lifts. This ran counter to centuries of weightlifting and bodybuilding experience. John had chalked this up to another quirk with his genome.

The two bodyguards and Jillian entered the room after John finished that workout. One stayed at the door while the other moved over to John at Jillian’s behest. He ignored them and finished replacing the weights he used. John was sitting at the edge of the bench eating some food when the bodyguard stopped in front of him.

“Your presence in this room is no longer required. You are to leave now.”

“Good luck with that. See this?” John grunted and smirked as he showed the guard his list of workouts to do, “I have several workouts left. I’ll be out of here in an hour and a half to two hours.”

“It wasn’t a request.”

John stood up from the bench, “If you want to throw down, I’ll be you’re Huckleberry. I might be a corporate yuppy these days, but I grew up on the streets. Choose wisely.”

“Leave him be Michael,” Jillian said with an annoyed tone.

John looked over at his target and nodded his appreciation to her. He then moved over to another station and continued his workout. When he reached the halfway point, he took his shirt off and began posing in front of the mirror.

John was not shredded like a bodybuilder would be. Thanks to his idiocy in the last fight with the twins, he got a lot leaner and as a result, his physique appears much more muscular now. His face also appeared a bit more aged than before. He could play the part of a mid-twenties amateur bodybuilder with relative ease. Though he was positive Alice would not approve of that at all.

“Are you a bodybuilder on the side?” Jillian said as she sat down at a leg station.

“Haven’t done a show but was trying to get back into my college shape. Haven’t been able to hit the gym until about eight or nine months ago when my wife got us a membership to a gym.”

“Is it worth it though? To have all that muscle mass?”

“Oh hell, I’m not going to bulk up like the real bodybuilders. That’s not for me. My frame can handle a little more muscle but not much,” John paused and continued with some flexes, “Plus, the streets did me dirty, so I don’t have a clean back.”

Jillian looked more closely at his back and saw several bullet wounds and a fairly large slash across his back, “Dare I ask?”

“Grew up in Chicago. I was shot for the first time when I was nine. I think it was six more times before I turned fourteen. Through the grace of God, none did any lasting damage to any organs. Did have to receive some bone regrowth therapy.”

“What about the slash?”

John walked over to a leg machine one away from her and began the next workout. He finished a set, took a drink of water then leaned down on the bench.

“Yeah, that one sucked. A friend of mine and me were robbing a store after-hours. I got the safe open and he slashed me with a null-point blade. Thankfully it wasn’t operating at full power and just cut through the muscle. Chipped a vertebra too. Bled like a mother fucker too.”

“How’d you get into the corporate world with a rap sheet?”

John grunted, “Got lucky with the judge that got my case. Since I was sixteen and a juvenile he gave me an option, go to jail or sign up for the military. Choosing the latter got me out of Chicago and I was sent to bumfuck nowhere Nebraska.”

“Then what?” Jillian leaned over and looked at John.

“Finished school and ROTC but couldn’t pass the military’s mental exam. I wasn’t the kind of person they could break down and then build and remold me into their ideal soldier. Pretty much straightened up after that since my juvenile record was expunged.”

Jillian shook her head, “I’ll be honest and tell you that I asked my men here to do research on you. It seems too sanitized for me. No one can be a degenerate street thug and become what you are. Something about you stinks.”

“That’d be the sweat,” John said laughing, “What your guys probably didn’t find is any record of my IQ score or about my unique memory. They wouldn’t be recorded anywhere.”

Jillian felt like she was caught off-guard. She stood up from the bench and walked to the machine across from John and sat down on it. John was finishing the last of his food.

“Elaborate.”

“My IQ is off the charts. I also remember everything. Couple that with the ability to watch videos on how to pick locks, break into safes, assemble and disassemble guns and a general lack of morals and ethics allowed me to be very good, and reckless, at being a street thug,” John grinned, “Qualities that one needs to rise up quickly and efficiently in the corporate world too, no?”

Jillian laughed, “Too true. I’m going for a swim. You should join me.”

Sunday. 14:00 Penthouse Suite

John was getting annoyed. This woman was effectively throwing herself at him and had been for over a day at this point. Now, he’s in the lion’s den. But he wasn’t single anymore.

“So why are your bosses firmly against military contracts? That’s where all the money is.”

John smiled, “They are well aware of that. But with those contracts comes new regulations and a general lack of freedom. I’m in agreement with that line of thinking. That extra oversight is not pleasant.”

“You’re smart, I’m sure you’d find ways to alleviate the issues.”

John set his drink on the table, “Until they find out. Then the issues are magnified by several orders if you fail an audit. It’s just not worth it to do business with the military.”

“Trust me, there are ways to limit interactions with their auditors.”

“Such as?” John smiled, “I’m all ears.”

Jillian gave off a devilish smile, “Sorry but for me to share the game with you the price is some playtime. I’m a little pent up and you’re exactly what the doctor ordered.”

She leaned over to expose her cleavage to John. He was comfortable enough in saying she was both very attractive and his type. The amount of temptation was surprising to John, and what worried him was a small part of him was actually working out the calculus of such actions.

John pulled up his hand and rotated his wedding band with his thumb, “Sorry, were I not committed to my marriage or single I’d have already made you my plaything.”

“Confident words, but a bit disappointing nonetheless,” Jillian was still resolved to make this new one hers, “I’m not done trying with you.”

