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Hidden: Chapter 1

From the Beginning

I was shoved into a room. It was a stereotypical interrogation room; a concrete box, with a metal table, two metal chairs, a single fluorescent light bulb (I didn't know they still made those things), and a one-way window to finish it off.

They made sure to double check my hand cuffs and ankle cuffs before cuffing me again through my belt to the table. They weren't taking any risks with me. I was furious on the inside because not too long ago I was a respected man in the military and now I was a prisoner.

I ended up waiting in the room for what I think was roughly twenty minutes before a man in a military uniform came in with another guard. The man wasn't very built and looked to be in his mid-forties. He had an impressive number of medals pinned to his chest and his stature as he walked indicated that he knew that he was in charge of the situation and wouldn't take any shit from anyone. He carried a rather large file with the words Captain Jay Anderson typed across it. His 'stripes' indicated that he was an admiral and the name tag on his uniform said, "Cornway."

'What a silly name,' I thought to myself. "Conway sounds better." Though I would never had said that out loud, especially not with him in the room.

Admiral Cornway moved to the seat opposite of me and gently lowered himself into the seat before setting down the file. The guard simple went to the corner behind the admiral and stood there, glaring at me.

I don't blame the man for staring. If I was in his situation, I would be staring as well. For heaven's sake! I was a bloody dog-human hybrid thing. I had a god damn tail that was sadly tucked between my legs and under the chair. My pointed ears were flat against my head and my nose quivered. From what I could gather from the mirror in the cell I was in earlier that morning, (I think it was morning) I took on the traits of a German Shepherd. I was a khaki color with a big splotch of black on my back that stretched down to my tail. At least I wasn't a poodle or a Chihuahua.

The admiral noticed that I was lost in my thoughts and brought a fist up to his mouth before doing a clichéd, "Ahem" to get my instant attention.

My ears shot up and swiveled towards the general. I could hear a snicker escape the guard. I doubt the general heard though. My eyes were down at my hands... paws? Whatever. But, the admiral seemed satisfied enough with my ears and began.

"Do you know why you are here Captain," the admiral quickly glanced at the folder before continuing, "Anderson?" He put his elbows on the table and rested his chin on his hands, but never let his gaze leave me.

I looked up, but quickly looked back down when I saw his blue eyes drill into my forehead. "I'm not entirely sure, sir." I twiddled my stubby thumbs. "I imagine it has to do with my current physical condition."

The admiral took a slow breath before speaking. "Yes, that's part of it, but this is more because of what you saw on the HMS Europa." He opened the file to a page somewhere in the middle of the stack of papers were within it. "You were part of the advanced recon team that was sent in to investigate its disappearance, am I correct."

I wasn't in the mood for talking so all I did was nod my head. I was now looking at my feet. The people here didn't have any kind of shoes for me and law required them to provide me with footwear and other minor comforts. They simply wrapped leather around my feet and crudely sowed it up to make some kind of moccasin. I suppose it was better than nothing. I couldn't imagine what shoes for me would look like. My feet were paws as well and my legs were... well canine. I still had a hard time thinking about how it felt like my knees were on the wrong side of my legs. My orange jump suit fit fine which was small mercy. Also, don't get me started on what I found between my legs, it just doesn't seem or feel right in any way. It sent shivers up my spine.

"Are you cold?" The admiral noticed me shivering and assumed it was because of the temperature, which now that I think of it was a bit low. "I can have a jacket brought in, I can't have you catching a cold."

Could I still catch a cold? "No, sir. I'm fine. I'm not cold, not with this fur anyway." I managed to give weak smile. I don't know how a dog smiles, but I gave it my best and it seemed to work.

"Good, I would hate to see anyone under my protection mistreated or neglected when the solution is easily obtainable." I still looked down and couldn't see his face at the time, but my ears were on auto-pilot and continued to give the admiral their undivided attention.

So, he considered me under his protection? Its obvious he was just trying to keep the mood calm. I suppose the best way to keep the mood good was to try and start a conversation, better to get on good terms with the admiral rather than some guard. "I don't suppose you have the time, do you?" It was a modest start.

"If you're going to try and start a conversation, then at least give me the benefit-of-the-doubt and look at me." He sounded slightly annoyed and that scared me.

My tail tucked up to the point where it was lying flat up against the base of the chair, I slowly looked up. Instead of seeing some 'by the book' military officer whose only objective was to interrogate me, I saw a man who looked like he cared for me. I felt like I could trust him. (I would later learn that was mainly due to my new genetics which were responding to an obvious alpha.)

"Now that wasn't too hard was it?" The annoyed tone in his voice became friendlier and my tail managed to sit idly behind me. He didn't have the hard eyes that I had seen throughout my career in the military, it was the look that a soldier would give a comrade.

"No sir, it's just that this whole situation is bizarre and frankly, I'm truly terrified." I was finding that I could talk to this man easily.

