The Wolves of Freydis

by J C Ryan

  Chapter 33 -

  Archeological special ops training

  Andre’s predictions about the four days of hell were spot on. Not counting the recent injuries, he had sustained in the bomb explosion; Carter could not recall any time in his life when his body had felt as battered as it did for the first few days of training. The morning of the second day, his muscles were so stiff and sore that he could barely get up and get dressed; and he had a hard time bending down to tie his shoelaces. It was the images of Mackenzie and Liam that got him moving and kept him moving every inch of the way. They did a few stretches and warm up exercises and then tackled the five-mile run. After a mile, Carter felt like walking but convinced himself nothing had changed from the day before it was still the same body and the track was the same. If I could do four miles yesterday, I can do four miles today. And he did.

  The third day was the worst of them all. By the fourth day, he thought he felt slightly better than the day before, but he wasn’t entirely sure. On day five he managed to run four and a half miles before he started walking. It was also the first day he was able to put in five solid hours of good research after the training.

  He would have smiled if he could have heard Andre and Roy talking about him when he was out of earshot.

  “You know Roy; I didn’t think Carter was going to get up for the run on the second day, but here he is; it’s day five, and he’s still going.”

  Roy nodded. “Yeah I’m not sure how old he is, but my guess is he must be pushing forty. He’s still recovering from severe injuries, but I’ve not heard a single groan escape his lips. I can see he’s in pain not only physically, but mentally as well.”

  “He certainly is one tough cookie; that’s for sure.” Andre said. “With the right training, he would be an asset on any Special Ops mission.”

  Roy agreed and started laughing. “We’ll have to be aware that before too long the old man is going to kick dust in our eyes Andre, and not just on the run, but in the hand-to-hand combat training as well. He almost punched my lights out with one of his punches in that sparring session this morning.”

  Carter, in the meantime, had been studying all the collected information on the City of Lights, some of it provided by the current expedition leader Daan Hannah, a professor at Alexandria International University and father of Sameha Hannah. She had been the cartographer and photographer who was part of Carter’s team when they did the first site survey on behalf of the Egyptian government.

  James and Irene had given Carter the go ahead to start the preparations for the next trip to the City of Lights, and he was now working on that. Roy and Andre would be part of the group; in fact, they begged to be part of it when they first heard about Carter’s plans to revisit the place.

  Dylan Mulligan, Sean’s Second in Command (2IC) at Executive Advantage was in charge of the Devereux mission. When he spoke with Carter earlier on the secure phone, he told him that he was planning to visit Freydis in about ten days’ time. He wouldn’t give him the exact date or time, explaining that for security reasons no one should know when the visit would take place. The reason for his visit was to see how Carter’s training was progressing and to bring in two new bodyguards to relieve Andre and Roy.

  With Dylan’s visit in mind, Carter rounded Roy and Andre up for a talk and to advise them of their CO’s upcoming visit. Just when he was about to start, Ahote turned up, and Carter invited him to join them for coffee.

  He winked at Ahote, who immediately caught onto the fact that Carter was up to something. “Okay guys, I just got off the phone with your CO, Dylan Mulligan and he has approved your request to join me on the expedition to the City of Lights.”

  Roy and Andre high-fived. “Great Carter. Thanks for arranging that.”

  “No problem,” He smiled. “That was easy. Now we have to talk about your training.”

  “Training? What training?” They looked perplexed.

  “You two thought I’m the only one that needs training to go on a dig? No, no, no, this is a dangerous place we’re going to. You both will need archeological special ops training.”

  Ahote had to turn his head away as he struggled to contain his laughter.

  “Archeological special ops training?” Andre looked incredulously at Carter. “What the hell does that mean? How to use a brush or something?”

  Carter managed to maintain his composure although he was about to explode in laughter. “To use the brushes on an archeological dig requires specific techniques and is a very advanced skill, I’m not sure we’ll have enough time to teach you that. No, we’ll have to start with the basics first. It’s called how to dig.”

