in midair.

            Colonel McIntyre walked back into the Operations Room, two mugs of freshly brewed coffee in his hands. He walked up beside Balto and placed a mug before him, taking a seat beside his friend and sighing softly. Balto had his face buried in his hands, not moving a muscle.

“Balto, I can’t begin to even imagine how worried you are right now…” the Shepherd said, trying to cheer his friend up, even if it was only slightly, “But believe me, I’ve seen what you’ve gone through in your life… You’ve told me pretty much everything… You’ve fought a regiment of terrorist-soldiers, you took down a weapon capable of destroying countries, and you’re the best damn agent we have! Any dog would kill to just be taught what you know! Kodi got all that knowledge from you… He’ll do fine… Trust me…”

Balto still made no effort to move. Colonel McIntyre sighed heavily and stood up. Turning on his heels, he walked out of the Operations Room and motioned to someone down the hall to come inside. A moment later, Jenna walked into the Operations Room, sitting down beside her distraught husband and gently wrapping her arms around him.

“Balto? Are you doing alright?” Jenna asked softly, getting no response, “I know how worried you are about Kodiak… I’m just as worried about him too… I know what you’re afraid of, because I’m afraid of losing him too… But Balto, you trained him… You; the best agent of the United States of America… If anyone could have prepared him for this mission, it’s you… He looks up to you, Balto… What do you think he’d say if he saw his father like this?” After a few more moments, Balto slowly sat upright again, staring into Jenna’s amber eyes.

“Jenna, I’m just… I’m so worried that something will go wrong and then he’ll think I let him down or he let me down… I’m afraid that I’ll let him down if everything I taught him backfires…” Balto admitted slowly and softly, shaking his head, “How am I supposed to look Kodi in the eye if everything I taught him, all I made him think I was goes up in smoke?” Jenna placed a hand on Balto’s shoulder.

“Don’t think like that… Kodi won’t fail… He’s a very capable young dog… He’s learned from the best of the best, he’s been on missions with you… He knows what to do and how to do it… Plus, it’s not like he’s alone out there… Believe in him, Balto…” Jenna said softly, “I know what you’ve been through Balto… Don’t worry about him…” Balto slowly stood up and shook his head.

“No Jenna… You don’t know what I’ve been through…” Balto said softly before turning and walking off…

            The two agents and their captive objective pulled into Puerto Vallarta after three hours of driving. Balto smiled slightly as he looked around the town. Brad pulled the jeep up to a small, four-floor hotel and turned the vehicle off.

“Well, we’re here…” Brad said to Balto, giving him a slight smile, “Great job on your first mission, Balto… You’re shaping up to be a great agent after all… Our extraction will be here tomorrow, so for today we can relax… Have fun…”

“Thanks Brad… I couldn’t have done any of this without you…” Balto said, returning his mentor’s smile, “I’ll be honest with you… At first, I thought you were nuts the way you trained me constantly and made me do nearly-impossible things… But now that I look at myself, I know karate, Tai-Kwon-Do, kick-boxing, judo, four different languages, how to shoot like a pro, operate aerial and aquatic vehicles, and so much more! I guess I’m just trying to say- thanks for everything…”

“No problem at all, Balto… You’ve been a great student…” Brad replied, patting Balto on his shoulder, “Now come on, let’s check-in and get this guy locked up in my room…”

Brad and Balto got out of the jeep, Brad grabbing Commander Baker and pulling him into the hotel behind Balto. They checked in and went up to their rooms, both on the fourth floor. Balto had a room just down the hall from Brad, but it didn’t make much of a difference. Brad locked Baker in his room and handed Balto a black briefcase.

“Balto, would you mind holding this for me for a bit?” Brad asked, tapping on its surface, “But please, do not look inside it, alright?”

“Got it, Brad!” Balto said, taking the briefcase into his room and tossing it onto the table. He stood at his window, looking out over the harbor. His mind raced with thoughts, recalling what that soldier had said when he saw Brad. “Y-you! What’re you doing here? I thought the Commander-”

“Something’s up between Brad and the Commander…” Balto said to himself, then decided to go ask Baker himself what was going on. Balto walked into Brad’s room using the spare key Brad had given to him and approached the handcuffed dog. “Alright, start talking… How do you know Brad?”