"There isn't a man alive who won't disagree with you, son." Did he just call me son? Maybe it's just how he speaks. "By the way, it's 4 PM." How long have I been here? I thought it was the morning after I was brought here.

"Do you have the date as well? I don't know how long I've been here." I knew I was pushing my luck with this question, but I also knew that there was no harm in the question.

"Nice try," chuckled the admiral. "Even a man of my rank has to respect certain rules."

I smiled at that. I've sat in interrogations before and they never went this way. There was usually lots of screaming and begging. Occasionally there was blood and once a man died from a heart attack. This was the opposite, we were having some sort of a conversation and both sides seemed to enjoy it.

The admiral's face hardened at bit and he flipped through a few pages in the file. "How long have you been in the military?"

I looked at the file in front of the man. I could see a few bits of information, it looked like my service record. "Fifteen years sir. I joined when I turned 18 and have been in ever since."

The admiral nodded slightly a few times and flipped through another few pages. "You have a remarkable service record captain." He looked up from the file and once again rested his chin on his hands. "You showed signs of leadership and was chosen for the officer program in just six months, and got to the rank your'e at now in just four years, an extremely difficult task to achieve. To top that, you joined NATO's prestigious Spec Enforcers five years go. You've had the opportunity to become a major on several occasions, but refused the promotion. Why?"

I looked hard into his eyes and told him. "I didn't want to leave my men. If I became a major, I wouldn't have been able to go into the field. It's why I joined in the first place, to go to new places and meet new people."

The admiral looked at me with a bit of amusement. "I know the feeling all too well. I was never on the field like you were, but I loved the fleet. I've been in the military for 42 years."

'Maybe he wasn't in his mid-forties.'

"I spent 10 years as a captain of various ships, large and small and loved every moment of it. Even now, as an admiral I get to sit on a bridge every once in a while." His eyes began to glaze over as he lost himself.

"You're not going to monologue, sir, are you?" I caught on to the fact that he was reminiscing about his 'glory days.'

"Oh..." The glaze in his eyes wore off and looked a bit disappointed that I didn't let him continue. "I won't bore you about my life. We're supposed to be talking about your life." He looked back down to the file, but didn't go to a new page.

"Sir, if I may?" I raised a finger to get his attention and got a curt nod in reply. "I know about military interrogations and they never go this way. Even the 'nice cop' in the movies or real life, take your pick, aren't this kind."

That got him to get his chin off his hands. He straightened himself and closed the file and looked at me. "Normally we don't interrogate people like you. You're a loyal and reliable soldier who was unfortunate enough to get caught up in some messed up shit." I winced a bit at the profanity, it didn't sound right coming from an admiral; a drill sergeant yes, an admiral, no.

I hadn't noticed the glass of water that appeared next to the admiral as he took a quick sip from it. Someone must have come in without being noticed. "There's no reason to yell at you or threaten your family because everything is here in the file. We have video and audio recordings of most of the mission."

I scrunched my face in confusion at those words. "If you have everything, then why are we here?" I could feel the anger in me build up. "Why am I here in this place? I don't understand, I've done everything the military has asked of me." I was yelling at this point and the guard was getting nervous.

The admiral raised his hand and patted the air in a gesture for me to calm down. I took a few deep breaths and felt a bit better. The guard had put his hand on his taser and kept it there.

"Captain, you're here because the people who are above me don't know what to do with you."

"What?" I was confused again.

The admiral took another sip from his water. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, ever. Top brass is afraid of what will happen if news of this gets out."

"A...afraid? Why, so what if I'm a dog? I'm not happy with it, but even I realize I'm still the same person. I'm still Captain... Am I still in the military?" My entire life had been the military and the thought that it wouldn't be any more was disheartening. My ears flattened and my tail tucked again.

"I'm not the one who decides that, but I can tell you that there has been no discharge of any kind yet."

My ears perked a bit, but my tail remained tucked. I was glad that he couldn't see it, I felt humiliated whenever I thought of my tail. "What about my squad, I wasn't the only person exposed and changed."

"I'm not at liberty to reveal any information regarding your squad members. In fact I'm not supposed to reveal anything about the aftermath of your mission." He was avoiding eye contact with me. He wasn't used to interrogations, he was hiding something.

"Sir, is there nothing you can tell me?"

His voice became hard and cold. "Captain, you do not question an officer. You are, for all intents and purposes, still a member of the military and will adhere to its protocol." His voice was hard, but his eyes had sorrow in them, he felt guilty about something. "Do I make myself clear?"

The voice caught me off guard a bit, but I wasn't scared of this man. My ears remained up and my tail was no longer curled. I was interested in what this man was hiding. "Yes sir." I would have to bide my time and hope that he slips at one point.

The admiral looked down an opened up the file again. "Start telling me about the nature of your mission. I want to hear the detail from the man who was there and not from a record."

I looked up as I recollected everything I could remember. "Well, it was January 25 when the SOS from the HMS Eurasia came in."