  Roy started smiling, but he wasn’t sure. Was Carter joking or not?

  “Dig? You’re joking!” Roy paused, looking at the frown on Carters face and then asked nervously, “right?”

  “Do you want to go on this dig or not?” Carter said in his best mock anger voice. “You can’t just go shoveling gleefully away on an archeological dig; in your carelessness, you might damage something valuable or even destroy an ancient artifact. You have to know what you’re doing and what digging tool and technique to use in every situation.”

  “Ok, man. I’m sorry,” Roy said humbly. “I’m willing to learn; I didn’t mean to sound . . . I mean, I don’t want to be careless. Show me what to do and I’ll be very careful.”

  Carter had nearly bitten through the side of his cheek to keep from laughing, but managed a stern, “Right then. So let’s begin the first lesson right away. As I’ve said, we don’t have much time to get you up to skill. I want you two to go over to the shed and bring back all the shovels you can find in there. We have some serious digging to do.”

  Roy shook his head and started to get up. He looked at Andre, but he had a totally blank expression on his face. No guidance there. He looked at Carter, but his face was deadpan. He didn’t know what to think.

  “Okay, Andre let’s get going.”

  Ahote had cleared his throat loudly and disappeared into the kitchen to get the coffee machine going. When Andre and Roy had vanished around the corner on the way to the shed, he could hold it in no longer and crumpled over with laughter.

  A few minutes later Roy and Andre returned, each carrying an armload of spades. On the way to the shed, they had discussed this weird turn of events but agreed Carter looked serious, and they also decided they would do whatever it took to get on the team that was going to the City of Lights; even if it meant acquiring some special digging skills.

  Carter took them about twenty yards away from the house in an open area, visible from the front porch where Ahote was sitting struggling not to burst into laughter again.

  Carter started to explain why each shovel was shaped differently and what the purpose of each was and how it should be used. But that was as far as he got before he started laughing. He laughed so much he had to sit down.

  That’s when Roy and Andre realized they had just been taken for a long ride. They both leaped forward and pinned him to the ground. Roy shouting, “You’re a Professor you’re supposed to be an honest and trustworthy man!”

  A fierce wrestling match ensued; Carter had to give up in the end. The two guys together were way too strong for him. He had to tap out and apologize when Andre finally managed to get Carter’s arm in a very painful grip behind his back.

  Back on the porch, each with a mug of coffee in hand Carter explained that it would be necessary, for security reasons for both of them to have fake archeological profiles. They would need to have at least a basic understanding of the site and as much archeological knowledge as they could learn between now and their arrival at the site to keep up the deception. No one on the dig must know that they were Special Forces operators.

  The two of them were eager to learn more about the City of Lights, and anything Carter had for them to study, and so archeological studies became a part of their daily routine until their departure to Egypt.

  The details of the planned expeditio
n to the City of Lights, date of departure, arrival, and duration of stay were all tightly guarded amongst their group of five. The four expedition members who would accompany Carter would be placed on notice to keep themselves ready to leave on very short notice. Professor Daan Hannah, in charge of the dig, would not be notified either. The arrival of Carter and his team in the City of Lights was going to be unexpected.

  Irene was in charge of making all the necessary administrative arrangements, which included setting up profiles for the men who would be going with Carter to make sure their profiles would withstand any background scrutiny. A part of Irene’s tasks was also to discreetly secure the items on the list of equipment that Carter provided.

  Three weeks after Carter returned to Freydis accompanied by Andre and Roy, he got a call from Dylan Mulligan, telling him he was about half an hour out from Freydis. Executive Advantage owned a twin-engine, four-seater Beech Baron 58. Dylan, being a qualified and experienced pilot, had no need for a pilot, so he was arriving with only the two new bodyguards, Kevin Cooke and John Arevalo plus a surprise for Carter, thus keeping the numbers of people knowing where he was down to a minimum.

