Hi all! Thanks so much for reading! The reviews, follows, and favorites have been wonderful and the supportive nature of the Revolution community is just fantastic. Sorry this chapter took so long to get up, I had some exams this week, but I'm already well into working on more. Please keep the reviews up! I love to know how I'm doing and if readers think the story seems to be progressing well. I hope y'all are doing great and look forward to writing more Thanks!
Stripes and Stars
Chapter 4 – The Hunter and The Liar
Two soldiers with rifles in hand stood at attention toward the entrance of the camp gates. Of course, she wouldn't have to sneak in but she shouldn't just waltz right up and demand for the doors to be thrown open in her presence. On the walk over she had decided she was going to tell everyone that she had been out hunting and got scooped up by some war clan that she'd never heard of. Seemed believable enough, right? Well, it had to be and she hoped Andrew wouldn't be able to see right through her although, the chances of that were abysmal.
She glanced in a small compact mirror she had stuffed away in her pack and examined the grotesque swelling over her eye. Her lip looked pretty gnarly as well but that was just what she wanted right now. Her face matched the story but not so much her outfit so she tore at the bottom of her shirt and ripped one of the tank top sleeves so that her top was hanging from one shoulder. A little more dirt in all the right places as well as mussing up her hair a bit more and she looked perfect. A sting of guilt shot through her for this blatant attempt of deception but she shoved it back down. Now wasn't the time for thinking, it was time for action.
With her backpack tightened around her back she took off running in the direction of the camp gates. She stumbled while running and threw herself on the ground. As she scrambled to get back up shouting commenced and she could almost feel the guns that were trained on her as she flailed forward.
"Stop! Stop right there or we'll shoot!" A familiar young patriot soldier barked at her. She looked up to catch his hard state and recognized him as Jim. He was probably all of about Charlie's age and always reminded Jena of one of those sweet boy-next-door types. She had helped train him before all of the horrible reprogramming camps cropped up.
He gasped and dropped his gun to the ground immediately, "wha- Jena?! Jesus Jena, what the hell? Help! Somebody help!" He yelled to his fellow soldiers.
With that alone Jena began to doubt Rachel and the traitors she took up in arms with. How could these people be so terrible? They had been more family to her in just the past year and a half alone than anyone in that barn had been her whole life. Doubt swam through her mind but she knew it was only there because she simply didn't want the accusations to be true, not because she was actually using her head. Thankfully her melancholy thoughts triggered tears to well up in her eyes and Jim mistook that for pain.
"It's alright darlin' we'll get ya to a medic as fast as our feet can take us there" he said in his strong southern drawl as he smoothed the matted hair out of her eyes.
Small acts of kindness always got to Jena and she choked up a bit more, "thank you, Jim" she just managed to croak out.
A female soldier named Nika slung an arm around her and helped Jim carry her to the medic tent. Nika was a full head taller than Jena, a model beautiful Hispanic warrior who could whip just about anyone's ass. They had become pretty good friends over the years and Jena saw the sadness in her eyes as Nika assumed the worst of what had happened to her friend over the past twenty-four hours.
"Don't worry, babe, we'll get em'" she said fiercely. God, Jena hoped not was all she thought but Nika's sentiment broke her heart a little more. Family, these people are my family, Jena thought, but here she was, just a big faker. She hated herself for fooling them and ruining more good relationships in her life. She hated herself for causing so much damage and tearing everything down like a goddamn tornado.
They dragged Jena into the medical tent and the doctor began tending to her injuries a bit too hurriedly. Once Andrew barged through the tent she understood why. He was fuming angry but there was also something else there that Jena was picking up on, it looked like desperation. His dark brown hair, which was always perfectly in place, was tousled and looked as if he had been violently running his fingers through it. He looked like he hadn't slept one bit with the dark circles that ringed his wild green eyes. His face was unshaven as well and he was wearing his uniform untucked and wrinkled. He ran up to Jena and all but shoved the doctor out of the way.
