10: Kazakov
All too soon, George's alarm clock sounded, followed almost immediately by Rex's. The two boys switched them off and rubbed their eyes. They didn't say anything to each other, and George didn't think he'd be able to anyway; his stomach was churning with nerves. During the night, some filthy kit had been set out beside his bed. He glanced at Rex, who was examining the dirty underwear.
"I'm not dealing with that," Rex said, going straight for his own clean stuff. George followed suit, only putting on the blue shirt because it had a number on it. He was number one and Rex was two.
"Partners," George said, but his smile was weak and Rex just nodded. Once dressed, they headed out of the room quietly considering that it was five in the morning.
It was still dark outside as they headed in a straight line for the basic training compound, feeling uncomfortably cold. They'd been told not to bring a jumper. Neither of them spoke, preferring to be left with their thoughts. George kept hearing the voices of people telling him all the horrors of training, and as much as he tried to shut it out it kept coming back.
The gates of the compound were open, so they followed a winding track which led them to the training hut, a basic concrete structure without any windows. There were lights on inside, so Rex led the way.
"Ah, Rex Reynolds. And George Knight. Good to meet you," a giant of a man said as they entered, shaking their hands daintily. "Do be so kind as to take a seat on the beds matching your numbers."
There were already two other kids in blue shirts waiting at beds three and eight. Rex and George nodded at them as they sat at their beds, wondering how long they'd have to wait. There were only eight beds in the hut, so George assumed they were waiting for another four. He was freezing sitting still, but the instructor who had welcomed them didn't say anything, he just sat in the office waiting like they were.
It only took a few minutes for numbers four and seven to turn up, two lads who George recognised from the Junior Block. He nodded at them, but one was looking pale and didn't react, going straight to his bed.
They all waited for the final two, and when six o'clock came and went, the instructor got up and addressed them.
"Since five and six have not bothered to come so far, we'll be playing a little game. You'll all remove your new shirts, fold them neatly on the end of the bed, then lie flat on the floor, face down at the end of your bed. After a minute, you'll roll over onto your back, then again onto your front a minute later. We'll continue until your friends arrive," he said, pointing to the floor. "Snap to it."
George wasn't sure what the objective of this was, but he pulled off his shirt anyway and folded it. It was only when he heard the gasps of some of the other trainees that he realised; the floor was absolutely freezing. He gingerly lay onto it and felt the whole of his chest assaulted by cold. His shivering got much worse and he tried to keep his arms tight at his sides to conserve warmth.
After a minute the instructor stamped his boot close to George's ear and everyone rolled over. His back was suddenly freezing, giving his chest a respite. It occurred to George that the idea of the game was to keep them all cold all over and not allow them to get comfortable, but also preventing any damage from lying on the cold too long. He prayed that the others would get there soon.
Seven o'clock came and went and George's teeth were chattering uncontrollably. When he was lying on his front, he could keep his head to one side and look towards the entrance, hoping every second that he'd see the other trainees come in. His wish was finally granted fifteen minutes later, when four boots appeared in the doorway.
"Ah, if it isn't Princess Letticia Katz and Jemima Suzuki. Do come in. Step over the other trainees on your way to your beds. Don't worry; they've only been freezing like this for seventy-five minutes."
When the girls were stood at the end of their beds, the instructor stamped his foot again.
"Alright, up you get. Hope that was nice and refreshing," he said. George jumped up and pulled his shirt on, rubbing his hands on his chest to try and warm it up again and stop his shivering.
"Okay, my name is Kazakov," the instructor bellowed, strolling up and down the row of beds. "I am the instructor in charge of your training, since Instructor Pike is off with a bad back. Assisting me will be the glamorous Miss Smoke," he said, waving an arm towards the long blonde-haired instructor who stood with her arms folded at the doorway. "Since Katz and Suzuki decided to lie-in instead of coming here on time, there will be no breakfast today." He leant right into Jemima's face and grinned. "Ensure you thank them when you feel hunger pangs."
He walked back down the row. "Half of you trainees here already know each other rather too well," he said sweetly, looking at George. "Or, you do according to Mr Nickson over at the Junior Block."
George's heart sank. He was sure it was going to involve him.
"Trainees Knight, Reynolds, Katz and Suzuki, step forward," he suddenly bawled. Jolted by the noise, George took a step forwards. Kazakov walked back past them, stopping in front of each of them as he did.
"I hear that you four do not get along. Something about playing tricks on each other, fighting. Sounds funny to me, does it sound funny to you, Reynolds?"
Rex shook his head. "No, sir."
"No indeed!" he shouted into Rex's face. "If you have lax discipline, you might as well leave now. You will never pass basic training. Katz, do you want to pass basic training?"
"Yes, sir."
