G.U.A.R.D. Book #3: Recusant

-9-

    As the days continued, I received no word from the agents who assessed me. Jackie's constant attachment to my side was beginning to become insufferable. I couldn't get anything done. I didn't know how I wanted to figure out more about G.U.A.R.D., but I knew it was impossible to learn anything from Jackie. And when she wasn't with me, Justin was.

To be honest, I didn't know what to think of Justin. He was better company than Jackie, but he was beginning to annoy just because he was cute. Not as buff as Daniel, but something about his playful antics was getting to me.

They took me to go rollerblading, to play basketball, and to play tennis. We played more arcade games and several rounds of paintball. I found all the games fun, but the constant playing and no doing was infuriating. But I couldn't say anything. Let Jackie and Justin in on my plan to find out the memory-erasing project's secrets? No thank you.

Though James was our new roommate, she seemed to be gone almost as much as Leslie. Jackie said her old mentor, Commander Raines (who was also the third commander of the base), was in charge of the flying program on the roof. James was training to be a pilot. That's why she transferred apparently; to learn more from her old mentor. Her magazine picture was even a picture of a jet.

One dinner, with Jackie dragging me along, we sat at a table that Daniel and Sarah already occupied.

"You okay?" Daniel asked me with a creased brow.

He must've noticed my angry and tired face because I was beginning to wear it a lot more. Jackie answered for me. To no surprise.

"Oh, she's just tots annoyed because the assessment agents haven't given us any word."

Us. Why would she say "us?"

"Give it a little time," Daniel told me.

"Yeah, well, they may not get back until the end of the summer," Sarah said.

I felt my frustration heighten, but I hid it with a bite of green beans.

"What was the assessment about?" Daniel questioned right before putting a huge gallop of spaghetti in his mouth.

This time, I beat Jackie to the gun and was able to answer myself: "First guy assessed me physically. Made me fight mainly." I left out the climbing part. It was honestly too embarrassing. "The second-"

"Wait, he assessed if you can fight?" Sarah interrupted.

I gave her a suspicious look. "Yes...?"

"Can you?"

"Apparently."

Sarah and Daniel shared a glance, as if realizing something.

"What?" I demanded.

"Well... usually when someone's a drop-and-go case, they can't fight unless they were G.U.A.R.D. agents beforehand," Daniel told me.

I stared at him. "You mean I could've been G.U.A.R.D. before my mind was erased?"

"Or," Sarah said, "it just means that you took a few martial arts classes before coming to G.U.A.R.D. Really, it probably means nothing."

I forced myself to smile. "Yeah. Probably nothing."

There were a few moments of silence. All of us continued eating, a tense feeling in the air. Finally, Jackie couldn't take it anymore.

"Daniel, heads up!"

She flicked her fork, which had spaghetti and tomato sauce wrapped around it, towards him. The noodles flew forward and hit Daniel square in the face. He stared at her with a blank expression. But the ice had been cracked.