The Recruit (10 page)

Downstairs the house was quiet. Mum and Paul were still at work and Simon was in the computer room, no doubt. With a swipe, she grabbed her house keys off the marble benchtop before heading back to the computer room. She’d gotten the guilts. Mum would spew if anything happened to Simon. While she was at work he was Jaz’s responsibility. Even when she was at the gym, she was the closest to Simon and had to always have her phone on her.

‘Hey, Geek Boy,’ she said as she opened the door. The large room had one wall covered with books and two jarrah desks topped with two huge computers on the other side. Half a computer lay open on a side table, its technical guts on display. Computers! Jaz wasn’t totally computer illiterate, she knew how to check her emails, Facebook and use programs. But Simon, well he could build a new one. That’s why she never liked Anna coming over…her and Simon would start their geek speak and she’d be lost after mainframe.

‘Hey, G.I. Jane,’ Simon replied without taking his eyes away from the computer. Jaz would rather be outside, personally.

‘Tay’s taking us to the range, so if you need anything just call, okay?’

‘Yeah, yeah, I know the drill. Don’t shoot ya self!’

Jaz shut the door and ran outside, dying to see her friends again.

‘Hey, Jazzy!’ smiled Taylor from inside his shiny Mustang. His arm hung out the window, clad in a long-sleeved red t-shirt. He wore his reflective sunnies, even though it was overcast.

Jaz opened the back door and slid across the seat.

‘Glad you could join us, Jasmine,’ said Anna turning around in the front seat.

‘Hi guys. Let’s go.’

On the main road, Taylor planted his foot, leaving some tread behind and a whole heap of smoke. ‘Jaz’s folks are gonna love you,’ squealed Anna who was gripping the door handle.

Jaz was flung back in her seat with her half-socked foot flying around in the air.

Taylor snickered with glee. ‘How ya going back there, Jaz?’

‘Fine and fricken dandy, no thanks to you. Bloody hoon,’ she laughed as he swung the car sideways again, causing her leg to fling to the right window. ‘I’d love to see the cops pull you up and then have your dad hear about it,’ Jaz teased.

‘You both know he’d kill me.’ After Taylor mentioned that, his lead foot eased to the speed limit.

It was a fifteen-minute drive to the range, through the suburbs towards the hills.

‘Can I drive on the way back?’ Jaz begged after finally getting her boots on. She had her licence but no car.

‘Jasmine Thomas! You know no one drives my baby but me. She’s temperamental, fussy and has to be treated with care.’

‘Just like her owner,’ added Anna with a smirk.

‘Burn.’ Jaz laughed as she and Anna high fived.

Taylor ignored them as he turned off the main road and into a bush reserve on the outskirts of Perth. It was dense and green. You could almost feel like you were out in the country.

‘See here? That’s where the new training facility is going up. Dad said that all the groups will be able to use it — Australian Police, Detectives, SWAT, SAS and other special forces.’

‘So will it be like a big paintball skirmish where they all run through the bush?’ asked Anna.

‘Some of it. It will have set ups for bush scenarios, buildings and vehicles. Also areas where helicopters can land or hover above. I can’t wait to watch them in action at the big viewing tower. Dad said it should be finished in a few months.’

Taylor’s enthusiasm radiated from his eyes as he lifted his sunnies onto his head. He parked his Mustang and they headed inside a building that looked like an old clubhouse, aged red brick overgrown with shrubs and tall gum trees. It used to be an old pistol club but the police took it over after it closed and turned it into their own training range.

Inside they signed in to the officer-on-duty. Due to Taylor’s father, they were all well known to the officers, besides the fact that Taylor practically lived here.

‘Hey, Stewie!’

‘Back so soon, Taylor. And with the ladies this time?’ Stewie was a retired cop. He was still in shape and had the tough buzz cut to go with it. There was Stew and a few others that worked here full-time, cleaning the weapons, keeping up stock and they also offered pointers on how to shoot.

He signed them in and gave them a wink. ‘Off ya go and have some fun. Derik is out the back and will fit you out.’

‘Cheers, Stewie.’ They followed Taylor into a room where they had stalls set up for close range shooting with the handguns.

Derik was sitting in the corner on a chair reading a paper. His blue trousers and boots were all you could see.

‘Business must be slow, Derik,’ asked Taylor.

