Bright and early the next morning, Alex, Treat, and the soldiers were given jungle boots and fatigues, both lighter and faster drying than the standard ones, before being hustled onto a small passenger plane after a hurried breakfast. Each of them were equipped with a seventy-pound bergen filled with five weeks' worth of jungle survival supplies. The only one who wasn't allowed to go with them was Zebra. With the medic's leg still in a cast, the doctor at the infirmary had refused to clear him for any military exercises.
During the fourteen hour flight, Alex caught up on some more sleep and read the textbooks that Treat had given him when they took off. Everyone else just slept or joked around with each other. Sometimes, they talked to their pilot, who was a retired SAS soldier. Apparently, the SAS had agreements with some airlines to employ their retired soldiers to make military transportation easier.
By the time they reached their drop off point, the sky was pitch black as it was around 0330 hours, Brunei time. Everyone got into position and jumped out at their turn, pulling the parachute's rip cord on their cold descent. They landed in a clearing of the Borneo rainforest, surrounded by tall trees with a river nearby, and Wolf did a head count once they had all gathered around.
"Alright, Cub," Wolf said gruffly once everyone had been accounted for. "The jungle phase is usually six weeks, including the test week. You have five weeks to finish it. We will be with you for four of these weeks, two of which are a part of our own refresher course. During these four weeks, we will be training you in drills, patrols, combat, and survival skills. The fifth week is your test."
"Throughout this phase, you will be expected to keep up good hygiene practices," Tiger took over. "Illnesses and other medical conditions develop much more easily and much faster in this environment than they would back at the Brecon Beacons. A part of this is because too much exercise, like we'll be doing here, can lower your immune system's function and it's common for recruits to lose about ten to fourteen pounds in this phase of training."
"We're lucky that it's not raining right now. It's impossible to stay dry in the jungle but it's important to dry off your skin and let it stay dry whenever you've stopped to make camp. Otherwise, there will be rashes and fungus forming on your skin," Otter added.
"You will also be expected to keep up with your schoolwork and keep your kit in good condition," Lion added tersely.
The soldiers glanced at each other to check if they had missed anything. Not thinking of anything else, Wolf asked, "Any questions?"
"No, sir," Alex responded. They weren't telling him anything that he didn't already expect. Although it was cooler in the night, he could already feel the heavy air that would only get worse during the day and make them feel lethargic. That wasn't even counting the fact that they would have to fight through nature every step of the way to survive. Like the hills phase, it would be a test of mental strength and perseverance. He'd do just fine as long as there weren't any illegal organ harvesting hospitals around, he thought darkly, remembering the one in an Australian rainforest on his mission for ASIS.
"Good," his unit leader nodded in approval. Then, he instructed for Alex's benefit, "Get the wristband tracker from your rucksacks and put it on. If there is an emergency, rip off the cover on the side and press the button. A helicopter will come to retrieve you."
Alex and the soldiers quickly followed Wolf's instructions. When the trackers were secured around their wrists, Tiger gave him a calculative look and asked, "What do you think we should do first, Cub?"
Recognizing it as a test, Alex examined their surroundings and answered, "We're in unfamiliar territory so I'd say we explore. But it's still dark out and we're not in a rush so we should set up camp first. We can use these three hours until sunrise to get some more sleep."
"Not bad," Hawk reluctantly approved and fired the next question at him. "But where should we set up camp?"
"Over there," Alex immediately pointed to the top of a slope on the edge of the clearing, a wall of sturdy trees standing tall. "It's close enough to a viable water source but not so close that we run the risk of having animals congregate around us. The height and the surrounding trees makes the spot as defensible of a position as we can get in this environment."
The soldiers were silent, nodding slowly as they ran through possible scenarios in their minds. Eventually, Snake said appraisingly, "Good job, Cub. Looks like we can save some time and skip the lessons on choosing a good camp location. I don't think any of us here can think of a better place to set up camp."
Everyone nodded their agreement and they began splitting up tasks. J-Unit erected the six small tents for all of them, B-Unit gathered a supply of wood for a fire, and K-Unit worked on rationing their food and setting up a watch schedule. After Alex finished radioing in so that base camp was aware of their position and plans for the night, he helped J-Unit with the tents. Then, he put a tarp over their shelter to protect them from the inevitable rain and a mosquito net around them to reduce the chances of getting malaria from pesky bites. They completed everything within ten minutes and, other than B-Unit being on watch duty first, the soldiers were soon fast asleep in their tents. With the exception of Treat having a tent to herself, there were two people in each shelter. Alex had been assigned to share a tent with Wolf. Although he didn't mind the soldier, Alex wished he had been assigned to a heavier sleeper. If Yassen's theory held true, then the new jungle environment would make his nightmares start up again. And the last thing he wanted was to make the soldiers scrutinize him further. So instead of sleeping, Alex used the next hour and half to do his meditations and combat breathing exercises, hoping it would help keep him somewhat rested for the day and reduce the nightmares for tomorrow night.
