Wolf and Ghost got to B-Squadron's barracks just as the rest of their teams were arriving. The sand had mostly been brushed off their uniforms and Wolf was pleased to see that the majority of K-Unit looked much more respectable than their american counterparts. By the way Eagle and Apache were still glaring at each other, and the fact that they two alone looked like they'd been dragged through a hedge backward led him to deduce that there had probably been some sort of fight between the pair. Either that or they'd been making out; both were quite possible.

They filed into the barracks which Wolf saw was considerably larger than the one they'd been assigned to. What were the Americans trying to say? He caught Bear's eye and she looked pointedly over at Eagle and Apache, who despite their ferocious glares had seated themselves next to each other on the same bed.

Bear walked over to him, bent down and said quietly in his ear, "Eagle won the fight, he kicked Apache in the nuts." Wolf couldn't help but grin.

"You'd think that was counterproductive." he whispered back.

"Right," said Ghost loudly, "everyone take a seat, you can sit anywhere." he paused, sighing, looking exasperated, "Anywhere but on the important files, Rex."

Wolf perched himself on the edge of the bed nearest Ghost. Ghost was in charge of the operation, but Wolf was still the leader of his unit and he thought he ought to have some kind of station.

Once everyone was seated Ghost stood to address them all.

"As you know, we're being pulled out of our international relations exercises to complete a very important operation." Wolf had to admire how Ghost could capture attention, he could see why the man had been picked as his squadron chief. "Now, lieutenant Carmicheal hasn't briefed me fully, but he's given us these files so we can formulate a plan of action. It's up to us to decide what resources to use, where to begin and how to do it. We're planning a full scale operation and we have the rest of Delta Force who are only on routine assignments to aid us if we need it. This means we'll have five squadrons, which with K-Unit is thirty five men - well," he looked up uncomfortably at Bear, "thirty four men one woman."

Bear rolled her eyes.

"Which squads are on routine?" Gun asked, raising his hand in the air a little.

Ghost opened the file in front of him and read, "F,E,G,A and Z, why?"

Gun smiled slowly, "Calico is in Z unit."

The rest of B-Squadron's faces matched his grin and Wolf looked around confused, there was obviously something between this Calico and B-Squadron.

"Who's Calico?" he asked, hoping for a little explanation

"He was in charge of an operation a few months ago," explained Gun, "there was a kidnapping and we had to block off all possible exits. Calico and his unit made us guard the sewers. From the inside"

Charge shivered, "I swear I can still smell it on my jacket."

"Guys, we can't assign Z unit to something horrible just because we don't like them." said Ghost almost wearily, but Wolf could see a small glint in his eyes, "If they happen to get the worst luck of the draw then so be it, we're merely distributing squadrons as we see fit."

"I hope there's a pit of snakes or something we can make them jump into," said Apache vindictively, "or a sewer full of rats, that would be good."

"You're just describing Indianna Jones." Eagle pointed out.

"So? They're good films." Apache said defensively.

"I didn't say they weren't."

"It was implied in the tone."

"It was not."

"Was."

"Eagle!"

"Apache!"

The two men looked up from their squabbling and made their apologies to their respective leaders.

"This is a high stakes mission," Ghost continued, "and Carmicheal told that he thinks SIS have sent us on a bit of a wild goose chase, which means it's going to be extra difficult to get a win. And we really need to win this one." he added as an afterthought.

"So is it a kidnapping or a hostage situation or a search and rescue?" Rex asked, making the same deduction as Wolf.

Ghost shook his head, "Neither, it's a man-hunt."

There was a sudden change in the air, the men were surprised.

"Who for?" asked Hawk, finally.

Ghost picked up a file from the pile on his bed and handed it to Snake, motioning for him to pass it along once he'd looked at it. Ghost held up a picture of an attractive blonde man, with short hair and piercingly blue eyes. He was coming out of a hotel, holding his mobile to his ear.

"This is Yassen Gregorovich, he was a contract killer until last July when he was shot in the chest by Damian Cray. He survived but barely and has spent the past year at Baskerville Prison in England. This morning he escaped and is now in the states."

"Why did he come here?" asked Hawk, "surely he'd hide out somewhere a little less policed? Somewhere where there's no US extradition."

"I'm coming to that," Ghost said grimly, "Gregorovich escaped with a man named Cuthbert Stanely," there was an intake of breath at the name, "who was, until recently our commanding officer here at Fort Bragg."

"The Lieutenant escaped with a contract killer, why?" Charge asked, confused. "And why was he taken in the first place? You never said. Ghost, what's going on?"

There was a murmur from the other members of B-Squadron, obviously they were all as confused as K-Unit.

"I'll tell you everything I know once I've briefed you on the mission." said Ghost, calmly, "What I will say now is that I'm pretty sure the Lieutenant's reason for breaking out was similar to Gregorvich's."

