War Dog

Chapter 61

I hit the mat, again. Ghost loomed above me, smirking. 

"Again."

"No more. No more." I beg, my back killing me from where I'd landed on it. My front hurting from where I'd been dragged along the ground. Hands and knees and joints aching from impact after impact. If this session had been about humbling me, Ghost had managed that right off the bat. If it had been about teaching me how to endure endless humiliation, he had succeeded. 

"Get up, whelp, we're not done." 

I stand up, resisting the urge to groan and straighten as much as I can and eye Ghost off like the predator he is. It really wasn't fair how easily he could finish me despite my scientific improvements. His point had been to show me that training and experience paid off when on relatively even ground. 

He notices my weary exhausted expression and takes pity on me. He steps back and hope lights up my expression thinking he was ending the training session. Instead he beckons for one of the men that had been sitting by the sidelines watching. 

He stands up, a cocky grin and swagger as he moves forward ready to face me. Ghost glances at me. "Don't kill him. This is practice on the drills I taught you."

"Did you tire me out specifically for this reason?" I huff frustrated that he had pushed me to my limits just so that he could pit me against the Mexican special forces with a more even ground. 

"Of course. You're far too cocky. You've been used to being the top dog because of your enhanced abilities."

"I fucking hate you."

"Chin up, princess." He said, using the nickname I used against him sparingly when he annoyed me.

I square off against the man, someone I had seen around the base but never interacted with. He grinned and lazily lifted his guard. He had been watching Ghost pummel me for several hours and was arrogant enough to think he'd be able to do the same.

I watched his footwork and found him wanting. He distributed his weight too much on his front leg as he leaned forward. He was too focused on eye-fucking me and not enough on watching my body language. I took the advantage and stepped up into his space, moving fast. As I did so, he leaned back to get away from me, a look of shock crossing his expression when he realises I'd moved before he had a chance to even register what had happened. As he shifts his weight back, I use his momentum to kick his front leg out from under him and take him down to the floor. I land heavily driving my knee into his sternum and consequently making him gasp for air.

"Nice use of his own momentum. You did that smoothly and used his weaknesses against him." Ghost gestured at the next operator, all of them now looking a touch concerned. The next one, a woman this time squared up and gave me a polite nod in greeting that I returned. She moved first, trying to follow the tactic I had just used.

Instead of retreating, I meet her in the middle driving under her punch, my shoulders landing square against her hip, my hands running down to cup her calves. I drive my shoulder forwards and lift up with my hands, taking her feet out from underneath her as I drive her towards the floor. She lands with a  pained grunt as my shoulder digs in deep. When she lands, I'm moving immediately to straddle her hips, my forearm landing across her throat before she can regain her breath.

"I didn't teach you that one," Ghost hums as he looks down at me. "Where did you learn that?"

I stand up and back away from the female operator, offering her a short smile. "I did a mix of martial arts before I joined the military. A lot of it was geared towards civilians, however the company I worked for did a lot of work with the ADF. I never saw that side of it while I worked there, however my bosses taught their staff a lot of the stuff they taught. That wasn't one of the moves though. That was a bit of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu."