Ghost Bird... Do You Copy?

Entrance Exams

Chapter Twenty-Six

Entrance Exams

(Playlist – Back to Black perf. By Beyonce and Andre 300, Click Click Boom by Saliva, and Dirty Vibe by Skrillex feat. G-Dragon & CL)

Notes: There was a date change in the previous chapter. The letter that Kota wrote to Sang, The date was incorrect, and it has been changed. Everything is back on the correct timeline.

I want to thank everyone for reading the story up to this point. There are so many people I wish to thank. First I need to thank my betas; SilasAggeleMou & BLTS2004. The several helpers I have had; EleanorHardie, LakeBookReviews, and really only about a dozen more people.

Raven's POV:

September 2nd

All conversation in this chapter will be assumed to be in Russian:

It was time. With the help of Christopher and a handful of other people who had flown in, we had perfected a jump that the military originally thought could not be achieved. A high altitude, long range glide, landing with no parachute in the dark. Of course now we had to do it in the field. Our destination was Moscow. Ground zero.

Alexandre, continued to amaze me. Anything they gave him, he soaked up like a sponge. He had completely learned the Russian language in weeks. They had hit him with urban survival, field medics, Russian history, Russian military, procedures, chain of command. Amazing. I was in on all of those meetings and classes, and was able to throw in quite a bit of stuff that was all me; It wasn't going to be all good-guy stuff while there, and we both knew it. There were also several meetings which I was not part of. They were "classified".

While standing there and putting on the special thermal undergarments, and urban-wear, I was remembering the night Alexandre handed me the picture he had drawn of Kayli and Alyosha. I had been so surprised and captivated by it. When he had told me he had met them and spent time with them... I felt so much comfort knowing they were safe. Of course it hurt knowing they missed me, and that they didn't know where I was. Alexandre and I had talked after that. He knew I was Raven, and I knew he was Charles, but we never let on to anyone else that our real identities were known to each other. Just the fact fact that we knew was enough for us. But I do believe that moment is what defined our close friendship. After that, he truly was part of the family.

We regularly picked on Christopher. We started calling him G.I. Joe, which later shortened to Little Joe. He hated it, but smiled none-the-less. He was like our little brother. Of course we were going to pick on him. It was sad knowing I was leaving him behind. He had worked hard with us not only as a pilot, but as a jumper too. He'd even picked up quite a bit of Russian. It sucked, but it was enough that he could get by if needed. He was really good at the curse words.

"Hey Maxim, get your arse out the clouds." Alexandre smacked my head playfully as he passed by in order to get to his gear. I, in turn, smacked him on his rear. "Don't tease."

"Give me some credit old man. I'm a panty professional." It had become a nightly thing for us to watch SpongeBob SquarePants. When I first started quoting SpongeBob and Patrick, neither of them understood the reference. Eventually, Christopher had ordered that the next flight bring the whole SpongeBob SquarePants set on DVD.

"Who wants to lick my cheeks?

"I do!" I raised my hand.

"I see I have a taker!" Alexandre gave a great big belly laugh.