Wolf looked at the rest of the men and was not surprised that they all looked confused.

"The CIA believe that Gregorovich has broken out to find a boy named Alex Rider. Coincidentally, it is the same boy which we rescued from that kidnapping a few days ago."

Ghost picked up the file, but before he could pass it round Gun spoke. "But didn't that kid say his father was David Friend?"

Ghost nodded and pulled out the picture, staring down at it. "He did, but he must have been lying for some reason. What that reason is, I don't know. Anyway,"

He passed the file to Snake and held up the picture, "this is Alex Rider, he's fifteen, british and-"

"It's Cub!"

"I don't believe it!"

"What the hell?"

Wolf, Snake and Eagle had all spoken at the same time. B-Squadron, Hawk and Bear were looking at them all with interest. Ghost looked at Wolf, his question evident in his eyes.

"So it is the kid you know?"

"Definitely."

"Okay, so then I guess: how do you know him? And do you know anything which might help us find him before Gregorovich does?"

"I don't know about that." Wolf said, scratching his chin, "but I'll tell you how we know him for sure. When we were just entering the selection process in March last year, we got landed with this kid, Alex I guess his name is. He was sent to be part of our unit for just under two weeks, we all thought he was going to get us binned. We were under the impression that he was the son of some rich diplomat or something, who wanted to toughen his kid up a bit. They gave him the codename Cub and he did everything with us, apart from shooting and parachute training. He was a nightmare, but-"

"No he wasn't Wolf, he kept up with us extremely well." Snake defended, "He even pickpocketed the Sergeant for those matches. We'd never have gotten a fire started if it wasn't for Cub."

"Yes, well-"

"Wolf, you only didn't like him because he was actually good." Eagle chimed in.

"Alright, alright, the kid was good okay?" Wolf admitted, "Better than any of us would have been at- how old did you say he was? Fifteen? Anyway, he left and we all thought we'd never see him again but then at the end of April, I saw him again, snowboarding down a mountain in France on an ironing board."

B-Squadron looked at him, dumb-struck, but they didn't interrupt, too keen to hear the rest of the story.

"There were guards shooting at him, and there was no way we could actually get up the mountain and help, if we had been called in a few days earlier then maybe, but we could only watch as this kid took out a snowmobile on his own. He only escaped the second one when he managed to hitch a lift on the train going past. He slid along it cool as can be, but then there was a corner, he fell and ended up in barbed wire." The entire room winced, falling from a train going at speed into barbed wire must have hurt.

"I went to the hospital to see him afterward and there was this woman there, who convinced him to go back to where he'd just escaped from. He didn't want to at first but then when I said we didn't need him, he got all defensive and ended up tagging along. I can't tell you what or where he'd escaped from, but they sent him back in. I got shot, and then I went to find the primary target, the one behind the operation we were sent to take down, but all there was was this huge explosion in the sky. I found out after that the kid had launched a snowmobile at the helicopter he was in."

"Wow." said Ghost simply, "that's one hell of a kid."

"Have you seen him since?" Apache asked

Wolf shook his head. "I sent him a card when he got appendicitis last September."

Ghost nodded, deep in thought, "Wolf, this woman which convinced him to go back into wherever it was he'd just escaped from. I don't suppose you know who she was or her name or anything?"

"I'm afraid not," Wolf said, shrugging, "but if it helps she was about forty, dark hair, dark eyes, very businesslike, smells of peppermints?"

"Quite masculine?" Ghost asked, his eyebrows pinching together. Eagle snorted at the question but Wolf ignored him.

"Yeah, why do you know her?"

"I might do. There's a woman like that with MI6, she was there when they arrested Stanley and left with Alex in the same helicopter."

"MI6?" Wolf asked, surprised, "what's the kid doing wrapped up with MI6?"

"Not a clue." Ghost said, honestly, "but when he was arrested, Stanley managed to write this down." he brought the post-it note out of his pocket. "He was in the debrief with Alex, David Friend and this woman."

"What does it say?" asked Bear, who until now had been very quiet.

"MI6. Blunt. Anatolievich. Miami. Get kid out."

"Who's Blunt?" asked Eagle, "Do you think it could be this woman?"

"Maybe," said Ghost thoughtfully, "It could be the man who was with her too. Either way it's someone in MI6, I'm sure of it."

"And who is this Anatolievich, is he with MI6 too?" asked Snake, "It sounds russian."

"But Gregorovich is russian too isn't he?" asked Rex, looking at the man's file, "maybe they know each other?"

"Maybe, that's what I thought" agreed Ghost, "but anyway, I think the kid may be in Miami. Only thing is, Carmicheal doesn't know about this." he gestured to the piece of paper, "And if Gregorovich is looking for Rider, and Stanley told him when they escaped, he'll know where the kid is already."