  Kevin Cooke, nicknamed KC because of his initials, was a 31-year-old former Delta Force operator, about five eleven, blond hair, blue eyes and called Denver, Colorado home.

  John Arevalo was a 32-year-old former Navy SEAL from Fort Myers, Florida. He stood about five nine and had dark hair and dark brown eyes.

  The fourth person who got out of the plane, Irene O’Connell, was a big surprise to Carter. He was elated to see her but then immediately started worrying about sleeping arrangements until he realized that Bly might welcome female companionship in the all-male world. And that’s precisely what happened. Shortly after Irene had put her luggage down, Bly arrived and solved Carter’s problem.

  For the next three days, Dylan reviewed Carter’s training progress and the security measures implemented by Roy and Andre.

  Carter’s aches and pains of the first week were gone, and he was able to run the five miles with a lot more ease by now. He still wasn’t quite able to keep up with the younger, and much more physically fit, Andre and Roy, but was making real progress. Carter was ready to increase the distance to six miles the following week.

  His hand-to-hand combat training was progressing very well, which Dylan experienced firsthand in two sparring sessions with Carter. After the second session, he told John and Kevin that Carter was ready to start training in the use of knives, sticks, and other weapons.

  Dylan was impressed – it was evident Carter was a quick study and not only that, what impressed him most was the sheer determination and positive attitude about his training radiating from Carter. He gave everything his best, and he never complained. In private conversations with Andre and Roy, they could not stop talking about Carter’s dedication and astonishing progress.

  Another pleasing aspect for Dylan was when he observed Carter’s shooting skills during the firearms training session.

  Carter was two to three weeks ahead of schedule on all the training goals that Sean and Dylan had set for him in the beginning. Dylan sat down with Carter, Kevin, and John and revised the training plan and goals for the next four weeks. Due to Carter’s rapid progress, Dylan introduced survival training two weeks ahead of schedule.

  In the afternoons, after Carter’s seven-hour training sessions, Carter, Dylan, and Irene worked on Carter’s project, planning for the trip to the City of Lights and other matters. On both of the days while they were there they would break early and go for a long walk to the various lookout points around the homestead. Irene and Dylan both were instantly in love with the flawless beauty of Freydis.

  Andre and Roy did a handover to Kevin and John bringing them up to speed with what they were doing around Freydis, showing them the exact locations of the surveillance and security equipment and the archeological information that they had to assimilate before they departed for the City of Lights. They also told them about the unusual meeting with the wolves.

  In the mornings, while Carter and the boys were in training, Bly and Irene spent time together. Bly could not have hoped to have better female company than the easy going, no pretenses, Irene O’Connell. Irene wanted to know everything about life on Freydis; wanted to see all the domesticated and as many of the wild animals as she could in the short time available. She wanted Bly to tell her in detail about the wolves of Freydis and their behavior. They were both a bit sad when Irene had to leave and exchanged contact details. Bly insisted that Irene come and visit her again soon. Irene didn’t require any persuasion to accept Bly’s offer; the two of them got along like a house on fire.

  Carter, Kevin, and John would return to DC in three to four weeks to make the final preparations before their departure for the City of Lights.

  Chapter 34 -

  Come have a look at this

  Keeva was restless; Loki watched her pace back and forth in front of the cave entrance stopping to pant before she moved on.

  He was disturbed, he sensed the time for the pups had arrived, Keeva smelled different, and she was irritable with him. He’d decided to lie quietly and wait to see what she might need.

  With no pack to guide her, Keeva felt alone; she had Loki, but he was annoying her. The cave had been chosen some weeks ago, and she’d dug and formed a birthing pit with all the care and concentration her genes directed. It was waiting for her now, but as yet she wasn’t ready to enter while leaving Loki outside and alone while she labored alone inside.

  Mackenzie turned over in her sleep and was suddenly awake; something was amiss, but what? She waited, lying quietly in the dark. Then cramps rippled through her, only mild ones. That's odd, why now? Okay, I'm nearing the end of my second trimester, and I remember having Braxton Hicks, those ‘practice’ cramps early on when I was expecting Liam. Mackie said to herself, but these don't feel real.