The sound of their tent flap opening signaled the end of his session and he opened his eyes to see Squirrel peering in, about to wake them for K-Unit's guard duty shift. Giving each other curt nods, Squirrel backed out while Alex carefully shook Wolf's shoulder. Like a lot of soldiers, the man could sometimes react badly to being startled awake. They were out in less than a minute to switch places with B-Unit and joined the rest of K-Unit in taking up watch positions, rifle in hand. Even though the calls of the jungle's inhabitants could be chilling at times, the next hour and a half was, thankfully, uneventful. The most exciting thing that happened was Eagle and a bird startling each other with their quiet humming so they were quite bored by the time they went to wake up the rest of the soldiers as dawn broke at the end of their shift. Once everyone was up, it took them a full hour to eat breakfast and pack up. Normally, it would only take twenty minutes but J-Unit, the ones who were the most alert since they didn't have guard duty last night, were teaching Alex how to erase all evidence that they had ever been there. When they were done, Alex had a good understanding of how to hide his tracks, giving him some insight into how to track others as well.
"Alright," Tiger called out to gather everyone around. "Cub, here's the plan. As we march through this hell for the next four weeks, we will be teaching you jungle survival and more combat. We will also be running through Special Forces tactics, techniques, and procedures. There will be a few night exercises each week to help with your training in this."
"Other than that, it has been agreed that you will have five hours with me each day to focus on your schoolwork," Treat added quietly.
"The schedule will be different each day," Wolf grunted. "Today, we're starting with the tactics, techniques, and procedures of a Long Range Recon Patrol. Otherwise known as TTPs of a LRRP."
"You're navigating," Lion growled out, tossing a map and compass that Alex caught easily, making the soldier scowl.
After Tiger told him the checkpoint that they were making for, the group grabbed their rifles and trekked through the diverse terrain for the rest of the morning, following Alex's directions. As they went, the soldiers were soon drenched from a mixture of rainwater, sweat, and the murky water of the swamps they crossed as they pointed out survival tips, taught him how to use the sun to tell time or direction, and had him practice different tactical formations, emphasizing that the column formation was best if they wanted to slow down any trackers. The canopy of leaves above them sometimes provided cover from the downpour that had started a few minutes into their journey but, more often than not, the rain that collected on those leaves would get so heavy that at least one of them would be treated to a cold shower as they passed underneath. Even though this was a brief respite from the constantly rising heat of the rainforest, it only increased the humidity around them and made everyone more miserable as they kept marching. More than once, the soldiers snapped at each other and Alex resignedly redirected their attention to keep them on track.
By the time they reached their checkpoint five hours later at around lunch time, everyone breathed a sigh of relief as they were able to split up to complete various tasks. While the rest of the soldiers hung the tarp between a couple of high branches to give them some cover or prepared the disposable metal stoves for their army rations, Alex went with Eagle to gather firewood. A few minutes into their search, they came across a mangrove swamp and worked on collecting some of the branches.
"Look, Cubby!" Eagle exclaimed. "Let's see how far I can throw this!"
Alex turned around to see the soldier pick up a rock and hurl it across the swamp. "Eagle," he sighed exasperatedly. "I don't think now is the time to be stone skipping."
"But I'm bored!" Eagle pouted while throwing some more rocks. "Maybe everyone would be happier if we took a break!"
"Probably," Alex agreed. "But we need to - "
He froze for a second as he heard a snapping sound. Quickly, he stopped the soldier from throwing the next stone and pulled the man away from the swamp, whispering urgently, "Crocodile!"
Just as Eagle was about to protest, a sixteen-foot long crocodile, with a smooth and slender snout, surfaced on the far side of the swamp to glare at them. They froze, staring back at the reptile, and then slowly backed away with the firewood that they had gathered. Once the crocodile was out of sight, they let out the breath that they had been unconsciously holding and walked in silence for a couple of minutes.
"Cubby... how did you know?" Eagle eventually asked, curiously glancing sideways at Alex.
"... I don't know," Alex answered blankly.
A hand grabbed his arm, gently turning Alex around to face the soldier. There was an unusual seriousness to Eagle's tone as the man said with an earnest look, "Cub, I – we – know you're hiding something. Several things. Whatever it is, you can trust us. We want to help. Just, please... tell me something. Like how you knew a false gharial was in the swamp just now."
"False gharial?" Alex asked curiously.
"The crocodile," the soldier replied. "Their species is called a false gharial. Commonly found in these parts of the world. You can recognize them by the long and narrow snout, reddish-brown back with dark spots, and crossbands on the tail. Did we not brief you on this before?" Alex shook his head and the weapons expert grimaced guiltily. "Oops... I guess we were busy teaching you so many other things that we forgot. But we're getting off track! How did you know it was around?"
"I heard its jaw snapping," Alex said shortly.
"That doesn't tell me anything," Eagle frowned. "I heard the sound too... But I didn't immediately recognize it as a crocodile."
Alex shrugged at this, not keen on talking about his mission that had him end up in Kenya. Although he wasn't sure how long he had held on, Alex could still remember how his muscles had screamed that day. How close he'd been to giving up. To letting go and dropping into the crocodile-infested river.
"Alright," Eagle mused thoughtfully. "I know you don't trust us, especially after the first time you came to train. How about I start first?" The soldier took a deep breath and continued. "I had a twin brother but he died in a shooting ten years ago. Some terrorists had decided to shoot up the mall, where my brother was at the time. After that, I became depressed and even thought about committing suicide. But one day, I realized that my brother wouldn't have wanted me to kill myself or go through each day like a robot. He would have wanted me to live my life to the fullest and find happiness everywhere, even the small things."
