War Dog

Chapter 27

"I have been in contact with Kortac since the purchase. They have advised me that you had equipment with you. Care to explain the contents to me?"

Shaista dropped a bag on the table,  to be more specific, my bag. 

"That is Wolfs equipment. The equipment that the testing facility provided me with. Protective equipment for her ears, eyes, nose and hands and feet. Standard safety equipment they provide to their hybrids." Ghost responded in a neutral tone, trying not to reveal just how sensitive I really was to a lot of stimuli. I sat next to him as he stood in front of Shaista's desk in her office, my ears flicking towards any sound outside the office, listening to people coming and going and talking in a language I couldn't understand.

"Is that all it does?" She asked with a raised eye brow. 

"Her protective ear equipment also link up to a comms device, so if she gets separated from me, I can still issue orders to her. It's a closed circuit comms, can only be accessed specifically by the one comms unit."

Shaista nodded, the look on her face suggesting that she already knew that, but wanted to see if Ghost would be honest with her. "This saves me having to kit her out, take the equipment, get her kitted up." She threw another bag towards Ghost. "Naturally we've searched it and taken anything we've deemed inappropriate for you to have just yet, but here's your equipment too." 

Ghost picked up both of the bags, and I could see his mask crinkling as a flood of curiosity runs through him. "You got our equipment for us?" He asked, the genuine curiosity in his voice seeming to unsettle Shaista. She shifted in her seat and flicked a manicured hand at Ghost dismissively. "Easier than finding equipment that suits either of you. Now go. I will send someone to collect you when I'm ready for you."

Ghost nodded, and without an indication from him, I followed as he made his way out of the office, firmly in a close heel position. I kept my eyes and ears open as we walked through the hallways back to our shared room. Ghost pushed open the door and I slipped through and jumped up on the bed, circling and settling down. Ghost took one look at me settled on the bed and sighed, dropping both of the bags to the floor. He rifled through both of them, checking them over for any problems, or missing equipment. He laid it all out flat. His weapons were gone, but we had expected that, the phone too. He grabbed a set of clothes and headed into the shower, closing the door behind him.

I heard the shower start, but my focus remained on the door, watching and making sure no one came in. He finished up quickly, coming back out smelling significantly cleaner than he had been, dressed in clean clothes. His gloves and mask were both off when he came back out and I glanced at him, tilting my head slightly in question. Either he didn't realise what I was curious about or his was ignoring it  because he moved past me without a word and picked up the first aid kit. "Come on Wolf, we better check your wounds before we kit you up. Gotta make sure you're in fighting order." I grumble but hop down off the bed, and sit in front  of him as he sits down. His fingers are gentle as he peels off the bandage around my neck. He nods his head satisfied and pulls out the antiseptic and reapplies it and another bandage to my neck. I hop back on the bed, rolling over onto my back and letting him inspect the wound on my stomach too. 

"If you keep getting injured, pup, you won't have any fur left. We'll have to shave you down completely." I growl softly in response and whack him in the face with my tail. "Hey, watch yourself, whelp," he growled back at me, swatting my tail away. I grin at him as he finishes changing the bandage over and pulling my gear towards him. He pulls out my mask, looks at me and then discards it to the side. He pulls out the little ear buds and slips them into ears. "Good?" He asks and I give a little yip in response. "Good." He murmurs and grabbing the doggles. He slips them on over my head and positioning them comfortably on my face, tightening the strap to secure them. He gives them a little tug, tugging my head side to side, making my ears flop in response. "Secure," he grins at me, and I know he did that just to mess with me, getting me back for whacking him in the face with my tail. He grabs my gloves and slips them onto my clawed hands as I splay my fingers for him. They go on easy, but I know he'll probably struggle with the canine styled boots/socks. He looks at them, and then looks at me with a look that screams 'what the fuck do I do with these?' I give him a wolfish grin and wiggle my feet at him still in the air, and he gives me another look that says 'I know that, dumbass, but how?'

He looks at the neoprene foot protectors and decides to treat them like socks, pulling them over my feet, the hems reaching mid way down my calf. The first one he realises he's put on back to front, takes it off and sticks it back on. The second one goes on easier. Ready to go, I roll onto my stomach and curl up on the bed ready to go. He pulls on his own mask and gloves now that I'm ready. He pulls on his tac vest, very empty without any of his usual weapons and gear attached to it, except the mic specifically for my earbuds. 

Right as he's finished kitting himself out, I hear someone outside the door. I spring down off the bed, and take up my spot by Ghost right as the person outside the door knocks on it. Ghost runs an appraising eye over the both of us, making sure he hasn't missed anything and then opened the door. 

One of the men that had been with Shaista when she'd bid on us at the auction was standing outside the door waiting for us. As soon as the door open, he turned and walked down the hallway, ignoring us as we followed along side him. 

He led us to a briefing room and left us to find our own spot. Ghost confidently took an open seat and I sat on the floor next to him on his left side, alert and watching the other attendees. Shaista came in and began barking orders. I didn't understand any of what she said, and from the confusion I felt radiating from Ghost, I assumed he didn't either. The general scent of the room indicated understanding and briskness as people began to move and leave the room. When there were only a couple of people left in the room, Shaista turned to us, speaking English. "You will be remaining by my side for the foreseeable future. You will be under my direct supervision, and will become my personal guards over time, for now however you will watch the team of men I currently have in the position. Having the pair of you in that position will be a much better deterrent than anyone else."

I could feel the smug satisfaction oozing from Ghost at Shaista's proclamation, and I didn't blame him. Considering we were expecting to be bought and tortured, this was definitely the best outcome we could have predicted. Unfortunately, if we'd thought for even a second that this is an outcome that would have occurred, we'd have tried harder to try and get a communication device in to delay Kortac and 141 arriving. As it was, they'd allow for a couple of days for my chip to settle in one place to ensure that they didn't attack before we were bought to the base. We had assumed that we'd be taken through several checkpoints and thoroughly checked before making it to this point. Either they took König at his word when he said he'd searched us thoroughly, or they were stupid and hadn't co-ordinated with each other to ensure we hadn't come in with anything on us. The auction co-ordinators had searched us upon entry to ensure we had no contraband on us, so it wasn't likely we could have smuggled anything in anyway. Overall, the entire operation had appeared very sloppy, at least to me compared to the plans and back-up plans we had been running through. 

"Once you have proven yourselves competent and loyal, you will move into the position permanently. For today, you will shadow my men. Ghazni can speak English well enough to translate anything if you don't understand, but I'm sure you understand how to body guard someone well enough."

"Yes, Ma'am." Ghost responded, his voice bland his expression hiding any hint of his smug satisfaction that I could still sense oozing from him.