Over the next few days Lady Jaye was bogged down with paperwork. Step one. She didn't really mind, but since everyone else hated any kind of office work, she had the team's sympathy. She had very little time to spend with the rest of them in the rec room or on the practice fields. Only her nights were free, and she made the most of them.
By day three she was snapping at everyone for little things. They blew it off, knowing she was working hard while they were, for the most part, on break. Duke hounded her everywhere, interrupting whatever else she was doing, including eating. His call of "Jaye! Need you!" could be heard almost as soon as she sat down on a couch or chair.
Duke, meanwhile, was relaxing more often than usual. Lady Jaye really was doing all of his paperwork, and he felt guilty about it. On the other hand, she was doing all of his paperwork. Not his favorite job at any time, but he'd never foisted if off on anyone else before.
He had also nudged Beach Head a bit, telling the drill sergeant that Jaye needed a little extra work in PT sessions. Step two of the plan. Beach Head took the hint and ran with it. She was up at five, running through the obstacle course or on the track for two hours before breakfast, often by herself since none of the Joes were forced into PT unless they earned it. Sometimes Flint would join her, saying he might as well be awake with her if he couldn't be sleeping next to her.
His behavior made her feel all the worse about the whole situation. He listened to her gripe about the extra work, though she tried to keep it to a minimum with him, vocalizing her frustration with her teammates instead. Flint had even taken to grabbing a food tray for her if she didn't show up for a meal.
They fought off a Cobra attack at a political rally that week. The Joes who were sent managed to beat back the terrorist group, preventing the kidnapping of a senator who was a very vocal supporter of the GI Joe team. His speech was supposed to be a surprise, and it had been kept secret, only his aides and a few others knowing about it. Needless to say, by the time the battle was over, the audience had disappeared and the speech wasn't given.
Duke and Lady Jaye instituted step three on the sixth day. The team leaders and the intelligence officers were in a meeting, going over the possible targets Cobra might choose next. It was an early morning meeting; not that Lady Jaye got out of PT. She just had to get up earlier. After the meeting had been running for about fifteen minutes, Duke looked up mid-sentence and said, "Jaye, would you go make us some coffee?"
Snake Eyes, Scarlett, Flint, Breaker, and even Beach Head all swung their heads over to watch her reaction with wide eyes.
Lady Jaye scowled at Duke for a moment, then silently rose and left the room. Duke continued the meeting as if nothing had happened. She returned after about ten minutes with an insulated carafe and several cups on a tray. She poured and handed out the coffee to a quiet round of thanks from everyone but Duke. He simply took a sip, handed back his cup and said, "Sugar?"
Lady Jaye caught the glare Flint gave his commanding officer. She sighed. He was not going to take this well. She gave him a placating smile and added five spoonfuls of sugar to the cup, handing it back to Duke with a smirk.
He nearly gagged. "Ugh. I didn't mean an entire truckload of the stuff." He pushed his cup away and didn't touch it for the rest of the meeting.
Lady Jaye doodled on her notepad while Duke went over the possibility that Cobra might attack the nuclear waste disposal site in Mexican Hat, Utah. Although she was really paying attention, she did her best to act distracted and uninterested.
At one point, Flint reached over and wrote on her notepad, "Marlin Brando or Tom Wopat?"
She stared at the words for a moment, at a loss. Then she smiled, remembering the game she and Cover Girl had explained to him. Lady Jaye circled 'Marlin Brando,' then wrote underneath, "Barbara Bush or Madeleine Albright?"
He didn't look at her, but she could see him smile. His hand snaked over to circle 'Madeleine Albright' and to write "Strom Thurmond or Duke?" She nearly laughed out loud at that, carefully crossing out Duke's name and circling the other.
"Is there something funny you'd like to share with the rest of the class?"
Duke's voice snapped her back to the discussion. "No, sir," she responded sullenly. She could see his nostrils actually flaring as he returned to the subject at hand.
They continued like this for another three days. Flint tried to talk to her about it on several occasions; she could tell he was genuinely worried. She laughed it off, telling him that the sudden change in Cobra activity was to blame.
One evening, after a second session of PT for which she had missed dinner, he came into the office where she was at work.
"Hey, beautiful," he called, ducking into the room.
She looked up and smiled. "Hey yourself."
He stood behind her chair, rubbing her shoulders. She sighed and leaned back into him. "Oh, that feels good. I haven't even managed a shower yet today. My muscles are so knotted up I'm starting to lose the feeling in my toes."
Flint chuckled, leaning down to brush his lips against the back of her neck. "I could think of some other things that might do that."
She gasped as he began kissing her neck. He ran a tongue along the back of her ear and whispered, "Your hair has mud in it. Think you can stop for the night and maybe take a shower and go to bed?"
"Lady Jaye, is the paperwork for the—" Duke stopped as he came in the room. He gave Flint a hard stare. "She's supposed to be working," he said.
"Oh, come off it, Duke," Flint replied. "You've had her in this office for almost ten hours a day for the last week at least. Plus Beach Head has a bug up his butt and is working her at PT another two hours in the morning, and sometimes at night. Give her a break."
