If Jack had spoken first then it was Jill who got all the men to divert their attention from me to him. He reenacted the entire scene. He had the blonde man act as White, while Jack was supposed to be Sullivan and Jill became me. I have to admit, he did a good job choreographing the whole thing. It was comical and if that was what it really looked like I can’t imagine keeping a straight face watching it from the sidelines. Before the show was over White came in and stood behind me. I was the only one who noticed him enter.
“What’s going on?” He asked me quietly.
“Shhhh, watch.” I pointed at the show unfolding before us. When it was finished the blonde man turned back to me and informed me he still didn’t believe it.
“Good show, Jill. See you in the morning, gentlemen.” I said and saw White give them a disapproving look as he and I turned to leave.
“I got a call from Joe saying that you needed my help. What the heck was going on?” White asked as soon as we got outside.
“The blonde guy wanted to start something with me but Jack and Jill stepped in.”
“Jack and Jill?” I could tell he was terribly confused so I started from the beginning.
I finished the story just in time for White to deposit me at my door.
“He had it, almost word for word.” He commented on Jill’s show. “Now, go to bed. I don’t want to have to come bail you out again.”
“Don’t worry, I will. Besides, you didn’t have to bail me out.
*****
Chapter Seven
The next morning I didn’t hesitate getting the men out of bed and started by banging on White’s and Johns’ doors first. Things moved a lot faster when they knew what to expect and all the men were lined up outside their rooms before I reached the end of the hall. I led everyone in a fast run to the open area we had done the pushups in the previous morning but instead of stopping to do the pushups I led them in five laps instead of ten. Then I led them directly to the mess hall. I could tell most of them were relieved that we were going to get a longer break before breakfast this morning. White asked why I cut the exercise down so much and I told him to have the men set up the mats I’d seen lining the walls.
“I don’t want to become monotonous.” I explained to him.
We all filed into the building and some of the men were already finding their seats when White hollered at them to set out the mats. While they were doing that I told White that I wanted to have them spar against each other today because of the incident at the Iceberg last night. I, especially, wanted a shot at the blonde man who had given me a little trouble. He agreed and suggested that he and I spar first.
“It won’t hurt to give them a show,” he added. I accepted his offer and he was kind enough to explain to the men what we expected of them. They paired off and started their dances. White had been sure to save a mat for us and we each took our corner.
He lunged at me and I didn’t move fast enough. In a blink of an eye White had a hold of my arm. Flipping me to the ground he rolled on top of me as if it were choreographed.
“What are you doing?” He was surprised that he caught me.
“I got distracted,” I nodded to our little crowd.
White let me up and we went back at it. This time I didn’t let anything draw my attention away from the hulking beast in front of me. I used to think of White as himself when we sparred and he got the better of me much to often. Now, I pictured him as not even human. He was a threat. This helped immensely and the odds of him even touching me during one of our sessions were slim.
“We can’t do this all day, so don’t be so cautious.” I told him.
He tried for me again and I dropped to the floor and did the leg sweep and he was down.
“One to one.” I tallied the score for him as we circled each other.
“You haven’t done that for a long time,” he commented.
This time I went for him first. I came at him like I was going for his middle and as soon as I got within arms reach I turned and found myself behind him. I quickly jumped on his back and had him around the neck. I utilized a pressure point and he fell to his knees. I released him and walked around him to help him up. “Two to one.”
“Where did that come from? That’s a new one.” He reached for my hand and at the last minute he tried to sweep my legs out from under me. He made contact and I started to lose my footing so I gave myself a little push backwards and did a back flip. If White hadn’t expected the flip, I would have been able to kick him in the face, but that was one he and I had been working on.
“Now you’re just showing off.” I said.
He winked at me and then singled out the blonde cadet. “Your turn, Cadet. The rest of you, get to work!”
After our show, Blondie was a little apprehensive about stepping onto the mat but he did make it to his corner. We squared off and he was down on the ground in a matter of seconds. I didn’t even have to work for that one.
“Come on,” I told him, “make me earn it.” I wanted to throw him to the ground a couple of times just to prove a point, but I knew humiliating him wouldn’t help matters. I started pointing out technique flaws and showed him a couple of moves before I thanked him and sent him to fight another partner. I ended up sparring with a couple other men and one of them got the better of me. It wouldn’t have been all that bad, but he got in a good shot to my shoulder, twice. He hit me in the same exact place both times and it smarted. I couldn’t let him know it hurt but I quit my sparring after that and gave up the mat to some of the other men. White and I watched the men fight for an hour and then the women showed up to start cooking breakfast so we called an end to the morning exercises.
I went to my office and White followed me. I wanted to go over more files but White wanted to visit.
“So, what are we going to do tomorrow morning?” He asked.
“I don’t know. Probably run laps all morning. I got nailed in the shoulder a couple of times and I think I should let it rest a day or so.”
