by Margaret Kay
“Wow, this is a nice gym,” she said to Doc.
“Follow me,” he said, walking to the corner.
Around the corner the floor sloped down to what looked like the set from American Ninja Warrior. It was a two-story area with all the physical tests you’d expect, minus the water. Thick mats provided the safety for falls.
“Very cool,” she said with a smile. “I have always wanted to try something like this.”
Doc nodded and smiled. He led her back around the corner and into a short hallway she hadn’t noticed. The doors to the men’s and women’s locker rooms were there.
“Pick a locker and you can leave your stuff there. It’s only four of you that use it.”
Madison exited the ladies’ locker room and stepped up to the mat where Cooper already stood. At the sight of her in her tight, yoga pants and the fitted, turquoise tank top, Cooper swore to himself. “Holy hell.” She looked damn good.
Her hair was secured tightly at the base of her skull in a bun which accentuated her beautiful facial features. There was no denying that Miss Madison Miller was a beautiful woman that made his cock hard. He willed those thoughts away. No, she was a team member, his trainee, his responsibility, off limits, completely off limits. Especially because he was about to engage in hand-to-hand with her. He could not allow himself to have any sexual thoughts whatsoever as he grappled with her. He had to check out her fighting skills so one more checkbox could be ticked off. That’s all this was about, he reminded himself.
He handed a set of protective gear towards her. “Headgear, mouthguard and padded fight gloves.”
She took it and donned it as he put his on as well.
“Full contact sparring. Don’t hold back,” he said pretty clearly through his mouthguard.
She got in fighting stance, her heart pounding. She waited, letting him come to her. When he did, she went on the offensive, blocking him, but also on the attack. She landed a couple of unblocked blows with all her strength.
“So, the beneficiary page you hesitated on?” He asked as he came at her throwing repeated straight punches and front kicks, which she deflected.
“Stay the fuck out of my head, Cooper!”
She went back on the offensive. She moved gracefully circling in to strike. She made contact with his head with a perfectly executed roundhouse kick and managed to deflect his attempt at taking hold of her leg to initiate a single leg takedown maneuver. He surprised her though, following up with a strong overhook and knocked her to her ass. He reached a hand to her and pulled her to her feet.
“Stay focused, Miller,” he barked.
She got herself back into her fighting stance. She came at him again with more determination. She wasn’t sure what kind of moves he was employing, but he had her pinned to the mat before she knew what had happened. He helped her to her feet again, and she immediately performed a leg trip, bringing them both to the mat. For a split second she was on top, pinning him to the mat with a move that should have subdued him. It didn’t, and she found herself flipped to her back and pinned.
“Argh!” She slapped the mat after he released her. He offered her his hand and pulled her to her feet again.
He motioned with his hand and flashed her that cocky smile. “Come at me again.”
She drew in a deep draw of her panting breath and then she came after him again, with a renewed focus. Jab followed by a right cross, a roundhouse kick, followed up quickly by a calf kick and Cooper hit the mat.
When he popped to his feet, he came at her and held her in a bear hug, which he then turned into a fireman’s carry, from which he threw her to the mat, momentarily knocking the wind out of her. When he came in close to offer a hand, she took him down with a leg trip. She rolled off him, diving out of his reach across the mat, and pushed to her feet. He was already standing and moving towards her. She countered with a back kick, which he dodged.
“Tell me about the beneficiary dilemma,” he taunted.
She answered by landing a few solid blows. She was proud of herself for holding her own. His fighting skills were good, better than hers. That pride was short lived when he executed a double leg takedown and she face-planted on the mat.
She hadn’t realized a crowd had gathered while they sparred, until the match was over, and Cooper helped her back to her feet, one last time. There were a dozen onlookers clapping, including Anthony Garcia, Ethan Jackson, and Yvette Donaldson. Garcia flashed her a grin and a thumbs up and then led the exodus from the room.
Cooper pulled her in for a shoulder bump while their hands were clasped. “Good job. You’re officially hand-to-hand qualified.”
“Thanks, I think,” she said as she stepped back and released his hand and then spit her mouthguard into her hand. “I don’t think I’ve spent that much time on my ass on the mat in a long time. You’re good, I’ll give you that.” She removed the protective headgear and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Her right shoulder was sore, she rolled it and then massaged it with her left hand.
Cooper nodded at her shoulder. “Is that okay?”
She nodded that it was, even though it hurt like hell. His raised eyebrows and probing gaze prompted her to elaborate. “Well, between the tracker, the shots Doc gave me, and you knocking me to the mat repeatedly, it could be better.”
“Get some ice from Doc right away. If it’s still bothers you later this afternoon, have him take a look at it.”
She nodded yes to placate him even though she knew she would do neither. She’d taken harder blows. She was sure it would be fine.
