The first deception, p.5
The First Deception, page 5
part #1 of Jack Noble Prequel Series
“Tap out and you’re out of my program,” Cribbs said between grunts.
Noble worked his right leg forward until it was pinned under his chest. He did the same with his left. Cribbs forced himself down harder on Noble’s back. Noble turned his head enough to see Cribbs’ legs extended all the way. The guy was up on his tiptoes.
Perfect.
There wasn’t a lot of space to work with, but Noble didn’t need much. He dove his head left into the mat. Cribbs had a horrible base at that moment and rolled with him. Jack powered his left hand upward and broke the older man’s choke hold. His arm continued up and around the back of Cribbs’ head and neck. A moment later they came to rest with Noble on top of the guy secured in a headlock.
“It doesn’t have to go any further,” Noble said, torquing his body so his weight came down on Cribbs’s throat. “You hear me? We can be done right now.”
Cribbs reached up and gouged at Noble’s face. Jack leaned his head back to keep the man’s fingers far from his eyes. He tightened his grip, squeezing harder on Cribbs’s neck. The instructor’s face reddened as his eyes bugged out. He started wailing on Noble’s chest. Jack tightened his core in preparation of a few blows to his abdominal area.
The grating metal sound distracted him for a second. He looked over his shoulder. An intense, knifing beam of sunlight split the room in half. Who was that standing in the opening? Tank Top? Whoever it was didn’t make a move or say anything. Were they there to witness, and nothing else? Noble decided to test the observer.
He released his hands, bringing his right fist up in the air and delivered three quick strikes to Cribbs’ face. The guy slumped for a moment, and Noble used that time to untie himself from the man and return to a standing base.
Tank Top entered the room and closed the door behind him. He stood there for a few moments, his gaze focused on Cribbs.
Cribbs wiped blood from his upper lip and flung it on the mat.
“He asked for it,” Noble said.
Tank Top said nothing as he crossed the room toward them. He knelt down next to Cribbs and said something in too low a voice for Noble to pick up on.
Cribbs nodded, and Tank Top helped him to his feet, then backed off the mat. What was the point of his presence? He was getting to that. Tank Top lifted his shirt and tucked it into his shorts, making it clear that he was armed with his pistol.
Cribbs staggered toward Noble with his hands up like a boxer. “You’re gonna regret letting up on me.”
Noble shot a glance toward Tank Top. The instructor tipped his head back an inch and placed his right hand on the pistol grip. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out what his gesture meant.
With Cribbs less than six feet away, Noble launched at the guy’s legs. He twisted his torso and drove his right fist between Cribbs’s knees and up through his groin. Cribbs let out a hollow gasp as Noble’s bicep racked his testicles. Noble continued through the move. He powered up through his opponent to a standing position. Cribbs found himself more than six feet in the air for a moment. He rode across Noble’s shoulders before tumbling back down to the ground. The sound of the man landing hard on his back ricocheted throughout the gym.
Noble wasn’t done.
Cribbs would be neutralized for five to ten seconds. After that he’d regain some composure. The guy hadn’t got to his current position by being a pussy.
Tank Top stood there, frozen in place. He hadn’t closed his grip around his weapon by the time Noble charged across the mat and was a foot away from impact. Noble’s shoulder hit him square in the diaphragm. He reached around and dug his hands in the instructor’s hamstrings, lifted him off the ground, and slammed him into the corrugated steel wall. It sounded like a mac truck had collided into the building, had to be loud enough to attract the attention of the others at the camp.
Tank Top remained in place, supported by the wall, racked with pain. Noble caught the guy’s chin with a haymaker and he slumped to the ground.
“Goddamn you, Noble.”
He looked back and saw Cribbs pushing off his right knee in an attempt to stand.
“You stay down and this is over,” Noble said.
Cribbs dragged his left hand across his face. He looked like an insane warrior with the blood smeared all over his face in finger tracks.
