Chapter 17

The next few days went by like a blur for Nick. The package from Father arrived and he turned it over to the specialists. He got in an argument with Paul for putting his daughter in danger. Petra hardly said a word to him. Cal couldn't be found, so he took a flight home for four days. Cal's next few days kept him pretty busy. He worked on the facility, making sure everything was prepared for Monday. Raven and Christina went home and packed their things and partied hearty until Monday. Ryan hung around the communications office, helping out where he could. He did a little investigation on his own. Lilly and Petra hung out, discussing life and love. Sunday, the team moved their possessions into the facility. They hung around, talking and playing games with each other. They all went out to dinner together.

Nick arrived, late that night, slipping into his room. Nick got a couple of hours of sleep and went to work on his computer. He got an internal email from the head of the biological department. It said they thought they could find a cure. It would just take them some time. Nick started doing a check on Jonathan Abraham. Around three, Petra came in and sat on his lap. She went back to sleep and Nick kept going through data he had gathered on the missing scientist. At around four, Lilly came through his room.

"Oops. Sorry." She started to head back into the other room.

Nick said, "It is alright. You can go through here." Lilly cames back around the corner.

"I didn't know."

"You are going to have to get used to it. Every morning I am here, she comes in and goes back to sleep here."

"Even when you are mad at each other?"

Nick just nodded his head. Lilly smiled and signaled okay to him. She tiptoed through his bedroom and opened the back door. She tried to shut the door quietly, but how do you shut a hydraulic door quietly. Nick laughed to himself at Lilly's antics. Petra stirred a little bit and went back to sleep. Nick went back to work. Nick picked Petra up, carried her back to her bed, and started to head for the shower.

Petra softly said, "Nick don't be too rough on them today."

"I will try not to. I have to get them to think as a team, not individually. I only know one way to do that and it is the way Cal and I were trained."

"Did you like being taught that way?"

"Not really. However, it worked."

"I am sure you figured out a better way. Try it and see what happens."

"Alright, I will try some of it. Now go back to sleep, I have to get cleaned up."

"I talked to Lilly all weekend."

Nick, a little curious, asked, "And?"

"She will be okay. She had never seen anyone killed before and it shook her up. I told her an abbreviated telling of your story about the young warrior."

"That could have backfired."

"I know. I didn't tell her the whole story. I told her what she needed to hear."

"I hope she never puts two and two together."

"She won't. Don't you have something to do? I want to get back to sleep."

Nick laughed and headed to the shower.

Petra said, "Your breakfast is in the refrigerator, just put it in the microwave for two minutes."

"Okay."

Petra rolled over and went back to sleep. Nick showered, put on his clothes, and headed to the kitchen. He opened the refrigerator and pulled out two ham and egg sandwiches. He put them in the microwave. While he was waiting for them to heat up, Cal came in through his bedroom.

Cal said, "Morning. You ready for this?"

"Nope. You?"

"Not one bit. I hate training new crews. I got everything set up. I set up the weapons range in warehouse six in tunnel two."

"Where did you set up the vehicle training?"

"Main tunnel warehouse four."

Nick got a mischievous smirk on his face, "You're evil. Making them run all over the place."

"I figured it would be good exercise. Plus, if we make them run everywhere, they won't have a lot of time for bitching."

Nick laughed and the microwave bell went off. Nick pulled his breakfast out of the microwave.

"You want some?"

Cal said, "No, I already ate."

Nick poured himself a glass of milk and scarfed down his breakfast.

After Nick finished eating, he said "Here we go."

Nick and Cal headed to the team room. Nick entered the debriefing room. All of them were seated except Ryan. He was sitting on the back of a chair facing Lilly. Nick laughed and poked Cal in the ribs.

Nick whispered, "I wonder if Casanova has got a chance?"

Cal whispered back, "If he doesn't you're in trouble."

Nick tried to hit Cal in the ribs. Cal jumped back and started laughing.

Nick looked at Cal and moved his mouth without saying anything, 'I will get you later.' At Cal's laughter, Ryan turned around. He ran to his seat.

