Chapter 8

Lee lay on his bed back in his bunk at the training center. Every muscle hurt and complained at the slightest twitch or movement. He could hear Jefferies groaning as he walked down the hall.

"Jefferies!" Lee shouted from his bed.

Jefferies pushed open Lee's door and leaned against the door frame.

"Are you as sore as I am?" he asked Lee.

Lee struggled to sit up without letting his aches and pains be voiced. "At least….probably more." He replied. The two men looked at each other and laughed. "When did we get so old?" Lee said with a whimsical lilt to his voice. Jefferies began to shake his head as he made his way over to the edge of Lee's bed and sat down with an 'ooofff'.

"Well, we're not 24 any more, that is for sure, but I'm not ready to label myself as old just yet. Maybe "out of practice" is a better way to put it." Jefferies replied.

"Ok, I will go along with that. At least my kill zone shot record still holds." Lee said with a smile.

"I could use a drink. Got anything here?" Jefferies asked Lee.

He shook his head as he swung his legs over the bed and stood up.

"Nope, but I could really go for a belt, myself." He replied. "I wonder what they will put us through tomorrow? I don't know if I can take it."

"Come on" Jefferies encouraged, "I've got a nice bottle of 15-year old Scotch in my room. I think we've earned it."

"Oh, I couldn't agree more!" Lee said as he placed his hand on the door knob and pulled the door open. Just then, he was startled by Agent Sousa in mid preparation to knock on Lee's door.

"Agent Sousa! I didn't hear you there. Won't you come in?" Lee offered.

The white-haired senior agent took a few steps inside the room and took notice of Agent Jefferies in the rooms as well.

"Good evening, gentlemen." He said. "Good fortune finding you both together. Saves me another stop."

"What can we do for you, Sir?" Jefferies inquired.

"Just stopped by to let you know you both passed all your requalifiers and can head home tomorrow." Sousa stated.

Lee and Jefferies looked at each other, a bit confused.

"Tomorrow?" Lee asked hopefully. "I thought we were here through tomorrow evening."

"Well, originally you were, but we have a large group of new recruits coming in day after tomorrow and Agent Tabor fell from the zip line this afternoon and broke his ankle. So now we need to reconfigure everything, and well, to put it plainly, we don't need to see any more from you more experienced agents. You are free to leave first thing in the morning. And may I add, well done on your qualifying tests. Nice to see two men of your age still performing as well as you did. Have a good night, gentlemen." Sousa said to them both, turned and exited Lee's room, shutting the door behind him.

Lee's face looked as if he smelled something foul. "Two men of your age?" He stated out loud in a questioning tone. "Two men of YOUR AGE?" he repeated. "How the hell old does he think we are?"

Jefferies laughed. "Who the hell cares? We get to go home tomorrow and not be tortured anymore!"

Lee's face lit up with acknowledgement. He slapped Jefferies on the shoulder and chuckled. "Yea! You're right!"

"How about that drink? Now we DEFINITELY have something to celebrate!" Jefferies said as he was half way out the door.

"That we do!" Lee said as he followed Jefferies out the door and down the hall.