Noble took a half-dozen steps forward and stopped at the edge of the mat. His plan was simple. Cribbs was in a rage. He’d charge in a rage. He’d throw punches in a rage. That benefited Noble. A man in a rage was more of a danger to himself than a calm adversary. He made it easy to use his own momentum against him.
Noble took a deep breath and waited for the attack. Cribbs staggered forward a few feet, smiled, and spit a wad of bloody mass that landed halfway between them.
“You’re gonna pay for this, you sonofabitch. Should’ve quit that first night. You know we never had plans on letting you make it through this. You were brought here so we could make an example out of you. If you ain’t strong enough, you won’t survive. Only way you were getting out of here was in a box.”
Noble laughed the old guy’s words away. “Think your babble is gonna affect me? You’re hurt. You know it. I know it. Best thing for you to do is take a knee and we’ll forget this ever happened.”
Only neither of them would ever forget it. That’s not how these things went. Noble had deconstructed Cribbs’s authority. That couldn’t be allowed to happen.
Noble glanced back and saw Tank Top unconscious on the floor. Cribbs advanced a few more feet and stopped. The smile on his face broadened. He lifted both arms in the air, index fingers pointed toward the ceiling. He made two quick come-to-me gestures, then lowered his stance.
Jack heard the pounding steps and hunched down, readying himself to be hit in the back. He swung his head to the side and saw the two instructors closing in on him. Before he could make a move, he caught Cribbs charging. The guy had produced an extendable metal baton. It was locked and loaded, too. The other instructors hit him fast and hard. Noble didn’t go down, which was probably what they wanted. They had his arms pinned back, knocked his legs wide.
Cribbs never stopped charging. He whipped the baton high and brought it down over Jack’s head. One blow. That was it. Because that was all it took to render Noble unconscious.
Chapter Eight
A dull ache with intermittent sharp pains kept Noble up most of the night. The wound only required a couple of stitches. Turned out Cribbs exercised a little restraint when attempting to brain Jack. And for their part, the instructors stopped Cribbs from doing worse. The guy could have kept wailing away and that would’ve been all she wrote. Few people knew what was going on out here. Fewer knew who exactly was out there. They could have dug a shallow grave in the woods and no one would be the wiser.
Noble forced himself into a sitting position. The ache intensified for a moment as blood reallocated. He slid off his mattress and shuffled to the bathroom. The floor felt cool and slick. The soft glow of emergency lighting provided more than enough illumination. He cut on the cold water and cupped his hands underneath, dousing his face with the first palmful of sulfur-laden water. A layer of sweat and dried blood washed away. He took a few gulps of the bitter water and then straightened.
The image staring back at him was almost unrecognizable. His hair had grown a bit, and the beard was something new for Jack. It added some age to his face. But aside from that, the guy staring back at him looked hardened. Older. His eyebrows knit together forming a crease in his forehead. The thought hit him then, one he’d pushed off the entire time they’d been at the camp.
Noble was staring at the face of a killer.
Could that be him? When it came down to it, could he carry out orders he assumed would come from the highest echelons of the Pentagon? Sure, he enlisted in the Marines as a Scout Sniper. That was different, though. That was war. Soldiers knew what they were getting into, whether they fought for their God or Country, or both.
The mission hadn’t been laid out by Cribbs or any of the other instructors. That would come with time, he figured. But he wasn’t stupid enough to assume they were going through all this at a clandestine facility to learn how to go play patty-cakes in Russia.
Noble didn’t notice Bear until the big man had entered the bathroom. Bear walked up to the sink next to him and cut the water on. The guy lived up to his nickname. His beard was twice as thick as Noble’s. His hair had grown out twice as much, too. A mat of brown fuzz covered his chest.
“You can squeeze ‘em if you want.” Bear flexed his pectoral muscles in alternating fashion like a wrestler during a big interview.
“Nah, you’re not my type.” Noble cupped another handful of water, swished it around his mouth, and spat it in the sink.
“How’s the head?”