"I'm sorry about your brother," Alex said quietly. The soldier nodded, giving him a sad smile. After a few moments of silence, he asked, "It's why you became a soldier, isn't it?"
Eagle nodded solemnly. Then, the man suddenly grinned and said, "Your turn!"
Alex studied the sharpshooter, trying to decide how much to say. The man had just told a personal story in an effort to get him to talk. And that was a big show of trust in this line of work. Telling Eagle nothing would be throwing it back in the soldier's face. So, he couldn't stay silent. At the same time, Alex knew he couldn't reveal everything either. Finally, he settled on something that would satisfy the soldier without breaking the Official Secrets Act. His SCORPIA training of never personalizing the victim came in useful here. Not exactly how Yermalov and Ross intended him to use the training, he thought, but it still served a purpose. "It was after a mission. One of the targets caught me on my way to school and I ended up being forced at gunpoint to hang over a river filled with crocodiles while they questioned me about how much MI6 knew. They left me there when they were done, expecting my grip to fail eventually so that I would fall and be eaten alive."
"Cubby..." Eagle whispered softly. "That's a form of torture... I'm so sorry you had to go through that."
Alex shrugged and said, "Just don't tell anyone else. Not even the sergeant or K-Unit."
"I won't."
Alex nodded and they headed back to camp in silence. He could feel the soldier sneaking glances at him but ignored it. There was no use in telling the man to stop. Besides, Eagle would get bored of it eventually. So instead of getting irritated at the man, Alex scanned their surroundings for danger until they reached the camp. Once they did, the unit leaders stalked up to them.
"You were supposed to be back five minutes ago. What took you so long?" Wolf snarled, glaring at the two of them.
"Uh... we... I..." Eagle stammered, cowering in the face of three angry unit leaders.
Alex sighed, then answered, "False gharial. That you never briefed me about. But we brought the firewood."
The soldiers looked at each other with wide eyes. "Oh shit," Tiger said, closing his eyes for a second. "Everyone is supposed to get a full briefing of the foreign environment they're entering into before a mission or training exercise. The rest of us already had the briefing when we trained during selection."
"Not being briefed could be deadly, depending on what you encounter. You've been on missions before. Even though we forgot, why didn't you ask for details? Did you not think it was odd that you weren't getting any information?" Snake frowned.
Alex smiled wryly. "The only information I was given for missions was my objective. Maybe the target person's background."
Silence. Even Treat and Lion were frowning now. Then, "WHAT?!" Wolf exploded. "ARE YOU TELLING ME THAT YOU BASICALLY WENT IN BLIND?!"
"Yes." He didn't know why he was suddenly being so open with the soldiers about his missions. Maybe it was because his talk with Eagle had made a crack in his walls. All he knew was that it felt like a small weight had been lifted.
"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL DO THOSE MI6 BASTARDS THINK THEY'RE DOING?!" Wolf bellowed. "SENDING IN - "
"WOLF!" Alex interrupted. "You may not have briefed me about this jungle but I'm fairly certain that making that much noise is going to attract the wrong kind of attention. So save it for when we're back at Brecon Beacons and let's eat lunch already."
While Wolf kept muttering angrily, the rest of the soldiers looked down abashedly, internally berating themselves for not thinking of the dangers sooner, but waved Alex over to teach him how to make a smokeless fire. Once their army rations had been warmed up enough, they each took their food and ate quickly, knowing they still had another five hours of hiking to go. When they finished eating, everyone packed up and Alex found himself leading them through the muggy rainforest once again, listening to the soldiers' quiet lectures on heat injuries, the Bornean animal and plant species, and Treat's talk on local politics in the area. Alex realized that the political talk was especially important as the Borneo island is shared among Indonesia, Brunei, and Malaysia. As he learned about their current environment, Alex and the soldiers tried to minimize the disturbance of their passage as much as possible to prevent attacks from the jungle inhabitants. The ones they were most worried about were insects, snakes, and big animals like the false gharial or Sumatran rhinoceros. Along the way, they had a few scares that caused them to raise their rifles - a flying squirrel jumping out at them from a tree and a sun bear growling at their passage were just the beginning.
During these five hours, the group of veterans had crossed a few more swamps and streams. In between these, the landscape had a little bit of soil on the surface but was either the driest of desert sands, wet sand from heavy precipitation, or lush vegetation that they had to fight their way through. They were exhausted. Lethargic. And the warm humidity sometimes made it hard to breathe, intensified by the air that was thick on their tongues. A whole day of being in a wet and uncomfortably warm environment while on a constant state of high alert had shortened everyone's tempers too. By the time they reached the next checkpoint, their campsite for the night, even Eagle was so tired that he had stopped talking a while ago. Wordlessly, Alex and the soldiers split up their tasks in setting up the camp again.
This time, Badger pulled him aside, after Alex had radioed in to base camp, and told Alex to look for packages of tablets in his rucksack. Once he found them, the comms expert separated the packages and pointed out, "These are water purification tablets. You can use them to make sure you have safe drinking water. And these are hexamine fuel tablets. Sometimes, it's better to use these for a smokeless fire than to make one yourself from your surroundings, particularly if you don't want to leave any trace."
