Balto: Espionage Tactics:
In A Father’s Footsteps
By: Balto5670
This story and its corresponding plotline are © 2007 Balto5670. The characters Balto, Jenna, Kodi, Kirby, and Niju are © 1995, 2002, 2005 Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. All Rights Reserved. All other characters are © 2007 Balto5670.
When a son looks to a father as a hero, how is it possible to fail?
Inspired by the game series Metal Gear Solid: Tactical Espionage Action and Splinter Cell
The year is 2005. The
Chapter 1
Washington D.C., June 21st 2005, 1330 hours.
The form of the crimson and cream colored husky slowly pacing back and forth in the waiting room was the only thing that moved in the moderately-sized room. Her amber eyes continuously went from the door to the door at the back of the room marked “Examination Rooms,” then to her watch, then to the clock on the wall. She sighed heavily, resuming her pacing before repeating that similar pattern once again.
Heaving another heavy sigh, she bit her fingers gently in eager anticipation, anxiety flooding through her. God, was there a time she’d been more nervous? Well, there was that time in
Before anything else happened, the doors to the examination rooms opened up and a Samoyed wearing a white doctor’s coat stepped into the waiting room, looking over some file on a clipboard. His eyes moved up to the female husky, then back down to his clipboard.
“Jenna Harrand, correct?” he asked, looking over his files again, “We’ve gotten the results back…”
“That’s great news!” Jenna said, smiling slightly, “So what are the results?”
“They were positive…” the doctor replied with a warm smile, “Congratulations… So, how are you going to tell your husband? Believe it or not, most males are surprised when they hear of this kind of thing…”
“Oh, thank you so much doctor! I took a couple tests before, but I wanted to make sure they were completely accurate, and I guess they are!” Jenna replied, beaming widely, “I don’t have to worry about my husband… He’s down in
“Ah, I see…” the doctor said, handing Jenna the clipboard to sign, “So, he’s in
“Well, not really… It is for his job, but it’s not really a trip… Just, sort of a business deal, you know?” Jenna answered, signing the clipboard and handing it back to the doctor, “Thank you again doctor.”
“Take care, Mrs. Harrand!” the doctor called after her as she walked out the front door and vanished from sight.
Once outside, Jenna couldn’t stop beaming, grinning from ear to ear. This had to be the most thrilling thing that had ever happened to her! Not wasting any time, she got into her car and drove back home, arriving fifteen minutes later. She quickly got out of the car, unlocked the front door, ran inside, and ran to the Equipment Room they had in their house. Unlocking the door and walking in, she walked past the rows of metal cabinets filed with government-supplied guns and walked to a table, snatching up a small long-range radio, clipping it onto her belt, and placing the headset on before turning the radio on. One of the two radios was gone, but Jenna didn’t worry. She knew exactly who had it.
“This is Jenna calling Balto… Balto, can you hear me? Over…” Jenna said, then waited for a response. She and her husband had their own frequency where the two of them could talk when they were apart. A few moments later, Jenna got a response.
“This is Balto… What’s up, baby?” came the voice of Balto through the earpiece of her headset.
“Hey Balto… How’re things going down in
“Heh… Jen, when have you known anyone to give me any trouble?”
“Well, I don’t know… Sometimes I wonder if I gave you any trouble…”
“Well, aside from the memory of watching you kiss Steele back in winter, nope, no trouble at all…”
“Hey, I saved your life by doing that!” Jenna remarked with a soft laugh, walking around the room as she spoke to Balto, “And I already apologized for that… Besides, you’re the only guy who kisses me now… and that’s how it’s going to remain…”
“Heh, I’d hope so… Nah, I trust you Jen…” Balto’s voice replied, “So, what’s up Jenna? You never just call me to say ‘hi’ anymore…” Jenna could feel the excitement welling up inside of her.
“Well… I do have something important to tell you…” Jenna said, “Are you in a good place to listen to this? Where are you right now?” There was a moment of silence before Balto said,
“Oh, just hanging around…”
The sunlight beat down on a large Mexican prison standing out against the green trees and lush background. Inside, however, the prison was pitch-black. The power had gone out half an hour ago and no one had been able to repair it yet. It was as if someone had sliced all the wires with a knife intently. As the guard struggled about in the darkness, a wolfdog clad in a black combat suit hung from the ceiling by his grappling gun, night-vision goggles around his eyes as he slowly pulled himself up with the pull and hold of the trigger, slowly inching his way up.
“Oh, just hanging around…” Balto replied coolly, making sure to keep his voice low enough so he wouldn’t be heard, but he was up high enough to do that for him, “So what’s so important Jen?”
“Well… Balto, do you remember what we did on our honeymoon a couple months ago?” Balto chuckled as he reeled himself upward past each floor of the prison.
“Well, that depends… What’re we talking about? We did so much…” he replied, “Swimming, waterskiing, walking on the beach, dancing-”
“Let me rephrase that… What we did at night… In our room?”
“Oh! Yeah, yeah, I remember… How could I forget that Jen?” Balto asked rhetorically with another chuckle, “So what’s up with that?”
“Well… God, how do I say this? Balto… I’m pregnant…”
“What?!” Balto asked in utter shock, pushing the trigger on his grappling gun the opposite way and sending him plummeting toward the ground. After a couple of seconds and about two hundred feet, Balto quickly pulled the trigger again and it stopped releasing the steel nylon cord, jerking Balto powerfully as his descent suddenly stopped. Letting out a soft sigh of relief, Balto began to pull himself back upward once again. “Jenna… D-did you say you were pregnant?!”
“Yeah… I did… I am, Balto… I took a couple to tests while you were down there, and they all came up positive… I wanted to be sure, so I got a more accurate test from the doctor, and… Well, I’m sure you can guess the results…”
“Oh my God, Jenna…” Balto murmured, still in utter shock, “This is… It’s absolutely fantastic! I can’t believe it! So, do they know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?”
“I’m not sure… I’m going to go into the hospital tomorrow and get an ultrasound… Maybe then we’ll know!”
“That’s great Jenna! I’ll be home in a few days time… I’ll see you soon, sweetheart!” Balto said, “Love you… Bye…”
With that, Balto turned off his radio and continued to winch his way up until he reached the top floor. With his night-vision goggles, he could clearly see the walkway and halls adjacent from it. He walked silently down one until he came to a door marked “Warden.” Pulling out his knife, Balto jammed it between the door and the handle, breaking the lock and walking inside. As he expected, no one was inside.
Walking around to a filing cabinet, Balto pulled it open and began rifling through the names on the files. After a couple minutes of search, Balto found the one he’d been tasked to receive and stowed it in his rucksack. No sooner had he done that, then a dog walked in, mumbling nervously in Spanish to himself. The warden. Before the dog could react, Balto was on him, grabbing the dog’s arm and hitting a pressure point on his neck, knocking him out and tossing him to the ground.
Above him, he could see an air vent. Jumping on top of the warden’s desk, Balto pulled the grating off and pulled himself inside, silently shuffling until he reached a grating in front of him, sunlight streaming through from the other side. Punching it out, Balto began to pull himself out- only to see a three hundred foot drop down to the ground.
“Shit!” Balto muttered, looking about for another way out. Pulling out his grappling gun again, he shot it an inch onto the metal of the air vent, then jumped out of it and began plummeting. Reacting fast, Balto pulled the trigger and stopped his fall, then lightly pushed the trigger upward, slowly letting himself reel down to the ground, only a couple dozen feet below him now. Once he reached the ground, he pressed the button on his grappling gun and the hook released, allowing Balto to wind the gun back up into itself.
Once he’d gotten himself set and replaced his gun, he made sure he still had the folder. On confirmation of that, he ran a few dozen yards behind a few boulders, climbing onto a motorbike and revving it, listening to the engine roar. Before any guards could figure out what had happened, Balto sped off, vanishing into a cloud of dust in the distance.
Two days later, Balto was back in
Balto arrived back at the house twenty minutes later, smiling widely at the sight of their large-sized home. They’d bought it just before they’d left on their honeymoon months ago. Getting out of his car and grabbing his suitcase and briefcase, Balto quickly unlocked the door and rushed inside.
“Jenna! I’m back!” he shouted, still smiling at nothing, “Where are you?”
“Right here, Balto…” Jenna answered, rounding a corner and walking up to him, smiling widely as she stared at a photograph of something. Balto put his cases down and approached her, taking her in a loving embrace.
“Miss me Jen?” he asked softly, kissing her cheek.
“Every minute, Balto…” she replied, smiling at him as she pulled back a bit and held up the photograph, “Take a look at this…”
“What’s this Jenna?” he asked, taking it and looking it over several times before looking back to Jenna, “Jen… is this for real? You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”
“Nope… That’s all for real…” she said, joy filling her voice and amber eyes, “You can call the hospital up if you want to. They’ll tell you it’s true as well…”
“Jen, I… This is… I- I can’t believe this is for real!” he exclaimed, beaming at Jenna.
“I know! I’m still trying to grasp this for a fact!” Jenna practically squealed, wrapping her arms around Balto’s neck and staring at the ultrasound photograph, “The doctor’s say that it’s probably gonna be a boy…”
“Yeah, I can see why they’d say that…” replied Balto with a soft chuckle, looking at Jenna and kissing her gently, “I love you so much, Jen… I can’t believe we’re going to be parents…”
“It’s just a matter of time now, Balto… It’s all just a matter of time…” Jenna remarked, kissing Balto back and grinning, “So, what was the major mission for Mr. Secret Agent this time?”
“Actually, it wasn’t another assassination mission like the last few times… This time it was something I truly love: infiltration…” Balto replied with a grin back at her.
“Broke the main power breakers?”
“Yup.”
“Deleted all video archives for that day?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Kill anyone while you were there?”
“You know it…” Balto said, chuckling softly, “Anyway, the Colonel needed me to get this prison file on some Niju Suarez guy… I have no idea who he is, but apparently McIntyre needed it to confirm something on him and whatnot…”
“Well, at least you’re alright…” Jenna said, kissing Balto’s cheek softly, “Glad you got what you wanted…” Jenna let go of her husband and walked back down the hallway. Balto smiled at her as he watched her walk away.
“I am too, Jenna… I am too…” he said softly to no one before taking his cases upstairs to unpack.
Six months passed quickly for the secret agent. Jenna was relieved of her duties due to her pregnancy, taking a leave of absence to determine if she wanted to return to the agency or not. After all, with a child, she wouldn’t be able to leave the house much. So, with great reluctance, Jenna decided to turn in her papers of resignation into the agency to be able to take care of their upcoming child.
Now, Jenna was heavily pregnant and had just checked into the hospital, due to deliver any moment now... Balto paced back and forth in the waiting room, hoping that everything would be alright…
Washington D.C., December 16th 2005, 2246 hours.
Eternity. That’s what seemed to pass by Balto as he waited and waited and waited for what seemed like forever for any word on Jenna’s condition. His cell phone rang for what seemed like the three-hundredth time that night. He growled softly as he checked the caller: Col. McIntyre. Flipping it open, he placed it to the side of his head.
“Balto here… What is it Colonel?” he asked quickly, still pacing back and forth in a continuous circuit around the room.
“I was just calling to confirm about the file you brought us back in the summer from
“No Colonel… None yet… And the suspense is killing me!” Balto said, placing a hand on his forehead, “I think this is the worst moment I’ve been in… I feel so useless right now!”
“Well, just take it easy over there Balto… I’m certain things will be fine at the end of the day…” McIntyre said reassuringly, “Anyway, as I was saying before, about that file on Niju Suarez… It turns out he’s just the dog we were looking for all along… Balto, he could be a very serious threat to our country… Can you come in tomorrow? We need to discuss this matter, preferably in person…”
“Yeah, I’ll try to get in tomorrow…” Balto said with a heavy sigh, then looked up as he heard someone enter the waiting room and spotted the doctor who was in charge of Jenna, “I’m gonna have to go now… I’ll see you tomorrow…”
“Mr. Harrand, we’ve got the most recent update on your wife, Jenna Harrand…” the doctor said, smiling at the wolfdog, “She gave a successful delivery at 11:40 PM. Congratulations sir, you’re a father now…” Balto stared at the dog in the white coat for a moment before nodding slowly.
“May I go see her now?” he asked, then receiving a nod, asked, “Which room is she in?”
“She’s in Room #137,” the doctor said and no sooner had he finished speaking than Balto had dashed past him and down the pale-blue tiled hallways of the hospital.
After a few minutes, he came to Room 137 and took a deep breath before opening the door and stepping inside. He saw a nurse checking a few things before giving him a warm smile and exiting the room. Jenna lay in her bed, clutching a small bundle to her chest. She looked up at him and gave him a loving smile, gently rocking the bundle back and forth.
“Hello Balto… Come and see your new son…” Jenna said softly. Balto swallowed slightly and slowly approached the bed, staring down at the small red and white husky-looking wolfdog clad in blankets, fast asleep.
“Oh Jenna… He’s beautiful… It is a he, right?” he asked, getting a small nod from Jenna, “Look at him… He’s got your coat…”
“He is beautiful, isn’t he?” Jenna asked in a soft whisper, then beamed at Balto, “Oh Balto… This is the happiest moment of my life… I love you so much…”
“I love you just as much, Jenna… This is the best moment in my life too…” he replied in a soft tone, brown and gold eyes still locked on his newborn son, “What shall we name him, Jen?”
“I’m not sure, Balto… I was hoping you’d have some ideas…” Jenna said, giving him a sheepish grin. Balto thought for a moment, than came up with one.
“How about Kodiak?” he asked, looking back to Jenna for her reaction, “Kodiak Harrand… How’s that sound?”
“That’s a perfect name, Balto…” Jenna said softly, beaming up at Balto then smiling down at their son, “Hello Kodiak… Welcome to the world…”
Balto smiled down at his son, joy and pride filling him to the brim, coursing through his body like the blood in his veins. Never before had the young wolfdog felt so happy, so overcome with pure bliss as he stared at his beautiful wife and his beautiful son. But now, he knew that he had also taken on a new task with his son, a new mission he knew would be perilous, demanding, and testing in many ways. Balto was not just a government agent; he had now become a father.
The next day, Balto arrived promptly to the Pentagon, striding through the door without any hold-up by just a wave of his government identification card, proving he was a top-ranked agent. He walked through the large establishment and to the office of a dog he knew very well: Colonel McIntyre. The German Shepherd sat at his desk, sorting through files and manila folders that nearly-completely covered the top. As Balto walked in, he looked up and smiled widely at his friend.
“Balto! It’s great to see you!” he said cheerfully, standing up and walking over to the wolfdog, giving him a friendly hand-shake, “I’m so glad you were able to make it in today!... You seem a little tired though…”
“Well, you’d look the same if you spent nearly all of last night in the hospital helping out your wife…” Balto remarked with a chuckle.
“So everything went well then?”
“Everything went smoothly… I have a son now… His name’s Kodiak…”
“Kodiak… Good name…” the colonel said, then realized he’d been getting off-track, “Anyway, I found a few leads that I think you might be interested in looking at… Remember our friend Niju Suarez? Turns out he’s been wanted by the Mexican, Peruvian, and Brazilian government for some time now!”
“So we’ve got an escaped convict, so what?” Balto asked, shrugging slightly as he sat down opposite of McIntyre, “Let the police deal with him… He’s no concern of ours…”
“Wait until you here this part, Balto… Apparently, Niju was an engineer for the American military for quite some time before he resigned…” the Shepherd continued, looking over the files on his desk again, “He’s been wanted for murders, aggravated assaults, thefts, you get the picture… But he’s also gotten his hands on some important government papers… Namely blueprints on short-range ballistic missiles we’ve been developing for use in the war…”
“Alright, so let me get this straight, just so I’m on the same page as you are…” Balto said, leaning forward in his seat slightly, “This Niju guy was a military engineer who stole blueprints for missiles and is a fugitive running from the law, right? So the guy’s got weapons blueprints, how’s that affect us?”
“Because, believe it or not, we’ve done a background check on him with the Mexican government and it turns out he was in prison for dealing explosives and small arms to an unknown group of mercenaries…” Colonel McIntyre answered, giving Balto a dead-serious look, “Balto, if he’s continuing to manufacture weaponry and selling them to that group, things could be very, very bad for us…”
“Alright, so one assassination mission… Where is he right now and how am I getting there?” Balto asked, sitting back in his chair and folding his arms coolly across his chest. Colonel McIntyre sighed heavily and shook his head slowly.
“I’m sorry Balto, but there is no assassination mission… In fact, there’s no mission we have for you…” he said slowly, taking notice of the puzzled look the wolfdog before him wore, “After he escaped from prison, he simply vanished into thin air… Gone, no trace of him anywhere… He could be anywhere in the world right now and we have no clue where he is… But once we get a lead, any lead, we’ll let you know…”
“So… You’ve got absolutely nothing for me to do then?” Balto asked, giving him a blank stare, “Why is there no missions for me? There always were missions before…”
“That’s the thing, Balto… The agency has placed you on temporary relief of service…” McIntyre said, handing Balto his papers signifying his temporary relief of duty. Balto looked over it, then looked back up at the German Shepherd before him.
“Relief of duty? For thirteen years?!” Balto asked, his voice near a shout, “This is absurd! What is something terrible comes up and you need my skills for a sudden mission?!”
“Then we’re allowed to call you back into service, but until then the agency, which means me included, believe that you need some time to spend with your new family… So we agreed on thirteen years with salary, since it seemed enough…” the Shepherd said, “Besides, even if we didn’t do this, there’d still be no missions for you… We have enough agents to fill those places…”
“Alright… I understand… Thank you, sir…” Balto said with a sigh, standing up and saluting before turning and walking out. His brown and gold eyes stayed locked on the papers in his hand, still in disbelief that he’d be free for thirteen years to be with Jenna and Kodi. While he was rather displeased with being forced out of his job, Balto wasn’t about to complain. Thirteen years with pay all while taking care of his family. Now Balto could watch his beloved son grow up. Nothing could seem more perfect.
For thirteen years, Balto stayed at home, playing with Kodi and helping to raise him along with Jenna. When Kodi was seven, Balto told him stories of his adventures of his missions in various countries and regions. Kodi had always been fascinated and imagined going on these missions with his father when he was older.
“Dad, can I talk to you?” Kodi asked, now thirteen years old. Balto smiled at his son and nodded to him, sitting out on a balcony of their house and watching the sun go down.
“Sure thing son… Come and sit with me…” he replied, smiling as Kodi sat beside him, “So what’s up son? What did you want to talk to me about?”
“Dad, I want to be a secret agent- like you…” Kodi said, noting the shocked look his father got from that single sentence. Balto had not expected this at all and it took him completely off-guard.
“An agent? Like me?” he asked, watching the young husky nod vigorously to him, a small smile on his muzzle, “I… I don’t know, Kodiak… It’s not all the glory it may sound like… It’s a lot of hard work and it’s incredibly dangerous… Are you sure you wouldn’t rather be something else when you get older?”
“Nope! I want to be just like you, Dad… You’re a real hero…” Kodi said, resting his head on Balto’s chest, “You’re so cool… I want to fight for
“Kodi, are you sure this is what you really, truly want? To become a government agent like I am?” Balto asked.
“Yeah Dad! I don’t care if it’s hard work or if it’s dangerous… I want to be like you and be a hero!” Kodi replied, getting another sigh from Balto. After several moments of silent thinking, Balto finally replied.
“Alright Kodi… I’ll let you try and become a government agent…” Balto said, looking down at the huge smile Kodi now wore, “But remember: this will be very, very hard, so don’t expect it to be easy…”
“I know Dad… I’ll do my best…” Kodi said, hugging Balto affectionately, “Thank Dad…”
“You’re welcome, Kodi…” Balto replied in a soft tone. Without another word being spoken, both father and son watched the sun finish setting. Later that night, Balto paced back and forth in his bedroom, Jenna lying in bed reading a book. She sighed and looked at him.