“Brad? Your teammate?” Baker asked, giving Balto a confused look, “I… I honestly don’t know him…”Balto sighed and stood up. He had been about to leave when Brad’s cell phone rang on the table. Balto walked over to it and read the Caller I.D. It was from someone Balto had never heard of. He let it end before picking it up and listening to the voice message.

“Brad, this is Vladimir Tachlinkov…” the message began, “Listen, the boat will arrive tomorrow at noon… Be ready for it then…”

 Balto looked at the phone in confusion. Brad had introduced him to all of his friends, but none of them had been named Vladimir or any name of that kind. Now feeling slightly suspicious, Balto turned and headed back for his room…

            Kodi slipped inside the building first, handgun raised and searching for enemies. Kirby walked in behind him, covering Kodi’s back as the two agents slowly proceeded forward down the hallway. A guard came around a nearby corner and Kodi grabbed the dog’s shirt, slamming him into the wall before taking hold of him. Kirby then moved forward and pressed his gun to the soldier’s forehead.

“Alright, listen up since I’ll only ask this once…” Kirby said in a hushed tone, “Where are the missiles and where is Niju Suarez?”

“W-who are you guys?” the dog asked, shaking slightly in fright, “I… I don’t know what you’re talking about- honestly! Please, I’m just a dog! Have mercy, have mercy!” Kirby rolled his eyes and pulled the hammer back on his pistol, causing the guard to yelp slightly. “Alright, alright! The missiles are being stored in the underground armory beneath the Headquarters! I don’t know where Niju is, I swear! Please, just don’t kill me!”

Not wanting to listen to this dog ramble on anymore, Kirby gave Kodi a nod and the husky delivered a swift hit to the back of the guard’s head, knocking him out cold and tossing his body into a nearby vacant room. Kodi took up the guard’s M-16 and checked to make sure it was ready to fight. He then slung it over his shoulder and took out his Beretta again.

“Well done Kodi! We found out where those bombs are thanks to you!” Kirby said with a smile. Kodi chuckled slightly and held up his hand.

“No, I don’t get all the credit… You’re the one who had the gun to his head… I just held him!” Kodi responded, “If anyone, you deserve the credit for that one!” As the two agents walked down the hall debating who deserved the credit, another soldier came down the hall behind them and spotted them.

“Hey! You two! Freeze!” the guard shouted. Kodi and Kirby turned around, exchanged a grin, and both fired round after round into the dog until he hit the tiled floor, the white tiles soon becoming stained red with the dog’s blood.

“Shit… Not good…” Kodi said, “Someone’s bound to notice the blood, even if we remove the body!”

“I’ve got an idea… You get rid of the body and I’ll handle the blood!” Kirby said, running to the nearby utility closet as Kodi tossed the body in there, watching Kirby take out a mop and bleach. Kirby mopped up the blood and then poured bleach onto the remaining splotches of blood that remained, hiding any traces of a kill there.

“Great thinking Kirb…” Kodi said, nodding in approval, “I wouldn’t have even begun to think of doing something like that! That’s one thing my Dad never taught me… How’d you learn it?”

“Just a little something I thought up on one mission that happened to work… Hold this for me, will ya?” Kirby answered, placing the mop in the hands of the body in the closet, “Now, let’s keep going… We should see if we can find out where this Niju guy is…”

“Right,” Kodi replied, motioning down the hallway as the two set off once again. The rest of the building seemed surprisingly empty. A couple guards here and there, but nothing the two agents couldn’t handle. After roughly an hour of searching the first floor and not finding anything, they took a short break at the elevators.

“This is insane… We’ve searched this whole floor and there’s absolutely nothing to be found!” Kodi said pacing slowly back and forth in front of the elevators, “We’ll have to start searching the other floors now, I guess…”

“But you know what else has been bugging me for a while? The lack of defense…” Kirby said, taking a short gulp of water from his canteen, “Have you noticed that we’ve only fought 5- maybe 6 guards at the most in here? Aside from those patrollers outside, there’s been little to no guards and no alarms or security cameras…”

“No wonder this place was abandoned…” Kodi said with a soft chuckle, pressing his back against the wall and slowly sliding down until he was in a sitting position, “I’m gonna contact HQ and let them know of our status… My Dad’s probably stopped breathing with anticipation by now…” Kodi