Alex nodded and rummaged in his rucksack for a lighter. As he helped to heat up their food with the disposable stoves and fuel tablets, he heard Squirrel and Horse talking quietly in a foreign language, occasionally glancing at Alex.
" - او حتی به اندازه کافی قد نمی کشید تا از طریق آموزش منظم ارتش رفته!" Squirrel exclaimed angrily, trying to keep his voice down. ( - He doesn't even look old enough to have gone through regular army training!)
"اما او هنوز هم صلاحیت دارد تا با ما همکاری کند. برای آن، او سزاوار است که مانند یکی از ما رفتار شود. و آیا نگرش و سطح مهارت او نگرانی شما نیست؟ او مانند یک کودک عمل نمی کند. این باعث می شود که ما بدانیم که چه اتفاقی برای او افتاده و او را به عنوان یک سرباز ارتقا داده است," Horse fired back hotly. (But he's still competent enough to keep up with us. For that, he deserves to be treated like one of us. And doesn't his attitude and skill level concern you? He doesn't act like a child. It makes us wonder what happened to him and who raised him to be a soldier.)
Squirrel reluctantly muttered something that, even if it was in a language that he understood, Alex couldn't catch. Seeing that the soldiers' conversation was over, Alex went back to heating up their food, wondering what that had been about, and caught Badger staring at him with a calculative look. He raised an eyebrow at the comms expert.
"They were speaking Dari. You know that B-Unit isn't happy about you being here, especially considering how young you look," Badger explained in a low voice. "Well, Horse was just telling Squirrel that the only thing that matters is that you're competent enough to train with us." He paused, then asked shrewdly, "Do you want to learn Dari and Pashto?"
Suddenly, he was Abdul Hassan for a moment again, in Bangkok with Ash acting as his father, Karim. A memory of their meeting with Anan Sukit came to mind. Ash had been negotiating in Dari but the snakehead had slapped Alex, twice, on each side of his face and demanded that Alex go alone to get the papers they needed. He wished he could have understood what they were saying. Had Ash been genuinely surprised and shaken by it? Or had his godfather staged it, acting worried while planning Alex's deadly Thai boxing match right in front of him? The men involved were dead so Alex supposed he would never know the answer. Mentally shaking himself out of the memory, he took a deep breath and looked Badger in the eyes, firmly saying, "Yes, I want to learn."
"Okay, I'll start teaching you during our watch duty these next few weeks," Badger promised, eyeing the boy warily, having noticed something off in those few seconds before Cub answered him. It was like the teen had been a million miles away before a hard look had entered those brown eyes, turning them into a frozen tundra. "Is there a... story behind your decision?" Badger asked hesitantly.
Cub stayed silent for so long that Badger thought he would never answer and was startled when the teen told him emotionlessly, "Maybe I wouldn't have been betrayed so easily if I had known Dari."
With that, Alex left to help the other soldiers with the tents, leaving behind a shocked soldier to stare after him. Even after Badger had gotten over his surprise, Alex could still feel the soldier's gaze return to him every now and then as they ate their meal and listened to the rest of the soldiers' conversation.
"Hey, Cubby!" Eagle called out, distracting Alex from Badger's glances. "You don't even complain about army rations but there's no way that you enjoy eating this stuff. What kind of food do you miss having?"
The rest of the soldiers had already talked about the food that they missed so all of their attention was on Alex, who shrugged and answered, "It depends on where I am."
"What kind of answer is that?!" Lion growled in frustration. "Too good to even share what your favorite food is?"
"What Lion is trying to, very poorly, express," Snake said with a hard edge to his tone while glaring at B-Unit's leader, "is what do you mean by that?"
Amused by the cowed look that Lion gave the unit medic, Alex explained with a small smile, "I traveled a lot when I was younger. The rule I was given was to blend in with the locals. So, my favorite food depends on where I am in the world." He paused, then quoted, "'When in Rome, do as the Romans do.'"
The soldiers stared at him before exchanging glances with each other. Then, Tiger said flatly, "You were being raised for intelligence work. What kind of parents do that?"
Alex smiled grimly. "Raised for it or not, I don't think I could have escaped it." Before the soldiers could ask for clarification on that statement, Alex suggested, "Since we're all done eating, shouldn't we be packing up some of this stuff or something?"
Thrown off by his sudden change in topic, the soldiers looked at their empty cans in surprise before scrambling to help him pack up the stove and clean their camp so no animals would come searching for food in the night. When they were done, Alex and the soldiers worked on their combat skills while Treat watched them from a distance. The first half an hour was dedicated to individual matches and learning some more moves from the soldiers. Alex copied them until he was sure that he had the right movements. He wasn't good enough to win all of the matches yet but he could at least beat half of them, if narrowly. Then, the last half hour was spent learning to work as a combat unit – tactics, techniques, procedures, following the instructions of hand signals, and moving as a team. To practice all of this, the units did several drills before doing a mock fight against each other. They all ended up with some nasty bruises but none of them minded. It came with the job. Besides that, they had a good time competing against each other and were satisfied with Alex's progress.