“Balto, what’s wrong? You’ve been acting like this since dinner…” Jenna said softly, giving him a concerned look, “What happened that’s gotten you in this mood?” Balto sighed and stopped his pacing, looking to Jenna.
“Jenna, Kodi told me that he wants to become an agent like I am… He says he wants to be just like me…” Balto said. Jenna laughed softly.
“Well that’s not much of a surprise!” she said, giving him a small smile, “But what’s so wrong about wanting to be like his father?”
“I don’t want him to become an agent… It’s too dangerous and risky and I don’t want to see him get hurt!” Balto said, shaking his head slowly, “But I don’t want to crush his dreams either… I’m stuck, Jen… What do I do?” Jenna set her book aside and gave Balto a disappointed look.
“Balto, I understand you worrying about our son, but you can’t just tell him no to what he wants to do the most…” Jenna said, then sighed softly, “You know he looks up to you, Balto…” Balto heaved a heavy sigh and sat down on the edge of their bed.
“I know Jen… I know it’s not right to do that to Kodi…” Balto said sadly, “But what do I do then?”
“Let him become an agent if he wants to…” Jenna answered calmly, “You still work there, so be his mentor and teach him everything you know… If after that he still wants to be a government agent, then let him… You can take him on his first mission or two and make sure he stays safe…”
“Alright Jenna, I’ll do that…” Balto said, then smiled slightly, “If Kodi wants to be like me, then I’ll teach him everything I know about being an agent… I’m sure he’ll do fine…”
“I’m sure of it too, Balto…” Jenna said, moving until she was sitting beside her husband, giving him a gentle kiss on his cheek, “But dear, do make sure not too be too hard on the little guy… alright?”
“Don’t worry Jenna… I’ll be sure not to be too hard on him… I know what it’s like to be trained fiercely, so don’t worry about that…” he replied, kissing her back, “Well I’d better get to sleep… I’m gonna begin Kodi’s training as soon as possible…”
Chapter 2
The Pentagon, April 8th 2026, 1100 hours.
A young, twenty year old brick red and white husky stood before Colonel McIntyre, eyes showing slight nervousness as the colonel looked over a few papers in his hands. He sighed softly, looking around the office before looking back to the German Shepherd. Seeming to have reached a decision, McIntyre placed the papers on his desk and looked up at the husky before him, eyes serious.
“Well, your application seems rather… interesting…” Colonel McIntyre stated, glancing down at the papers he’d been previously holding, “So you’re trained in martial arts, correct?”
“Yes sir. I’m a black belt in Tai-Kwon-Do…” the husky answered calmly, nodding to the Shepherd, “I also did kickboxing in high school, sir…”
“And you’re also multi-lingual?”
“Sí, oui, and ja…” the dog before the colonel replied in Spanish, French, and German, smiling slightly.
“Impressive- as well as a great necessity to have when an agent…” McIntyre replied, looking over the husky’s papers again, “And your father’s served with us before, correct?”
“Yes he did and he still is, sir…”
“Yes, I know your father well…” Colonel McIntyre said, glancing up once more before back at the papers, “You’ve been trained by him to handle small arms, heavy arms, as well as basic and advanced land vehicle skills and aquatic vehicles?”
“Yes sir, he taught me all of that… I was never really good with aerial vehicles though…” he admitted with a slightly nervous chuckle, “He also taught me all about stealth, infiltration, hacking, movement techniques, and everything else he knew I’d need to survive if I become an agent…”
“Well, your application is very impressive, as well as your lineage…” Colonel McIntyre said with a grin, stamping the husky’s papers and standing up, holding out his hand, “Welcome to the United States Stealth Agency, Kodiak Harrand…”
“Thank you very much, Colonel McIntyre!” Kodi said with a large smile, shaking the Shepherd’s hand gratefully, “I’ll make sure to not fail, sir! I won’t make you regret this decision!”
“I’m sure you won’t, Kodiak…” McIntyre replied, glancing at someone in the doorframe, grinning and motioning behind Kodi, “And I’d like to show you some others who’d like to congratulate you…” Kodi turned around and saw Balto and Jenna standing in the doorway, smiles of pride on their faces.
“Mom, Dad!” Kodi said happily and walked up to them, hugging them lovingly.
“Congratulations Kodiak!” Jenna said, embracing him back, “I’m so proud of you!”
“I knew you could do it, Kodi!” Balto said cheerfully, smiling widely as he hugged Kodi back, “I always knew you had it in you!”
“It was all thanks to you, Dad…” Kodi replied, beaming at Balto, “I never could have done it without your help… Thanks a lot, Dad!” Colonel McIntyre cleared his throat and held up a manila folder, motioning to Balto and Kodi.
“While I hate to interrupt this joyous moment for you three, but I have something for you, Balto…” he said, placing the folder down on his desk, “We’ve found out where Niju is… After twenty years of searching, the snake finally revealed himself… He’s on an oil rig just off the coast of
“And that’s where I come in, right?” Balto asked, picking up the folder and opening it, beginning to rifle through the documents within, “You want me to go there, find out what he’s up to, and stop him from finishing it, right?”
“Right. Right now, your only mission objective is to find out what he’s up to and stop him from completing his goal, whatever it may be with oil…” Colonel McIntyre finished, looking at Jenna and smiling slightly, “Jenna, your request for entry back into the agency has been sent to processing… Once we get it back with validation from the President or Secretary of Defense, then we may welcome you back into the agency with open arms… We’d be glad to have you back…”
“Thank you, Colonel…” Jenna replied, smiling as she nodded to him, then looked at Balto, giving him a look that said ‘Get your son involved’. Balto finished looking through the folder and nodded to the Shepherd.
“Alright Colonel, I’ll accept this mission… on one condition… I want to take Kodi with me…” he said, getting a surprised look from both McIntyre and Kodi, “It would be a good chance for him to experience what it’s like in the agency and with me there, I’ll be able to keep an eye on him…”
“Approved, Balto… You and Kodi will leave for
Balto saluted and turned around, walking out with Kodi and Jenna. Almost immediately as soon as they left the colonel’s office, Kodi spoke up.
“Dad, are you sure you want to take me with you on your mission?” Kodi asked, “I mean, I’m still a rookie and I don’t want to be any kind of hindrance to you…” Balto laughed softly and smiled at his son.
“Kodi, you could never be a hindrance to me… I’d be more than happy to take me with you and teach you to use those techniques out on the field…” Balto responded, “Plus it’d be a great chance to see your father in action… Maybe learn a few extra things… Consider this your final test for all you’ve learned…”
“Well, thanks for taking me along with you, Dad…” Kodi replied gratefully, “I’m- a little nervous about this… But I know I’ll do well with you by my side!” Balto smiled widely as the family left the Pentagon behind them. He knew that they had to get home soon. They had a lot of preparations to do.
Once they were back home, Balto took Kodi to their storeroom, unlocking it and leading him inside. Balto grabbed his handgun from the rack and several clips of ammo, putting them in their designated spots on his stealth suit as it hung on the wall. Kodi followed behind his father, watching every movement he made with interest and taking mental notes. Balto then opened up a steel cabinet and handed Kodi a finely-crafted polished wood box. Kodi took it and looked up at Balto.
“What are you giving me this for, Dad?” Kodi asked, shaking the box slightly and listening to the soft rattling within.
“Consider it a gift for getting accepted into the agency, son…” Balto said, closing the cabinet and grabbing his grappling gun, “Go ahead, open it up!” Kodi lifted the latch and raised the cover, gasping slightly at the sight within.
Inside was a brand-new 9mm Beretta 92 handgun, polished, primed, and ready for action. Taking it out and holding it up, Kodi examined every inch of the pistol. The grip had been checkered to make it easier to grip, the clip eject button had been positioned so he wouldn’t accidentally hit it, the thumb safety was slightly larger for easier usage, and the slide had been reinforced and smoothened to make it easier to pull back. Kodi stopped his gaping at his gift to look back to Balto with utter shock on his face.
“Dad… This is… I can’t believe… How did you get this?!” Kodi asked, obviously awestruck by the gun in his hand, “This handgun’s been modified and customized in, like, eight different ways!”
“When you’re a top-ranking government agent, you tend to meet a lot of people…” Balto answered with a smile, “I have a friend who heads a weapons factory… I got him to make me that at a major discount… You’ll need that for tomorrow…”
“Ah, thanks so much, Dad!” Kodi said, holding it up and aiming at the wall, visioning enemy troops before him, “Hey Dad, what do you think is gonna happen while we’re out there?”
“Probably nothing more than standard routine infiltration/assassination missions…” Balto answered, finishing attaching equipment to his stealth suit, “This mission shouldn’t last longer than a half day, a day at the most, so we won’t need to pack many supplies… Oh, by the way son, tomorrow before we get on that plane, we have to meet Colonel McIntyre at the Pentagon… He’s going to give you your standard agent gear…”
“Awesome! This is gonna be so great!” Kodi said, glancing back at the three radios on the table, “Hey, these look pretty cool… What are they?” Balto looked up and pointed to them.
“Those are long-range wireless radio units… Their battery life is five days at the most before they’ll need recharging… They keep us linked to Operation Control and Headquarters while we’re off on missions…” Balto answered, walking over to Kodi, “Each one is labeled. One for me, one for your mother, and one for you…”
“Wow… All this stuff is so cool…” Kodi said, walking around and looking at the various weapons and equipment on the walls and racks, admiring his father’s black stealth suit, “I still can’t believe I’m actually an agent… I can’t thank you enough, Dad!”
“I know Kodi… I’m glad I helped you get what you wanted so much…” Balto replied, leading Kodi back out of the storeroom and locking it up before turning to Kodi, “But remember Kodi: this isn’t a video game or a movie… This is real life, real missions, real guns, and above all, real danger… Don’t get careless or arrogant out there, because one mistake could wind up costing you your life, ok son?”
“Yeah, ok Dad… I understand…” Kodi said, then smiled and saluted Balto, “… or should I call you Agent Balto now?” Balto laughed and rubbed Kodi’s head.
“You can still call me Dad… Don’t worry about calling me ‘Agent Balto’ or ‘sir’…” the wolfdog said before walking off, “Remember to get a good night’s sleep tonight Kodi… That could be a very valuable thing for you, especially on your first mission…”
Kodi nodded and watched his father walk off. His face then broke out into a wide smile as he followed Balto down the hallway, anxious and nervous for tomorrow to come.
The Pentagon, April 9th 2026, 0530 hours.
The sun still had yet to rise over the capital of the
“That is your mission location, Agent Balto and Agent Kodi… It’s a rather large oil rig, 100 miles off the coast of Venezuela…” the colonel explained, “It’s recently been taken over by an unknown group of mercenaries, most likely the exact same group as the ones who were dealing with Niju in the past… They’ve been there for a while now, but no one’s bothered to try and take it back…”
“Why not, sir?” Kodi asked, looking to the dog before back to the large screen on the wall.
“Because the soldiers that are on Niju’s side are well-armed and from the reports we’ve received, 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
Venezuelan airspace, April 9th 2026, 2010 hours.
Despite it being only a few short hours to fly south to
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 hallway before nodding to Kodi who followed in behind him. The two of them slowly and quietly made their way down a hall, following a sign marked Control Room.
Balto felt the soft soil beneath his combat boots and sighed heavily. Beside him, the wolf, his mentor, chuckled slightly and detached his parachute from his rucksack.
“Now was that all that bad Balto?” he asked, grinning at him. Balto slowly shook his head.
“No, I thought it would be a lot worse, actually!” he admitted sheepishly, “But I guess all your teaching and encouraging really helped me out… Thanks Brad…”
“No problem Balto…” Brad replied, drawing out his handgun, a Colt M1911A1, and motioning through the jungle, “Now the base is about ten miles north of here… We’d better get moving if we want to get there before nightfall… Not that we’d have many problems… I’m a wolf and you’re half wolf, right?” Balto nodded and drew his Beretta, making sure it was loaded before following Brad through the jungle.
“Yeah… I’m part wolf, part husky… I was teased a lot for being a half-breed…” he admitted softly, gripping his handgun tightly as memories rushed to him. Brad placed a hand on his apprentice’s shoulder and smiled.
“What’s wrong with being half-and-half?” he asked, “You get the best of both worlds, right?” Balto smiled slightly and nodded slowly.
“Yeah… Best of both worlds…”
“That’s the spirit… Now c’mon… We’ve got a long walk ahead of us…” Brad then went off in a sweeping direction while Balto proceeded forward, eyes and ears alert for any enemy soldiers…
Surprisingly, the hallways were completely desolate, not a single guard in sight. Balto and Kodi sidled along the walls nonetheless, eyes dead-set down the farthest ends of the blank white halls. Upon rounding a corner, they found themselves staring at a gray metal door with the words Outer Platform on it. Balto walked around to it and silently opened it, pushing his gun through first then himself, scanning for any enemies. None were in sight, so he walked through and placed his back to the wall, shortly followed by Kodi.
Now outside in the dark night, their stealth suits blended perfectly with their surroundings. They slowly slinked along the railing at the edge of the platform, the sounds of the waves crashing against the side of the oil rig moving in a hypnotic rhythm. As they rounded another corner, they found a huge metal platform area, drums of oil pretty much everywhere and many guards patrolling back and forth through the aisles of barrels. Balto growled softly and looked around, spotting a door on the far side and turned to Kodi.
“Alright Kodi, see that door over there? I’m gonna give you a clear path to the door… Just give me fifteen minutes…” Balto replied, looking up at a window 100 feet above him, “I’ll be right back…”
Before Kodi could ask what Balto had in mind, Balto ran up against the opposite wall, hiding in the shadows. He pulled out his grappling gun and fired it, latching onto the steel wall just above the window. With a slight salute to Kodi, Balto pulled the trigger and shot skyward at a rapid speed. As soon as he was within range of the window, Balto stopped his ascent and swung back and forth for a moment before pressing the button and flying toward the window, smashing through it and pulling out his handgun, holding it up and scanning for enemies.
Balto was now in a bathroom, and from the sounds of things, he was alone. He pressed the button on the radio on his chest.
“Alright Kodi, I’m in… I’ll find a way to create a distraction for you…” Balto said into the microphone on his headset, releasing the button and slowly walking toward the door out of the bathroom.
However, as the wolfdog reached the door and went to open it, he heard bootsteps approaching and quickly ducked behind the way the door would open. As soon as it did, he grabbed the guard who walked inside. The dog gasped sharply and yelped, but was silenced when Balto put his hand over his mouth, his hand around the dog’s chest and his combat knife to the guard’s neck.
“Listen to me, I’m not a rookie to this kind of stuff… I will cut you open unless you stop making noise and start telling me something that’ll interest me… understood?” Balto asked in a low, fierce voice. The dog nodded and Balto let go of his mouth, “Now, where’s Niju Suarez?”
“H-he’s in t-the Oil Processing Area… T-that’s where I last s-saw him…” the soldier said, voice shaking with fear, “P-please don’t kill me!”
“That’s up to me to decide…” Balto replied, pressing his knife harder against the dog’s throat, “Tell me, what’s the name of your group and why are you doing this?”
“I-I don’t know why we’re doing any of this! I’m just a mercenary soldier hired by Mr. Suarez! I don’t know, honestly!” the guard answered, whimpering softly, “H-he calls us the Falcons… I don’t know why. Maybe he just likes falcons!”
“Thanks… You’re free to go now…” Balto replied, letting go of the guard and delivering a swift, powerful strike to the back of the dog’s neck, dropping him to the floor before hiding him in a stall and locking it.
Turning on his heels, Balto replaced his knife in its sheath and pulled out his handgun, walking out into the white hallways and saw a guard a few dozen feet away. Before the mercenary could even raise his gun, Balto pulled the trigger twice, the silenced shots barely making a noise as the bullets hit their target in the chest. The guard shuddered slightly and fell to the ground. Balto ran up to the body and took the FAMAS assault rifle from him, stashing the body in the bathroom like the other one.
Slinging the assault rifle across his shoulder, Balto carried on down the hallways, eyes peeled for any guards. A few moments later, he heard someone approaching from both sides of him. Eyes darting around for a way out, Balto spotted a ventilation grate above him. He jumped up and pulled it off, climbing inside and sealing himself in. Below, he watched as two guards crossed paths before going back to patrolling.
With a soft sigh, Balto crawled his way through the ventilation shafts, looking for a way to create a distraction for Kodi to slip inside as well. After searching, he reached a grate that led outside. Balto kicked it out and climbed out and landed on a steel catwalk outside, 100 feet above the Outer Platform where he’d left Kodi. Balto stowed his Beretta and pulled the FAMAS from across his shoulder, walking to the railing of the catwalk and aiming down below. He fired off several rounds, managing to hit one of the guards and kill him before the others took cover and began to return fire.
Balto ran down the catwalk, firing back blindly at the enemy soldiers below him. During the shooting, Balto hit one of the many barrels of oil, causing a large explosion. Kodi watched and as soon as the explosion happened, he ran forward, heading for the door Balto had pointed out. As he reached the door, it opened up and a single guard spotted Kodi. Kodi kicked the guard’s gun out of his hands and delivered a round-house kick to the dog’s head, knocking him against the wall and watched him crumple to the floor before running in and closing the door.
Once Balto was sure Kodi was safely inside, he ran to the end of the catwalk and pulled open the door, rushing inside. Balto ran down the hallways until he found an elevator. He pressed the button beside it and waited for it to arrive. As soon as the doors opened, Balto pointed his handgun at the emptiness inside. He moved inside and pressed the button for the 1st Floor, watching the doors close and feeling the elevator descend.
Kodi slowly slinked through the hallways, keeping his handgun raised in case anything came out at him. Now that he was able to be seen, without his father beside him, Kodi felt a little bit nervous. However, he kept his wits about him and carried on going until he passed by a row of elevators. As he walked by one, the doors opened and Kodi pointed his pistol and a dog who pointed a similar pistol at him. It was Balto. With a sigh, Kodi lowered his gun and smiled at his father.
“Dad… You gave me a scare there…” Kodi said, “That was a smart idea, shooting at the guards like that Dad… Thanks for helping me inside…”
“Not a problem son… You did well back down there…” Balto said, patting Kodi on the shoulder, “Now come on, we need to find the Oil Processing Area… That’s where Niju was last seen…” Kodi nodded and Balto looked at the directory beside the elevators. The Oil Processing Area was on the 3rd Floor. Balto nodded to Kodi and both agents walked back into the elevator, going up to their selected level.
Once the doors opened once more, Balto and Kodi, guns raised and ready to fire, stepped out into the hallway, each one aiming down the other end of the hall. When they saw the same barrenness as the other halls, Balto nodded to Kodi and followed the markings on the walls to their destination. As they rounded a corner, Balto ran into a guard and stumbled slightly. The guard recovered first and went to shoot Balto, but Kodi reacted faster and pulled his trigger four times, each bullet striking the dog in a different part of his torso. Kodi watched as the guard fell dead to the floor, a shocked look on his face.
“Well done, Kodi…” Balto said, looking from the dead guard to Kodi, giving him a thumbs-up, “First kill… Don’t worry about it though… It was necessary…” Kodi only nodded, still shocked as he looked at the handgun in his slightly trembling hand. Balto patted Kodi on his back before motioning down the hall with his gun.
“Come on, we have to go…” Balto said softly, leading a shell-shocked Kodi onward…
Balto pushed through the large ferns and undergrowth. It had been a few hours since they’d touched down and now it seemed like forever they’d been trekking. Balto checked his SOAW; it had been precisely two hours and eighteen minutes since they’d landed.
“Where the Hell is this place?” Balto asked into the small microphone clipped onto his shirt.
