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The Woodland Visitor Pt 8

Confession

Everyone was waiting at Sienna's house for Steve to show up. As soon as he arrived they would begin the tour of the area. While they waited Doc Travis came over to Tom.

"Mind if I check out your leg?"

Tom looked up, "no, not at all." He stood up and followed the doc into his bedroom. Setting down he watched as the bandages were removed and Doc Travis slowly looked over his injuries.

Once done, the doc wrapped new bandages around the leg. "I just wanted to make sure your late night activities didn't reopen the wounds."

Tom could feel the heat rising in his cheeks as he looked down. "Umm..."

The doc laughed, "come on now, even if I didn't hear you two last night, I figured that's what you would be doing. After all, I would have done the same thing if it were me."

His cheeks grew warmer as he again stuttered, "Well... umm..."

"I didn't mean to embarrass you. I'm just glad everything turned out well. The leg's fine, you just need to take it easy today. If this tour gets to be too much, you are ordered to come back here and get some rest."

Standing up I gave him a salute, "Yes sir."

He reached over and smacked my hand down. "If you ever do that to me again, I will beat you to within an inch of your life. Got that, Black Wolf?"

Before I could react, he turned and walked out the door. I sat back down stunned. How did he know that? There were no records left. No trace was left for anyone to follow. I made sure of that. There's no way he could have known.

Bewildered, I walked out into the living room just as there was a knock on the door. Brenah opened the door and stepped aside to let Tamanae in. She greeted everyone then made her way over to me.

Reaching me she gave me a big hug. When she released me I felt her stick a piece of paper in my hand. Turning she went over to Sienna and hugged her.

I turned and walked over to the doorway. With my back to everyone I opened the paper scanning its contents before putting it into my pocket. It was from Steve, and was to the point. It said The Woodland Treehouse - Half an hour - alone.

Turning back I walked over to the crowd. "Everyone, there's no use waiting. I'm gonna have you start the tour and I'll wait for Steve. When he shows up, we'll join you. You've got a lot to see and I don't want to cut anything out of the tour." Looking over at Brenah I smiled. "Give them the works."

The Woodland Treehouse was not the best, but wasn't the worst tavern in the city. Nestled somewhere between, it attracted those who wanted a quiet drink. It was quiet and out of the main path making it the perfect meeting spot.

Walking in, my eyes scanned the interior before seeing the lone figure setting at the end of the bar. Walking over I took a seat next to him and ordered a beer.

The figure beside me was the first to speak.

"I thought I knew you. It turns out that I was wrong."

I looked over to see him staring at me.

"I suppose an explanation is in order."

"Unless you naturally are really fucking good at assaults, or really fucking lucky, then yes."

I just stared into my beer a minute collecting my thoughts before I began.

"After I completed my four years, I just wanted to go home. But fate didn't see that." I took a sip of my beer. "I had settled down and began looking for a job when one morning, she knocked on my door. Her name was Tanya and she had an offer for me."

I looked down staring at the floor before I continued. "She said that she worked for a group of people who called themselves the company."

I saw Steve jerk his head up and look at me when I mentioned my former employer.

"They wanted to hire me if I was interested. When I asked her what the job was, she just told me it was security and the locations would vary. I would be part of a team that would ensure security for sites and people. She made it sound easy."

I looked up at Steve. "It was anything but easy, but the salary was good and I needed a job. I asked her when I would meet my employers and she said soon. There was an interview process that I had to go through first. Then after that, a decision would be made. When would the interview start? She said it would start now."

"The questions she asked me, in my eyes, really didn't have anything to do with an interview. I was wrong. It had to do with a basic psyche evaluation and compatibility. I was asked things like, 'did I enjoy the army?', 'what caused me to get out?' and 'if that changed, would I have stayed in?'."

I took another sip of beer before I continued. "She took up five hours that day probing my mind and personality. Looking back on it, not one of my personality traits was left out. Each one was thoroughly examined and noted. Before she left that day she told me that four others would be coming around to further interview me. When I asked her about when they would show up? She replied that it could be anytime and that I should just go about my normal routine."

I looked down at my beer and sighed. "Over the next two weeks I completed the interview and awaited word from them as to whether I was accepted or not. Then one day I got a plain envelope with no return address. Opening it up there was a single note in it with a plane ticket. The note said that I was recommended for training and employment and was to report in three days time. It also had instructions to pack up my house for an extended leave."

Steve ordered another beer and looked at me. "Why?"

"I didn't know at the time why, I just knew that the next day movers knocked on my door and packed everything up for storage. Tanya stopped by and explained that training would take a bit to complete and it would be easier this way. Anyway, I boarded the plane and was flown to Denver. There I transferred to a private aircraft and about an hour later I was transferred to a helicopter. When I finally arrived at my destination I was in shock."

I finished off the beer and ordered another. "I stepped off the chopper and found myself in the middle of a small training camp. If I didn't know any better I would have sworn it was an army camp. Anyway I didn't notice at first but Tanya and the four other interviewers were waiting for me. When the chopper left I was introduced to them. It seemed silly at the time but no names were given. Each one was introduced as some sort of wolf. Tanya was known as the White Wolf. There were three males and one female. The female was introduced as the Winter Wolf and the males were the Timber Wolf, The Grey Wolf and The Ice Wolf. From that point on I was to be known as The Black Wolf."