The newspaper flopped down and Jaz could now see Derik’s round face and short hair. The orange colour of it glowed like a halo. ‘You could say that. It comes and goes.’ Derik threw his paper on the floor beside him and stood up. ‘Hi Jaz, Anna, long time no see. So what can I get you all?’

Derik pulled a set of keys from his pocket, walked into a small office room and inserted a key into the big solid vault behind him. Then he pressed a few numbers on the keypad before it beeped and he turned the handle and opened the door. Jaz could see him through the small square hole in the wall, which acted as a serving window.

‘The Browning 9mm will do us for now, cheers Derik.’

‘Just the one between you all?’ Derik smiled when Taylor nodded. He seemed to like the idea of one gun between three teenagers better than one each. He handed the gun over to Taylor while he locked the vault and opened another one for the ammunition.

Taylor held the gun out on his flat palm. ‘So who’s first?’

Jaz and Anna both shrugged but Anna reached for it first. Jaz much preferred to use her hands as a weapon.

‘Come on, you were scared the first time and I got that but now you know what you are doing,’ said Taylor.

Take two thirteen-year-olds who had never seen a gun before and not long out of playing with dolls…well yeah, they were scared. But Taylor’s dad had been with them at the start and the adrenaline rush from holding a terrifying weapon and firing it had eased their nerves. ‘Remember Anna, it’s just like the plastic one you have at home for your computer game.’

Anna snorted. ‘There is the difference that my plastic one doesn’t kill people, Tay!’

Taylor loaded the gun with ease. Jaz loved the way he acted around the guns, calm and clever. He knew them in minute detail and could pull one apart. When your dad’s a cop with a gun collection, he tends to spend a lot of time cleaning and pulling them apart. If you went to their house on a weekend, you would sometimes find them with guns dismantled on the table, as if it was as common as a father and son doing a jigsaw puzzle.

Anyway, Taylor looked so sexy when he was shooting. He’d stand tall and it was like he aged five years, looking like a man. Today was no different.

Anna took the gun and walked to a booth. She put the gun on the table while she put on her earmuffs. Taylor, Derik and Jaz put theirs on too.

Jaz tensed with Anna’s first shot. Hey, it had been nearly six months since they’d been here. But by the eighth and last shot Jaz was comfortable with the sound.

Derik pressed a button and a sheet with a body outline came towards them.

‘Not bad Anna, only missed three shots,’ said Derik as they all adjusted their earmuffs so one ear was free to listen.

‘Um, Derik, did you not see where the other ones hit? Look, I have one shot that actually hit his shoulder, the rest would have sailed past.’

‘Someone’s rusty. See…if you came more often you’d be as good as me,’ Taylor said with a smirk.

He took the gun from Anna, reloaded a new clip and fired out eight shots in a new booth in rapid succession.

‘Damn!’ Jaz couldn’t stop the words from leaving her lips. He brought the target closer and she cursed again. Taylor had all his shots in the target’s head. Anna looked at Jaz with disbelief, her mouth open in awe.

‘Just how much time do you spend here?’ Jaz asked.

Taylor shrugged but he was definitely on a high from showing off. He had the cheekiest grin on his face. ‘At least once a week, sometimes three.’

‘Crap, you’ve gotten so good.’

Jaz actually saw him blush at her praise. He was so cute with his cheeks glowing pink.

‘Your turn.’ Taylor handed her the gun and she reloaded it. The feel of the cold metal was nice against her calloused hands.

Already the adrenaline was pacing through her veins as she took aim. She was competitive, so of course Jaz was trying to remember everything Taylor and Derik had ever told her about how to aim and fire. She also wanted to impress. With her stance ready, she pulled the trigger and felt the power of the gun explode with each bullet she fired. All too soon, the clip was empty. Her heart thumped as she remembered to breathe.

‘Look at you; I can see that determination in your eyes. It’s the same look you give me before you whip my arse at fencing,’ said Taylor after he watched her put the gun down and take off her earmuffs.

Derik whistled as the target came near. ‘Not bad, Jaz. Not bad at all.’

She had four shots make the target’s head, three that were borderline and one that missed. Yes, she would have preferred that all of them hit the centre of the target’s head, but beggars can’t be choosers.

‘Another round, I think, and then I want to show you guys the scope. More clips please, Derik.’

