• “Sloppy indeed.” The Commander said after I had given my report. “But I suppose the job is done…but tell me, why did you let your guard down?”

    “I thought I heard something, Sir.” I lie.

    “But surely you would have left that to Edge-or the other two.” He says and I can tell he knows I’m lying.

    “It was a mistake, Sir, and will never happen again.” I assure but he doesn’t look convinced.

    “Do you need retraining, Marshall?”

    “The thought has crossed my mind Sir, and if I should make the same mistake again I will willingly go to be retrained.”

    His lips pull into a tight smile. “Make sure it doesn’t.” He motions for me to leave; I salute and head out, sighing as I go. I couldn’t believe the stupid mistake I’d made, I shouldn’t let what they say get to me, I knew better than that.

    “So, Miss. Marshall isn’t so perfect after all.” Someone taunts, I whirl around and growl at the hound. “That growl isn’t so scary, kitty.”

    “Shut your face, Duke.” Duke is a hound-part Doberman, there really isn’t anything human about him, and the best way to describe a hound would be to compare them to a werewolf; a constant, ugly, drooling werewolf. The walk around on there hind legs a little bit like humans do but when they strike it’s on all fours. “What are you doing here anyway?”

    “The BSS is announcing the curfew in a few days; I’ll be amongst the first hounds to be dispatched on patrol.” He grins, flashing both rows of very sharp teeth.

    “Good for you.” I say sarcastically.

    “I’ll doubt I’ll make the same mistake you did.” He chuckles.

    I ignore the comment. “Don’t you have a bone to dig up somewhere?” I smile tightly and stroll away. It was a cheap shot, I know, but it had to be done. I catch the shower room in the corner of my eye and decide that I needed one, being part cat means I have this urge to keep clean, and I’m glad to see the place empty once I’m inside; I wanted to be alone with my thoughts. I grab a towel from the lockers, strip down and stepped into a cubical.

    ‘Has the war stopped because we’ve given up on our Lord?’

    No, it hadn’t. Terrorists were still striking throughout the country in the name of Allah and they did it in much larger numbers.

    ‘Our Lord created life; he created humans and animals as two separate beings; you have no right to be alive, monster’

    Don’t I have a right to be alive? I mean, if the ‘Lord’ was actually real then why did He allow me to be created? Why did He allow any of us to be created? Are we really such a sin?

    I sighed and turned the shower off. I wrapped the towel around myself before stepping out of the cubical and walking over to a mirror; I wiped the condensation off of it with one hand and stared at my reflection. I’m part Bengal cat, which means I’m part wild cat and part domestic cat, but I never learnt where they got the DNA from because Bengal’s aren’t native to England. I have light sandy coloured ears and tail with small black stripes on them- if I was furry all over I’d have spots too, darker coloured sandy hair down to my shoulders and gold-yellow eyes like Edge. I take a step back to admire my figure; I’m slim with some muscle and a few curves, a decent enough chest- it’s human enough.

    “You look fine, Marsh.” Edge startles me.

    “How long have you been there?” My eyes narrow at him.

    “Long enough.” He smirks. I signal at him to turn around and he does so with a sigh.

    “You’re supposed to give your superior some privacy.” I tell him as I change.

    “What did the Commander say?”

    “Nothing much…” I glance at him to make sure his back is still turned; he’s actually only a month younger than me, but I was premature anyway, and I didn’t know he or any of the others existed until I was four, and then we were all raised together.

    “There’s something on your mind Marshall.” He knows me too well.

    “Does that really matter?”

    “It does if it’s going to affect the missions.” He looks over his shoulder at me. “Is it something the target said?”

    I bite my bottom lip in thought and my eyes meet his. “What if it is?”

    He turns fully and approaches me, his eyes never leaving mine. “Anything we say to each other never leaves the team; you know that-you made that rule.”

    “What he said…about the war…he had a point.” I tell him.

    “And?”

    “And…and maybe he’s right about us…”

    “And maybe his precious ‘Lord’ is just some fictional being someone made up so people would follow orders.” He says. “We’re here now Marsh so what does it matter?”

    “Yeah…yeah you’re right.” I shake my head with a small laugh. “You have my permission to hit me if I start thinking like that again.”

    “You know I couldn’t do that.” He smiles and heads towards the door.

    “Duke’s here.” I blurt out and Edge seems to stiffen; he and Duke don’t seem to get along and I decided long ago that it was a male thing. “Just thought I’d warn you.”

    “Thanks.” He opens the door and looks back at me. “You coming?”

    I nod and walk with him back to the sleeping quarters where Tabby and Nale are relaxing.

    “Was it bad? Are you in trouble?” Tabby asks and sits on the edge of her bed.

