“And would you say this outburst is like you?” Boris asked. “According to your file, which ADAM forwarded to me, you were one of the calmest, most level-headed, most calculating soldiers or junior officers any of your COs had ever had. Weres are more aggressive. Until you get used to it and learn to harness it, you are no good on the battlefield. Consider it a form of rehabilitation. You don’t send a soldier straight back out after recovery.”
Janna’s irritation was evident in her voice, “Then why haven’t you been training me! It’s been three days since I got back. More than one and a half since you finished interrogating those scum.”
All the Weres had been criminals who had joined the NVG after Konrad had arranged for their release from prison. Although Boris was somewhat ambivalent about the executions of two of them, he was pleased overall. Those two had been petty crooks before joining Konrad. The human captive was still in their custody for now. Boris honestly did not care if the prisoner lived or died, but there was more information in his head to be extracted, so his usefulness had not come to an end. Frank, Akio, and Dan were taking care of the extraction of information, so Boris could keep his attention elsewhere.
Barnabas had judged them all. The stay of execution for the remaining prisoner was temporary.
Danislav cautiously interrupted. “And when has he had time, young Bear? When have I had time? When have you had time? I had to reorganize the group I was supposed to lead because of all this. It has been decided that someone needs to stay with the command center for the first few ops. We have all been organizing the plan for the disruption of the three convoys. We have a twelve-hour window for all three operations. Paul is the only one who has slept. He is also the only normal human. He even offered to stay with you.”
Janna’s eyes flashed, and she let off a string of insults in mixed Russian, English, French, and German. Paul corrected her German, which was not particularly helpful but amused him and infuriated her. At one point it looked like Boris would have to step in. Danislav was convinced that Paul was completely mad at this point. He certainly wouldn’t have corrected her.
Boris hid his grin when it happened. They had been serving together for a long time.
“I will start training you tomorrow Janna. If we have prisoners, I will let Danislav and Paul interrogate them. We even have permission from Barnabas to execute future prisoners. They aren’t soldiers. They are an illegal military force that has committed crimes against humanity. Walking down a street and just killing people. Being willing to wipe out an entire town.” Boris said, the anger boiling in his tone.
“We need to get going to the first rendezvous. We will be back.” Boris’s nose was not as sensitive as Danislav’s so he could not understand the underlying fear beneath her frustration. She was afraid Boris was not going to come back. Danislav turned slightly away from Boris and signaled to her that he would keep an eye on Boris.
He hadn’t seen the old bear this happy in years. He didn’t want it to fuck up on him now.
“One weapons convoy. It was supposed to be vital supplies headed for a base near China. Hmm. I guess that close to the border weapons could be considered as such.” Paul spoke into the air
Boris and the others had returned with one captive from the three raids. Apparently, everyone had been a bit over-enthusiastic. But now three of the six groups had a distribution of silver ammo, just in case. Some of the wolves had been unhappy about it, but common sense had, in the end, overcome their hesitation. Only a small fraction of the groups consisted of Weres after all.
The captured heavy weapons had been carried to their vehicles and were being hidden at various locations in the different areas of operations. Some of the supplies and most of the ammunition had been taken, while the rest had been burned.
As a further strategy, they were using the same camouflage that the Chechens used and were careful to leave a torn piece of cloth near each raid. Those bastards had been more active lately, and the deception seemed to be working. Investigators had concluded that Chechen rebels were attacking ‘road convoys’ and the pressure on the government to do something about it was rising from the public and the military. Reserve units had been called up, and that would restrict the NVG as much or more than Boris and his group. All of Boris’ forces came from Siberia, a region with a reputation for staunch Christianity. None were suspected of being Islamists.
After they had debriefed with Frank and ADAM they had breakfast. Paul begged off the interrogation, wanting to sleep but Danislav was more than happy to do it. So Janna insisted on Boris starting her training.
Boris spoke, “The first thing you need to learn now is, even in your human form, you will be stronger.” He pulled out one of the captured weapons he had returned from the raid with. Grabbing the barrel with one hand, he casually bent it. “You will need to be lighter on the trigger of any gun, or you will damage it. They are designed for humans, except my custom AA-12.”
“That’s one thing I am confused by. I have been trying to figure out how a bear could fire a shotgun for the last couple of days. It’s been driving me nuts, to be honest. I can’t see a way.”
“No, in bear form I cannot use it. I have an… in-between shape. I can use it while in that form, but only with drum magazines and only that weapon.“
“Will you show me how to change to that shape?”
Boris raised his hand, quieting her questions. “I cannot show you. I only found the first path to that form when my mother was raped and killed by bandits. It is not something that can be taught. It is something I would not wish on my best friend or worst enemy. It is dangerous, see? In a thousand years, I am the only Were that has been able to take the form and not succumb to the consequences. The anger and frustration you feel? That is nothing compared to what you feel in that shape. It is also addictive.” He closed his eyes. “The power you feel, it is indescribable.” He paused, taking deep breaths. He needed to stay away from such thoughts for now. He needed to avoid that form for a time.
After the pause, he continued. “There are other ways, maybe. But I have no idea how to teach them to you at this time. I would not be willing to take that shape for some time. I have used it perhaps too often recently.”
“You are just trying to hold me back!” she yelled at him. He had, however, prepared for this. He did, after all, know a female Pricolici.
He responded. “Ecaterina will be happy to talk to you about it if you wish. She gave me her contact details if you do not have them already. You can speak to her after we train.” He continued “Your life was turned upside down before you were changed. You need to move past the anger you feel at that. The frustration of the situation you find yourself in. You also need to learn to fight like a bear.”
He raised an eyebrow and turned, starting to remove his clothes, continuing to talk. “Remember three main things. First, unlike an ordinary bear, for whatever reason, I have never found it hard to balance on my hind paws. Use that. It is an advantage. You have claws, use them. You can bite hard, it is a potent weapon, but doing so can expose yourself. Be observant of your situation before you use it.”
He shifted into his bear form. This was one of the few times he’d shifted around another werebear. He had done it before, but it was like there was static in his head. It was perhaps a side effect of the changes that had gotten rid of the headaches, he supposed.
He turned and looked at Janna. She looked a bit freaked out. Shifting from foot to foot she asked “How do you do that? How do you shift like that?” Boris rolled his eyes lifted a paw and pointed it in the direction of the bunker. To be honest, he didn’t remember how. He’d been doing it for so long he just did it. He ambled down to the container and rapped his claws on the open door to get Danislav’s attention. Janna followed him closely.