"Baby, baby, my god...are you okay? What happened?" He choked out.
Tears welled in Jena's eyes and she reached out to touch the scruffy face she loved so much, "I'm okay, shh, it's okay. I'm here and I'm fine, just a little banged up, ya know?" She said with a little laugh at the end.
He couldn't help but smile at his tough girl as he smoothed whispy blonde locks of hair away from her face. He stared into her eyes finding the hurt and self blame he so often found lying there and kissed her roughly on the lips pouring all of his desperation and fear that he would lose her onto them. Once he released her lips he pressed his forehead to her own and allowed the calming waves of relief to overtake him.
"It's okay babe, I'm really fine" she whispered as she ran her fingers soothingly down his back. He always loved this and seemed to relax just to her touch.
"I thought...I just thought..." He stammered as she rubbed his back.
"Hey," she pulled back and looked into his eyes, "I'm here, I'm alive, and I'm fine. Really, I am."
He took in a deep breath and looked down for a while before looking determinately into her eyes.
"Okay J, I need to know who this was, what exactly, down to the very last detail, they did to you, and where I can find them. I need this information now before they realize you've gotten away and move on."
Jena bit her lip and knew that this is the time she really had to sell it. She would save honesty for later but for now she needed him to be calm and to not go looking for any trouble.
"I don't know who it was, I'm sorry. Most of the time I was blindfolded and all they would say around me is that they want information. I'm sorry Andrew, I really don't know much of anything else." She sucked in an unsteady breath and looked at his face, hoping to see some kind of understanding or even defeat at how little she knew but all she saw there was anger.
He took a deep breath to steady himself and through gritted teeth growled out, "how did you escape? How many did you see? Men? Women? How far did you have to run to get here? What information did they want? What did you tell them?!" He yelled the last part, quickly coming unhinged at his lack of knowledge of what went on with the woman he loved over the past 24 hours.
"Andrew! Andrew, it's okay, it's ok-" she tried to calm him down but clearly it was having no effect.
"No it isn't!" He shouted and the hairs on Jena's neck stood up.
"Okay! Okay," she said in defeat as she put her hands up, "they caught me in woods, you know how I like to hunt, and I was just so focused on what I was doing I didn't hear the man sneak up on me." She paused to gauge his reaction but he seemed to be silently fuming.
"He kicked my legs out from under me, tied my wrists, and blindfolded me" she said while holding up her wrists for him to see the cuts and marks from the rope Charlie had tied her to the chair with. He looked down at his hands and shook his head, trying to reign in his temper.
"Go on," he gritted out.
"Right, well, then we walked for a while. I was so scared I don't remember exactly how long, I was just trying to think of a way to get away, you know?" She cleared her throat in his silence before continuing, "well, he brought me to a camp and tied me to a tree. I was still blindfolded so I couldn't see how many there were. After a couple hours another man dragged me a little ways away from the camp to question me. They asked what the Patriots were planning, where we were expanding to, what we were doing to the other war clans. I gave them nothing, that's how I got all this" she said gesturing toward her face.
"And then-" she started but was abruptly interrupted by Andrew.
"What did he look like? The two of them, the one who captured you and the one who tortured you?" He said deadly calm.
Shit, why didn't she think that out before going on with her story, "umm, well, one of them had like darker hair, he was about your height, and uhh, I guess a bit over weight" she was pulling this out of her ass and praying he wouldn't catch on to her unease.
"And umm, the other one was kinda blondish, fit build, scary looking face with a bunch of scars. That's the one who tortured me." She said while nodding her head but all Andrew did was stare at her.
"Umm, then I guess they realized I wasn't giving anything up so they knocked me out. The next thing I know I'm being carried in a wagon but I was on my own in the trailer, so I jumped off and just ran like hell" she said not knowing what else to say about the situation.