“Do you mind if I take charge tomorrow morning then?” He asked.
“No. I’d actually like that.”
“You still haven’t trained under me yet, Grey. I don’t know if you’ll like it. Believe it or not, I’m harder to get along with than Black.”
“Black’s not hard to get a long with.” I corrected him.
“He must have given you a break if you think he’s not hard to please. He’s too quiet, grouchy and hard to beat in a competition.”
“None of that makes him hard to get along with, White.” I said. “The quiet is nice. He’s never been grouchy with me and I’ve beat him more than once at different things.”
“I suppose you’re right. He is a hard ass though, you have to admit that.”
“No, I don’t. He expects the best you can give but I don’t think that makes him a hard ass, just a good teacher.” Again, I defended Black.
“Well, if you feel that way about Black then maybe you won’t have any problems with my methods,” he said.
“I’m going to get some coffee. Do you want some?” I started to get up from my desk.
“No, you finish what you’re doing, I’ll get it.” He left me alone to retrieve my coffee.
I already knew who I wanted to interview but I hadn’t talked to White about my picks yet. By sending Sam away, White cut my picks in half. I had some other prospects but they were what White called “grunts” and needed more training than the other men.
When White came back with the coffee I handed him a file.
“Looks like he could be a candidate for Team Grey,” he said after he looked it over.
“That’s what I thought. I’ll put Cadet Stevens in the keeper file.”
“Who else have you got?”
“Well, I wanted to interview Sam but you sent him off to who knows where,” I complained.
“That couldn’t be helped. We’ll just have to move onto the next and you can interview Sam later.”
“I’ve
got a couple more,” I handed him the rest of the files. He flipped through them.
“Is this it?” He looked annoyed.
“Yeah.” I tried to pretend I didn’t notice his agitation.
“We came all the way up here for two candidates? It would have been better to bring them to us instead.”
“Oh, don’t get so upset,” his irritation was starting to affect me. “We wouldn’t have known of Johns not making the guys tow the line if we wouldn’t have come up here. Besides, I wanted to see Alaska.”
“Alex,” he sighed. “I suppose you’re right. We’ll start interviews later today then.”
When breakfast was over we rounded up the men and ushered them back outside. After the morning drills, White called the men to attention. He told them I was here to assemble some teams for future jobs. If I asked anyone to meet with me they were to comply immediately. This brought brief and muffled comments but soon faded. Though they quieted the body language was thick.
He went on, explaining his disappointment with them and their lack of dedication and discipline. The morning drills would continue not only while we were here but every morning from here on out. If he found out they’d let their training slip again everyone would be sent packing. Dismissing the men, he walked me back to my office.
“I want to talk to you about your team before we call in Stevens.” White started. “I’ve already told you I want a team under you like mine. Your team will consist of the best we’ve got but not all of our men have been to flight school or taken sniper training…” I nodded my understanding. “Your team will be trained in everything, not just their specialty.”
“So, you want everyone to be interchangeable?”
“Exactly. Of course, we will send them out according to their strong suits, but if anything happens, someone else on the team should be able to fill in for anyone else.”
“Well, I guess Stevens is out.”
“No. Stevens is perfect. I suggest you put him under Intelligence Operative and EOD. We plan on training him for everything else. If you’re ready, I’ll fetch him.”
White left to collect Stevens while I went over his file again. He didn’t have any military training and his resume was pretty shallow. I knew we hired directly off the street at times, but I would have thought a person would need a better resume than what Stevens had submitted. Now I was going to ask him to be part of an elite team. White came in just as I was moving onto the next document, trailing Stevens behind him.
“Sit,” I waved my hand at the chair.
“Ma’am,” he greeted me before he sat.
“I have a few questions. First I don’t see that you have any military background. I’d like to know how you came by your training since you don’t list any of that in your resume.”
“Yes, Ma’am,” he cleared his throat and listed several other PMC’s and soldier of fortune training camps.
“Why didn’t you list these references?”
“I only took on those jobs to prepare me for this one and I didn’t want White and Associates to think I couldn’t hold a job.”
That was explanation enough for me but I quizzed him on a few other things to make him sweat a little.
“Well, Stevens, I’d like to steal you from Team Brown and set you up as an Intelligence Operative for Team Grey,” I finally told him.
“Ma’am?”
“You don’t want to switch teams?”
“I don’t know. I can’t stand to be stuck in one place behind a desk. Intelligence Operatives normally sit at a computer, coordinating the mission from the outside.”
“Yeah, I can understand that. I plan on using you for EOD as well, if that helps.” I didn’t want my first recruit to refuse so I changed to a more conversational tone. “I used to do data entry. Talk about boring.” We laughed. Then I added, “I don’t think there is anything about this job that’s boring. All team members will be trained to do anything needed so you won’t go into every job as the Intelligence Operative.” I really did understand where he was coming from. I wouldn’t want to be the one on the outside with every job. I wanted to kick some butt.