Jillian looked down at her tablet. She looked confused with whatever she saw. John noticed that as he took a drink of wine. She reached into her purse and pulled out a small gun and pointed it at him. John did not appear surprised by her action.

“What are you?”

“Human male?” John said sarcastically.

“Not funny, answer the damn question.”

John took a deep breath, “Yet it’s an answer to your question. I am a human male.”

Anger washed over Jillian’s face, “Then why are the telepaths on my security detail unable to detect you.”

“Cool, I’ve never actually met anyone that had a security detail with telepaths. You must be way more important than I suspected,” John said calmly as he set his wine glass down, “Always been this way. Though what you’re telling me does explain a couple of things that happened when I was younger.”

Jillian kept the gun pointed at him, “Who do you really work for?”

“Formerly Naval Intelligence. I was a special agent for them. They washed me out when I got a little handsy with a suspect and figured I wasn’t worth the hassle anymore.”

“Define handsy,” Jillian asked cautiously.

“I threw a pedophile off a building. Turns out the human body doesn’t take kindly to the rapid deceleration that occurs after falling thirty floors,” John said as he shrugged, “They didn’t like it when I was judge, jury, and executioner. Though in all fairness to them, I did save them a long and dragged-out trial that cost a hell of a lot more money.”

“I wonder if that’s real or some made-up cover story,” Jillian glanced down at her tablet but remained skeptical, “How old are you and who’s your wife?”

“I’ll be twenty-one soon. I finished school early and got into Intelligence by accident early. My wife’s name is Alice and she’s the same age as me. She’s a corporate debutante.”

John’s earpiece buzzed quietly, “Her guards and telepaths are subdued. Please do not kill her.”

Jillian stood up and walked backward, “So why me?”

“My employers believe something is going on with the military, but they aren’t sure what. I think you can admit that I’m uniquely qualified to handle that,” John said calmly, “By the way, put the gun down, if I were here to kill you, I would have already done so.”

John pointed at his glass and the wine bottle at the bar on the far side of the room. Jillian slowly put the gun down. She looked at her tablet again and set it down.

“Your guards, telepaths, and otherwise have already subdued by my agents,” John said as he poured some wine, “And let me reiterate, we are not here for your life. Only answers.”

“You think they would let me speak?” Jillian put one hand on the wall and looked down at the floor.

John mumbled under his breath, “Began a deep scan of her now.”

Jillian fell to her knees and screamed in pain. John walked over to her, picked her up, and set her in the bed. He looked down from over the top of her.

“Don’t fight it, let them pull the information. It won’t hurt that way.”

Tears were falling down her cheeks. Jillian was still holding her head, but the pain faded away as she let someone else into her mind. Then as soon as the pain began it faded away. The foreign presence was no more. She closed her eyes and was asleep.

John pulled her top and bra off. Then he pulled off her socks, pants, and underwear. He took the garments spread them across the room. He made it appear as if they were torn off as the horny couple couldn’t wait to get at her.

“Jeremy, I presume you are patching in new memories?” John said.

“Dare I ask what you want to make the two of you do?” the telepathic agent said laughing.

“Make it very pornographic. I’ll wipe the room down shortly.”

“Understood, we’ve already checked you out of your room. We’re going to leave here in thirty minutes.”

“Roger,” John said as he walked back to Jillian.

John took in Jillian’s naked form. He had to admit there was a small part of him that really did want to bang this woman. He would never admit this to Alice, but he did compare the two. Alice didn’t win all the side-by-side comparisons but still came out ahead.

John pulled the covers back and let her be exposed somewhat. He went into the bathroom and got a towel and used it to clean up the fingerprints he left. While implanted memories don’t always last the test of time, it would be months before those thoughts begin to creep in.

15:30 Citation CJ9x

John was still trying to reconcile his feelings from the mission. Prior to today, he had never considered an affair with Alice. The truth of the matter is that he likely could have one and hide it from her. John chalked it up that it was normal to have fleeting thoughts like that, and that fleeting thoughts do not cause actions to occur.

“Hey honey, we’re flying back. Should be touching down in a couple of hours,” John paused, “Fuck, just in time to miss chow.”

Alice laughed, “Your missing Stromboli night too.”

“Fuck me sideways,” John said instantly.

“Yup, that is happening tonight,” Alice was laughing, “Oh, on a serious note. I was getting hit on majorly by this rich-looking dude.”

“Oh, what was the pick-up line he was using?”

“They were awful. Oh my god,” Alice giggled, “Like terrible awful. He was kinda cute though.”

“Our target was trying to get in my pants for the last day. Not going to lie, this was the worst mission ever,” John said as he leaned back in his seat.

“Oooh, tell me details about her.”

“You want those details so you can kick her ass if you ever see her.”

There was a slight pause on the other end, “Yes. That is true. One thing I’m surprised about us is that you aren’t as upset that I got hit on compared to me when women hit on you.”

“Well, you are the possessive one it appears. Plus, I would be if you encouraged it or didn’t shut it down. But you did shut it down. I don’t need to go after anyone else to make myself feel better.”

“Tell me, what was her score out of ten.”

“Solid eight bordering on nine. I’m not afraid to admit that she was my type. Though her personality was obvious shit considering the investigation on her.”

“I can’t wait to have you back. By the way, the group’s been chatting about spring break. We need to do some planning on that.”

“Looks like I have a couple of hours of research to take care of that. Love you, see you in a bit.”