Andrew was eerily quiet and continued to stare at her. Jena was growing more and more uncomfortable at this intrusion because she absolutely hated when people stared at her.
"Andrew say something," she begged as she reached out to touch his face but he pulled away. The sting of rejection smacked her clear across the face and she sat in shook of his dismissal toward her.
"You aren't telling me something and I can't help you if you aren't honest with me" was all he said before he stood up and walked quickly out the room.
Her heart quickened and she knew in that instant he didn't by it but that wasn't what alarmed her the most. It was how he went from furious to scarily calm so quickly. Almost like he already knew something was up and was just seeing if she would lie to him or not. Of course, there's no way that's possible but she decided she had to know more.
She quietly tried to tie on her boots when a burst of men carrying a wounded Patriot came barging in. She wanted to know what had happened but thought instead to use the diversion to her advantage. Slipping out the back opening of the tent she found it odd that she felt the need to sneak around a place she once called home but she wanted answers. Andrew's office! That's where she would go, if caught she would just say she was looking for him, it's not like she hadn't shown up there as a pleasant surprise before.
She walked carefully but calmly as to avoid suspicion from the several other officers but all she received were respectful nods and kind words to feel better to which she responded with sincere thank yous. Finally, she was almost to Andrew's office when a new face popped out of the opening of his tent.
Well, not all that new unfortunately. Neville, he had only been here a week and Jena couldn't stomach the sight of him.
"Ms. Mason, out for a walk on this lovely night?" He asked in that falsely pleasant tone he liked to tote around. She didn't buy into his crap for a single second.
"It's Officer Mason to you" She demanded with the uppity tone one gets being the girlfriend of one of the more powerful generals of the Patriot army.
Neville's fake smile slid off his face for just a second before returning, "and where are you headed tonight, Officer Mason?"
"A little place called none of your business." She shot at him before trying to shoulder past but was yanked back by a forceful tug on her upper arm. Who the hell did this guy think he was?! She opened her mouth to yell a string of obscenities but was cut off by the snake in front of her.
"Officer Mason, it is actually my business as I have been instructed to make sure you get back to your tent safely tonight." With this the fake attitude of respect and kindness slid away and instead a cold lifeless expression took its place. People weren't kidding when they said this guy was a manipulative psychopath. Andrew had warned her to stay away from him yet now she's under his watch? She knew exactly what this was, a play by him to let her know he knew she wasn't being honest and that he wouldn't stand for it.
Her nostrils flared in anger and she pursed her lips together, "you let me go right now or I will cut your hands off in your sleep" she demanded in a cold deadly voice.
Neville raised his eyebrows and stated calmly, "as you wish but I'm warning you girl, you're not going to like what you hear in there." And with that he simply walked away leaving her dumbfounded and momentarily frozen in place.
She whispered over her shoulder, "anyone asks, I hurt your hand badly and threatened to kill you if you wouldn't let me pass."
"Goodnight Ms. Mason." He called back as he walked away.
Jena turned around to walk the rest of the way to the opening of the tent but stopped at the sound of voices. There was an argument going on in hushed tones but she couldn't make out what they were saying. She managed to get around to the back of the tent closer to where Andrew and the other man who she was pretty sure was Doyle speaking.
"If she knows where they are then you need to take her in-"
"Absolutely not!" Andrew whisper shouted at him.
"Then what do you propose we do? You've only known the girl a year, maybe two, and you're willing to just trust her on this?" Doyle growled back.
"What do you expect me to do? Maybe she is telling the truth! You didn't see the look in her eyes as she told me what happened! She's in shock and scared, give her a couple days to come back from this and she'll probably have more detail." Andrew was almost begging on her behalf and it pained her to hear him fighting for her lie.
"You are a fool. How could you let this happen?!" He yelled at Andrew beginning to get louder.
