Alpha Squad: Boot Camp

Chapter Two

Chapter TwoThis assignment was going to be difficult.

Janine looked at herself in the mirror, making sure none of her curled locks had escaped the grasp of the tight bun she usually sported while on duty. She took a deep breath.

Difficult was an understatement. This assignment was crap. It was no wonder none of the boys in her unit had wanted it. So it had been handed to her. A promotion, her superiors had said. It really wasn't.

The so-called shifters she was meant to train were not just highly unqualified, they were potentially dangerous. Much stronger than regular people, which would no doubt make them difficult to control. Who knew how they would react to a woman in charge.

And then there were the humans. She wasn't quite sure who her team would comprise of, but the few files she'd been given with her orders did not fill her with confidence. She might struggle to control the human part of the squad as much as the shifters.

But Janine wasn't a quitter. She would give it her all. Failure was not an option.

A quick glance at the clock above her dresser revealed that it was time to leave. She'd drive straight to the base, which would be her new home for the foreseeable future. Well, hers, and Alpha Squad's—a ridiculously macho name if you asked her. Of course, nobody had asked her.

All her belongings were already stashed in the trunk of her car. The room looked sparse as a result. A blank slate.

It would be a while before she'd come back here. She didn't mind; growing up a foster child, bouncing from home to home, had taught her that nothing in life was permanent. Home was where her work took her. Right now, on this quiet Sunday morning in September, it would take her up the M4 into Wales.

Next? Who knew? One step at a time.

She picked up her appointment letter on the way out.

It was about an hour later when Janine pulled into a rest stop. She was only partially motivated by a yearning for caffeine; mostly, it was procrastination that had sparked her decision to take a break.

Motorway service stations were funny places. They weren't destinations, merely stops on the way to somewhere more exciting. By their very nature they felt impermanent.

Even though the summer was now over, some mostly elderly holidaymakers were still on the move, with their overloaded cars and unapologetically informal fashion sense. Janine, despite dressing in civilian clothes today, still stood out as too proper and straight-laced.

"How can I help?" The girl at the hot drinks counter could not have sounded more disinterested if she tried.

"A regular coffee, milk," Janine said. "No, wait, I'll have a cappuccino."

Janine was headed to a remote and only occasionally used army base. Who knew how long it would take to see some semblance of civilization. She might as well treat herself now.

The girl waited for a couple of seconds with a blank look on her face, as though she was expecting Janine to change her mind again, then pressed a few buttons on the till.

"That'll be 4.25." She tapped her fingers impatiently on the counter as Janine retrieved a £5 note from her wallet and handed it to her.

With these prices, it was no wonder that nobody ever came to these places unless they had no other choice.

The girl quickly counted out the change and hurriedly deposited it in Janine's outstretched hand, causing one of the coins to fall onto the ground.

Janine turned to chase after the stray coin only to find it had come to halt against another customer's shoe. A very large, black boot belonging, in fact, as she figured out upon looking up, to a very tall, incredibly broad, and muscular man, who looked down at her with surprisingly warm brown eyes.

"You dropped something," he remarked.

Thanks, yeah, I'd noticed, Janine thought.

Despite the obviousness of his comment, the bass in his voice still managed to send shivers down her spine.

Janine averted her gaze as he bent down and picked up the coin, holding it up in her direction.

"Thanks," she stammered.

Janine took a deep breath, straightened her back, and forced herself to make eye contact again. "Thank you," she repeated herself, this time in a firmer voice.

How did she expect to train a bunch of renegade shifters and humans if she couldn't even interact with one random guy at a motorway service station properly? What the hell had gotten into her?

"You're welcome," the stranger responded, a warm smile on his face.

She returned his smile briefly.

"Your coffee," the irritating girl called out from behind the counter, prompting Janine to turn her back to the ridiculously handsome stranger. In a strange way, it was a relief not to be faced with him anymore, even if it was just for a second.

She nodded curtly at the girl as she took the takeaway cup and a napkin from the tray on the counter, leaving the sachets of sugar behind. She took a sip right away, savoring the taste as well as the sensation of having the soft frothy milk gently touch her lip. She was stalling, obviously, but when she turned around to leave, she found that the man hadn't moved at all and their eyes met again.

Had he been looking at her the whole time?

She nodded at him and made it a point to check her watch on her way past, but his gaze never wavered and she could feel his eyes on her even as she walked away. Rather than taking a seat inside the building to leisurely enjoy her coffee, she walked back to her car.

Ridiculous .

Her career in the army had meant that she had been around plenty of men at the peak of physical fitness before. None had ever affected her so. In fact, she'd found that most guys who hit the gym as much as this guy must have had nothing much going on upstairs. Something in this man's eyes had suggested otherwise. In an exchange that had lasted only a couple of words, she thought she'd seen some hidden depths that suggested he was different somehow.

