Transfer

Grabbing the leather folder, I read over the sheets of paper that were inside.

"Hmm."

Going over the papers, I couldn't help but let out a laugh.

"Would you look at that? you offer free health care, dental, even a retirement fund." I said as I snapped the folder shut.

"We give a plethora of benefits to any member of our agency." Colson said, nodding his head.

I shook my head before handing back the folder.

"I'm not interested." I said standing to my feet to get another cup of coffee.

"Mr Cole, I'm sure we can come to an agreement." Agent Coulson said with a small chuckle, as he also stood.

"No…we can't." I said, not turning to look at him, as I poured another cup.

"What is it that will convince you? Just name a price."

A grimace appeared on my face as I turned to look at the man.

"There isn't a price!" I snapped, setting my coffee cup on top of the machine.

"That's the exact reason I won't be joining your little agency. You think everything can be bought with cash, because that all you agencies understand. Money!"

I took a second to cool my emotions.

"When I was in the middle east I saw more times that I could count agency pukes touting around sacks of cash to pay one war lord to fight the other."

"But do you want to know something? Most of the time, those exact warlords are the exact enemy that's planting those roadside bombs, Ambushing our patrols, murdering entire villages of innocent civilians to make examples to others what will happen if you help the Americans!"

"Mr Cole, I can assure you we aren't~"

I ignored his protest and pushed forward.

"And guess what! We know they do it, yet we keep giving them millions!"

"I think there is a misunderstanding here, Mr Cole." Agent Coulson said, raising his hands.

"Yeah, there is. You're trying to recruit the wrong man." I said, grabbing my coffee from the machine then walking past Agent Coulson, without another glance.

Thankfully, he didn't try to follow me to my room.

Last thing I wanted to do was break some shadow agency's little minion.

I ended up only staying in the hospital for a few more days before I was forced onto a plane and flown back to the states for some supposed personal TLC.

I was surprised at how scared I was to be back on a plane again.

Supposedly, flying is safer than driving on a road.

But that thought didn't stop the uncontrollable shakes that racked my body sporadically through the flight, as memories of crashing would pop into my head every time we hit pockets of turbulence.

When we landed, I was immediately taken to another hospital where I received another round of checkups and scans.

I don't know what they were looking for, but from the looks of the doctors, they didn't find whatever it was.

After that, I spent two weeks visiting a shrink, to see if I was still fit for duty.

I wasn't bothered anymore about killing people.

That had been thrown out of my consciousness a while ago.

My main issue was flying, as crazy as that might sound.

Apparently I had developed something called 'aviophobia'.

A fear of being on aircraft.

Which might end up being a problem, as a large majority of my work is done behind enemy lines, where I would need to be flown in by helicopter.

It was decided I would be given a three week leave, to help me 'get my mind right'.

As my CO put it.

The issue was, I landed in North Carolina at air base Seymour Johnson, then hauled to camp Lejeune.

Just the thought of getting on a plane to fly to California to see my mom, and hopefully dad, sent chills up my spine.

So instead of doing that, I decided to stay on Camp Lejeune and take part in some courses.

I wasn't exactly up for anything physical.

I was on vacation after all, so I settled on taking a language course that was free.

It's called a book I found in the base's library.

They only had four books that could teach a specific language.

Russian, French, and Mandarin.

At first I thought it would be cool to learn Mandarin.

But after the first page, I decided to start off my language learning career on something not as hard.

I ended up picking Russian.

It also helped that I managed to get my hands on an English to Russian dictionary from a local bookstore.

I wouldn't say it was anything easy, but it also wasn't that hard.

My main issue was the fact that I didn't have anyone around to tell me if my pronunciation was good or not.

It wasn't that big of a deal for me though, it helped pass the time.

By the end of my leave, I think I was able to hold a good enough conversation in Russian.

On my first day back from leave, I was summoned to my current regiment commander's office.

Coming to attention, I snapped off a perfect salute to Colonel Low.

"At ease." the Colonel said in his deep gravelly voice, after he stood from his chair and gave me a return salute.

Going into the 'at ease' position, I waited for Colonel Low to begin talking.

Sitting back down behind his desk, the colonel opened a file that had been laying on his desk.

Seeming to only skim the sheets, he dropped it back down on his desk before he looked at me while intertwining his fingers together in front of himself.

"How was your leave, Corporal?" Colonel Low asked, using my new rank of Corporal, which I had received the day before my leave.

"It was good, sir. Very needed." I said, not looking away from the wall slightly above and behind the Colonel's head.

"That's good." Colonel Low said as he shuffled some papers around his desk.

Leaning back in his chair, the Colonel looked me over for a few more moments.

"I have been ordered for you to be transferred to the Army for an assignment." The colonel said, sitting up in his chair.

"Sir?" I asked, confused and slightly worried, as a flash of the meeting I had with that agent fella flashing through my head.

'Could this be something to do with them.' I thought to myself, as the Colonel continued.

"General Thaddeus Ross, has asked for you personally."