Andrew scoffed, "what did you want me to do? Lock her in her room? She's an officer here with the same privileges as the rest; she can go take a damn walk-"
"God you really are stupid, aren't you? I don't mean let her get "kidnapped" if that's even what happened! I mean let her get under your skin this much! You had a job, General Cole!" He spit out Andrew's title with disgust as if he had eaten something rancid.
"You had one job with the little bitch and that was to keep the daughter of Rachel Matheson at our side at all times!"
The sounds of a scuffle going on leaked through the thin tent walls, probably because Doyle had called Jena a bitch but she heard hardly any of it. She felt as if her world had been completely flipped on its side. She stumbled over and collapsed to her knees. The world spun around her as if she had too much to drink but all it was just too much truth in too little of a time span. Her skin felt way too cold and she thought she might throw up.
"Now is not the time for this Jena, think later, act now," she whispered to her self before violently wiping the tears from her face. She stood up and inched closer to the tent to get more intel on her own life.
"That's it, no more protection for your precious little Jena. Interrogations start tomorrow and we are striking a deal with Matheson to turn Miles and Monroe in. I don't care if we have to cut body parts off one at a time and send them to that bitch but this is done! That is an order!" Doyle yelled before storming out of the tent.
Thankfully she was hidden by the dark but she heard Andrew's thrashing around and the destruction of things in his office. That liar! She fumed but pushed down the stabbing feeling of betrayal once more before her mind began to go into planning overdrive. She ran as quickly as she could to her and Andrew's tent, she needed three things, her gun, some clean clothes, and her small flimsy photo album.
As quick as she could she gathered all of her necessities into an all ready pretty well stocked pack but put her gun in the back of waistband of her jeans. She knew exactly what she was going to do and it started with Andrew, she had to confront him.
Quietly, she tiptoed into Andrew's office while he sat at his desk with his head in his hands. He was running his fingers through his hair and pulling at the ends like he always did when stressed so he didn't even notice her as she slunk in through the opening.
The cool metal of her gun tingled Jena's fingers as she wrapped her hand around it and aimed straight at the man she loved. She cleared her throat and Andrew's head shot up. His eyes widened in surprised as he took in a side of his girlfriend that he never thought would be aimed at him. Her ruthless side.
"Babe, what are you doing?" He asked, trying to stay calm but he knew the stories about who Jena once was and what exactly she's capable of. He never thought of her as the scariest person he had ever known but she was definitely the deadliest. Then again, he'd never been on this side of her gun.
"Put your hands on your head, where I can see them" she said in a voice that frightened him because it was drained of any and all emotion. It was then he realized she knew.
"J, let me just expla-" he started but was abruptly cut off.
"There are very few things that I actually want to hear from you and an explanation of how you've been lying to me for almost two years is not one of them." Her cold detachment was beginning to make Andrew shift nervously in his seat; she had never been this way with him before.
"Did you kill Neville?" he asked as calm as he could manage, wary of what her answer may be.
She let out a small laugh before cocking her head to one side, "oh you'd be so lucky but no, I didn't."
"Babe-"
"Shut your mouth. I have a couple questions before I gotta cut out of here because apparently I'm going to be tortured by my own men tomorrow" she stopped him again.
"You can't leave," he rasped out which elicited a humorless laugh from her.
"You don't tell me what to do, see, that's not how this is going to work" she said with a small smile before continuing, "first off, how did you find out about me?"
He realized playing dumb wasn't going to get him anywhere with her, she was too smart for that. So he finally told the truth, "I was ordered by my commanding officer back in Cuba that I was to go back to the US and start up an army. I had to keep them out of the limelight, just scoop up some of the way too quickly dying out rebel groups and keep them alive until everyone came back. That was my primary mission and was only to become my secondary if I found you." He paused to try to gauge her reaction but got nothing from the unmoved expression on her face.
"Go on" she demanded.
