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I feel my teeth grind as I hold the weapon in front of me, aiming around Mireya’s arms.

If this was any ordinary student I’d have no problem with demonstrating as it’s needed for the lesson but with Mireya, it’s different.

She’s different.

Don’t hurt her.

Don’t hurt her.

Don’t hurt her.

The mantra plays over and over in my head.

“You can go a little higher surely?”

My eyes snap to his as he stands slightly beside me but in front of the students who are all observing. What if I kill him instead? And not with this stupid toy gun he handed me, but with my bare fucking hands.

I ignore him, raising the gun slightly higher. If Mireya’s scared she doesn’t show it, her face has no emotion but her eyes, they look like something fierce, as if she were preparing for this moment all her life. I click off the safety feature on the gun before squeezing the trigger.

I don’t know what I was expecting but it wasn’t this.

The way her body didn’t move at all…it was as if nothing happened to her. She didn’t flinch. She showed no fear. Only pure indifference.

But, if that’s it, if she felt nothing then why do I still hear the ringing in my ears? Why does my neck have an ache that isn’t from stiffness?

This feeling is uncomfortable. It’s unbearable. Her empty like this, her sad blue eyes filled with disgust and resentment as she looks at me. Why is it making me furious?

A slow sound of clapping thunders throughout the room.

“That was absolutely brilliant,” Porter grounds out but all I want to do is go to Mireya, take her somewhere isolated and talk to her, explain why I did what I did. “You see students, your professor did not hold back when ordered,” he continued. “He followed through as he was ordered to by me, his superior without any questions asked.”

The following words echo through my mind.

His superior.

“Yes…” I clear my throat here to address the rest of the students clearly. “When out on the field you will be tested by the chain of command.” I place the gun back onto the small metal table beside me. “The only thing between you and the job is your ability to follow basic commands and instructions.” My eyesight roams around the students' heads. “Need I remind you, whatever agency you choose to go to after this, FBI, NSA, DEA, CIA, and whatever other agencies. It’s all the same. Insubordination will not be tolerated by any of you.”

Porter decides to use this opportunity to say something but before he could start what he was about to say, the bell rings signaling the end of the lesson.

He’s already saying goodbye to the students when I position myself behind him, pressing my service weapon against his back, right where I could shoot directly at his heart.

“Next time you try to outrank me by pulling a stunt like you did today, my finger might slip, just like this…” I pull the trigger and he lets out a scared stupid gasp and I laugh. “You stupid son of a bitch, it’s not even loaded.”

I leave him standing there, as my eyes search for the only thing that matters to me. I watch as all the students gather their belongings. And then I see her already leaving.

“Miss Vitelli.” I walk towards her as she walks off the platform we are both standing on. I try to reach forward to grip her arm but she moves away from my hold.

“Professor Caldwell.” Her eyes find mine, “I don’t know what you want but, I’m kind of in a rush, whatever this is, can’t it wait?” She tells me in a much former manner.

“You don’t have any class for the day.”

She turns toward me, and I catch a bandage around her wrist, covered by her jumper’s sleeve. For a second I couldn’t hear the voices around us, couldn’t hear the cadets moving through the corridor or the instructors calling out orders.

“What’s that?”

Her eyes immediately harden as she replies, “Nothing.”

A lie. I step closer before I can stop myself. I shouldn’t reach for her, but my hand closes around her wrist before my better judgment catches up.