The Target(18)

Marks smiled. “You’ll see far more of me than you ever wanted to.”

“From behind a window? Or next to us?” said Reel. “I mean, why should we have all the fun? But if you can’t cut it, no worries. Desk jockeys get out of shape really fast.”

Marks’s smile disappeared. “Your gear is in your room. But we won’t be heading there just yet. After that little warm-up we wanted to let you get in a real workout.”

She jogged up the steps into the complex. It was built of logs, had a metal roof, was covered with cammie netting, and had sensors arrayed all over it with jamming devices built into them. There were more surveillance cameras than in the city of London and armed guards patrolled with German shepherd attack dogs that would not be your friends if you didn’t belong here. There were watchtowers with men wielding sniper rifles that could kill from over a mile away. The entire property was enclosed with electrified fencing.

There were also minefields located on the perimeter; several deer and a black bear had discovered this fact at the exact moment they had died.

There was only one road, full of switchbacks, in and out. The rest of the area was thick forest except for the runway, which had been carved out of the flattest spot on the mountain.

Marks parked her eye in front of a retina scanner and the steel door set in a bomb-resistant frame clicked open. She pulled it all the way open and motioned to Reel and Robie to hurry.

“We’re on a tight schedule. So let’s step it up.”

“Stepping it up,” said Reel as she passed by Marks and into the complex.

The halls were empty and smelled like someone had sprayed a chemical wash over them. The walls and ceiling were layered with surveillance devices mostly invisible to the naked eye.

There would be no such thing as privacy here. Reel wondered briefly if the agency had discovered how to read minds. She wouldn’t put it past them.

Marks led them down the main corridor and then hung a left down another, narrower hall. The overhead lights were so bright that it was actually painful to look around. This was intended and both Robie and Reel kept their gazes down, following Marks’s heels as she marched toward their destination.





The next four hours were challenging, even by Robie’s and Reel’s standards.

Swimming against machine-generated currents with weights on their ankles and wrists.

Rope climbing up six stories without benefit of a net while a wind machine did its best to blow them off two-inch-wide ledges.

The military functional fitness training done at triple speed until the sweat poured off them and muscles and tendons were pushed to their breaking points.

Next came push-ups and sit-ups and pull-ups in a sauna where the temperature soared well past a hundred degrees.

Then stair runs where the vertical comprised one hundred steps on a sixty-degree angle. They did it over and over until they were both gasping for air.

Then guns were tossed at them, they were shoved into a darkened room, and beams of light hit them from every angle. Then the shots started coming. And the fire was composed of rubber bullets, as evidenced by a slug ricocheting off a wall and nearly hitting Robie in the head.

Their moves were instinctive. Forgetting about their fatigue, they started advancing in seemingly choreographed steps, shooting target after target until the fire aimed at them stopped.

The lights came on and they blinked their eyes rapidly to adjust to the glare.

Two stories above them, an observation window made of polycarbonate glass slid open and Marks leaned out.

“Exit at the door over there. You’ll be escorted to your room. I’ll meet you there.”

Robie and Reel looked at each other.

“Nice first day,” he said.

“Who says it’s over?” she shot back. “Not the bitch up there.”

Their guns were taken at the door and a man in black cammies led them down a hall and pointed to a room at the end.

Robie opened the door and looked in. Reel stared over his shoulder.

It was about the size of a typical prison cell and just as inviting.

“Just the one room?” said Reel.

Robie shrugged. “Guess so.”

“Well, this will be fun. Comfy-cozy. I just hope you don’t snore.”

“Thinking the same thing about you.”

They walked in and shut the door behind them. There were two bunk beds with thin mattresses and a single sheet and flat pillow on each. There was a sink. There was no commode. There was nothing on the walls. There was a single metal desk. There was a single chair bolted to the floor. There was an overhead light. The walls were painted beige.

Robie sat on a bed.

Reel leaned against the wall.

The door opened and Marks stood there.

“You both did better than I thought you would. But it’s only the first day. And it’s not over yet, of course. Plenty of time.”