"Right, well," he cleared his throat before continuing, "they told me where to look, said they had some intel that you were involved with the rebels in the Monroe Republic so that's where I started. It was difficult at first, once I asked around for a Jena Mason...well let's just say your reputation made people a little uneasy about giving you up but for the right price people could even be persuaded to give up The Carver." He stopped again gauging her reaction at his use of the horrible nickname that was once given to her.
She winced at the reminder of her brutal past life but motioned for him to continue. A small reminiscent smile graced the full lips that Jena used to not be able to stop kissing and her heart felt like it skipped a beat.
"I remember the first time I saw you," he said with a laugh while looking away from her, lost in a happy memory. "You just were so...I don't know I guess tiny and just...beautiful. I feel bad admitting that I kind of expected some hulk looking psychopath chick but there you were with your adorable short blonde hair and that sexy red tank top, you know, the one I used to love."
She shifted to her other leg and sucked a breath in, remembering the first time they had met as well. Of course, she didn't like him at first. She never liked anyone.
"But then, god, you opened your mouth and just started cursing and barking out orders. And they all listened to you! They scurried around you because they were all afraid of you." He laughed again but became instantly serious when the realization hit him; "I immediately fell in love with you. I didn't know it then but I guess it's blatantly obvious now. I wouldn't let them touch you, no deals, no interrogations, I kept telling them you would be useful and that you didn't know anything about Rachel Matheson's plans. Because I was doing so well gathering troops, especially with you by my side, they believed me and no harm came to you."
"Shut up" she gritted out, finding herself on the verge of tears. She loved this man and for good reason but that didn't change the fact that he was a liar. She had to know the rest even though every bit of his confession was shredding her heart.
"Did you know about the bombs?" She asked, choking back any emotion that was threatening to rise up, "three weeks before the bombs we had some bullshit relocation mission to some middle of nowhere town. We had to get all the rebels together because we were planning an 'attack'. God, Andrew, you knew my mom was in Philly!" She gritted out as tears spilled out of her eyes but she made no attempt to wipe them away. She wanted him to see how much this destroyed her.
Andrew's mouth dropped open but Jena soon realized that it was not in shock but in guilt. She knew the second his eyes began to well up that what Rachel had said was true. She used the hand that she wasn't holding the gun with to hold her chest as it felt like it had just been ripped open.
"You son of a bitch," she whispered around unshed tears.
"Jena, I had no choice," he begged for her to understand but knew there was no use. "Babe-"
"Don't call me that!" She screamed unable to contain her distaste for a pet name she once adored.
He held his hands up higher sensing her unraveling and didn't want to give her a reason to shoot. "Jena, I'm so sorry, I had no choice. I wanted to tell you so bad so you could go back for your mom but I didn't know when or even how it was going to happen, I just knew it would. I couldn't risk you running in there on some insane rescue mission to save Clara and possibly end up losing you to the bombings or the multiple warrants out for your arrest! I couldn't risk it for the mission and I couldn't risk it because I love you!"
She had heard enough and quickly circled his desk so that she was standing right in front of him with her gun maybe a foot from his forehead.
"Andrew," she started as her lip quivered and her heart beat wildly inside her chest, "because I love you, I'm going to give you this one chance, you know the stories about me and honey, they are all true. You know what I'm capable of and if I ever see you again I will make the last days of your miserable life unbearable until you are begging me to slit your throat" she promised.
"Babe, please," he choked out but was abruptly cut off by a hard blow to his head by the butt of Jena's gun.
As she stood before him and took in his slumped over, unconscious form the gravity of his betrayal overtook her. Because of him she couldn't go back into Philly and save the woman who adopted her, the woman who she had called mom her whole life.
A loud, choked, sob strained out of her throat as tears streaked down her cheeks. Damn him! She angrily thought to herself. Of all the people who had hurt or betrayed her, this felt like the worst one because he had made her love him and that's the worst trick of all.
"Damn you," she whispered giving him one last glance hoping that would be the last time she would ever see him before backing away and darting out of the tent.