At the end of the hour, they split up into two groups. While one group guarded the camp and tended to their kits to keep them in good condition, the other group went to wash off the sweat and grime from their bodies, changing into dry clothes to spend the rest of the night in. Alex was on guard duty first and found the maintenance of his kit to be quite soothing, especially the repetitive motion of cleaning his rifle. It felt similar to meditation and helped to control the worries he felt about bathing in front of the soldiers for the first time since he arrived back at Brecon Beacons. As it turned out, he didn't even have to worry because the soldiers never noticed any of his scars. He thought that was odd and it wasn't until he heard Snake comment confusedly to the others that he must have already gone back to the tents that Alex realized he was unconsciously using the shadows to stay invisible like Yassen had taught him. The soldiers couldn't see that he was standing right there with them!
Smirking to himself, Alex hurriedly finished up washing, taking care to not step on a millipede or get stung by a wasp, and slipped past the soldiers to beat them to the tents. If they were going to assume that he had cleaned up more quickly and gone back without them, then he was going to make sure they kept thinking that. It made avoiding questions about his scars much easier.
By the time the soldiers got back to the tents, Treat was already in the middle of teaching Alex about solving quadratic equations and its practical uses. He caught on quickly and, by the end of the hour, was able to solve the problems using all three methods - factoring the equation, using the quadratic formula, and completing the square. After that, the two of them went through some of the subject material for Geography, History, and English for the next three hours, spending an hour on each course with the humanities lessons being taught in Japanese. For the last hour of their study session, Treat moved on to Chemistry, teaching Alex about covalent bonds.
"Think of it this way," Treat said after explaining how the bond works. "Organic compounds are an example of this bond. So, let's say that you and I are organic compounds. And we have a puppy between us. This means that we're non-metal elements and the puppy is the electron. Now, you and I share the same, or similar, values in life. That will represent the electronegativity of the atom in this illustration. If we have identical values, then a pure covalent bond will form. But if we only have similar values, a covalent bond will form. Meaning the electron that we are sharing, or puppy in this example, will spend more time closer to one of us than the other. No matter which type of covalent bond forms, it makes the connection between us, or rather the atoms, more stable."
Something in the woman's tone and expression made him think that she was talking about more than just the school curriculum. Was it a test that Jones had put the spy up to? Or was Treat suggesting something?
"So we would be in a stable relationship?" Alex asked casually.
There was a moment of silence as the woman decided how to respond. Then, "We're of a similar age in the same profession, working for the same side. We understand each other better than most others would. It's as stable and ideal as it can get for people like us," Treat said softly, blushing but moving closer to him.
Raising an eyebrow and making sure that no one else could hear them, Alex asked amusedly, "You do know that I'm underage, right?"
A pause. "Yes." Another beat of silence. Then, the woman exhaled slowly. "I forget that you're not an adult. I used to see you as a child... but after spending these past couple of weeks around you, it's hard to remember that you're underage. Your thoughts on various social issues, the way you weigh everyone's opinions before making a decision, and dealing with these impossibly difficult situations in your life... You're so much more capable and mature than most adults are."
"Well, don't start treating me like a child now," Alex said dryly. "I quite enjoy talking to you as an equal."
Treat grinned. "Don't worry. I don't think I can ever think of you as a child again. And we're still fairly close in age, especially compared to most of our other colleagues. I hope we get a chance to be partners sometime."
"Maybe someday."
As it was getting late, they quickly wrapped up their study session and went back to their tents. While Treat went to sleep, Alex nodded to J-Unit in passing and sat down for half an hour of meditations and combat breathing exercises before following the woman's example. When he was woken for watch duty four hours later, Alex still felt tired but was glad that his nightmares hadn't acted up. Yawning, he grabbed his rifle and followed Wolf out of their tent, taking up a position by Badger. The rest of the night was spent learning Dari and Pashto from the comms expert while they kept a lookout for any sign of trouble. Like the night before, it was fairly uneventful. It was just the sounds of the jungle inhabitants. Among them, they could hear the constant flapping of bat wings and the occasional squeaking from the airborne mammals' echolocation which became a familiar sound to the soldiers. Other than that, the most dangerous had been seeing the rare and elusive Borneo bay cat roaming around the opposite side of the river they were camped on. Alex and K-Unit stayed still as soon as they saw the feline, preparing for danger while trying to not startle it into attacking them. They had only relaxed once the bay cat had disappeared into the distance, just in time to wake the others for breakfast.
The next three weeks passed by with much of the same activities and it all blurred together. Every day, Alex would listen to lectures during the march through the jungle, learn about Special Forces TTPs and weapons while practicing their combat with drills or matches against each other, and do the five hour study sessions with Treat. These study sessions provided some time for the soldiers to give base camp an update on their location and Alex's progress with the training, as well as plan the next day's exercises. There was one exercise in particular they had planned that Alex detested even though he passed it every time. It was one where he was required to stand at attention, motionless, for two hours straight. He knew it was to test his patience and endurance for reconnaissance operations, where there was a lot of waiting around for something to happen and the slightest movement might give away your location. But even after a whole day of military exercises, that thought didn't keep him from feeling restless.
Every night, he would evade the soldiers' prying eyes when they washed up, clean his kit, do his meditations and combat breathing, sleep, and learn Dari and Pashto from Badger during their watch duty. The only difference in their routine was when they did each military exercise and how much time they spent on it each day. Sometimes, they either spent the whole day marching or the whole day doing combat practice. Other times, they would have half a day for each activity. During times that the soldiers set up night exercises for him, Alex would either already be on watch duty or he was abruptly pulled from his sleep to deal with whatever situation the units had decided to throw at him that night.
