they’re also very well trained…” McIntyre explained, “Now Agent Kodi, I have your equipment ready for you… Both of you, come with me…”

McIntyre walked out of the Operations Room and led the two agents down the hallway until they came to a steel-plated door. Punching in a code in the keypad beside it, the door unlocked and Colonel McIntyre walked in, followed by Balto and then Kodi. Inside he handed Kodi a black stealth suit just like Balto’s. The husky took it and gazed down at it for a while.

“That’s your standard operations’ stealth suit… It’s insulated so you’ll stay warm in cold areas and cool in hot areas…” Colonel McIntyre explained, “The belt is designed to hold six clips of 9mm Parabellum handgun bullets. It also comes with this light-weight rucksack, canteen, and a SOAW (Standard Operations Agents Watch). This watch can tell you the temperature, your coordinates, your heart-rate, as well as the time depending on where you are in the world…” Kodi quickly slipped into his suit, smiling as he and Balto now looked nearly identical. Colonel McIntyre handed Kodi a pistol with a small steel claw at the end and a reel at the back of the gun.

“This is your standard grappling pistol…” he stated, handing it to Kodi, “The steel claw can latch onto nearly any surface. It has about 100 yards of steel nylon wire stowed in that reel. Pull the trigger like you normally would to fire it. Once it’s latched onto something, you just pull the trigger to reel yourself in toward it, push the trigger forward to release yourself, and press the button on the side to make the claw release whatever it’s holding onto…” Kodi stowed his grappling gun in his belt and jammed his Beretta handgun into the holster on the belt along with his clips of ammo.

“There you go, Agent Kodiak… You’re now fully outfitted with the standard operations’ equipment… If any mission requires any additional equipment, then we’ll loan it to you or you can use any equipment you own yourself…” the Shepherd stated with a smile, “But for now, it’s time for you two to catch a plane… Good luck agents…” He saluted them before walking out, Balto nodding to Kodi.

“Well Kodi, are you ready to go on your first mission?” Balto asked, laughing softly when Kodi only nodded, still admiring his new equipment, “Alright son, let’s get going then…” The two agents walked out, headed for the plane that would take them south to Venezuela.

Venezuelan airspace, April 9th 2026, 2010 hours.

            Despite it being only a few short hours to fly south to Venezuela, the plane had to make several detours along the way. First, the mapping systems shut down and they had to land in Puerto Rico for repairs. After a few hours of that, they had to land in Brazil since they didn’t have as much fuel as they thought they would need. Refueled and ready to go once again, it took the plane about four hours before it found a safe way to avoid the aircraft radars on the oil rig. Now it was only a few short minutes away before everything would begin…

Balto and Kodi sat in the rear section of the plane, suited up with parachutes and their equipment they’d taken and been given. Kodi strummed his fingers nervously on his lap. Despite his eagerness and anxiety to begin his first mission, he was nervous, much more nervous than he’d ever been before in his entire life! Balto tapped Kodi on his arm and gave him a reassuring smile.

“Nervous Kodi?” Kodi only nodded before finally saying,

“Yeah… A bit… Alright, a lot… I just don’t know what to expect from this, you know?” Kodi asked, looking to Balto. Balto’s eyes widened slightly, seeming to recall something from his past.

“Yeah… Yeah, I know what you mean…” Balto replied, mind leaving his body as he saw his first ever mission, clear as day. That was the one mission that changed him from a rookie fighter into the hardened, tough-ass agent he was today… I was only 22 then… But even though that was over twenty years ago, I can still see it clearly… he thought to himself, I can still remember the fear I felt… The anxiety… The sounds of the gunshots… Watching the guards fall and not believing that I’d been the one who pulled the trigger… That mission changed me forever…

“Balto, you still with me?”

Balto glanced up into the face of the brown wolf who’d been his mentor, smiling to him. The wolf strapped on his leather gloves and patted Balto on the back.

“Don’t be afraid, son… Just take a deep breath and jump forward… Sky-diving’s really not all that hard… Pretty much just falling!” he replied, glancing to the back of the plane as the hatch opened up, “Here’s our stop! Ready?”

“No,” Balto said, his voice younger than now- twenty years younger, “I’m not sure I can do this…”

“Sure you can!” the wolf said, grabbing Balto’s hand and running forward, “’Cause here we go!” Then he jumped, taking Balto along with him as they began to plummet down to the jungle below them.

