On the second to last day, the simmering resentment between Lady Jaye and Duke resulted in so many arguments that they hardly spoke in a normal tone of voice the entire day. It had long since boiled over into their relationships with the rest of the team. Lady Jaye wanted to be as nice as possible—it might be the last time she saw any of them for a while—but that would undermine the entire plan. Instead she shirked most of her punishment work, giving one last effort to find any clue to the identity of the traitor. She had read the files so many times that it was hard to pay attention enough to see them in a new way. It didn't help.
She blew off her evening PT as well, dragging Flint back to her room after dinner instead. He tried to tell her she was going to get in even more trouble, but she wouldn't listen, and truth be told, he wanted the time together as much as she did.
They ignored all knocks, phone calls, and other interruptions. They had been together often enough recently, but only at odd hours and usually when Lady Jaye was exhausted. Tonight they took their time and forgot about anything on the other side of the door. Lady Jaye was attentive and fiercely passionate, knowing that she would be leaving the team, and Flint, the next day. He responded in kind, and they spent the night in blissful ignorance of the world around them.
Lady Jaye didn't want to get out of bed the next morning, but she knew that her job was only half done. What waited ahead of her was more important than what she wanted for herself. Sacrifice was a big part of the entire team's lives, and they had all accepted that when they signed up.
This was the day she was supposed to leave the team. She and Duke hadn't planned it out in great detail. They knew that they had to have the mother of all arguments, something that crossed the line more than anything they'd done to date. It needed to be a reason for her to leave the team.
The first half of the day, they managed to mostly avoid each other, waiting for lunch until stepping into the real action. Lady Jaye started it by "tripping" while she was walking from the counter to a table; the entire contents of her food tray coated Duke from head to foot. Instead of apologizing, she burst out laughing. It was the only sound that could be heard in the entire cafeteria as everyone else held their breath.
Duke calmly stood up and took a step forward. He grabbed Lady Jaye's arm and dragged her toward the doors. She pulled free and stalked ahead of him, saying, "Yeah, yeah, I know—your office, NOW!"
They made it there without speaking, aware that there was a crowd slowly gathering behind them, following along. Duke cast them a glare as they entered the office, but he knew there was no way they would disperse short of very dire threats, and he wanted a few witnesses, anyway.
They started shouting immediately, making sure that everyone in the hallway could hear them—if only indistinctly through the door—and despite the seriousness of the situation, it was all they could do not to burst into laughter. Duke was liberally coated with pasta and tomato sauce, salad, and Jell-o. She tried to pick some of it off as she responded to his shouts of accusation, but ended up only making it worse. Finally, as Duke was screaming about her lack of respect for authority, he scooped a glob of tomato sauce off of his shirt and smeared it across her cheek.
Lady Jaye's eyes widened, but she simply continued her tirade about his overbearing personality, pulled off a large glob of green Jell-o, and smeared it into his hair. He choked and coughed for a moment, recovering his composure well enough to begin a rant on her sloppy discipline and to place several strands of pasta on her head.
By the time they had been yelling at each other for ten minutes, both of them looked like they had been participants in some kind of mad science food experiment gone wrong.
Lady Jaye bit her lips hard to keep from giving the game away. It would not do to have the Joes in the hallway hear her laughing. At moments like this, when frustration and the stress of the situation had finally pushed her near to the edge, it was easy to fall into hysterics; she could tell that Duke was in the same boat. The absurdity of the situation was just too much to bear.
They finally stopped the yelling to take a breather. They avoided the chairs to save the upholstery, and spoke in quiet voices.
"Well," Duke started. "Final step. I actually thought it might not ever get this far. Unfortunately, that means I avoided thinking about what I might do as the last straw that drives you off the team."
She looked over at him; he was still swallowing back laughter, covered in food, and looking less like her upright CO than ever. "You're going to have to hit me," she told him, wiping some of the food from her shirt.
His face turned serious. "Are you sure? I don't know that I could even do it…"
Duke thought about it for a minute, while Lady Jaye put in a few good, loud comments about his leadership abilities.
Finally he nodded. "Yeah. I can't think of anything else that would work."
She gave him a stern glare. "You need to make it convincing. Don't pull the punch."
He nodded again, and gave her a long look. "You have all of the contact information. You're on your own for this from here on out. Contact me only if you don't hear from Cobra in two weeks, and we'll discuss going to them. Once you're in, though—assuming things go as we want them to—don't take too many chances. If the shit hits the fan, get yourself out of there. Understand?"
