Page 69 of Remade
Beckett was next, and he was holding a clipboard. “You will be divided into three units, and when you hear your name, you immediately go to your assigned mentor for this training. I will be in charge of Charlie, Coach will take care of Delta, and Operator Rose will be in charge of Echo.” While he spoke, Coach and Rose positioned themselves closer to the door, so maybe two units were going to other classrooms. “Carlos Garcia, Lorraine Freeman, Tanner Kelley, Riley Grey, Zander Morris, Caitlin Staff, and Jerry Perez, you’re Delta and going with Coach.”
“See you on the other side,” I muttered under my breath to Tanner.
“Knock on wood,” he joked back and left.
As his unit shuffled out of the room, Beckett continued.
“Next up, Echo! Tim Lawson, Elliott Jones, David Montgomery, Leighton Watts, Miguel Flores, Gabriella Ortiz, and Michael Littrell.”
That was my cue. I’d already known I wasn’t going to end up in my own boyfriend’s unit anyway.
I grabbed my notebook and aimed for Operator Rose, and I followed him across the hall to another classroom.
This room was on the large side too, so maybe we required the space.
“Have a seat, everyone,” Rose said. “One student per desk, thanks.”
I sat down in the back and studied the others. Some of them definitely looked like they worked for the government. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was, but… How they dressed, how they moved…
Rose leaned back against his desk and had his own clipboard. “Watts, Flores, and Ortiz are our Hillcroft recruits. All three are former Army. And that is the extent of the intro I’m asking the rest of you to present. Starting with David Montgomery.”
The man in question sat near the front, and he gave us all a cursory glance. “Montgomery, FBI. Started out in the Navy.”
The man next to him spoke. “Elliott Jones, private security. Former Navy too.” He was one of the older guys here. Like mid-forties.
“Tim Lawson, ATF. Former police officer.” Also older.
“Littrell, private security. USMC.” Seriously old. He might be over fifty.
Great. Now we all knew one another.
“Over the next six weeks, you will take on our RTI training like a team,” Rose told us. “You’ll be on your own at times, in pairs sometimes, and together as one unit a few times too. Jones is an exception. He’s completed our training, aside from the sensory deprivation portion. He’ll be with us this week only.”
Jones inclined his head.
Rose continued. “Before the first segment begins at oh-five-hundred tomorrow, you will go through the reading material again, and you’ll memorize the information I’m about to hand out. As I hope you know by now, there are various degrees to resistance. More often than not, you’re protecting intel or a person, but you won’t succeed if you starve or black out from exhaustion, malnutrition, or torture. It’s absolutely vital that you learn to find a balance between protecting your asset and your own immediate future. Some information can be surrendered in exchange for water and food.”
I chewed on my lip and made a note. Bo had been oh-so right. There was a reason we’d started profiling long before we’d reached this part of our training, because we had toknowpeople. We had to know human behavior in order to find the balance Rose was talking about. After all, there was no one-size-fits-all here. Much depended on the person holding us hostage. If they were trigger-happy or not. If they were bored or restless. If they were patient or erratic.
Nutrition, I jotted down too. ’Cause that was another thing. If I was out in the field with limited resources, I was going to need to know what exactly would keep me alive. Fat? Slow carbs? Fiber? What would sustain me the longest?
Protein bars with peanut butter seemed like a good choice, but I needed to study the topic properly.
Operator Rose walked by me, leaving a piece of paper upside down on my desk, and I picked it up.
Echo Unit
“You’ll find a code at the top of the paper,” Rose declared. “It’s the team’s duty to keep that secret. The interrogators do not know it. Which brings us to the team that will interrogate you. They are highly trained operators with Hillcroft and agents with our sister agency JATE Shield in LA, and they are allowed to use the same torture methods you might get subjected to if you get your ass captured in the field.”
Holy fuck, this was really happening.
I was nervous and, yeah, okay, a little scared too, but this fucking worked for me. Adrenaline started pumping through me at the mere prospect, bringing me back to when Bo had told me I’d find joy in more than using my gun. I’d get my adrenaline hits from rescue operations, from training, from pursuit, and from…well, life. A life I loved.
“In case you need the reminder, escalation won’t be sudden,” Rose went on. “Our interrogators will increase your sufferingslowly, and every trainee has the right to call it quits whenever you want. And if you want to stop, you say your mentor’s name. In Echo’s case, that’s me. If you utter Operator Rose at any point, everyone will back off, and the sensory deprivation and whatever else will cease. Just keep in mind this will be reflected in your evaluation.” He returned to the front desk and faced us with a serious look in his eyes. “I don’t need to tell you that this is a matter of life and death. It’s our goal to make this as realistic as possible—nothing else can prepare you for the worst-case scenario in the field. All while—don’t give your life for a fucking drill. If you need to stop, you need to fucking stop. Am I making myself clear? Nobody’s getting kicked out for needing a break during training. Ever.”
I took a breath. “Understood, sir.”
The others understood too, and Rose nodded once.
