by now…” Kodi chuckled again and pressed the contact button on his radio. “This is Agent Kodi to HQ. Does anybody read me? Over…”

“This is Colonel McIntyre. We read you, Agent Kodi… Over…” came the colonel’s voice through Kodi and Kirby’s headset, “What is your present status? Over.”

“We’ve infiltrated the compound and are currently searching for the missiles as well as the main objective… Over…” Kodi replied, checking his SOAW for the time.

“We’ve learned the location of the missiles, but we just need to find that location now… Over…” Kirby added after Kodi finished.

“Understood agents… Keep up the good work and don’t let your guard down at any moment… Over…”

“Um, Colonel? Is my father there? Over…” Kodi asked, hoping that Balto was there.

“I’m sorry Kodi, but Balto walked out a while ago… He should be back shortly…” Colonel McIntyre replied, “But I think I have someone who you’ll like to talk to just as much…”

“Kodiak? Kodi, are you alright?” came the voice of Jenna. Kodi smiled as he heard his mother’s voice.

“Yeah Mom… I’m doing fine… Kirby’s alright too… We’re doing really well out here…” Kodi replied, a slight bit of resentment in his voice as a thought crossed his mind, “… Mom? Can you answer something truthfully for me?”

“Of course Kodi! Anything you want to know…” she responded softly, “What is it Kodi? You sound a little sadder…” Kodi took a deep breath and exhaled slowly.

“Dad… He… He never wanted me to become an agent, did he?” Kodi asked, his voice somewhat quieter than normal, “He didn’t think I could do it, did he? That’s why he took me with him to Venezuela, isn’t it? Because he though I couldn’t do it on my own so he had to protect me, isn’t it?”

“Kodiak! That’s not true! Your father took you with him because he trusted you and he wanted you to fulfill your dream!” Jenna said back in a shocked tone, appalled by what Kodi had thought, “Your father trained you to become an agent because it was what you wanted!”

“But you didn’t answer my question, Mom!” Kodi nearly shouted back, sitting forward quickly again, eyes narrowed slightly now, “He did it because I wanted it… Did he want me to become an agent?” There was a long moment of silence before Jenna spoke again.

“No Kodi… He didn’t want you to become an agent…” Jenna admitted softly, “He was afraid you’d get hurt while on a mission… He was just afraid, Kodi…” There was another long moment of silence as Kodi closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall again. All this time he’d thought his father had wanted him to be an agent beside him, but it turned out that Balto had never wanted that at all. “… Kodi?...”

“Mom… When Dad gets back, tell him…” Kodi said softly, his voice quivering slightly, “… Tell him to contact me… Tell him I need him to talk to him… Kodi out…” Not paying attention to his mother’s protests to stay on, Kodi turned his radio off, Jenna’s voice vanishing into nothing. Kodi slowly stood up and drew his Beretta, pulling the slide back and prepping it for combat, giving Kirby a dead-serious look.

“Come on… We’ve got a mission to complete…” he said neutrally before pushing the elevator button.

            Balto walked into the Operations Room thirty minutes after Kodi had hung up on Jenna and the others in the Operations Room. As he stepped inside, the first thing he noticed was Jenna, slumped in her chair with her face in her hands and Colonel McIntyre with a distraught, stressed look on his face. Balto gave them a quizzical look and strode up to them, sitting down beside Jenna and looking up at McIntyre.

“What’s going on? What happened?” he asked coolly, looking back to Jenna again and placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

“Balto… While you were out, your son contacted us… He and Kirby are doing fine on their mission… Both are in good health…” the Shepherd started, then took a deep breath, “But Kodi’s distressed… He has an issue he wants to talk to you about immediately… He told us to tell you to call him back as soon as you returned…”

Balto looked from the Colonel to Jenna, then to the monitor on the wall. He stared at the profile picture of his son for a moment before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. He replaced his headset on and turned the Operations Room radio on, punching in the communication code to Kodi and Kirby and waiting for them to pick up…

            By nightfall, Balto had already sent in a request for information on Vladimir Tachlinkov to the United States government, which was then routed to the FBI. He now sat at a small internet café, Brad’s briefcase beside him and a computer before him. Going through every disc inside the black case, Balto searched his mentor’s files, not finding much of anything. The documents inside were even less helpful, not pointing him in any direction he had anticipated.