Nick said to the team, "Let's get started. From here on out, we will have a debriefing immediately following every mission. This room has automatic mikes. If you don't want what you say recorded, don't say it in here."

Ryan went pale in the face and Cal started laughing. Nick glared at Cal. Cal put his hands over his mouth, still chuckling.

Nick turned back to the team and continued, "For all of our briefings and debriefings, we will have them here. You all had duties assigned to you the other night. When you are asked, you will state what your duties were. Once you are done with that you will explain the situation from your perspective. State the facts. I do not want to hear any, 'I think or I don't know.'"

Cal moved to the back of the room and sat down.

He thought to himself, "If I didn't know him better, I wouldn't of figured him for a long winded bastard."

Nick continued, "We will start at the top of the roster: Raven, Ryan, Christina and then Lilly."

Raven told everything she knew and then Ryan and Christina.

It was Lilly's turn, "I didn't have any specific duties. You just told me to stick with Ryan."

Nick said, "That is all we needed to know. You have now gone through your first debriefing."

Lilly said, "What about Cal and you? Don't you have to say anything?"

Nick said, "Um, No. We went through our debriefing the other night with John and Paul. Cal and I will never give our debriefing here. Once you are finished with yours, he and I will be debriefed by our controllers."

Raven asked, "Who are our controllers?"

Nick said, "Paul and Jennifer Smith."

Lilly said, "Jennifer? She doesn't know anything about this."

Nick said, "Lilly, I hope by now you realize that not everything is as it seems. Jennifer has been controlling teams and operations for many years. She doesn't come to the facility. She does everything by a direct feed to the mansion."

Lilly said, "I thought I knew everything about her."

Nick smirked, "Not hardly."

Nick ended the debriefing by saying, "I need all of you to meet me in the conference room. We will go over today's events."

Nick headed for the conference room. Ryan started to say something and remembered the room was bugged. They got to the conference room.

Nick outlined the day's training events, "You can speak freely in here. For the next three weeks, we are going to get Lilly up to speed. Ryan you have her first for basic weapons. I want her proficient by the end of the week. By the end of next week, I want her to be able to run a sniper course. The last week, I want to be able to test her and not be disappointed. You will have her from six to eight."

Ryan nodded his head.

Nick turned to Christina, "Christina you will get her at eight-thirty to ten-thirty. Same thing, basic weapons this week. I want you to have advanced training next week. The last week I want her to be as good as you."

Christina stated, "You are not giving me enough time."

"It is all the time I can give you. If you have to work with her after team drills and before physical training in the mornings, do it. Sunday mornings there will be no training. Go to church, visit your families or work on your training. Preferably, I want to see all of you doing the same thing. We have to get it together quick. John has assigned several other teams to our operation. I don't have a lot of time to baby sit you. Cal will be here. He will run you through training. Cal will be on site at all times. If you have any questions, he won't be hard to find. Ryan after you are done with morning training, I want you at the communications office digging up all the information you can get on Jonathan Abraham and William Chow. I also need you to see if there are any other scientists that are missing, especially if they were doing any DNA research or biochemistry. Christina, at six-thirty you are to meet with Brother at the Pavilion. He will let you know what you are to do."

Christina nodded.

Nick said, "Lilly, you are to call Father at eight every morning. No matter what you are doing, you will call him."

Lilly, confused asked, "Why?"

"Mainly, because I told you to. He wants to hear from you. You made quite an impression on him."

Lilly said, "Yes sir."

Nick let the sir slide, "At ten-forty five, you will meet with Bill Thomas in the Haz-Mat team area. He will teach hazardous material handling, chemical and biological warfare. Learn well, he said he would test you every week. At thirteen-hundred to seventeen-hundred, we will have team drills. Once Lilly gets up to speed, team drills will be all day. At seventeen-fifteen, Cal will be teaching a counter terrorism course in the main facility. I urge every one of you to be there. Lilly, it is a requirement for you. The schedule will have to be a little flexible for a while until we get in a groove. The only ones you have to be there exactly on time are for Bill Thomas's class and Cal's. If you are late for any of them, you had better have a damn good reason."

