Chapter 3: Training

The packet I was expecting arrived two weeks later by courier. I locked my office door after the courier left. Opening the packet, I found a one way airline ticket to Richmond Virgina and two informational sheets of what I could expect during training. One sheet was a list of suggested items to bring with me to training and the other was a list of what I could expect. There was nothing out of the ordinary in what the packet contained, except for the one way ticket which I hoped was not an omen. Scanning the itinerary, I noticed that following training, I’d be returning home for a week. Was that for Karen and I to say our goodbyes?

The day arrived that I was to travel to Richmond, Virginia. I asked Lawrence to drive me to the airport. There was no doubt that Karen would create a disturbance at the airport when I went to get on the plane. It was be our first time apart. My leaving was bad enough when Lawrence picked me up at home. You would have thought I was going to my doom instead of Richmond, Virginia, for a few weeks.

The three-hour flight from Chicago to Richmond was pleasant. I was lucky I did not have a seatmate and could spread out. Larger individuals like myself, hate narrow plane seats due to the lack of room. I looked for Mike and Andi when the flight landed at Richmond. They weren’t there, so I went on the search for my ride in the baggage claim area. I spotted a military-looking individual holding a cardboard placard bearing my name, approached himnand identified myself. His only comment was for me to accompany him outside to a black SUV. My guide pointed to the rear seat and I climbed in. The driver checked traffic and pulled out into the exit lane heading to an unidentified location.

We’d been driving for an hour when the driver turned onto a shaded access road bordered with trees. The rroad followed along side a high security fence. There were signs posted on the fence identifying it as US government property. It warned of prison sentences and fines for those that tresspassed. It wasn’t long after we turned on to the shaded access road we came upon a manned guardhouse. The driver presented his identification to guard in military uniform and we were allowed through the checkpoint unchallenged.

The road passed by WWII era military barracks, that were is disrepair. There were ball fields and well-kept lawns surrounding the historic barracks. We traveled for another 5 minutes before coming to a halt outside Quonset hut obviously built during World War II. My guide exited and opened my door. He motioned for me to getout without saying anything. He went to the rear of the SUV, opened the rear hatch and dropped my duffel bag in the dust. Looking at me in amusement, he shook his head smiling the whole time and went to get back in the SUV. The SUV sped off, leaving me standing there in the dust. I was not happy with my treatment so far and a bit perturbed bent over and picked my duffel bag. Not wanting to keep standing in the road and maybe get hit, I wandered over to the Quonset hut, thinking to myself, “What have I gotten myself into?”

The door to the Quonset hut was shut and not seeing anyone arounde, I tried the door handle. The door opened, and I looked in. There was nobody inside either, so I decided to go in and looked around. There were six cots, with footlockers at the foot of the cot and a locker at the head. On each cot, there was a rolled-up foam mattress, a pillow, and some bedding. That was it for furninshings other than some rather hard-looking chairs. The setting was indeed Spartan, with no creature comforts at all. There was no TV, no radio, no books, or magazines. It then dawned on me: there was only one door. Where was the bathroom? The situation was becoming more confusing as time passed.

The door behind me banged open. I quickly turned around, wondering what would happen next. Mike entered with three other military-looking guys. They each picked a bunk and put their duffel bags on a cot. Mike’s swagger was clear evidence that he felt in charge. His persona annoyed me. I had the impression that this was all meant to put me, the college boy, in my place. Well, this college graduate was not intimidated. I’d changed a lot since my college days due to Ginny.

Mike directed me to choose a bunk and stow my belongings in the foot locker and clothes locker. He informed me our training clothes would arrive after we ate our evening. I decided to do what any survivalist would do and picked the bunk with a wall closest to me. My personal belongings went in to the supplied lockers and my bed made to not military standards, but it was close.

It had been a few hours since I had used a bathroom and my bladder was beginning to complain. I looked around and saw nothing that resembled a restroom. So I decided to ask one of the others where the restroom was located.

I hollered over to the closest team member, “Hey, where is the head? I don’t see any door leading to one.”

He was making up his own bed and, without looking up, said, “Out back, the head and showers are in the shed.”

I thanked him and left the hut, following his directions.