“Feels about the same as when I ran headfirst into a guy your size trying to score a touchdown on fourth and three.”
“You get in?”
“Yeah, they told me later that night at the hospital I did.”
Bear chuckled. “So you’ve always been stupid?”
Noble wiped his face off with a dry towel. He checked it for remaining dirt and blood. “Pretty much.”
“You ever think about keeping your mouth shut?”
“Sure, but it’s not in my nature. That’s all I can figure. Guess it’s something I need to work on.”
“Damn right. Need to learn that sometimes in life, it’s better to bite your tongue and think through a plan rather than charge in leading with the crown of your helmet.”
Noble turned to face the big man, leaned his hip against the sink. “Why’d you join up?”
Bear glanced around the room. “They didn’t give us much choice in the matter. Remember?”
“Not this place. This is just a crazy twist in our story, man. Why’d you enlist to begin with?”
Bear mirrored Jack’s stance and posture. “I just felt a calling, I guess. You remember when they showed those images at the start of Desert Storm?”
“The nighttime bombings? Yeah, sure. That was at the start of football season, we were in the middle of two-a-days.”
“Right. Well, that was my start of really following what was going on in this world. Didn’t take long to realize how screwed up the place is. Know what I mean?”
Noble nodded, didn’t say anything. What was there to say as follow up to that?
“That’s when I knew the military was right for me. Was just a matter of figuring out in what capacity. I mean, I could’ve gone on to the Olympics, but that’s secondary to me. I can do that in four years if I still want.”
Noble studied Bear’s face for a few moments and was left with the feeling there was something more to the story. “That’s it? No Commie showed up at your door and stole your ham and cheese when you were little?”
“What more do you need? I felt a burning desire to do something for my country. Isn’t that drive enough?” Bear crossed his thick arms over his chest. “What about you? Why’d your smart ass show up at Parris Island? Was it just fate putting you in my way so I could whoop up on you?”
Noble winced at some of their earlier interactions. Bear had gotten the best of him a couple of times. The fact they stood two feet away from each other and no fight had broken out would have seemed impossible a month ago.
“I guess in some ways I was pissed off,” Jack said. “Old man rode me hard and had my future mapped out for me. He treated Sean the same way.”
“Sean, your brother?”
Noble nodded as his gaze drifted toward the corner of the room. The stretch between leaving for Parris Island and now was the longest he’d gone without talking to his older brother.
“What’s he like?” Bear asked.
“About like any older brother, I suppose. Treated me like a jerk most of the time, but was the best friend I ever had growing up. I pushed myself harder because of him. Not to be like him, but to beat him. Whether that was sparring martial arts, winning the starting quarterback job over him, relegating him to receiver, or just pissing the old man off the most. I had to win.”
“He enlist, too?”
“Nah, he’s smarter than me. Took his scholarship to U of F—”
“Florida?”
“Yeah. He redshirted last year, but was supposed to get some real playtime this year. But football’s something he does. It’s not him. Not his passion. He’s in pre-law. Dad drilled it into him as a little kid that’s what he’d do.”
“Your pop sounds like a lot of fun.” Bear smiled at Noble, perhaps genuinely for the first time. “Guess they all are, though.”
“Right.”
“So I’m guessing this isn’t what he had in mind for you?”
“Hell, no,” Noble said. “Once it was clear I had some talent, it was all about getting to the pros.”
“So you really did shun some big opportunities?” Bear uncrossed his arms and shoved his hands into his shorts pocket. “That tool back at Parris Island mentioned that, but I never believed him. Figured he was trying to rile me up to go after you harder.”
“It’s true, but it doesn’t matter anymore. That kid no longer exists. That life was sacrificed so I can share a moment with your overgrown ass in this shitter of a CIA-sponsored camp in West Virginia that doesn’t officially exist.”
Bear belted out a round of laughter that probably woke Cribbs from his slumber. If the guy slept at all.