    “No, I’m sure the Commander will give me a chance to redeem myself.” I watch as Edge stalks across the room and drop onto his bed; Tabby and Nale watch him them turn their head to look back at me. “Duke’s here.” I mutter and they frown. Basically we don’t like Duke because he’s always picking fights with Edge-that and he’s a hound.

    “Lights out in fives minutes!” A soldier bangs on the door and I head to my bed between Tabby’s and Edge’s, the lights go out soon after that.

    At dawn the four of us head out for a jog around the base and then hit the showers, by the time we’re done with that the Commander calls me into his office again. He looks extremely pissed about something and is pacing up and down behind his desk.

    “Sir?”

    “They’re targeting the BSS.” He blurts out.

    “Who are?”

    “The terrorists! The BSS are on a private train that leads under Parliament and we’ve just been informed that there are terrorists’ aboard-insiders! If they succeed then the BSS will be no more and it will be worse than the London bombings!” He slams his hands on the desk. “You cannot fail, do you hear me!?”

    “Sir, yes Sir!” I rush out back to the sleeping quarters and burst through the doors. “We got to move guys, now!” They move without question and follow me into London; I brief them along the way.

    “We could switch off the rail at a public stop and strike.” Tabby says; looking at a small palmtop she has strapped to her wrist.

    “Not at the stop exactly but maybe somewhere between stops.” We reach a public station ahead of the train and there are hounds and a mixture of police and soldiers gathered outside it.

    “What are we going to do?” A soldier asks me.

    “Switch off the rail between this station and the last and strike, we’ll go in first then you and the hounds follow.” He nods and orders the rail to be shut off in a few minutes; we make out way down ready to go. I suppose, at the moment, we sound like we’re doing solider work and aren’t really acting like assassins but when the tube stops and the place is in total darkness then we can start acting like ourselves. A few minutes later we hear the train screech to a halt and all the lights go out. “Stay alive, guys.” We hop onto the line and creep along until we see the train. There’s a lot of movement inside and one of the doors open with a quiet hiss; I signal for Edge and Tabby to go down one side while Nale and I go down the other. A young Asian male drops onto the rail, cradling an M16; I’m quick to strike, covering his mouth with one hand and ramming my blade into his back with the other. He drops silently and I toss Nale the gun.

    Yes, a fifteen year old cat hybrid knows how to use a gun.

    We oh-so carefully peer into the carriage and see a few more Asians with various guns and, to my surprise, a British citizen at the far end near the door that leads to the other carriage. Their backs are to us and they’re muttering in their own language when we hop aboard, but the white guy spots us.

    “Infidel!” He cries and they all take aim.

    “Look who’s talking.” I say and my knife is in his throat before he can say anything else. Nale is letting rip with the gun by the side door while I decide to take a head on approach, ripping my knife from the dead man’s throat and diving through the others to the next carriage. A woman with her hand on a detonation switch doesn’t see me in time and gets a throat full of knife too. Edge dives in through a window and I can just make out Tabby opening the rear doors and guiding the BSS members out. It’s over in a few minutes, there are a dozen dead bodies by the time we’re done and both carriages are full of holes, and then Edge makes quick work in disarming the explosives.

    “Nice work team.” I say proudly, they’ve never let me down.

    “You’ve been clipped.” Edge places his hand on my arm; there’s a small nick where a bullet has caught me by the elbow.

    “I’ll be fine.”

    “Nale.” Edge calls and our medic steps through from the other carriage, looking quite content with his new toy.

    “It’s nothing.” He shrugs but reaches into one of his many little satchels that are strapped to his belt. A bit of disinfectant spray and quick bandage and I’m ready to go again.

    “Ok team, back to the station.” I lead them back as the hounds and soldiers gather the bodies and explosives; we hop onto the platform and Edge stiffens beside me.

    “It’s good to know you’re still alive.” Duke smirks. “I want the pleasure of killing you myself.”

    I hear a low growl in Edge’s throat. “Edge.” I warn and walk by his side, keeping between him and Duke when suddenly said hound has me by the arm then Edge has him by the neck.

    “Let go of her.” He growls, his eyes narrowing into slits.

    “Let go of him Edge.” I say to him but my eyes are fixed on Duke, this is exactly what he wants-to provoke him into a fight. “That’s an order.” I can feel Edge looking at me for a moment before he releases Duke, whose smirk just seems to grow. “Now go with Tabs and Nale, I’ll catch up.” Edge snorts but does as he’s told.

    “He’s wound up tight, isn’t he?”

    “Stop provoking him.” I hiss and spin on my heel to follow my team. I’ve averted one fight but I doubt I’d be able to do it a second time.