As the weeks went by, they became more exhausted with an increasingly bad mood but Alex appeared to have been able to control his temper better than most of the other soldiers. Tiger, Badger, and Snake were the exception, only showing slight irritation. The other exception was Eagle, providing frequent chatter and cracking jokes every now and then. It seemed to help lift everyone's moods a little bit which made Alex realize that the weapons expert could be serious when they needed him to be but often acted like a child because, after understanding his twin brother's wishes, it was his way of coping with the stress. A part of it might even be that Eagle recognized that his childishness helped with morale and sometimes deliberately acted that way as a contribution to the team.
With this revelation, Alex began to see the man in a new light as he studied Eagle's behavior. The demolitions expert had made them commit to some bonding time during their nightly meals, the only time that training would allow them to relax, in an effort to raise their spirits and integrate Alex into their units. So, every night, they played games or just talked for an hour while sitting around the campfire and eating their meager dinners. It was during these meals that Alex learned more about the soldiers, slowly coming to trust them more. He was amazed at how open they were, talking about everything they could think of.
Because of their openness, Alex found himself telling them a little bit more about himself than he normally would. Still nothing too important, like missions or his family background, but it was a step in letting the soldiers know him better. They seemed to appreciate it and Alex wondered if that was what Eagle had intended to happen as a result of these campfire conversations. Although B-Unit wasn't as friendly as the other two units were, even Lion's hostility towards him had eventually tamed to the occasional biting remark and the unit leader's team had followed suit.
The only problem with the soldiers being more friendly was that they paid more attention to him than they had in the past. It took more effort to hide his scars and make sure he wasn't having nightmares. Even more inconvenient, he had to force himself to act normal when he felt a presence tracking them near the end of the second week. Alex didn't want to alarm the soldiers yet, in case he was just being paranoid. And after a few minutes of monitoring the presence, he relaxed slightly as he recognized that it was Yassen. There was no doubt that the man noticed that Alex knew he was there. He didn't think the assassin was here to kill anyone. A brief thought that the man might want to draw him away into a private training session crossed his mind but he dismissed that idea too. With the SAS around every single second, he wouldn't be able to get away anyways. These assumptions were confirmed when Alex could no longer detect the Russian's presence the next morning.
By the end of the third week, Alex had been fully integrated into each of the three units. He was able to complete all of the military exercises, smoothly playing whatever role he was assigned within the teams, and there was a comfortable camaraderie that had developed. A certain level of trust that went both ways. The soldiers had even openly expressed their full confidence that he would pass the jungle phase of training. Just as well too. As Alex and Treat came back from their study session on the third Saturday in the jungle, they immediately saw that something was wrong. The soldiers were huddled together, whispering furiously at each other.
"What happened?" Alex asked.
The soldiers sprang apart at the sound of his voice, looking uneasily at him in silence. Jaw clenched, Wolf growled out, "Base camp just informed us that your training is to be cut short. Your test week starts tomorrow. After you've finished the assessment, we're flying straight back to Brecon Beacons."
So Jones wanted to pull him out for a mission, Alex thought as he crossed his arms and leaned against a tree. "Is that all?"
The men looked at him incredulously. "Your survival training has been cut short without a reason and that's all you have to say?!" Tiger exclaimed.
"Not to mention that it cuts into your regular schooling," Treat added quietly.
"Are you even taking this seriously?" Badger questioned angrily, stalking back and forth. "You could die! It's happened to fully trained soldiers before in training!"
Alex felt his jaw twitch in annoyance before saying in a deadpan voice, "What's there to take seriously? This has always been my dream vacation."
The soldiers exchanged bewildered looks and stared back at him. "What the hell, Cub?!"
"I'm sure he's just being sarcastic," Treat assured them dryly.
"Quit fooling around," Tiger growled.
"Cutting the training short isn't that big of a deal. You've already said that I would pass the test."
"Getting cocky now, aren't we?" Lion challenged.
"Doubting your own teaching abilities?" Alex fired back coolly.
"Alright, that's enough," Snake interrupted while stepping between them with hands out in a placating gesture.
Lion sighed before commenting curiously, "You don't seem surprised about being pulled out of training early."
"Cubby, did you already know that this would happen?" Eagle frowned.
Alex studied the soldiers for a moment. At his silence, even Treat shot him a questioning look. Finally, he gave in and revealed, "I suspected."
"Anything else you haven't told us?" Wolf asked scathingly.
"Nothing you need to know." With that, he went into his assigned tent and started meditations, leaving behind frustrated soldiers and a concerned spy to their thoughts. As he did his meditations, Alex heard Treat and the soldiers whispering to each other. While the woman didn't normally share information with the units, it seemed that she was making an exception this time. The bits of whispered conversation he caught made him smile in dark amusement. Yes, his training wasn't completed and he still had a long way to go before he finished school. But since when had those been a priority when he was dealing with MI6? Treat and the soldiers were naïve to think that it mattered. Their outrage would accomplish nothing. And truth be told, Alex was looking forward to another mission. Finishing up his combat breathing exercises, he fell asleep to the sound of Eagle refusing to talk about the details of the false gharial incident and Alex's own reactions to it when the soldiers questioned the sharpshooter as they were trying to, once again, piece together his life and unusual reactions.
