with matters that don’t concern you…” Drawn said coolly, taking slow, casual steps around the room.

“We’re government agents! It’s our jobs to interfere!” Kirby shouted back and popped up, firing a couple shots at the Lieutenant before ducking down again. Drawn fired at the table Kirby was behind and chuckled deeply. Kirby jumped up again and fired off four shots, just missing as Drawn ducked. Kirby dropped down and took a deep breath.

Lieutenant Drawn grinned cruelly and fired two shots where Kirby was to keep him crouched a bit longer as he circled closer. Kirby growled and fired three blind return shots, hitting nothing but the wall. As Drawn circled around and saw Kirby, Kirby saw him from his peripheral vision. Kirby rolled onto his back and pointed his handgun at the Lieutenant, pulling the trigger.

Click! Kirby’s handgun was empty. His eyes widened in surprise and fear as he stared at his pistol, then up at the Lieutenant. Drawn laughed and pointed his pistol at Kirby’s head.

“Nice try agent! Enjoy Hell!” Drawn said, a triumphant grin on his face. He was about to pull the trigger when Kodi kicked the Lieutenant right in the side of his head, sending him crashing into a table. Kodi held out his left hand and helped Kirby up as Drawn struggled to his feet. Kodi tried to raise his gun to shoot him, but a tremendously sharp pain burned through his right arm as he tried to and Kodi nearly dropped his pistol! Drawn glared at Kodi and pointed his gun at the husky.

“You stupid, God-damned wanna-be hero!” Drawn shouted and pulled the trigger. Click! The Lieutenant looked at his handgun in disbelief and pulled the trigger again and again and again, all with the same results. Kodi nodded to Kirby and he reloaded, training his gun on Drawn’s forehead.

“Go ahead, shoot me until I look like Swiss cheese for all I care! It won’t do you any good!” he snapped viciously at the two agents, “Niju will still be victorious. He’ll be rich and America will be finished! You hear me? Finished!”

“Finish this…” Kirby replied, pulling the trigger and sending Drawn sprawling backward onto the floor. Kodi sighed softly and winced in pain as he looked to his shoulder again. Kirby turned to him and sighed. “Here, lie out on the table…”

Kodi did as he was told, clearing a table of maps and notebooks before lying back on it, staring up at the ceiling. Kodi held his penlight up, beaming it onto his wound so Kirby could inspect it. Kirby looked it over and nodded to himself.

“Yeah, it’s not too bad… Just gotta get that bullet out and bandage you up and you’ll be as good as new!” Kirby stated, pulling out a small medical kit from his belt and placing it on the table, taking out his knife discreetly, thinking up a topic to distract Kodi, “So Kodi, do you have a girlfriend back home?”

“Nah, I haven’t found the right girl for me yet, you know?” Kodi replied, sighing softly as Kirby went about his work, “Maybe one day I’ll find someone who’s just perfect for me… Ah, but that probably sounds like a fairyta- ARGH!!! Son of a bitch; what did you just do?!” Kodi quickly sat up as he felt an extraordinary pain cut through his body from his bullet-wound. Kirby held up the bullet, his knife in his other hand and a triumphant look on his face.

“Ta-da! See? Talking to the patient always works while doing painful stuff like that!” Kirby explained, dropping the bullet to the floor and cleaning off his knife before sheathing it again, “Now hold still… I just need to put on some antiseptic and bandage it up and you’ll be good to go once more…”

Kirby pulled out a small bottle and a cotton ball, applying a clear liquid to it before dabbing it over Kodi’s injury. Sharp pains filled Kodi, causing him to grit his teeth together, but that was all. Kirby pulled out a small roll of gauss wrapping bandages and wrapping them tightly around Kodi’s shoulder. Within minutes, Kodi began to get feeling back in his arm, but not all the feeling.

“Wow, I feel better already… Great work Kirb!” Kodi said with a large smile, standing up again and raising his handgun, “I can lift my weapon again! This is great! ... Alright, let’s get to that last building… To the underground…” Kirby nodded to Kodi grinning slightly as they climbed out the smashed window again and ran through the dark shadows, boots making no sounds on the sandy ground as they snuck toward their targeted building…

Chapter 5

            The inside of the building was a lot different than what Kodi had originally expected. He’d predicted that there’d be a small army ready to engage them in a large hallway as soon as they stepped foot inside. However, the only thing to greet them was a room no larger than the Mapping Room with a metal staircase spiraling down and down. Kodi and Kirby looked over the edge, down at the great distance to the ground. Kirby let out a sharp whistle and pulled back.

