John Ringo: Ghost

What was funny was that some of the most leftist, ball-busting, bitches seemed to get off on his being a former team guy. There was one little brunette wearing a beret just like that fucking terrorist Che that he swore was getting ready to go down on him right in the middle of the damned argument. But he’d blown her off instead. The hell if he’d get told he was a mindless myrmidon and then fuck the little bitch.

Sooner or later, something was going to give. His really bad side was starting to peek out and that was something he feared more than failure. It violated the warrior code. Courage in Battle, Loyalty to the King, Protection of the Innocent. Sometimes it seemed it was the only thing he had left. He was not going to become a fucking rapist.

He’d always managed to restrain that side of himself, even with the Philipino B girls and the Thailand whores, when it didn’t matter what you did, as long as you paid the mamasan. One of the reasons he’d just left the little bitch in the beret hanging was if he’d taken her home it would have been a grudge fuck, with emphasis on “grudge.” And she’d have gone home sorry and sore. Which was all well and good if it was lined out in advance and agreed to by both parties. But that wasn’t where that particular relationship was going.

So his right forearm got over developed, his anger got hotter and hotter and there didn’t seem to be any release in sight. He very much needed to kill someone. Just about anyone would do, but one of the little airhead bitches was getting even farther up the list than his professors.

Thoughts like that had carried him, unthinking, to the areas by the library and the English department buildings. His path wasn’t even vaguely in the direction of his apartment; in fact it was in the opposite direction. But there were quiet pathways where occasional young ladies wandered by, most of them so totally fucking oblivious they wouldn’t have noticed if he threw a rock in their direction. It was a sick addiction with a very specific name: “stalking.” He’d pick a dark spot, stand still as if he were simply drinking in the night and wait. Sooner or later some brainless bitch would walk past, totally defenseless.

Sometimes, just to get a rise out of them, he’d cough. And they’d notice the dark figure in the shadows, their eyes would get wide and they’d hurry past. He never looked at them then, he’d totally ignore them, but he could tell by their hurried steps, quite often clicking away in their high heels, how much he’d frightened them. Sick, but oh so very fun. And he considered it to be instructional for the little idiots. It might teach them to keep some situational awareness.

He also considered it keeping in training. There were plenty of non -idiots among the girls on campus, girls who knew damned well that college campuses had the highest rate of rape in the U.S. And, nine times out of ten, even with the ones who were alert, he could avoid being seen even standing in plain sight. His team name was “Ghost” and it had been hard earned. It was an ability he’d had even before he was on the teams and one that he’d raised to a high pitch in various third world shitholes. He could just… blend.

If he put on local clothes and spent some time watching local moves, he could move among the populace of half the world unnoticed. A little heavy-set, jaw a little square, shoulders a little broad, but nobody seemed to take that into account. Grow a little stubble, cover his haircut and he was anything from an Arab to an Afghan. As long as he didn’t open his mouth: he’d never had language training and his Arab extended to “where’s the bathroom” and “lie on the floor and put your hands on your head.”

The spot he’d chosen overlooked Baldwin Street, which ran between the English building, Park Hall, and the Military Science Building. He’d thought about going ROTC and maybe bucking for an Army commission. But even with his background his physical damage — he was paid for being “50% disabled” and might go as high as 100% in time — made it unlikely that even the Army would give him a commission. And if he did get one, at his age, he’d probably end up in supply or civil affairs or some such bullshit. Better to eat the shit at the college, get his history degree and go looking for a teaching job. Coach track or swimming, teach history and just… veg.

He stopped vegging as he spotted a nice young quarry, blonde, nice tits in a midriff top, ruffled miniskirt revealing long, shapely legs and black high heels clicking along on the sidewalk heading west on Baldwin. The fashions had come together nicely in the last year with just about everything a heterosexual male wanted to see women wearing being the “in” thing. It was like some over-sexed ancient Greek god had told fashion designers exactly what he wanted them to push. She was probably coming back from some of the clubs over on Broad — she was “club” dressed — headed down to the dorms along Lumpkin. And too stupid to stay to the more traveled and lighted ways. Probably a freshman , he thought.

It was as professional a snatch as he’d ever seen. The custom van slowed down, the door opened, a man stepped out in a trot, the bag went over the blonde’s head, she was lifted into the van before she could even start kicking, the door closed and the van started to accelerate. It took no more than a couple of seconds. As far as Mike could tell there was no one in sight of the snatch, certainly no one in easy view and if you hadn’t been looking right at the girl you probably wouldn’t have been able to process it. Whoosh. The girl was just… gone.

Except the van had to stop at the west end of Park Street, where it intersected Lumpkin, and Mike realized he was already down the hill in a sprint, off the low wall by the sidewalk, his jump bag banging on his back as he accelerated down the middle of the road, no cars in sight and it kept him out of the view, mostly, of the driver. The van started to pull out onto Lumpkin and Mike leapt upwards, landing lightly on the ladder at the back of the van, crouched. If he lost track of the van the girl was going to disappear, probably into an unmarked grave.

He knew that, at heart, he was a rapist. And that meant he hated rapists more than any “normal” human being. They purely pissed him off. He’d spent his entire sexually adult life fighting the urge to use his not inconsiderable strength to possess and take instead of woo and cajole. He’d fought his demons to a standstill again and again when it would have been so easy to give in. He’d had one truly screwed up bitch get completely naked, with him naked and erect between her legs, and she still couldn’t say “yes.” And he’d just said: “that’s okay” and walked away with an amazing case of blueballs. When men gave in to that dark side, it made him even more angry than listening to leftist bitches scream about “western civilization” and how it was so fucked up.

The van was an older modern custom van like Mexicans tended to drive and from inside he could hear the struggle going on and the muffled cries of the girl followed by slaps. While it made one side of him angry as hell, another side was so turned on he could barely stand it. But the good news was unless somebody saw him on the back of the van and vectored in the police, he stood a good chance of being able to kill someone and not go to jail. This was probably a bunch of fucking illegales who’d decided they wanted to party with a coed. And they were going to be seriously fucked up, armed or not, as soon as this damned van stopped. He might even get laid out of it, if not by the blonde, who was going to be pretty fucked up from this experience, then by some girly who’d take pity on the poor hero.

The van headed south on Lumpkin through the university area and towards the south side of town. It was late and if anyone saw him he couldn’t tell. There weren’t even any cars behind the van or he’d have waved at them or something. He wanted to get his mad out by killing some of the bastards in the van, they were ripping cloth now, but he figured at least trying to be the “good citizen” instead of the “vigilante” would be a good idea. He couldn’t bring in the police himself, he’d left his cell phone charging by his bed before going to class and hadn’t been home to pick it up. And unless someone saw him soon, the van would get into darker, and less populated, areas where he might never get spotted.