"But if Gregorovich wanted to hurt Cub, would your Lieutenant tell him where he was?" Eagle asked

Ghost was silent. "I hadn't thought of that." he said, surprised, "Stanley is an intelligent man, I don't think he would have told a contract killer where Rider was even if Gregorovich did tell him he didn't want to hurt the kid. Not willingly anyway."

"So we have a good idea that the kid is in Miami?" Hawk asked, "then why haven't SIS doubled the police, doubled the agents and put a barricade around the kid's house if they know where he is?"

"But the kid doesn't live there." Charge pointed out, "He lives in San Francisco, he told us when we rescued him. His address is listed as Presidio Heights in the file."

"Then what's he doing in Florida?" asked Bear

"Maybe it's something to do with Friend?" suggested Rex, "Maybe it's why he lied to us. Maybe SIS can't give the kid visible protection for a reason."

"I think we can assume that Gregorovich doesn't know the kid is in Miami." Ghost said, "Stanley was injured during their escape, maybe that was Gregorovich's handiwork when he didn't tell him where the kid was."

Immediately there was tension in the room.

"The Lieutenant's injured?" exclaimed Charge, "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I am telling you," Ghost snapped, then seeing the look on B-Squardron's faces he said, in a much softer tone, "I'm sorry, I know I should have before" he apologised, "Carmicheal said that he would be in custody soon which means he'll be treated in hospital first if it's life threatening."

"Is it bad I don't know whose side to be on? On the one hand Staney's a fugitive, but why was he even locked up in the first place?" muttered Charge.

Ghost turned to him, "He was arrested for breaching the confidentiality clause in his contract, he was about to tell me about the briefing when they came in and arrested him."

"So whatever SIS said at the briefing," began Wolf slowly, "was bad enough that your lieutenant would risk prison and a dishonourable discharge to do something about it?"

Ghost nodded simply.

Eagle voiced what they were all thinking, "I wonder what Cub's got himself into."

There was a grim silence.

"I think we should start in San Francisco." Ghost said clearly, "I know it'll mean a lot of travelling, especially if Gregorovich is in Miami already, but I think it's safe to say we know Lieutenant Stanley better than anyone else, and I think we can all be pretty sure he wouldn't have told Gregorovich where the kid is."

B-Squadron nodded their heads in agreement.

"I agree, start with his family." Ghost said, looking over at Bear who was holding Cub's file, "What does it say?"

Bear flicked through the file quickly, "His foster mother is Elizabeth Pleasure she's in fashion. His foster father however is Edward Pleasure, the journalist. There's a whole other file on him." she picked up the file next to her, opened it, and read. "He's been the target of two failed assassinations, orchestrated by Damian Cray and Desmond McCain. Once in the south of France and then again in Scotland. He was left with a long term leg injury after the Cray attack which was - you're not going to believe this - carried out by Gregorovich."

"Gregorovich tried to kill Rider's foster father?"

"Yes, though he wasn't fostering him at the time, Pleasure only started looking after Rider in March this year. Gregorovich was working for Cray, there was nothing personal about the attack. Seemingly, they were unconnected."

"This story just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Wolf muttered, rubbing his hand over his head.

"What about the second attempt?" asked Snake "what was the motivation then?"

"The second time it had nothing to do with Gregorovich at all, it was solely down to the article Pleasure was writing on Desmond McCain. Apparently Rider was there when the tires of his car were shot out."

"Jesus, this kid's like a bad penny." interjected Charge.

Bear gave him a dark look over the file, "Rider's the only reason Pleasure survived." she said seriously, "The car went into Loch Leven in January with Rider, Pleasure and his daughter inside. Apparently the kid got them all out."

Eagle gave a low whistle.

"It's a wonder they didn't all get hyperthermia." said Gun.

"So this Pleasure has a daughter?" Ghost asked, moving back on topic "who is she?"

Bear flicked the page over, "Her name's Sabina Pleasure, she's a year older than Rider at sixteen. Most of her information has been redacted as she's underage." She took out a picture from the file and held it up. "She'll be a heartbreaker when she grows up, if she's not already."

Wolf looked at the image. A very pretty girl with long dark hair and bright blue eyes stared out of the photograph. She was dressed in tennis gear and looked athletic.

There was a wolf whistle from one of the american men, followed immediately by the sound of a hand hitting a shoulder.

"Is it possible that the Pleasure family know where Rider is?" Wolf asked curiously.

Ghost looked at him, evidently thinking. "We don't know that they don't," he said slowly, "and I suppose they're the people most likely to, well apart from MI6 or the CIA."

"I think we should go see Mr Pleasure and see if Gregorovich has paid him a visit already." Wolf suggested, "We should station a couple of your squadrons round that area too so if Gregorovich hasn't already come knocking he'll be caught."

Ghost nodded. "I agree, the Pleasure's are probably Gregorovich's best bet at finding Rider, ours too. It's probably where he'll try first, and our priority is to keep the civilians safe."

