Becoming A Spy

Chapter 6 : Stressed

Chapter 6

Curt POV 

By the time we got to the restaurant, Riker still seemed shaken up. We ordered our food and drinks and then Riker just stared down at his lap.

"Riker?"

He looked up at me.

"Are you ok?"

"No. I can't be a spy," he said, softly.

"Yes, you can. You just need practice."

"Why is Aubreigh so mean?"

"She's not mean. She's just tough."

"Well why?"

"When you're finally a spy, you'll understand. She just takes her job very seriously. It can turn into a life or death situation very quickly."

"I'm not going to be good in those situations."

"We'll train you to be good."

"I just don't like her as my partner."

"I know you might not like her right now, but she's a great partner to have. She won't let anything happen to you."

"Really? Because she pushed me in the pool the other day. And choked me today."

"That's not what I mean. She'll protect you. But you need to listen to her."

"Haven't I been listening to her?"

"Yes, but when you're in a real life scenario, it might get dangerous. And you need to do what she says, when she says it. If she says run, you need to run. If she says hide, you need to hide."

"This is just making me more scared about this whole thing."

"Don't be. She won't let anything happen to you, Riker. I promise."

Riker sighed. Our food came and I could tell he was starving by how fast he was eating. But I don't blame him because he hasn't had anything to eat all day.

"I'm going to tell Aubreigh to give you the rest of the week off, ok? Just try to take it easy and relax for the rest of the week."

"Why can't you be my partner?"

"Because I don't train people."

"Weren't you interrogating me? Wasn't that training?"

"I help assist in training. But my job is to help run the training center."

Riker sighed again.

"I know it's hard. Everybody who goes through this has moments like this where it feels too hard. But you'll get through it."

"Why did you want to take me out to a restaurant and buy me dinner?"

"Because I wanted to make sure you were ok and talk to you about being a spy and reassure you that it's going to be ok."

"Well can there not be surprise choking attacks?"

"Riker, part of training is preparing you for anything that might happen at anytime. You need to be prepared to handle anything."

"Ok, well I haven't even had training to know what to do if I'm getting spontaneously choked! So how am I supposed to be ready when I don't even have training!?"

"Part of training is figuring out what to do. Because it's not possible to train you for every single scenario that might happen. So we train you to be able to think for yourself and use your judgement to decide what to do."

"I don't like learning like that."

"It's for your own good."

"Ok, well I don't learn well that way."

"You'll get used to it."

"I don't want to get used to it! I don't want to be a spy! Don't you have a solution for people that can't handle this kind of stuff!?"

"We train you to be able to handle it."

"I will never be able to handle this! Please drive me back. I want to go home."

I paid for dinner and then drove Riker back to the parking lot.

"Riker?"

"What?"

"Let me give you my number. In case you ever need anything or you want to talk."

He rolled his eyes, but handed me his phone. I put my number in.

"When you get home, try to relax. I know today was a lot. Sometimes training is like that. But you'll have easy days too."

"Whatever."

Riker got in his car and left.

I called Aubreigh.

"Hey, what's up?" She asked.

"So... After you left today... Riker had a panic attack. He's never had one before and he was really shaken up from it. I told him I would ask you to give him the rest of the week off so he can try to relax. I know training is tough. And I'm not saying you're doing anything wrong because you're a great trainer. But just maybe... don't go so hard on him. When he says he can't handle it, he means it. He's really stressed."

"Ok. I might have a talk with him about it. Thanks for letting me know."

"No problem."

"Night, Curt."

"Night."