Chapter 7 #2
And then it’s silent except for his breathing and Graham’s boots as he turns around to look about them. Colton doesn’t get up. They wait for another minute to go by and then Colton pushes himself to his feet, nods at Graham to say he’s good to go, and Graham leads the way farther into the tunnels.
“Your aim is good,” Graham says. He glances from the gun to Colton’s face like he’s waiting for a response.
What was the question? Oh. “The stability I have on the ground made it easy. I’m not sure I would have felt all right about it if you hadn’t done such a good job covering me.”
Graham nods tightly, as if he’s unimpressed with the compliment, and they fall into silence. He checks the map again, tells Bravo team that they’re closing in on their position. Colton can hear gunfire in the distance.
“Charlie team, your assistance is unnecessary and you’re instructed to stay where you are until further orders. Do you copy?”
“Fuck,” Graham mutters. “Copy. We’ll sit tight.”
They wait.
Colton moves to a wall and leans against it. The army is all about waiting. He closes his eyes, centers himself, thinks about what he needs from the grocery store, wonders if he’ll really get out of this exercise with a clean uniform.
There’s always mud or water or something unpleasant they have to endure before they can quit. He very resolutely does not think about the submissive nearby who wants nothing to do with him.
Graham is not still or calm.
Colton can hear him pacing. He tries not to let on that he’s watching him, eyes half closed.
Graham checks his watch. He inhales deeply and then exhales. He rolls his shoulders. He pauses, stares down the tunnel like a fight is coming their way.
“Incoming?” Colton asks.
He finally shakes his head. “No, no, I guess not.” He sounds annoyed.
Graham unbuckles then re-buckles his helmet. Another few minutes tick by. He licks his lips, rubs a hand across his stomach absently. “Maybe we should see if they need some help?”
“What’s up?” he asks Graham quietly.
“I don’t want to sit here is all,” he says, teeth gritted. “It’s a fucking waste. We’re here to do an exercise, so let’s fucking do it.”
Colton nods. Hopes he doesn’t piss the man off by making conversation, but it’s obvious to him that Graham needs a distraction. “They said we were rotating in. How long have you been on this exercise?”
Graham huffs a breath out. “I don’t know. Two days? We were on the trail of a rogue nuclear weapon, and then we had to liberate a building, and then… something else, I don’t fucking know, and now we’re here.”
“You haven’t slept or had a break in two days?”
“That’s right. That’s why we get paid the big bucks.”
Two days of constant simulation fighting and no sleep. He’s surprised Graham is holding up so well.
“Do you usually spend this long doing simulations?”
“No.”
Christ. Talking to Graham is awful if he isn’t going to make any attempt to engage.
Graham sighs and shifts on his feet. “I’m usually put on retrieval missions. Track submissives and recapture them, turn them over to the military.”
“What? That’s a thing?”
Graham throws him a confused look. “Which part?”
“Submissives just out in the world needing to be brought back. They go AWOL?”
“Yeah. They figure out they’re going to be bred to a lot of Dominants with little control but maximum utility and can’t refuse. They have no choice but to attempt an escape.”
“And you… find them?”
Graham nods. “I am paid well to do so.”
There’s more to it than that. There has to be. “You turn them in and you get to stay free?”
Graham turns to him, practically snarling. “I do my fucking job and I stay alive and in one piece. The government doesn’t fucking own me anymore. I’m free.”
Is that freedom? Maybe that’s as close to freedom as a submissive gets. No Dominant controlling him, no military oversight… Working for a private contractor that gets all their money from the government.
It isn’t great.
Colton isn’t exactly free himself, but he has the potential to be discharged and left alone to live his life and have a normal job anywhere in the country he decides to settle. And he would be able to take a submissive with him when the time comes.
It isn’t as easy for a submissive. Colton doesn’t move, keeps his eyes lowered so he’s looking up at Graham through his lashes, not wanting to provoke him when the topic is so controversial. And when Graham is unstable. He isn’t holding up as well as he’s pretending he is.
“I understand.”
Graham laughs, an ugly sound. “Do you? You’re a Dominant and the whole fucking world submits to you. What do you fucking understand?”
“I understand you don’t have a choice. Your designation puts you in a precarious position. I’m sure there have been a lot of offers to submit to men you don’t want to.”
“I’d kill myself before I’d be a hole,” he snarls.
A hole is slang for a submissive that is available for free use by any Dominant that qualifies. There can be as many as twenty different Dominants a submissive is expected to service and be responsible for if they’re classified as a hundred on the submissive spectrum.
They don’t last long. A year, sometimes two. And when the submissive snaps, they’re put in storage. A submissive like that doesn’t get eliminated when they break down. They’re put away for later.
Rehabilitation will be attempted if the military thinks there’s a chance.
Is that something Graham is worried about for himself? “You’re only ninety.”
“Only ninety?” he sneers.
Colton raises a hand in apology. “I mean, they only take hundreds.”
“You are so fucking young,” he says, sounding disgusted. “Young and naive as shit. Fuck, I need to get the hell out of here,” he says and turns away from Colton.
Even the idea of walking away from Colton is too much because he flinches and stays where he is.