Chapter VI: Tests

0800hrs, 4 January 2014, Osceola, Iowa, United States

"Doubt is useful, it keeps faith a living thing. After all, you cannot know the strength of your faith until it has been tested." Pi Patel, Life of Pi.


The light streaming into her room told Mina that she had a good night's sleep. Despite the very traumatic and downright brutal harassment from one of the security people last night, she was now in a nice, comfortable bed with plenty of sheets to keep the cold away and…

Bang. Bang. Bang.

The noise of gunfire immediately sent Mina's mind into high gear. Flipping back the sheets on her bed, she immediately went to the window in her room to see where the gunfire was coming from.

Small caliber pistol, probably 9mm or something close to that, and by the number of shots, maybe a couple of people were firing too.

It took a couple of seconds for her to realize it wasn't someone attacking, and that it was probably a bunch of guys out target shooting.

Mina realized that she was still in her clothes, and that probably at some point she would need to change into something else.

When was the last time you took a shower? Or changed your clothes? She sniffed her armpit.

"Ugh." Deciding that it was probably a good time to get ready for whatever was coming up for the day, she headed out of her room and to the showers down the hall.

It was still pretty dark outside when Mina went outside for breakfast. The building that she had been staying in she noticed, was a two story, mostly wooden structure with very few windows, but with some solar panels on the slanted roof.

Smart. Trying to keep off of the grid as much as possible, she thought.

The sound of gunfire in the distance matched the crunching of snow underneath her shoes as she walked slowly toward the chow hall. It was pretty much the same as the building she had come out of, but just with one story, and a large sign marking it as the chow hall.

It wasn't too awkward walking in there, as there were only a couple of people in at the moment. A couple rows of long, wooden tables were set out in the main dining area of the hall, and behind them, a kitchen where the food was prepared. There was one cook messing around some food, placing it buffet style on a table closest to the kitchen.

"Tanya!" he yelled out to the kitchen, "Did you fry that bacon like I asked?"

"Yeah, I'm bringing it right now!" Mina recognized the voice, but not the face. Tanya was a black woman with her hair up in a bun, wearing a messy apron, jeans, and a baggy shirt. She came running out of the kitchen with a very large tray of bacon. She waved for Mina to come over to her.

Hesitatingly, Mina walked over to Tanya's workstation.

"So, you're the new person they brought in yesterday," she said to Mina, placing the bacon over a can of chafing fuel. She removed the top from the can, took out a lighter and struck it a couple of times before managing to light the gel. "How was the debriefing?"

Mina managed a weak smile. "It was a bit rough, but they weren't too mean or anything like that."

Tanya nodded at her, and started to walk back into the kitchen.

"Well, eat up, because the men will be in a little bit. And usually, there's nothing left when they get through with it."

She disappeared into the kitchen, while the cook that had been yelling at her earlier came out with a bunch of plates.

"What are you looking at?" the cook snarled at her. "Jesus, just take a plate and get started." He plopped the plates down at the far end of the table, and hustled back into the kitchen. "Another fucking mouth to feed," Mina heard him mumble.

Gingerly taking up a plate from the stack, she made her way down the buffet line, taking some bacon, sausage, biscuits and a white, porridge-like substances that gooped onto her plate.

"You've never had grits before?" Tanya asked her, walking out of the kitchen again, this time to join her at breakfast. "I put hot sauce and butter on mine, but whatever."

"Well…I'm not usually used to this kind of fare," Mina replied sheepishly.

"Ah, so you're one of those health food kind of people then?" Tanya joked, grabbing a plate and helping herself.

"No, I…just…uh…" It's more like, I come from a completely different culture than you.

Tanya just smiled and motioned over to another table in the chow hall. "Let's sit down."

"Ah…okay."

They both sat down, with Mina on one side and Tanya on the other.

"So, I didn't really catch your name last night," Tanya said, stirring her grits around.

"It's M…Serena," Mina replied, catching herself.

"Like the tennis player?" Tanya excitedly said to her.

Mina sighed, figuring that was probably going to pop up a lot more if she kept using that name.

