Introducing Tiger

I am John Alexander Rider and I twenty three years old. I had finished my degree two years ago in Russian and chemistry and obtained a 2/1. Dad had said he was very proud of me for achieving this. Not hard considering dad said he had never been to college or Uni. I still have no idea how he managed to get such a high up job in the bank. I presume he started as a teller and worked his way up. But unfortunately dad doesn't talk much about work although I think Nelly my youngest sister knows more but she won't say. Nelly always was dad's baby girl. I am from a larger than the normal 1.5 children family. There are five children of which I am the oldest.

My dad's name is Alexander John Rider known as Alex. Yes, yes that's the opposite of my name. But I am named after my grandfather John Rider and father Alex Rider whilst dad's named after his father. As I said before he works as a banker. Dead boring if you ask me and bloody bankers caused the recession. Not that I'd dream of telling dad that. I'd much be doing something useful like defending the country which I why I'm in the army. I have been since I was twenty-one and finished Uni and I am now in the testing stages of SAS camp.

Now my mother died several years ago in a freak shooting by some gang members near where she was working. I was only just ten years old when dad came home from one of his many business trips battered and bruised as per usual and pulled him, Ian, Jackie and Helen out of school. I had been more than a little embarrassed at this being preteens thinking that parents were out to humiliate me. But at the same time I was ecstatic that dad was home and I got a chance to miss a day of school. Then dad told us the tragic news: mum was dead!

It took our family a while to get over it and only because of dad. Dad I had found was a very strong character. He didn't go on trips for a few months afterwards until our family was back together. The teachers were all very sympathetic towards our plight around this time. And they worried when dad went back on business trips that without any parents it would cause us more pain. But it didn't luckily. I love my family more than anything. Not that I'll ever admit that to anyone out loud especially Ian lord that boy annoys me!

The next two after me are the twins Jackie and Helen. They are twenty one and have just finished university. Helen did business and has become employed by a large business cooperation whilst Jackie had done criminology and was now working for the police as a plain clothes office. The two girls were as different as two could be with Jackie being a complete and utter tomboy, friends with all boys and preferring to spend time with her brothers rather than Helen. Helen, however, was the girl who spent all her money on clothes and annoyed the rest of her siblings.

My only brother is Ian who has dark hair and dark eyes set in a fair face. He is now twenty and in the middle of university doing computing in Edinburgh so I rarely see him especially as it's his last year. I don't know what Ian was doing next year mainly because Ian didn't know what he was doing next year. Ian had always been the secretive one; a trait he took from dad. I do know that he is an all too skilled hacker although much to his annoyance he hasn't been able to hack dad's computer. Well dad did teach Ian everything he knew about hacking.

My youngest sister is Nelly who looks almost exactly like dad except being a girl. I look very like dad too except having mum's blue eyes. Nelly is seventeen and has just started her final year at high school. Nelly is doing five A levels in Politics, Geography, Maths, Chemistry and Spanish. I think she's planning to go and do Politics in Cambridge. Nelly seems to know something about dad. It was when she was eleven and I was seventeen. I was revising for my exams whilst dad took Nelly out for the night.

Nelly came back quite shaken and never told anyone what had happened. But she stuck to dad like glue. When she came out of herself again it seemed she knew something more about dad. She's still very quiet when dad's working away. Dad is only forty-four which is quite young theses days. But can pass for being ten years younger at times except for his eyes which are much older. He is so secretive; it drives me insane sometimes. If he can tell Nelly why can't he tell the rest of us? I know he's keeping something from me even if I haven't worked up the courage to ask him what.

That brings us today. It's quite late at night right now. I've just entered the SAS training camp and I'm supposed to be sleeping. I think the other three are at the moment. The black Sergeant who seems to be slightly foreign from his sergeant ordered us to our cabins telling us we have a gruelling day of training tomorrow. I'm sure he's right and we're all trying to get a bit of shut eye before training begins. But I can't sleep. I'm very nervous about tomorrow. I'm thinking back on the naming process earlier on.

The sergeant was looking at me as though he was trying to figure out why exactly he recognized me but couldn't figure it out. The man finally gave up on it. Then he named me Tiger. Tiger wasn't a bad name so I was dismissed and entered my cabin. I was the first one there and flung down my rucksack. I had been told err ordered not to bring any electronic equipment so it felt as though I was in another world to that of my family. Not that dad would communicate if he was working. I had a feeling that dad didn't like the fact that I had joined the army at twenty-one.

