CHAPTER THREE
1518 Words
CHAPTER THREE
Heading outside to the obstacle course, Stella couldn’t believe how far she had come in a short time. Four months after her arrival at Quantico as a new trainee agent, she’d changed, and so had her surroundings. When she’d arrived, the view had been early summer green. Now, it was the beginning of October. Some trees were red and gold, others were bare, and the sky was cloudy and gray.
She’d just completed the last written tests in her syllabus, and yesterday, she and her team had all passed the infamous “pepper spray” exam. Her eyes still stung from the memory of being pepper sprayed in the face, and then having to force her streaming eyes open and defend herself against the instructor trying to grab her pistol out of its holster.
Now, surveying the final course route, Stella only felt calm confidence. Her arms were strong, still lean but with a wiry power that allowed her to chin the bar easily ten times. Even twenty.
She was sure she’d beat her time on the suspended rings, and the trio of high nets, and the wobbly log. And the timed sprint, from one white-painted branch to another a hundred yards away.
Or was she? Was there anything that could go wrong?
With a sudden premonition, Stella bent down and double-checked her sports boots. With comfortable, grippy soles and soft leather uppers, they fit her like a second skin and had lasted the whole way through her training months. Apart from one time when she’d almost lost a boot halfway through the second of her three graded physical tests. The lace on her right boot had snapped, which she’d thought was very strange because they were still new and good quality. Even so, she’d managed to complete the test with seconds to spare, and achieve a passing grade.
Now, feeling suddenly suspicious, Stella examined the laces again.
Her eyebrows shot up as she realized the lace of the left-hand boot was cut through almost to breaking point. Undoubtedly, as she’d started to run, it would have snapped.
That would have put her entire test, and her overall pass grade, in jeopardy.
With a rush of anger, Stella knew that this was Carrie’s work.
She was hell bent on being the only woman to graduate from their intake. Ever since Stella’s appearance in the dormitory had shattered Carrie’s complacency, she’d done her best to make life hell for her. Stella had quickly realized her behavior was ego-driven. Women were much scarcer in the program, and Carrie had started out assuming she’d be the only female in her group to complete one of the most difficult training programs that law enforcement officers could go through.
It was unfortunate that Stella had proved to be not only the better shooter, but also stronger academically throughout the program. Although Stella had bonded with the other trainees over the past months, Carrie had refused to relent. Month after month, she’d seen Carrie’s frustration and ultra-competitive nature boil over into acts of meanness and sabotage.
Stella had been constantly taunted by her snide comments and needling. There was the time she’d stolen Stella’s notes from her bag before a criminal procedure test. And when they’d been partnered together during a bank-robbery exercise in the infamous role-playing area of the academy known as Hogan’s Alley, Carrie had failed to warn Stella of an approaching criminal behind her. That had earned Stella a reprimand for carelessness, even though at the time she’d been tracking another fugitive and had asked Carrie to watch her back.
And now, there was the second shoelace incident, designed once again to make sure Stella would fail a physical test that she had to pass in order to graduate.
Controlling her anger and trying to keep calm as she assessed the problem, Stella realized she could snap the broken lace and tie a knot. It wasn’t ideal but at least her boot wouldn’t come off.
Quickly she completed the emergency repair.
“Shoes all good to go?” Brian, her partner, asked teasingly and Stella smiled back, feeling in a better frame of mind now this was done. The blond man who’d set off at the same time as her on the very first obstacle course, also battling with his own physical fitness, had become a friend after his initial distrust of her. She’d grown to respect him and she hoped it was mutual.
“All good now, yes,” she said.
And then she heard a mocking voice from behind her. “Really? I don’t think you’re good. You don’t look well prepared at all.”
Stella spun around, her temper flaring again as she saw Carrie smiling superciliously at her. “You’re going to fail,” Carrie added.
Brian turned around too, looking annoyed by Carrie’s words. A few others muttered in surprise at the comment. Stella felt a flash of anger.
“What do you mean by that?” she asked politely. There was a week to go until graduation! Why couldn’t Carrie leave it be? Why did she continually have to fling out insults?
Their small group was now the only one left, and Stella couldn’t wait for their timed rounds to start. Hopefully she could get away and start running, focusing on that, rather than on this incessant taunting.
“Well, your first time around an obstacle course didn’t go very well. In fact, it proved you were the class loser,” Carrie said, spreading her hands in an “aw shucks” way. “I have a feeling today will be the same for you and you might not get a passing grade. Call it instinct.”
Anger blazed through Stella. Enough was enough. They were supposed to be a team. The FBI was all about teamwork. Not about causing divisions and trying to ruin others’ rounds. She wasn’t prepared to accept this any longer. Not for another moment.
“Unfortunately, you’re out of luck. Because I noticed you cut almost all the way through my shoelace, and I fixed it. Pity I didn’t pick it up last time, but at least I did this time.”
Carrie was now looking absolutely furious. Letting all her resentment out, Stella continued. “And as for our first test, maybe I wouldn’t have come last if the person who went before me hadn’t deliberately sabotaged the course. And she never admitted to it. Not exactly in line with the FBI’s principles of candor and integrity,” Stella shot back.
“What?” Carrie glared at her, looking outraged. “Are you accusing me of doing that? So you’re calling me a liar?”
“I’m not calling you anything,” Stella said calmly. “Your actions speak louder, don’t they?”
Snarling with rage, Carrie tensed, bunching her hands into fists.
In a horrified moment, Stella realized she was actually going to start a physical fight. It was f*******n at the academy, and rightly so. What Carrie was doing could get them both expelled.
There was only one way out of this. Stella had to act first. Just as she’d learned in her training, she had to actively defend herself, and neutralize the threat.
Acting as fast as she could, she did what she’d been longing to do from the time she first started at the academy, before she’d had the muscle memory or the know-how to do it effectively.
She drew her right hand back and punched Carrie as hard as she could in her solar plexus.
The breath huffed out of Carrie.
She doubled over, gasping for air, and as she did that, Stella grabbed her shoulder and kicked her legs out from under her so she sprawled on her backside on the muddy ground.
“Neutralized, I think,” Stella said, sounding satisfied.
Carrie was opening and closing her mouth like a fish out of water, unable to say anything in response. How refreshing, Stella thought, allowing herself a moment to enjoy the revenge she’d finally been able to take.
Then she ran forward to take her place at the starting point.
“Next pair!” Marc’s voice was loud, cutting through the tension of the moment. Stella sprinted away. Her hand was throbbing from the force of the blow, but victory gave her feet wings. Carrie had gotten what she’d deserved, what she’d been pushing for ever since she’d started her bitchiness. And now, Stella was going to kill this course.
It was only as she raced away that she realized the true idiocy of what she’d just done. Carrie had set a trap for her, and Stella, in a hotheaded moment, had walked straight in.
She’d acted in self-defense before Carrie had even raised her arms, and that meant Carrie could claim Stella had assaulted her. Deliberate assault of a fellow trainee was an even more serious offense than a physical fight, and could undoubtedly get her expelled from the academy.
If Carrie chose to escalate this, and Stella knew she would, then her entire career would be at stake.
- Writer