"Yes, like the tennis player," Mina replied, finishing up her bacon.

"That's cool."

The two of them ate in silence for a couple of minutes before the loud voices of several men disturbed the quiet dining hall.

"….and then I said to him, it smelled really funny! And then I shot him." The chorus of their laughter was an assault on Mina's ears as the men entered the chow hall. Mina instantly recognized the man talking; it was Beau.

"Well, look here fellas!" he said to three other men in his group. "This was the new guy they brought in last night."

Mina looked down at her now empty plate, wondering why she had rushed through her entire meal.

"What's your name again, sweetie-pie?" Beau taunted, standing right behind her and placing his hands on her shoulders.

Must…avoid…killing…jackass…It would nothing for Mina to turn around and to waste all four of them right then and there, but doing so would probably ruin her chance at staying here.

"Beau, chill," Tanya snapped at him, obviously not very happy.

"Oh no you di-in't" Beau mocked.

Oh great, in addition to be a molester, he's a racist, Mina though, her patience quickly slipping away.

"Her name is Serena, like the tennis player!" Beau continued his comrades. "Except she doesn't look like Tanya here."

Mina slammed both her hands on the table and turned abruptly to face him.

"I happen to like volleyball more than I do tennis, asshole," she snarled to him, her face only inches away from his bearded chin. She glared at him with hatred in her eyes. You have no idea how close you are to death, you piece of shit.

"You hear that boys?" Beau said, holding up his hands is mock surrender. "She likes volleyball! Maybe you can get out there in the snow with a bikini and show us your stuff?"

Mina was probably a second away from bashing Beau's head into a pulpy mass when they were interrupted.

"Serena." A voice behind Beau caused the group to turn around.

Dan stood there, looking very annoyed.

"The boss wants to see you," he said, glaring at Beau.

"Ooohhh," the three men chanted. "You're in trouble."

"All of you," Dan said to Beau and to his buddies, "Five kilometer march. NOW!"

The four of them groaned, but they reluctantly complied, trudging their way out of the chow hall and out into the cold landscape.

Mina was lead to the center of the complex, to a large concrete bunker. She hadn't noticed it before, but then again, she was blindfolded. Dan waved to the two sentries on duty, shivering from the cold. They were both armed to Ruger Mini-14 rifles, both with scopes attached to them.

"Mike, Rob, how are you two holding up?" he asked, walking to the entrance of the bunker.

"Doing good, First Sergeant," one of them replied.

"That's good to hear, Mike," Dan said. "Can you let us in? Randy wants to talk to our newcomer here."

"Oh, we'll just have to buzz you in," the other sentry "Rob", said to Dan. He turned around from his post and hit an intercom button near the hardened steel door.

"Yes?" a female voice on the other end replied.

"Dan's here with the new guy."

"Good. Send them in."

There was a loud buzzing noise as several very loud locks disengaged and the door swung open.

"This door is two inches of solid steel," Dan proudly boasted, stepping inside. "It was a bitch to install, but it's worth it."

Warm air greeted Mina as she stepped inside the bunker, who was now really getting tired of all very cold environment around her. It was so much the snow or low temperatures; they had that back in Japan. It was the wind that made it so unbearable. The wind chill on a particularly bad day could bring temperatures down to -40 degrees. It didn't matter what measurement you were using at that point, because at Celsius or Fahrenheit, it was all the same.

The door swung shut behind them with a loud clang, startling Mina for a second as she followed Dan.

"Morning Andrea," Dan said to the person who had buzzed her in. She was a middle-aged woman, sitting behind a very large desk with several computer monitors in front of her. Behind her, there was another steel door. Mina presumed that was "Randy's" office.

"Morning Dan," she replied. Mina noticed that her hand was gripping something under the desk; probably a firearm of some sort, just in case. "Give me just a second."

Dan nodded.

"Well, this is our little command center," he said to Mina. He pointed to a door on the right. "That's the main armory, and I'm sure that you'll be spending some time in there at least."

"What about that door?" Mina asked, nodding at a door on her left.

