Page 33 of Little Fury

“Nothing, it's great! I love how… eclectic it is. Everything flows so well,”I reassure him. The table is quiet as we all eat. But when the song changes, everyone loses it.“Since You’ve Been Gone”by Kelly Clarkson plays, and the entire table and room erupt in laughter.

“Laugh it up, mother fuckers. I’m here for the next two weeks, so let’s see how funny you think my music is when we're in the ring or on the range. yeah?”That makes everyone stop laughing quickly, but you can still hear the odd chuckle over the din of utensils and plates.

After New York, things changed. Training was harder and longer. Pre New York-Marcus and I never sustained any injuries from training. Sore muscles, sure. After New York, though? We had bumps and bruises, bloody noses and stitches, dislocated shoulders and fingers.

I knew what I was doing here, why I was sent to the ranch instead of being adopted by another family or put into the foster system. I was sent here to learn how to break into places, learn surveillance, learn how to evade capture, drive a getaway car, steal things, kidnap people, and rescue kidnapped people.

Kill.

After New York, any training wheels we had were removed. I wasn’t ignorant or oblivious to the inner workings of the ranch or why I was sent here; I was being shielded by the people here. But that was over now. Hell, even Sebastian trained us now.

We decided at the end of Grade 9 that juggling school and the ranch was too much. So, we both chose to accelerate our high school education. We spoke to the school board and were granted permission to complete grades 10, 11 & 12 as quickly as possible. The only stipulation was that we had to maintain an 80% or higher-grade average with the caveat that all classes had to have an 80% or better grade. We weren’t allowed to bomb one class with a 50% and get 98 in another to balance it out.

We agreed, and our guardians signed off on it. Honestly, I think everyone in Glasgow, Montana, has an inkling about the ranch, but they all embrace the theory of willful ignorance. I think that fact had a lot to do with the school and school board agreeing to our accelerated graduation plan.

Once we got the OK, it was straightforward. All the teachers had two weeks to prepare their entire year's curriculum, assignments and tests. We finished Grade 10 in four months. We didn’t do anything except school and training for those months, but it was fine. Marcus and I were used to doing what was required at this point in our lives.

Harry and Beth never asked this of us; no one did, but after New York, we decided it was time to embrace who we were. No longer pretending or choosing to ignore the paths our lives are on, regardless of what put us here.

It turns out that if you put your mind to it and have the money to hire some of the best tutors in the world, high school (well, grades 10, 11, and 12) is pretty easy and can be done in 8 months.

Once school was done, Parker started upping our computer training as well. We started learning more complex coding. We learned about firewalls and how to identify and remove them. He taught us how to hack phones and how to clone them. How to you get into CCTV systems to see what’s going on, and how to you loop or delete as the situation dictates. We learned about biometric scanners and electronic password keys. Parker also taught us how to pick locks, crack safes and even how to get into the traffic light systems of cities.

The biggest difference came with guns and explosives. This was all new for Marcus and me. It started with learning what everything was and what they did best. Then we learned how to disassemble and re-assemble each item until we could do it blindfolded. We learned how to clear buildings;we learned best vantage point strategies; we learned strategic planning for hostage-taking, as well as being able to extract a target being held by others. We were taught how and where to place explosives to do maximum or minimum damage, depending on what's needed.

“Ava, Marcus, let’s go,”Carter calls us after lunch one day. Carter trains us daily with all kinds of firearms. Both Marcus and I are proving to be excellent shots. For small firearms, I prefer the G48. It's a slimline Glock that works for my smaller hands and doesn't lose any accuracy. The one downside is its magazine only holds 10 rounds. So, I always have to have extra magazines with me. The Glock that Marcus, Harry, Wes, Parker and Theo all favor is the original Glock 17. I can use the 17, and my accuracy is just as solid, but I can't handle it as well or as quickly as I can the 48.

Small hands are why slim lines were made anyway, right?

“How did she do?”Harry asks Sebastian.

“Good, Ava is small, but she’s kind of deadly. It doesn’t matter what scenario we put her in. She just fucking goes for it. She has the mentality that she either succeeds or she dies. There is no in-between with her. It's a little scary because we’ve known her since she was a little kid. But It’s also impressive, Harry. Scary and Impressive.”

“But?” Harry, pushes.

“Yeah, what’s the BUT there, Sebastian?” I ask them.

“Ava, mind your own business,”Harry tells me.

“Ummm, how is you talking about me, not my business?”

“Because Little Ava, we are the adults, and you are the child,” he reminds me.

“I turn 18 in four days!”

“Exactly. Still. A. Child.” Harry tells me punctuating every word with a tap on my nose.

“Whatever, Sebastian’s just mad 'cause I laid him out.”

He raises a red eyebrow at him, and Sebastian nods and bows his head.

Harry barks out a peel of laughter at Sebastian’s expense.“Whatever, old man, you get in the ring with her and see how you fair. She’s a little ball of fury.”

“Little fury,” Harry muses.

I sigh, realizing a new nickname has just been christened.

Isit on the couch in the gym, absently spinning the ring on my finger. I can hear Marcus before I see him. He and Parker are debating how effective some new computer program is. They have been arguing about it for the last three days. It's annoying.“Oh my god, you two! No one cares! No one wants to hear it anymore. You both have valid points. Now hug it out and move the fuck on.”

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