"We planned this as much as we could, Duke. I'll be fine."
Her CO, for the first time in her life, grabbed her in a strong embrace. "Be careful. If something happens to you, Flint will kill me."
She gave a small chuckle. "Oh, yeah, 'cause he's gonna be so happy with you anyway."
Lady Jaye took a deep breath and turned to the door. "Ready?" she called over her shoulder.
"Whenever you are."
Lady Jaye swung the door open and stepped into the hall. Several of her teammates were waiting a few feet away. Her stomach lurched when she saw Flint among them.
Duke grabbed her roughly by the shoulder. "Don't you dare walk out on me! This is not finished!" he yelled.
She swung around to face him, eyes narrowed to slits. "This has been over for a good long while," she hissed. "It just took me too long to realize that my commanding officer is an overbearing government puppet who can't even get his head out of his ass long enough to-"
She saw him tense, jaw clenching, saw him draw a breath in preparation. She did her best not to flinch as the blow came. Duke backhanded her across the jaw, snapping her head back and sending her sprawling to the floor.
The other Joes let out a collective gasp. No one moved a muscle.
Lady Jaye stared up at Duke, slowly wiping the blood off her lip. She stood shakily, then turned slowly away and pushed through the crowd. Flint cast a menacing look at his CO, but followed Lady Jaye down the hall. Duke walked back into his office and slammed the door with a resounding bang.
Fint caught up to her just outside her quarters. He followed her in and shut the door, watching as she grabbed a duffel bag and began to stuff it with clothing.
"Alison…" the tremor in his voice made her close her eyes and try to catch her breath. She didn't have to force the few tears that threatened to fall.
She turned to face him. This was the moment she had been dreading for a month. "Dash, I…" She couldn't think of anything to say.
He simply opened his arms, and she collapsed into him, shaking. He stroked her hair, holding her as she silently wept for the loss of everything in her life that held any meaning.
Finally she stood back and met his gaze. "Dash… you know I have to leave. Promise me you won't take it out on Duke."
His jaw dropped. "Not take it out on—Alison, that man hit you! He can't get away with that!"
She held his eyes. "Promise me. You know this team would fall apart without him. We may hate each other, but… The Joes need him. You need him."
He stared at her incredulously. "You're not going to pursue this? If you leave you'll be considered AWOL. You'll take the fall. You might even get thrown in jail. You can't just give it all up…"
Lady Jaye knew that he wasn't just talking about the team. He was talking about himself. She wrapped her arms around him. "Dash, you mean so much to me. I—" she couldn't say it. She couldn't tell this man she loved him, knowing that soon enough he would think her a traitor. The hurt would be bad enough as it was. "I'll deal with things as they come. I just can't stay here. The best thing you can do for me is to stick with the team. Knowing you're here will keep me going. Please?"
He nodded slowly. "I'll give it some thought. I'm not sure I want to be on a team whose leader thinks he can use his fists to enforce discipline." He leaned down and gently kissed her swollen lips. "Will you go home?"
She shook her head. "Not yet. I need some time to think. I guess I'll find a room somewhere and hunker down. I'll call you and let you know where I am. Pass it on if you can—I think someone up top may want to talk to me soon, and I don't want them to think I'm on the run. But if I stay here… Well, I think it's just best if I didn't."
Lady Jaye hated to think that she was using him in any way, but she needed Cobra to be able to find her. She certainly wouldn't go home and expose herself there. Flint would see that the other Joes knew where she ended up, including, she hoped, the traitor.
Flint squeezed her tightly and held on for several minutes, not saying anything, unable to let go. "I'll come see you as soon as I can and let you know what's going on. I'm still not sure leaving is a good idea, but—I'll back you in this in any way I can."
"Thank you. That means a lot to me. So has your support over the last few weeks. But, please, remember what I said. Duke is too important to this team, and you are too important to me to see you throw everything away on this."
"Sometimes I wonder if it's worth it," he whispered. "My career means a lot to me, but if it means losing you to stay on the team… what kind of life is that?"
"The life you're meant to live," she told him. "Neither of us would be happy if you quit the Joes, you know that. Besides, we don't know what will happen. Maybe it will all turn out for the best."
"Somehow I doubt it," he responded. "Call me tonight. If I don't hear from you, I'll come looking, so don't think you can ditch out on me."
"I wouldn't even try."
She finished packing her bag in silence. She was ready to leave.