"That's the Operations center, where all of our C2 takes place."

Mina knew what C2 meant; Command and Control. But she had to keep up the charade somehow, so she asked the dumb question.

"What does C2 mean?" she asked, trying to look as confused as possible.

"C2 means command and control, and there's a whole lot of variations on that," Dan chuckled. He reached in his pocket to get out a cigarette, but a glare from Andrea stopped him from doing so.

There was loud buzz from Andrea's intercom.

"Andrea?" a gruff voice said.

She pressed the push-to-talk button. "Yes sir."

"Send our guest in. Alone, please."

Mina's heart skipped a beat.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine," Dan reassured. "The boss just wants to get a feel for you."

Mina shot him a worried look.

"Not like that," he said, quickly backtracking, memories from yesterday both on their minds.

The door behind Andrea opened up, revealing what was inside. A plush, well decorated office greeted

"Well, go on in," Dan said, taking a seat on a chair near Andrea's desk. "I'll keep Andrea here company."

"Oh joy," Andrea groaned.

Giving Dan one last glance, Mina walked around the desk and toward the office of "Randy". She paused for a second at the entrance, wondering what lay in store.

Here it goes.

She stepped inside.


It wasn't as bad as she had feared. Once inside, the door automatically closed, but it didn't make a loud racket like the entrance to the bunker did.

Mina surveyed the room; there was a large bookcase to the right of her, filled to the brim with political treaties, historical documents, and intelligence reports. In the center of the room, there was a sofa and two chairs, with a coffee table in between the two. And finally, to the right, there was a mahogany desk with a computer monitor, a small bowl of candy and…

"Hello there." The man sitting at the desk was not as scary as Mina had made him out to be. He looked to be about sixty years old, with wrinkled white skin, greying hair and an equally grey (but trimmed) mustache. He was engaged in writing something on a piece of paper on his desk, and didn't even look up to see her come in.

"Please sit in this chair," he said, pointing to a chair in front of the desk.

Mina compiled, carefully walking on the carpeted floor. It looked certainly expensive.

She sat down.

"Um…hello," she said to him, but he kept writing.

Best not to disturb him while he's writing. She kept her silence, watching him write on the piece of paper.

A minute passed before he was finished, signing the bottom of the paper with a great, flourishing signature.

"Thank you for waiting," he said, finally looking up. "I am truly sorry, paperwork is never done when you're in this kind of position."

"Well, I'm thankful that you allowed me to come into your complex here," Mina replied, trying to stay polite. "I'm Serena."

"Nice to meet you, Serena," he smiled. "Like the tennis player?"

What's with these people and tennis? Mina thought, returning the smile. "Yes, like the tennis player."

"Of course, just a moment please." He hit the intercom button by his computer keyboard. "Andrea, please bring in some coffee."

"Right away sir."

He leaned back in his chair, studying her very carefully. It wasn't like being leered at, like yesterday with the lecherous pervert Beau, but he was certainly taking everything into account.

The door opened, with Andrea scurrying inside with a tray full of coffee and cookies.

"Thank you, Andrea," Randy said to her as she put the tray on the desk. The coffee pot looked to be extravagant china, decorated with a pretty flower and equally nice looking cups. Whatever Randy was, he certainly liked his luxuries. Andrea was gone as soon as she had come in, the door closing behind her.

"So, Serena, let me tell you a little bit about myself," he said to her, pouring out the coffee into two cups. "My full name is Colonel Robert Randy Ulysses Lee Young Grant, but as you can tell by name, I prefer Randy," he chuckled. "I used to work for the government, and most of it involved some very unpleasant things." He handed a cup over to Mina, who gingerly took the cup from his hands.

"How long did you work for the government, Mr. Grant?" Mina politely asked.

"Please, call me Randy," he said. "I can already tell that you're a cultured, polite person, by the way you hold your coffee cup there, and not gulping down the entire thing like some of the people have done before."

"Oh..." Wow, this guy is really good, Mina thought to herself, taking a sip of the coffee. It was surprisingly very tasty.

