Chapter 3
SANTIAGO
It was go time. Day one of week one for the new cadets had officially arrived, and with it, life had returned to the Training Center on the Station.
Neil had been right. It really had been peaceful here before but now that was a thing of the past. I loved it, though. The chatter in the air, the anticipation and excitement. It was a heady cocktail that infused my own veins with adrenaline.
Poor fuckers have no idea what they’re in for, I thought as I watched them from my window. For now, they were being shown around by some of the other officers. They still had smiles on their faces, wearing their brand new uniforms like they’d already earned them.
They hadn’t, and I would be reminding them of that real soon. An evil smile spread on my lips as I watched them horsing around without knowing they were being watched. I didn’t particularly enjoy making them suffer, but I did enjoy instilling the fear of God in them until they fell in line.
An undisciplined, disrespectful cadet was worth nothing to me. It was only once they learned firsthand how things worked around here and respected it that I could start molding them properly, and I didn’t like to waste time getting to that point.
I wasn’t a patient man and I only had so many days with them. The longer it took me to get them to take it seriously, the more we all had our work cut out for us.
“I see that smile and I like it,” Neil said as he walked into my office, rubbing his palms together as he came to stand next to me to watch their arrival. “What have you got for the poor, unsuspecting cadets out there this morning, Master Chief Cortez?”
“You don’t have to sound so excited about it,” I said, struggling to hold back my laughter. “This isn’t the first day of school.”
“Au contraire, my friend. That’s exactly what it is, and I can’t wait to see you put them in their places.”
I finally laughed, but I did it softly so as not to draw any attention to the fact that I did, in fact, know how to do it.
“Stop sounding so damn gleeful. You’re going to have to reel it in before we get started.
We’re here to set an example. You can’t be running around looking like a kid in a candy shop about what we’re going to put them through. ”
“But it’s so much fun watching them squirm,” he said before he huffed out a breath. “Fine, I’ll get to my post, but when you call out the first one, please do it somewhere I can see?”
I nodded. “You got it, but you’re not allowed to look happy about me making someone shit their pants.”
“I’ll do my best.” He winked, and then he arranged his features into a deep scowl and marched out of my office.
Once I had my own face under control, I followed him out to the table set up outside where groups of cadets were gathered, trying to figure out which building to go to get their orders. A few guys caught my attention and one, in particular, was acting like this was all a big joke.
Yes, he’s perfect. And he’s right by Neil’s post.
“You’d think they could put up proper signs,” he was saying. “We haven’t done our hands-on navigation training yet. It’s not like we can smell where we’re supposed to go.”
Obviously still oblivious to the fact that I was approaching them and had chosen him as my first target, he continued holding court for his friends. “Better yet, they could get some of those Tag Chasers from the bar last night to give us directions.”
“What, pray tell, is a Tag Chaser?” I asked as I came to a standstill behind the clown.
His friends saw me and turned a little ashen, but the guy clearly had no idea who he was talking to just yet as he snorted and started answering my question before he’d even fully turned around. “You know, man. Those chicks who’ll hit on any member of the armed forces?—”
He cut himself off when he saw me, his gaze immediately pinned to the insignia on my uniform that identified me as not one of them. “I’m sorry, sir. I thought you were?—”
“Another one of your buddies? Yes, I got that. What I don’t get is why you’re out here talking shit instead of getting your orders.
Does this look like some kind of retreat to you, cadet?
” I got up in his face a little, as much for Neil’s entertainment as to prove my point to the preppy-looking asshole who was definitely going to cause problems for me in this class with this kind of attitude.
“You have thirty seconds to get where you need to go, or you’re out. ”
His brown eyes widened as he stared at me. Then he licked his lips and nodded, looking like he was contemplating arguing until I cocked a brow at him. With that, he spun around and hurried away, his spine ramrod straight and his pale friends rushing after him.
Good. Let them know that I’m not afraid to call anyone out in front of everyone else. The sooner they learn, the better.
