One Shot, One Chance

Chapter Three (Proofread needed)

--------------------------Ponce Inlet Florida----------------------

Chloe woke up with a start, the moon was big, bright in the window, and the waves were crashing hard against the sand. The memories of her nightmares were still fresh in her mind; the fear was a pained knot in her chest. The touch of her father's bloody hand always felt fresh on her face, the smell of it filled her nose.

She swung her legs over the edge of the bed and sat up, putting her head in between her knees. "Breath... Just breathe..." She kept repeating to herself. It took a couple of minutes, but her heart slowed, and it didn't hurt to breathe anymore. Gradually the overwhelming fear left her though that took a lot longer to pass.

Slowly she sat up and looked around the room. Upscale furnishings and home theater system worth more than her car, then again, everything was worth more than her current vehicle. Standing, she moved to the big bay windows overlooking the infinity pool. The moon was beautiful and bright, bathing everything in a silvery light. This view was one of the perks of house sitting in Daytona Beach. The winter off-season months were harder because all the Snow Birds came down to enjoy the cooler weather and the beach. Not to mention, getting paid for house sitting with free amenities and low rent.

It had been easier than she realized to pass off as a college student. There was a local university, some engineering school with a decent-sized campus. She had managed to convince the student working in the Student life office that she was a freshman and had lost her student id. After stuttering, complete with tears, the guy had been sympathetic, taking her picture and printing the card right then and there. She felt a little guilty, but the feeling passed when he tried to make a pass.

It was easy to blend in and hang around on campus. The irony wasn't lost on Chloe, and if it hadn't been for her Uncle, she could have been a student. It was a tight-knit community, where most students were friendly and outgoing. A couple of them had even tried to befriend her. She had turned them away, pretending to be mean and uninterested, she hated it. It was just one more thing she blamed her Uncle for, though one good thing she was getting a college education even if Chloe had lie to do it.

She had seen job posts on the random board; a couple had been looking for someone to house sit over the Summer. It beat living in her car and taking showers in the University gym. She jumped at the chance, and now two years later, she found herself staring at a backyard she could easily see in some magazine for the rich and famous. The couple had been friendly and allowed her to rent the room while they were in residence and house sit while visiting their daughter in Vermont during the Summer.

The sounds of the waves crashing brought her back to the present.

Wanting to shake the last of the nightmare, she went into the closet and changed heading outside for a midnight swim. It wasn't like she was going to be getting any more sleep tonight.

---------------------------Washington DC--------------------

"Griffin, I will pretend you didn't disobey a direct order, and you are a figment of my imagination." Lucas looked up from his monitor to see his boss Roger Anderson arms crossed. "You are supposed to be on vacation."

Lucas met the man's eyes, half-hidden under bushy gray eyebrows. The man had more hair in his brows than on his bald head. He shaved, to conceal the fact that his hairline was so far back it was non-existent.

"You mean the vacation I was told to take? I am just finishing up this last report on the operation and the incident that morning." He smirked and looked in Shaw's direction.

"Lay off him, he is a good agent, and you know it, " he said, "when's your flight leave?"

"Not until Sunday, I have to drive to my mom's and grab some things before catching a flight to Colorado. " He looked at his boss, " I'll have my phone on me, you know, I don't need a vacation... I can still-"

"Shut it, You haven't taken a vacation in 2 years, and you are so close to burning yourself out I can smell the smoke. You need a break. " Anderson said, "Go, we have enough workforce right now with the new class that just came in. "

His phone vibrated, and he glanced at it briefly. "Duty calls, and you are not needed. " He said when he saw Lucas stare at his ringing phone and begin to stand. "We have three teams on call. Go home that is an order." He walked away, phone in his ear already talking.

Lucas looked back down at his report and hit submit, the blinking light at the corner told him the files had finished downloading. If he was not gone by the time his boss walked back around, he'd probably have him escorted out of the building and remove his badge access until the end of his "vacation."

He packed up his laptop, grabbed his gym bag, and headed to the elevators. As he looked at the buttons, he had an idea.

Lucas could see a short, squat man sitting behind a bank of monitors on a dais from outside the room. The man had with black-rimmed glasses, magnified crystal grey eyes, and thinning blonde hair, and he was focused on the monitor in front of him. The room around the man was every tech-head's dream with state of the art equipment, guns, robot and robot pieces along with things he couldn't even guess at.

Lucas didn't try to badge the door. He didn't have clearance, so he knocked on the reinforced glass and waited. Once in, Lucas looked around the low tables and equipment, but Lucas didn't bother to touch anything. He knew from experience, 'look but don't touch.' As he stepped closer to the screens, he saw what had the man's full attention and grinned, before Agent Masters let out a curse.

On the screen a digital soldier in full heavy military-grade armor stood looking at them, he let out a grin and fired a couple of shots into the air and waved before taking off into the suburban warzone. The name "Hatchetman" tagged above the disappearing figure with other stats showing around the edges of the monitors.

"Doggone it! I would have had him if you hadn't distracted me! what the heck do you want anyways, can't you see I am busy with .."

"With protecting National Security by monitoring PlayerUnknown online for a dangerous activity..." Lucas interrupted a broad grin on his face. "... on Government time and equipment?"

Agent Master's adjusted his glasses, hitting a button with his free hand, and the game replaced by scrolling code. "Yeah.. well, what do you want."

" I need a favor, and in return, I won't say anything about this newest top-secret project and a case of beer," Lucas said as he eyed a pen on a nearby table.

"What's the favor? " Master said as he turned in his chair, guiding it down a ramp toward a table.

Lucas stepped back as Master's came over, grabbed the pen from the table and put it in his pocket. "um, I need you to help me with a laptop. Why don't you come over tonight for beer and poker, and you can take a look at it."

"Fine. Now get out I have work to do." He moved to another table and took out the pen and bent over something Lucas couldn't see.

Lucas moved closer to watch. "What does it do?"

Master's said in a deadpan tone, "It's a pen, I have to do my taxes. Go away."

(( A/N: PLEASE TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK SO FAR! LEAVE COMMENTS! I AM EDITING AS I GO BECAUSE I CAN'T FIND AN EDITOR. SO PLEASE TELL ME IF SOMETHING IS WRONG OR DOESN'T MAKE SENSE. THANK YOU! ENJOY! NEXT PART COMING SOON. I ))