"The coffee is from Ethiopia," he remarked, "Where I was stationed back in the Nineties. Thirty long years I worked for the United States government, and I was rewarded justly."

"What exactly did you do, Randy?" Mina carefully asked.

"I think you might be asking the wrong question," Randy said back to her, pouring some more coffee into his cup.

Mina thought about it for a second.

"Why did you do it?"

"Very good," he said, nodding his approval. "Why did I decide to dedicate thirty years of my life in the service of my country?"

That was a question that hit Mina pretty hard. She had never asked to be a part of the SAILOR program, but by a twist of fate, had chosen her and her friends. They had not even served the government for a full year before the entire program fell apart. Mina couldn't imagine thirty years of that, based on the six months of hell she had endured.

"Well…maybe that you didn't want to," she said, drawing the conclusion from her own experience. "Maybe your country chose you."

"Impressive," Randy said, taking a cookie from the tray in front of him. He continued to look Mina over, studying her body language and her reactions to the questions she asked. "You are right in that regard. I was contacted by a recruiter soon after I graduated high school. They offered something that I wasn't looking for, and besides, I wanted to go to college."

Mina sensed that there was more to that story.

"But…?" she asked, taking another sip from the almost empty coffee cup.

Randy motioned to her to hand over her coffee cup. "But, I had no money. My parents were blue-collar workers, and we were living paycheck to paycheck." He poured some more coffee into Mina's cup. "Vietnam had just ended, and no one wanted to work for the government. And whatever expectations I had to get a job or go to college were ended with the oil crisis and the recession."

"So…who was this recruiter working for?"

Again, he smiled. "Well, that's enough about me. We'll get to that point sometime later." He rocked back in forth in his chair, slowly sipping away at this coffee. Mina wondered how much coffee that man consumed during the day; whatever it was, it certainly was a large amount.

"So, tell me about yourself, Serena," he said to her.

"Well…there's really not much to talk about," Mina replied, shrugging. "I've lived a pretty boring life to tell the truth."

"I highly doubt that," Randy said. "Let's try that again."

Well shit, this is not going my way.

"Ah, well, I guess I've done some stuff in my life, come to think about it," she said, smiling awkwardly. "I was educated overseas."

"From your posture, I'd say that your family was involved in business," Randy commented. "A prim and proper stance when dealing with an unfamiliar person. Not slouched, but alert, hands politely on the lap, a friendly, if professional expression on one's face." Mina honestly couldn't tell if he was just bullshitting her or not, but from the way he was confidently talking, and judging by her own reactions to him, he was spot on.

"Most of the people I meet that lived overseas were military kids or in the military themselves, so they look like they're at attention all the time." He chuckled at that, pleased at his own joke. Mina continued to smile awkwardly, but she really didn't like how much information he was gathering by just sitting there. At this rate, he might find out everything just by the way she blinked.

"I'd say that it was your father who was doing most of the traveling. Probably for a large corporation or business of some sort. Upper-management, not quite C-suite material but something close to that."

"I guess you could say that," Mina said, trying to devise some way to throw Randy off her scent. "He was a manager. I'm not quite sure of what, since he was gone a lot, but I guess it was pretty important."

"Of course. Go on."

"Ah…what else…what else…" Mina thought of something that might catch Randy off balance. "Well, I guess I've always had some problems with authority."

"Oh really now?" Randy sat up a little bit in his chair. "I would have not have guessed that."

Well, that certainly caught him a little off guard, Mina thought to herself, trying not to smirk. He thinks he knows me inside out. Well, he's wrong.

"I've been detained by the police for various offenses," Mina chuckled, holding her hand behind her head in embarrassment. "You know, juvenile type of things."

"Like?"

"Uh…graffiti, shoplifting, speeding, you know, the usual."

Randy didn't seem to upset at this sort of information, which concerned Mina. "Uh-huh. But that's not quite the case now, is it Ms. Serena?"

"Why do you think I've been living out of a vehicle then?" Mina asked back.