“It should be just a bit farther… In fact Balto, go forward about fifty feet…” Brad said, his voice coming through Balto’s old radio that he wore. Balto pushed forward and through one last large fern until he saw a small military base down in a basin before him, the beige concrete and steel mesh fence standing out from the lush green scenery around it.
“Excellent… I found it Brad… Where are you?” Balto asked, feeling someone tap him on his shoulder and instinctively spun around, pointing his handgun at Brad, “Jeez Brad, you nearly gave me a heart attack!” Brad chuckled and pointed to Balto’s gun.
“You almost made me lose my brains, but there was no harm done there, right?” he asked, chuckling again, “Come on, I can see a break in the guards’ patrol pattern… Follow me…”
Brad led Balto down through the dense jungle until they arrived on the outskirts of the base. Through the wire mesh, Balto could see the guards walking back and forth, M-16’s clutched tightly as they patrolled back and forth around the compound. Brad watched until the guards moved away, leaving a small opening in their patrolling. Brad quickly jumped onto the fence, climbing to the top and using his wire-cutters to snip through the barbed wire at the top before dropping over and hiding behind a stack of crates.
Balto took a deep breath and waited several minutes before the break reappeared again. He then followed Brad’s example, taking his route and climbing over the fence, dropping on the other side and dashing to where Brad was, taking cover next to his mentor. As they hid, a single guard walked by them and caught a quick glimpse of Balto’s jungle camouflage in contrast to the metal crates. He walked over to see what it was and spotted the two agents. Balto noticed him as well and quickly raised his handgun, pulling the trigger and listening to the gunshot echo through his ears and mind, watching the soldier clutch his chest and double-over.
Brad looked over and saw Balto kill the soldier, quickly scrambling over beside Balto and pulling the dead guard out of sight behind the crates. He examined the wound inflicted upon the guard. A direct shot to the dog’s chest. Brad nodded in approval to Balto, impressed with his marksmanship.
“Nice shot Balto… Now let’s try to find a way inside…” he whispered, looking back out over the side of the crates. Balto only stared at his handgun, then to the body, then back to his gun. He still couldn’t believe it. He had actually killed a dog…
The Oil Processing Room wasn’t very far from where Kodi had made his first kill. Just a few minutes down the hall and they found the metal door with the label on it. Balto pulled it open and rushed inside, followed by Kodi, both scanning for enemies. They were on a metal catwalk above huge tankards of oil. A single dog, or more accurately, a wolf, stood on the catwalk a few yards away. As Balto and Kodi got closer, the black and white wolf noticed them and quickly spun around.
“Who the Hell are you two?” he asked furiously, taking a step backward.
“Niju Suarez, I presume…” Balto said, lowering his gun while Kodi kept his on the wolf, “We represent the
Niju, not seeing any way out of this yet, sighed and lowered his arms. He took a few slow strides forward before reaching into his jacket. Balto reacted faster and ran forward, reaching him just as the wolf pulled out a Desert Eagle handgun. Balto kicked it out of his hand, watching it fall into the oil below. Niju then laid punch after punch on Balto, knocking the wolfdog backward. Kodi tried to shoot Niju, but couldn’t pull the trigger. He didn’t want to risk his father’s life.
Balto stumbled backwards and nearly fell, but managed to stay standing. He’s got to have some kind of training… His punches are too strong and finessed to be an amateur fighter’s… he thought to himself, looking up to catch Niju running off down the catwalk to a metal door at the end.
“Get him Kodi!” Balto shouted, dashing off after Niju. Kodi obeyed and fired after the retreating canine, hitting the catwalk and rails around him and throwing sparks up behind the wolf, but never hitting him. Niju pulled the door open and rushed out, shortly followed by Balto. Kodi growled softly and ran off after them, not willing to give up the fight so easily.
Balto ran through the door and found himself outside, on another catwalk on the outer walls of the oil rig. Good God! Balto thought to himself, looking down the catwalk and spotting Niju. He ran off after him, but the wolf stopped and kneed Balto in his stomach. The wolfdog groaned softly in agony and doubled over, falling to the ground. Kodi ran outside and saw what was going on. He raised his handgun and pulled the trigger- only to hear a click of an empty magazine.
Balto grabbed Niju’s leg and pulled, sending him crashing to the catwalk as well. Niju growled and kicked Balto in the head, slowly getting up again. Balto struggled to his feet, but was knocked down when Niju landed a blow on the back of his head. Kodi, unable to watch his father take such a beating, ran up and kicked Niju in his chest. The wolf flew backward, but caught himself in mid-fall, did a back-flip, and landed on his feet. Kodi ran forward again, trying to hit Niju but he blocked every attack.
Niju then dodged and grabbed Kodi’s arm, spinning the husky around and holding him as a shield. Balto got up and pointed his gun at Niju- then gasped sharply as he saw Kodi being held hostage.
“Now, Mr. American Agent, stow the gun or your son dies right here, right now…” Niju threatened, pulling out a dagger and holding it to Kodi’s neck. Balto reluctantly holstered his pistol and raised his hands.
“Alright, it’s done… Now let him go, Niju…” Balto said calmly.
“Come and get him first…” Niju said, hiding the grin he was wearing. It was obvious he had a plan, but Balto was unable to see it. As Balto came forward, Niju’s hand shot forward and grabbed the wolfdog’s dog-tags, pulling them from around his neck. He growled softly; he’d been aiming for the agent’s neck, but had missed slightly.
“He’s all yours, Mr. Agent… presuming the ocean doesn’t claim him first!” Niju shouted, tossing Kodi over the edge of the catwalk. The husky screamed as he fell hundreds of feet down into the black, cold ocean waters.
“Kodiak!” Balto shouted, willingly giving up his chance to complete the mission as he jumped off the edge, diving in after Kodi. Niju laughed and ran off down the catwalk. Despite his stealth suit’s insulation, the water was still freezing cold around Balto’s body. God, Kodi fell into this?! Balto thought, swimming underwater toward his son. He grabbed Kodi’s arms and quickly swam up to the surface. A moment later, the two agents broke the surface, Kodi coughing and sputtering.
“D-dad?” he asked, shivering terribly, “I… r-really messes up, huh?”
“Nonsense, Kodi… You didn’t mess anything up…” Balto said, holding his son close to try and warm him up slightly as they bobbed up and down in the water, Balto pressing his radio again, “This is Agent Balto. The mission is a failure. Repeat, the mission is a failure. Requesting immediate extraction. Over…” Balto looked at Kodi. “Don’t worry Kodi… It’s over now… We’ll be home soon…”
Balto slowly and silently closed the metal door behind him. He glanced
back forward, following behind Brad as he walked down the hallway. A guard came around the corner and Brad didn’t hesitate; he drew out his knife and shoved it into the soldier’s chest before tossing him into an adjacent room.
“So Brad, aren’t we supposed to be looking for this guy, Commander Baker?” Balto asked, giving the wolf a confused look, “So shouldn’t we be interrogating these guys instead of slaughtering them?” Brad chuckled and glanced back at the young wolfdog.
“Balto, sometimes being rough and vicious gets the mission done faster…” he explained, opening a door and looking in the room before closing it and carrying on his search, “Besides, no one will miss these guys…”
Balto gave his mentor a strange look, not quite sure he approved of his methods. But the government apparently did so, so it wasn’t his place to question Brad. The two continued to walk on, Brad shooting and killing every guard they came across. Balto preferred to try and interrogate them, always getting to answer either because they refused to talk or because Brad killed them while he held them.
Balto sighed as he walked out of yet another empty room. He gave Brad a shrug and shook his head slowly.
“I have absolutely no idea where this Commander Baker guy is!” Balto said, hearing rushing bootsteps coming toward them. Balto and Brad turned and saw four guards approach them and take aim at them.
“Freeze you two! Don’t move or it’s your funeral!” one guard shouted. Balto and Brad exchanged looks before dropping their guns and raising their hands above their heads…
Balto and Kodi continued to gently bob up and down in the water for several minutes. Nearby, a ship’s horn sliced through the serene silence. From the oil rig, a large freighter left, sailing northward until it vanished from sight. Then everything was quiet and calm again for a while. Balto sighed softly, the cold beginning to get to him and Kodi.
“D-dad? A-are we g-gonna d-die?” Kodi asked, giving his father a scared look. Balto slowly shook his head.
“No Kodi… W-we’ll be just f-fine…” Balto replied, his teeth chattering slightly. No sooner had Balto said those words than the roar of a helicopter above them was heard, loud and clear. A searchlight was shone down on the two agents and Balto waved up to it. A rope ladder was thrown down to them and Balto ushered Kodi up it, climbing up after his son did. Inside the helicopter, two American soldiers wrapped blankets around Balto and Kodi.
“Are you two alright?” they asked as the helicopter flew off.
“Yeah…” Balto said softly, beginning to warm up once again, looking over at Kodi who had fallen asleep, his hand reaching for where his dog-tags had previously been, a grim expression settling over his face, “We’re fine……”
Chapter 3
The Pentagon, May 23rd 2026, 1425 hours.
Balto and Kodi stood in Colonel McIntyre’s office, staring at the German Shepherd as he sorted out some files before setting them aside and looking at Balto.
“Balto, I know you’ve always hated failing missions… and I know you want a chance to redeem yourself, like you always do…” he said calmly, “Which is why I’m giving you this… I think you’ll find it very interesting…” Colonel McIntyre pushed a manila folder toward Balto. The wolfdog hesitated for a moment before picking it up and looking through the files.
“What am I looking at, Colonel?” Balto asked, not quite believing what he saw.
“That, Balto, is an abandoned military compound out in the
“Why would Niju be out in the
“He is, Balto… He is…” Colonel McIntyre said, folding his hands on top of his desk, “Haven’t you ever wondered what a wolf with a small force of military-trained mercenaries wants with all that oil?”
“I have…” Kodi said suddenly, “I’m guessing you found out why, huh? Why’d he take all that oil?”
“Surely it’s not to avoid the outrageous gas prices for cars…” Balto said sarcastically, handing a couple files to Kodi to let him look over them, “So why’d he take that oil? What’s he fueling?”
“Missiles. He’s constructed about 1,000 of those missiles I told you he stole the blueprints for…” the Shepherd explained, rising to his feet and holding his hands behind his back casually, “He’s using that oil as fuel for them… He now has 1,000 fully functioning short-range ballistic missiles… and he’s stashed them out there in the
“Why would he be doing that? I mean, they’re short-range missiles, so what?” Balto asked, closing the folder and handing it to his son, “He can’t do much damage from the
“No, but what else would someone do with missiles when they can’t fire them?” Balto thought for a moment, then got a serious look as the realization dawned on him.
“Sell them… He’s going to sell those missiles…”
“Right… From a journal one of our international agent allies managed to snag, he’s meeting with officials from al-Qaeda to sell them the missiles… If they get their hands on them, then the war over there could go from bad, to loss…” Colonel McIntyre stated, “It’s very important this mission… We need someone to get those blueprints back, destroy the missiles and the base, and eliminate Niju Suarez… Balto, we need you to go…”
Balto stood still, showing no emotions for a while. He thought to himself for a long while before sighing and looking at Kodi. He then looked back to Colonel McIntyre and shook his head.
“No sir… I’m sorry, but I can’t take this mission… for personal reasons…” Balto said, motioning to Kodi, “Give it to Kodi… He’s more than qualified and ready for it…” Kodi and Colonel McIntyre gave him a look of utter disbelief and shock.
“Balto… this mission is of the highest priority… We even got the President’s approval on it before it even got to my desk!” McIntyre exclaimed, “Why would you merely turn this down?! This mission could determine the fate of the entire
“I know, Colonel… But with all due respect, sir, there’s a more important reason than the sake of my country for me to deny your request and refuse this mission…” Balto said coolly, “Kodiak is more than able to do it… and I’ll even be apart of his support team back here… If you don’t believe me, give him a partner. Would that make you feel any better?” Colonel McIntyre said nothing for a few moments, then sighed heavily and sat down once again.
“Balto, I… I don’t… Alright… Kodiak, you’re now assigned to this mission…” Colonel McIntyre stated, writing something down on a notepad, “I’ll get you a partner ASAP. You’ll be required to report back here in three days, at 0700 hours sharp…”
“Understood sir!” Kodi said, saluting his commanding officer before walking out of the room with the folder on his latest and most important mission he’d probably ever receive. Once Kodi was out of the room, Colonel McIntyre looked at Balto and spoke right away.
“Balto, out of all the years that I’ve known you, you’ve never once declined a mission before. What’s going on, why have you finally decided to turn one down, and one that could mean life or death for thousands of soldiers and hundreds of thousands of citizens?!” Colonel McIntyre asked, not bothering to hide the utter shock in his voice at all. Balto merely sighed softly and shook his head slowly.
“Colonel, please understand… I have a good reason for doing this…” Balto said calmly, his eyes showing that he knew what he was doing, “You’re my friend, Colonel… Please, trust me on this…” McIntyre sighed and nodded slowly.
“Alright Balto… I trust you… After all, you haven’t been wrong yet…” he replied, “You’ll be on Kodiak’s support team then… Dismissed…” Balto saluted and turned on his heels, walking out of the room and down the hallway until he met up with Kodi. Neither of them said a word as they walked out of the Pentagon.
The Pentagon, May 26th 2026, 0700 hours.
Balto and Kodi walked into the Operations Room, right on schedule. The best team the government could assemble sat in their designated places, ready to begin. Colonel McIntyre was talking to another dog, a larger built brown malamute. The dog tapped McIntyre on his shoulder and pointed past him at Balto and Kodi. The colonel turned and smiled at the two agents.
“Agents Balto and Kodiak! You’re right on time!” Colonel McIntyre said, shaking hands with the two of them, “Agent Kodi, I’d like you to meet your partner, Agent Kirby.”
“Pleased to meet you, Kirby…” Kodi said, shaking his teammate’s hand and giving him a smile.
“Hey, you’re Balto’s son?! You’re so lucky! Your father’s, like, a living legend!” Kirby exclaimed as he shook Kodi’s hand, beaming at Balto, “Oh my… It’s really him! The great Balto!”
“I’m flattered…” Balto said coolly, then looked to the Colonel, “McIntyre, we’ll need to begin ASAP to give our agents optimum time out in the field…”
“Yes, they should… Good call, Balto…” he replied, nodding to Kodi and Kirby, “Your jet is waiting at the airport. Hurry, you’ll need all the time you can get… Oh, but first, here’s s\some equipment we deem necessary for this mission…”
Colonel McIntyre opened up a duralumin briefcase and pulled out two white capsules, giving one to each agent before giving them a blue one each as well.
“Those white pills are potassium-cyanide capsules… They’ll send you into a state of false-death should you get captured or need to use them at any time… They’ll shut your vitals down temporarily. The blue capsule is used to revitalize you…” Colonel McIntyre explained, “But be warned: if you remain in that state for over half an hour, you won’t be able to come back and your vitals won’t be resuscitated, even by that blue capsule… It’s up to your teammate to give you their blue capsule if you use your white one…”
Kodi and Kirby stowed their capsules away in pouches on their belts. Colonel McIntyre turned back to the duralumin case and took out two magazines of bullets, giving one to each agent.
“Those are non-lethal bullets. They’re made of a synthetic material that evaporates on contact with its target, releasing a fast-acting sedative into whatever it hits… You only have ten though, so use them sparingly…” he explained, giving them the magazines before giving them two grenades each, “Those are flash grenades. I’m sure you know what those do… Useful for escapes and whatnot…”
Colonel McIntyre then closed up the duralumin case and set it down on the floor. Balto walked up to Kodi and placed a hand on his son’s shoulder, giving him a slight smile.
“Dad… If… If I don’t come back- tell Mom that-”
“Stop right there… Kodiak, you’re a very skilled, impressive young agent… Don’t talk like you know you’re going to die…” Balto said, handing Kodi a single bullet, “This bullet I had made special… Use it only when you’re certain you can kill Niju…” Balto took Kodi’s hand and left the bullet in it. Kodi gripped the single brass bullet tightly, eyes shining brightly as he nodded to his father.
“I understand Dad… I won’t fail… I won’t let you down…” Kodi said before saluting Balto. Balto smiled and saluted Kodi back.
Kodi and Kirby nodded to one another before they walked out of sight. Balto sighed heavily and looked around the Operations Room. This was the first time he’d ever been in here out of his stealth suit. Turning back to the large monitor on the wall, Balto watched it, staring at the information displayed on the screen. On the left side of the screen was a vertical gray rectangle, a picture of Kodi in it and stats on Kodi’s current condition, heart-rate, blood pressure, and vital signs.
“Please Kodi… Be safe…” Balto whispered to the display of his son, slowly closing his eyes in silent prayer, then spotted something on the topography map of the region the military base was on, “Colonel, zoom in on those five dots there…”
“Good God…” Colonel McIntyre said as they zoomed in, “Those are anti-aircraft turrets…”
“They won’t have a chance getting in… I’m going…” Balto said, quickly turning to leave.
“Balto, you can’t! You weren’t approved for the mission!”
“I can’t just sit by and watch my son get blown to pieces by the enemy! There has to be something we can do!” Balto argued, walking back up to the colonel, “Anything, Colonel… Isn’t there anything we can do?” Colonel McIntyre thought for a moment, then sighed heavily.
“All we can do is warn the pilot… Other than that, it’s too late for anything else…” McIntyre explained, “We’ll just have to trust their skills and wish them the best of luck…” Balto looked utterly terror-stricken, only able to stare at the large wall monitor in distress and hope for the best…
Balto slid out of the air shaft behind Brad, sighing softly. Only ten minutes ago, Brad had picked the lock to his cell and killed the guard watching them before setting Balto free. Everything had just been so tough for Balto so far and he didn’t know how much more he could take. Walking off into a room while Brad inspected some files, Balto smiled as he saw something interesting.
“Hey Brad! I think I may have found him!” Balto shouted to his teammate and mentor. Brad rushed in and found Balto holding his handgun to a soldier’s head. “Now, tell my teammate what you just told me…”
“C-Commander Baker’s in the Mapping Room!” the guard said, then looked at Brad, “Y-you! What’re you doing here? I thought the Commander-”
Brad’s eyes widened slightly and his hand shot up, putting a round through the guard’s head. The dog fell against the wall and slid down to the floor. Balto stared at the body of his hostage, then shot a glare at Brad.
“What the Hell was that all about?!” Balto asked in a near shout, now very irritated with Brad’s actions and methods, “You’ve interrogated no one, killed everyone we’ve come across, and even killed the one guy who had information for us! I don’t know what methods you use, but they’re insane!”
“Balto, listen to me… I’ve never interrogated one guard in my six years of being an agent… and I’ve accomplished every single mission I’ve gone on…” Brad said, growling lowly at Balto, “If you don’t like my methods, then that’s your problem, but for now we have to work together just to stay alive, because if we fail this mission, we die, understood?” Balto opened his mouth to protest some more, but sighed heavily and dropped his arms.
“Alright… I’m sorry Brad… I didn’t mean to yell… I’m just- a little irritated, is all… and stressed! This is my first mission and I guess I’m a little nervous right now…” Balto admitted, ears lowering against his forehead.
“It’s alright Balto… I understand that feeling… Everyone’s been a rookie at one time or another…” Brad said, patting the wolfdog’s shoulders, “Now c’mon, let’s go find that Mapping Room…”
Balto smiled slightly at Brad. The wolf opened the door and Balto walked out, gun raised as he sweeped the halls for soldiers. He motioned to Brad and both agents set off down the hallways. After searching for close to an hour, they finally found a room marked Mapping Room. Balto nodded to Brad and the wolf swiftly kicked the door down, walking in coolly and spotting the Golden Retriever who was their objective. He gave them a shocked look and took a few steps back.
“Who’re you two?” the Commander asked, back now pressed to the far wall, “How did you get in here?”