“Hit the shower and I’ll meet you back here after,” Cooper said, and then he headed towards the men’s locker room.
Shepherd and Lassiter had watched the sparring match and listened to the verbal exchange from Shepherd’s office on the large monitor that hung over the conference room table. As the sparring match was over, Shepherd shut off the monitor.
“She’s a tough one,” Lassiter said. “Tenacious.”
“Yep, but she’s closed up tight. I saw a few cracks in her armor when I brought up Sandstorm, but she disclosed very little.”
“That’s my job. I’ll get it.”
“You do have that ability,” Shepherd said with a chuckle. “We’ll set her first appointment with you tomorrow. Meet with Cooper before, to see what else beside Sandstorm and her hesitation of designating a beneficiary on her insurance form you need to try to get. Besides those things, standard onboarding.”
Lassiter nodded. No, there would be nothing standard about the onboarding of Madison Miller. He already knew that. First of all, she was a woman coming into a male-dominated team, nothing standard there. Secondly, she had been a civilian for two years. All other recruits came straight out of special forces units or law enforcement. Lastly, she had shunned the entire intelligence community that had heavily recruited her. There was a story there. He suspected it was linked to the ill-fated Operation Sandstorm.
Madison took a quick shower and redressed. She left her hair coiled in the tight bun. Her right shoulder was still sore from the match. She wished she would have had longer to stand under the hot downpour to loosen the muscles, but she knew Cooper would be showered and ready way before her. Men were just faster. She didn’t want to confirm she was any different than any of the guys on the team. Fitting in mattered to her, so she hurried.
She pushed through the door and into the hall, surprised to find it empty. Glancing at her watch, she had taken exactly eleven minutes to get cleaned up. She heard male voices and laughter from within the men’s locker room approaching. The door swung open. Cooper and Jackson stepped out, still laughing.
“Wow, you’re fast,” Cooper remarked, clearly surprised she had beaten him.
She shrugged off his comment.
His hair was still damp, the front spiked up. Madison couldn’t help but notice how good he looked. He’d changed into a tight-fitting dark blue, long-sleeved base-layer shirt. It hugged his form, leaving nothing to her imagination.
She purposely tamped down the attraction to Cooper, her boss, her teammate, not for her. It hit her that whatever he and Jackson had been talking and laughing about had occurred because they were in the boy’s club. The men’s and women’s locker rooms separated them. She would never be an equal member of the team. She’d never considered herself one of those women. One that felt slighted or not held on an equal playing field as men, but this team was different. She was the first and only female Operator. And she felt it.
“I was just telling Coop that you held your own better than the rest of us ever have.” Jackson winked at Madison. “Nicely done!”
Madison wasn’t sure if she believed him nor why that elicited such intense laughter between them. “Thanks.” She knew she said it in a dismissive manner. And she wondered if he had gone easy on her because she was a woman.
“No, seriously, Coop kicks my ass every time.” Jackson laughed. “But we all have our specialty. I’m a much better sniper than he is.”
“Yeah, and the Undertaker makes you look like a hack,” Cooper said with a laugh. He turned his attention to Madison. “Seriously, you landed some good hits and held your own better than most. Your hand-to-hand more than qualifies.”
Madison smiled proudly. “Thank you.”
The rest of the day was filled with the reading of more protocols. After each section were scenarios, and a test. What action followed protocol, which did not. At the end of each unit of sections was an essay test in which she had to recap her understanding of specific protocols questioned. Then at the end, she had to sign off on her understanding of each protocol.
She grabbed her lunch and brought it back to her office to eat while she studied. Today, lunch was wraps and salads. She found out that they ordered out most days with Shepherd Security picking up the bill. That was quite a perk.
Her head hurt, and she felt brain dead several hours after she had eaten. The amount of information she was digesting put her master’s program to shame. She continued to be surprised by what all there was to learn.
She met with Cooper in his office at four and went over the next few chapters in what he had called street smarts training, the bible she was to memorize forward and backward. The first chapter they discussed was everyday items, household items that could be used as improvised explosives. Using a microwave to explode various items and compounds was a great time-delayed distraction and could be quite deadly. They went over everyday weapons, beginning with using a car to defend or kill.
When she unconsciously rubbed her shoulder, Cooper questioned her about it. “Did you get that ice pack from Doc earlier?”
“No, it wasn’t bad.”
“I told you to get ice.” He gave her a hard stare. “That wasn’t a suggestion.”
“I didn’t feel I needed it,” she argued without thinking. She never would have argued with a superior officer while on active duty.
“Do you need to go see Doc now?”
“Seriously, it’s okay. I’m just a little sore. I’ll ice it at home tonight, okay?”
“In the future, follow orders,” he said, irritated that she hadn’t followed through. She probably wouldn’t be hurting now if she had listened.