The next morning, Alex woke up to a flurry of activity, Treat and the soldiers packing up the camp after their hurried breakfast. Once everything was loaded into their rucksacks, Wolf gave him a map and compass, telling him the time and location of the few checkpoints he had to make, as well as his final destination. After that, a helicopter from base camp came to pick up Treat and the soldiers, leaving Alex alone in the jungle.
Normally, this assessment was done in units but Jones had ordered his test to be accomplished alone. This only put the soldiers into an even fouler mood. As the helicopter disappeared from view, Alex let out a deep sigh and started mapping out his route. Fifteen minutes later, he secured an empty can to collect rainwater for drinking as he walked and was on the move again, making for his first checkpoint. He was glad that he had paid attention to their position throughout the last three weeks. Everything looked the same so it was easy to get lost in the jungle. Knowing his starting position had helped cut down on the amount of time spent figuring out the locations. As he marched through the rainforest, Alex enjoyed the calm of having only the sounds of the jungle envelope him while he used everything the soldiers had taught him in those few weeks to keep himself alive and healthy. Despite having to find his way around snakes, a Borneo pygmy elephant, and some clouded leopards, Alex made good time, using the sun and the moon to tell time and direction like he had been taught.
For the most part, Alex found that he liked marching through the jungle in solitude better. The only time he really wished that the soldiers were still around was when he went to sleep. There was no one to switch guard duty shifts with and that took a noticeable toll on his mental state. He had always been a light sleeper but he was on a constant state of alert now, just in case an animal came across him while he was unconscious.
After the third day of not sleeping, Alex was so exhausted that he could barely walk straight. As he swerved around a tree for the fourth time that day, he suddenly groaned out loud, tempted to let himself hit his head on the tree for his stupidity, as he remembered Yassen's advice to him. The meditation can be useful when you are on a mission where it is not wise to let down your guard. Even though it cannot replace sleep, it will substitute it in the short term by letting your body and mind rest. Those were the man's words. So for the rest of the week, he practiced deep meditation for five hours every night. It only took one night of this for him to feel a marked improvement in his energy levels while still being aware of his surroundings at all times. Even so, Treat and the soldiers were shocked at his red eyes and lack of coordination when he finally met them at his last checkpoint at the end of the week. Alex had regressed to the exhausted state he had been in just before he took up the nightly deep meditation. He supposed that only frequent conditioning would lengthen the amount of time that the practice would be effective for.
Not knowing what to say, the soldiers simply stared at him for a long moment. Eventually, Wolf grunted, "Congratulations, Cub. You passed the jungle phase."
Nodding, Snake added, "We're boarding a plane in a few minutes. Get some sleep on the flight back."
Alex didn't even have the strength to nod but, sure enough, a plane arrived a few minutes later to take them back to Wales and he didn't need any more encouragement to fall asleep. He was out like a light as soon as he sat down and no amount of noise could wake him up. As the plane landed in Brecon Beacons, Badger got up and carefully shook Alex's shoulder. Treat and the soldiers froze in shock as Alex's unfocused eyes snapped open, scanning wildly for threats, while a fist was already aiming for the comms expert's face. Recognizing Badger, Alex pulled his punch at the last second to lessen the impact and groaned, flopping back into his seat while dragging a hand over his face. After a few moments of silence, he looked up at everyone. "Good to know that a week of sleepless nights makes me paranoid," he said dryly.
"ATTENTION!" Sergeant Sanders barked out as he approached, making them jump to stand at attention and cutting off whatever the soldiers were going to say. "Cub, go get cleaned up. The rest of you, including you," Sanders pointed to Treat, "follow me to my office."
They scrambled to comply. As Alex trudged over to the showers, the soldiers exchanged looks and followed the sergeant to his office, standing at attention again when they walked into the room.
"At ease," Sanders finally said after studying Treat and the soldiers. "How did Cub do?"
"Sir," Wolf responded. "Even though Cub's training was cut short with a significant amount of time dedicated to regular schooling and his assessment was modified to be done alone, instead of with a unit, he passed with flying colours."
"Throughout the test, we tracked his location and noticed that he made several detours from the expected path." Tiger added. "We're assuming that he ran into some trouble, like animals in those areas, but Cub still made every single checkpoint on time."
"Because he was doing this alone, Cub seems to have not slept at all for the duration of the test," Snake said quietly. "That's a whole week of sleep deprivation that none of the other recruits have endured for this phase of training. I'm surprised he was still functional enough to complete the assessment."
"Other than that," Otter took over, "Cub seems to have no injuries. It doesn't even look like that bullet wound is giving him trouble either." He paused. "Although he doesn't have any injuries, I'm worried about the amount of weight he's lost. It's expected for this phase but he seems to have lost the same amount of weight as other recruits would in a shorter amount of time."
Sanders nodded and frowned as he listened to the report. He was both impressed and troubled by the teen's performance. "How is he progressing with schoolwork?"
"Fine," Treat answered. "He's a quick learner and we got through more material than I expected."
"What level is he at?"
"Classified," Treat said. Telling them the level of material they were studying would reveal Cub's age and Jones had forbidden her from letting the soldiers know that.
