The Wrath of Mamba

Mamba – A History Mark Sage opened the door and walked confidently into the crowded meeting room. He paused a moment looking around the room at the twelve people seated there. There were ten men and two women seated at the rather large table in the center of the room. He closed the door and walked silently to the head of the table while looking at their faces. They were all young men and women, early to mid twenties at most. He also knew that two of the men were in there late twenties. As he reached the head of the table he poured himself a cup of coffee from an urn on the table and sat down. “Ladies and gentlemen, I am Mark Sage. I am the head of Blackthorn Security and ultimately your boss. I haven’t met with you yet and wanted to see all of you before you start the next phase of your training. While I haven’t personally met you, I already feel as if I know each and every one of you. I’ve gone through your personnel files with great interest. Each and every one of you has gone through an extensive background check as well as a psychological screening process. You have been submitted to lie detectors, and interviews that some of you may have felt extreme.” Mark paused taking a sip of his coffee. “I am pleased to announce that the twelve of you will begin your training effective next Monday. Today is Friday and I suggest that at the end of the day you go out and live it up a little over the weekend because for the next six weeks you are going to go through hell.” “May I ask a question sir?” “Yes you may ask any questions you like today. That is the purpose of this meeting. I will be telling you exactly what your function will be here at Blackthorn and it is a chance for us to get acquainted. Now what is your question?” “There were two other marines that I came in with. I haven’t seen them in a few days. I was wondering where they were?” “You are David Phelps aren’t you? Well if you are talking about Steve and Jim, they didn’t make it.” “Didn’t make it? What does that mean?” “There were sixty eight of you who applied for a job here. The twelve of you seated here are the only ones that passed all the tests so far. There is one last test for all of you to make and that is completion of my six week training class. I don’t expect all of you to make it through that class either.” “Training? Training in what? I thought we were going to be bodyguards.” Mark smiled. “You will be going through extensive training in hand to hand combat among other things. My class has crammed sixteen weeks of training into six long grueling weeks. You will have no contact with the outside world. You will train seven days a week, often from dawn till late at night. You…” “Hey, I already know hand to hand. That’s in my application.” “And you will get a chance to prove it. Pass the next test and you will be glad you went through the class, because it well may save your life.” “And if we don’t make it through, then what? Are we gone like the rest of them?” Mark shook his head. “No, every one of you have completed all the tests to qualify for a position as one of Blackthorn’s bodyguards. If you fail to complete the course you will still have that option open.” “Then what is the purpose of the course?” “Every one of Blackthorn’s bodyguards goes through the course once a year. Failure to pass the course will disqualify you from our other field assignments, but you will remain as bodyguards.” “You mean the missions, right?” “Yes the missions. During the course of the last four weeks evaluation process you may have heard rumors of missions. I am here today to explain what those missions are and I am also here to give you a word of warning. You have heard the rumors, now you will hear the facts. If any one of you ever talk to anyone at all about what you are about to hear, you will disappear off the face of the earth.” “What do you mean disappear?” Mark stared at each and every one of them in turn. “You will cease to exist. Your life will end. You will be killed. If you don’t like that little fact, I suggest you get up from the table now and walk out that door, but if you stay then what you hear in this room stays in this room. If you walk out, you will still be bodyguards, but you will never hear of any or participate in any missions.” “You mean you would kill us?” Mark didn’t answer; instead he took another sip of his coffee. “Any takers? Anyone wants to walk, then do it now because if you talk to anyone about what you hear here today you will be considered a threat to national security and be treated as such.” Looking around at their faces, he was pleased to see no one rise. “Alright then here it is. Those of you that pass the course will be offered a chance to join an elite team of men and women. There are several teams. Team size is normally six or eight members depending on the mission.” “And what are the missions?” “The missions vary. You will be paid a much higher mission salary while on a mission and you will be paid a substantial mission bonus upon the successful completion of a mission. Make no bones about it. These missions are often extremely dangerous.” “So was Iraq and I got paid for shit over there, but you still didn’t answer the question. What are the missions?” “From time to time when the leaders of our country feel that there is no other safe, prudent or legal way to stop a threat to this country, they call on us. It is our job to eliminate that threat. We stop it anyway we can. That will be your teams’ assignment if you pass the course. To eliminate threats to national security by any means possible.” “Do you mean what I think you mean?” Mark nodded. “I do. If there is no other way to eliminate the threat, then at times you will eliminate the individuals. You will kill them if that is your mission assignment. This is not by any means a license to kill. You will eliminate only the threat and only when that is the mission assignment.” “And the government knows this? Is that legal?” “Only a select few know of the missions and no it is not legal by any means. Neither is some of the shit that these ass holes do either. Those who do know also know that it is a last resort to stop a threat. One taken only when other means fail or the threat is so imminent that it can’t be stopped by any other method.” “And what happens if we get caught?” “If you are caught in this country, you may be prosecuted. If you are caught in a foreign country, chances are you will be executed. The key is not to get caught. You will not be operating alone and every conceivable step will be taken to insure that you do not get caught, but it is still dangerous. When you are on a mission, you will have the entire resources of Blackthorn Security backing you up and believe me, Blackthorn resources are very extensive. You may also have the services of the CIA, FBI and NSA backing you up, depending on the mission.” “So we are going to be spies.” David looked around the room. “Hey guys, I’m going to be double oh seven.” “No, you are not spies. You will be assassins. You will become extremely proficient killing machines. There is no double oh anything, so get that shit out of your heads right now. You and your team members may have to spy on your target, but the extent of that will only be to determine the most effective and safest way of eliminating your target.” David jerked his thumb at the wall, indicating a poster hung there. “Then what is that? That is about the tenth one of those I’ve seen around here.” Mark looked over at the poster. A black haired beauty dressed in skin tight black spandex was posed in a striking position. She had on high heals, which he knew to be higher then normal. She had a Sig9 strapped to her waist. From the other side of the belt hung a K-Bar killing knife. There was a slender stiletto strapped to her calf. A thin pin prick of light on her forearm highlighted the slender needle there. “That ladies and gentlemen is Mamba. If any one of