Neil caught my eye as I turned to leave, and he winked before shooting me a discreet thumbs-up.
I dipped my head in a nod but didn’t break stride as I headed back to my office.
With the first example made, I had about two minutes to grab my phone that I’d forgotten, and then I’d have to go join the rest of the crew.
As I walked back to my office, though, I was surprised to find two women standing in it.
They were both in uniform, but one had the strap of her duffel slung over her shoulder, obscuring her name tag.
The other had her hair pulled up in a giant blonde bun and she was smiling as she kidded around with her friend.
“One day, this is going to be your office,” the blonde, who’s tag read Hanna Meeks, said as she elbowed the other girl. “Seriously, go try out the chair. I bet you’re going to look real good in it. Besides, whoever this Cortez guy is, he should know you’ll be coming for his job soon.”
The friend didn’t respond, and I cleared my throat from the doorway, then strode in past them. “Thanks for the warning, but I’m sure my job is safe. If you’re here to make jokes, however, you are not. You won’t make it if you came to fuck around. Who are you and why are you in my office?”
Hanna Meeks stared at me with her lips parted and her blue eyes huge, doing a double take before she nodded curtly. “Yeah, we, uh, we were just looking for the classroom and one of the guys told us it’s down this way.”
“Does this look like a classroom to you?” I asked slowly, my voice dangerously low.
“If so, then between your misunderstanding about what a training facility looks like and your affinity for jokes, you really aren’t going to make it.
We might as well sign the paperwork right now for you to go home. ”
As the blonde struggled to come up with a response, I cut a glance at the friend. For the briefest of moments when my gaze met hers, the air got trapped in my lungs. I still couldn’t see her name, but she was gorgeous regardless of who she was.
Pitch-black hair pulled up into a neat ponytail with not a strand out of place. Intelligent light green eyes that contrasted with her tanned skin. Delicate features that were tightened with determination and a perfectly pressed uniform.
A cadet in uniform, I reminded myself. Eyes to yourself, Cortez.
She didn’t say a word, but I still saw something in her.
Other than just her being too good looking for this, there was something about her even in her silence that got to me.
That quiet determination, perhaps, or the fact that even as her friend grabbed her hand and dragged her out of my office, she still looked back at me over her shoulder, not unafraid of consequences but seemingly not scared of me either.
I’d seen guys three times her size shrink into themselves when I spoke to them in that tone, and yet, her chin remained up and her shoulders were still square. She was definitely something else, but I wasn’t going to find out what.
All I needed to know about her was whether she had what it took to make it here. Shaking my head at myself when I found my mind briefly conjuring up an image of what she might look like out of that uniform, I took a breath and headed out after them.
They weren’t the only ones who had to get to the classroom. I wondered if that group of guys had even managed to find out yet that their first orders were reporting to class, but since I guessed I’d find out soon enough, I simply kept marching down the hall.
With every step I took, I became more and more focused on the task at hand. It would be a job to get this new class on the right track, but it was my job. Regardless of how pretty or curvy one of those cadets might be, I had to keep my head out of the gutter.
After checking with one of the petty officers that most of the cadets had reported, I straightened up to my full height and strode into the classroom.
The two girls from before had taken up seats in the very front row, and as I went to stand at the front of the room, I realized the girl who had showed no fear toward me was none other than Layla Perkins.
Internally, I groaned. Fuck, I cannot be physically attracted to Ron’s daughter. That’s just out of bounds.
On the other hand, at least it made sense now why she hadn’t been scared of me. Considering who her father was. We’d have to see if she stayed in the mindset, though.
As I mentally grappled to reconcile the beautiful girl with my mentor’s daughter—who I was supposed to be super tough on—I folded my hands in front of me and looked out at the rest of the class. I needed to get my head in the game, and right now, that meant starting strong.
Narrowing my eyes, I made eye contact with all of them, carefully skipping over her, and then I motioned at the windows and the dock beyond them.
Show time, Santiago. Let’s go.