Part 8
They were never given a moment alone. Everything was on a strict schedule, waking, eating, and following a daily regiment of honing their bodies and synchronizing their rhythms. They had separate bedrooms and they were locked in at night so they wouldn’t be able to sneak out. During the day, some one was always around, feeding them or guarding them or instructing them.
On the upside, they had a highly protected outdoor training field and River found that if he gave them a certain look, they would allow him to lie outside and bask in the sun for a short amount of time every so often. There were animals twittering and chirping and plants growing and grass blowing in the breeze. River had never been so thankful to be able to go outside.
Best of all, he got to see what made Tahk so coveted.
He was a normal human being most of the time, but sometimes he would… ‘morph’ into a beautiful sleek black panther. If River hadn’t watched the quick transformation with his own eyes, he never would have believed it. Tahk would just close his eyes and his body would just melt into another, becoming something completely different. He moved faster and could go places his knobby human body wouldn’t be able to flex into.
Most amazing, though, was his other form, a cross between his human self and his panther self. He stood upright but his bones didn’t quite sit the way a human’s did and a long black tail whipped around behind him. A soft black fur covered his body while the hair on his head still hung into his eyes. His agility was stunning in this form and he was so powerful, he’d bent a doorknob on accident when going inside. He didn’t stay in that form often because it took a lot of energy to maintain and he had a harder time controlling himself, but River loved watching him in that form.
“The two of you are ready for your first mission,” Cossack said after a month of training. The two boys had been eating their dinner, but then they just gaped at him, “Finish your food and go to the conference room where you will be briefed.”
River frowned and looked at Tahk, who just gave him the same look right back. They downed their food quickly and hurried to the conference room.
A screen had been set up and was flashing pictures of some base in the middle of an empty field.
“The Russians have been growing in strength,” Cossack started, “They’ve developed a series of deadly new missiles that were made specifically to infiltrate American airspace in case of a war. Your mission is to destroy this base.” A map came on the screen, “You will be flown into Moscow as traveling American tourists. You will catch a small connecting flight to Verkhoyansk. There you will rent a vehicle of some kind, your choice. You will travel southwest to this point,” he pointed at a place on the map with a tiny red laser pointer, “where you will stop and destroy your vehicle. You will then travel by foot ten kilometers where you will find the Russian missile base.”
River and Tahk intently watched the screen and hung on every word their commander was saying. He handed them two necklaces.
“Those are called White Noise. You turn them on and you become undetectable on any radar. You will wear those and approach the base from the northeast corner where there defenses are the weakest and you have the most cover, several large boulders. All other sides of the base are completely open. Once you get inside the base, you will destroy anyone that sees you. Tahk will make his way to the central data base,” he pointed at a place with his pointer to the blueprint that had come up on the screen, “While River, you will go to the Command Center. Tahk will have to disarm the emergency launch sequence before you initiate the self-destruct process. Understood?” They nodded.
“Once you’ve set off the self-destruct, you have one minute to get out of the base and as far away from it is possible. Make sure no one else leaves. You will continue moving southwest. There will be several military roads that civilians are not allowed on so be sure to remain undetected by any persons at any time. You will be met by one of our agents in a small town called Chevka. He will drive you to Olekminsk where you will get on a plane to St. Petersburg and then you will return to America. Understood?”
They nodded.
“There are more details in the folder. You may go over that until it is time for you to leave.”
River let his eyes move around the people mulling around the airport. Tahk stood next to him doing a crossword puzzle.
“Actor Cary of the Princess Bride?”
“Elwes,” River replied. “E-L-W-E-S.”
Tahk frowned and filled that in, “I’m not very good at these.”
“So keep doing them and you’ll get better.”
Nodding, Tahk kept filling in the letters in the small boxes. River groaned and cracked his neck. They’d been waiting for the plane to arrive for two hours. It was forty-five minutes late and River was getting very, very frustrated.
“River,” Tahk said softly and put his hand over River’s, “This is going to be fine. We’ve trained for this for months and months. Just relax and do what you know you need to do.”
Nodding, River inhaled deeply before slowly exhaling. He grinned at Tahk and moved his palm so it was facing up. They entwined their fingers and smiled at one another.
At that moment it was announced that their plane had arrived and would soon begin boarding. River sighed and stood, stretching his legs and bent down to get their tickets out of his bag.
“Ready?” Tahk asked quietly.
With another quick nod, River replied, “Ready.”
Several minutes later they boarded the plane. They sat next to each other, Tahk giving River the window seat because he hated heights. River was nervous; having never left the United States before, but it was a good nervous.
They went over everything, giving all of the safety instructions first in English, then in Russian. River listened intently to every word while Tahk just immediately started to lightly doze.
Within an hour into the flight, Tahk was out like a light. He laid his head on River’s muscular shoulder and purred delicately in his sleep. River couldn’t stop staring at him. So many… emotions just flooded him when he stared at the small boy that hid the body of a predator, a honed killer. He couldn’t describe them, he’d never felt anything like this before. It confused him, warmed him, terrified him, enthralled him… He couldn’t tell if he loved these emotions he was feeling or loathed them.
“River,” he heard Tahk mumbled, “’m cold…”
River took off his thin jacket and wrapped it around Tahk who had put up the middle armrest and started cuddling into River’s side. River wrapped his arm around his shoulder and held him close, glad that he’d worn a long-sleeved gray shirt under his usual tight black t-shirt and thin jacket. It was fairly chilly on the plane, but Tahk’s heat was quickly warming him up.
River was absolutely terrified that this mission was going to go bad. What if they screwed it up? What if they were spotted and shot? What if they set off the emergency launch before Tahk could disable it? What if they killed Tahk? River was fairly sure he would die if anything happened to Tahk. It was like his entire world would end if Tahk weren’t in it…
“River?” Tahk said quietly, amusement coloring his voice, “Stop worrying.”
River just heaved a sigh, “I can’t help it. I’m so terrified that something will happen to you-”
“And I you,” murmured Tahk. His eyes were still closed and he spoke softly, so softly, “You just have to relax. When you believe everything will go perfectly and work out fine, it will. So stop giving your self an aneurism and calm down. Enjoy the flight. Watch the stupid movie. Read a book. Just calm down and hold me so I can sleep.”
That was it. He had to relax. He had to relax so Tahk could sleep. Tahk would be well rested and everything would work out well. But if he didn’t relax and let Tahk sleep, he would screw things up. With the mindset, he held Tahk a little tighter and fell asleep him self.