Dad being dad didn't tell me not to join. But I saw the worry in his eyes. Uncle Ben who's not really related to us just a work friend of dad's said it was just because dad didn't want me hurt. He told me without giving away any details that Dad had lead a hard life and still blamed himself for mum's death. He didn't want to loose me too. I thought that when dad had risked his own life then he could talk to me about risking mine. But when I had got into the SAS he had been very proud of me apparently my namesake had been in the paratroopers which were a very good regiment too.

Soon after I had settled into my bunk another man walked in. This man was several years my senior seeming to be in his thirties. I guessed this was one of his last chances to be selected. He had dirty blonde hair and more than a few scars. His bright blue eyes were hard and slightly cold reminding me quite a bit of dad's eyes. His name was Polar Bear and he was our unit leader as I was the sharp shooter. Dad had first taken me shooting at seventeen. Why a banker likes shooting I would never understand.

I had taken a real shine to shooting from the start off. I wasn't anywhere near as good as dad. Dad's ability to shoot still frightened me more than a little. But dad's strange lessons had once again helped me a lot in my career. Almost instantly my commanding office had noticed my ability with a gun in basic training. Soon it had been noticed by the higher ups and I was recommended for SAS selection last year. After the interview I was invited back to see how good I was. I never doubted my ability to shoot which had saved my life from the Taliban time and time again.

Next to come was the unit medic who had been named Dog. Dog was a man who seemed to be a few years older than me maybe in his mid to late twenties. He had served in the army for a few years before being recommended due to his Houdini ability to escape hostile situations with barely a scratch on him. Dog had blonde hair a few shades darker than mine but lighter than Polar Bear's. I was beginning to wonder if all the blondes were going to be put in B unit. He had silver-grey eyes which seemed intelligent.

Dog had taken the bunk under mine and we had been speaking. I didn't know much about medicine. I knew a little about Veterinary medicine that I remembered from when I was a child and mum would take me to work with her when I was out of town. But Dog knew a lot about Chemistry which I had done my degree in so we saw discussing that for a while. I was very conscious that Polar Bear hadn't said anything apart from introducing himself. But was watching us almost suspiciously as we spoke about chemistry and university.

Then we were interrupted from out conversation by our fourth and final member of B unit. I knew this would be our communications expert. I looked up to see a man with dark curly hair and trusting blue eyes. The man seemed to be between my age and Dog's. He told us that his code name was Bat. Polar Bear introduced us in turn whilst Dog and I said hi. Polar Bear went back to observing us quietly whilst Bat seemed to be filing all the information about me, Dog, Polar Bear and out cabin together.

'So what are your skills?' asked Bat.

'Sharpshooter,' I replied.

'Medic,' Dog said.

'So Polar Bear you're the leader then,' commented Bat.

Polar just grunted a reply.

'Where did you learn to shoot anyway?' asked Bat.

'Dad taught me,' I admitted. 'Strange for a banker,' I murmured to myself.

'Your dad's a banker who taught you how to shoot?' asked Dog incredulously.

'Yeah,' I shrugged, 'he's odd very security conscious.'

That was when I had noticed Polar Bear looking at me suspiciously as though he knew something. I didn't know what he knew or why he was looking at me in understanding at what it had said about my father. But it didn't matter anyway because soon we had at Polar Bear's insistence turned in. It seemed Polar Bear had been here before because he said that the training was gruelling. I supposed it was his last chance to be in the SAS and he had failed before. The SAS was an incredibly hard and elite task forced to get into.

I'd just have to hope for the best and hope I'd make it. I really wanted to do this. Do my country proud. At five in the morning the four of us stumbled out of our bunks and into our SAS gear. I fumbled with the laces as Polar Bear waited impatiently for his young unit to get our act together tutting like a mother goose. Finally we were all done. There were nine units present for this years SAS selection. I wondered how many would get through in the end.

There was our unit which was B. I studied them as dad had trained me to. To study everyone in case there were threats in the environment. Even though this had been taught to me by a banker it had kept me alive often enough so I did. Dad said he had needed to do it so that he could watch for thieves so he could sound the panic alert if he needed to. I had wondered about that considering dad was not working on the tills. Maybe he had started that way and worked his way up and kept up the habit.

