Death's Shadow

Chapter 5

At 2:45 am Maxxy jerked awake. She quietly stood and dressed in the uniform she had found in the duffel bag. The uniform consisted of camo army pants, a black tee shirt, a camo long sleeve button up, and tan combat boots. She grabbed the black duffel paused in the bathroom to brush her teeth and throw her hair into a pony tail. Then Maxxy tucked a long strip of leather with spikes covering into her pony tail. With long hair it was easy for an opponent to get the upper hand because they pulled out a chunk of hair, the spikes prevented that from happening to her.

Maxxy glided silently down the stairs and grabbed a peanut butter sandwich. Her older brother Cole came sprinting down the stairs to wrap her in a tight hug. He was the only thing she was going to miss. She tightened her grip on him, they stood together for a moment before he pulled away and placed a cold metal object in her fist. When she opened it she saw a gold chain necklace with a golden bronze bullet hanging from it. With closer inspection she saw that 'Cole' was inscribed on the flat side of the bullet.

Cole looked at her with pain in his eyes and said, "This is so no matter where you go or how far you wander, I will always be right by your heart."

Maxxy gave him a small smile and felt tears start to gather in her eyes, "Will you clip it for me?"

Cole nodded once before picking up the necklace and stepping behind her. He clipped the necklace on and it hung just a few inched below her collarbone. Maxxy spun around to wrap him in another hug, she felt the tear leak from her eye, "I love you Cole."

He buried his face into her hair an whispered, "Come back to me."

Maxxy swore to him, "I will come back even if I have to wipe out all of Beldurra to do it."

They pulled away from each other and smiled Cole grabbed the bullet and placed a soft kiss on it before simply stating, "I know you would."

Maxxy smiled brightly then took a deep breathe, wiped away her tears, and turned to open the door. With the bullet clutched tightly in her left hand and her black duffel gripped tightly in her right hand she walked out the door. 

As she stood on her front step a big black SUV pulled up Maxxy hopped in to sit by General Brooks. Turning she saw Cole waving frantically with a pained smile on his face. She waved back with a calm smile and then turned to face the front and place her duffel down, this was her life now.

General Brooks looked at her with a smile and asked, "So what can you tell me about Maxine Romano?

With a smile Maxxy began chatting with a five-star general as if she was made for the conversation and he loved it.

*****

Almost 5 hours later the SUV stopped to find the general and Maxxy laughing hysterically in the back seat, "No seriously you told your commanding officer that his idea was crap and that yours saved lives so go ride a horse? What?! Where did that even come from?"

"You're missing the best part the President was standing right there and was laughing so hard he fell of his seat then he promoted me to five-star general!"

"I still do think that beats the time I told Cole I wished he had to have a pooping goose over his head for the rest of his life. . . "

The door to the SUV opened and the two slide out and Maxxy grabbed her bag.

"Don't kid with me girl it definitely beats it!" The general argued. Maxxy shrugged slightly before thanking the driver and heading into the large building before her.

"So where are we going anyways?"

"Jason and Alex are meeting us with the rest of the recruits at our private plane to be transported to the training facility. Normal you have to be identified, interviewed, recruited, and then you have to wait until the next flight out to the facility but because Jason got so excited when he told me about you, you get a whole jump on the process," The general explained.

Maxxy nodded, "Explain the training, is it regimented or what?"

The general shook his head, "Not really when you train as a unit it is but I have other ideas for you, I'm thinking getting you into to sniping, flying, black ops, but I don't feel like you play nice with others so how about training solo?"

Instead of looking panic like the most people the general had offered this idea to she looked stoked. Then she put on a straight face and said, "If yes is a grain of sand than my reply is the whole beach, if yes was a drop of water than my reply would be the whole ocean, shall I continue?"

The general chuckled and shook his head no. "Just a warning though, these kids ain't gonna be nice especially if they think you are being pampered when you train solo."

Maxxy burst out laughing and smiled, "Sir you haven't seen mean yet."

He nodded then they rounded the final corner to exit out a set of doors. Before them stood about 50 or so kids and Jason and Alex, behind the mob of people was a large private plane. 

"Let's go Maxxy," General Brooks said and they headed for the groups.

Maxxy wiped her face of emotion and stood straight beside him and replied, "Go get'em tiger."

With a chuckle the two headed towards Jason and Alex. When they reached the two they turned from their conversations and nodded to Maxxy before starting to converse with the general. Maxxy stood at the general's back guarding his blind side, she stood ram rod straight studying everyone with a distrustful and uncaring look. 

"Maxxy," Jason said. She turned her glaze to him and waited, "We are going to start loading people up, if you're going to mingle do it now."

Maxxy gave him a disgusted look then turned to the general and gave him a clear 'are-you-kidding-me' look. The general chuckled and turned to Jason, "Commander, Maxxy isn't too into 'friendly', I think she will be staying with us."

"Is she training solo?" Alex asked in surprise.

"Alex, she is the definition of solo."

*****

Over an hour later Maxxy was seated between the general and Jason. Jason looked at her with an appraising eye before asking, "What do you want to learn?"

"That is a loaded question are you sure you want to know the answer?" Maxxy asked. Jason nodded and Maxxy felt the eyes of Alex and General Brooks on her. She paused to think for a second before she started.

"I want to learn how to speak to anyone I see in the language they are most comfortable in. I want to learn to survive any where with only the clothes on my back. I want to learn to how to protect my Alliance and my people anyway I have to. I want to learn to be the kiss on a man's cheek and the knife in his throat. I want to learn to control anything with a motor. I want to learn to be the shadow that everyone fears." 

The men around her sat quietly and stared at her.

Then Jason asked another question, "What do you want to BE?"

Again Maxxy took a minute to collect her thoughts before she said, "I want to be a mystery wrapped up in an enigma. I want to be strong enough to save that little girl. I want to be fearless enough to do anything for those I protect. I want to loyal enough to die for what is right. I want to be discipline enough to keep my self at top shape. I want to be so trusted by those I protect that one word of hope from me can remove years of words of fear.  I want to be determined enough to ignore all opposition and gain victory. I want to be unseen, unheard, and unknown." Again silence consumed the group.

Finally General Brooks spoke, "Jason I could hug you right now!"

"What?" Maxxy, Jason, and Alex all stuttered.

"If he didn't find her I don't think I would have ever found this girl and I think she is going to save the world one day."

*****

AN

I don't even know right now . . . 

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