Neville waited inside the INTERPOL office. He'd done this before. Every time someone wanted to join the elite SWAT members of INTERPOL he had to teach them. Unlike other SWAT units INTERPOL didn't have formal training grounds, this was due to the composition of the agency. They mostly relied on local SWAT units such as Grenzschutzgruppe 9, Special Air Service commandos, Groupe d'Intervention de la Gendarmerie Nationale, or the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team. But they also had their own operatives.

Back when Neville had joined INTERPOL in 1998 it didn't have a SWAT team. After a failed arrest in the year 1999 INTERPOL realized that it couldn't always rely on both the presence and reliability of local SWAT teams. Neville had participated in the attempt. The only reason he was still alive was due to the quality bulletproof vest he had worn. It's Type II protection had kept a .357 magnum from entering directly into his heart.

The requirements for the SWAT members of INTERPOL were not clear. This was mainly due to the fact that INTERPOL agents do not make arrests, they wait for local law enforcement to do that job. INTERPOL President Toshinori Kanemoto eventually managed to come up with an agreement between the member states of the International Police. It was decided that INTERPOL's SWAT team could not be limited by normal policy. These elite members would need to be able to arrest individuals in any of the member states. As a practical matter the SWAT team could not be deployed until it was made certain that local law enforcement could not handle the situation. But this all changed after September 11th 2001.

Ever since that day INTERPOL was able to deploy its elites whenever they were needed, and this change was not well received. Many of the smaller nations were concerned that this would further limit their rights as nation states. Several countries withdrew from the organization. So far the SWAT team had never been deployed. Many were pretty certain that it would never be needed. Neville wasn't so sure. The events of December 12th 1999 were still in his mind.

Neville had joined the INTERPOL Special Weapons and Tactics team when it had been created in 2001. Two years of training, four years of waiting. He had never been called on since the day he joined. Millions of dollars had been spent to train the two hundred INTERPOL SWAT members. Millions more were needed to keep them in shape. Rumors had been circulating for years of the SWAT team being disbanded. Now the option was being seriously considered.

Neville felt as if he had wasted a huge part of his life. Six years down the drain. He had no family, he had few friends, and he had no life outside of the ICPO. There was a mountain of regret weighing down on him. It was almost as if he would never find a way to prove himself. Sure he'd seen his share of dangerous arrests, sure he'd been shot at, and sure he'd been hurt in the line of duty. But he had never been the predator, he was always the prey. Criminals feared the FBI's HRT, they cowered at the name of LAPD SWAT, the words SAS and GIGN caused them to surrender in droves, and INTERPOL? Criminals had never encountered their boys before. No one could say who the loser of a fight would be.

Neville ran his fingers through his dark brown hair. He was thirty four years old. He didn't have a dog, he didn't have a girlfriend, he didn't even know why he kept working. It wasn't like he could just visit his family every weekend. They were dead. Only his friends in the ICPO really cared about him.

The door opened. A woman walked in. Neville had helped to train people before. He'd helped train FBI g-men. He'd shown local French police officers how to fire their pistols. He'd run with the Spetsnaz in Russia. He'd even out shot members of the United States Secret Service. He could handle anything, nothing was too much for him. So why was it that he had this feeling; the feeling that this girl might just be too much to handle?

"Hello," the girl said, "My name is Tomo Takino."

"Neville Samson," they shook hands, "Pleasure to meet you. Why do you want to join SWAT Unit Alpha?"

"It fits my lifestyle," the girl answered, "Fast paced and risky."

"Well that's absolutely the worst response I've ever heard," said Neville, "Still, you might make me eat those words."

"You don't strike me as being French," said Tomo.

"Yeah, well I'm not. I'm an American expatriate. Apparently the world is sick of us."

"What makes you say that?" the girl asked him.

"It doesn't matter," Neville answered, "All that matters is that you need to prove you're SWAT material. Let's go to the range, see if you can shoot."

"What kind of an officer would I be if I couldn't?" asked Tomo.

"Like most officers," Neville replied, "You got a car?"

"Yeah," said Tomo.

"Then we'll take mine," Neville responded, "You can sit in the back or something."

"What?"

"I'm driving," Neville stated, "You can sit in the passenger seat."

"But I have my car," Tomo responded.

"Yeah," said Neville, "so what?"

The receptionist shook her head as Tomo and Neville continued to argue. Everyone in the town of Lyon knew that Neville wasn't a people person. He was often quoted as being the biggest dick outside of a pair of pants. If Tomo had heard that saying before she would agree that it had some validity.

"I'm driving and that's final!" Neville yelled

"The Hell you are!" Tomo wasn't known for giving up easily.

"Let's just walk there," Neville responded, "It'll give us a chance to talk."

"There is no goddamn way that I am walking across this city, just because you don't want me to drive!"

"Fine," said Neville, "Let's take the bus."

Tomo nearly screamed. What the Hell is his problem? This damn American! The man was absolutely impossible.

"You can shove that bus straight up your ass!" Tomo yelled.

"What do want from me?" Neville questioned.

"Um, how about some respect? Or maybe being allowed to drive my own car?" said Tomo.

"Nope," said Neville.

It was going to be a long day.