Chapter 17
General Hawk and Bulletproof’s food arrived after a short period of time. The dossiers of all the interview attendees lay sprawled out on the desk in three different piles. The first pile containing three folders which the major felt strongly about making the task force. The second pile consisting of eight folders labeled with a question mark, and the third pile of three folders clearly marked with an “X.”
“This has not been an easy decision, as you may or may not be aware general, the task force can unfortunately only have twelve total members including myself and any reservists. There are currently two active team members in Chicago and as you may already know, Shockwave is currently employed as a reservist. This technically leaves me with only eight open slots.
“I was not aware of the two additional members back in Chicago. Perhaps we should talk about those specialists first and then go from there.”
Major Morris grabbed some wings and busied his jaws before answering.
“These are some really tasty wings, the Joe cook is top-notch!”
He grabbed a napkin and wiped his mouth.
“Alright then, I agree. Let’s discuss Mace and Long Arm. Both men have been working with me for nearly six years now. Mace is a first sergeant in the army and specializes in intelligence and undercover surveillance. He has previously been under deep cover in the Sinaloa crime family and has run close to a dozen successful sting operations. Over the course of his career, he has brought down over sixty of the most wanted drug dealers and caused the collapse of two major drug rings in southern California and Arizona. I rely on him heavily before making any major decisions involving bringing in suspected drug operatives or associates. He has saved my ass more than once by insisting on us waiting to gather more hard evidence to ensure that the arrests will stick and that our suspects will get put away for a long, long time.”
The general took down some notes and helped himself to some of the wings as well.
“Mace sounds top notch. So in my opinion, it appears that you have already filled the position of intelligence specialist. So, let’s move on. What does Long Arm bring to the table?
“Long Arm is S.W.A.T. through and through. He specializes in disarming explosives, as well as close quarters combat. He has been instrumental in successfully defusing multiple IEDs over the years and the safe decommissioning of several highly combustible meth labs. He’s also a good guy to have your back when kicking in the door of a suspected drug den, as he is one hell of a marksman!”
General Hawk could be seen jotting down notes on this team member as well. He then picked up his own notes on the applicant’s dossiers to cross-reference primary and secondary military specialties.
“I personally would disregard Specialist Skoog, Corporal Stall, and Captain Rich as their specialties most closely mirror those of Mace, Shockwave and Long Arm. That would narrow down your applicants by three. Who do you currently have over in the discard pile?”
The Major picked up the three folders and read off the names to the general.
“I will be eliminating Hector Delgado, Kenneth Rich and the M.P. Christopher Lavigne from the selection.”
“So we agree on Captain Rich, but I feel your decision to exclude Hector Delgado is a mistake. However, it is ultimately your decision. So, if we combine our lists, then you have already cut down your list by five. Personally, I would reconsider Corporal Stall as a reservist since her primarily military specialty is counter intelligence and she has a lot of experience with current military tech.”
The two men continued to devour the hot wings and fries as they debated the pros and cons of the applicants.
“What are your thoughts on PFC Kordos and his pet cheetah. I must say that I was a bit surprised when his name wasn’t mentioned among your exclusions.”
“I’m a bit confused general. You recommended him to me, and yet you are puzzled by the fact that I would consider him. The truth is, I his spirit. I think the youngster has a lot of potentials and in a way reminds me of myself. We all have to start somewhere, and I think he will make an excellent addition to the team, besides I already know someone willing to groom him, who I’ve already chosen as a definite member of the DEF.”
“Well, it sounds to me like we’re just about ready to finalize our roster.”
Major Morris nodded as he placed three other folders on the discard pile. He then helped himself to a couple more pieces of chicken.
“Let’s finish eating first. Then I’ll need a minute or two to clean up, these wings sure are tasty, but they’re downright messy!” Both men laughed.
The general pressed the intercom button. Lieutenant van der Ness was quick to respond.
“Yes, General?”
“Nadine, could you join us in the office for a dictation?
“Right away sir.”
No sooner had the intercom gone silent, that the lieutenant was standing before them with her electronic tablet in hand.
“Excellent! Please have a seat lieutenant.”
“Shall we begin sir?”
The general nodded and began to outline the contents of the letter.
“It is with great enthusiasm that this letter finds you today. After careful review of your credentials and interview responses, the members of this review board are pleased to announce your selection for appointment to the Drug Elimination Force. The honor of your presence is hereby requested in the War Room on this, the 12th day of November, for your presentation and acceptance of the position before Major Earl “Bulletproof” Morris at 1900 hours. All members of the DEF task force will then be formally sworn in tomorrow, the 13th of November, before your peers in the Commencement Hall at 1300 hours. Attire will be military dress uniform. Please be prompt. We thank you for your previous service to our great country, and we look forward to the future distinguished service you will provide to the DEF in the future. Sincerely, General Clayton “Hawk” Abernathy G.I.Joe commanding officer.”