Randy shrugged. "Probably had a falling out with someone. Maybe somebody higher up in your father's company, but I think that there's a lot more to that than just a mere case of hurt feelings."

You have no fucking idea. "I guess you could say that," she smiled, trying to cover up her own upset feelings inside her.

"You seem to say 'I guess you could say that' quite a lot," Randy said, polishing off the last of his cup of coffee (again). "I'd say you're from a family that places a lot of importance on deference and respect."

"I guess you could…" Mina caught herself saying that phrase. She chuckled at the irony of it, as did Randy. "Well, it would seem that you're right in that regard," she said.

"Hmm." Randy looked at his watch all of a sudden, then back to Mina.

"I have a meeting with our friend Dan out there in a couple of minutes," he said to her, looking somewhat annoyed. She couldn't tell if it was at her or at his forgetfulness. "I'm sorry to keep you for so long. I hate to do this part as well, but it's part of joining this group." Randy reached in a draw in his desk and produced a very booklet.

"It's our psychological test. You simply have to answer the questions, and it lets us give a feel for some of the situations you've been in, your experience, and whatnot."

As if the last half-hour hasn't given you that already, Mina grumbled to herself.

"Alright then…" Mina took the test booklet from Randy.

"Like I said before, I have some other business to attend to, so you may use the coffee table over there to take the test." He handed her a pen. "Ms. Andrea can show you out when you're done."

He hit the intercom button his desk. "Andrea, I'm coming out." He hit another button to open the door and with that, he hurried out of the office.

Mina wondered what he had to speak to Dan about, and what type of meetings these guys held. Even in terrorist organizations had meetings, and they were probably just as boring as the ones held by the big companies. She stood up from the chair she had been sitting in and stretched out, yawning as she did so.

"Still too tired," she mumbled to herself.

Wait, did I say that in Japanese or English? Mina had a fleeting moment of panic before she realized that she had said it in English, but she needed to be more cautious if she talked to herself.

Moving over to the coffee table, Mina wished that her friends would come bursting through the doors, guns blazing away. She would be swept up in the arms of Amy, taken away to Japan and live a life of ease and happiness…

She shook her head. Those days are long gone. In fact, they never existed in the first place.

Mina pushed those daydreams aside and sat down on the sofa, putting the questionnaire in front of her on the coffee table. There was a blank cover page, and she turned it over to see a massive array of questions in front of her.

"What is your name?"

Well, here goes every lie ever told, ever, Mina thought.

What was a good last name? It took her a little bit of thinking, but she decided to borrow the last name of the person she pinched the SUV off of.

She wrote in "Serena Erikson."

After several more family, friends and education questions, it started to get extremely personal, with the health related questions proving to be the most awkward.

"In the last year, how many sexual partners have you had?"

You do not want the real answer to that question. Although, there was a six month dry spell with one exception, due to the Japanese government. The other six months…well…

She wrote down "1".

"Have you ever had unprotected sex?"

Whoever wrote these questions really had a lot of time on their hands, Mina thought.


It took her another thirty minutes to slog through the questionnaire, answering more questions about job history, political leanings, social policies and everything else under the sun.

Sure, I really didn't care about politics until I got sucked into it, circling "I don't know" on the question "What would consider your political ideology?"

After that, Mina reached the last page of the questionnaire, happy to be almost done with that infernal nonsense.

There was something odd about the last page however; it only contained one question. That final question on the paper really threw her for loop.

"What is the name of our organization?"

Come to think of it, no one has ever mentioned the name of the organization that is stationed here, Mina thought. Perhaps there is a clue around here that might give me a hint.

She scanned the bookshelves, but they did not seem to have information concerning the group. It was probably better that way, not leaving a massive paper trail.

Mina glanced at Randy's desk. She felt really bad about trying to go through someone's desk, but it was the only way she could get any more information of any sort was going through the head man's desk.

Mina walked quickly over to his desk, and scanned the contents. He had locked his computer, and the desk drawers had locks on them as well. It wasn't a problem to get into them, but she simply did not have the tools available to get into them at the moment. However, something caught her eye.