Raven asked, "When am I supposed to teach her espionage?"

Nick replied, "When you both have a spare moment. For the next couple of weeks, you won't have the time. You are going to be with me in the mornings. You will be doing all of the teams progress reports. When I have nothing for you to do, you will be going through training with Lilly. I need you to get better at the physical aspects of the game. Are there anymore questions?"

Christina asked, "When do we eat?"

The team snickered.

Nick laughed, "Christina, only you would think about food. I suggest you eat when you can, even if you have to use field rations. For the next two months, I don't think any of you are going to have time to cook. Let's get started. Raven, I won't need you this morning, go with Lilly and Ryan. All of you are dismissed. Go to work."

Nick started to leave the room and remembered that Lilly had a question.

"Lilly, wait here a minute."

The rest of the team left the room.

Nick asked her, "Do you still want to ask your question from the other night?"

"No. I discussed it with Petra."

"What was the question?"

"It is nothing now. She gave me the answer I needed."

"In other words, you don't want to discuss it."

Lilly just smiled at him and left the room.

The next two weeks went by. During that time, Nick had to get Ryan out of jail twice for fighting. Raven caught on quickly to her new responsibilities and Nick left her alone. The progress reports on Lilly came in. All of them were well above his expectations. Ryan told him she could be tested now. Christina told him that she was an expert, but she needed a lot more practice on real opponents. Bill Thomas reported that he would like to have her on his team anytime. Cal, however, gave her the highest marks. He said she was better even than he was. Nick decided to test her earlier than planned. Nick told Cal to meet him in his office.

Nick was going through the data Ryan provided him, when Cal arrived.

"Are you confidant Lilly can pass all of her training requirements if we test her now?"

"Yes. I would probably put money on it."

"Fine. However, it will not be money. If she passes with higher marks than you and I put together, I will give the whole team three days to do whatever they want. If she doesn't, I will add an extra hour of physical training for everyone. Are you still confidant?"

"Yeah, I am."

"Okay bubba, I need you to get ahold of Bernie in the gym. Tell him I need five of the toughest people he knows. Then get ahold of General Montgomery and see if we can use the mount site, the sniper field and his team of spotters. You are going to be her spotter. You know the rules. You can't give her any instructions."

"This isn't my first rodeo."

"You are captivated by her, aren't you?"

"I am. She is sweet, innocent and she takes everything in like a sponge. Did you know I don't have to repeat myself? I will tell her to do something, she does it, and asks me if it is right. It is always right."

"She is that good?"

"Yeah. There is only one other person, I know, that even comes close to her ability."

"Who would that be?"

"You."

"Do you think she could take me?"

"I don't know. But I would sure like to find out. Why do you want to try her?"

"I think we need to. I want to know what she is capable of."

Cal just smiled and nodded his head.

"Get busy. I want to start her testing tomorrow. We will start with Bill in the morning and Christina tomorrow afternoon. Hopefully, we can have the mount site and sniper field Wednesday and Thursday."

"When do you want try her out?"

"After she is done with everybody else. Have Ryan come see me. He and I need to discuss a couple of things."

"Don't put him in the hospital. I think we need him."

"Aren't you the one that didn't want him in the first place?"

"Yes, but he knows his shit and he is growing on me. He reminds me of us when we were younger."

Nick chuckled, "I wasn't planning on beating the boy. I just need to talk to him about growing up."

"I remember that conversation. You put me in the hospital."

"I know. But, he already knows what I can do to him."

Cal laughed, "Don't bet on it. He is just stubborn enough to try you again."

"Probably. Anyway, don't you have some things to take care of?"

Cal got facetious, "Yes sir. Right away sir."

Nick bantered right back at him, "I will finish that growing up speech if you don't get out of here."

Cal saluted him and ran out the door.

Nick sat back in his chair, contemplating on what he would say to Ryan. Fifteen minutes later, Ryan sauntered through the door without knocking.

Ryan said, "Cal said you wanted to see me."

Nick decided to start out tough. He never looked up at Ryan.

"Go back out and knock. Don't come back in until I tell you to do so."