Nadine quickly took down the required information and awaited further instructions.
“Here is the list of our selections. Please be sure to personalize each letter and have it hand delivered by military courier by 1730 hours.”
He then handed her a second list.
“This is a list of those applicants not selected. Please provide each of them with a personalized letter stating the following: We thank you for your interest in serving as a member of the DEF. It is the decision of the review council to regretfully inform you that although your military record is commendable, there were other qualified applicants whose credentials were a better match for this task force. We thank you for your service to this great nation and are certain that other appointments will better suit your abilities in the future. Sincerely General Clayton “Hawk” Abernathy and Major Earl “Bulletproof” Morris.”
Lieutenant Van der Ness diligently transcribed both letters before further addressing her commanding officer.
“Will there be anything else sirs?”
Hawk looked to Bulletproof who sat with an approving smile on his face.
“I believe the general eloquently said all that was needed.
The secretary turned to gaze upon the general.
“Thank you, Nadine, that will be all for now. Please let me know once the drafts are complete so that I can add my official signature and seal.”
She, in turn, saluted both men, then returned to her desk in the other room to fashion the appropriate letters.
“Not bad major. We made good use of our time and kept true to our word. The letters will be in the hands of your new recruits shortly.”
“Splendid! If you could excuse me a moment I need to take a bathroom break.”
“Of course Major. By all means.”
The older gentlemen returned to the office after a brief respite and were just in time as Nadine returned carrying official correspondences for signatures. Both men hand signed each letter then returned them to the lieutenant for final clerking.
“I imagine that you may need some additional time to prepare for the return of the selectees?”
Major Morris looked to the clock on the wall and after a brief pause responded.
“I suppose I could take a half hour to call my wife and also to inform Mace and Long Arm of tomorrow’s induction ceremony. This has really been a productive two days and I’m quite anxious to welcome aboard my new task force members.”
“I would agree major.”
General Hawk also looked up at the clock on the wall as Major Morris exited through the side egress. The newly selected recruits would have roughly two hours upon receipt of their letters, to prepare for their return to the interview room and to accept their appointments. He too had a few necessary phone calls to make. The whole selection process prompted him to reach out to his sister. He had made it a point to speak with her weekly since Robbie’s death, and he felt certain that she would be excited to know that members of the G.I.Joe team would be forming an elite task force in order to wage the war on the opioid epidemic. His nephew’s death and the deaths of countless others would not be in vain.
The courier made short work of the personalized letters making sure to deliver each letter to the correct recipient’s hand. I was in my private quarters tending to Dangerous when the knock came upon my door. I walked over to open the door with some trepidation, like a young child that had been left home alone by his parents. I felt fairly certain that it would be the Joe courier delivering the official word from the review board, but I still secretly feared that I would be overlooked and rejected. As I walked over to the door, my heart raced in my chest. I opened my door to greet the courier. She was a plain jane, barely twenty-five years old, standing five feet six inches tall, with short red hair and rosy cheeks. Under normal circumstances, I might consider her to be cute, but today, this petite young woman appeared ominous as she smiled and handed me my letter.
“PFC Steve Kordos?” I nodded in reply. “This comes to you from the office of General Hawk. Could you sign here please?”
I reached for the pen trying to control the nervous shaking of my hands and signed next to my name. It was the standard military protocol for the courier to get an official signature from each recipient, and formal notices such as this one could not be left under the door or in a personal mailbox. After a bit of fumbling, I returned the clipboard and her pen, she, in turn, handed me a sealed envelope. She smiled at me once again.
“Good luck. I hope it’s the answer you want.”
“Thanks. Me too.”
I managed to blurt out my reply just as she turned and made her way down the hall towards the room of her next recipient. My hands trembled as I closed the door and sat down on the chair in front of my private desk.
OK Steve, get a grip. It’s only a letter. I took a deep steadying breath and as I stared at the official seal of General Hawk, Dangerous laid down across my feet.
“Thanks, buddy. I appreciate the support.” The large cat purred loudly, as I prepared to open the letter. After a few moments, I tore open the top and removed the folded letter.
“Dear Private First Class Steven Kordos. It is with great enthusiasm that this letter finds you today. After careful review of your credentials and interview questions, the members of the review board are pleased to announce that you have been identified for selection as a member of the Drug Elimination Force.”
I couldn’t believe the words as I read them from the page.
“They picked me to be a member of the task force Dangerous! This is awesome!” I read over the remainder of the letter to make sure I didn’t miss any pertinent information. You and your partner, Dangerous are hereby asked to return to the war room for your official presentation to Major Earl “Bulletproof” Morris on this the 12th day of November at 1900 hours.
I put the letter down and picked up the cheetah to hug him.