Frustrated, Sanders switched to questioning the soldiers instead. "Anything unusual?"
They exchanged glances and Wolf growled, "A lot."
"Cub is much more mature than the rest of you," Treat smirked playfully. "Unlike the units, he kept his temper. Sometimes, he even kept you soldiers in line so we could stay on track."
Sanders raised an eyebrow at this but the soldiers didn't protest, only rolled their eyes at her. They knew it was true. Instead, Hawk started off with saying, "The first thing we tested Cub on was choosing a good, defensible camp location. He did that without any issues and we didn't have to train him for it even though recruits usually need some guidance there."
"After Eagle and Cub came back late from collecting firewood on the first day because they encountered a false gharial, we realized that we never briefed Cub about the Borneo environment. Cub didn't find the lack of information odd and never asked because he goes into his missions blind," Wolf growled. "He's only given his objective. Maybe the target person's background. And Eagle's been acting shifty whenever the false gharial is brought up but still won't tell us what actually happened."
"I promised Cub I wouldn't," Eagle simply answered, staring ahead.
"He's had a sudden interest in learning Dari and Pashto," Snake hastily interrupted before Wolf could yell at their weapons expert. "Badger has been teaching him during our watch duty shifts."
"Badger has been unusually silent when we ask him anything about it," Horse commented curiously.
"I don't think it's my place to say," Badger said blankly as he shifted uncomfortably.
Seeing that Wolf's face was getting redder with every secret his unit was keeping, Tiger followed Snake's example and tersely interrupted his fellow unit leader. "We asked Cub about his favorite food and he said that it depends on where he is in the world because he was trained to do as the locals do. He was raised for intelligence work, which is bad enough, but Cub believes that he would have ended up in this line of work, regardless of upbringing."
"Another unusual thing is that Cub still doesn't exactly wash up with us," Bat added. "He'll go with us but he seems to be done and back at camp before any of us sees what he's hiding."
"I don't think that assumption is right. I think we don't see him wash up because he mastered the art of invisibility," Lion explained sourly. "There are times when I know Cub is there but I can't see him. He's hidden in the shadows. During the hills phase, my unit taught him the basics of camouflage and staying hidden but he was still a novice back then. I don't know how he managed to master the skill within a week of us teaching him."
"When we told him that training was cut short and he was starting his assessment the next day, Cub didn't seem surprised at all," Badger continued their report. "Said he already suspected it would happen. With less training time, he wasn't even concerned about the possibility of dying in the jungle. Who makes a joke about that?!"
"Don't forget that Cub had a more violent reaction to being shaken awake than usual after the assessment," Eagle chimed in.
"Hard to forget that I've been punched in the face less than half an hour ago," Badger retorted good-naturedly. "Cub pulled his punch but my face is still smarting from the impact."
Done with their report on Cub's unusual life, they waited in silence for the sergeant to speak. The soldiers watched as Sanders ran a hand through his hair and over his face before addressing them again. "There's still a lot that doesn't make sense about Cub - who he is, why he's here, how he became this way. But one thing I'm certain of, is that Cub has a strange life. A hard one that has made him grow up too fast. He's no snotty, rich brat. And, although we don't know his age, I think it's safe to say that it doesn't matter at this point. He is clearly too young to be involved in all of this. And younger than he acts. Like I said before, we need to gain his trust before we can help him. Have you accomplished that?"
The soldiers shifted uneasily. "Not exactly," Wolf answered for them. "He's opened up about little details, like the fact that he's a Chelsea fan or that he's lived in the States for a couple of months, but nothing important about his past."
Sanders nodded and sighed. "He's going to be difficult to get to but keep working on earning his trust. And Wolf, don't be too hard on your teammates for keeping secrets. It will help Cub realize that you can be trusted."
"Yes, sir!"
"Go find Cub and tell him to report to my office."
Treat and the soldiers saluted the sergeant and walked out to do as they were told. A few minutes later though, they panicked as they realized that the teen was nowhere to be found. Breaking up into teams of two, they searched the whole camp for half an hour. And still, nothing.
"Cub's duffle bag is still here," Snake commented. "I don't think he intended to leave."
"Where the hell is he though?!" Wolf snapped. "I swear if he's playing hide and seek, I'm going to strangle him!"
"Hold that thought, Wolf," Tiger called out as he jogged over to where they were gathered. "I reported it to the sergeant and he wants us back in his office."
When they entered the sergeant's office, they found Sanders pacing back and forth, looking like he was ready to pull out his hair. Warily, they stood at attention and waited for further instruction.
Abruptly the sergeant turned to face them. "I got a call from MI6 to call off our search for Cub. You have a week of leave and then you are to return back here. That's it."
They stared at the sergeant in shock. Even Treat hadn't expected this and she was supposed to be kept in the loop about Cub's status for the foreseeable future. "Sir - " Wolf protested.
"DON'T ASK ME! I DON'T KNOW ANYTHING ELSE! IF THOSE MI6 BASTARDS THINK THEY CAN COME IN AND PULL WHOEVER THEY WANT OUT OF MY CAMP, THEY'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING! NOW LEAVE SO I CAN REPORT THIS TO COMMAND AND HOPEFULLY THEY CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!"
Not needing any more incentive than a raging sergeant, they fled.