That didn't make any sense, did it?

Janine placed her coffee in the cup holder underneath the dash and rested her head in her hands. This was all just a stupid diversion. Starting tomorrow, she'd have a difficult job to do, and she couldn't afford the distraction.

A knock on the window brought her back to reality.

Sure enough, she looked up to find the same guy smiling down at her.

She reluctantly opened her window. Bloody hell, now what?

"You were in such a rush, you forgot this inside." He raised his arm to reveal Janine's handbag hanging from his index finger.

"Oh my God," Janine blurted out as he handed it to her. "I don't know where my head is at today."

His smile grew. "Glad to be of service," he said.

This moment was going from bad to worse. In trying to avoid any more awkwardness, she had managed to further embarrass herself.

"Well, thanks again," she said.

The man continued to look down at her for a couple of seconds too long, like he was about to say something else.

"Hey, bro," another guy interrupted. "I'd been looking for you everywhere. Wanna get some lunch?"

The two looked eerily similar, roughly the same height and equally built. Their similarities continued in hair color as well as facial features. Clearly they actually were brothers. Funnily, looking at the other one didn't affect her nearly as much, though.

"I'd best be on my way," she mumbled as she zipped up her handbag and placed it upright in the center of the passenger seat.

"Me too." The stranger shot her a last warm smile and nodded his goodbye.

Janine breathed a sigh of relief when he turned around and walked back toward the restaurant. It was only once they'd gone inside that she mustered the will to turn the key.

That was awkward. It's for the best if I never see that guy again, Janine told herself. Only part of her believed it; her chest felt heavy with disappointment.

Her job had meant she'd had to forego things other women her age had taken for granted: relationships, the idea of starting a family. She'd always put her work first and today was no different. Usually she never minded, because she felt she was making a difference with her life, but today, that wasn't quite the case. Today, part of her felt like she was heading for disaster with an assignment that was doomed from the start.

She turned on the stereo and increased the volume as her favorite CD started to play. No matter what the outcome, she still had a job to do, and she'd better not be late for it.

General Stone would already be on base, waiting to brief her upon her arrival. Before long, she'd find out exactly how doomed her career was.

With renewed resolve, she took one last sip of coffee before pulling out of the service station. Janine didn't stop again until she reached General Stone's office in the center of the grounds belonging to the Infantry Battle School in Brecon. It was a well-established base that had been in regular use since the start of the Second World War. And General Stone, as its highest-ranking officer, had a reputation that extended well beyond its boundaries.

She was as ready as ever as she stepped inside and reported for duty.

"At ease, Major. Have a seat." The general barely looked at her while she sat down in the chair in front of his spotlessly clean desk. He continued to sift through the file in front of him, making her wait for another few minutes, when he finally sat back in his leather chair and folded his hands.

"Major, we must discuss Alpha Squad," he began.

Janine nodded. "Yes, sir."

"What do you know of its history, however short?"

"Sir, Alpha Squad was envisioned by the Secretary for Shifter Affairs to help other law enforcement agencies manage shifter related incidents."

The general nodded gravely, then leaned forward. "The Secretary of Shifter Affairs, yes. In your opinion—and you may speak freely—is it the place of the Ministry of Shifter Affairs to set up law enforcement squads such as this?"

Janine blinked a few times. She did not like where this was going. Whether she could speak freely or not was hardly the point. "Sir, it is not my place to decide that. Orders are orders." Plus, technically Parliament had set up Alpha Squad, after the Ministry simply advised there was a need for such a unit.

"I'm glad to hear you say that. Orders are orders, indeed. Since you are a major in the British Army, you are bound by orders that follow the proper chain of command."

"Yes, sir," Janine confirmed. So the plot thickened. She shouldn't have been surprised that the general did not approve of the new task force. But he was being so obvious about it…

"Glad you agree. So I can count on your loyalty to the uniform and the chain of command then?"

Janine nodded. "Yes, sir. Absolutely, sir."

"The Ministry of Shifter Affairs is making a lot of headlines lately. We don't want to rock the boat, so, outwardly it must seem like Alpha Squad has been given a chance. But it must not interfere with the traditional order of affairs. It shall not succeed, do you understand me?"

"I understand, Sir," Janine confirmed.

"Wonderful. Your loyalty will be rewarded once all of this has passed. Now, Alpha Squad has been assigned a barracks on a disused part of the base; as you might understand, we hope to keep your unit away from the regular Infantry recruits as much as possible."

Janine nodded. Fair enough. That might give her enough space to conduct her training as she saw fit. "Yes, Sir."

"You are dismissed, Major Williams." The general picked up the phone from the corner of his desk and started to dial a number, signaling it was time for Janine to leave his office.

What the hell had she gotten herself into?