Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

room to eat
    breakfast and let them linger for a good hour, telling them to eat protein. “Eggs and
    bacon, not too much toast. Carbs will slow you down.” Denbigh still seemed to be
    smarting from his smack the night before and avoided Kael, sitting at a distant
    table. That was a bad sign. The man gossiped about his superiors, was resentful of
    discipline, and had attempted throughout the maneuvers yesterday to one-up his
    mates. Unless he redeemed himself today, his future with SIS was not looking good.
    In the beautiful, high-ceilinged, arch-windowed dining hall, Angel ate steadily
    for twenty minutes. He returned to the warming dishes several times for more eggs
    and sausages. “Sir, I can‟t believe I‟m eating breakfast in a castle.”
    Kael smiled as he watched him eat. Kael had packed away a decent-sized
    breakfast himself but stopped after one plateful. He hated feeling stuffed. “Make me
    proud today, lad, but no showing off. You don‟t have to be first every time, but you
    do have to be safe.”
    Angel smiled at him over the top of a tall glass of orange juice. “I will, Sir.”

    Angel and the Assassin: Be Brave

    7

    The first challenge of the day was an assault course that had been left behind
    from another training session. Angel was the first to run when Kael gave them the
    go-ahead. He was not as fast as the bigger men, and dragging himself up a sheer,
    fifteen-feet-high wooden wall with his thin arms was far more difficult for him than
    for the men, but he threw himself into every challenge without complaint. Mattie
    had a hell of a time with the wall as well, but like Angel she struggled until she
    made it. Kael didn‟t allow them another meal break and encouraged them to drink
    lots of water. Around midafternoon, he took them up on the East Gatehouse tower
    of the castle. The sky was gray and threatening rain. The wind had picked up, but
    he decided to go ahead as planned even though any sudden deterioration in the
    weather would make the maneuver considerably riskier.
    Bracing himself against a gust of wind, he began, “What we are going to do is
    abseil down the side of the tower. It‟s eighty-four feet down and, as you can see, a
    sheer drop.”
    “It‟s a hell of a windy day for this, sir,” one of the men said, looking very
    nervous.
    Kael pointed at Mattie and the two who had been in the army. “You must have
    done this.”
    “I did it once, sir, but under ideal conditions,” she said.
    “I managed to get out of it, sir,” one ex-soldier admitted with a shrug.
    The other stood shaking his head. “The conditions are really bad to do this for
    the first time, sir. We should have done it yesterday.”
    “You fucking big nancies,” Kael screamed at them over the wind. Their
    reticence brought out his temper. “I‟m going to reject the lot of you. We are going
    down this tower, so get your heads around it.” They began to shift about
    uncomfortably. “Do I have a volunteer to start us off?”
    Angel almost fell over the side leaping into the air with his hand raised. “Sir,
    me!”
    Kael laughed into the gusting wind. “You‟re like the little drummer boy, ready
    to lead the men into battle. But this time, wait your turn.” He looked around at the
    assembled men with Mattie in their midst, using them for a windbreak. “One of you
    lot. Who‟s offering? Denbigh.” Kael beckoned with one finger. The young man
    stepped out of the crowd, where he had managed somehow to end up behind
    everyone. “You complained last night that I was favoring Angel. So you go first.
    Show us what you‟re made of.”
    Kael began to pull the climbing harness and ropes from the bag. He secured
    the anchor to the tower brickwork and ordered Denbigh into the harness. It took
    several minutes to secure the straps, and Kael could see as he checked the heavy-
    duty plastic snap-lock buckles that Denbigh was shaking with fear.
    Kael used the firm, in-charge voice he would adopt to encourage Angel if he
    was scared. “Right. Climb onto the wall and hold the descender.”

    8
    Fyn Alexander

    It took several minutes for Denbigh to get himself in place on the edge of the
    tower. “Now take the descender and lean back. You have to be at an angle.” The
    young man didn‟t move. He remained rigid, staring at the floor of the tower. “Lean
    back,” Kael ordered loudly.
    A freezing wind tore at their clothing, and yet sweat poured down the young
    man‟s face and neck. He was utterly terrified.