The wind was steady, but calm. Leaves rustled on their branches with the gusts before falling off. The forest was quiet as the sun hid behind the thick grey overcast coming off the Great Lakes. Beautiful fall colors were still somewhat vibrant in the woods.A lone whitetail with an eight point rack grazed in a small clearing until the call of a doe drew his attention. A few seconds passed as the buck stood there, looking off in the direction of the call. A shot rang out, and the deer fell immediately. Off in the distance, part of a tree moved.
"Gotcha..."
Victoria Hawkins, former Army Airborne, slung her dad's old M40A1 rifle over her shoulder and stepped out of her homemade hunting blind. She grabbed the large tarp and walked out to the clearing. One shot right through the heart. A quick, clean, ethical kill. Dad would be proud when she told him she nabbed her first buck on her own. He had given her his old rifle from his time in Vietnam to use to hunt, so that was the added bonus to that. She wrapped up the deer in the tarp to take out to her truck and get home. A nice display on the wall, and some good meat and hide too. The guys at the local gun club will be thrilled.
In a half hour, she was home and ready to gut and clean the deer when she noticed she had gotten a call while she was out. She took out her cellphone and called the number back. A few rings, and the other person picked up.
"Hey....yeah, it's me...what do you want............a job? Now? You know it's deer season, right? ...uh huh...yeah I know I'm still considered a probation recruit...no, I don't care...look, what's in it for me that you have to drive me away from a perfectly good deer for? ......hunting? Did you even-....uhhhh huh....am I being paid well? ....oh wow, really? Shit....uhm....hmm...yeah, gimme a day to get some things settled at home and I'll be out......anything in particular I need to know right now? .......okay, I'll look at the files. Where should I meet you? ...road trip? Yeah, I know customs is a bitch and the TSA can go suck my dick if they want to try full body searches on me...yeah, fine...sure, we'll take it cross country. You know we'll catch hell from local police...alright, I'm trusting you on this...you'll pick me up tomorrow? Fantastic...no, I'm not canning the sarcasm. It's part of who I am....yes, I am a bitch. Thank you for noticing...alright, see you then."
Victoria hung her phone up and went about calling the president of the gun club. They could put the deer meat to good use if she wasn't going to be able to use it. A quick exchange about them picking it up and that was that. Now, she went about packing for her first assignment as a contractor. She opened up her laptop and downloaded the case files from her email. Well, this was certainly interesting. Black-ink shit, definitely. Almost like one of those old "coming of age" movie scenarios that she hated. Ugh, well, at least this was the real world and there was little chance of that happening. Not only that, but if she was really to take this on, she wondered what exactly would needed to be packed. This was the most dangerous kind of game, and she needed to be on top of it. She with a mix of her usual hunting camouflage jacket and pants and her rifle, along with her SOG Fixation Bowie knife and M1911A1 sidearm. Extra gear would be stowed away with the company orderlies for her to get on call in case she needed it.
With that all taken care of, she packed clothes and other equipment in her suitcases, being sure to not skimp on the scent-killer. This was going to be quite the mission, but at least she was being paid handsomely in return. With everything squared away and ready, she went about studying the files and keeping up on anything she needed to until tomorrow came and she was off on the hunt. Her ride arrived and departed in minutes as they packed and went. Victoria lit up a cigarette as they rode across the country. With any luck, she'd be back in time to get some more deer tags before the season was over.