“They picked both of us Dangerous! You and I are both going to be official members of the Drug Elimination Force.”
The rest of the letter included information that we would need for tomorrow’s swearing-in, but first I needed to officially accept the position. The clock on the wall indicated that I had an hour and forty-five minutes before I had to report back to the war room. I put down the seventy-pound cheetah and picked up my cell phone in order to send off a message to Clutch, Mainframe, Footloose, and Pathfinder. It was official, in less than two hours, I was about to accept an appointment to my first official G.I.Joe subteam. My day seemed like it couldn’t get any better.
I wondered if Muskrat had also made the cut, but figured I would know soon enough. I decided to freshen up by taking a shower. I emerged to find a slew of congratulatory text messages on my phone. I would once again be donning my dress blues, but I still had some time to relax and took a thirty-minute breather to just lay on my bed and come to terms with the fact that I had indeed made it through the selection process. I tried to nap, but I was simply too excited and instead turned on some of my favorite rock music. Time passed by quickly, and I was soon wearing my dress uniform once again I buckled Dangerous into his work harness and the two of us began our walk back to General Hawk’s private office, the War Room.
Not wanting to be the first one to arrive, I stopped off at the mess hall to see who was around. Pathfinder, who I had recently texted, was sitting with his head in his hands alone at a table.
“Hey, buddy. Is everything alright?”
He looked up at me and his expression spoke volumes. He appeared to be in extreme pain.
“My head is absolutely killing me. This has got to be one of the worst silent migraines in history. Ever since Kenya, I keep getting them. Most of the time I can deal with them, but today is terrible. I feel like the room is going dark around me.”
I could tell by the anguish in his eyes that the pain was unbearable.
“Hang tight buddy. Can you walk?”
He shook his head, then looked down and put his face back into his hands.
“Alright, I’m going to call Doc.”
I found it odd that he had not called for the team doctor himself, but also then realized that he had failed to answer my text from before. I dialed Doc’s personal line from my cell, and he answered on the second ring.
“Hello, Doc. It’s PFC Kordos.”
“Why hello Armed, are you OK, soldier?”
“Yes, I’m fine sir, but I’m here at the mess hall, and Pathfinder is experiencing a terrible migraine. He can barely walk. Could you or one of the other doctor’s come over here?”
“I’ll be right there with help.”
My phone went dead and I sat and waited for help to arrive. A few minutes later Doc appeared in the doorway with Lifeline and another army medic that I had not previously met. While Doc tended to Pathfinder by checking his blood pressure and temperature, Lifeline brought around and secured a wheelchair. The third individual appeared to be shadowing the two medics and recorded all the information on a handheld tablet.
“Alright, Pathfinder let’s get you over to the medical center where I can run some other tests.” Lifeline helped Doc stand him up so they could sit him down in the wheelchair for transfer to sickbay.
“Is he going to be alright?” Doc smiled and attempted to wave off my concerns.
“I’m sure it’s probably nothing serious. Let Lifeline and I do our jobs, and you can stop by later on to check on him. You did well in alerting us of the situation, and I assure you that we will do everything in our power to help him.”
Doc’s words did little to quell my concerns, but I knew the reputation of the G.I.Joe doctors and trusted their expertise. I watched as they wheeled Pathfinder, face still in his hands out the main cafeteria door and down the hallway. I had not wanted to be the first arrival, but now as I glanced at my watch, I feared I would be late. I now had less than ten minutes to get to the general’s office.
“Let’s go Dangerous. We don’t want to be late.”
I made short work of the distance to the location of my previous interview and entered the door with just four minutes to spare. As I glanced around the room, I noticed Muskrat talking to Claymore and Stretcher.
“Hey Armed, over here mate. I’m guessing you made the cut.”
“I did. I’m guessing you guys did as well?”
Muskrat looked down for a moment before answering.
“No mate, I didn’t make it.”
My face clearly showed my disappointment as I tried to find the appropriate conciliatory words.
“I’m just here because--- Of course, I made the team too you dolt!”
The three guys enjoyed a laugh on me, and it took me a second to register his wiseass remark.
“You suck! I really thought you didn’t make it.”
I punched him hard on the arm and then all four of us laughed again. The door to the office opened abruptly as General Hawk called the room to order.
“Attention!”
The room was immediately quiet and all in attendance stood at the ready. The general saluted the room and we all returned the gesture holding the stance until we were dismissed.
“At ease G.I.Joes. Please follow me back into the War Room.”
We all relaxed and followed him inside. Behind the desk, Major Morris stood at attention and the room now had three rows of three chairs set before the desk.
“Could everyone please find a seat so we can formally begin?”
I sat down on the end seat of the second row and instructed Dangerous to lay down alongside the chair. Mutt had performed a similar action with Junkyard opposite me in the first seat of the third row. There was only one empty seat remaining once we were all seated. The group of selected task force members consisted of two female and six male officers. Major Morris had remained standing and began to address us.