To our right was A unit. There was a man who seemed to be in his late twenties who was obviously the leader. He was tall and muscular, tanned with lots of blonde hair. By his side was another blonde man but unlike his leader it was long and straggly. He seemed to be at least ten years older and had at some point in his military career been tortured. I shuddered at the idea of ever being tortured. I would go through it for queen and country but I didn't want it to happen. Right at the leader's side was a tall, raven haired man about my age who seemed already loyal to his leader. The final member of the team was a brunette young man with very pale skin.

Then to our left there was C unit. The Unit leader there was a black man called Lynx who seemed to recognize Polar Bear not that they had time for a catch up or anything. There was a grey haired man with mistrusting eyes. Then there was a pale, black haired man with almost innocent blue eyes. Then there was a younger man who by his olive skin and curly dark hair seemed to be of Italian descent with dangerous grey eyes and an ever present snarl on his face. I had a feeling that this man would be a really bad man to cross off or on duty.

Behind C unit there was D unit. There was a man who seemed a few years younger than me with sharp blue eyes and blonde hair much like my own. He stood tall with toned muscles and seemed to demand respect. But for some reason (perhaps his age) was not the leader. That fell to a brunette man in his late thirties or so he looked who had eyes only too knowledgeable. Beside him was another brunette in his unit who was around the same age. A man a few years but rather close in age who had a skin head was also there.

Next there was F unit who were in the cabin opposite to our hut. The leader much to my surprise actually seemed to be a year or two younger than me. He had night black hair and a very pale face with stormy grey blue eyes staring out at the wet, cold environment. One of the members of his unit was glowering at him out of hazel eyes. The man must be around his leader's age. Was he jealous of the raven haired man's position? The glaring man had dark skin and scruffy black hair. There was an older man who was completely blond. The final member of the unit was around the bald man's age but with long black hair skin as pale his leader's.

Next to them was I Unit who I had met briefly in the showers last night. There was the leader a muscular brunette man in his mid twenties with a load of freckles. His code was Boar. Then there was a man his mid thirties with long black and slightly greasy skin and black eyes. He was the non talkative sharpshooter who went by the name of Pidgeon for some reason. The team medic was a slightly okay very eccentric brunette man who went by the name of Dragon. The communications expert was a tall man who seemed almost as eccentric as Dragon with lots of curly dark hair called Spider.

Next up was M unit. Their leader was an incredibly tall red head with blue eyes and a sneer upon his face looking tired and grumpy due to the early start probably. There was a dark haired, freckled man about the same age as I am. He seemed happy to be here. I thought he seemed to be a decent fellow and had plenty of muscles. A tall, muscular blonde man who seemed to the youngest there maybe nineteen or twenty was part of that team. That left the final member of M unit as a man roughly the same age as I am with lots of black hair and very pale skin.

Then there was N unit which contained two of the three red heads. One who seemed to be around the thirty year mark and had been injured some time previously with a knife wound running down his left cheek. Yet the man still managed to look handsome. The other red head seemed to be a few years older with a burn covering most of his face and neck. Their leader was a man with dark hair and lots of muscles looking very angry. That left a man who appeared to be nearing forty with dark hair and a slightly wild look about him.

Finally R Unit was also present though they had been here for a few weeks before the rest. They consisted of a dangerous looking young man around my age who had curly brown hair and looked like he had never seen the sun. Curly's leader was a man in his mid twenties with lots of raven hair with a blazing look on his pale face that was slightly flushed with cold. Then there was an intelligent looking brunette who looked calm who seemed to be about my age give or take a year. The oldest member of unit was a pale blonde with hazel eyes.

According to the sergeant some of us had taken to long to get here. We were supposed to be here five minutes ago. So the sergeant sent the units that were late for a two kilometre run. That unfortunately thanks to Bat mainly included us. The leader of A unit was shooting annoyed looks at his loyal comrade when they were forced to run with us. As well as C unit with the three members shooting annoyed looks at the pale raven haired man who I presumed was the reason that they were late. M unit who had arrived even later than us were made to run.

Can you guess who the sergeant is in this?