It was the letter he had been writing earlier. Mina picked it up, but the contents of the letter made little sense.


"Dear Aunt Stuart,

I got your request in the post the other day, and I think it's a good idea. I have already sent down thirty of those canned peaches that you asked for the other day, and I'm going to be sending about twenty or so packets of green bean seeds. I think it would be best that you set up that box garden in the backyard and keep it watered until about May or so until we can get more of those tomato plants down there as well. After May, I think it would be best that you'd start getting stuff from down there and start building more box gardens. It would be quite exciting, and I think that it could really take off from there. Pretty soon, you'll be rolling in green beans and tomatoes! I hope that you are doing well, and that everything is well with Joe as well. Take care.

Sincerely, Randy."


Still, there was no indication of what the organization was named. After poking around about a minute more, she gave up and sat back down. Looking at the test, she shook her head at the stupid questions in there.

Mina stood up to go to the door, irritated that she couldn't find the answer to that simple question.

I honestly hope that this doesn't screw me over, she thought as she knocked on the metal door to be let out. Without some of the tools that I need to get into locks, I can't do anything right now. Plus, I'm probably being watched.

The door swung open, with Andrea not even looking behind her to see if Mina was there.

"You can just leave the paper with me," she said, typing away at a document.

She swiveled her chair around, and held out her hand.

"I…didn't know one of the answers to the questions," Mina timidly said to her.

Andrea just shrugged, continuing to hold out

Absentmindly, she turned the test over on the back page…and the words blared out at her.

"Psychological Evaluation – United Volunteer Front."

Well, that was easy. I guess I should pay more attention to stuff like that. She shook her head. It felt like there were cobwebs in her brain, and she couldn't get them loose.

Shit. I hope those microchips in there are doing their job, she thought writing down the answer to the last question. She was using a corner of Andrea's desk, who in turn was giving her a glare for not being more prepared.

"Okay, I'm finished now," Mina said to her, handing the questionnaire over.

"You sure?" Andrea replied sarcastically, stamping a large "Received" stamp on the front page.

Well, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today. "I'm sure," Mina replied, with a smile.

The United Volunteer Front? She thought to herself. Sounds a bit mysterious.

"Ah, Miss Serena." Randy and Dan appeared from the command center, having finished up their meeting.

"Hello sir," Mina replied. "I finished the questionnaire."

"Good, good," Randy said. "Dan here is going to run the physical and practical part of the testing now, so I hope you're ready for some exercise."

"I'll walk you out to the field we train on," Dan added, jerking his head toward the door. "Although, after we run everything up from the questionnaire and my part of the testing, we'll see what position fits you best."

"That sounds pretty good," Randy said, nodding his approval. "After all of that is said and done, you'll probably have to come back here for another debriefing."

Great. More debriefings.

"Well, we won't get anything done by standing here," Dan said, waving to Andrea to open up the door. She rolled her eyes, but she did so, the door loudly opening up to the cold winter air outside.

"There is a slight problem," Randy said to her, as she was leaving.

That stopped both of them. "What…what would that be?" Mina asked, hoping that she wasn't found out.

"See, when we went through you belongings in your car and in your room, we can't find any IDs, anything that identifies you as Serena Eriksson," he said, looking her with suspicion.

"Oh…well, I don't really have much in the way on that sort of thing," she smiled, trying not to panic.

"So, you've been driving around, with no insurance, no driver's license, nothing of that sort?"

"Like I said before, I'm really down on my luck. I pay cash for everything, and I try to stay away from the police. Alright?"

Randy stared her down for a second, looking her over. It was like he was going over every single breath, every mote of skin, every fiber of hair to see if she was telling the truth.

"Alright," he said, smiling warmly. "I believe you. We've had worse come through here."

"Thank you for trusting me," Mina replied. "I won't let you down."

"You'll do good out there," Randy smiled. "Dan, don't go too rough on her."

"Of course, sir," Dan said. They turned to leave.

"Watch her," Randy mouthed to Dan as they left the bunker. He nodded, and the two of them disappeared from sight as the heavy metal door closed behind them.