“Just remain calm… We’re not going to kill you, and we won’t harm you so long as you comply with us…” Brad said, looking to Balto and motioning to a folder on the table, “Balto, grab his files… I’ll arrest Baker…” Baker turned around and put his hands behind his back, willingly giving himself up as Brad latched handcuffs on his wrists.
“Alright, let’s get outta here…” Balto said, “More guards might show up… We’d better hurry out of here…”
“Relax, Balto…” Brad said, taking the lead and walking Baker out with them, hands firmly gripping the Retriever’s green military uniform, “Our extraction point is in the port city of
“Alright, so how are we going to get there?” Balto asked, “I don’t think we can walk through a Mexican jungle…” Brad laughed as they walked out into the bright sunlight, a jeep parked off to the side of the base.
“THAT is how we’re getting out of here…” Brad replied, tossing Commander Baker forcefully into the back before climbing into the driver’s side, Balto taking the passenger seat beside him.
Brad turned the key in the ignition and the car started up, flooring the gas pedal and shooting off, turning around the base, searching for the gate to get out. The guards instantly noticed them and began opening fire. Balto fired back, managing to kill two guards before his gun ran out of bullets. As Balto reloaded, Brad began firing back, shooting down four guards and laughing as he drove.
“Ah, I love this!” Brad said to Balto, “It’s such a thrill!”
Balto merely nodded in response, not really paying attention as he jammed a fresh magazine into his Beretta as Brad circled around the base again, both agents firing at the guards this time. Concrete splintered where they shot, a few guards getting hit, but many of their shots missing their targets. Finally, Brad found the mesh gates, shut and chained up. He grinned and drove straight for them.
“Uh, Brad?” Balto asked, staring straight ahead as a blockade of guards formed before the gate.
“Trust me, Balto…” Brad replied, “That, and get your head down!” Balto and Brad ducked as a hailstorm of bullets ripped through the windshield, the jeep still going and plowing through the soldiers, ramming the gate and breaking it open as they sped off down the dirt road, destined for
Kodi sat in silence as the jet soared over the
Kirby noticed his teammate’s nervousness and tension and patted Kodi’s shoulder. Kodi looked over at him and gave him a weak smile.
“Hey Kodi, you doing alright?” Kirby asked. Kodi only nodded slowly before saying,
“Yeah, I’m fine… It’s… nothing, really…” Kodi looked back out the window. Below them, the coast of
“Well Kodi, we’re almost there…” Kirby said, taking out his handgun, a Glock, and checking to make sure it was loaded, “Don’t worry… I’m sure your Dad’s taught you enough to complete this mission… Should be nothing more than any other standard assassination/infiltration missions…”
“Yeah, it should be…” Kodi replied, glancing down and watching the ground below pass by them. Roughly ten minutes later, the beginnings of the enormous
“Ten minutes to your D.O.P. Get ready agents…” the captain said over the intercom. Kodi grabbed his parachute and clutched it tightly, taking a deep breath. The two agents sat in silence, awaiting the green light to get going on their mission.
“Five minutes to drop-off… Get suited up, make sure you have all your equipment…” Kodi and Kirby stood up, slipping their parachutes on and checking everything was stowed safely on them. They exchanged a quick smile before waiting for the next order from the captain.
“Two minutes to drop-off… Opening the rear of the plane…” the captain said through the intercom and a moment later, the rear hatch of the plane lowered to a platform for the agents.
“You ready for this Kodi?” Kirby asked, grinning from ear to ear. Kodi nodded, grinning back at his teammate.
“Always ready… Let’s do this!” Kodi replied.
“Sixty seconds to drop-off… Stand by to- Oh, shit!” the captain said and then the plane shook violently, nearly throwing the two agents off their feet. Another violent shudder of the plane sent them down, both dogs struggling to get up.
“What the Hell’s going on?!” Kirby asked into the intercom, eyes narrowed as the plane continued to shake back and forth.
“We’re being shot at! Anti-aircraft turrets!” the captain said, “We’re gonna have to- Damn! They’ve hit our right engine!” As soon as the captain said that, the plane began to list to the right, sending Kodi and Kirby crashing into the right wall of the plane.
“Mayday! Mayday! Aircraft O-870 has been hit! Repeat, we’ve been hit! We’re going down!” the captain said, forgetting to turn off the intercom system. Kodi and Kirby exchanged worried looks before Kodi looked to the open back of the plane.
“C’mon, we’ve gotta jump now!” Kodi said, both agents getting to their feet and running to the back of the plane. The desert was far below them and the compound wasn’t even in sight. “On three… One…”
“Three!” Kirby shouted and grabbed Kodi’s arm, jumping out while taking his teammate with him. A couple seconds later, the plane was hit again and burst into flame, exploding into a giant fireball before completely exploding into thousands of pieces. The two agents watched as their transport was obliterated as they fell down and down and down toward the desert sands below.
Back in
“Don’t worry about your son, Balto… He’s a very capable agent… He completed all of his testing with flying colors and he did learn from the best of the business…” McIntyre said with a slight smile, “I’m sure he’ll be fine… Trust in him…”
“I do, Colonel… It’s just… I would’ve felt so much better if I had gone instead of him…” Balto said softly. Colonel McIntyre gave him a very confused look.
“Balto, I had originally offered this mission to you, but you turned it down immediately and gave it to Kodi…” he explained to the wolfdog, “Don’t you remember? If you would’ve felt better if you had gone, then why didn’t you go?”
“Because if I had gone, Kodi would have died anyway…” Balto answered, getting an even more confused look from Colonel McIntyre.
A sudden series of beeps was heard from the monitor. Balto and Colonel McIntyre quickly looked to it to find out what was going on. The plane had a mile to go before it reached its destination, but the homing signal on it was gone; no longer on the map, and Kodi’s and Kirby’s heart-rate was going up.
“What’s going on?” Colonel McIntyre asked, “The plane’s gone, but the agents’ vitals are still online… What’s happening?”
“I’ll tell you what’s going on…” Balto said, leaning forward and resting his head on his hands, “The plane’s been destroyed by those anti-aircraft turrets… The pilots are dead… However, Kodi and Kirby jumped in time… They’re still alive, but they’re falling 30,000 feet down to the ground…”
Kodi hit the ground with a soft thud. He ran forward a few steps to avoid his parachute falling on top of him. Quickly removing his parachute’s harness, he slipped out of it and pulled out his silenced Beretta, sweeping the desert for any enemies. A few meters away, Kirby touched down and removed his parachute, drawing his firearm as well. Kodi quickly ran up beside him and checked his SOAW. They were close to a mile away from the compound, which was to the east of them.
“We need to head east… It’s right over there…” Kodi said, pointing to the buildings off in the distance.
“Right…” Kirby said, looking to Kodi, “But we’d better be careful… We don’t know if anyone saw us come down or if there’s any guards out here…” Kodi nodded and the two set off, their black stealth suits helping to mask their approach in the night’s dark shadows.
The desert sands didn’t hinder them much. In fact, Kodi barely noticed a difference as he ran across it. Is this what it would be like for me if I had just signed up with the army instead of the agency? he asked himself in thought as they carried on running. After twenty minutes or so, the two teammates finally reached the steel mesh fence surrounding the compound. Kodi looked at the various sized buildings inside the fence, wondering just where Niju would be. He turned his radio on and Kirby did the same as he began to cut a hole in the fence.
“This is Agent Kodi... Can anybody hear me? Over…” Kodi said into his radio, waiting to hear a response. Balto’s ears shot up when he heard his son’s voice echo through the Operations Room from the speakers around the room. Frantically, Balto snatched up his headset and put it on.
“Agent Kodi? This is Balto… Where are you son?” Balto asked, looking to the map, “Press the red button on your SOAW…” Kodi did as he was told and a red dot appeared on the map in the Operations Room. “Ok Kodi, you’re at the outskirts of the compound… How are you getting in?”
“Kirby’s cutting a hole underneath the fence…” Kodi replied, looking to the large Malamute as he cut through the wire mesh, “Dad, can you tell me how many buildings there are here?”
“There are four buildings in there, Kodi… And from what we can see, all of them have large heat signatures coming from them… We can’t tell you which has the missiles, since it looks like every building is full of enemy soldiers…” Balto explained, then sighed softly, “Kodi, please be careful… These dogs are ruthless and won’t hesitate to shoot you, so you have to do the same… Kodi, if you see an enemy, don’t think, just shoot… ok?” There was a long pause before Kodi finally said,
“Ok Dad… I’ve got it… We’re in now, I’ll keep my radio on, but I might not be able to reply… Agent Kodi, out…”
Kodi let his hand fall from the radio clipped to his chest down to his side. He gripped his handgun tighter, ready to do whatever necessary to complete the mission. Kirby finished cutting a hole in the bottom of the fence and replaced his wire cutters into his belt, crawling underneath it. Kodi followed his teammate and both dove behind a stack of metal crates, looking out at the many soldiers patrolling around. Spotlights on top of the buildings were manned and sweeping the area.
“Damn… Security’s pretty tight around here…” Kirby said in a whisper.
“Well that’s what happens when an American transport plane gets shot down right above your head…” Kodi whispered back, both agents chuckling slightly, “Looks like there’s a door into that tall building over there…” Kodi pointed to the tallest of the four buildings, a lone door on the side of it.
“Yeah, I see it…” Kirby said, nodding slowly, “Alright… Let’s go!” With that, the two agents dashed behind another stack of crates, gradually making their way across the sand toward the structure.
Niju sat at a desk he’d taken for himself, looking over various files and reports. The only light in the room was the one above his head, illuminating little other than the desk and himself. He sighed softly, pushing a few files off to the side and holding up a silvery chain with a small metal rectangle at the bottom of it. He slowly traced his fingers across the lines of text on the rectangle. It read:
Name: Balto Harrand
Age: 47
Blood Type: O+
D.O.B.: 03/15/79
The door to his office opened up and a Border Collie walked in, dressed in a high-ranking military uniform. Niju quickly placed Balto’s dog-tags back in his pocket and folded his hands across his desk.
“Lieutenant Drawn, good to see you…” Niju said, giving the Collie a slight smile, “Is there something I can do for you?”
“The reports you requested are back… It took me twenty days, but I finally found out all I could on that guy for you…” Drawn said, handing Niju a folder filled with papers and a few photographs, “And also, the meeting for the dealing of those missiles is still on for 9 PM tomorrow night…”
“Perfect… Everything’s going smoothly then?” Niju asked, taking the folder from the dog and giving him a pleased look, “No problems of any kind?”
“Well, there was an American transport aircraft that tried to fly over us about half an hour ago… We presumed it was going to drop troops inside the base to stop us…” Drawn began, then smiled cruelly, “But it was shot down a mile from the establishments… We have nothing to worry about…”
“Excellent work, Lieutenant… You’re dismissed…” Niju said and waited for his lieutenant to walk out before opening the folder and spreading the documents out on the desk, reading them intently, “Yes… This is perfect…” Niju then pressed the button on the short-wave radio on his desk. “Lieutenant, can you hear me?”
“Yes sir… Loud and clear…” came the voice of Drawn, “I’m going to go ahead and guess that there is something I can do for you after all?”
“Yes there is, Lieutenant Drawn…” Niju said, “I need you to gather up my Spec-Ops soldiers and get them ready to leave ASAP… I have a mission for them…” Niju leaned back in his chair, eyes still locked on the documents before him. He pulled the dog-tags out of his pocket again and held them up before him, watching them as they swayed back and forth 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
“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
“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
Balto looked at the phone in confusion. Brad had introduced him to all of his friends, but none of them had been named
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 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
“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
“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
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
“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 an agent?” Kodi asked again, clearly upset, “You said you’d always be honest with me, so tell me… Did you really, honestly want me to become an agent like you?” Balto’s heart seed to stop as he simply stared off into space. He went to go say that Kodi was wrong, but sighed instead.
“No Kodi… I honestly didn’t…” Balto answered softly, closing his brown and gold eyes, “But it’s not because I didn’t love you or because I didn’t want you to get what you wanted… It was because I was afraid for you, Kodi… I didn’t want you to get hurt- or worse! Please Kodi… I was just looking out for you…”
Kodi felt like his heart was in a vise. All this time he’d believed that his father had been thrilled by the idea of having his son in the same business as him, looking up to him, but apparently, he’d been wrong- dead wrong. Kodi quivered slightly as he choked back a sob, on the verge of tears from having his father lie to him for eight years.
“Kodi?”
“So I was wrong…” Kodi said softly, the sorrow and emotional pain now apart of his voice, “I thought you loved the thought of training me, that you loved having your son follow in your footsteps… But no, you didn’t… You didn’t want this from the start! You lied to me!”
“No, Kodi, I didn’t lie to you…”
“You lied to me Dad! You lied to me for eight years!” Kodi nearly shouted back, tears coursing down his magenta and cream colored muzzle, “I can’t believe you! All this time I looked up to you, I thought of you as a hero and I wanted to be just like you! You didn’t want me to even think of becoming an agent though!”
“Kodi, listen to me-” Balto said, nearly growling.
“No Dad, you listen to me!” Kodi shouted back, “I don’t want to hear about what you tried to do anymore! This is the way things are and this is the way they’ll be, whether you want it like this or not! It’s my life Dad, and I’ll do whatever I want!”
“Kodiak…” Balto pleaded softly, hoping his son would listen to him.
“Goodbye, Dad…” Kodi said bitterly, eyes narrowed furiously, “I don’t care if I never see you again…” And with that, Kodi turned off his radio and sobbed, burying his face in his arms.
Balto stared at the picture of his son on the wall monitor, seemingly frozen still from his son’s words. Balto had never felt such a deep pain before. Without a single word, Balto stood up and stared down at the table. Jenna stood up and placed a hand gently on Balto’s shoulder, her eyes red from crying.
“Balto, you know he didn’t mean that…” she said softly.
“Yes he did Jenna… He meant every single word of it…” Balto said coolly, turning and walking out of the Operations Room, hands clenched tightly into fists.
Kirby could see that Kodi was deeply upset from the recent conversation with his father. With a heavy sigh, he reloaded his handgun and slowly rose to his feet again. He walked over to his teammate and patted him on the shoulder.
“I’m gonna go look around, ok Kodi?” he said softly, “If you need me, just contact me… You should rest for a bit… You need it…” Without another word, Kirby walked out of the Storage Room and out of sight. Kodi continued to sit against the wall, sobbing softly to himself as all he thought and hoped came crashing down around him.
Chapter 4
Kodi finally stopped his crying after half an hour of thinking to himself and making decisions. Now he decided that this was no longer to please his father. This was his duty now; to protect and serve his country with faith and honor. Kodi checked the ammo in his handgun before standing, gathering up his stuff and walking out into the hallway. He didn’t know where Kirby went, but he was determined to search this building first of all. Pressing the button on his headset, he opened communication between only him and Kirby.
“Kirby, it’s Kodi… where are you?” he asked, his voice now calmer again.
“I moved onto the
“Yeah, I’m still in the
“Sounds good to me, Kodi… Good luck…” Kirby said before Kodi released the button on his headset, gripping his handgun tighter as he walked onward down the halls, steel-like gaze waving back and forth down the plain, barren hallways as he slowly proceeded; the only sound being made was the clacking of his boots on the white-tiled floor.
Halfway down the next hallway, Kodi heard boots approaching him from the opposite direction. Looking around for a place to hide, he quickly kicked off of one of the white walls until he was hanging above the hallway, back pressed against the ceiling and staring down at the floor beneath him. A few moments later, a guard dressed in gray urban camouflage walked beneath him, an AK-47 clutched tightly in his hands. Kodi dropped down behind him and grabbed the soldier’s neck, slamming him into one wall and then the other.
Kodi then kicked the dog’s leg out from underneath him and jammed his handgun into the soldier’s head. The guard yelped slightly as he fell down to his knees and dropped his rifle, frozen with shock and fear.
“Now, if you want to keep your life, answer my question and answer it truthfully… Because if I find out you’re lying, I’ll come back and finish what I started…” Kodi whispered viciously, the depth of his anger apparent, “Where is Niju?”
“I-I don’t know! Honestly, I don’t know! He keeps to himself somewhere… Only the top-ranking soldiers know where he is!” he answered with a soft whimper, yelping again as Kodi tightened his grip on the dog’s neck and began to squeeze the trigger, “Wait! I do know where the Lieutenant is though!” Kodi stopped, eyebrows raised in interest. Another commanding officer? Perhaps he knew where Niju was stashed…
“A Lieutenant?” Kodi asked, his hostage nodding furiously in his grip, “Alright, I’ll go see this guy… Where is he located? Here?”
“Y-yeah… He’s on the top floor in Weapons Research and Development!” the guard said, his voice shaking slightly, “I told you what you want, please don’t kill me!” Kodi ejected his current clip and checked the bullets. A full 15 shots. He replaced the clip with a different one, and then shot the guard, watching him fall to the floor. Kodi then ejected his sedative bullets and replaced them with the full clip again, dragging the guard out of sight and hiding him in the Storage Room and taking his AK-47.
“Alright… Top floor it is…” Kodi said to himself, looking up at the ceiling as he walked back down the hallways to the elevators, pressing the button on his headset as he walked on, “Kirby, I’ve found the location of one of their commanding officers… He’s very close to me… I’m gonna interrogate him and see if he knows anything about where Niju is…”
“Way to go Kodi! Do you need any help with him?” Kirby asked, his voice coming from the earpiece on Kodi’s headset. Even though Kodi knew Kirby couldn’t see him, he nodded as he said,
“Negative… I can deal with him… After all, he’s just one dog…” Kodi said, grinning slightly, “How hard could one dog be?”
Jenna slowly unlocked the door to the shooting range, stepping inside and locking the door behind her. Everything was silent and still. Cautiously walking down the halls, Jenna looked around for her husband. His car was out in the parking lot, so he had to be here somewhere…
“Balto?” Jenna called out, her soft voice echoing down the quiet halls, “Balto? Where are you? It’s me, Jenna…”
As Jenna walked into the Reception Area, she could hear muffled gunshots somewhere in the building. She walked through the glass doors into the shooting range area and found Balto standing at the very end of the row of counters, pistol in hand as he fired at one of the targets at the end of his range. Jenna sighed heavily and approached him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
“Balto… Sweetheart, what’s wrong?” she asked softly, guessing what it was that was eating away at Balto.
“It’s…” Balto started, going to say it was nothing, but knew Jenna would see right through that lie, “It’s Kodi… He hates me, Jenna… and it’s all because I was afraid for him… Maybe it would’ve been best if I had never trained him to become an agent at all…”
“Balto! Don’t say that!” Jenna said in a sharp voice before softening her tone again, “I know you’re feeling bad, and I’m sure Kodi feels terrible right now as well… But no matter what he says, he is still grateful for what you did for him… He’s your son, Balto… He loves you…”
“No, no he doesn’t… He said he didn’t care if he never came back at all…” Balto remarked in a low, sorrowful tone, his eyes darkened with grief, “He looked up to me as a hero, Jenna… and now I let him down… How am I supposed to face Kodi when he comes back home? He’ll know me as the dog who didn’t want this for him, not the hero he always saw me as…”
“Kodi will never stop looking up to you, Balto… All he ever wanted was to be like you, and now he still does, whether you want him to or not… That’s probably what he’s thinking right now…” Jenna said reassuringly, wrapping her arms around Balto’s torso and embracing him lovingly, “Even if he doesn’t see you as a hero anymore, you don’t always need to be a hero… You’re no different than anyone else here… Even if you aren’t a hero to him, you always will be a hero in your heart…”
“I’ll make everything up, Jenna… I promise…” Balto said, tears in the corners of his golden-brown eyes as he stared into her amber eyes, “I know what I have to do now… and I’ll face it with bravery and honor… Do me a favor, Jen… Go back and help Kodi out if he needs it… Tell him…”
Balto thought for a moment, then swallowed hard.