"Should we station people in the daughter's school?" queried Hawk, "Gregorovich doesn't seem the type to be above kidnapping a child to get what he wants."

"Good idea." Ghost said, considering slowly, "I don't want a child getting caught up in all this."

"You mean, another child." Apache pointed out.

Ghost inclined his head

"We should station some of your people in Miami as well." Wolf suggested, "Just in case Gregorovich does show up there immediately."

Ghost nodded, "I agree. We'll put E and A in Miami, then F and G can come with us to San Fran. We'll leave Z out of it as much as possible, Calico will only try and take over the mission and I don't want to deal with him."

"Hey Ghost?" asked Apache.

"Yeah?"

"Why don't we station Z Squadron around the daughters' school? That'll be a nice, important task for them, babysitting a bunch of Juniors."

Ghost grinned. "I like your style." There were eager nods and evil smiles amongst the rest of B Squadron.

"Okay then, let's get moving," said Ghost, "Rex, go and organise transport for us to San Francisco. Helicopters will be too flashy to arrive and if Gregorovich is there he'll be sure to notice them. Use your initiative, remember he's dangerous and we don't want to come into contact with him before the take down. Take Bear with you," he added as an afterthought, "we need to get used to working together."

Rex nodded and left the barracks, motioning for Bear to follow him.

"Apache," Ghost said, turning to him, "take Eagle and sort out weaponry. Again, we don't want anything too flashy or anything we can't hide in our duffel bags. We'll travel as civilians most of the way and we don't want to attract any attention that Gregorovich might get wind of."

The pair nodded and left the hut. Wolf was mildly surprised Eagle hadn't made a joke out of the word wind.

"Snake," Ghost said, "you're K-Unit's medic aren't you?"

Snake nodded.

"You and Charge best pack up your supplies, and raid the infirmary too, we don't know what we'll need, or what kind of weapons Gregorovich will be armed with"

Charge stood from the bed, "Come on, I'll show you the med bay," he leaned in close to the other man, "It's sick."

Snake looked at Wolf, a resigned, pleasing look on his face. Wolf smiled back at him innocently, Snake needed to learn an appreciation for puns.

"Gun, you telephone F, G and Z Squadrons. Tell them to move their asses over to San Fran ASAP, we'll follow up with more information in a few hours. Do the same for A and E units but send them over to Miami."

Gun nodded and exited the room with Snake and Charge. which left Wolf, Hawk and Ghost as the only occupants in the room.

"Hawk and I are our Squadrons tactical experts." Ghost said, "Which means we're the ones who need to come up with a specific POA."

Wolf sent him a silent questioning glance.

"That is er- a Plan of Action," he explained, "Wolf, you're your Unit's leader and you seem to know Rider best so I think it's best if we keep you in the main loop too."

Wolf nodded, Ghost was acting just as he would have done if he'd been running point on the operation.

"We have to head off in," Ghost glanced at the clock on the wall, "in about fifty minutes which means we don't have a lot of time to come up with an exact plan, especially as we don't know the kind of equipment or transport the others will decide on, but I reckon if we come up with enough options then we should hopefully cover all our bases."

"Chances are with a man like Gregorovich, things will go tits up within twenty minutes of us making contact," Hawk said captiously. He was flicking through Gregorovich's file.

"What makes you say that?" asked Wolf, surprised, Hawk was usually optimistic.

"Nothing concrete really," Hawk said thoughtfully, "but it seems that when Rider's life and Gregorovich's cross, things end up pretty badly for the people in the middle." He looked up and Wolf motioned for him to continue. "First Gregorovich works for Sayle for months and months on those Stormbreaker computers and then after two days, two days, of Rider turning up in Port Tallon, Gregorovich ends up shooting Sayle."

"So? Maybe it was just a coincidence?" Ghost suggested, "Maybe Gregorovich got bored of Sayle ordering him around all the time and snapped. He doesn't seem like the kind of guy who'd take kindly to someone asking him to pass the cookies nevermind asking him to constantly commit murder."

Hawk inclined his head in agreement and flipped the paper in the file.

"I'd agree it was just a coincidence, but then you see only three months later, Rider turns up in the south of France, where Gregorovich then blows up the house he's staying in. Nothing to do with Rider but all the same. Anyway, a couple of days later, Rider and Gregorovich both end up on Air Force one with Damian Cray."

"I heard about that," Ghost said, "It was a major scandal, apparently they never found Cray's body?"

Hawk grimaced. "They didn't find his body, because there was no body to be found. All we know about the events on Air Force One is that Gregorovich was shot by Cray - though we don't know what made Cray turn on the man after he'd been working with him for so long. Oh, and that Cray died somewhere along the line too. From the series of events here we have to assume that it was Rider who killed him. Though there are mentions of an underage civilian being on board too, it may have been them I suppose, or the pilot."

