THE TEST
Jack had grabbed some Chinese food and brought to his apartment so that he could eat while he studied the map he had obtained on the area where the house was. It was in a rural area of Maryland about thirty miles from Fredrick.
The house was set off of a small road. It wouldn't have any neighbors which was good because he wasn't sure how sell he could explain what he was doing to the local police. He sure a shell couldn't explain why he needed all of the sophisticated electronic equipment and why he had to break into a house.
After he ate he grabbed a shower and changed into dark civilian clothing. He packed a duffle bag with some extra clothing a couple of sandwiches and a thermos of coffee and he headed out.
Jack drove slowly past the driveway to the house. It was starting to get dark but there was still enough light to give him a pretty good idea of the layout of the place. The house was and old wood structure with a small porch on the front. There was a chain link fence surrounding the property and Jack could see two Dobermans running loose in the yard.
Just what he needed, another obstacle, he really shouldn't be surprised though, after all, hadn't sixteen other guys failed this test? He was determined not to be the next to fail. Jack was pretty confident in his abilities. He also wanted to wipe the smug look off of that asshole Admiral. the one that said "you're just Air Force, I know you don't have what it takes".
What he didn't see as he drove past were the very well hidden surveillance cameras. Inside Vicky watched as he drove by slowly. /he is cute, a little pretty for my tastes, but he'll do. That is if he passes/ She smiled, at least he was using initiative and not really taking the weekend off like most of the candidates.
Jack drove about a quarter of a mile further and took a small dirt road that would take him behind the property. The road led to the ruins of a burned down house that had never been rebuilt. This was perfect. He parked and unloaded the gear that he needed, and started off through the woods.
After about fifteen minutes he came across the chain link fence. Even in the growing darkness he could see the brush was cleared for about a yard on either side if the fence. This made him suspicious so he picked up a rock and tossed it at the fence. Jack was glad he had done that when a shower of sparks shot off of it.
Well that would have been a quick way to fail the test. He got the grappling hook with the small line out of the bag and used it to secure a line to a branch of a tree just inside the fence. He then climbed a tree on his side of the fence so that he could tie off the other side of the line and slide over the fence.
Inside the house Vicky watched on the monitor. She couldn't see much on the regular but could watch his movements on the infrared. Round one to the fly-boy.
Jack got close enough so that he could see the house and climbed up a tree again to get a better viewpoint. He didn't want to get to close because of the dogs. Because of them he had also made sure he was down wind.
He pulled a night vision camera and took a number of pictures. Then he got a comfortable as he could in a tree to watch for a while.
Vicky could tell he was parked for a while so she went upstairs and switched on the monitor up there. Maybe if she pretended to go to bed he would attempt to some inside. Smiling to herself she got a wicked idea.
With the curtains closed she knew that O'Neill couldn't actually see anything but she could still give him a bit of a show. She went and stood before the window, knowing she was backlit and started to undress.
Jack about fell out of the tree when he saw the female form in the window start to take her clothes off. It must have been a pretty low window, too, because he could see most of her body. And a very nice body it was. She turned sideways as she pulled her top off and he could see the full form of her breast.
This was strangely turning on Vicky. With the inferred cameras she could see him lean forward to get a better look. She went into the shower, glad that it had a glass door instead of a curtain so that she was again backlit. She slowly ran the washcloth over herself, making sure she turned herself in profile to the window.
Vicky's act was really getting to Jack. He was going to have a hard time, pun intended, getting down the tree with out permanently damaging himself. /I want to break in now but it doesn't have anything with any mission/
Vicky finally got out of the shower and toweled herself off. She got into bed and turned out the light watching the monitor that turned towards her but away from the window to watch to see of O'Neill would make his move.
Jack stayed in the tree for quite a while. It took a long time before he could stop the fantasies that were running through his head. /damn, I have to stop this; this is the sort of thing that could get me killed on a mission.
Vicky was disappointed to see O'Neill leave when he finally climbed down. She didn't fall asleep for a long time. She enjoyed putting on that show way too much. It took quite sometime for her fantasies to stop too.
When Jack got home he took a long cold shower before he even tried to go to sleep. Thanks God it was Saturday tomorrow and he could sleep late, and he would sleep as long as possible because he wasn't going to go back until it was dark again.
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Vicky had gotten up late because it had taken so long to fall asleep. It wasn't until the dogs whining woke her. As went out and feed them and then took a run around the perimeter of the property with the dogs happy to run with her. They forgave her their late breakfast with the exercise.
Jack also slept late. After about the fifth lap around his apartment he decided to go to the gym. He worked up quite a sweat with the weights and was using the punching bag when some unsuspecting guy asked if he wanted to spar. The guy was even taller than Jack's six foot three and had about thirty pounds on him. If he thought he was in for an easy workout by was he going to be surprised.
After a couple of minutes in the ring a crowd had started to gather. While his opponent was bigger and had a longer reach Jack was faster and military trained so that, if anything, Jack had the advantage.
They had both gotten pretty tired when the other guy finally raised both his hands in surrender. "Hey, buddy, I'm wiped, I give up."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"OK, thanks, anytime you want to spar just let me know."
"No offence but I think it will be a little while before I take you up on that."
Jack gave him a wry smile and a shake of his head before he went off to hit the showers.
Jack studied the layout of the property and all of the pictures that he took for the rest of the afternoon. He was leaving nothing to chance. When he packed up he left a lot of the stuff behind that would weigh him down. He made sure everything fit into his backpack.
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Having parked at the same place, Jack quickly moved through the woods to where he had the line already to cross the electrified fence. After having crossed he moved towards the road and the power lines. He climbed the pole and set small C-4 charges on the lines with a remote detonator because he wasn't going to take the chance on frying himself by cutting the lines while on the pole. When he climbed down and was clear he blew the charges.
Vicky had been watching Jack's movements and knew she was in trouble when she saw him climb the power pole so it came as no surprise when the power went our. Now she was blind as to his movements.
She went out to send the dogs in his direction and hurried back inside and locked up everything tight.. She went from room to room making sure that all of the curtains were open so that she could see him easier. When she was doing this she heard the dogs one after the other give a yip and fall silent.
/he better not have killed those dogs/
Jack being a dog lover had shot the dogs with a tranquilizer dart that he had gotten from the vet on base. It immediately neutralized the dogs without hurting them.. He then went around to the side of the house where the chimney was. He swung up another grappling hood and used it to get to a second story window.
Jack clipped the rope to his safety harness and placed a suction cup to one of the panes of glass above the window lock. Then he took a glasscutter and cut the glass. He carefully removed it and put his hand inside and unlocked the window.
The sound of distant thunder covered what little sound he made as he went through the window and set his equipment down, now all he would need would be his sidearm. He took off his shoes to help him with the noise.
Downstairs Vicky was going from room to room looking for a shadow of movement. It started to get windy outside as a storm approached. Damn first the power then lights now she won't be able to hear every small sound over the wind.
She spun towards one room at a sound only to be grabbed from behind. She would have fought back except for the feel of cold steel against her temple. Aa arm around her stomach held her in a vice like grip.
They stood like for a moment before he whispered in her ear, "hey, do I get what I was through the window last night as my prize?"