“Maybe I was wrong about Brad…” Balto said softly to himself as he ejected the current disc and placed the next one in, waiting for it to load up, “Maybe he isn’t doing anything illegal…”

Balto was just beginning to feel horrible for accusing Brad, his own mentor, the one who’d taught him everything he’d known about being a government agent from Day 1, when his cell phone rang. Balto quickly snatched it up and checked the Caller ID: it was his friend, Jason McIntyre from the military.

“Hey Jas, what’s up?” Balto asked, watching as the files on the disc opened up in a menu on the screen before him.

“Balto, about that request for a background check on a Vladimir Tachlinkov… Well, we’ve gotten the results back… and I don’t think you’ll be very happy with them…” Jason said slowly. Balto’s ears perked up as he heard this, still scrolling through the files.

“What is it? What’s up with Vlad?” Balto asked, suddenly stumbling across a file he found interesting. It was named ‘Top Secret’.

“Well, apparently Vladimir Tachlinkov leads a resistance force over in Russia… They’ve been bent on taking down the United States for a long time, but they’ve mostly been an underground organization… Hiding from us…” McIntyre explained, “Whoever you found is dealing with him is definitely bad news… I’d suggest taking care of things- personally…”

Balto double-clicked on the file and opened it. Inside were plans given to him from a Russian computer server. Opening each one, Balto discovered that each file was the mission that he’d just gone on with Brad. Commander Baker had top-secret military strategies for the United States and Brad had been given the orders to execute the Commander from a dog named Vladimir Tachlinkov.

“Balto? Are you still there?”

“Yeah, I’m still here… Listen, I’m gonna have to go…” Balto said slowly, “I’ll be home tomorrow…”

“Alright pal… Say, what’s the status on your teammate, Brad?” Jason McIntyre asked. Balto stared at the screen of his computer for a while before simply replying,

“He’s not gonna be coming home… Brad was killed in the field…”

With that, Balto hung up and ejected the disc from the computer, packing everything back into the briefcase before rushing off back to the hotel…

            The silenced gunshot tore through the still air and another soldier dropped dead where he stood. Kodi walked up to the body, an emotionless expression on his face as he hid the body away from sight. Kirby stared at the husky in awe, amazed at how fierce he’d gotten since he’d called HQ.

“Kodi, are you alright?” Kirby asked softly, looking at the body of the guard and trying to think of an appropriate way to put things, “You seem… tense… Is something wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong… Everything’s fine…” Kodi muttered, not looking at his teammate as he spoke, proceeding down the hallways while loading a fresh magazine into his handgun, “Let’s keep going… The less time we waste, the better…”

Kirby stared after Kodi for a moment in shock before slowly following behind him. Something was bothering Kodi, that was for sure, but what it was precisely remained enigmatic. A few minutes later, the two agents came across a storeroom, silently stepping inside and locking the door behind them. Kodi and Kirby began stocking up on water and ammunition, grabbing a quick snack while they rested.

“Kodi, you’re not tellin’ me the truth…” Kirby said eventually, “Something’s bothering you- bad… What is it? What’s got you so fussed up?” Kodi growled softly and shook his head slowly.

“It’s nothing to worry about, Kirby…” the young husky replied blandly, “It’s a personal problem… A matter between me and-”

Before Kodi could finish his sentence, a beeping was heard in each agent’s headset. They turned on their radios and Kodi pressed the button to talk.

“Agent Kodi, what is it Colonel?”

“Kodi... It’s Balto…” said the voice of Kodi’s father, “Son, what’s wrong? Your mother’s upset and the Colonel looks like he’s about to have a stroke… What’s the matter?” Kodi closed his eyes again and took a deep breath.

“Dad… You said you’d always be honest with me… So can you be honest and answer my question truthfully?” Kodi asked softly, waiting for a response from his father. Balto leaned forward in his chair, staring at the display for Kodi.

“Of course Kodi… Anything you want…” he replied softly, “What did you want to ask me son?”

“Did you ever want me to become an agent?” Kodi asked, his voice beginning to tremble slightly. Balto froze, letting his mind take in what Kodi had just asked him.

“What?”

“Did you ever want me to become