As Derik retrieved more ammo, Jaz studied Taylor. Well, it was one of her favourite pastimes. The three of them didn’t know what they were going to do past school, but Taylor definitely needed to do something with guns or follow in his dad’s footsteps. He seemed so happy and at home here. ‘Maybe you should work in here like Derik after school, Tay. Then you can practice all you want. You’re already here most of the time.’

‘What about you Jaz? You gonna run The Ring full-time after school, seeing as you nearly live there?’ he teased.

‘I don’t know. Maybe? Better than going to college or uni. Don’t think I’m cut out for that. Have you thought about it any more, Anna?’

Anna shook her strawberry blonde waves. ‘Nup. I guess I will always have a job at Dad’s business but it just seems so boring to do that. I want to do something better than just computers.’

‘I hear ya,’ said Taylor. ‘Dad wants me to follow in his footsteps but that’s just it…they’re his footsteps not mine. I might try the SAS instead or something like it.’

‘I agree. There is so much out there, and I can’t think of one thing I want to do except make a difference. I don’t want to be like Minka and worry about what I will be wearing at each new function. I want to do something with meaning, like work at foreign camps helping the starving in other countries or even join the forces…I don’t really know. That’s the whole problem.’

‘I’d like to be able to still see you both, every day if possible,’ said Anna. Her green eyes etched with sadness.

Jaz and Taylor threw their arms around Anna. ‘Us too. What a crap thought. I can’t imagine not seeing you guys every day.’

‘It won’t come to that.’

The girls eyeballed Taylor. ‘Can you promise that?’

He shrugged and smiled weakly. ‘There’s all this technology we can use to stay in touch.’

‘That’s not the same,’ sighed Anna.

‘Well this is morbidly depressing, you still have half a year left yet.’ Derik shook his head. ‘Here, go shoot something, you’ll feel better.’

‘Cheers, Derik. You’re so thoughtful,’ said Anna.

‘Besides, we shut at five today and I think Taylor would die if he couldn’t show you the scope. He’d have to wait another six months for your next visit,’ Derik chuckled.

‘No, we’ll be back before then, won’t we Anna?’

‘Too right, Jaz!’

Jaz was back in the gym the next day after school, although her mind kept wandering back to the firing range. It had felt like the old days with Taylor, when they were inseparable. Now with high school and pecking orders it didn’t happen so much. She missed those days. But the three of them had vowed to go together again soon. At least within a six month period!

Jaz had just finished cleaning some sweaty gym equipment and was changing into her black crop top and yoga pants. With her skin tone, she could wear white easily, but she just couldn’t bring herself to wear it. It was too bright, plus she was never one to stay clean — dirt just seemed to find her like metal filings to a magnet.

She tied her hair up into a quick braid as she walked out of the change room and towards her yoga mat. But who should be standing in her way? None other than the hunky, mysterious guy with those rich eyes which could go from haunting to ‘come hither’ in a millisecond.

‘Jaz, you’re back!’

‘Um yeah, I do work here,’ she said with a sarcastic look. ‘Gee, you make it sound like I was gone for a week.’

‘Felt like it.’

Jaz paused two steps from him and studied his body, clad in a blue singlet and black track pants. ‘Aww you missed me…how sweet!’

Ryan laughed and followed her to her yoga mat. ‘So can I take you up on the yoga lesson today?’

Now it was Jaz’s turn to laugh. ‘What…you mean the lesson I never offered?’

He cracked a smile. ‘Yep, that one.’

‘I suppose. Come on then, pull that mat over. I will try and break it down to an easier level for you.’

Ryan threw her a look which said he didn’t like being accommodated for. Well Mr I-Can-Do-Anything, she wasn’t going to make it too easy. ‘So we start with some breathing, just stand at the edge of your mat.’

Ryan did as she asked and followed her movements.

‘Now this is the Upward Dog,’ she said as she stretched her back. Ryan was halfway there, not bad for a beefy bloke. ‘Then bum up into the Downward Dog.’

‘Is there any barking in this too?’

Jaz looked sideways at him as they both rested in the Downward Dog pose. ‘You’re kidding…that’s the best you could come up with?’

‘Yeah, lame, sorry. I’ve been away from civilisation for a while, I’m a bit rusty.’

‘I’ll say,’ laughed Jaz.

She took Ryan up into a lunge position, left leg bent out in front with the right stretched out the back and then got him to twist his upper body to the left side with his elbow on his left knee and hands in a prayer position. Jaz did it with ease, her balance was great; however, Ryan started to get the wobbles and fell…right into her.