Okay, I would see if he is telling the truth or not. I followed the concrete walkway around back. There was a smaller green utility building as he said there would be. It had an open doorway and no other indication of what it was. Inside on the left were the toilets, with dividers between them and no doors. And, on the right were a couple of sinks with mirrors and two shower stalls. It looked like any other locker room I had been in.

After emptying my bladder and washing my hands, I returned to the Quonset hut. Oh no, this wasn’t good—at all. Andi was setting up the bunk next to me. When this assignment was completed and I returned to Karen, I knew I was going to be in so much trouble.

“Dear, I want you to meet Andi. She was the blonde who slept next to me during training.” There would be no food processors or wooden spoons. They’d never discover the body. I was so dead. This has transformed from a simple way to earn $500,000 into a suicide mission. I was dreading the entire affair. No amount of money was worth jeopardizing my marriage.

Andi then glanced up, noticing me, waved, and smiled. She motioned for me to come closer. I was still half a hut away.

“I am thrilled you arrived. How was your flight?” Andi asked. “We are going to be bunkies during training; isn’t that going to be fun?”

I thought, “Lady, this isn’t going to be a sleepover. This is a training exercise to guarantee we return home.” It was then that I began to recall sequences from James Bond films.

“Ah, I’ve been sitting too long and need to stretch my legs. See you in a little while,” I said, taking off like a bolt of lightning.

At precisely 6 pm, an inconspicuous van arrived in front of the cabin. A group of workers emerged, putting up a table, and placing six foam containers on it, along with a five-gallon insulated drink dispenser. This was our evening meal, I assumed. I opened the container I picked up to find a high-protein, high-calorie dinner consisting of a mystery meat patty on a whole-grain roll. The sandwich meat was coated in a mustard sauce and topped with lettuce and a tomato slice. The sandwich was served with steak fries and a cup of mixed steamed veggies. Dessert was what appeared to be a brownie but tasted more like mud pie with ice cream. It was not bad, but I have had better. For drinks, we had a blueberry-flavored energy drink. It wasn’t bad, but I would have preferred plain tap water. After eating and helping clean up, I went to sit down outside. I wanted to enjoy the evening air and the quietness of our surroundings as long as possible.

That quietness came to an end with a brisk, “Gather round, people. It is time to learn about our mission and what duties each of us has.”

We formed a circle around Mike. I looked around at the others, trying to figure out their talents as related to the mission. Andi looked over at me and smiled. If I were not already married I thought, I would feel an attraction towards her. I then remembered my Viking Princess at home and what she was quite capable of. My head quickly got back into the mission.

Mike said, “I want each of you to introduce yourselves by your first name. Then a brief statement about your specialty will be on this mission. Since I am responsible for this part of the training, I will go first.”

“My name is Mike, and I am a former military combat operative. I have experience in both small arms and unarmed combat. It is my responsibility to maintain a secure environment for this mission.”

Mike pointed to the team member to his immediate left.

“My name is Gary, and I’m a former Navy SEAL. I am a specialist in small firearms and unarmed combat. In addition to those skills, I am in charge of getting the mission group to the intended location. This will be from the submarine, by the way. Afterwards I will be there to extract the mission group and return them to the submarine.”

Then it was the next person in the circle’s turn to speak.

“My name is Randy and I am a recon ranger. Like everyone else, I am expert in small arms and unarmed combat. My other specialty is radio communications. I will be responsible for communications for the mission team.”

“My name is Todd; but I also go by Scotty, and I am a former Navy SEAL. My training is in escape and avoidance and I am also small arms expert-rated. It will be my job to get the mission team back to the submarine. If not, at least make sure the intelligence gathered does.”

Then it was Andi’s turn to speak.

“My name is Andi, and I am to assist him (pointing at me) to gather intelligence inside the computer center. I am also to serve as eye candy to get us past the security guards,” she said, smiling, looking at me.

Four pairs of jealous eyes turned toward me at the mention of eye candy.

Then it was my turn.

“My name is James, and I am the mission expert tasked with determining how good the Russians are. I’ll do what it takes to get the intelligence we have been tasked to get. If it means swiping printouts, data disks, I will do it so we have a successful mission. My technical talents are in computer technology and statistical analysis. Think of me as a nerd, and we’ll get along well. Oh, and if it helps, I also have experience with firearms.

