Chapter Nine
8 am the next morning…
Hunter Ranch
Teaspoon was washing up at the kitchen sink after helping with the morning chores, when someone knocked on the back door.
"Come in," he called out as he dried his hands on a dish towel.
Sam opened the door and came in. He was immediately surrounded by three swirling, energetic furry bodies as Crockett, Bowie, and Houston all vied for his attention. He gave each dog a pat, scratch or rub before Teaspoon called them off. Sam shot his father-in-law a grateful look as he made a beeline for the coffeepot. He poured himself a cup as Teaspoon puttered around his kitchen making breakfast.
"You want some eggs and toast?" Teaspoon gestured at Sam with the egg carton.
"No thanks, I already ate." Sam settled at the table with his coffee, "So did your ponderin' bear fruit?"
"Sure did," Teaspoon plated his eggs and toast, refilled his cup with coffee, and joined Sam at the table, "You agree we need to test our recruits to see what mettle they're made of, right?"
"Right," Sam took a sip of his coffee.
"What better way to do that than have them go up against some of MCAT's finest?" Teaspoon grinned at Sam.
Sam returned the grin. "Do you think Travis will go for it?"
"Not only did he agree to it, but he's already settin' things in motion. I expect we'll be hearin' from Chris Larabee sometime today."
Denver, Colorado
MCAT Headquarters
Chris sat at his desk going over some reports when his phone rang. He ignored it, knowing that Gunny would answer it, and continued going over the paperwork before him. A moment later his comm unit buzzed.
"Director Travis is on line one, Sir."
"Thanks, Gunny."
Chris picked up the phone, "Morning Orrin."
"Chris, Teaspoon Hunter and I have come up with a plan to not only test Charlie Team's applicants," Travis cut to the chase, "but also allow us to properly evaluate their individual capabilities before they arrive in Denver to begin official training."
"I'm listening,"
By the time he hung up with Travis, Chris was scowling. Alpha Team had better things to do than to go coddle new recruits, but Travis had a point. Technical, physical, emotional, and mental evaluations needed to be done on all of the recruits before he would feel comfortable signing off on them becoming MCAT agents. Who better to do those evaluations than members of Alpha Team?
He rose from his desk and went to his door, opened it, and bellowed, "Tanner, get your ass in here!"
"Ooh Captain T, you're in trouble," Buck Wilmington teased the Texan, grinning at him over his coffee cup.
"Eat it Wilmington," Vin quipped, winked at Kelli before heading to Larabee's office.
"What's got you so fired up this mornin'?" Vin asked as he cleared the commander's doorway.
Larabee quickly filled him in on his conversation with Travis. Tanner was scowling, too, by the time he was finished, and Chris told him that he was among the agents from Alpha Team heading to San Antonio.
"I'll let you have the pleasure of informing Dunne, Coulter, Sanchez, Wilmington, Jackson, and Standish of their impending travel."
"My pleasure," Vin grinned, "Upside to this I'll finally get my wife alone under a Texas moon."
"On your downtime only, Tanner,"
Vin frowned at him, "Spoil sport."
Fifteen minutes later, assembled in the conference room, Tanner surveyed the expectant faces of the elite MCAT Alpha Team.
"We've just been handed a special assignment."
"Oh joy," Ezra muttered under his breath on Vin's right.
JD's reaction was a bit more vocal, "Aw hell, you know how these 'special' assignments always get us into trouble."
"No shit," Buck concurred.
Nathan started running through a list of medical supplies he would need, "Bandages, splints, plasma,"
"Alright, alright, pipe down and listen up," Tanner ordered.
Josiah sat back in his seat and grinned at Vin, "Captain you have our full attention."
"As I was sayin', we have a special assignment. Pack your bags for a week's stay in the magnificent state of Texas."
"Good God, why Texas?" Ezra exclaimed earning him glares from both Tanner and Coulter.
"As you know Agent Coulter is the liaison for the MCAT Charlie Team, thus she will be accompanyin' us. We've been asked to evaluate them technically, mentally, emotionally, and physically."
"Are we going strictly in a supervisory capacity or...?" Sanchez asked, but was interrupted by Wilmington's groan, "You already know that it ain't going to be supervisory, right Captain?"
"Well, now that you mention it…" Vin said.
"Oh Lord," Standish sighed, "glorified babysitters. I predict our captain already has a rousing, spirited, enjoyable, exhausting, debilitating, humiliating, physical regime already planned."
"Standish, you read my mind. MCAT jet, five am, tomorrow morning, dismissed," Vin picked up his notes and walked out of the room, as the others slumped in their chairs, with the exception of Coulter, who followed him out the door.
"Wait up, Vin," Kelli called out.
Vin turned around and raised his eyebrow, "I didn't expect to get any guff from you."
"No guff, but I do have something you are going to need," She stopped at her desk, opened a drawer, pulled out a bottle of aspirin, and handed it to him.