“Welcome back esteemed members of the G.I.Joe team. It was a daunting task, but after much deliberation, General Hawk and I feel we have selected the most qualified and capable operatives the Joe team has to offer for assignment to the Drug Elimination Force. As I stated just the other day, the importance of this task force exceeds measurement. No price tag can be placed upon the service that we will be performing. This team will be tasked with not only saving lives here in the United States but around the world as well! You should be proud of the assignment you have been selected for, as I am proud of all that each of you brings to the collective table.”
The Major then turned to General Hawk who in turn stepped forward and addressed the room.
“Ladies and gentlemen of the G.I.Joe team, It is my pleasure to officially introduce you by name and code name to your new commanding officer Major Earl Bulletproof Morris. Please stand when I call your name. Major Morris, I will now present the candidates in the order they are seated before you. In the first row: Lieutenant Junior Skip A. Stone, Cutter. Sergeant Thomas Larivee, Stretcher. Corporal Alyssa Renee Stall, Bombstrike. Second row: Sergeant Paige Adams, Mayday. Private First Class Steven Kordos with his cheetah, Armed and Dangerous. Third row: Sergeant Stanley Perlmutter and his rottweiler, Mutt and Junkyard. Corporal Ross A. Williams, Muskrat. And Captain John Zullo, Claymore.”
The major saluted us all and we saluted him and then the general. After ending our salute, the major spoke once again.
“Welcome to the D.E.F! I thank you and your country thanks you for the service you will be providing. If each of you accepts your appointment to the DEF please say ‘Aye!’”
“Aye!”
“Very well then. Today I acknowledge your informal acceptance of this very important position. Tomorrow, each of you will be sworn in before your teammates and it will be made official. Until then, I have been given the authority to grant all of you the night off. Any and all of your duties have already been assigned to a covering officer. My only request is that you join me in at the Pit Pub at 2000 hours for at least one celebratory toast.”
The room promptly erupted into applause. I turned to shake hands and congratulate everyone who had been selected for the task force. It was the first time that I had met several of them, as Claymore and Mayday were commonly out of the country on other assignments.
We spoke briefly and I excused myself from the room promising that I would meet up with them after returning Dangerous to my quarters. As I exited the room, my thoughts turned back to Pathfinder’s health. I decided that I would stop back at my quarters in order to feed and crate Dangerous for the night. After changing into some more comfortable clothes, I would head over to the medical center to check in on my friend’s prognosis, before heading over to the Pit Pub for a well-deserved night out.
Dangerous was more than a little happy to have his working harness removed and sat patiently while I prepared his steak dinner. He devoured it quickly and looked at me as if to say, “Hey where’s the rest?”
It bent down to rub him good between the ears and under the chin then tucked him into his crate for the night. He groggily complied, and I proceeded to change into some more civilian-like attire. I hung my dress blues back in the closet for tomorrow’s official ceremony, grabbed my keys, then headed out towards the medi-center.
When I arrived at my destination, I was greeted by the nurse at the front desk. She was someone who I had become friendly with during my time on the Joe team.
“Hello, Steve. Are you here to see Will?”
“I am actually. Is everything alright?” Nurse Lauren grimaced a bit before providing me with an answer.
“The doctor’s had to administer a mild sedative in order to relieve his migraine. So, I’m sorry to tell you this, but he’s passed out cold right now. He should be awake tomorrow morning.”
I sighed aloud at the proclamation but understood.
“So?” She inquired anxiously. “Did you make the task force?” It took me a few moments for her question to fully register. as my thoughts were still on my friend’s health.
“Huh?” I stammered for a second.
“Did you make the D.E.F? You told me that you had an important interview today.”
I had been so concerned with Pathfinder’s condition that I had almost forgotten about my good fortune. I smiled widely at Lauren.
“I did actually. Only nine of us were selected. Isn’t that great?”
She smiled back at me while offering me a heartfelt congratulations.
“Well, are you going to go celebrate? Or are you going to stand there looking all glum? I would come with you, but my shift ends at 0500 hours. I’m sure you’ll be back in your quarters and passed out by then.”
“Yeah, we were all invited to the Pit Pub for a few drinks with General Hawk and Major Morris. I just didn’t feel right about going there without first checking in on Will.”
“Will is as comfortable as he can be right now. So go out and have some fun! Have a drink or three for me.” She giggled and blushed at her joke. “I’ll text you if anything changes with his current condition. Now go, enjoy your night! You deserve to celebrate.”
I thanked her and then found my way down the hall, down the stairs and into the basement where my friends and teammates were already enjoying a round of shots at the Pit Pub bar. I walked in just as Claymore and Muskrat were comparing scars and war stories.
“It was going to be a great night!”
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