“Tell him that I’m making amends…” With that, Balto kissed Jenna softly before holstering his handgun and walking out of the shooting range with Jenna. She headed back to the Pentagon while Balto headed back home…
The elevator doors opened on the top level of the
“I swear, if that guard lied to me, I’m gonna-” Kodi began, then heard three gunshots hit the metal flooring be his feet. His mind snapped back to the moment and he dove behind a lab table. He looked up above at the metal catwalk that formed a rectangle thirty feet above the room.
“Well well, if it isn’t a little American agent come to stop our grand plans, hmm?” came a sinister sounding voice above him somewhere, “This should be amusing! Tell me, is it just you or do you have a teammate with you somewhere?
Kodi seemed to practically crush his handgun grip the way he was holding it. His burgundy eyes peeked out above the top of the lab table and scanned the catwalk for his enemy. A glass beaker shattered beside his head and Kodi spotted his enemy: holding some kind of handgun while strafing back and forth on the catwalk.
“C’mon agent! Let’s see what you can do!” he shouted down to Kodi in a taunting tone of voice. Kodi growled softly and jumped up, firing five shots after the Lieutenant, hitting the catwalk floor and rail beside him every time as the dog ran back and forth down the narrow metal walkway.
“You’ll have to do better than that!” the Lieutenant shouted, firing off the last few rounds in his clip before reloading it and holstering it, grabbing an M-16 from around his back, “Let’s see how you handle assault rifles!”
The Lieutenant lobbed a grenade back where Kodi was and grinned. Kodi stared at the metal object for a moment before registering what it was.
“Oh Hell!” Kodi cried out and jumped over the table just in time to escape the explosion. The Lieutenant spotted him and fired after the agent. Kodi ran as fast as he could, firing back at the Lieutenant, the sounds of the bullets hitting the tables just behind him kept him going. Once he was out of sight, the Lieutenant reloaded and began to move down the catwalk so he could find Kodi again.
“Come on out, little agent!” he called out, grinning as he searched for his prey, “Come out and face Lieutenant Drawn… I’ll make sure this fight ends quickly if you do…”
Kodi gritted his teeth as he reloaded his handgun, holstering it and grabbing the AK-47 he’d taken from the guard. Taking a deep breath, Kodi came back out into sight and fired at Drawn. The Lieutenant’s eyes widened slightly and he began running from Kodi’s rapid firing. Kodi continued to move while firing, trying desperately to hit his enemy. Once his gun ran dry, Drawn began returning fire to the husky below him. Kodi dropped his assault rifle and dove behind a stack of metal crates.
Damn it… He’s got such a big advantage while he’s up there… He can see the entire floor below him, so I’m screwed unless I get him down… Kodi thought to himself, panting slightly as he looked around for a better weapon, But how am I gonna do that?! Kodi then grinned when he saw what was labeled on one of the crates. He pried it open and grinned wider at the weapons inside.
“That’ll do nicely!” Kodi said to himself as he pulled out the long, metal tube. He crouched behind cover again and began to set it up to fire. Drawn continued to slowly walk around on the catwalks, trying to find Kodi. After a few more moments, he saw Kodi pop into view, holding a-
“Shit!” Drawn shouted as Kodi pulled the trigger, a rocket flying toward Drawn. The Border Collie dove out of the way as the rocket hit the catwalk he was on and exploded, destroying that section of it. Drawn now hung onto the edge of an adjacent catwalk, growling lowly that the agent had managed to find a rocket launcher. Knowing that he was vulnerable like this, the Lieutenant had no choice but to drop down or get shot.
Once Drawn let go and hit the metal floor below, Kodi pulled out his handgun and began firing round after round at his target. The Lieutenant dove behind a lab table and drew his handgun, firing a few blind shots after Kodi. Both now took cover and an eerie silence set in over the room. Drawn looked around for something to give himself an edge in this battle. Hell, anything to give him even a slight advantage at this point!
Drawn then spotted something lying next to him on the metal floor and picked it up. It was a small silver dart, loaded with an amber-colored liquid. He checked the label on the dart and grinned widely. He chambered it in a prototype dart pistol and pulled the hammer back, waiting for his enemy to come into view.
Kodi slowly peeked out past the metal crate he had hidden behind and saw nothing. Grinning, he silently stood up and slowly proceeded toward the table the Lieutenant had hidden behind, hoping to get a sneak attack in on him and hopefully kill the dog. As Kodi began to draw closer and closer to the table, Drawn shoot up and fired at Kodi. The husky grunted softly as he felt something sharp hit his neck and reached for it, feeling a dart sticking into his neck.
“That dart was loaded with a concentrated digitoxin, a poison that will affect your cardiovascular system…” Drawn explained with a sickening grin, “In small amounts, digitoxins aren’t too bad, but the amount I just put in you will kill you in ten minutes…” Drawn held up a vial of clear liquid.
“And this is the only serum for that digitoxin…” he stated, tossing it up onto the catwalk above him, “You want it, go get it… But you won’t be able to… In four minutes, your heart-rate will drop dramatically. Not enough to kill you, but enough to stop your voluntary functions… You’ll be immobile, and it’ll take you more than four minutes to get to that part of the catwalk… After those four minutes, the digitoxin will go through your bloodstream to your heart and lungs, shutting them down and killing you in just ten, mere minutes… Have fun…”
Kodi’s vision had already begun to blur slightly, but he shook his head and it cleared again. He gasped sharply, a sharp pain running from his chest through his body. Without a second thought, Kodi turned and ran to the elevator, pressing the button rapidly. Behind him, Drawn laughed wickedly as Kodi stumbled into the elevator and pressed the button to Level 3. The elevator began to descend and Kodi had begun to get worse. He turned on his radio, his breathing becoming labored gasps for air.
Back in the Pentagon, everything seemed normal until a loud, high-pitched beeping was heard. Colonel McIntyre’s eyes hot to the screen on the wall and saw Kodi’s heart-rate and blood pressure beginning to gradually drop.
“This is Agent Kodi… Colonel, I need help…” came the voice of Kodi. McIntyre scrambled for the radio and put on the headset to respond.
“This is McIntyre… Kodi, what’s going on? Your heart-rate’s going down like crazy!” he nearly shouted, the shock and worry clear in his voice.
“I got hit by a dart… It had some… some kind of, digitoxin in it…” Kodi said, stumbling backward and hitting the back wall of the elevator, “Colonel, help me… I’ll be dead in a few minutes…”
“Just remain calm, Kodi… Don’t panic and just get to a safe area so you can begin to heal yourself…”
“Don’t worry about that…” Kodi replied, grinning weakly, his forehead beginning to perspire from the poison as the elevator opened up and Kodi stumbled out into the white hallways, the colors seeming to swirl to him. He walked uneasily down the hall to the Storage Room and pushed the door open, kicking it shut behind him.
Jenna walked back into the Operations Room to see all Hell breaking loose there. Her eyes narrowed in concern and heard the beeping. Her eyes quickly shot to the monitor on the wall and gasped sharply when she saw what was going on with Kodi. She ran up to the Colonel and looked at him nervously.
“W-what’s going on with Kodiak?!” she asked, her voice nearly a shriek.
“Kodi’s been infected with a digitoxin… Don’t worry, I know how to handle this…” he replied calmly, pressing the radio’s button again, “Alright Kodi… Listen carefully to me… First, you need to take a drink of water so you won’t die of dehydration…”
Kodi nodded slowly to no one, then pulled out his canteen, drinking until it was completely empty and tossed it off to the side. His legs began to feel weak and he was losing his vision rapidly. His breathing was heavy and hurt him every time he took a breath.
“Alright… Now what?” Kodi asked, the weakness in his voice easily heard.
“Now Kodi, was there any vaccine or serum for this toxin that you know of?” Colonel McIntyre asked, staring seriously at the wall monitor’s picture of Kodi.
“… Yeah, there was one… On the top floor… of the building… I’m in… on a catwalk…” Kodi said, barely able to speak anymore, “Is… my Dad there?”
“No Kodi, he’s gone home… Your mother’s here though…” the Colonel answered.
“Tell her… that I… love her…” Kodi said his vision spinning and darkening and his heartbeat, however slow it had become, was heard in his head now. He pushed the red alarm button on his radio, a low beeping now emanating from it.
“Kodi, don’t talk like that… There’s only one last thing you need to do…” the Shepherd said, letting his words sink in before finishing, “Kodi, you need to take your cyanide capsule now… Do it now…”
Kodi reached into one of the pouches on his belt and pulled out the small, white capsule. He stared at it for a moment before taking it in his mouth and swallowing. Another powerful sharp pain ran through his chest and Kodi groaned loudly, clutching his chest as he fell forward and his heart stopped beating. A continuous high-pitched beep came from the monitor in the Operations Room as Kodi’s heart stopped.
“Kodiak!” Jenna screamed out, about to burst into tears until Colonel McIntyre placed a hand on her shoulder.
“Don’t worry… Kodi’s still alive… The cyanide capsule just temporarily stopped his heart, preventing the digitoxin from flowing through his bloodstream anymore…” he explained, and then turned back to the radio, “Agent Kirby, this is HQ. Come in, over…”
Kirby smirked as he pushed the body of another guard out of sight and reloaded his handgun. Just then, his headset beeped, signaling a call from HQ. He quickly turned on his radio and leaned against the wall.
“This is Agent Kirby. What is it HQ? Over…” he replied, casually looking back and forth down the hallway.
“This is Colonel McIntyre. Listen Kirby, the mission is in Code Red right now…” the Colonel explained, “Agent Kodi’s been infected with a digitoxin. He’ll only last for another thirty minutes, since we told him to take his cyanide capsule…” Kodi quickly stood up straight again, rushing back to the exit of the Barracks.
“Oh my God! Where is he?!” Kirby asked urgently.
“He’s on the Third Floor of the building he remained in… He said there is a serum for the digitoxin on the top floor of that building on a catwalk… Once you find him and the serum, call us back and we’ll tell you what to do… Over and out…”
Kirby didn’t need to be told twice what to do. He turned off his radio and ran down the hallways of the Barracks until he came to a side door in the wall. He pushed through it and out into the cold desert night once again. He checked his SOAW; they had only a few hours left until sunrise, which was their extraction time. He dashed through the shadows until he came to the tall Weapons Building once again, pulling the door open and running inside.
Sprinting down the desolate white hallways, Kirby could just hear his heartbeat and the sounds of his boots hitting the tiles and pushing off. His breathing had become panting; he skidded around a corner, grabbing the edge to turn faster and kept on running until he arrived at the elevators. He skidded to a halt in front of the set of metal doors, nearly falling but catching himself and rapidly pressing the button over and over again.
As soon as the elevator came, Kirby moved inside and pressed the button for the Third Floor. C’mon Kodi, please be where I think you are… he thought to himself. The second the cold metal doors opened, Kirby was out and down the hallway, rushing until a sound caused him to freeze in his tracks. It was a low beeping; the beeping of Kodi’s radio alarm. Kirby followed it down the hall until he came to the door marked Storage Room, pressing his ear to the door. The beeping was louder than ever.
Kirby pulled back before kicking the door open and spotting the deep red and white husky face-down on the floor.
“Kodi!” Kirby cried out and knelt down beside his teammate, looking him over. He hadn’t been shot or harmed, so he still had a chance. Kirby checked his SOAW. It had taken him ten minutes to find Kodi and get to where he was, which meant he had twenty minutes left before Kodi expired.
“Don’t worry Kodi… I’ll get that serum…” Kirby promised before standing up and walking out, closing the door to hide Kodi’s body from sight. He rushed back to the elevator and pushed the button again. However, as he went to step into the arrived elevator, he saw a Border Collie staring back at him, dressed in a green military uniform. From the symbol on the sleeves, it was apparent the dog was a Lieutenant.
“Another agent?” the Lieutenant asked in shock, “Well, I guess there’ll be one less now then…” Kirby didn’t hesitate; he hit the Lieutenant square in his jaw, sending the dog reeling back into the elevator and against the back wall. Drawn wiped a smear off blood off of his muzzle and returned the blow to Kirby’s stomach, grabbing the agent by his suit and throwing him into the elevator before walking out of it. Kirby hit the back wall and turned around to see the Lieutenant pointing a pistol at him.
“Easier than your partner…” the Lieutenant said distastefully. Kirby quickly kicked the button for the top floor and the doors closed as Drawn pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting the doors as they shut. “No! Damn it!”
Kirby sighed with relief and slid down the wall. That had been his closest brush with death yet. Thank God that Lieutenant didn’t pull the trigger fast enough… That guy must’ve been the bastard who got Kodi… he thought to himself. A few moments later, the doors opened again and Kirby walked out, his boots clanging against the metal floor as he looked around the lab.
“Alright… The Colonel said that the serum was on a catwalk, so… Ah!” Kirby said as he spotted the partially destroyed catwalk above him. He looked around, circling the room as he searched for a way up to the catwalk. A minute or so later, Kirby found a metal ladder against the back wall leading up to the metal walkways. He ran for it and climbed upward swiftly, running down the catwalk as he searched for the serum.
Kirby was beginning to get frustrated with searching. All that seemed to be up here were bullet casings and empty ammunition magazines for various weapons. As he came to the destroyed section of the catwalk, he spotted the vial of clear liquid balancing on the edge of where the catwalk had broken off. Kirby gasped slightly and ran for it, reaching it just as it began to fall.
“No!” Kirby cried out and dived down after it. His hand gripped around it a split second before his body made contact with the metal floor beneath him. He groaned out in agony at the force of the impact, letting his body take the pain for a few moments before slowly getting to his feet again. He stared down at the small vial of serum, grinning triumphantly. Kirby then quickly grabbed a fresh syringe from the table and ran back to the elevator.
As he went to press the button to call the elevator, the doors began to open up. Thinking fast, Kirby pressed his back against the wall by the elevator door, watching as the Lieutenant came into view, gun drawn and ready to fight. Kirby snuck behind him and into the elevator as the doors closed, hastily pressing the Third Floor button and feeling the elevator descend. He checked his SOAW and felt his blood run cold. He had less than five minutes left before Kodi would die. C’mon… Don’t let me be late… Don’t let Kodi die… he mentally pleaded, hoping he’d make it…
Back in the Operations Room, Jenna sat staring at the picture of her son up on the wall monitor. His smiling face seemed so distant to her now. Crystalline tears began to well up in the corners of her amber eyes as she listened to the string of beeping signaling Kodi’s heart had stopped. It had been going on for the last twenty five minutes and now Jenna was beginning to think Kodi would never come back.
Colonel McIntyre walked back into the Operations Room. In his hands was an opened manila folder. As he looked over the documents, he took his seat next to Jenna and sighed heavily, looking back up at the display of Kodi and Kirby. He looked at Jenna and saw the look of sorrow, pain, and distraught in her eyes. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a small smile.
“He’ll be fine…” he said softly, “Trust in him and Kirby… He’ll come back…”
“I know he will Colonel… It’s just…” Jenna began, wiping the tears from her eyes, “It’s just… I’m afraid I may never see him again… I keep telling myself he’ll come back home, but… I just feel like something’s going to go wrong…”
“Don’t think that way, Jenna… Keep faith in Kodi… He’s been trained by the best; he will be alright… He will come back home…” Colonel McIntyre said reassuringly.
Kirby nearly pushed the elevator doors open as soon as they opened up. He sprinted faster than he ever had before down to the Storage Room and pushed the door open. Inside, he found the guard Kodi had tranquilized beginning to get up, holding a pistol and ready to shoot Kodi. Kirby ran in and kicked the gun from his hands before slamming his boot into the dog’s forehead, kicking his head against the wall and knocking him out again. Not bothering to check how much time he had left, Kirby knelt beside Kodi and turned on his radio.
“This is Agent Kirby. I’ve gotten everything I need. Hurry Colonel, Kodi doesn’t have much time left!” Kirby said urgently, listening desperately for a response from HQ.
Both Jenna and Colonel McIntyre jumped when they heard Kirby’s voice come through the radio. The Colonel scrambled for the headset and put it on, turning on the radio as fast as possible.
“Alright Kirby, you only have a minute or less to do this so listen carefully and do this swiftly…” he explained calmly and quickly, “Administer the serum directly into the bloodstream, inject it into the neck, understood?”
“Yeah, got it…” Kirby said, removing the cap on the syringe and filling it with the serum, then tossing the empty vial aside. He rolled Kodi over onto his back and picked up his head, injecting the serum into his neck. “Ok, now what do I do?”
“Now you give him the resuscitation pill. Apply it orally, understand Kirby?” McIntyre said, everyone in the room staring intently at the wall monitor, mainly at Kodi’s heart-rate and blood pressure.
“Alright… Pray to God…” Kirby replied, placing the pill in Kodi’s mouth before giving him some water and lifting his head to make him swallow it. Everything was still for a moment as Kirby and everyone in the Operations Room waited to see what would happen. After a few seconds, Kodi’s heart-rate began to pick up again, his blood pressure gradually rising back to normal.
Kodi’s burgundy eyes slowly began to open and he groaned wearily. He sat up on his elbows, looking around before looking at Kirby.
“Kirby? W-what the Hell happened to me?” Kodi asked weakly, his vision slightly blurry but it was beginning to get better as his strength began to slowly return to him. It still felt slightly hard to breathe, but Kodi knew if he was alive now, then he’d been cured.
“Oh thank God…” Kirby said, falling onto his back and sighing heavily with relief, “I thought I’d been too late… Christ, that was close…” Kodi chuckled slightly and turned on his radio.
“This is Agent Kodi… I’m alright now…” he said, then heard loud, ecstatic cheering from the Operations Room.
“Kodi, it’s damn good to hear your voice again!” Colonel McIntyre said, beaming widely, “But I think there’s someone here who’s even happier to hear your voice…” He took off the headset and handed it to Jenna.
“Kodi? Oh thank God you’re still alive!” Jenna said, feeling like a huge weight had been lifted off of her shoulders, “Are you feeling alright now, sweetheart? Nothing wrong?”
“Yeah… I’m fine Mom…” Kodi replied, then thought to himself for a long moment, his mind drifting toward his father and what he’d said before he’d nearly died, “… Hey Mom… is Dad there?” Jenna sighed softly and swallowed slightly.
“No Kodi… your father left the support team… He’s back at home…” Jenna answered softly, “Do… Do you want me to tell him something for you?” All was silent for another long moment. “Kodi?”
“No Mom, that’s alright…” Kodi said, still feeling a bit upset over the fight he’d had with Balto, “I’ll see you soon… Agent Kodi, over and out…”
Kodi turned off his radio and closed his burgundy eyes. Taking a deep breath in and exhaling it slowly, his mind ran back to his father. He was sorry for what he’d said to his father before, but also felt he deserved an apology. But he did give me an apology… and I spurned it… I have to tell him I’m sorry… Kodi thought to himself, opening his eyes slowly and looking over at Kirby.
“Alright partner… Let’s get going…” he said, rising to a standing position and checking the remaining bullets in his Beretta, “We’ve got a mission to complete and we’ve only got a few hours left to complete it… Let’s make sure we’re not late…”
Kodi replaced the magazine into his handgun and holstered it, holding his hand out to Kirby. Kirby grinned and took his teammate’s hand, Kodi helping Kirby to his feet. With a nod to one another, both agents sprung out into the hallway, guns drawn, ready to fulfill their mission…
Niju walked down the dimly lit hallway of the
“This is HQ to Spec-Ops team… Spec-Ops team, this is Rogue Leader… Do you copy? Over…” Niju said into the radio. The sounds of static filled the room before a response was heard.
“This is Spec-Ops Leader to Rouge Leader. We copy you, over…” said the Spec-Ops squad leader through the crackly speakers attached to the radio.
