"Good morning, boys !!" I greet all the bodyguards, intentionally make my voice loud and cheer to boost their moods. Well, it's not working that well. But, of course I don't care.
I raise both arms to the side of my body then one of my hand click a remote control to open a huge door behind me. The door is slowly open, revealing what is inside. "Welcome to the training camp !"
Behind me is 2500 meter square hangar owned by Mr. Chekhovsky, of course. It is used to be one of his abandont hangars where his old private jets park. He permitted me to reuse the building as a training facility for his bodyguards.
Now, there are around 25 weapons inside, ranging from light to heavy, all are controlled by a program that built by Mr. Chekhovsky's R&D department within four days. Two men come out of the hangar.
"Gentlemen, let me introduce you to Mr. Khamar, our IT guy, the brain of this training camp," I introduce to them the man on my left, "And Mr. Perez, the man who made this physically possible." My hand pats the man on my right's shoulder. Both men nod and give them a smile. I hear murmurs and whispers from my guys. I raise my hand again to silent them.
"The goal of this training is to reformat your reflects. By the end of this training, when a chaos happens, your reflects will no longer be to safe your self, but to safe Mr. Chekhovsky. Or.. if I put it in other words, this training will end only after each of you put Mr. Chekhovsky as your number one priority. It's hard, but it's possible."
Another guy comes out pushing a trolley with a huge basket filled with human-sized dolls. The dolls' faces are Mr. Chekhovsky. I grab one of the doll.
"This doll represents Mr. Chekhovsky in this training. As you can see, the material of this doll is very low, means it will be torn easily due to small damage." I poke the doll with index finger. It is flatten with a loud hiss.
"In each cycle of training, your goal is to carry these dolls from a start to finish line without it being torn. In your journey, of course, you will be bombarded by several attacks, long shots, short shots, machine guns, arrow shots, fires, bombs, anything Mr. Perez able to provide."
I turn my head to Mr. Perez, "Anything you can not complete from my list, Mr. Perez ?" The guy shakes his head.
"I add knife attacks and drone attacks. Is that okay ?" he asks. My wide smile answers his questions.
"At each cycle, the program will randomly choose the number of attacks you will receive. It is set between 10 to 25, though," Mr. Khamar tells the information.
"Each attacker has camera that recognizes the doll and you. Once it recognizes, it will launch its attack, can not be undone. The attack can only be stopped if you manage to shoot the target paper belongs to the attacker. The attacker may come one at a time, or at once, that will be totally a random variable. Means if today is your lucky day, you may only receive 10 attacks one at a time."
"Oh, I forgot to mention," Mr. Perez interrupts Mr. Khamar. "The positions of each attacker is changed during every cycle." This last information earns deep sighs from my men.
"That's impossible !" Jackson shouts in irritation. I turn to him. "It is possible, and I will show it to you," I say to him.
"Why is Bosch not here also ?" Rodriguez asks another question, "Is it because he is new ?"
"No," I answer him. "It's because Bosch have passed this test when I recruited him." My answer silents them.
"Come inside, and see the live demo," I invite them to go into the hangar. Once I'm inside, I reach two bullet-proofed vests and wear them. I also wear helmet. After that I reach one doll, long shot gun, and a gun.
"Please start the program, Mr. Khamar. And set it to the highest level," I order Mr. Khamar. He nods and walks upstair to the control room.
"We use paint bullets for this training, including the bombs. But the weapon is real, so al though it is only paint bullet, when you are hit by the heavy machine gun, it still can kill you," I tell my men.
"Mr. Chang, it's ready !" Mr. Khamar shouts from upstair.
"Okay, Mr. Khamar !" I respond to him then walk to the start line, dragging the doll.
Right when I push the start button, an arrow flies toward me. I dodge while covering the doll, shooting the target paper near where a light on.
Then I drag the doll to the nearest stack of boxes when I hear bullet whirs from a far. It's not only one, but three weapons attack me in the same time. I keep the doll to dodge while shooting the target papers. A bullet hits my shoulder. Thank goodness I wear the vests. Still, it hurts.
I haven't even able to catch a breath when I hear a drone roaming sound above me. I drag the doll to a tunnel made of concrete culvert. I don't run quick enough, since the drone manages to recognize us and starts to rain fires from above.
Fortunately, it starts when I reach the tunnel's mouth. So I throw the doll and my self inside the tunnel and wait until the rain of bullets stops. Within a minute, the rain of bullets stops, but the drone is still flying above the tunnel with its buzzling sound. It waits for us to come out. Damn, Mr. Khamar's AI program is really good.
I peek to see where it is. The drone 'sees' me and starts the rain of fire again. I wait for another minute. Right when it stops, I peek again. This time, it doesn't immediately attacks, I take that chance and shoot at the target paper. The light is off. I sigh in relieved.
I drag the doll out of the tunnel and hide to another stack of boxes. No attack. I continue walking with the doll, hiding from one shelter to another.
Suddenly something is thrown and landed near us. Oh, Shit ! a granade !! I kick it then cover the doll. the granade explodes 5 meters from me. Before I get up, another granande is landed near us. I pick it and throws it away while dragging the doll. The granande attack won't stop if I don't shoot its target, but I don't know where they came.
Suddenly a robot approach us with a knife in its 'hand'. I shoot the target on its antenna above its head while kicking another granade.
Now I know where the granades came from, but it is hidden. So I need to be close to it to shoot the paper. Another granade comes. Or.. not.
I grab the granade and throw it to where it came. The granade explodes. I wait while shooting a snipper that just about to attack and another robot that comes with a knife. No more granade. So I have terminated it.
Slowly but sure, I approach the finish line. Right now, I hide behind the last tunnel, after being chased by a missil. I got paint on my shoulder and legs. My leg is even bleeding. But, well, 'Mr. Chekhovsky' is safe.
The finish line is only ten meters away. I lost count of how many attacks I have been got. Did I terminate all 25 ? Or will it still be other attacks ? I glance at my watch. It is only been 15 minutes. But 15 minutes of hell. I sigh. Thinking, will it be too hard for my men ? What if no one able to finish the train ? But that Bosch guy could, my brain gives me an encouragement.
Another missil hits top of the tunnel I'm in. I grab my long shot gun. The missil comes from somewhere near the start line. It needs 30 seconds before launching another missil. So I wait for another missil attack, then get out from the tunnel and shoot its target paper.
Dragging the doll, I am walking away from the tunnel. The doll is filled with sand. So it is almost as heavy as Mr. Chekhovsky. That's why I can only drag it all along. I'm approaching the finish line. No attack! I sigh in relieved. Eventually, I did terminated them all.
It is only two meters from the finish line when suddenly I hear a click. Shit, landmine !! I forgot I asked it to Mr. Perez. I saw the doll's feet. It also touch the ground. So, if the mine is not below my right foot, it is below the doll's feet.
I shift my left foot while in synchronous shift the doll's feet. My goal is too replace the weight of the doll with my weight. Succeed !! I throw the doll to the finish line. Then I search for its target.
"Sorry, Mr. Chang. This one can not be terminated," Mr. Perez shouts from upstair. I turn to him, bulging my eyes. "Well, at least the doll is safe, Sir. You made it!" He adds.
Yeah, right ! But when this mine explodes, I can end up in hospital. I take a deep breath and prepare a good stance to jump. The mine will explode less than a second after the weight is lifted.
I take another deep breath then jump to front. Before I hit the ground, the mine explode. Its burst hits me and send me few meters away before flungs me to the ground, chest first.