"Who's the civilian?" asked Ghost curiously.

Hawk shrugged, showing them the file where there were full paragraphs of redacted information, thick black lines all over the text. "It doesn't say, it's been taken out. How Cray died was never officially recorded, witness accounts from the ground say the cabin door was open, so either Cray fell to his death from a height of about two metres or-"

It was Wolf's turn to grimace now, he felt sick, he gritted his teeth, "Or he went through the engine."

Hawk nodded.

"So, death follows both Rider and Gregorovich like a shadow." Ghost said bluntly, "That's good to know, at least we have some idea what we're getting into."

"I know this sounds ridiculous," said Wolf, preparing for the onslaught of jibes this would no doubt bring, "but I can't imagine Cub killing people. Even though I know he must have killed the Primary on the operation in France, and at least one of the people on the snow mobiles on his way down the mountain, it's still hard to imagine. I know, it's ridiculous"

Ghost shook his head, "It doesn't sound ridiculous, he is a kid after all but," he paused, unsure of what to say exactly, "Wolf, you met him over a year ago, I met him about three days ago. At first glance he looks and acts like a normal kid but there's something about his eyes which-" he cut himself off, a small shiver going down his spine. He tried again, "Whatever happened to the kid between that mission in France and now, well, it was nothing good. He looks like he's seen some serious shit."

Wolf set his jaw and nodded stoically. Ghost was a sensible man after all, he wouldn't embellish a story.

"Blimey!"

Wolf turned to look at Hawk who had uttered the exclamation. "What?" he asked, interestedly.

"Listen to his medical report. Age: 15, Height 5'4-"

"Well that's weird for a start," Ghost cut in, "I don't know if you brits are different but when I was fifteen I was at least 5'8, and I'm only 6'0 now."

"Maybe he's not had his growth spurt yet." Wolf suggested.

"Anyway," Hawk snapped, "Height 5'4, Weight: 110lbs."

"Jesus-"

"Would you stop interrupting?" Hawk asked Ghost curtly.

"Sorry."

"He's got all the usual vaccinations, plenty of hospital appointments for various broken bones, fractures and sprains from when he was growing up."

"He's still growing up." mumbled Ghost.

"Ghost!"

"Sorry."

"But then in September when he's" Hawk screwed his face up in concentration, doing the maths, "when he's fourteen he's admitted to hospital with-you're not going to believe this."

"What?"

"A bullet wound about an inch above his heart."

Wolf and Ghost shared a look of shock.

"He'd been shot?" Ghost asked, his eyes wide.

"That tends to be how you come by a bullet wound." Hawk said, a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

Wolf was quiet, thinking. "That's about when I sent him a card for appendicitis. They must have lied."

"It is SIS, it's basically in the job description."

Wolf didn't respond, instead sinking back into whoever's bed he was sat on. "God." he said after a while. "Poor kid. Do we know who shot him?"

Hawk shook his head, "It's been redacted, though we know it was deliberate."

"Well most shootings tend to be." Ghost reasoned.

"No," Hawk said impatiently, "I mean that he was shot with a Barrett M82."

Wolf sat up sharply on the bed, "But that's a sniper rifle." he said sharply and Hawk nodded slowly, waiting for it to sink in, "You're telling me someone tried to assassinate Cub?"

"Looks like it."

"My God."

There was silence until Ghost broke it a minute later.

"Come on, we need to keep looking through these files, we don't have time to sit around. Hawk, have you found anything else about Rider which we may need to know?"

"Actually, there's something else in his medical file which is weird." Hawk said, flicking through the file to find the right page.

"Go on."

"There's some notes about medication he's been taking since March - ever since he's been living in the States, but it doesn't say what it's for or what it is."

"Could it be something like oxycodone for his bullet wound?" asked Wolf. "That's what they gave me."

Hawk shook his head, "No, he was given it in September when he was shot, but two months later when he was admitted to hospital for burns there was no trace of it in his system, he hadn't been taking it for awhile."

"What could it be?"

Hawk shrugged, "Snake's our medic, he might have more of an idea." he gestured at the file, "all it says here is that it was experimental but successful. Oh and that he's addicted to it."

"Addicted?" Ghost repeated, "Isn't that a bad thing?"

"SIS don't seem to be too worried."

"Yeah, well SIS are up to something untoward, aren't they." Wolf pointed out.

"Anything else in the file?"

"Nothing which looks important," Hawk said, "just general information about him."

Wolf nodded, "We best take these files along with us anyway. What about Gregorovich's?"

Ghost picked it up and scanned it.

"He's 6'1, thirty-six,"

"He doesn't even look thirty!" exclaimed Hawk.