“Where is your current location, Spec-Ops Leader? Over…”
“We’re somewhere over the
“Understood Spec-Ops Leader… Rouge Leader, over and out…” Niju said before turning the output radio off and walking out of the room, back down the dimly lit hallways. Everything is going perfectly… Nothing could possibly ruin this moment… he thought to himself with a large grin when a crackling was heard from his hand-held radio.
“This is Lieutenant Drawn to Niju Suarez, over…” came the voice of the Lieutenant. Niju picked it up and held it up to his mouth.
“This is Niju Suarez to Lieutenant Drawn. I read you Lieutenant. What’s the situation? Over…” he replied, waiting for the Lieutenant’s response.
“There’s two American agents somewhere around here… I got one of them, but the other one’s probably still alive somewhere… Keep an eye out for them and place all sentries on high alert, over…” Lieutenant Drawn said. Niju pressed the button to reply when he glanced out a window and saw a soldier’s body lying nearly out of sight. And then two shadowy figures ran by.
“Lieutenant, both agents are still alive… Set the area to Red Alert, over…” Niju said and stared out at the soldier’s body. A few moments later, an alarm was heard all over the military base and soldiers scrambled to form into their designated squads. Niju continued to stare at the dead soldier in disbelief that his impenetrable defense had been breached…
Kodi skidded behind an adobe wall of a small bunker and out of sight, shortly followed by Kirby. Both agents gripped their pistols tightly as they watched the patrolling soldiers group up into three’s and four’s. Kodi glanced back at Kirby who nodded slowly. As a group of three guards walked by, the young husky spun around the corner and hit one of the dogs in his throat, dropping him to the ground. Kirby came around and shot one of the two in his head, Kodi taking out the last one with two rapid shots to the guard’s chest.
Once the bodies were hidden, the two agents ran for the
“Something’s wrong… There’s no guards here for some reason…” Kodi said, getting the eerie feeling like something bad was going to happen.
“Yeah, it’s too strange if you ask me…” Kirby said, nodding in agreement, “I mean, there were no guards here or at the
“Kirby, you’re a genius! You’re absolutely right! The reason there are no guards here is because they’re all guarding the missiles! We’re looking in all the wrong areas!” Kodi exclaimed with delight, “That means if we find the guards, we find the missiles! And if we find the missiles, we find Niju!”
“And then it’s mission accomplished!” Kirby said, understanding what Kodi was getting at, “That’s brilliant! And since we’ve already searched three of the four buildings, that only leaves that smaller one left!”
“But why would a building that small have all those guards in it, along with hundreds of missiles… That just doesn’t add up…” Kodi said, shaking his head in confusion. Kirby thought for a moment, then snapped his fingers and ran back to the mapping room with Kodi. As Kodi held up his penlight, Kirby searched around until he pulled out a map.
“Here we go! The topography of this section!” Kirby said and lay it out on one of the folding tables, “Now, let’s see what we can find out about this place…” Both agents looked over it before Kodi pointed out a rock formation to the south.
“Hey, take a look at this! There’s a cave over here in this rock formation!” he stated, tracing his finger toward the compound, “It’s just a few hundred meters south of here…”
“And it says here that cave spans for six hundred meters…” Kirby said, holding up a recording notebook, “That would mean that cave runs from there all the way up to this compound!”
“So that small building leads to an underground!” Kodi exclaimed, “It all makes sense! It would provide a safe escape route and a place to hide the missiles from aerial scouts! That’s why only the satellite could pick them up! All the guards are underground with the missiles!”
“Smart boys…” came a cold voice from the doorway. Kodi and Kirby turned in time to see Lieutenant Drawn fire his handgun at them, a burning feeling then tearing through Kodi’s right shoulder. The husky cried out in pain and stumbled backwards, Kirby diving behind a folding table and kicking it over for cover. Kodi fell back behind a desk and out of sight, wincing as he looked at the wound on his shoulder.
“You know, you boys really shouldn’t be interfering 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
“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, “You think I won’t?! I swear to God, I’ll tell them to shoot you two dead right now!” The two agents could see Niju wasn’t one to take a mock or taunt and began to pick on that.
“Go for it then… You probably won’t though, what, with you being a coward and all…” Kirby said casually, acting as if he didn’t have a dozen weapons pointed at his face, “Why don’t you guys just let us run along?”
“Why the hell should we?!” Niju growled back furiously, “I’ll show you! Soldiers! Open fi-” However, Niju stopped his command halfway through it when he realized their trick. Kodi and Kirby were standing right in front of a rack of missiles. A single stray bullet from one of the twelve rifles was nearly assured to happen and would kill them all! Kodi, knowing Niju had caught on, held his handgun up to the missiles, glaring at the wolf.
“Now, you’re going to do as I say, and only what I say or we all blow sky-high…” Kodi said, a low growl building up in his throat, his eyes gleaming with triumph, “Put your weapons down on the ground and take ten steps backward… Then turn around… Got it?”
“You wouldn’t dare… You’d fail your mission pulling a stunt like that…” Niju said, his words cold as ice. Kodi pulled the hammer back on his handgun and gave Niju a very serious look.
“Our mission was to kill you and destroy the missiles… Doing this will do just that… We don’t have to come home alive, or even come home at all to accomplish our mission…” Kodi replied darkly, “You wanna push your luck? Go ahead… Try me…”
Everything seemed to stand still, time seeming to freeze on that very moment. Niju thought hard for a few moments, his hands clenched tightly into fists of anger as he knew he’d lost this battle. He gave a slight motion and the soldiers dropped their weapons, backing up along with Niju before turning around. Kodi nodded to Kirby and both agents made a mad dash for any exit they could find. They weaved their way through the many racks of missiles, hearing the guards behind them beginning to give chase.
“Well, we at least bought ourselves a head start to the exit!” Kodi said, running as fast as he could, eyes darting left and right as he looked for a doorway out of here. His eyes eventually fell upon a steel door set into the wall to their left. “Over there! Quickly!” Kodi pulled the door open for Kirby, but didn’t go into the hallway himself.
“What’re you waiting for Kodi?! Get in here! They’re right behind us!” Kirby nearly shouted to his teammate. Kodi gave Kirby a small grin, a gleam of anticipation in his eyes.
“Trust me… I just wanna find something out…” Kodi replied back calmly, “You go on ahead, find a place to lay low and just rest for a bit… If I don’t radio you in the next twenty minutes, proceed with the mission and try to call me…”
Kirby hesitated for a moment, then nodded and ran off down the hallway. Kodi kicked the door shut and climbed on top of a rack of missiles and hid from sight. As the soldiers ran by, Kodi watched as Niju ran behind them, stopping right beside his rack and pulling out a radio. Not allowing him any advantage, Kodi dropped down onto the wolf, knocking him to the floor and crushing his radio beneath his boots.
“No! My radio! You little bastard! I’ll make sure you’ll regret trying to fight me!” Niju growled at him, pulling out a combat knife and slicing at Kodi, missing his chest by an inch. Kodi delivered a swift, powerful kick to the wolf’s stomach, dropping him to the ground. Niju snarled and lunged his knife for Kodi’s throat, missing the agent as he coolly side-stepped out of harm’s way and grabbed Niju by his shirt.
Kodi felt something inside the chest-pocket on Niju’s shirt and his interests perked up. Before the wolf could do anything, Kodi reached inside and pulled out a chain attached to a dog-tag.
“Thanks…” Kodi said, then rammed his head powerfully against Niju’s, knocking him out like a light before tossing him to the floor. Kodi shook his head to clear the slight impact-caused daze he was in and glanced at the dog-tags in his hand. He looked back to Niju and raised his handgun to finish the fight until the sounds of running boots began getting closer. Not wasting anytime to see who was coming, Kodi ran through the doorway and down the desolate white hallway. A platoon of guards approached Niju and shook him gently.
“Sir! Sir! Wake up!” the Squad Leader said, shaking Niju gently before taking out his radio, “Medical Team to the Missile Room. Rouge Leader is down; repeat, Rogue Leader is down…”
Kodi continued to dash down the hallways, breathing heavily as he ran onward. His eyes darted from side to side as he looked for any hint of a place Kirby had been. C’mon, Kirby… Where the hell’d you go? he thought to himself. He pressed the button on his headset and began to speak.
“Kirby, where the hell are you?!” Kodi nearly yelled into his communicator, desperately hoping he’d get a response from his teammate. A few moments later, he got what he had wanted.
“I found a small provisions storeroom, about five minutes down the hall from where you come into the hallway from the Missile Room...” Kirby replied. Kodi nodded to no one and sprinted like mad down the hallways until he came to the door marked ‘Provisions’. Kodi swiftly kicked it in and saw Kirby sitting, his back to the wall. Both agents pointed their handguns at one another, only lowering them when they realized who it was. Kodi rushed inside and shut the door behind them, locking it and praying to God that they wouldn’t be found…
After what seemed like an eternity of waiting and keeping as silent as a mouse, Kodi and Kirby heard boots run past them. The guards… A few minutes later, they ran off, continuing their search for the agents. Both agents sighed with relief and Kodi looked down at the silver dog-tags in his hand, reading them slowly and gasping sharply when he saw whose they were…
“Kirby… I may have a problem now…” Kodi said, his voice filling with fear and worry, “… A very big problem…”
Jenna pulled her car up the driveway to their house and sighed softly. Balto had definitely come home, mainly because his car was here. Getting out of her car, she walked along the front path and up the porch, opening the front door and locking it behind her. She could hear the TV on farther into the house and followed the sound, finding Balto sitting in the den, watching the TV.
Jenna sighed softly once again and slowly walked up to Balto and sat beside him, gingerly placing a hand on his shoulder and kissing his cheek. He didn’t even do so much as move a muscle as her touch. Jenna snuggled close to him and wrapped her arms around his chest, staring up at him.
“Balto… Will you talk to me? Please?” she asked softly, her voice nothing more than a hushed whisper, “Talk to me… I know you’re hurt and I know you feel terribly, but please, just let it all out…”
Balto remained quiet for a long moment. After that, his eyes began to water up with tears, forcing him to shut his gold and brown eyes as he began to cry softly. Jenna turned the TV off and held Balto tightly, knowing he must have been hurt more than she could have ever guessed.
“It hurts, Jenna… Knowing that your own son hates you… It hurts like nothing I’ve ever felt before…” he said, his voice shaking as tears cut their way down his muzzle like two rivers, “I should never have not wanted Kodi to become an agent… I could see how much he wanted to be like me… I just… I just didn’t want to see him get hurt- or killed…”
“Balto, he knows that you were only looking out for him… He doesn’t hate you, Balto… He’s just upset that what he thought wasn’t true… He’ll get over it… I guarantee he’ll come back and then you two will make up and be friends again…” Jenna said, gently stroking down Balto’s neck to try and calm him down, “… Kodi almost died today…” Balto’s eyes suddenly widened and his ears perked up as he stared at Jenna.
“W-what? Kodi nearly died?! How? Is he alright?” he asked frantically, only stopping when Jenna covered his mouth.
“He’s fine, Balto… He was injected with a digitoxin… Fortunately, Kirby saved his life… He’s alright now…” Jenna explained calmly, placing a hand gently on Balto’s tear-stained cheek, “See? You’re worried to death about him, like I was… That’s the only reason you didn’t want him to be an agent…” Balto took a deep breath and wiped the tears away from his eyes.
“Thank you, Jenna… I don’t know where I’d be if I hadn’t met you…” he replied softly, kissing her passionately before slowly pulling back and staring into her amber eyes, a small smile on his face, “… Do you remember, years ago… Back in
“I know, Balto… I felt the same way when I saw you passed out in that empty office… I was afraid that you wouldn’t wake up again… But I’m so glad you did…” Jenna said quietly, hugging her husband affectionately, “I’m terrified for Kodi’s life… But I have faith in him and I believe he’ll come back alive, with the mission complete… And when he does, you’ll be there, beaming proudly at him as Colonel McIntyre presents him with a medal of honor…”
“I hope so, Jen… I hope so…” Balto whispered back, caressing her and closing his eyes once again. Everything was still and quiet as they sat together, wrapped in each other’s arms…
There was a click at the door as it opened and Brad walked in, turning on the lights and smirking cruelly. He locked the door behind him and walked over toward where Commander Baker was hand-cuffed. As he passed the dresser, he picked up his handgun and pulled the slide back, chambering the next round in his magazine and attaching a silencer to the end. Baker looked up at him with calm eyes, no fear on his facial features at all.
“So, Baker… It comes to this, huh?” Brad said coldly, chuckling as he circled the chair the Retriever was locked up to, “You know, Mr. Tachlinkov really doesn’t like Americans at all… That’s why he enlisted me when I joined the agency… He just wanted me to gain the American’s government’s trust so I could get my hands on you, and those top secret files you’ve been working on down here…”
“You know, it’s the dishonorable kind like yourself that make me sick… You have no sense of pride… Where’s your dignity?! Doesn’t betraying your country mean anything to you at all?!” Brad just laughed evilly and pulled the hammer back on his handgun.
“Dignity? Pride? Pride means nothing compared to the feel of hundreds of thousands of dollars! I sold my honor a long time ago…” Brad said, training his sights on Baker’s head, “You were a hard target to track down, but thanks to Balto, my mission is complete…”
“I don’t believe it, Brad…” came a voice filled with disbelief to Brad’s left. Brad glanced to his side in surprise, spotting Balto sitting casually in a chair in the corner of the room, a shocked and angry look on his face.
“Balto… T-this isn’t what it looks like…” Brad said, still pointing his pistol at Baker.
“How long…? Balto asked softly, his voice getting angrier now, “You’ve been plotting this the whole time, haven’t you?! You were planning this even before you took me as your apprentice! You just used me as a tool for your own gain!”
“Balto, listen to me… I trained you because I believe you have a purpose and a future as an agent… I did this with you so I could show you whose side I was truly on… You’re an excellent agent Balto, and I know
Time seemed to come to a halt as Balto thought for a long while. After minutes passed, he sighed heavily and gave Brad a cold stare. He’d made up his mind, and he knew his decision would change his life forever…
“No Brad… I won’t be like you… I’m going to stay loyal to the
“I’m disappointed in your decision, Balto…” Brad said, “And you’re right… It is over… You were a great apprentice to me…… Goodbye…” Brad pulled the trigger, his bullet boring through Baker’s head before his body twisted sideways and he shot at Balto, the wolfdog just managing to dive out of the way in time.
Balto kicked two legs out from underneath a table he was beneath, sending it to the floor and using it as a shield as two more of Brad’s shots splintered to wood where his body would have been. Balto pulled out his handgun and attached his suppressor, growling softly. Brad held his fire and quickly grabbed a briefcase from off of the bed and ran for the door. Balto got up and fired at Brad, hitting the background just inches away from his mentor’s legs.
Balto growled angrily and ran after Brad, watching as the brown wolf kicked the door down and ran out into the hall. Balto skidded out into the corridor and saw Brad running toward a dead-end. What is he up to? Balto thought to himself as he gave chase, realizing it wasn’t a dead-end. There was a window at the end of the hall. Brad grinned, staring at the window before diving forward and smashing through it, falling four floors down until he hit the grass below and rolled behind some bushes, lying low and using them as cover.
Brad peeked out above the bushes, watching as Balto stood in the window’s frame and searched for him. He slowly raised his handgun up, hidden by the dark night’s shadows. But just before he could pull the trigger, the streetlights on the path behind him went on and he was illuminated. Balto saw him and ducked as three bullets hit the ceiling where his head was moments ago. Growling with frustration, Brad ran down the path. Balto saw him and jumped out the window, hitting the grass and rolling like his mentor had before chasing after the wolf…
Balto smiled as he felt Jenna lean her head against his chest. The two lay across the couch in the den, watching one of the late-night movies that were being shown. Jenna sighed softly, staring up at Balto with a sweet smile. Balto chuckled softly and kissed Jenna’s nose.
“Jenna… Whenever I feel down, you always seem to be the cure…” he said softly, “I love you Jenna… I’d gladly do anything for you… even give my life up to protect you and Kodi… I’d die for you two without a second thought…”
Jenna murred softly and kissed Balto back, cuddling up as close to him as possible. Everything seemed so peaceful… up until the ringing of the doorbell was heard. Balto’s and Jenna’s ears perked up and they both sat up quickly, the wolfdog looking to the clock. It was almost 2 AM. Something wasn’t right…
“Nobody comes to our door at two in the morning…” Balto said lowly, his golden eyes narrowing, “… And I have a feeling it’s not girl scouts selling cookies either…”
Balto stood up and headed for the front door. Along the way, he grabbed his Beretta from the table in the hallway and approached the front door. Leaning his back against the wall beside the doorframe, Balto pressed the button and turned on the small monitor beside the door, viewing through a micro-camera looking out at the front porch. About ten armed dogs dressed in black were seen, rifles pointed at the front door.
“Damn it… I knew they’d come, but I didn’t expect it to be so soon…” Balto whispered to himself, gripping his handgun tightly. He looked down the hall and saw Jenna approaching him.
“Who is it sweetheart?” she asked, stopping in her tracks when Balto held up his hand and pointed back down the hallway.
“Jenna, listen very carefully… Go into the Weapon Storage and grab as many guns as you can carry…” he instructed, “Then grab me an M-16 and a Remington 870, alright?”
Jenna nodded, confusion still in her eyes and on her face as she ran back down the corridor. Balto slowly walked backward down the hall after Jenna, eyes locked on the front door, just in case they decided to break in now. As he reached the open door to their small armory, he looked in time and caught the shotgun he’d requested as Jenna tossed it to him. He checked the rounds; six shots. He pumped it and then caught an M-16 as it flew toward him. Jenna emerged a moment later, her handgun clutched in her hands and a revolver tucked in her waistband.
“What’s going on Balto? Why are we aiming at the front door?” Jenna asked, looking at Balto briefly before turning her attention back toward the door. Balto took a deep breath and sighed softly.
“Jenna, a couple months ago when Kodi and I were out at
“Alright Balto… We’ll fight them together…” Jenna said, taking one of Balto’s hands in hers, “… Just like old times, huh?” Balto smiled and Jenna.
“Yeah… Just like old times…” he whispered, turning back toward the door, “This is it… Give then hell, Jen…”
Just then, the front door flew open and two dogs tried to run inside. Balto and Jenna opened fire, cutting both soldiers down quickly while the others took cover, firing blanks into the house to try and force the two agents to retreat so they could get inside. However, Balto and Jenna held their ground, still shooting at the open door. As soon as their handguns ran dry, they reloaded hastily, but not fast enough to stop a couple of soldiers from rushing in and firing at them.
“C’mon, get back!” Balto shouted to Jenna, both agents running down the hall while firing back at the dogs, managing to hit one as he came through the front door. Balto and Jenna came out in the kitchen at the end of the hall and took cover on either side of the doorway, panting softly. The Spec-Ops Leader ran inside and took cover, motioning to a soldier to move forward. The dog nodded and silently crept forward.
Balto tilted his head out around the corner slightly to see what was going on when hw saw a soldier approaching them. He took aim, but the dog fired first and knocked his pistol from his hands. Jenna came out and fired, striking the soldier after a couple of misses. Another soldier saw Jenna and shot at her, grazing her shoulder slightly. She winced and pressed her back to the wall again, her hand clutching her bleeding shoulder.
Growling fiercely, Balto turned around the corner and emptied his magazine at no one, just trying to keep them at bay for the time being. He quickly shut the door to the kitchen and took Jenna’s hand, leading her behind the breakfast bar and used that as cover.
“Wait here for a moment… I have a plan…” Balto said in a hushed whisper, silently sneaking back to the closed door. After several minutes of nothing happening, the Spec-Ops Leader motioned to his remaining troops to proceed. One of them ran right up to the door and was about to kick t down until a thunderous gunshot was heard and a hole was tore through the door and the soldier’s chest, sending him flying backward.