Duke simply stared back. Finally he said, "Jaye, finish up and leave the files on my desk, please." Then he turned and walked out the door.
She sighed, and reached back to put her arms around Flint. "Don't worry, honey. I'll be done soon. I'll come to your room in about a half an hour. Go relax."
He didn't want to let it drop. "You're working on the dispensary list. That isn't even vaguely your responsibility. What is wrong with him?"
"It needs to get done and I'm doing it. I'm fine. I'll see you soon."
He sighed and gave her a parting kiss. "Fine. But don't stay here too long. I'll wait up."
She watched him leave. The situation was already explosive, and they hadn't even moved on to step four yet. That was due to start tomorrow. She sighed. She'd deal with that when it came. She bent to finish the paperwork.
The next day they were due to have a long hand-to-hand combat training session with Quick Kick. Everyone was to attend, with Snake Eyes and Scarlett overseeing some of the practice groups.
Duke paired himself with Lady Jaye, of course. Step four: Open hostility.
The first hour went fairly smoothly, although Lady Jaye and Duke traded some borderline insults, and Flint was distracted trying to pay attention to what was going on between them. As a result Breaker scored more hits on him than usual, leaving some decent bruises behind.
Lady Jaye and Duke were throwing punches a little harder than necessary for the sake of practice. The counter defenses they were learning, mostly blocks and throws, were a lot more forceful than they needed to be, too. They were moving quickly, going through the movements almost twice as fast as the other groups.
They also kept up a constant banter. When Duke didn't get a block up fast enough, Lady Jaye quipped, "What's wrong? Getting too old for this?"
When Lady Jaye botched a throw, Duke told her, "Man, the greenest Cobra soldier could skewer you with his eyes closed." And those were two of the nicer things they threw back and forth, as their movements got even faster and more powerful.
After Quick Kick had demonstrated a relatively complicated throw, Duke leaned over to his partner and jeered, "Good luck with that one, babe."
Lady Jaye stiffened and shot him a piercing glare. She grabbed his shoulder, put her hip against his, and slammed him onto the mat.
There was a stunned silence. "Ah, thank you for that particularly volatile demonstration, Jaye," Quick Kick said. "Perhaps a little less force next time?"
She turned her glare on him for a moment, then stalked out of the gym.
Duke tried to catch his breath, managing to gasp out, "Ah, let her go. She just couldn't take being beaten by someone obviously bigger and stronger than her." Just saying it made him feel sick, but it had to be done. He didn't meet anyone's eyes as he rose from the mat.
He was prepared for the cold looks his teammates shot him, but it still hurt. The rest of the practice went by in almost complete silence.
They escalated hostilities over the next two days. Any time that Duke could get away with it—meaning that there were witnesses who would spread gossip but weren't likely to physically interfere—he insulted Lady Jaye, sent her on useless errands, and dressed her down for behavior the other Joes usually got away with. If she and another Joe were both involved, such as the minor food fight that erupted in the mess hall one night, Duke made sure to mete out punishment unfairly.
By the end of the second week she barely had five hours left in the day to sleep. She had KP duty and watch duty, and had various other tasks to finish in addition to the usual PT and paperwork. It was a strain, and at several points she wanted to give up the whole charade despite the consequences. But she gritted her teeth and went on. It was more important to ferret out the traitor than to sleep, or to relax, or even to spend a few minutes a day feeling like a human being instead of a workhorse. Usually a very tired, sore, and dirty workhorse.
Her saving grace was Flint. He often kept her company on watch, gave up sleep to run miles on the track with her, and even tried to do some of her punishment work for her, but she wouldn't let him. No matter what time she finally stumbled to bed, he would wake up and ease the pains of the day from her exhausted body.
The rest of the team was overly nice to her, too, feeling that her situation was unjust. But, while they could commiserate with her, the line of command was very clear, and they followed it.
Lady Jaye kept her eyes and ears open the whole time, listening for anyone who seemed to be overly zealous in backing her side of the argument. Unfortunately there were several teammates who, at one time or another, said something that made her suspicious. Shipwreck went on at great length about what an asshole Duke was being; Steeler ranted for almost half an hour in her office about the uselessness of fighting Cobra when their own system seemed almost as bad sometimes; even Beach Head gave her an earful while she was running the obstacle course, going on at length about the chain of command and what he would do if he were in charge.
It was all the usual whining, but she was hearing it differently now. What deeper feelings were buried under the superficial attitudes and opinions? Which one of her teammates had acted on those feelings, or had been bought out, or had caved in to the Cobra propaganda?
It was impossible to know. A hundred hours of paperwork, PT, and extra duties had so far produced nothing but headaches and a skewed view of her friends. The strain was showing, but at least everyone took it for righteous anger. The frustration of not being able to find a single clue to help the investigation fueled her, gave her the strength to run the extra miles and to climb out of bed in the morning despite feeling like she had just closed her eyes minutes before.