Chapter 1 - Hit Me Again
Corporal Travis Holt shoved Mara Keene in front of twelve service members.
Steam hissed from the open showerheads behind them. Water ran across the gray tile beneath Mara’s bare feet.
She held a white towel securely across her chest, her temporary access badge clipped near its edge.
Holt towered over her.
“That badge doesn’t protect you.”
Several people laughed nervously.
Mara slid one foot backward but did not fall.
She slowly turned her face toward him.
“Hit me again.”
Holt smiled as if she had entertained him.
Then he grabbed her upper arm.
Mara moved.
She trapped his wrist against her body, shifted her weight, and pivoted across the slick floor. Holt’s balance disappeared before his arrogance did.
His back struck the tile with a hard slap.
Water splashed around them.
The laughter stopped.
“What the hell…” someone whispered.
Mara dropped one knee beside Holt without placing it on him. She controlled his arm and stopped just before the joint reached its limit.
“This is your last warning.”
Holt stared up at her, breathless.
She released him and stood in one smooth motion.
Then she reached toward the bench for her folded clothes.
One locker door stood slightly open.
Her access badge had been moved.
Holt’s eyes flicked toward the locker for less than a second.
Mara caught it.
Her expression changed.
Not fear.
Recognition.
“You searched my locker.”
Holt said nothing.
May you like
That silence told her the confrontation had never been about humiliation.
Someone had sent him to find what she was hiding.
