Chapter 3:
"We're not much on formality or rank," Ripcord explained as they walked to the Mess. "Hawk obviously is in charge. Duke, the blonde, blue-eyed guy who was sitting up front, he's second in command and Flint, the beret guy who questioned you, is third. Ace is still the practical joker and the guy you don't want to play cards with. Some haven't learned that yet."
The last statement got a sound of protest from Ace. "I can't help it if they like to part with their money so easily!"
"Anyway," Ripcord continued, ignoring his friend, "everyone has their own specialty. Unfortunately, you got on the wrong side of Scarlett, and that's who you'll probably bunk with, her being the only female on the team. Once she cools down, she'll probably be okay, but she's got quite a temper. Almost a match for yours," he said, glancing at Lady Jaye to see her reaction.
She didn't comment. She knew she had a famous temper that several had the misfortune to be on the wrong end of. Why would she deny it? She just didn't need red hair to advertise it.
"We'll introduce you first to the guys who could care less that you came in and made them look like idiots," Ace stated cheerfully. "We'll work our way up to the ones who took it personally and have no sense of humor."
After meeting Road Block, Gung Ho, Breaker, Grunt, and Steeler, she felt a bit better. They seemed to enjoy meeting her and discussing their backgrounds and how they were recruited to become a Joe. She was glad they were so busy telling her their backstory, they didn't ask about hers. She'd prefer to keep that private and had told Hawk a condition to her help would be for him to make most of her file classified, the information blacked out and on a need-to-know basis.
She noticed she did receive several black looks from some of the Joes who were very obviously discussing her with their friends. She tried to let it slide off her back, but she knew it wasn't so easy, that she was taking it a bit personally. She knew her flippant attitude, as well as letting them know what they were doing wrong, had wrinkled some feathers.
Her new group of friends, though, wouldn't let her dwell on it as they joked and tried to one-up on stories about harrowing escapes and impossible missions.
"So, you're the covert expert," Gung Ho stated. "You get to play dress up and infiltrate the enemy. Kind of sounds like being an actor or something."
"That's not her only talent," Ace proclaimed, and all eyes turned to him. Lady Jaye threatened him with her eyes.
She was relieved when he then said, "She, Rip, and I trained together at RAF. She can literally fly circles around some of the best pilots I know! Acting is only one of her many, many talents."
"Shut up, Ace," she warned good-naturedly. This was not exactly the crowd she wanted to hear that she and Ace had a past relationship.
"Yeah, and you should hear how many languages she can cuss in!" Rip jumped in. "Man, I have never been so impressed in my life! Remember when she had that commanding officer not knowing his ass from a hole in the ground when she started spouting at him in, what German? Russian?"
"Ukranian," Jaye said, laughing at the memory. "Yeah, it was good I wasn't part of the US military! Otherwise, I would've definitely ended up court martialed!"
"Wait a minute….you're not military?" asked Recondo, confused. "Then how…"
Lady Jaye sighed. So much for not giving too much background. "Until recently, I was part of MI-6." She shrugged. "Decided to take a break and here I am."
"Some break!" Breaker said. "You DO know what we do, right?"
"Don't worry about her. She's totally dedicated to the job. Workaholic, really," commented Ace. "Now, who's up for a game of cards?" he asked, producing a deck from his pocket.
There were groans and comments made by his teammates, to which he produced a look of innocence. "What?"
Lady Jaye shook her head. "Guess they've got you all figured out, Ace," she teased.
She noticed the men sat up straighter and figured one of the commanding officers had appeared behind her. She turned around to find the blonde one, Duke, clearing his throat, looking at her.
"Lady Jaye," he said, extending a hand, "I just wanted to welcome you to the team. Officially."
She took his hand, not surprised by the firm grip. He had military written all over him.
"Thanks, Duke," she replied, noting the small look of surprise at her knowledge of his code name.
"Well," he said, releasing her hand, "I thought maybe you'd like a tour of the base before we have to get back to work. I could show you where your office is located, as well as where your sleeping quarters are."
Lady Jaye smiled. He was trying, she admitted. She wondered if he ever loosened up.
"That would be great, thanks." She said her goodbyes to her new friends and followed Duke out of the mess hall.
"Um, about Scarlett," Duke said, as they ended the tour in front of what had been made the women's barracks.
Lady Jaye waited to hear what he was going to say, leaning back against the wall, her arms crossed.
"Well," he said again, feeling nervous, "you have to understand. She's the only female on the team, well, until now, and you impersonating her so well…."
"She can't stand me and wants to see me go down?" guessed Lady Jaye. She almost chuckled at Duke's look of surprise. My, he was an innocent, she thought. It was cool he was trying to protect his friend and the woman he obviously had a bit of a crush on.
"Well, yeah, I mean…" Duke stammered, looking at Lady Jaye, who smiled encouragingly at him.
"Sorry, one of my jobs is to read people pretty quickly. I figured I didn't make any friends with my report today. However, I am damn good at what I do. I figure there's some damage control," she shrugged, "but she'll either get over it or ignore me the rest of the time I'm here."
She patted Duke's shoulder. "I appreciate you trying to explain your friend to me. I figure she wants to kick my ass about now and I'll probably give her a chance to try at training tomorrow. Hopefully, once it's out of her system, things will be okay. Women are like that," she grinned.
Duke looked relieved. "I'd just lay low and see what happens tomorrow. She has guard duty tonight, so you probably will have a quiet night of it."
Lady Jaye smiled at Duke. "Thanks again for the heads up. I think I'm going to make an early night of it anyway." She was tired. She had been a busy woman for the past two days and sleep seemed to suddenly be a top priority. Duke handed her a key to the suite and left.
She opened the door and peered in. The room was dark and when she flipped on the light, she found herself in a suite. It had a common room with some furniture, a kitchen at one end, with several doors leading into other rooms. Bedrooms, Allie assumed. Probably one a bathroom as well.
She opened one door and saw it was already occupied, so quickly shut it and went to the next door. A bathroom with a shower stall, toilet, and sink occupied that. Military design. Allie shut that door as well and moved to one of the last doors. Here was a room definitely unoccupied except for a bed (little more than a cot), a chest of drawers, and a small closet. Lady Jaye found her trunk placed in this room. Hawk must have had it moved here after the meeting today, she thought. He had asked her to pack what she needed for the next few weeks, and she had pretty much packed for any necessity. In her line of work, it didn't pay to pack light.
She decided to leave the packing for later, other than getting out a drab olive shirt and brown pants, hanging them up in the closet on one of the few wire hangers. She sighed. This was what she detested about the military. Everything was so spartan. Granted, she knew the budget should go towards supplies and weapons, but surely a few luxuries could be included. She grimaced as she touched the rough sheets. She pulled out a set from her trunk and remade the bed, folding up the military issue and placing it on a shelf in the closet. She may have to endure some hardships, but there were other things she didn't sacrifice, including her silk sheets. Hell, if you were going to put your life on the line, the least you could do was be able to sleep comfortably! She grimaced again at the cot and decided that if she was going to stay more than the month she had told Hawk was her "trial period," she'd be doing something about that as well!