Ghost ignored him, "He's russian, trained under a Scoripia agent whose name is redacted when he was nineteen. He's a known associate of the assassin nicknamed 'The Gentleman'. He's incredibly well trained, and kept himself to an impossible standard of health and fitness even when he was in Baskerville. There's a list of his contacts but they're mostly in Europe and the Middle East. He's got a pilot's license, a boating license, a few yachts in his name but they've all been seized since his arrest. There's no address registered. That's about it"

"That can't be it." Wolf said, eyebrows narrowed, "did he give up anything in interrogation when he was caught?"

Ghost shook his head, "Nothing which they've put in the file."

"They really do want us to fail." muttered Hawk.

"We know that this operation is high profile," Ghost said, reasonably, "it's only natural that we won't be allowed access to most of the information. Quite frankly I'm surprised there's that much on Rider actually. We've had cases with less."

Even as Ghost said this it was obvious to Wolf that it wasn't true. Wolf didn't question it, this way of operation was new to him and he didn't think that undermining Ghost's confidence or bravado would help. This was an important case for all of them. If they failed then Cub might end up dead, or worse.

"So do you do all your operations like this?" Wolf asked curiously, "We're just given orders and shipped out, we don't organise our own resources."

Ghost thought for a moment, "It's not often we're given a full run of an operation like this, there's usually a whole team of us, plus the lieutenant, but it's not dissimilar."

"So, where do we start?" asked Hawk, briskly, "Once we get to San Fransisco I mean."

Ghost pulled a map out of the files on the beds and opened it out, showing a map of San Francisco. Wolf picked up a discarded pen from the floor and moved to mark on the Presidio Heights neighbourhood at the top of the city.

"This is where they live." he said as he circled it.

"Posh place." muttered Ghost, he after all was the only one to know the area.

"Rider and the daughter go to Abraham Lincoln High School in the Sunset District," Hawk said, reading from the file he'd just picked up from the floor. He pulled out a set of photographs of the school. It was a tall building, painted red and cream with a silhouette of the President it was named after on one of the walls. Hawk pointed to a spot further south west of the Pleasure's home on the map. "It's about here."

"Hey, it says here there's a tree that was planted by Lincoln himself."

Wolf looked incredulously up at his soldier and Hawk looked down, embarrassed, "It's cool, shut up."

"What's our budget for a motel?" asked Ghost

"Where should it say?"

"Nevermind, I've got the file here. We'll only need two rooms, one for sleep, one for observation and we've got a two hundred dollar budget."

"Found a place." Hawk said immediately. "There's a motel on Geary Boulevard. $78 dollars a night. It's west of the Pleasure's house, near the Golden Gate park."

"That'll do us. Here, mark it on." Ghost said, handing over the pen.

They worked in unison for the next thirty-five minutes, collecting information about the area, calculating escape routes taking into account when and where there would be lots of civilians, places where, if cornered Gregorovich may try to run to or places where he may already be hiding out. There was even a detailed run down of the Pleasure's schedules, apparently the CIA had had people watching them for months. Eventually, pair by pair, the rest of the men filed back in. They'd packed the helicopters they'd take to Stockton and organised the rental cars they would then take the rest of the way to San Francisco. F, G and Z units were already on their way over to the city.

Ghost and Wolf picked the files up with help from Snake and packed them into a bag held open by Rex. Wolf shouldered it and stood to address the rest of the men with Ghost.

"We're heading out in five minutes." Ghost said loudly, "Everyone go take a piss, freshen up and be at the helipad at 1300 hours. If you're late we'll leave without you."

The men exited the hut and Wolf followed Ghost out and walked with the man to the helipad where two helicopters were ready.

"So who's flying these?" Wolf asked curiously.

"Apache is our aircraft specialist, he'll fly one. Rex can manage the other if you guys-"

"Hey!" Wolf objected, "of course we can fly. We all do. Hawk's the most natural, I've no head for heights."

Wolf wasn't sure what had inspired this honesty, perhaps it was the memories of Cub. He was, after all was the one who had kicked him out the plane, but Ghost didn't say anything, just nodded.

"Russet and Nero from E unit are meeting us at Stockton airstrip where we're landing, then they'll take the copters back here and then join the rest of their unit in Miami." Ghost explained, moving the conversation on quickly. Wolf was grateful.

"How do you get your codenames by the way?" Wolf asked curiously, "We get ours before selection but it sounds as if yours are more personal than that."

Ghost grinned, "We get numbers until we pass," he explained, "most of us tend to earn a nickname during selection anyway and those that don't are just handed one at random."

Wolf nodded. He'd been hoping the Ghost would tell him the story behind his own, but it looked like he was going to have to ask. He gave the man next to him a glance out of the corner of his eye. Ghost met his gaze impishly.

"You want to know how I got mine?" he asked, smiling.

"I'm curious, sue me."

Ghost grinned. "It's nothing interesting really, Charge and Gun's stories are much better than mine." he gestured to the men who were walking a couple of paces behind them.

Wolf narrowed his eyes, "I want to hear yours."

