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GI JOE Season 3: episode 2
"Invincible Shield"
Chapter 3
GI JOE Headquarters – November 2, 1989
Jinx enjoyed the walk from the mess hall. Roadblock outdid himself for breakfast, and the meal put her in good spirits. She swiped her badge and entered the common area, making her way to the south corner elevator that would take her to the administrative wing. The elevator doors slowly opened; Jinx hesitated to enter when she noticed that Snake-Eyes was already in the car. She cautiously went inside and stood next to him as the doors came to a close.
They stood in silence. The elevator rose with a jolt. This was the third time that Jinx had run into Snake-Eyes in as many days – she wondered if Karma was trying to tell her something. Since their last encounter, she employed meditative techniques to deaden certain areas of her brain that are receptive to Qi. She had always been Qi-sensitive, even by ninjutsu standards, and was taught by her blind Ninja master on how to "tune-out" the natural life-energy emitted by those who are unusually adept, like white noise in a crowded room. Unfortunately, she had gotten out of practice since joining the army because she didn't need it, not until yesterday when she walked past Snake-Eyes. She regarded him slyly, out of the corner of her eye.
"May I ask you something?"
Snake-Eyes closed the manila folder and turned in her direction.
"I saw your kumite session with Sgt. Slaughter yesterday. I noticed that you set into the stalking-crane stance, although you did not follow through with your technique. I was wondering if you would teach me its implementation sometime?"
Snake-Eyes eyed her up-and-down briefly, and he started to sign at her.
Jinx frowned. "I'm sorry; I don't understand."
Snake-Eyes stopped signing and let out a sigh of frustration. He took out a pen and a notepad that he kept in his back pocket. He wrote something on a sheet of paper and handed it to her. The elevator came to a stop. When the doors opened, he left her.
Jinx watched him up until the doors' close. The car jolted, and she unfolded the note. She was surprised to find that the writing was in Japanese. She took notice of the careful placement and penmanship of each Kanji on the page, remarkable given that it was done on the spur of the moment. Normally she would have been impressed – had she not had the presence of mind to translate the script:
YOU ARE NOT NINJA
In shock, she kept re-reading the line, just to make sure she did not misunderstand the context. The fact that it was conveyed in her native language made it that much more personal. She didn't even take notice when the elevator stopped on her floor:
"Hi, Jinx... are you getting off?"
Jinx looked up from the paper to see Amy waiting at the entrance. In a daze, she carefully folded the paper. She left the elevator, without acknowledging Amy and continued to the finance office. When she got there, she swung the door open and went inside, grasping the doorknob behind her. She stopped short of slamming the door. Instead, she closed her eyes, took in a few deep breaths and released the knob, allowing the airbrake to close the door quietly with a hiss.
"Akamatsu, in my office," Lt. Jenkins ordered.
What is it now? The day, that had started out so well, was quickly starting to take a nosedive.
Jinx entered the lieutenant's office and stood at attention. Jenkins ordered her at ease and told her to sit.
"I've been reviewing your service record," he said. "It's easy to see why you were selected for GI Joe. I notice that your specialty is counter-intelligence. So, what are you doing here?"
"Because finance is my secondary, sir."
"Yes, I saw that in your file. It's an odd choice given your background."
"Frankly, sir, I wanted an easy secondary to fall back on."
"So, I take it you don't find Finance particularly challenging?"
"No, just tedious." Given her mood, she realized too late that her response might have come across more brazen than she intended. Fortunately, Lt. Jenkins was the type that appreciated honesty.
"Hopefully, in time, you'll come to have a different outlook." He continued to read her file, "You graduated at the top of your class. Yet you've been shuffled between infantry and the motor pool before finally ending up down here. True to fashion, the general doesn't know how to manage his assets efficiently."
"I'm just paying my dues, sir."
"If there's one thing I hate is waste. It's past time you got your feet wet." He handed her a document.
She took the proffered document. Her brow furrowed when she read it. "This is an audit... you're going to audit General Hawk?"
"No," Jenkins responded, "you're going to audit General Hawk."
Jinx looked up from the document in surprise. "With all due respect, sir, wouldn't that be a conflict of interest? I mean, General Hawk is my CO."
"So what?"
"I... don't feel comfortable investigating him."
"Such loyalty is commendable... By the way, this is the same General Hawk that busted you down to corporal, correct?" He sneered when Jinx averted her eyes in answer. "Of course, if you don't think you're up to the task, I'll assign it someone else. Although I can't say I won't be disappointed; I would've thought your first loyalty would've been to the United States Army."
Several seconds passed before Jinx responded, "If I may ask, what prompted this audit?"
"Last year, Hawk took in bids to build a Wellness and Morale center on-base. The winning bid was ten million dollars, but the deal fell through. The books balanced, but I was never able to find a paper trail for the money put up for the bid. I was going to write the incident off, but in going over the books for this year's budget, a line item for the requisition of a new fleet of attack vehicles caught my attention. Do you care to guess how much the earmark is for?"
"Ten million dollars?"
"Correct."
Her eyes narrowed. "So, you think Hawk has been inflating the budget in order to park ten million dollars?"
"Correct."
"Why not take this to the Auditor General?"
"I don't want to go through normal channels as of yet. If the General is trying to hide funds from congress, then he's no doubt doctoring the books."
"Are we even allowed to do this?"
"Is he allowed to park ten million dollars?"
"I don't think I'm the one you want for this assignment."
"Why is that?"
"Because I don't believe it."
He smiled. "That's why you're perfect for it."
She skimmed over the document again. "Assuming this isn't a direct order, may I think about it?"
Jenkins nodded. "Don't take too long." The phone rang, and he dismissed her.
