Free The Guardian Chronicles 2: Dark Horizon by Matthew Burkey Page B

gotten very much sleep that night, Gabriel supposed that it was a combination of nerves and excitement about what he was about to undertake. He was up at 6 a.m., showered, dressed, and waiting for Ryan shortly there afterward. Luckily, he caught his parents before they went to sleep and told them about working out with Ryan the next day.
    Needless to say they were both pretty speechless. He expected a bombardment of questions but they both just beamed at him with stupid grins on their faces. He supposed they were happy that he was finally starting to make friends, although he supposed eventually he would have to deal with the questions about him and Ryan possibly being a couple.
    Ryan arrived right at 7 a.m. He parked his black pickup truck in the driveway, waiting for Gabriel to come out. Gabriel waved goodbye to his mom, who was just getting up and then was out the door. He was already pretty nervous, not only because he didn’t know what this training had in store for him but also because he was going to be alone with Ryan, someone he actually wanted to get to know better.
    “Good morning,” Ryan smiled, as Gabriel slid into the truck. “You ready for this?”
    “Um…no,” Gabriel admitted.
    “Good attitude to have.”
    They backed out of the driveway and headed down the street, hard rock playing on the radio.
    “Where are we headed?” Gabriel asked.
    “Aegis,” Ryan responded, as they turned out of Gabriel’s addition. “It’s the company that funds the Guardians and where we get most of our technology, weapons, and other devices.”
    “Wow, cool,” Gabriel said.
    “You’ll also meet the rest of the team,” Ryan went on, as they merged onto the interstate and started south. “They’re pretty cool, you’ve met everyone but Elise and Marissa.”
    “Are they Phoenix’s too?”
    “Nope,” Ryan said. “Marissa is Wolf, like Cody and Elise is a Lion like Ethan and Everett is the only Owl we have on the team.”
    “Will Ethan be there?”
    “Depends,” Ryan shrugged. “Ethan is…well…I can’t really explain it. You’ll get used to him, since he’s technically not Phoenix he doesn’t have to be here for your initial training.”
    Gabriel nodded. They rode in silence for a few minutes, at least until they exited the interstate and made a turn toward a heavy industrial area where Aegis was located. Gabriel had driven through that area before, although he hadn’t really paid attention to the businesses that were located there. Ryan made a few more turns before they approached a large security gate at the front of what appeared to be a massive complex. Ryan nodded to the guard, who opened the gate.
    “You train here?” Gabriel asked.
    “Yeah,” Ryan nodded, as they parked Ryan’s truck. “You’ll get to like it here, I promise.”
    “You do realize that I don’t have any athletic talent at all, right?”
    “You’ve got more than you want to let on.”
    Gabriel wanted to respond to that but didn’t really have anything to say. Ryan led them both into the main building, which opened up into a spacious and luxurious looking lobby that didn’t appear to fit to the industrial area that they were currently in. Gabriel looked around, amazed at the scope of the place.
    “Aegis owns all this?” Gabriel asked, as Ryan led him past the security desk. They ended up in a back hallway, headed toward what Gabriel assumed was the back of the building.
    “Yeah,” Ryan nodded. “Aegis is responsible for several new advancements in military hardware, most of which we use.”
    Gabriel just shook his head in amazement as they passed several offices.
    “Where are we going exactly?” Gabriel asked.
    “Our main facility is located underneath the research and development division, which is across the complex, right across from the administration building, which we are currently in.”
    “Oh, right.”
    They made their way through the rest of the building, emerging on the back end to find several