Total pages in book: 71
Estimated words: 68369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68369 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 273(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
She was very nice to me, and that was all that mattered.
Bo arrived soon after, and he looked as tired as I felt. He dismissed Alex’s plea with a yawn and went to grab food, so Alex tossed her half-eaten slice on the plate and sat back with a huff.
This was fun.
March 25th, 2025
I wasn’t going to lie. I was fucking nervous about this part of our training. We’d known it was coming; instructors had given us hints, some reading material, several warnings, and a list to prepare us. And now, the day was here. Our resistance-to-interrogation training was officially starting.
It was the first time we’d been shown to one of the larger classrooms in the schoolhouse, and we weren’t alone. Aside from us nine recruits, twelve government officials were here for the same training.
Tanner and I sat together at one desk, and we looked around the room as Beckett, Rose, and Coach got ready for the introduction.
“Some of the guys here are really old,” Tanner whispered.
“Yeah.” I wondered which agencies they all came from. Were they really as new as we were? Because this wasn’t Tanner and me being ageist or anything, but to start fresh when you were in your forties…? In this field?
“Listen up, everyone!” Coach hollered. “Welcome to your RTI training! We expect two-thirds of you will pass.”
Tanner and I exchanged a glance.
Operator Rose took over. “Over the next six weeks, we will put you through some of the roughest training you’ll ever experience, and it still won’t compare to an actual hostage situation. Most of the techniques are either illegal, condemned, or both, and frequent check-ins with our on-staff psychiatrist are mandatory.”
Aw, man. Doc. As if I didn’t talk to him enough.
Beckett was next, and he was holding a clipboard. “You will be divided into three units, and when you hear your name, you immediately go to your assigned mentor for this training. I will be in charge of Charlie, Coach will take care of Delta, and Operator Rose will be in charge of Echo.” While he spoke, Coach and Rose positioned themselves closer to the door, so maybe two units were going to other classrooms. “Carlos Garcia, Lorraine Freeman, Tanner Kelley, Riley Grey, Zander Morris, Caitlin Staff, and Jerry Perez, you’re Delta and going with Coach.”
“See you on the other side,” I muttered under my breath to Tanner.
“Knock on wood,” he joked back and left.
As his unit shuffled out of the room, Beckett continued.
“Next up, Echo! Tim Lawson, Elliott Jones, David Montgomery, Leighton Watts, Miguel Flores, Gabriella Ortiz, and Michael Littrell.”
That was my cue. I’d already known I wasn’t going to end up in my own boyfriend’s unit anyway.
I grabbed my notebook and aimed for Operator Rose, and I followed him across the hall to another classroom.
This room was on the large side too, so maybe we required the space.
“Have a seat, everyone,” Rose said. “One student per desk, thanks.”
I sat down in the back and studied the others. Some of them definitely looked like they worked for the government. I couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was, but… How they dressed, how they moved…
Rose leaned back against his desk and had his own clipboard. “Watts, Flores, and Ortiz are our Hillcroft recruits. All three are former Army. And that is the extent of the intro I’m asking the rest of you to present. Starting with David Montgomery.”
The man in question sat near the front, and he gave us all a cursory glance. “Montgomery, FBI. Started out in the Navy.”
The man next to him spoke. “Elliott Jones, private security. Former Navy too.” He was one of the older guys here. Like mid-forties.
“Tim Lawson, ATF. Former police officer.” Also older.
“Littrell, private security. USMC.” Seriously old. He might be over fifty.
Great. Now we all knew one another.
“Over the next six weeks, you will take on our RTI training like a team,” Rose told us. “You’ll be on your own at times, in pairs sometimes, and together as one unit a few times too. Jones is an exception. He’s completed our training, aside from the sensory deprivation portion. He’ll be with us this week only.”
Jones inclined his head.
Rose continued. “Before the first segment begins at oh-five-hundred tomorrow, you will go through the reading material again, and you’ll memorize the information I’m about to hand out. As I hope you know by now, there are various degrees to resistance. More often than not, you’re protecting intel or a person, but you won’t succeed if you starve or black out from exhaustion, malnutrition, or torture. It’s absolutely vital that you learn to find a balance between protecting your asset and your own immediate future. Some information can be surrendered in exchange for water and food.”
I chewed on my lip and made a note. Bo had been oh-so right. There was a reason we’d started profiling long before we’d reached this part of our training, because we had to know people. We had to know human behavior in order to find the balance Rose was talking about. After all, there was no one-size-fits-all here. Much depended on the person holding us hostage. If they were trigger-happy or not. If they were bored or restless. If they were patient or erratic.