“I can deal with that,” he said.
This satisfied White and he left us alone. As Stevens and I continued to talk, I found that I actually liked the guy. His posture became more relaxed and he started telling me more about himself. We talked mainly of his computer background and he was more than qualified to be on my team. He could easily be better at the computer thing than I was. I had hacked my way into many things but never took the risks he did. He told me stories of how he hacked into the local phone company, big corporations and other entities that would have had high security on their systems. I was impressed.
We concluded our meeting and decided that Stevens would come with me to the next compound and help me traverse the files. Hopefully this would speed things up.
When Stevens left my office I continued searching through the files to make sure I didn’t have any other prospects. The only thing I accomplished was wasting time. There were no other candidates at this compound other than the “grunts.” They weren’t proficient in much more than the muscle part of their training. They did, however, show some promise and would be admitted on a trial basis. White helped me interview each man and left me at the end of the day to draw up the transfer slips. Everyone but Stevens would be starting a rigorous training program at a different compound.
After dinner, I searched out White and found him in his room. He said he’d meet me at the Iceberg for a drink.
There were a lot more men present than the night before. I counted over twenty men scattered around the building. I walked to the bar and ordered a coffee but when Joe brought it to me I went to a table to wait for White instead of sitting at the bar. Again, I found myself watching their lips and wasn’t disappointed. My anatomy and my team were being discussed. The blonde cadet was present again and he started making his way toward me. Great, I thought to myself. I just can’t win.
“Permission to speak, Commander Grey.” He said. This caught me off guard but I granted permission.
“I want to apologize for my attitude last night. I know it’s no excuse, but I’d had a couple beers too many.”
“I’m glad to see you’ve remembered your manners, cadet. Apology accepted.” Thankfully, White walked in and the cadet took his leave. I didn’t know what else to say. In my crash course on how to behave, Red had told me to hold myself above the rest of the men, but I really didn’t want to come off as a snob.
“What was that about?” White was apprehensive.
“An apology.”
“Good.” He ordered himself a coffee and returned to the table. His attitude wasn’t businesslike but very informal. I might not have considered this unusual if we had been back at the office building, between jobs. However, we were doing interviews. Granted, we’d concluded them today but I still thought this was unusual.
I went along with it and learned a few things about White that I didn’t know, but didn’t give much of myself away. I wanted to talk with him like we normally would, but I couldn’t bring myself out of job mode. Despite my unsociable position the conversation was not strained or stale. I was enjoying myself and so was White. Apparently he didn’t mind that I didn’t have much to say.
I returned to my room with a feeling of triumph. It felt like I’d just been on a first date. The thought of dating White made me jittery inside and I couldn’t stop the little giggle that bubbled out of me. I was instantly angry with myself and forced the glee down. I couldn’t explain why I would think this could be a date and any previous time we’d spent together didn’t qualify. Maybe it stemmed from me being uncomfortable being too informal at this place. Date or not, I didn’t want to get too worked up. If it had been a date he didn’t go about it the right way. He should ask me to dinner and a movie or something comparable. I went to bed with more questions than answers.
I awoke with butterflies in my stomach. Sitting straight up
I tried to remember my dream but realized it wasn’t a dream that had me excited. We were done with the interviews and should be heading home soon. I rushed my shower and practically ran to White’s room.
“I was just coming to your room for coffee,” he said when he opened his door.
“So, when do we head home?” I didn’t beat around the bush.
“You didn’t make coffee this morning,” he sighed as he led me into his room. He went to his coffee pot and I went to the small table and waited.
While the pot brewed he said, “I’m going to take over the drills today. These guys need to be whipped back into shape.”
I nodded agreement. This was going to be interesting. Ever since he’d said he was as tough as Black and maybe more so I’d been watching for proof. I’d defended Black before and meant every word but didn’t think White could be harder to please. White’s attitude was tense so I drank my coffee in silence and repressed the question of home.
“Johns’ replacement will be here today and we’ll leave after I get him set up.”
“You fired Johns?” This was news to me.
“Not yet. He’ll have a choice of being demoted or getting fired when his replacement arrives. We can’t allow our men to slack off like this and Johns is the responsible party here. He’s obviously not disciplined enough to be in charge of a compound.”
“All right, men,” White said with authority. “Now that Commander Grey has made her picks the rest of you belong to me.” His look was condemning as he continued on, becoming more strident until he seemed to be genuinely angry. White berated the men for a good ten minutes before he took a breath. Then he quietly told me I should sit out today but I declined.
We ended up more than half a mile away from the compound in front of an obstacle course. White and I watched as the men, including Johns made their way through it. It wasn’t a pretty sight and by the time they were all done White was obviously fuming.
“This is a joke. If we needed any of these guys to do anything important, they’d all be too far out of shape to comply.” He complained.
Reflections of Grey: Book Three of the Alexis Stanton Chronicles Page 9