“Well, it looks like we’ve got a few stairs to get down then, huh?” he said with a low chuckle. Kodi nodded and pulled back from the edge as well.

“Yeah… Looks like we do…” he replied, starting off down the stairs, his combat boots clanging against the metal surfaces, “Come on! The sooner we get down there, the better! We’ve only got a handful of hours left!” The two agents ran down the stairs, half expecting to get jumped by a platoon of soldiers along the way, only to reach the bottom ten minutes later feeling rather jumpy from having yet to receive an encounter by even a single soul.

At the bottom was a small chamber, the walls made of a lightish-brown rock. A steel door was set into one of the walls and as Kodi pulled it open, it gave way to reveal a brightly lit whitewashed hallway. Still no guards were seen, heard, or smelled in this corridor, something that made Kodi feel sick to his stomach.

“Well I guess we were right about the underground tunnels, huh?” Kirby said in a hushed whisper, a grin playing on his muzzle, “Just think Kodi… We’re so close to completing our mission!”

“Yeah, but something’s been bothering me for a long time now… Where are all the guards? Surely we didn’t kill that many, and the compound was chock-full when we arrived…” Kodi said uneasily, his burgundy eyes sweeping the hallways as he cautiously stepped inside, “Come on… Stay silent and keep your senses alert…”

Kirby nodded in agreement and slowly followed behind his teammate, handgun raised and poised to fire at any signs of an enemy. A short distance down the hallway was another door and nowhere else to go. Since it was their only option, Kirby pressed his back to the wall and placed a hand on the handle, nodding to Kodi who nodded back in reply. Kirby pulled the handle down and swung the door open, Kodi rushing in and pointing his muzzle out at a huge room. Kodi’s mouth dropped open at the sight before him and he nearly dropped his gun.

“Kodi, what is it?” Kirby asked, walking in behind him and following his partner’s gaze out over the huge room. The two agents were standing on a steel catwalk above a warehouse-sized room. Below them on the concrete floor lay hundreds upon hundreds of missiles, all neatly stacked in metal carrying racks.

“Well, I guess we know all that oil didn’t go to waste then…” Kirby replied with a humorous tone, another grin forming on his face as he scanned over the stash below them, “Looks like there’s a service elevator over there… Perhaps we can get down to the missiles from there…”

Kirby pointed to a steel-meshed elevator at one end of the catwalk. Kodi walked onto it, shortly followed by Kirby as he pressed the down button and began the elevator’s descend to the ground below them. Once out on the concrete, they realized just how empty this room was. No one else was in it but them.

“I have- a very bad feeling about this…” Kodi said as they walked through the rows of missiles. Almost as soon as he said that, an alarm went off and a dozen armed soldiers rushed them, aiming various types of assault rifles at them. Kodi and Kirby aimed their pistols at their enemies, knowing they had no chance at defeating them all before they’d get gunned down. Kodi heard their rifles lock and load, closing his eyes tightly, expecting to feel the bullets rip through his body and see the end…

“Hold your fire!” came a stern, cold voice Kodi recognized almost immediately, “We don’t want them dead… at least not yet…” Kodi opened his eyes and saw Niju standing behind the line of soldiers, a smug grin on his face.

“Niju… I thought it was you… Why don’t you just give up now and we’ll finish this quickly?” Kodi said angrily, glaring back at the wolf standing opposite of him. Niju laughed out loud and folded his arms casually across his chest, grinning maliciously at the young agent.

“Give up? Look around boy… I’m not the one at the end of twelve loaded rifles!” he said with another cruel laugh, “How about you give up and we’ll go easy on the torturing…” Kodi looked around, then his eyes widened as he came up with something. He nudged Kirby and pointed behind them. Kirby looked and grinned as he caught on, both agents standing there coolly now.

“Alright, fine… Shoot us…” Kodi said, fighting back a smirk when he saw Niju’s utterly shocked expression.

“W-what did you say?!” Niju asked furiously, eyes burning with an angry fire,