Time Sensitive Target

Part 42 - The Price of Freedom is Eternal Vigilance

The sea beckoned me forward as though it too was proud of my accomplishment. I had done it, I had done something by myself. My own decision about where to go and what to do, all planned and executed alone. I basked in the glory of that knowledge as I headed for the shore, sitting suddenly on the sand to remove my shoes and socks. There. My heels dug in to the gritty velvet, tiny grains slipping between my toes. When I reached the denser, wet sand and the ocean began to lick my feet I took a deep breath, wholly satisfied and for a moment actually happy. I strode further across the shoreline, the sea swirling around my ankles. I folded the bottom of my trousers up to my shins so I could feel the water against my skin. It looked temperamental out there, beyond the first rippling waves. But on the safety of the shore it was bewitchingly soothing, each lap against my legs proving my disobedience worthwhile. The beach was near empty with only three or four other groups, mostly families basking in the final hours of sun. As I looked ahead there was nobody, as though the expanse of grainy silken land was mine and mine alone. The wind licked through my hair and bit at my ears as muffled shouts of play echoed from the families behind. I felt at peace, and I was determined to soak every bit of it up.

"Paige!" The thunderous holler across the beach turned my blood cold. I didn't need to turn around to know who the call belonged to, but I did anyway. He stood a good few hundred feet away, his figure intimidating even in the distance. How had he found me so quickly? I turned my head back to face the empty horizon before slowly beginning a meandering walk across the sand, reluctantly pulling my feet further and further away from the rippling surf. I could begin to make out the features of his face, all set in hard lines with absolutely no emotion to speak of. Was he mad? Did he understand? There was no way of knowing. Not even his words gave very much away at the best of times. My shoes swung in my hand as I forced myself towards him, knowing my slither of solitude was always only going to be a glimpse of tranquillity I'd have to leave behind. Still, it was worth it. Even if Jase had a syringe prepared for me back at the apartment, it was worth it. Nothing is worth that, but those blissful moments were more beautiful because they were finite.

Jase said absolutely nothing as I paced closer to him, his arms crossed over his chest in authority. There was nothing I wanted to say either, what would the point be? He was angry, and I didn't care. By the time I reached him the wind was picking up and my hair blew back in a stream towards the sea. He didn't move at first, instead standing contumaciously in front of me with his hulking frame rigid in the sand. He glowered, silent, offering no reaction. I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of breaking the silence first, nor would I allow him to see the tremors of fear.

Eventually he turned and led the way to the car, parked haphazardly in the lot. Jase swung my door open, slamming it to a close behind me before veering around the bonnet to get in. The silence engulfed us as he buckled up and sped the car towards the nearby north gate, driving recklessly in the haze of his poorly concealed anger.

*
Jase had to remind himself he had a passenger in the car as he stormed the vehicle down busy streets, seething with fury he had to smother if he was going to maintain control.

He had spoken to Ant only a few days prior about Paige's increasingly rebellious spirit, who had advised him to lay down the law and stop pussyfooting around. It came naturally to Jase to bark orders when it was necessary, but his laid back approach was doing him no favours when it came to his current situation. Up until now he hadn't been able to treat her as his subordinate, as he would do the recruits or other lower ranking personnel he came across. He had tried to sit between the role of an uninvolved roommate and a bodyguard as soon as they left the home, but the dynamic wasn't working.

It wasn't until Jase slammed the apartment door behind himself, flinging his shoes to the corner of the hallway that he set his mind to the approach it needed. Paige removed her own shoes quietly, and began to head to her bedroom before Jase reached out and seized her the soft flesh of her arm with his large hand.

"Get off!" Paige recoiled instantly and tried to yank herself away, to no avail. 

"You think that was clever?" Jase breathed through his nose carefully. 

"Get off or I'll scream!" Paige stood still, not wanting to fight against him knowing the inevitable outcome would only leave her hurt. 

"Scream all you want, nobody will come," Jase kept his voice low and even. Why did he have to scare her to command her obedience? "Do you think that was clever?" 

"I went for a walk on the base," Paige cried weakly, her pretence futile even to her. 

"Don't act like a teenage girl, Paige. Do you know how reckless that was? What if somebody had been watching you, waiting for you to be alone? It would have taken seconds and you could have been gone," Jase loosened his grip and allowed her arm to drop, gazing at the red imprints his fingers had left against her pale skin. 

"Who on earth would have been watching me?" She felt the lurch of anger rush up her throat. "I went for a walk on the base. If you had to think of the safest possible place in the world for me to be; what is safer than a military base with guards at every entrance, armed patrols across the perimeter, huge metal fencing surrounding the entire compound; and even running in to the sea? And it's on an island!" Paige threw her hands up as Jase scoffed in disbelief, shaking his head to himself. 

"You think you're in a bubble of safety just because you're amongst military personnel? You cannot trust anyone-"

"Yeah, least of all you," Paige hissed, enjoying the fraction of a reaction from Jase as he recoiled slightly, his face suddenly dropping. 

"Look, I know it's hard... to live with me, to be around me-" 

"No you don't know. You have no idea what it's like-"

"Do you really think it's easy for me? Do you think this situation has no effect on me whatso-"

"How dare you compare your discomfort at recognising the consequences of your actions, to how I feel!" Hot tears sprung into Paige's eyes, and she furiously blinked them away. She had never loathed someone more. Not al-Raheem, not her mother, not her father, not that man- nothing compared to the passionate hate Jase inspired within her.

"You're right, that was wrong of me to say," Jase conceded, setting his features grimly to assume the man he needed to be. "But it doesn't change the fact that what you did was dangerous, and it won't happen again. I'm under instruction now to keep you safe. If I need to treat you like a child to do that, I will. You won't go to work, you won't have unchaperoned doctors appointments or meetings with Jack, not if I can't trust you to take your own safety seriously. You can't trust people just because they're on base Paige, not Lorres, not Jack, not your therapist," Jase's eyes bore into hers as he implored her to see reason, blazing green meeting cool blue. "I was under orders from high up in Jordan- it was my job," he offered the weak explanation knowing full well it was wholly inadequate. "I know you don't like it, but I am the only person you can trust here."

"Why would I, when you're lying to me even now?" Paige stared back, her words quiet and suddenly calm. 

"About what?" Jase challenged, caught off guard by the unexpected confrontation. 

"Why would I not be safe on the base? Why should I not rely on the same people who assigned me you as personal protection?" A precipitous silence hung between their bodies. 

"You shouldn't trust anybody," Jase sighed eventually. 

"Except for you?" Paige's eyes glittered with frustration.

"Yes."

"At least until you're under orders to tie me up again, right?" Paige's words smacked Jase hard. He could feel every shimmer of hatred radiating from her, but he knew the role he had chosen was the right one to take for now at least. Paige shot him one last look of disgust, and turned to confine herself to her room.