Ghost sighed, "We were in Alaska and I managed to complete the stealth exercise without being seen, which was difficult as the area was covered in snow and the trees were virtually non-existent. I-"

"Hey, Ghost!" came Charge's voice, loud and clear from over Wolf's shoulder, "Are you telling that fake story again?"

"It's not a fake story!" Ghost protested, turning round, "I was the only one who didn't get caught on that-"

"Yeah, yeah." Charge said patronisingly, slinging his arm around Ghost's shoulders. "Would you like to hear the real reason ol' Ghost is named Ghost?"

Wolf grinned at Ghost who looked resigned, "Yes, please."

"So polite, you brits." commented Charge, "come on men, gather round." The rest of K-Unit as well as Apache and Rex had caught up to them. They joined the little group on the helipad.

"Ghost here, was on watch duty," began Charge mysteriously, "and the trees around us began to sway. It was a dark October night and a sudden chill fell over the lone soldier."

Ghost shuddered visibly.

"He clutched his gun to his chest and looked out into the darkness. Then the fog came, and he struggled to see past the point of his bayonet. He was responsible for the four sleeping soldiers beside him and then all of a sudden, BAM" he clamped a hand down on Ghost's shoulder and the man went pale.

"A heavy hand fell onto his shoulder and the soldier turned round, but there was no one there. Just the fog, an outline of a man standing far away and his four sleeping friends." Charge's voice changed from spooky to matter-of-fact. "Though he woke the four soldiers a second later when he screamed bloody murder and started shouting about ghosts, the paranormal and the netherworld, then insited that a spirit was out to get him."

The soldiers around Ghost burst into laughter at Charge's last sentence and the leader of B-Squadron turned red.

"I'm telling you there was something there." he protested.

"Sure there was Ghost." said Apache, clapping his leader on the shoulder and climbing into the pilot's seat of the helicopter nearest to them. The rest of B-Squadron followed suit and K-Unit headed over to the other vehicle.

"Strange lot, aren't they?" Snake mused to Wolf as they climbed up.

"I like them." said Eagle happily, his grin wide.

"You like everyone Eagle," Bear pointed out, "you even like Viper."

"I keep telling you, she's not that bad!"

Bear stared at him until he relented, "Okay, she's a bit of a bitch I'll admit, but so am I."

"Yeah, Apache's bitch." Bear snorted

"I heard that!"

"You were meant to."

"Just get in, Eagle." Hawk said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Wolf, I take it I'm flying?"

Wolf nodded. "All you have to do is follow the yanks."

"Nice."

Wolf looked at him, puzzled "Why's that nice?"

"I don't have to deal with Eagle for fourteen hours."

"Fourteen hours?" Shouted Snake and Bear in unison.

"So we'll get there at what, 3am tomorrow? How big is this country?" asked Eagle, horrified.

"Well technically California is three hours behind us," Wolf explained, "so we'll get there at midnight, but it'll be like 3am for us."

"Oh my god, fourteen hours in a small space with Eagle." despaired Bear. "This is the worst form of torture, what did we do to deserve this?"

"Hey, I'm not that bad," said Eagle, indignantly, moving to sit in between Bear and Wolf. Wolf promptly stood and moved to sit next to Snake. "and you'll be nice to me if you want any sandwiches."

"Just because you have food doesn't mean you have to sit that close to me." muttered Bear.

"Why, should I be worried? Is being a prat contagious?" asked Eagle with mock concern.

Bear retaliated with a punch to Eagle's left arm. The helicopter blades began to spin and Wolf leant back against the side, resigned to his fate. Snake patted his knee.

"Strap in," he said, with a wry smile, "it's going to be a long journey."

Sabina was sitting in her 5th period English, staring out of the window, her mind far away from the extract from Romeo and Juliet she was supposed to be analysing. After Lieutenant Stanley had been taken away by the paramedics, the Pleasure family plus Brad had had a long conversation about what they were going to do next.

"There's someone looking for Alex and they want revenge on him for killing Gregorovich and we're just going to sit here doing nothing?" Sabina had asked her father, astounded.

"We don't know that Sabina." he'd reasoned, "All we know is that there's another russian looking for Alex, he may be on our side, he might even be an agent of some sort. I'll see if I can contact the CIA and they can look into it."

Sabina had to admit that her father was right, they didn't know anything for sure, they only had the man's word that he was lieutenant Stanley, well former Lieutenant anyway. He could have been anyone, though something in Sabina's gut told her that the man had been honest.

She couldn't exactly call up the CIA herself and tell them that her gut thought that this man was who he said he was and that he'd been telling the truth, it would sound silly. Besides she didn't have their number. If the CIA did take an interest in the man who had turned up at their door, there would be a long investigation and by that time the man may have already found Alex. But if they did nothing… Alex had saved her and her father's life at least twice each and now all they could do was sit tight and wait for the CIA to send someone round to their house.

