Perifidy

Chapter Nineteen: The Shrink

0900 Hours

February 6th, 2018

Herefordshire, England

Hereford Base, Kade's Office

         Kade found himself sitting at his new desk, in his new office, thinking of the words he'd spoken to Ela just hours before. To open up that darkness so soon? He may have overestimated how much of a burden Ela was willing to take on. It wasn't lost on him that he and Ela had moved incredibly fast in terms of the pace of their relationship. He didn't mind. He didn't have much experience in these matters and based on literature he'd read, every relationship seemed to have its own pace. Even so, he still had to wonder if telling her all those things was the right move. He looked at the stack of paperwork on his desk. Maybe now wasn't the time to be worrying about such things. It was his first day on the job, after all. There were two candidates Harry and Six were eyeing before Kade took over the position. Their names were Jalal El Fassi and Sanaa El Maktoub, natives of Morocco and members of the Groupe d'Intervention de La Gendarmerie Royale counter-terrorist task force, or GIGR. Jalal, in particular, seemed like an outstanding candidate with his three decades of experience. Not that Sanaa was any less, her many expeditions through her journeyed career would be nothing but an asset to Rainbow. He would send communications through the proper channels and schedule a proper interview. He could just ask Harry to go if the timing interfered with Operation Scorched Earth. He began leafing through the other files, the majority of them being from counter-terrorism units all around the world. That being said, there were also a few recruits who had also applied for the position of the operator. According to Six, it had been much more common in the old days to have recruits trained as operators but with the variety of the recruits in the modern age, such a seamless transition wasn't nearly as frequent. That being said, one recruit had caught his eye. His name was William "Billy" Biddeford. Normal background, normal career path. The one thing that Kade saw that seriously interested him was a small note on the back of the file that detailed an almost "unnatural" ability to aim, shoot and eliminate targets at a blistering rate. Not that the operators in Rainbow had a bad aim, everyone had above average aim at the bare minimum. But what Kade was seeing in the pictures and video links attached to his file was beyond anything he'd seen. His ability to snap to a target and deliver a kill shot in under three seconds was nothing short of remarkable. Kade knew he'd need work in other areas but his raw ability was certainly something he could work with. He supposed today would be a good day to visit the young man.

                                                                                               ***

          The bunks for the recruits reminded Kade of well-furnished college dormitories. They had state of the art bath, laundry and common rooms along with comfortable, spacious suites with multiple bedrooms. According to the file, William was in the third barracks, suite 204. Kade rapt on the door with three quick strokes, waiting patiently for someone to answer the door. The recruits had already finished their morning training so Kade was sure William would be there, or at least someone who knew where William was. A young man with a classic crew cut answered the door, his eyes bulging at the sight of Kade. He stood at attention, Kade returning his salute.

"Good morning, Recruit. I'm looking for William Biddeford. Might he be in today?"

"I-uh-yes sir! Billy! Get your ass out here, bro!"

There were the sounds of someone getting out of bed, grumbling, stubbing their toe and swearing venomously under their breath before a mostly naked, fit young man came stumbling out of a nearby bedroom, bleary-eyed and clearly not ready to face the day.