“Take cover!” the Leader shouted, everyone hiding again as a pumping sound was heard and another shotgun blast tore through more of the door, the pellets hitting the walls. Balto pumped the shotgun and fired a third time, pumping it to get ready for a fourth shot before taking cover again as a hailstorm of assault rifle bullets hit the door and came through the large hole he’d made. One of the Spec-Ops soldiers threw a hand grenade through the hole. Balto saw it and grabbed it in mid-air, lobbing it back and killing two soldiers in the explosion.
“Balto, are you alright?” Jenna asked him after she heard the explosion, slowly standing up again.
“Yeah… Yeah, I’m fine…” he said, grinning at her, “Good news, Jen… We’re winning…”
No sooner had Balto said that than the door was kicked open, slamming the wolfdog against the wall. The soldier put his handgun to the hole in the door and pulled the trigger, hitting Balto somewhere in his torso. He howled in pain and Jenna drew her revolver, firing two shots into the dog’s spine, watching him fall to the ground. Jenna ran over and pulled the door away from Balto, seeing the bullet-wound on the right side of his abdomen, not a lethal shot fortunately.
“Balto, are you alright?” Jenna asked. Balto nodded slowly, then suddenly, his face got serious.
“Jenna, it’s a trick!” Balto cried out, pushing Jenna away from the doorway just as more assault rifle fire chattered through the silence. A few bullets struck Balto in his leg and he fell to his knees on the bloodstained tiled floor. He glared at the two remaining soldiers, a normal fighter and the Leader. Another bullet struck him in his right shoulder and Balto nearly fell to the ground. Growling, he slowly and uneasily raised his handgun and shot six times, killing the last remaining soldier.
Outside, Colonel McIntyre pulled up along the side of the road in front of Balto and Jenna’s house. He sighed softly, knowing he probably shouldn’t be disturbing them. However, Balto had been a longtime friend of his and he was concerned for him. So, wanting to make sure his friend was alright, Jason stepped out of his car and noticed a third car pulled up in their driveway: a black SUV. Glancing to the front door, he saw it was smashed in with three bodies lying there.
“Oh shit…” he muttered and ran up the lawn and toward the front door. The Spec-Ops Leader saw Balto beginning to lose his strength and vigor and grinned. He dropped his assault rifle and drew his handgun, a black Desert Eagle, and began advancing on the fallen agent. Balto’s vision had gone blurry from his injuries and his breathing became heavier. He continued to pull the trigger at the approaching soldier, despite the clicking of an empty magazine.
The Spec-Ops Leader reached Balto and laughed, grabbing the wolfdog by the throat and lifting him up into the air. He punched Balto in the stomach three times, the wolfdog groaning and coughing, some blood beginning to drip from his muzzle. He glared at the Spec-Ops Leader, growling softly under his breath only to be laughed at yet again.
“Well, the boss was right about you… You really are the fighting type, huh?” the Leader asked mockingly, placing his handgun to Balto’s forehead, “But orders are orders… You die first, then the bitch, then your son…” Balto’s eyes widened slightly, then narrowed even farther than before. “Say goodnight, little hero…”
“Hey, you!” came a voice behind the Leader. The dog turned and saw a German Shepherd standing right behind him, dressed in a military official’s uniform. “Let go of my friend…”
Before the Spec-Ops Leader could even speak, Colonel McIntyre brought his boot up and kicked the handgun from the soldier’s grip, the gun going off and hitting the ceiling before clattering to the floor. He then grabbed the Leader’s shoulder and kicked him hard in the back of his knee, dropping the dog to the floor and forcing him to drop Balto, letting out sharp cries of pain. Jason pulled out a .44 Smith and Wesson revolver and put it to the Spec-Ops Leader’s head.
“Who are you and who do you work for?” the Colonel asked, his voice fierce and sharp, “Answer me!” The dog just laughed insanely and shook his head.
“Go to Hell, you bastard…” he said, still laughing for no apparent reason. Jason pulled the hammer back on his revolver and growled.
“You first…” he replied, then pulled the trigger before tossing the Leader’s body aside and kneeling next to Balto, “Balto, can you hear me? It’s me, Jason McIntyre… Your friend…” Balto’s eyes slowly opened halfway, his vision blurred and he could hardly see or feel anything.
“Ja-son?” Balto asked weakly, coughing again and trying to sit up before Colonel McIntyre gently pushed him back down to the floor again, “I… I can’t… can’t feel my… whole body…”
“Just relax and rest, Balto… That’s the best thing for you right now…” he said calmly, looking up as Jenna ran over to them and knelt beside Balto as well.
“Oh my God, Balto! Oh, Balto… How could this have happened?” Jenna asked, tears streaming down her face and falling from her muzzle onto Balto’s chest, “Just hang in there… Jason and I are going to get you help…”
“Jenna……” Balto whispered, his voice barely audible now and his eyes closing. His head rolled to the side and his body went limp. Jenna gasped sharply and immediately began to fear the worst. Jason checked for a pulse and looked seriously at Jenna.
“Jenna, give him CPR until he begins breathing again… I’m going to call an ambulance…” Colonel McIntyre said, pulling out his cell phone and calling the hospital. Jenna began to push down on Balto’s chest, counting out softly before exhaling into Balto’s mouth and repeating the process. In a few short moments, Balto was breathing again, but remained unconscious. Jenna sighed with relief, then looked up at the Colonel.
“Don’t worry Jenna… He’ll be alright…” he replied softly, staring down at Balto before pressing his cell phone to his ear, “Hello, hospital. This is an emergency, and I need an ambulance right away…”
Bang! Balto’s gunshot tore through the air, managing to hit Brad in his right side. The wolf stumbled forward and cried out in agony, but kept on running. He ran out into a small shopping plaza and fired his handgun twice into the air, causing everyone to scream and run for cover. As Balto approached, all he could see were panicking civilians everywhere.
“Damn it…” Balto muttered to himself, scanning the rapidly moving crown for any sign of Brad. He then caught a glimpse of him rushing down an alleyway, Balto quickly giving pursuit. As soon as the wolfdog had managed to get to the alley, he noticed small puddles of blood trailing down the alley. Balto gripped his Beretta tight and proceeded, following the trail of blood down the many various connecting alleys.
After several minutes of tracking, Balto heard something crash farther down the alley. He ran after the sound and found Brad’s gun lying out in the middle of the alley, the fallen form of Brad slumped against a stack of trash bags. He looked up at Balto and grinned weakly, clutching his side tightly to try and stop the bleeding wound inflicted by Balto.
“Well done, Balto… You’ve defeated me…” Brad said, his breathing becoming more erratic with each passing second, “You… got me in the kidney… If you don’t kill me… I’ll bleed out in a… matter of minutes…” Balto merely gave the wolf a look of pity and disappointment, shaking his head sadly.
“Why Brad? Why did you do all of this?” Balto asked, still not understanding, “Doesn’t your country mean anything to you? I just can’t understand why someone would betray their country so willingly…” Brad laughed weakly and coughed, looking up to Balto again.
“You’ve got… spirit and patriotism, Balto… You have what it… takes to be a great agent… I never… had any of that stuff… I guess that’s why I went crooked…” Brad explained, his eyes darkening as the life was slowly drained out of him, “Here… These are the… top-secret military plans and files… Baker had with him… Take them back… Keep them safe…” Balto took the manila folder from Brad’s shaking hand and looked at it before turning his gaze back to the dying wolf he’d looked up to for so long.
“Brad…” Balto said softly, “… I’m sorry things had to end up like this… I wish that this had never happened… That you and I had never come here…” Brad grinned slightly and nodded slowly.
“I do too, Balto… But can I ask one last… thing of you?” Brad said, a pleading look in his dimming eyes, “Please Balto… I’m sorry for what I’ve done… But my crimes are unforgivable… Just give me this one final mercy… Kill me… Kill me now…” Balto felt a lump form in his throat as he looked down at his Beretta, slowly raising it and pointing it at Brad’s head.
“I’m so sorry Brad…” Balto said, his voice shaking as tears formed in the corners of his gold and brown eyes, his hand trembling ever-so slightly.
“I’m sorry too, Balto……” Brad whispered closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, “Go on… Set my soul free…”
Balto clenched his teeth together for a few long moments. Everything was still and silent for the longest time, nothing seeming to move at all. Then, a single gunshot tore through the quiet night air… Balto slowly lowered the aim of his Beretta back to the ground, and turned the safety on before holstering it. He stared down at the body of the brown wolf, his friend, his mentor, and fellow agent. The tears in his eyes began to fall slowly, cutting through his brown-gray fur before falling to the concrete below.
“Goodbye, Brad…” Balto whispered before picking up Brad’s handgun and walking out of the alleys…
Kodi silently undid the hatch blocking him from slipping out of the ventilation shaft he was currently in. Once he got it done, he kicked it open and slid into the office, Kirby sliding out behind him. Kodi checked his SOAW and growled softly at it. That had three and a half hours at most to complete their mission. Things weren’t beginning to look so good…
“Hey, why the glum look buddy?” Kirby asked, tapping Kodi on the shoulder. Kodi looked shocked for a moment before sighing softly and handing the dog-tags he’d taken from Niju to Kirby.
“Take a look at these and then you’ll see what’s got me down…” Kodi replied unemotionally, “Plus we’ve got less than four hours before our mission is a total failure…”
“Well we’d better get a move on then, huh?” Kirby asked with a chuckle, then inspected the dog-tags and nearly passed out when he realized whose they were, “Balto’s?! Niju had your father’s dog-tags?! How the hell’d he get his paws on these?!”
“The same way he got his paws on fuel for a thousand missiles… He stole them, right from my Dad on our first mission…” Kodi said, heaving a heavy sigh, “He risked his identity to save my life that night… and I yelled at him from thousands of miles away… He probably thinks I hate him right now…”
“Hey, don’t talk like that… You’re talking like you’ve given up already…” Kirby said, playfully punching Kodi’s arm, “C’mon, the fight’s not over yet… You can make up with your Dad once we get back, guaranteed! Now come on, we’ve got a mad terrorist to stop!” Kodi grinned and nodded.
“Yeah, you’re right! Let’s kick Niju’s ass and then I’ll worry about those other things later… I mean, what’s the worst he could do with dog-tags anyway?” Kodi asked with a laugh, walking out into another hallway and looking around, “Coast’s clear…”
“Great… But now how are we gonna find Niju?” Kirby asked, looking to Kodi, who wore a satisfactory grin as he asked that question, “What did you do Kodi? You look like you’re hiding something…”
“I am…” Kodi replied, pulling out a small GPS, “When I took those dog-tags from Niju, I replaced them wit something… a homing beacon. I’ve been tracking him for an hour now… Right now, he’s about three hundred meters west of our current position…”
“Alright! Way to go Kodi!” Kirby said, patting his teammate on the back, “Lead the way, pal!” Kodi nodded and looked at the GPS, leading Kirby down the hallways in search of the elusive Niju…
About a half hour later, both agents sat with their backs against a wall, Kodi still looking at his GPS. Kirby took a swig of water from his canteen before replacing it and checking how many rounds he had left, counting nine. He jammed the magazine back in and turned to Kodi.
“Found out where he is yet?” Kirby asked, Kodi replying with a shake of his head.
“Not really… The damn wolf is always on the move, it’s so hard to keep track of where he is and to predict where he may be going to next!” Kodi exclaimed, then grinned slightly, “Ok, he’s stopped moving for now… He’s currently in… that Storeroom we’d met up in… Wait, he’s moving again… Now he’s… back in the Missile Hangar…” Just then, their radios crackled to life as a transmission came into them.
“Hello there agents…” Niju said through their radios, “While I have enjoyed our little game, I’m afraid I’ve had enough playing now… I want to finish this and you want to finish this, so come to the Missile Hangar and we’ll fight like men…”
“Heh, like hell he’ll fight fair…” Kirby murmured, “That bastard’s had us running all around this place, I doubt the guy just wants to end things now… It’s probably a trap for us to fall into… How dumb does he think we are?! I mean, come on! Anyone could see that’s a trap!”
“Unless that’s what he wants us to think…” Kodi said, looking at Kirby, “Unless he wants us to suspect it’s a trap so we’ll go in an opposite direction and actually fall into one he set up for us somewhere else…”
“Hmm, tough call then, huh?” Kirby said, standing up again, “So, what are we going to do?”
“You’re going to go up a floor and get to the Missile Hangar via the catwalks…” Kodi explained, rising to his feet as well and drawing his handgun, “I’ll enter via this floor… That way if it is a trap, we can intercept it and help one another out from different angles…”
“Sounds good to me… You gonna be alright facing off against Niju alone?” Kirby asked, cocking his head slightly. Kodi nodded slowly in approval.
“Yeah, I’ll be fine… And besides, it’s not just a mission to me anymore now…” Kodi said, his eyes flashing with a spark of vengeance, “This time it’s personal… I’m gonna get him for what he’s done and what he’s put my Dad through…”
“Alright… Good luck pal…” Kirby said. Both agents saluted one another before Kirby ran off to find the elevators to take him back up to the upper floor. Kodi glanced down at his GPS and followed the red dot, using it as a guide to navigate the hallways and find his way toward the Missile Hangar.
Once Kodi arrived at the door labeled Hangar, he knew he’d reached his destination. A quick check of his GPS confirmed it for him and he shut it off before stowing the handheld unit again. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, holding it for a moment before exhaling slowly. For you, Dad… Kodi thought to himself before opening his burgundy eyes that burned with an intense fire. He grabbed the handle on the metal door and pulled it open, walking into the Hangar.
Many of the missile racks had been moved over to the sides, clearing a rather large area in the center for a fight. Kodi stepped out into the clearing, looking around for any kind of trap or ambush, but nothing happened and no one came. After a few moments, footsteps on concrete could be heard.
“So, the Husky came, did you?” Niju asked as he stepped into view, casually striding to the opposite end of the clearing of Kodi, “Where’s your larger friend? The Malamute?”
Kodi didn’t answer. He just stood there, glaring at Niju. He felt such a strong desire to kill him, to make sure the wolf paid for his crimes and sins. Niju scoffed slightly and shook his head, glaring back at Kodi.
“Well it makes no difference as to where he went… You’ll both be dead soon anyway, so who am I to care?” Niju asked, chuckling evilly. Kodi was silent again before he finally spoke out to his enemy.
“Why did you call us out Niju? Why didn’t you just keep on running and run out the clock until your contact arrived?” Kodi asked, “Why risk so much in a one-on-one fight with me when you could have easily secured a victory?”
“Because I wanted to prove my point to you…” Niju said with a low growl, eyes as cold as ice as he stared at the agent opposing him, “You called me a coward before, remember? Well, I hate being condescended, especially by a rookie, a newbie… I decided to take you both on eventually, in a one-on-one close-quarters combat fight to the death…”
Kodi gasped slightly, shocked by Niju’s terms and conditions. After a moment of thought, he growled softly and holstered his handgun. Niju smirked and nodded in approval, assuming a fighting stance. Kodi got into a fighting stance as well, both dogs staring the other one down.
“Come on agent! Let me see what your father has taught you!” Niju shouted, grinning as he ran at Kodi. The wolf kicked at him, aiming for the legs, then torso, then head with three swift kicks. Kodi blocked the ones to his legs and head, but received the one to his stomach, stumbling backwards slightly. As Niju went to kick him again, Kodi caught on and grabbed his foot, flipping the wolf onto his back.
Kodi circled around Niju as he got up, the wolf lunging and striking Kodi in the stomach again. Kodi grunted and doubled over, falling to the ground. Niju laughed softly as Kodi got up, hitting Niju right in the muzzle and sending him reeling. Niju wiped a small trickle of blood from his muzzle and growled loudly, hitting Kodi twice in the face before grabbing the Husky’s neck and tossing him to the ground. Kodi groaned softly as his body hit the concrete, then felt Niju slam his boot into his chest, beginning to push down hard and force the air out of Kodi’s lungs.
“Look at yourself… You’re pathetic! You’re weak!” Niju snarled, grinning wickedly as he forced his boot down harder, listening to Kodi gasp and sputter for breath, his body flailing about on the ground, “Without Daddy there to protect you, you’re nothing… I was foolish to even consider you and your partner a threat! But no matter now… You’ll be dead soon and your teammate to follow… and both your parents are already dead now…”
Kodi’s eyes widened, then narrowed furiously. He growled viciously, grabbing Niju by the ankle. The wolf blood in him helped Kodi to lift and push Niju off, sending his enemy crashing to the floor. Kodi got up and advanced on Niju. From above, Kirby had just gotten onto the catwalk and was watching the fight, impressed by Kodi’s skills. Kodi continued advancing on Niju, the wolf kneeling on the floor.
Once Kodi got close enough, Niju pulled out his combat knife and lunged at Kodi. The young agent sidestepped just in time to save his life, but not to avoid getting a long slash across his chest. He cried out in pain and stumbled sideways slightly, regaining his footing and pulling out his combat knife, both canines beginning to circle one another.
Niju snarled and sliced at Kodi, the agent bringing up his knife to block the attack. Kodi swung back, hitting Niju’s knife. The two began exchanging blows, the steel of their weapons clashing against one another nearly every time, every other time the attacks were dodged. After a few more minutes, Kodi got a lucky strike and sliced across Niju’s arm, causing him to drop his knife briefly. Kodi took this advantage and leapt at Niju, missing as the wolf dove and recovered his fallen blade.
Both fighters got back to their feet, circling each other again. Another exchange of deflected blows occurred before Niju feigned an attack on Kodi’s torso and went for his throat, going to high and cutting across the left side of Kodi’s muzzle instead. Kodi yelped and cried out in pain, backing up and placing a hand to his muzzle, pulling it back and seeing the scarlet blood on his palm. Kodi growled and threw his knife at Niju. Niju grunted softly as the knife hit his leg, sending him down to the floor again.
Kodi ran up to Niju and skidded beside him, twisting Niju’s right arm until he dropped his knife. Kodi picked up the dropped knife and tossed it aside, pulling his out of Niju’s leg and pulling back quickly. Niju lay on the floor for a while, his leg bleeding profusely. After a few more minutes, he drew his handgun and pointed it at Kodi, grinning at the Husky’s surprised look.
“You cheater… You said only close-quarter combat!” Kodi said angrily, not feeling very reassured when Niju scoffed and chuckled darkly.
“So I cheated… But it’s not my life about to end now, is it?” Niju asked, beginning to squeeze the trigger. Above, Kirby saw what was happening and went to shoot Niju first and save Kodi. However, Niju saw Kirby and changed his target, aiming at Kirby and firing. Kirby cried out as the bullet struck him just to the left of his stomach, sending the Malamute doubling over and off the edge of the catwalk, crashing into the concrete floor.
“KIRBY!!!” Kodi yelled out, then growled at Niju who just laughed evilly, “You bastard! You deserve death!” Kodi kicked the gun from the wolf’s hands and took several steps back, pulling out his Beretta. Niju laughed and shook his head.
“What, are you going to shoot me now?” Niju asked, laughing again, “Go ahead! I’m pretty much dead anyways!” Kodi growled and went to pull the trigger- and stopped. He ejected his current magazine and pulled out a single brass bullet, the one Balto had given him at the beginning of his mission,
“I promised, Dad… And now, I’m keeping that promise…” Kodi whispered, placing the bullet first in the magazine and reloading it, pulling the slide of his Beretta back and aiming it at Niju. He pulled the trigger, the bullet hitting Niju’s chest. The wolf cried out- and then exploded. Kodi nearly fell back in surprise. Balto had said that the bullet had been made special. It was filled with a small amount of napalm! Kodi thought with surprise, a large grin spreading over his muzzle, When Dad talked about the ultimate revenge on Niju, he really wasn’t kidding!