She got up to leave and opened the door. Keeping her back to him, she paused, saying, "What's to stop me from telling Hawk?"
"Nothing."
Jinx closed the door behind her.
o-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-o
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!
Shana Hauser looked through the peephole. The bright light from the late afternoon sun shining through the eyepiece momentarily blinded her green eyes. When they came into focus, she recognized the masked soldier who stood on her porch. With a smile on her lips, she opened the door and hugged her long-time friend.
"Snake-Eyes! Alison told me you were coming." she released her embrace. "Is it that serious?"
Snake-Eyes nodded. Shana took him by the arm and led him to the study.
She opened the door. The person inside sat with his back turned, staring blankly through the window. "Connie, you have a visitor."
When he heard his wife call his name, Duke reached for his cane rose from the seat. He looked much older that his years. Since he left GI Joe, he had lost a considerable amount of weight. The way he slumped over his cane belied his 6'2" frame. Wrinkles carved deep into his face and streaks of grey imbued his blond hair.
"Snakes, it's been a while." They shook hands. It was an awkward exchange, but genuine. "Let's go into the other room. It's not as cramped."
The three of them went to the den. Shana and Snake-Eyes sat on the couch while Duke went to the liquor cabinet. He offered a drink to Snake-Eyes while pouring himself a glass of J&B. He eased himself into his favorite leather chair across from the couch and took a sip. Snake-Eyes placed a picture on the coffee table.
Duke's eyes widened upon seeing the picture. He placed his drink down on the table and retrieved the photo The picture appeared mangled. "You're going after him?"
Snake-Eyes nodded.
"Where did Hawk get the intel on this?"
Snake-Eyes signed three distinct letters. Duke snorted in comprehension, and he turned to Shana, saying, "Get me the black box, please."
Shana left the room and momentarily returned with a small firebox in hand. She set it on the coffee table, and Duke entered the combination. He pulled out a sealed envelope and handed it to Snake-Eyes.
"You were right to come to me first. I was ordered to burn this fifteen years ago. Fortunately, I decided to hang on to it in case there was any blowback. You're going to need this in order to bribe the officials that are protecting him." He picked his drink back up. "You better go; you don't have much time. They're probably already after him."
Snake-Eyes nodded and started for the door, leaving Shana with a confused expression on her face.
She headed him off. "Wait a minute, can't you at least stay for dinner? What's so important?"
Snake-Eyes shook his head as he took her hand and gently brushed her cheek with his fingers.
"Snakes," Duke interrupted. "If it turns out that you can't bring him in, chop that Son of a Bitch's head off."
Snake-Eyes nodded and showed himself out. Shana returned to the couch, her arms folded, and regarded her husband with concern.
Duke knew what was on her mind. "He'll be fine." So, he changed the subject. "I heard Cobra has returned."
"Yeah, me too," she said, averting her gaze to her wedding ring.
"You should go back. They'll need you. You could be Scarlet again."
"Let's not have this argument... again." She made note as Duke grabbed some pills from his pocket and popped them in his mouth. She waited until he pressed the glass to his lips. "The doctor said not to take those with alcohol."
"Yeah, the doctor said a lot of things that turned out to be bullshit." He chased the pills with the J&B and retired to his study, leaving Scarlet alone on the couch.
o-o-o-o-o-O-o-o-o-o-o
With a yawn Cover Girl fumbled through her keys. It was a clear night, and the moon provided enough light for her to find the right key to unlock the service door going into building six. She closed the door behind her and activated her flashlight. There was something different about the motor pool at night: without the sound of car engines and the smell of exhaust, it felt alien to her.
When she got to the main garage, she turned on the power. The electric hum of the lights flickered loudly overhead. Cover Girl ventured further inside and cursed when she tripped the motion detector. She entered her code and the warning alarm quieted. She closed the panel and was startled by a strange shadow in the rafters. She aimed her flashlight overhead, but it revealed nothing. She rubbed her sleepy eyes. The intercom buzzed and she pushed the button:
"Cross-Country? Is that you?"
"Yeah."
"Hold on. I'll open the door."
Rusted springs lifted the garage door with a creak. As soon as there was enough room, Cross-Country ducked under the opening.
She stretched. "It took you guys long enough to get back."
He handed her a notebook. "Hey, it's a long drive to Ft. Irwin. Do you have the 'de-milled' equipment ready or not?"
She skimmed the manifest. "Yes." And she placed the notebook on her worktable. "Lets get this equipment swapped out."
By now, the garage door was fully open. Two transport trucks and a squad of regular army grunts waited outside. When Cross-Country gave the order, they proceeded to unload the transports. They worked quickly in silence, and in less than an hour, the exchange was made: two HAVOCs and four AWE-Strikers were offloaded and replaced with their de-milled versions. The grunts drove off with Cross-Country in the transports. The big door closed while Cover Girl examined the new equipment. She made a few notes, and her work was done. She armed the security system and turned off the lights. She left the way she had came, carrying the manifest under her arm.
After a few minutes of stillness, a dark shadow descended from the rafters. A warning alarm sounded as the motion system detected the intruder. Like a blur, the figure moved swiftly to the control panel and entered the code. The intruder, dressed in a black body suit, walked about unchallenged, taking notice of the serial numbers of each of the vehicles. It left the garage and moved in silence to Cover Girl's office. It picked the lock and went inside. It took the manifest off the desk and read the documents in the notebook with care. Satisfied, the intruder picked up the phone on the desk and dialed. The voice that answered sounded annoyed:
"Jenkins here."
"It's Jinx."
"Akamatsu, do you have any idea what time it is? What do you want?"
"I'll do it."