The Legacy of Shadows. William Speir

      “Lunch is being set up in the corridor outside the classrooms. Help yourself.”

      As soon as Jamie entered the main building, she saw Elias O’Rourke, Elliot McMullen, and Rutger Samson holding plates filled with sandwiches and fruit. Most of the society’s other instructors were eating their lunch.

      “Good morning,” Jamie called out.

      The masters and instructors all stood and bowed to Jamie before greeting her. Jamie was the only female master and was several years younger than everyone else in the room, but the other masters greeted her like an equal, and the instructors showed her the respect due someone of her rank.

      Most of the furnishings in the main building reflected the architecture of the training complex. Chairs, made of raw wood cinched together with leather straps and covered with Navajo-inspired seat cushions, were located all around the main lobby and along the hallways. Chandeliers made of antlers hung from the ceiling at regular intervals. Rugs that matched the seat cushions covered the wood plank floors.

      While Jamie filled a plate with food, Malcom Richards and Gunther Marshall arrived. Jamie bowed to them when they joined her at the food tables. They exchanged pleasantries before joining the others to wait for the last few instructors to arrive.

      Thirty minutes later, after everyone had arrived, Frank asked the masters and instructors to move into the large classroom next to the food tables. The masters took seats at the table along the front of the room while the instructors sat at the tables running perpendicular to the masters’ table.

      “Thank you all for coming on such short notice,” Frank said when he opened the meeting. “As you know, we’ve been contracted to provide combat martial arts training to the counter-terrorism and counter-espionage units of the military, Homeland Security, the FBI, and the CIA. Our training is being delivered as part of a larger training initiative that includes surveillance, target acquisition, and other services that we’re not privy to. Whatever is driving the need for all of this training is classified, but given who the students will be, I think you can infer that this is either in response to or in preparation for a rather serious threat against the United States.”

      Jamie was intrigued with Frank’s comment. She had a general idea of who they were going to be training, but she had been so busy lately that she never stopped to think about the reasons why the training services were necessary. I wonder if the Order is aware of a threat. She was the only member of the combat martial arts society who was also a member of the Order, so she made a mental note to ask her parents when she got home.

      Frank handed out stacks of forms to each table and asked that they be passed around the room. “These are confidentiality forms that you all must sign if you’re going to be part of this training. Nothing that you hear, see, learn, or guess can be shared with anyone outside this room.”

      The masters and instructors reviewed the paperwork and then filled in the requested information. Once all of the forms had been signed and returned, Frank turned on the video monitor behind the masters’ table. A map of the United States appeared.

      “Each master will be assigned to a region, and a cadre of instructors will be assigned to each master. The units being trained will rotate in and out of a central training facility in each region.”

      Frank reviewed the locations of the training facilities and which master would be responsible for each region. When he got to Jamie, he said, “Master Anderson, you will handle region three, and your training facility will be at Fort Benning just south of Columbus, Georgia.”

      Jamie smiled. Her father had been stationed at Fort Benning just before he left the Army, and he had continued working there as a civilian contractor until he moved back to his hometown.

      Once Frank had finished presenting the assignments for the masters, he reviewed the instructor assignments for each region. Jamie was pleased with the team of instructors assigned to help her. She had worked with each of them before and knew their strengths.

      “You will have all of next week to prepare for the training and to get yourselves and your equipment to your assigned training facility.” Frank handed each master a thick packet of materials. “These packets contain the specific details of which units you will be training and the types of training to be provided. It also contains all of the contact information for your liaisons at each training location. For those of you who will be training on military bases, you will be staying in on-base housing.”

      Frank then asked each of the masters to meet for the rest of the day with their instructors to work out any details and to identify any questions, concerns, or issues to address in the meeting the next morning.

      Jamie and her five instructors met in one of the sitting areas on the veranda at the back of the main building.

      “Are you planning to have all of your video equipment there?” one of her senior instructors named Saudis Bhandari asked. Saudis had been a Gurkha in the Indian Army until he retired and moved to the U.S.

      “Absolutely,” Jamie replied. “The best way to address mistakes is to allow the students to watch themselves making them.”

      “So you’ll need help getting all of that equipment to Fort Benning?” Saudis pressed.

      Jamie nodded.

      “Then I suggest that we all meet at your dojo next Friday, load up the equipment, and travel to Fort Benning together. That way we’ll all arrive at the same time, and we’ll know that we have all of the equipment there and can get it set up before the first class begins.”

      The other instructors on her team agreed.

      Jamie smiled. “Thank you. If you don’t mind going out of your way, I’d appreciate the help.”

      “We’ll even pick up the vans we need to get us and the equipment to Fort Benning,” Saudis said.

      They talked for the rest of the day, reviewing training schedules and assigning specific roles for each of the instructors. Jamie wanted to rotate her instructors through several different training positions to improve their skills and prepare them for when they’d be running training courses like this on their own.

      Jamie had dinner that night with the other masters. When she finally got back to her hotel, it was after 10:00 PM. She took off her uniform and sat on the edge of the bed. Then she called Hunter to say goodnight.

      The next morning, the masters and instructors met at 7:30 to review any questions or concerns raised the previous afternoon. After a lively discussion that lasted nearly three hours, there were no questions left unanswered or issues unaddressed. Frank adjourned the meeting, wishing everyone a safe journey home.

      Jamie raced to her hotel, changed clothes, checked out, and drove back to the airport, hoping to catch an earlier flight back home. She arrived at the departure gate with five minutes to spare and was soon buckled into her seat, waiting for takeoff. A few minutes later, the plane was in the air.

      Changing planes turned out to be easier than expected. The departure gate for her connecting flight out of Dallas-Fort Worth was right next door to her arrival gate. She sat in the departure lounge and sent a text to Hunter letting him know that she’d be home early.

      “I can’t wait to see you,” he texted back. “Let’s go out tonight.”

      “Okay,” Jamie replied. “As long as I have time to shower and change before we go anywhere. Are you thinking fancy or casual?”

      “Your choice.”

      “Surprise me.”

      “Okay. See you when you get home. Love you.”

      “Love you, too.” Jamie turned off her phone and put it back in her bag.

      He’s the best! I wonder what he’s going to plan for tonight.

      Jamie pulled out the packet of information that Frank had given her and the notes she took at the meeting. She wanted to review them again before her next flight took