Chapter 3 "The new record for finishing spy training"

Day 2 – Surroundings

I woke up. The clock by my bed said it was seven o'clock. I got up and stretched and wandered to my dressing table… Which turned out was missing! I looked around the room… This isn't my bedroom!? Then I remembered that I was at Nighthawk, the spy training academy. I took a shower, got dressed. I decided on the pair of black yoga pants I bought yesterday and a black tank top with my favorite black juicy couture sports jacket, and walked out and started making myself an omelet. Hannah and Claire walked out of their bedroom and auto piloted towards my cooking.

"What is that smell?" Claire said sleepily

I answered, "Breakfast sleepyheads, now get ready we have surroundings in half an hour." Both of them ate their share of the omelet, and quickly got dressed. In ten minutes we were out the door walking towards the main hall.

"So, Claire," I started, "What are we all training for?"

Claire looked at me, surprised, "You don't now?" I shook my head, "Well, you have met director D, but have you ever wondered what is he in charge of? Well, he is in charge of finding the spy who will go on the Romanov mission."

"Romanov mission?" both Hannah and Claire looked at me in horror as I said those words, "What is that?" I asked.

The two friends looked at each other and then back at me. "Do you know who the Romanovs were?"

"Hell, yah. They were the Russian royal family before the revolution."

"Ok, so you know the whole scandal when one of the princesses wasn't killed? And how her daughter got assassinated 3 months ago? Well the daughter had a son, in France, out of wedlock, but a billionaire and a royal none the less. So, the Russian government decided with the U.S. government that it would be safest for the son if he moves here for the time being, with the assassination and all. And director D is the one deciding who is gonna be his protector while here in the U.S."

"And, now I'm guessing that is why all the girls look at me with death stares, 'cause I am the daughter of two of the most amazing spies in their day, and the apple never falls far from the tree? And the guy is super cute? "

Hannah giggled and answered, "Yep that just about sums it up."

I nodded in agreement, "Yah sure," then I noticed the sign on the door, "Oh, we are here"

We walked into a room with desks in the middle, and weapons/random items on the walls. There were rifles, pistols, knifes, long pointy sticks, a brick (surprisingly) and some other random stuff.

We all sat down in our desks, and waited for the teacher. When he walked in, I immediately remembered him, "Oh, you are that guy who visited my parents a month ago!" I exclaimed.

The teacher looked at me and recognized me immediately, "Ah, Lexi. Your parents said you will be joining us this semester… Good, you would be perfect for our demonstration." He walked up to the front of the room. I immediately noticed the jealous looks all the girls were giving me and also all the impressed looks from the rest of the class. I walked up to the front of the classroom wit him. He introduced himself.

"Hello class, my name is Alexander Kirilov… but you can call me sir or Professor Alex. In this class you will be learning how to use your environment to your advantage. Me, and our new student Lexi, will show you a small sparring match," Then he addressed me, "Lexi, you may choose any non-weapon item on the wall."

I looked up at him, "Um, sir? All of those items can be qualified as weapons." I walked up to an umbrella, "This for example," I took the umbrella, "I can use as a weapon by…" I quickly turned around and put the tipoff the umbrella just where the neck and head met of the closest person. Then I equally as fast put it back and went over to the next object, which was a brick.

"This thing," I waved the brick, "I can smash against someone's head… and they would be out cold." I put the brick down and went over to the next item. "The…"

"That's enough, Lexi. You may sit down" the professor told me then turned to the class. "Lexi just did a perfect description of knowing your surroundings. Some of the most trivial things can be used as weapons, and, if you know your surroundings you could get out of any sticky situation." I sat down and took out my laptop, again with the staring. "Lexi, I don't think notes will be necessary for you. You pass the class. I am sure if you tired you could win against any of these students."

I packed up my laptop, and looked back at all the jealous and impressed glances everyone was sending my way. I waved at Hannah and Claire, and mouthed that I'll meet them at our rooms for lunch. And with those words I skipped out of the class room.

I walked back to our dorm and looked up the schedule. The next class I would have is firearms… And after that hand battle. I decided to take both the classes today. I looked up the class for firearms. Oh good. It starts in ten minutes. I grabbed my pistol, a present form my parents, for the start of training, and walked out the door.

When I got to the class, I walked into a target practice room. I had my pistol strapped to my yoga pants, and was ready for practically anything. Except for the teacher noticing me, and smiling at me, "Oh, Lexi. Professor Alex told me to expect you. Come sit, we are going over the anatomy of a gun."

Otherwise this lesson was semi-boring. My dad already went over all this stuff when he first gave me a gun… Gun… Now that I think about it, I was being trained my whole life… That's why I was homeschooled my first eight years of school. During that time, I got black belts in three different styles of martial arts, and learned four languages… Russian, English, French, and Spanish… God I am an idiot! How could I have not realized that! How many girls get a pistol, a real shooting pistol for their fourteenth birthday?! I mean come on! I started high school with a pistol in my pocket, and advanced languages already mastered!

"Lexi, do you care to demonstrate? I see your parents already gave you the standard issue." Everyone turned to face me. The woman pointed towards a target, "Is your gun loaded?" I nodded, "There is an aim set up in lane three, everyone should be able to see it, and how about you demonstrate the proper shooting technique." The class smirked at me. I knew there was something wrong.

As I looked around the room I noticed ten lanes, with targets set up. I felt some jealous and some pitying glances my way too. Ah, ha. The teacher is like what's-her-name, the techie. If you don't do it perfectly she won't pass you.