I saw Steve's eyes go wide as I named them. In a soft voice he said, "The wolf pack. I've heard of them. They were the most efficient team ever put together. They also were the hardest to track. I spent two years trying to track them down."

"I know. And you could never find them because I always made sure you were on the wrong trail."

"But why?"

"I had a loyalty to my team. We considered ourselves family. And I found myself leader of the pack. I couldn't let anyone get close."

"The wolf pack has been around for years, and I know you weren't a member back then."

"No I wasn't. The wolf pack was already a team and as I later found out the leader had been killed a year before. Why I was selected to lead them, I have no idea. However I was and I trained long and hard with them to become what they wanted me to be. Soon we became the most efficient fighting team our employers had."

Suddenly a figure behind us stood up and turned. "You also became the most elusive team I ever knew."

We quickly turned and saw Major Denton standing there looking at us. "Sir." Steve said as he stood up.

"Sit down Steve. Tom, now I understand how come we never found you. It was an inside job." I looked down as he continued, "I only put two and two together after I met you. When you passed out you seemed to be dreaming. I heard you call for The White Wolf then you called for Sienna. I thought at first you were calling for Tamanae but it didn't fit. It took a while to straighten it out, then I had to request all the info I could to confirm it. This morning I finally knew without a doubt, your identity."

"Now what happens?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've found the Black Wolf. What happens now?"

"I don't know what you're talking about. I stopped searching for the Black Wolf when they disappeared two years ago. As far as I know, he's dead, and so is his team."

The major took a stool on the other side of me and staring straight ahead he quietly said, "The only thing I don't get is why they disappeared in the first place."

I stared off into nothing for a minute. A shudder passed through me. Turning to Maj Denton I replied.

"It was a little over two years ago when we got word of a mission that needed to be done. It was supposed to be a simple mission. Go in to take out a target and leave. We packed up and went in. I don't know how, but they knew we were coming. Someone had tipped them off. We landed and split up to take our positions when they ambushed us. Tonya and I were captured."

I hesitated for a minute. I tried so hard to forget what happened and now I was replaying something that even the rest of my team never knew.

"They interrogated us to find out who else was out there. When neither of us would speak they took their methods one step higher. They started to torture Tanya in front of me."

My head fell forward and I could feel the tears falling.

"They beat her and then tied her down. I watched them rip all her clothes off then watched as they whipped her. Oh god, I can still hear her screams. I can still see her eyes that were begging me to help her. I couldn't do anything to help her, I tried. Oh I tried so hard but I couldn't."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and shrugged it off. "They finally stopped whipping her. I thought we were dead. They couldn't get us to crack so they would kill us instead. I was wrong. They began to rape her. I had to watch as they raped her again and again. They raped her so much and I couldn't stop it. I couldn't do anything about it."

My head was in my hands and I could barely speak as I continued. "The leader came up to me and was just about to say something when an explosion shook the building, then another and another. I heard gunfire getting louder. I heard bullets spraying in the room we were in. Not one hit us though. Suddenly the Grey wolf was beside me releasing me. I stumbled over to Tanya and began calling her. She opened her eyes and looked up at me. In a quiet voice she whispered, 'I'm sorry,' Then passed out again."

"I picked her up in my arms and got out of there. A while later we reached the rendezvous spot and waited for the chopper that would get us out of there. The whole time we waited, I held her in my arms talking to her. She regained consciousness for a bit and I tried to assure her that she'd be alright. She just looked up at me and smiled. I'll never forget that look as long as I live, that look, and her last words. She smiled at me and said, 'I love you."

I sat back up and just stared straight ahead. "That was the first and only time she told me that. Her eyes closed and I held her tight as I felt her stop breathing."

I turned to Steve, "She died there in my arms."

He again placed his hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry."

I placed my hand over his. "It's Ok, I finally realized that when she told me that she loved me, she also forgave me. I just have to forgive myself."

I dropped my hand back down and continued. "The rest of the pack decided that they were going to spit up. That shook them up too much, that and the loss of Tanya. We decided that it was in all of our best interests to do that. They think she was buried two days later but I had the body moved. I left shortly after that and haven't heard from them since."

I just sat there staring down at my hands as I tried to calm down.

Maj. Denton looked over at me. "What did you do with the body?"

"I brought it back here and buried it within the edge of the woods. I found a house here and moved in just so I could be close to her. I haven't been back though. I just can't do it. When the town offered to sell me the woods I jumped at it. I would have actually paid the price they wanted, anything to be with her again."

"Does Sienna know?" Steve asked.

"I don't have the heart to tell her."

"Why?"

"How can I tell her that in my life there are two things that mean everything to me? Tanya was one of them."

"I think you need to tell her. She loves you and she'll understand."

"I don't know if I can."

I felt a hand on my shoulder and was going to pull it off. I didn't feel like having them pity me anymore. When my hand grabbed the other I stopped. The hand I held wasn't Steve's or the Majors. I turned to look at who it belonged to.

"I think you need to go visit her." The voice said.