She nodded. She was pissed at his attitude, but kept her anger tamped down. She also wondered if he was concerned because she was female. Was there some kind of macho shit at play? After all, it was during their sparring match that it got hurt. Was he beating himself up for hurting a girl, but he wouldn’t have thought twice about it if she were a man? With just the thought that could be it, her irritation increased.
He thought about it for a second and then lifted his phone from the table where it sat. The look on her face was outrage when he called Doc, asking him to bring an ice pack to his office. He pinned her with a stern gaze. “Don’t even argue.”
“Seriously, Cooper, it’s nothing to be concerned over.” She was going to leave it at that but seeing the tick in his clenched jaw she added, “but if you want Doc to check it out and give me some ice, that’s fine.”
His gaze softened.
Doc arrived and gave her a quick examination, moving her arm around in all kinds of positions while pressing on different muscles. He asked her repeatedly if any movement felt weak or sore. When he moved the arm up and back a bit, she unconsciously sucked in a deep breath and a soft moan escaped her mouth in reaction to the sudden pain.
“Oh, yeah, that’s the spot.” Doc probed her back with two stiff fingers.
“Okay, yes, that hurts,” she said while trying to pull away from him.
He pressed the ice into the spot his fingers had been, had her sit with her back pinning the ice to the backrest of the chair, and then he lowered her arm. “A strain or pull of the Rhomboid. Ice it on and off the rest of today. If it still hurts tomorrow at all come to see me. I’ll massage it out and ice it good. It should be fine in a day or two.”
Her eyes gave Cooper an ‘I told you so’ look. “Yes, it will be fine, I’m sure. It’s not the first time and I’m sure it won’t be the last time I strained a muscle sparring.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t like to be the cause,” Cooper groused. His gaze flickered to Doc. “Thanks for coming up.”
Doc nodded and left. He would summon Miller to his office the following day to check on it. He doubted she would come on her own, even if it still bothered her. She’d learn to take better care of herself. He’d make sure of it.
Madison and Cooper got back to it right away and spent several more hours going over the material. Every fifteen minutes she rotated ice on, ice off. Her mind hit overload way before Cooper announced they were done for the night.
When she pulled her car out of the underground parking garage and into the dark night, only then did she realize it was after seven. She was beat and hungry. She hit a drive-thru again and ate her grilled chicken sandwich and fries on her drive home. It wasn’t the healthiest of meals, but it was better than a burger.
Arriving home, she entered her code on the keypad within the mudroom entrance from the garage. Then she armed the system that she was home. She liked that all team member’s alarm systems were monitored in Ops. She’d never felt the need to have a security system, but she had to admit it did give her a certain peace of mind, knowing the house was monitored and secure.
She filled an ice bag and went right to her room. She took a long, hot shower. The heat felt amazing on her shoulder, which was quite sore. Then she laid on the bed, with the ice bag beneath her. She fanned her wet hair out on a towel over her pillow and tried to relax while she quieted her exhausted mind.
Her cell phone vibrated on the mattress beside her. It was Cooper, reminding her to log her time out on the calendar for the day. She did and noticed that both Cooper and Garcia were still logged in the office. She wondered how many hours they each worked each week. She suspected way too many.
Glancing over the entire staff log, she saw that both Ethan and Angel Jackson had logged out at five. Angel was nice. She liked her a lot. She wondered what kind of strain this work put on their marriage. Certainly, Ethan spent a lot of time away on missions. She knew from the short time she’d spent with them, that Angel and Michaela were good friends. That made her realize that she hadn’t made any connections that led to any close friendships since she’d left the Army. She liked Michaela too, hoped to get to know both women better, as well as Yvette.
Another messaged popped in. Cooper again, telling her she didn’t have to be in till zero-nine-hundred the next morning. She typed out a reply acknowledging it but knew she would get there earlier. She still had a couple of sections of protocols to get through and she wanted to complete them tomorrow.
The next message that displayed was Cooper asking how her shoulder felt.
“Jeez,” she said aloud. “It’s fine. I’m icing it right now,” she voice-texted.
She hadn’t meant to doze off right then in that position, but that was exactly what she did. She woke at five the next mornin
g to the screaming alarm on her phone and the bright bedroom lights still on. She felt even more stiff and sore than she had the previous day, everywhere.
Pulling herself from the mattress she got into the shower knowing the heat would loosen everything up. Dressed and ready, she got on the road, and pulled into the parking garage structure just before seven o’clock. Her fourth day of employment with Shepherd Security was about to start. She felt exhausted.
She got in three hours reading protocols before Cooper called her cell phone. “You were in early. Thanks for remembering to log your time on your calendar.”
“It’s a job requirement, right? I promise I will try to remember so you don’t have to remind me like last night. And yes, I came in early because I needed more time to try to finish these protocols.”