“Maybe I had you all wrong, dude.” Bear slapped Noble’s shoulder. “I get wanting to piss off your old man, but there’s gotta be something else, right?”
Noble took a deep breath as he considered how far he should let the big man in. He had a feeling the two of them would be spending a lot of time together in the coming years, assuming both made it through this training, and survived whatever came next. But being vulnerable to anyone was not in his wheelhouse. Didn’t matter whether it was Jessie, his high school sweetheart, or anyone in his immediate family. He didn’t open up easily.
But Bear prodded again, and the way he leaned in, it seemed like he wanted to know. They were past the point where the big man would use it against him in some way.
“I was still a kid when it happened,” Noble said, speaking slowly as images of that night filled his head. “Our parents were out and the three of us were doing as we did. Molly was the oldest. Four years older than me. As smart as Sean is, and as tough and athletic as I pretend to be, she had it all over us, man. Smart, fast, strong, pretty, and just the kind of person who took life by the balls and twisted tight and clung to them ready to take on whatever was thrown in her direction.”
Bear nodded slowly and listened to the story unfold.
“So much of it is a blur now, but I can see that nothing I could have done would’ve made a difference that night. Those bastards were there for blood, and they were gonna have it. Why her, though? That’s the only thought I can’t shake. They murdered her in the woods behind our house and I watched it go down. Didn’t stop them.”
“You were a kid,” Bear said. “There were several of them. What could you have done?”
“More.” Noble caught a glance of himself in the mirror. The tear that streaked down his cheek was genuine, and he made no move to wipe it away. “I could have done more to save her life, even if it meant losing my own. But I chickened out.”
“You froze because it was beyond your capabilities at the time.”
“At the time is right.”
Bear nodded like a shrink who’d witnessed a breakthrough in his client. “So that’s why you enlisted. That’s why you’re here at this camp. Damn, it was you. All of this was you. I just happened to be in the way and got dragged along for the ride.” He dipped his head a couple inches so they were eye to eye and tapped his large fingertip into Noble’s chest. “This place is gonna allow you to find your redemption, Jack.”
Noble shook his head as his gaze drifted down to the floor. “Not redemption, man. Penance. I owe it to Molly.”
Bear reached out with both arms and wrapped his large hands around Noble’s shoulders, offering a comforting squeeze. “Look at me, Jack.”
Noble looked up into the big man’s squinted eyes.
“Keep your mouth shut from here on out. If they want someone to screw with, they can have me now. But you need to stop giving them reasons. I think we’ve reached the point where things are gonna turn around here, but you need to stop getting in your own damn way with Cribbs and his guys. I guarantee if you stick with me, follow my lead, this ordeal will pass and you’ll be on your way to doing right by Molly.”
Noble turned toward the mirror and studied himself for a few more moments. Who was that staring back at him? Could the guy in the reflection keep it together long enough to get through training?
Did he have any other choice?
Chapter Nine
The next three weeks went by in a blur. Noble kept in line to the dismay of Cribbs and his band of instructors. Tank Top, who’s name turned out to be Bray, goaded him non-stop, but Noble kept his mouth shut and his head down and took everything they threw at him without spitting out the smartass responses that came so naturally to him.
Cribbs gave them Sunday off. The remaining four recruits—Noble, Bear, Spinks, and Calhoun—stayed up late Saturday coming up with plans of waking up early and spending the morning fishing. They overslept two hours and found the temperatures had plummeted overnight into the low thirties. For a Florida boy like Noble, they might as well have been dropped off in the arctic.
Bray came by with a portable television equipped with a seven-inch black-and-white screen. The four men gathered around and watched eleven hours of football. Not a bad way to spend a day off.
The next morning, they were at it again. It was colder than the previous day, but this time Noble had no option to remain inside. Bray ripped into them something fierce over wasting a day off by watching TV. Should have been out working, drilling, shooting. The four am tirade went on for ten minutes, acting like a jolt of caffeine to Noble’s system. But it wasn’t him who spoke up first.
