Lionel woke up in the park, and shivered. His clothes were drenched and he was sniffling.

"Finally you're up. I have been waiting for hours" a female voice said

"Huh?" Lionel said as he looked around

He saw a beautiful blonde woman, her hair tied up in a bun dressed very professionally in a grey suit and skirt with a white blouse and a colorful scarf

"Are you talking to me?" Lionel asked, looking at her

"You're Lionel Marshall, 29 years old. Lieutenant in the US Army. Wounded in Kandahar in a secret mission, fighting a strange 13 foot tall red headed giant that killed all your teammates, with you being the only survivor, correct?" she asked, looking at her file.

"How did you... that's classified. How do you know all that?" Lionel mumbled in shock

"I know everything" she said

"What do you mean?" he asked.

She pushed her glasses back up her nose as she opened her file to read some more. 

"You were seriously injured but the army treated you for 15 months before releasing you, still in a coma and gave you a honorable discharge. Since then, you've been living off your wife Ramona Garcia, gambling and drinking it all away before taking a loan in her name, losing it all in horse racing making her a bankrupt. Being the last straw, she was forced to divorce you. 

You continued taking more and more loans from the local mob under local boss Tony Ramone, piling up a debt of 112,300 but with a high interest rate. Now you owe them 780,000." she rattled on. 

"That... that much? But I only borrowed..." he said before she interrupted him. 

"Fifteen days ago, you had an altercation with his enforcers as you tried to get money from Ramona again. She gave you everything in her bank account, which totalled 800 dollars and she told you to never come back. 

Ten days ago, the mobsters went to her dance studio and chased all the students out, destroying the place. 

Forcing Ramona to sign a contract, they forced her to do a gangbang porn shoot where they drugged her and had 30 of their mobsters take multiple turns at her. 

Yesterday, you finished the cash on alcohol and lottery tickets, whereby you went to Ramona's house again to ask for more money. You had an altercation with Paul Remfield, your ex-wife's ex-employer who, you were correct, had a crush on her. Refusing to tell you where she was, you searched in the nearby hospital, getting you thrown out of the second hospital. 

Finding out about what happened to her, her mother and Paul chased you out of her room and you were arrested, but the police officer, who was the older brother of your classmate Thomas Jones and your senior in high school by two years, pitied you and let you out several blocks away. 

You cried in the rain and fell asleep. And here we are...You're that Lionel Marshal right?" she smiled and looked at him. 

"Who... who are you?" Lionel asked. 

"I'm Rachel Maddison. I'm from Second Chances" she smiled and extended her hand. 

"Second... chances?" Lionel repeated. 

"Yes second chances. We will give you a chance to make things right in your life. Of course, there is a risk, but no risk no reward right? And the reward is to get everything you want. Money, fame, prestige..." she smiled. 

"What... do you want from me?" Lionel asked. 

"I want you.. your mind, your soul" she smiled.

"My soul? Are you the devil or something?" he asked. 

"I'm Rachel Maddison, I told you. What I mean is, before your PTSD, you were an excellent soldier. 28 battles without any losses, only the last battle your team suffered major losses. You lost everyone, ran out of bullets and badly injured, you broke the giant's kneecap with your rifle, causing it to stumble and fall before you jumped on him and smashed it's head with the butt of your rifle until your rifle was so badly bent out of shape, the investigators couldn't recognise it" she said. 

"You... that's confidential" Lionel said. 

"I know. Now are you interested in second chances? We'll cure you of your PTSD, but we want your skills. If you agree, I'll pass you 1 million right now" she said

"1 Million? What do I have to do?" he asked. 

"Just agree and sign here" she smiled, showing him a contract

Lionel was curious and read through the contract. It sounded like they were hiring a private military contractor, except they would pay him 1 million up front and he had to be ready for pickup at  midnight tonight.

"You're not the devil right? This is real?" he asked again, finding nothing wrong with the contract. Such contracts hire mercenaries for secret missions that the US government are not supposed to do and were highly risky anyway. But since they were paying him up front, he could settle several things immediately. 

"I... have to tell you. I haven't trained in years" he said honestly. 

"Not an issue. We'll be training you. Many of you may very well drop out anyway" she said. 

"But the 1 million..." Lionel asked.

"That's the signing on fee. I'll pay you right now if you sign, whether or not you manage to fail or pass the training" she said. 

Looking through the contract one more time, he signed it. 

"Great!" she said, shaking his hand

"Ouch!" he said as she suddenly stabbed him in the forearm

"That's a tracker. Be in a private place where nobody is around and we will find you tonight at midnight" she said. 

"Damn, this is the mark of the beast, isn't it?" Lionel said, looking at the small hole in his right arm. 

"Don't be silly. This is your bank card. The pin is the same as your current one. See you tomorrow" she said, handing him a bank card

"Yeah.. see you.... tomorrow" Lionel mumbled, looking around. She had disappeared. 

He looked at the card. It was black, but didn't belong to any bank. It only said Second Chances. 

Wondering if he got scammed, he walked to the nearest ATM, which was just across the street from the park he was in. 

He inserted the card and typed in his regular pin number, which was Ramona's birthdate. 

"It works! Lets look at the balance" he said. 

His eyes popped out. There was 1 million dollars in the bank.