“Dad, you ok?” Kodi asked, snapping his fingers in front of Balto’s face, “You kinda spaced out… Are you feeling alright, Dad?” Balto blinked a few times, then shook his head and looked at Kodi.

“Yeah… Yeah, I’m alright Kodi…” Balto replied calmly, “Just… having a flashback moment… I’m alright now, thanks…” No sooner had Balto finished speaking, then the intercom came on and the captain’s voice came through.

“We’re only five minutes away from the D.O.P. Opening the rear hatch now…” The back of the plane slowly began to lower until the back wall was now a flat platform, opening up to the black Venezuelan night. Warm air rushed into the plane and Balto nodded to Kodi, both agents standing up and making sure their parachutes were secure. Balto looked to Kodi and gave him a slight smile, Kodi returning the smile to his father.

“Three minutes to D.O.P. Please move to the rear of the plane…” Balto and Kodi did as they were told, both agents stepping out onto the platform. Kodi risked a look over the edge, the crushing black waves seen thousands of feet below. He swallowed hard and whimpered softly, feeling so unnerved all of a sudden. Balto placed his hand on his son’s shoulder and smiled widely.

“Don’t be afraid Kodi… Just take a deep breath and jump forward… It’s all pretty much just falling!” Balto said, feeling like he’d suddenly been hit with déjà vu, but shook it off, “Don’t worry… I’ll be right beside you the whole time…”

“A-alright Dad…” Kodi replied, his voice shaking somewhat, “I trust you…” Below them, an object had begun to come into view. It was the oil rig.

“Now approaching D.O.P. Good luck agents…”

“This is where we get off!” Balto shouted to Kodi, “Alright… On three, we jump, alright?” Kodi nodded slowly, swallowing hard again as he looked down. “One… Two… Three!”

On three, Kodi closed his eyes and he and Balto leaned forward, falling from the plane and plummeting hundreds of feet a second. Kodi slowly opened his eyes again, watching as the sea and oil rig below him slowly became larger as they fell downward faster and faster. Balto smiled and looked over at Kodi.

“Thrill, isn’t it?” he shouted over the sound of the warm air rushing past their bodies as they fell and fell and fell, “I’ll bet you’re enjoying this, huh?”

“Not at all!” Kodi shouted back, “When can we deploy our parachutes?”

“Not yet!” Balto replied, doing a forward spin in midair before righting himself again, watching at the platform below them got larger by the second, “Get ready… Steady… Now!”

Upon hearing his father’s words, Kodi pulled the string on his parachute, Balto pulling his a moment or two later. Both parachutes opened and caught the air, decreasing their rate of falling dramatically, slowing it to a slow, gradual descent. The oil rig was still about 500 feet below them, a few minutes’ float downward.

“Well Kodi, was it as bad as you thought it was gonna be?” Balto asked, grinning at his son. Kodi shook his head slowly.

“Not really… It was actually more of a thrill than complete terror!” Kodi replied, chuckling slightly.

“See, I told you it wasn’t so bad… Now we just slowly fall down to the platform below…” Balto said, relaxing as he slowly drifted downward through the warm, humid air.

After several minutes, the two agents finally touched down on one of the loading/unloading docks on the side of the oil rig. Balto instinctively hit the ground and combat rolled forward, pulling out his handgun and sweeping the nearby area for any enemies. Kodi landed and unhooked his parachute from himself. After Balto had secured the area, he unhooked his parachute and both dogs tossed them over the edge into the black water.

“Alright… We’re on the South Loading Dock… We’ll have to sweep the entire rig if we’re going to find Mr. Suarez… Now remember Kodi, what’s the most important rule of stealth?” Balto asked.

“Leave no trace of your presence. An agent is a shadow. We were never here, we don’t exist…” Kodi answered. Balto smiled widely.

“You’ve learned well… Alright, let’s get moving… Our target could be anywhere here and we’ve only got until sunrise to finish this mission…” Balto said, checking his SOAW, “That gives up approximately 9 hours or so until we have to be out of here, objectives complete or not…”

“Alright Dad… Understood…” Kodi replied, drawing out his handgun and attaching his silencer to the end on it, “Let’s go…”

Balto and Kodi turned on their radios and silently moved toward the door leading inside the oil rig. Kodi pulled the door open and Balto quickly jumped out into the hallway, gun raised and ready to fire. He did a slow sweep across the