Activity

“Wait, you too?” Klein looked at Basil

“You said you’re biologically enhanced, so I had to ask.  You’re not involved with Project Goldenseal, are you?”

Klein remembered when he had finished the enhancements. The brass had warned him that rival nations could be developing their own super soldier projects. This however was the first one he had heard of yet.

“No. I have not heard of Goldenseal. I shouldn’t normally reveal this but the enhancements I got were from Kelpie II.”

Aydin spoke next. An assassin specializing in poison, expelled and transferred to be a spy. Strange. Too valuable to kill but broke a rule too big to be ignored. He claimed only one kill but his tone and eyes betrayed more. One person he killed face to face. The kill that broke men.

Klein couldn’t forget his first kill. The mission was to eliminate a jihadist camp in Zagros Mountains. Choppers had dropped them into the camp at midnight. The door had been breached and Klein was first in, sweeping right. The jihadist had a rifle and was turning when he was caught by Klein’s flashlight. He snapped around and Klein panicked, putting three rounds into the man. He remembered that moment clearly. His face. Surprise and pain, the turban and beard bloodied.

Niarok spoke next. A child assassin from a family of assassins. Yila probably had been raised the same. When had had come to understand, he had rebelled learning to save lives. His father’s attempt to leave had triggered their own apparent escape. Niarok claimed ten live with another fifteen possibles. With his story told, Niarok moved close to his sister, a protective move. She must have gone further than he had, more kills, deeper scars.

Klein had his own. Men he had known. Lives he could have saved. Faces of the dead haunted him as well as those he had killed. But he didn’t let them affect him. He had fought to defend his homeland. Jihadists wanted to destroy it so he killed them before they killed his countrymen. The friends he had lost were fighting for the same. He would carry on the mission for them and for those who would follow.