Kodi quickly holstered his weapons and ran to where Kirby had fallen, spotting his teammate lying face-up. A small puddle of blood had begun to form beneath his body. He ran up and knelt beside Kirby, looking him over. Aside from the bullet-wound, Kirby looked fine, just unconscious. Kodi tapped Kirby’s face and the agent began to wake up again.
“Kodi?” Kirby asked uncertainly as he slowly sat up, “W-what happened? Where’s Niju gone?” Kodi smirked and chuckled.
“Dead, Kirby… Niju’s dead… His body exploded from a napalm bullet given to me by my Dad…” Kodi explained, “Now c’mon… You still have those C4 charges to rig around this room before we can get out of here…”
“Y-yeah… You’re right… I still do have them…” Kirby said, slowly getting to his feet and pulling out four small black boxes from his belt. He walked from one corner of the hangar to the other, planting the C4 charges next to racks of missiles and placing a small transmitter on each one.
“Now let’s get out of here, partner…” Kodi said, taking Kirby’s arm around his shoulder and helping him walk slightly. As they made their way through the hallways following signs that said ‘Exit’, a small group of guards saw them.
“Hey, you two! Freeze!” one shouted. Kodi glared at them and raised his handgun, firing and dropping them like flies.
“We’re almost out, Kirby…” Kodi said softly as they approached a pair of metal doors that slid open as they came close to them, “We’re at the exit now…”
The exit was a large, sort of underground parking lot, a tunnel leading out. Rows of desert-attuned jeeps and vehicles lined the walls. Kodi walked Kirby over to a jeep and lay him out across the back, closing the door and then climbing into the driver’s side. As Kodi started the jeep, a few gunshots hit the side of the vehicle. Looking out the window, Kodi saw another group of guards running toward them.
“Don’t worry Kodi…” Kirby said weakly from the back of the jeep, “I’ll take care of… the rest of these bastards…” He pressed a button on his SOAW and both his and Kodi’s made a beeping sound. Kodi checked his SOAW, a five minute countdown had started. Kirby had activated the C4 charges.
“Alright Kirby, hang on… We’re getting out of this place…” Kodi said, putting the jeep into Drive and flooring the gas pedal, speeding off down the tunnel as the guards shot at the back of the jeep. For the first two minutes, everything seemed like smooth sailing. It was really just a long, straight tunnel; no turns or curves anywhere.
However, the calmness was lost as more gunshots were heard and the sounds of bullets hitting metal came along as well. Kodi glanced out the windows and saw two jeeps filled with enemy soldiers shooting at them.
“Hold on tight Kirby!” Kodi said, swerving quickly to the left and ramming the enemy’s jeep into the wall, watching with a grin as the vehicle spun out and crashed. He laughed and turned to the other one, which had fallen behind them. Just then, their SOAWs beeped. The countdown had reached 0:00.
Starting from the Missile Hangar and working its way through the whole underground and above ground compound, the explosions tore through everything. Behind them, Kodi could see the waves of flames rushing toward them in the rear-view mirror. He prayed silently, the flames catching up and engulfing the enemy jeep behind them. Just before they were caught as well, they sped out of the tunnel and into the bright morning light, the flames spewing out behind them as they drove away from them and to safety.
“Woo-hoo!” Kodi cheered loudly, a huge grin on his face as he kept on going, “We did it Kirby!
“This is Agent Kodi… The mission is a success… Repeat, all objectives completed and the compound has been wiped off the map…” Kodi said after turning on his radio, “… And I’ve gotta say Colonel, it was one hell of a mission as well…” From the other end of the radio, Kodi could hear cheers erupting all around.
“Hear that, Kodi? That’s all for you and Kirby, for a job well done…” Colonel McIntyre said, the joy apparent in his voice as well, “Head towards your designated Evacuation Point now… I think it’s time we brought you boys home…”
Smiling victoriously, Kodi continued driving, heading toward their Evacuation Point…
Chapter 6
The
It didn’t come as a big surprise to Kodi and Kirby that the moment they walked toward the memorial dressed in ceremonial military uniforms, the whole place erupted into cheers and applause. Kodi found it impossible to stop beaming, his wide smile reflecting the great achievement he felt within himself. It wasn’t only the knowledge that he’d saved the United States and possibly most of the world, nor was it the honor and glory he’d receive, but the knowledge that he’d completed such a difficult mission and he was now an official high-ranking agent that made him so proud of himself.
The two agents and heroes walked down the aisle to the stage set up in order for the Medals of Honor to be presented to them. On the stage stood Colonel McIntyre, Jenna, the Secretary of Defense, and the President himself. Kodi and Kirby walked up the few small steps and approached the Colonel, the Secretary, and the President, saluting them respectfully. Colonel McIntyre handed the President the two silver medals and smiled widely at Kodi and Kirby.
“Kodiak Harrand and Kirby DeVuela, for outstanding achievement in the field and line of duty, for willing to sacrifice your lives for freedom and liberty, and for protecting our land from terrorists and dangers, it is with great pride and pleasure that I present you both with the Medal of Honor…” the President said, pinning each medal to the agents’ shirts, “You two are true soldiers, loyal patriots, and honorable heroes…”
Kodi and Kirby dropped their salutes and turned to face the crowd, thunderous applause ringing through the air. Newscasters from everywhere tried to ask them questions, but were turned back by the police and the Secret Service. Kodi ran up to Jenna and embraced his mother lovingly, smiling widely.
“Oh Kodiak, you did so well!” Jenna said, beaming at her son, “I’m so proud of you, Kodi…”
“Thanks Mom…” he replied, then lost his smile, “… Mom… Where’s Dad?” Jenna lost her smile as well. Colonel McIntyre turned to see Jenna’s expression and knew what Kodi has asked her.
“Kodi… I don’t know how to tell you this… Your father was shot… several times…” Jenna said, tears welling up in her eyes, “He’s alive, but just barely… The doctors say he won’t make it…” Kodi just stood there for a long moment, stunned by what Jenna had just told him. His expression got dead-serious, then sorrowful.
“Mom…” Kodi said softly, “Which hospital is he in?”
Kodi ran as fast as he could down the clean, white hallways of the hospital, avoiding as many patients, nurses, and doctors as he could. When he at last arrived at the room Jenna had said Balto was in, Kodi didn’t know what to do next. He took a deep breath and prepared himself for the worst, if it came to it. Gathering up all his remaining courage, Kodi opened the door and walked inside. Balto lay in the hospital bed, deep in sleep. His heart-rate was being recorded on a cardio-vascular monitor.
Kodi felt his heart wrench upon seeing his father, bandaged up and unconscious. He choked back a sob of regret and slowly walked over to his father’s side and sitting down in the chair at the side of his bed. He sighed sadly and placed his hand gently on top of Balto’s. Balto’s eyes began to slowly open, a soft groan emitting from his throat before he looked over, seeing a crimson and cream colored male Husky sitting beside him, a small smile on his face. Balto smiled back as he recognized the dog.
“Kodi…” Balto whispered softly, smiling weakly back at his son, “… You made it back… Well done, son… And a Medal of Honor as well…” Kodi smiled widely at his father and sniffled softly.
“Dad… Dad, I…” Kodi began, looking away and taking a deep breath before looking back at Balto, tears pouring from his burgundy eyes, “Dad, I’m so, so sorry for what I said to you before! I was… I just always thought that I’d make you so proud of me if I was like you… But now, I feel like I’ve let you down… I’m sorry, Dad… Sorry that I let you down…”
Kodi closed his eyes, sobbing softly. Balto sighed softly and placed his hand on Kodi’s cheek, turning his son’s head to face him. The sorrowful Husky slowly opened his eyes, both of them sparkling with his crystalline tears. Balto gave his son a warm, loving smile as he wiped Kodi’s tears away.
“Kodi… you could never let me down… I’ve always been proud of you… no matter what you’ve done…” Balto replied softly, “I’ve always believed in you, Kodi… And you’ve- never had to prove yourself to me… I’m sorry if I made you feel that way…” Kodi smiled weakly back at his father, still sniffling as he put something in Balto’s hand. His dog-tags. Jenna slowly walked into the room, sitting down on the other side of Balto’s bed.
“Dad… I… I want to thank you… for everything you’ve ever done for me…” Kodi said softly, hugging Balto lovingly, “I’m so sorry for anything I’ve ever done wrong… I promise, I’ll be just as good an agent as you are…” Balto grinned slightly and chuckled lowly.
“Kodi, you are already a better agent than I could ever hope to be…” Balto said, his voice softer than before, his eyes beginning to glaze over and dilate, “… Keep up our legacy… I know, you can do it Kodi… I know you’ll do justice to the title of an agent…” Balto’s heart-rate began to decrease, Jenna and Kodi exchanging looks of worry.
“Balto, why are you saying things like this?” Jenna asked, giving her wounded husband a look of great distress and concern, “Why are you telling Kodi these sorts of things?” Balto looked at Jenna and smiled faintly up at her.
“Jenna… Look at me… You know I’m not going to last much longer… I can… barely speak as it is…” Balto replied, his voice barely audible, his heart-rate still slowly decreasing as his strength waned, “Jenna… Know that, no matter what… I loved you, and I’ll always love you… Kodi… Do your best… No one could ever… ask more of you…”
“Balto, don’t talk that way! You aren’t going to die! Not here, not like this!” Jenna said, placing a hand gently on his cheek, tears cascading from her amber eyes, “You’re going to make it through this, you hear me? You can’t die… You just can’t…”
“Please Dad… Don’t die on us… Not now…” Kodi said, hugging his father again, “Please… Don’t leave me… I still need your advice…”
“Do your best, Kodi…” Balto whispered into Kodi’s ear, his gold and brown eyes slowly closing, “I… have… faith… in… you…”
Balto’s grip on Kodi’s hand weakened to nothing, a soft sigh escaping the wolfdog’s muzzle one last time before his chest ceased to rise anymore. The cardio-vascular monitor attacked to Balto went off, a continuous high-pitched beep filling the room. Jenna burst into sobs, wrapping her arms around Balto as well and holding him tightly. Kodi stood up and walked to the door, shouting for the doctors. Four dogs in white coats ran into the room, one charging up a defibrillator while the others tried desperately to resuscitate Balto.
Kodi stood off to the side, watching everything as it seemed to go by in slow-motion to him. Jenna was sobbing uncontrollably, watching desperately as the doctors fought to bring Balto back to life. But after five minutes passed and nothing happened, the one replaced the defibrillator and the others exchanged mournful looks. Jenna lost it, falling to her knees beside Balto and wrapping her arms around him.
“Balto, please come back! Please! Please come back!” she choked out between sobs, kissing his cheek while holding him tightly. Kodi felt like his whole body was frozen in this state of complete shock. His mind just couldn’t register the fact that his father, his mentor, and his hero was gone… Gone forever…
Washington D.C., June 1st 2026, 1000 hours.
A large funeral service had gathered in the
“Balto Harrand lived a life of threat and danger as a government agent for the
Colonel McIntyre sniffled and covered his eyes with his hand for a moment. He then looked up, eyes shimmering with tears. He took a slow, deep breath before continuing on with his eulogy.
“Balto stood up for what he believed was right… even at the cost of his own life… He willingly gave his life helping to lead to the preservation of our country’s life and liberty…” he continued, taking another deep breath, “He was my good friend, and I knew more than anyone how much he loved what he did… No one ever loved protecting anything more than he had… Farewell Balto, my friend… We’ll meet again…”
Colonel McIntyre took a few steps backward. Jenna then stepped forward, tears slowly running down her cream-colored muzzle. She took a shaky breath and looked up to begin her eulogy to her husband and beloved.
“Balto was my love, my world, my life… I can’t accept the fact that he’s gone, because he isn’t gone… He’ll live on, in our memories and hearts… His legacy won’t die and his acts of bravery will never be forgotten…” Jenna said sorrowfully, still crying as she spoke, “… Balto had always told me he’d hoped to die protecting whatever he held dear… Originally it was the
Jenna covered her eyes and broke down into sobs again. Jason walked up beside her and slowly brought her back into the crowd. He stepped forward again and stood proudly, eyes serious and steely. He straightened out his military official’s hat and stared out over the lines of decorated agents.
“In memorial of Agent Balto Harrand… Agents, attention!” he said in a commanding voice, every agent save for the two who had just returned from a mission standing tall and saluting, Kodi and Kirby watching on quietly.
“Present arms!” he said in his authorative voice. The ten agents that were holding rifles held them out in front of them, presenting them with the same saddened, yet serious look in their eyes.
“Fire one!” he said, the agents firing off into the sky in salute to Balto’s legacy of honor. They pulled the bolt back, reloading their rifles.
“Fire two!” Bang! Kodi’s burgundy eyes shone with the sadness and sorrow as he stared at the photograph of his father, grinning in his ceremonial navy uniform, similar to the one Kodi was wearing.
“Fire three!” Bang! Kodi’s heart wrenched in his chest, making him feel sick to his stomach. Never in all his life had he expected to be standing where he was now, before his father’s gave and mourning his death. Kodi had expected his father to die of old age, not of an ambush on his own house.
“Fire four!” Bang! Tears welled up in the corners of his eyes, but Kodi blinked them back, eyes still locked on the face of his father in the photograph. He had been the best there was, but now Kodi realized the cold, terrible truth…
“Fire five!” Bang! … Even heroes and legends die…
Kodi stood before his father’s grave, the ceremonial funeral now long-since finished and his father buried. Yet the photograph had been left leaning against the headstone, many bouquets of flowers adorning the grave all around. Kirby leaned against a nearby tree, staring sympathetically at his best friend. Jenna stood on the path through the cemetery, watching Kodi. She walked up to him and placed a hand gently on his shoulder, giving him an empathetic look.
“Take your time, Kodiak… I’ll be back there…” Jenna said softly. When Kodi didn’t reply, she just sighed sadly and walked back to the path. Kodi’s eyes were still locked with those of Balto’s. Colonel McIntyre slowly walked up to Kodi, a briefcase held tightly in his hand. He stared down at Balto’s photograph and shook his head slowly.
“Why did he have to die?” Kodi asked softly, on the verge of tears. Jason took a deep breath and sighed heavily.
“I don’t know, Kodi… He was a good dog… Good dog’s don’t deserve things like this…” he replied softly, placing the briefcase down by Kodi’s feet, “Balto gave me this a month ago… He said he wanted you to have this when he died…”
Colonel McIntyre patted Kodi on the back before turning and walking away. Kodi glanced down at the black briefcase for a moment before back up to his father’s photograph. He choked back a sob, tears beginning to fill up his eyes once again. Slowly, his eyes traced over the inscriptions on Balto’s headstone.
Balto Harrand
June 6, 1980 – May 27, 2026
Gave his life defending what he loved
A loving father
A devoted soldier
A true patriot
A true hero
Kodi’s eyes now filled with his crystal tears, blurring most of his vision. His resolve was now stronger than ever to carry on being an agent for his father’s legacy; to keep the legend alive. Knowing now his duty wasn’t to become his father, but to protect his country in the name of his father… With that thought, Kodi felt his vigor and patriotism soar and stood proudly. Staring down at his father’s face, Kodiak raised his hand…
And saluted…
Epilogue
The Pentagon, June 30th 2026, 0930 hours.
Kodi placed a picture of his mother and father atop the oak desk in his new office in the Pentagon. He sighed heavily, looking around. It had been the exact same office his father had had, up until he died… Kodi felt the sorrow in him still, but no longer cried. Instead, he gently touched the picture of his father, memories flooding back to him. Colonel McIntyre stepped inside with a manila folder and knocked on the door, walking up to Kodi’s desk and looking around.
“Wow, nice layout… Are you sure you weren’t destined to be an interior designer?” he asked jokingly, then cleared his throat when Kodi didn’t as much as chuckle, “Anyway, the government wanted me to assign this mission to you… I told them you’d probably need more time, but they insisted that I did…” Kodi only continued to stare at the picture of his father.
“Colonel… My father… Why was he always so unafraid to die?” Kodi asked, staring into his father’s gold and brown eyes in the photo, “What made him so hardened? So tough?” Colonel McIntyre sighed as memories came back to him.
“It was his first mission that did that, Kodi…” he answered, “You see, on his first mission, Balto had to kill his mentor, all because he had been betraying the United States… I met him at the airport when he returned, and boy, he was as tough as steel, not as much as showing any sign of emotion…”
Jason McIntyre stood at the Arrivals area of the
“Balto, glad to see you back!” he said cheerfully, Balto just walking on and not even smiling back. Jason knew something was up. He walked beside Balto, tapping the briefcase.
“Want me to take this for you?” he asked, taking the briefcase as Balto handed it to him without a word, “Is this the files and documents you found Brad loaded with?”
“Yep…” Balto said neutrally, a steely look in his wolfish eyes. Jason had had just about enough of this. He sighed and shook his head.
“Look Balto, I know something’s up… You’ve said only one word since you’ve landed and you aren’t acting like yourself!” he remarked, grabbing Balto’s arm and stopping him, “Tell me what’s going on… What’s got you so upset?” Balto gave Jason a look of such seriousness, it sent chills up his spine.
“I killed Brad… I watched him die… I pulled the trigger, firing the bullet that ended his life… I killed the one canine I looked up to the most in life… Do you know what that feels like, Jason?” Balto hissed under his breath, “I couldn’t care less if I live or die on a mission now… As far as I’m concerned, I’ve already pulled the trigger on myself, too…”
Jason was astonished by Balto’s sudden rush of determination. Many agents he’d seen died in the field because they had been afraid to die and had gotten too cautious for their own good. Balto didn’t care anymore, which meant he was free to think clearly, taking death out of the equation. This alone would make him a more effective killer and agent. A few moments later, a hardened wolfdog and a shocked German Shepherd left the airport…
“That one, single kill out of every shot he made on a dog changed Balto the most in his life… I don’t think he ever recovered from it…” Colonel McIntyre said softly, feeling the depth of his missing of Balto, “Kodi, do you have that briefcase I gave to you?” Kodi nodded slowly.
“Open it up…”
Kodi did as he was told, picking up the briefcase and setting it down on his desk before opening it up. Inside was Balto’s Beretta, a copy of his dog-tags, various photographs of him and Kodi, a DVD, and a letter. Picking it up, Kodi began to read it slowly, eyes riding over every single letter. It read:
Kodiak,
If you are reading this, then it means my time has come and passed and that Jason is a dog of his word… All these items in the briefcase are yours, including all the weapons that I have owned, stowed away in our house. I hope and trust that you will carry these, along with our legacy, with pride until the very end. I trust and believe in you, son.
Balto
“I always wondered why your father had turned down that mission over a month ago… But now I figured it out at long last… Your father turned down the mission to protect you and your mother…” Colonel McIntyre said slowly, his voice sad and low, “He must’ve known that when Niju took his dog-tags, he’d track him down… and if he took the mission, he’d have gone alone after Niju, leaving you and your mother home and vulnerable… He let you go because he knew you’d have a partner… Then he’d be able to help you from here while protecting Jenna… By turning down the mission, he paid the ultimate price but was able to save the things he loved the most… He sacrificed his life to keep you and Jenna alive…”
Kodi put the letter back down in the briefcase and closed his eyes, placing his hands on the desk to support himself standing. He quivered a bit as he fought back another sob. Colonel McIntyre sighed sympathetically and shook his head, glancing down at the folder in his hands.
“Kodi, if you want some more time off, I could grant it to you… I don’t know what you’re going through right now, so I’d have no qualms doing it…” he offered kindly, waiting for Kodi’s response. The Husky didn’t move a muscle.
“… Kodiak…?”
After a few more moments, Kodi stood up straight again and picked up Balto’s Beretta, looking it over a few times. He jammed a fresh clip into it and aimed it around the room, eventually ejecting the clip and setting it down on the table.
“No Colonel, I’m fine…” he said coolly, his voice and tone sounding much like Balto’s as he looked at Jason with a fire in his eyes,
“What’s my next mission?”
The End