"Well I can tell you, you will not pass. Sorry Katz. Off you pop. See you on the next course." Kazakov eyeballed Letticia and waited for her to respond. She said nothing, staring straight forward.
"What are you waiting for, Katz?"
"I'd like to try, sir."
"You'd like to try. Hmm. Well, if you'd like to endure the misery, you're welcome to," he shrugged, walking onwards and stopping next to Jemima. "Anyway, teamwork is a vital skill for agents. Petty grudges cannot be tolerated. So, just for fun, let's try something new. Suzuki, your shirt."
He held out his hand expectantly. Jemima pulled off her shirt and handed it over to him.
In three giant strides, Kazakov went back down the row and stopped in front of George. "Knight, the same."
George pulled off his t-shirt and got Jemima's in return. Kazakov handed his to Jemima then smiled.
"Excellent. Two of you are are the wrong bunks, so if you could correct that, that'd be marvellous."
George caught a look of panic from Rex as he swapped bunks with Jemima. Letticia gave him a stony look as he passed and stood at the end of bunk six.
"Now we're done with that, onwards," Kazakov said, resuming his up-and-down walk.
They were sent to run the assault course and it was the first time the trainees had been able to talk to each other. George was nervous about being partners with Letticia, who he hadn't spoken to since she'd tried to beat him up in his room.
"Look, I'm sorry about what we did," George started as they jogged to the assault course. "I really want to pass basic training and we're only going to do that if we can work as a team and get over it."
George was expecting an icy reception, but he was pleasantly surprised to find Letticia nodding.
"I agree totally. I'm sorry about the thing in the cafeteria," she said, looking at him and smiling. "I want to pass too. Partners?"
"Of course," George replied, but there was an awkward silence. "Letticia is a nice name," he eventually said, feeling like a tit.
"People call me Letty," she said, blushing slightly. "Anyway, let's concentrate on the assault course."
After they'd run the course and stood rinsing their muddy clothes, George was actually pleased he'd been partnered with Letty. She seemed tough and they worked well as a team; they'd finished the assault course first. Rex was George's best mate, but his lanky arms and legs would do him no favours, plus Letty was one of the red shirts who'd been on campus since she was five and not only knew everything about basic training, but had all the skills.
"Come on. There's no breakfast so we'd better go straight over to the PT area or Kazakov will bite our heads off," she said, pulling on her t-shirt and setting off at a jog.
George followed, his socks squelching uncomfortably, wondering if he thought Letty's accent was cute or annoying.
There wasn't much time to speak during the each day, and when there was George spent it asking Letty about various aspects of training so he'd feel better prepared, but he gradually got to know the other trainees. Jemima, Letty's friend, was really strong, athletic and good at karate. Rex never seemed happy to be with her and looked a little resentful when he saw George and Letty chatting.
Trainee three was a girl called Beatrice who was really small and looked delicate. She was as good at karate as any of the others, but she seemed to tire out quickly on the assault course and during PT. Her partner was a big stocky Caribbean boy called Ralph who George knew from the rec room. He was a bit slow but basically alright, and he carried Beatrice's things occasionally to give her a break.
Five was Letty and George was six, which left trainee seven, a quiet boy called Harry who Letty said had been at CHERUB ever since she'd joined and was on his second attempt after he broke an arm the last time. He threw up during PT and the instructors gave him a hard time, but he stuck through it and he was always the most efficient, getting his clothes washed in a flash to give himself more time and eating every scrap of food. Harry's partner was a short boy called Ed who had a big mouth in lessons and who complained about every little thing, which didn't really ingratiate him with the other trainees.
All of the trainees worked together to get through the day, with assistance on the assault course. George still hadn't really got used to learning a new language, so when he was told he had to learn Russian he wasn't sure he'd manage, but Harry was also doing Russian and did his best to help out during their lessons, held in the freezing cold. Letty was doing Greek with Rex and Ed, and she seemed okay with it. The other lessons were a mix; George turned out to be pretty good at stuff like survival training and weaponry, but espionage was gruelling and George learned to dread it, especially when the teacher got fed up of his fumbling and gave him a tongue-lashing for the tiniest little thing. Everyone else did okay and avoided the grief because it was all aimed at him, but after a while he was used to going extra homework for espionage with Letty to try and save himself in the next lesson.
The only thing that made George's life slightly easier was the fact that Jemima and Rex never got on. They were constantly bickering and really hammered each other during karate training. Jemima always had the upper hand and beat Rex up. She often left him behind on the assault course, too, but Rex got even by abandoning her during class and if it wasn't George getting yelled at, it was probably Jemima. Kazakov started to single their pair out for extra duties, like a bonus lap of the assault course instead of lunch or getting them both to stand outside all night. It never seemed to help. George could tell that the instructors were trying to help them, but if it meant he got to sleep under the thin blanket instead of outside, he wasn't going to complain.