  What on earth do I mean by that? She ran her hands over her swelling belly waiting for them to begin again. There they were, just mild and with no sense of movement under her hands. She hesitated to call Seema; she didn’t feel the need for anyone yet. She’d wait and see.

  Later having returned to sleep, she felt a cold, wet nose pushing against her cheek. In her dream, she woke to find Loki standing beside her bed nudging at her. Loki? She whispered, very aware she didn’t want to wake Liam, who had formed a habit of sleeping light so he could hear her. She put out her hand and ruffled his fur, what is it? The cramps fluttered over her tummy once more, and she began to understand what was going on, it’s not me, it’s Keeva!

  In her dream, she sat up and looked deep into Loki’s eyes. Keeva's having her babies, is that it Loki? He moved closer. You’re feeling confused and don’t know what to do. She ran her hand over his head and around his ears. She’s on her own in the cave, and there’s no one else to help her, and you’re worried she won’t want you near her.

  He licked her hand. Loki, go to her, she needs to have you close; you’re all she has at this time, go now. She watched him as he faded from view and then she lay down again.

  Quietly she waited, knowing the cramps were fading as each pup was born. She slept and by morning, she knew all was well on Freydis once more.

  Later in the morning, she shared her news with Liam.

  For Loki, the reassurances he received from Mackie were all he needed. Rising from where he’d been lying quietly, dreaming his contact with Mackenzie and with his tail down in a humble attitude, he quietly joined Keeva in the cave.

  She was panting, one pup was born, and she was getting ready to give birth to the second. Loki stretched out his nose and tentatively touched the newborn, expecting Keeva to snap at him, but instead she relaxed and closed her eyes waiting for the next contraction. He licked the pup, tasting its newborn taste on his tongue, knowing Keeva had cleaned it. He began cleaning it again, gently massaging it with his tongue as his tail wagged slowly back and forth in the dust of the cave floor.

&nbs
p; When the second one was born, he waited and watched patiently, while Keeva cleaned it and ate the placenta, which was nutritious food for her at this time. When she was done and had lain down once more before labor began again, he gently nudged the first pup towards her underbelly and began to lick and massage the second one.

  Loki was in heaven as he’d never been before. The pups were sheer joy and magic. He was unaware just how many young wolves were welcomed into a wolf pack; all he knew was how he rejoiced in these new lives.

  He settled quietly and waited as the last of the four was born and all were nursing. He watched Keeva put her head down to sleep and when he was sure all was safe, he too put his head between his paws and dozed.

  It was a week later that Carter saddled his horse and took off for a well-earned break, telling the guys he needed some time on his own, something they both understood.

  He’d planned to take a trail that went over the mountain and down into a quiet valley away from his usual haunts, a valley he’d not seen for several years. As he headed in that direction, Loki suddenly appeared and yipped at him, then ran across in front of the horse and back again causing Carter to stop his horse in its tracks.

  Carter had not seen the wolves for well over three weeks and had wondered about Keeva and her litter. Realizing something was odd, he turned the horse to follow Loki and took the trail to the cave. As they drew closer Loki ran ahead, looking back to make sure Carter was following; he frowned to himself, it wasn’t like Loki to behave this way, was something wrong with Keeva? Dread filled him; he should have come out this way sooner.

  Suddenly it felt like it was still a very long way to go, but in fact, five minutes later he was able to tie up the reins, let his horse go, and follow Loki to the cave mouth.

  Loki entered the cave, then reappeared wagging his tail as if to say, come have a look at this.

  “Loki, are you trying to tell me you’ve become a father? Is that it?” he bent and patted Loki’s side causing thumping noises as his hand pushed the air out of Loki’s thick coat, an action Loki seemed to like. Loki licked the hand and then retreated to the cave once again, then reappeared and waited.