When I said experience with firearms, Mike snorted, trying to hold back a laugh. The rest remained emotionless. Andi glared at Mike, angry at his insulting reaction.

Mike reviewed what turned out to be a brutal training schedule for tomorrow. We’d get up at 5 am and run five miles. Breakfast is followed by one hour of workouts. Then we’d start courses in self-defense, escape and evasion, and shooting techniques. I decided to go to bed early so that I could get through what sounded like a strenuous day.

When the informal gathering ended, I went back into the hut there was a package on each of our bunks. In it was a jogging suit, t-shirt, running shorts, towels, soap, shampoo, and a razor packed ina tra nsparent plastic bag. I wondered if it would be like this the entire training session. I’d ask my questions in the morning to satisfy my curiousity. It was almost time for bed I decided, and would put on the t-shirt and running shorts. In the morning, all I would have to do was put on my socks and running shoes, and I would be ready to go.

It was close to 8 pm and went ahead and got ready for bed. Nobody else was in the Quonset hut at the moment, so I stripped down and put on my shirt and shorts. They exercise clothing fit like a glove. It was not long after that, everyone entered and began getting ready for bed. Andi was the last one in the door, and she like everyone else began preparing for bed. I suppose she wanted to be just another member of the team stripped down. Four astonished squad members stared with their jmouths hanging open staring. I decided I had just as good at home if not better than Andi and looked away. I climbed into bed, and rolled over, hoping to fall asleep.

Shortly, the lights went out, and everyone else was trying to get comfortable and fall asleep. Before I fell asleep, I felt a poke in my back. I rolled over to see what was going on. In the low light conditions, I saw Andi smiling mouth the words, “Thank you.” I nodded, rolled back over, and went to sleep.

It felt like it was in the middle of the night, when the lights came on and a Klaxon horn sounded ... I looked around more asleep thane awake and realized it was time to get up. I sat up, stretched, and went about getting my shoes and socks on. I then went out the door to do my morning preparations and be ready for the morning run. Outside, the air was brisk for this time of the year, especially since it was Virginia.

I started stretching, getting ready for the five-mile run. I wondered what the course would be like. Would it be flat or would it have hills similar to the route I ran at home? Andi was the last one in the head; the other members, including Mike, waited for her to come out. When she finally came out, we started stretching as a team. Mike said he would lead and set the pace for the run. “This should be interesting,” I thought.

“Try to keep up, Doc; we don’t want to leave any stragglers; after all, this is a team,” said Mike with a grin.

“Don’t worry, Mike; I will do my best; you set the pace. I will do my best to keep up.” I replied.

I don’t know why, but he made me nervous. Mike was deffinitely different. The way he spoke to me and the way he kept looking at Andi was creepy. It was one thing to be an asshole and a jerk, but Mike was way beyond that. I suppose my time dealing with Ginny, increased my awareness of people’s behavior. He was certainly worth keeping an eye on. I made a mental note to myself to express my concerns about him to Andi.

Mike led off at an easy pace; we were doing ten minutes to the mile, I deduced. After the second mile, he upped the pace to nine minutes per mile. We were back in front of the Quonset hut less than an hour later. Everyone was walking around, cooling down after the run. Mike led us on another hour of calisthenics after we had cooled down. I was really perspiring after the calisthenics, so I thought I would take off my shirt to let the breeze cool me off.

“Damn, Doc, you got one hell of a six-pack going. Are you a gym rat?” commented Randy.

“Nope, not a gym rat. I worked on county road crews during the summer from the time I was sixteen until about four years ago. There’s nothing like patching road cracks with hot asphalt in the summer heat and humidity. It will harden your physique. Since then, I try to stay fit. During my undergraduate years, the hard body did attract women,” I stated with a grin.

Mike appeared to be sucking on a sour lemon. I don’t believe he appreciated my ability to keep up. It didn’t bother me. I grinned at him, watching the lemon become more sour.

While we were cooling down, a catering crew sat up at a buffet table to serve breakfast. We had a couple of choices for entrees and sides. I chose eggs, toast with jam, cut-up fruit, and a carton of milk for breakfast. I took my foam plate and plastic tableware over to the shade of a tree and sat down. Andi and Randy, the radio specialist, soon joined me. We ate in relative silence.