Gloria is Given Some Training in the Cold

Gloria was feeling cold! Mrs FitzWalter had signed both her female operatives up for a rugged training course. Ten days in this isolated spot being terrorised by three tough and merciless men. If Samantha and Gloria had ever thought they were tough, they were beginning to doubt it now. Or Gloria was! Sammy had been with her on the previous course, six months ago. That had been full of such fun activities as running twenty miles with a full pack and voluminous clothing in the heat of the day. The evenings had consisted of ferocious unarmed combat, not with each other, but their instructors. After ten days, both girls had been exhausted and tougher than ever. Now Sammy was in Hospital and Gloria was being trained on her own and she wasn't enjoying it one little bit!

For seven hours now she had been up to her neck in freezing cold water and naked. It was late October and far from mild. She wondered if Mrs FitzWalter knew just how cruelly her favourite employee was being treated by these sadistic bastards! As if this were not bad enough, she was supporting a heavy pack with both arms held high to keep its precious contents (rocks!) out of the water. Her arms ached, despite her impressive muscles. And she could every now and again feel a fish brush past her frozen thighs. All very nasty. This was how they trained the SAS and they were men, not sweetly pretty young girls like her!

Five hours later, as dawn began to break, Sergeant Howard, a massive brute of a man, came and ordered her to get out. She inched her way slowly out of the river, urging her body to move again after twelve hours freezing immobility. She could remember better nights!

"What do you want to do now, Gloria?" asked Sergeant Howard.

"Sleep, Sergeant!"

"Not just yet, Gloria. Time for some more suffering, I'm afraid."

And Gloria was forced to run twelve miles over the bleak moor land, still almost naked, her bare feet torn to ribbons on the stony, flinty surface long before she was allowed to stop. She knew this was just the start of her troubles. Only when she dropped from exhaustion would these people let her rest. And she was very determined to keep going as long as she could. She was a proud lady and wanted to see just how much she could take. If she did but know it, Sergeant Howard was already pretty impressed, but he wasn't letting her have the satisfaction of knowing this!

They fed her at noon and let her sleep until six. Then back in the river for twelve hours and then more running over what seemed to her to be razor blades or broken glass - or both! They excused her the unarmed combat this time. She was plenty good enough at that, they told her. After ten days Sergeant Howard drove her into the nearest town and bought her dinner before putting her on the train home.

"How did I do, Sergeant? Or aren't you allowed to tell me?"

"Don't let this go to your head, Gloria, but you are fucking incredible. Quite the best female trainee I've ever had. And you've a great body too! Pity your mate Samantha wasn't here, though! She could have benefited from going through all that with you."

"She'll be back soon, Sergeant. You bastards can have her all to yourselves instead of me! Don't treat her gently, will you!"

"You know me better than that Gloria!"

And the hard tough Sergeant kissed her!

On the way back Gloria compared the Sergeant to Allen. Both great guys, she decided. She knew the Sergeant was happily married with two children. They had talked a lot over dinner. So she was stuck with Allen! If only her present lover weren't quite so nice to her. Alfredo had been brutal, of course, but Allen was far too soft a companion for such a rugged girl. Gloria might be beautiful but she wasn't a piece of Dresden porcelain. Samantha knew her needs! They knew each other's needs. Fierce love and fiercer conflict. That was what was missing.

After ten days being subjected to quite incredible hardship, Gloria was not happy about going back home. She wanted to be put on a job, but all Edwina's current cases were routine and very humdrum affairs which did not require Gloria's unique talents. So she drove over to the Hall and got to work in the garden, being directed by the new gardener to move tons of rubble to a new rockery. It was cold weather, but she was soon sweating pleasurably. Her taste for minimal attire did not go down too well at her boss's home these days, but she reckoned she could get away with short shorts and a bikini top. Safety considerations meant she must wear sturdy boots, but she looked pretty good, all the same. Pity Samantha couldn't be there, though! She missed her more and more.

In a week she'd go and visit her dearest friend. Her boy friend couldn't object to that - could he?