I stood up from my kneeling position, "Sure," I smiled, as I pulled out my pistol and flicked off the safety switch, "Lane three you said?" I walked up to the lane, and aimed. "How many bullets?" I asked with a serious tone.

"Five."

I smirked at looked at the bulls' eye. Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! I shot the bullets. I preferred to shoot one-handed, with my right hand pointing the gun. I stood parallel to the target, and kept both my eyes open when aiming. I smirked as I put the safety back on. My parents taught me well.

Everyone rushed up behind me as the teacher went to inspect the target. When she came back, she was carrying the bard with her.

"Who taught you how to shoot?" She asked me.

"My parents… I believe you know who they are?"

"They taught you well… You pass the class. You don't need any more instruction on how to use your firearm. I expect you know how to shoot a rifle too?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Then you may go."

I walked through the crowd and out of the class room. When the students filed in behind me they saw a perfect X on the target with the intersection, on the dead center of the target.

I strapped my pistol back to my belt, and walked back to my dorm. It was noon, and I realized that the surroundings lecture was going to be done in thirty minutes.

I took a shower and put on my yoga pants again. When I walked out, I was surprised to find that Claire and Hannah went shopping the previous day, and that the fridge was full. I decided on sautéed spinach with smoked ham and lemon juice. While I cooked, the girls showed up.

"So what's cooking?" Claire came over and lifted the top off of the pan.

"Surprise," I smiled at her as I forced the lid down, before she could see the green stuff, and refuse to eat it.

After I served the stuff and they took a cautious bite and looked up at me surprised. "What is this stuff?" Hannah pointed at the spinach on her plate. "It is amazing."

"It is sautéed spinach with smoked ham and lemon juice." I answered calmly and continued eating.

"What?" both the girls freaked.

"Isn't it good?" I smiled at them.

"You got us." The girls smiled and continued eating.

"So… Lexi." Hannah began talking, "How many classes did you pass already?"

"Lets see…" I counted on my fingers, "Tech, Strategy, Firearms, Cooking, Surroundings… So five things. I am planning of completing Hand battle today, then shadowing and blending and stake out and surveillance tomorrow, and take the test Thursday!"

"Wow… That's four days… That's Elena's RECORD! OMG! We have to make sure you beat her! Lets go!" The girls grabbed my arms and dragged me to the Hand battle class.

Sense there was about an hour left of lunch the hand battle class room was empty. It looked like a regular sparring room, with a couple of mats in the middle to fight on. The two girls walked up to the person who was sitting on a chair in the corner reading.

"Mr. Petrov, Mr. Petrov!" The Hannah and Claire jumped up and down, "Can Lexi take the hand battle exam now? Please! She wants to beat her mom's record!"

The teacher looked at me, "Her moms huh? You are the infamous Lexi Philipova?" I nodded, "Then I am sure that your parents have trained you enough." The guy stood up. "Give me a challenge, and I'll pass you."

"What style of fighting?"

The guy smirked, "Basic street. No rules, but also no dishonorable moves either."

It was my turn to smirk, "My favorite." We walked over to the mats.

I bowed. I knew this was a street style fight, and I knew he wasn't expecting me to bow. I placed my hands on the floor, and immediately swung my feet around to try to trip the guy. He jumped, and tried to kick me in the face. I dropped down, then reached up and grabbed the foot he tried to kick me with and twisted, until I was in an upright position and the teacher was standing on one foot trying to keep his balance. The guy fell, knowing full well I couldn't hold him up, and jumped back up to his feet. He punched; I dodged and grabbed the wrist this time. He grabbed my wrist back, and I used his momentum to fling him off of me, and on to the mat. If we were on concrete right now I am pretty sure I would have broken at least one bone with that move. I stood at the ready, focusing my senses to make sure he couldn't get in a surprise attack. He stood up and bowed to me.

"You girl, pass the class with honors. No one was ever able to throw me like that, except for your dad. You really are a Philipova. I'll talk to the blending master. I am pretty sure, you could blend in to any crowd sense you grew up in one…" He turned to Hannah and Claire. "Girls, take her to the stake out class. It starts in ten minutes, and I am pretty sure Ms. Giriko, will let you in."

The two girls grabbed my arms, and dragged me to the stake out class.

I sat through the stake out class. It was pretty borring, sense my parents already taught me all of this. How to follow your target, how to keep watch over the house, the best places to set up a scouting point; all of that stuff I already knew because of my eight years of home-schooling. At the end of the class there was a test and I passed it with 100% and time to spare. As I walked out of the classroom, I realized that I was done with training, and just needed to take the twelve hour survival test. I saw that I still had some time left before I should start making dinner and decided to call my mom.

"Yes, Lexi? How's training going? Did you fight Mr. Petrov already?" Mom picked up the phone after the second wring. "Why didn't you call me yesterday?"

"Hi mom," I smirked as I began answering questions, "Training's going good, I fought Mr. Petrov today, around lunch time… I flung him to the mat… Something about me throwing him like only dad could… And I didn't call yesterday because I collapsed before I even got to eat dinner. Anyways… I am done with all the training. I just have the overall test to go."

"Honey, that's great! You are going to beat my over all record… now tell me about your room mates. Are they any good?"

"Yes. My roommates are amazing. Claire is one of the best snipers in the class, and Hannah is the hand to hand combat specialists here. I am thinking about asking them to partner up with me. You know, like after training, like out there in the real world… for the US government."

"That's great honey. And also, director D just called me… you got operation peacock."

"Huh? Operation peacock?"

"Yeah. The Romanov bodyguard mission."