"Miss Pleasure."

Sabina looked up at her teacher, Mr Landsbury.

"Yeah?" she asked apathetically. She knew it would make her seem rude but she didn't really care.

"I asked you why I've just received a note from Principal Vardy saying you were supposed to see him in his office at lunch but neglected to do so."

"Ah," Sabina said disinterestedly, not really listening, "did you?" She didn't have a clue what the man was on about, but she couldn't be bothered to argue.

There were snickers from some of the class and a quiet 'ooooo' from the boy behind her.

"Would you like to answer the question Miss Pleasure," Mr Landsbury said sweetly, "or would you like detention?"

"I'll have detention."

There were a few more laughs from her class and Sabina picked up her bag, (she hadn't bothered to take anything out), and walked up Mr Landsbury as he tore off a detention slip, standing beside him silently as he wrote down the details. It didn't really feel important, not when Alex was somewhere in such danger.

"I don't know what's happened to your attitude Sabina," he said quietly, as the rest of the class began to whisper between themselves, "but I suggest you fix it as soon as possible, we don't want you to join your brother in suspension."

This comment caught her attention and she turned to look at him, eyes wide. "What?"

"Ah, you are listening to me. I said you should fix your attitude. Now Miss Pleasure I need to continue the class." He tried to turn back round to the rest of the students but Sabina caught his arm.

"No, what did you say about Alex?"

"Alex Pleasure? I thought you knew, he's got suspension, that's why he hasn't been in school for the past two days. You live with him don't you, I thought you would know."

"Why does he have suspension?" she pressed.

Mr Landsbury turned to her, looking perplexed, "He attacked Miss Sadie. Sabina, how do you not know this?"

Sabina opened her mouth to say that Alex hadn't attacked Miss Sadie at all and that he'd been kidnapped but shut it a second later. Had this been what it was like at Brooklands? How had Alex lived with it? The entire school thinking he was a delinquent and a druggie? It was so unfair, now she understood the hurt Alex had felt when she had laughed at him about MI6. Mr Landsbury was looking curiously down at her.

"Sabina, what's going on? Is Alex not at home?"

Sabina's eyes slid to meet Mr Landsbury's and she put on her most innocent smile. "Sorry Mr Landsbury, I got confused, Alex is at home, of course he is." She gave a small, tinkling laugh, plucked the detention slip out of Mr Landsbury's hand and left the classroom.

She felt his eyes on her as she left the room and knew she had to be more careful. If Alex did return, she wanted people to treat him normally, not like they had at his school in Chelsea. There would be rumors that he'd attacked Miss Sadie of course, but they would soon die down. She wondered what had happened to Miss Sadie, she hadn't been at school since Alex had left either. Maybe she had something to do with it.

The day Alex had been kidnapped had been a weird one. Things were normal until break, but then Mr Vardy had walked into her classroom with a message from Alex asking her to tell his boss where he was and to be Blunt. She got his meaning straight away, and phones her parents. They however hadn't needed to call anyone. She had arrived home from school to find a CIA representative at her house telling them that everything was going to be okay, and then later a phone call from North Carolina saying that Alex was safe and unharmed, but back in the clutches of the people he hated most.

Sabina walked into the detention classroom, unsurprised to see Brad Coaches already in there. He was hated by most of the staff as well as the students and his constant questioning usually landed him in detention about two minutes into every class, it was a miracle he'd made it this far in school.

She slumped down into the seat next to him.

"Hey Brad."

He didn't look up.

"Brad."

"What?" he said irritably, "Oh, hey Sabina."

"Are you okay Brad?" she asked, concerned.

"I'm fine," he said, then seemed to think better of it, "this morning just freaked me out. It's weird we're back at school after all that's happened."

Sabina nodded in agreement, "Me too, I don't know how Alex managed it."

She glanced around to check if there was anyone else in earshot, but it was only herself, Brad and the supply teacher at the front of the room. The man had his feet propped up on the desk and the sports magazine he was engrossed in obscured his face. They should be safe to talk without being overheard.

"Do you think that man really was in the army?" Brad asked her plainly.

"Yes," she said immediately, "I do. Even if dad isn't convinced, I believed him."

"Hey kids," came the voice of the supply teacher at the front, it was an easy, bored southern drawl, "no talking, get on with your work."

Sabina pulled a random piece of paper out of her bag and glanced down at it. It was the paper they'd worked Alex's code out on. She felt tears well in her eyes. Through her bleary eyes she noticed that the skin under her nails was still faintly red, Stanley's blood. She shivered.

"What are we going to do now?" Brad whispered, looking cautiously up at the supply teacher.

"Something." Sabina said decisively, "we don't have any quick way of telling the CIA that some russian is hunting down Alex, though I suppose they may already know. Dad's got some contacts in MI6, but he doesn't trust them, not after-"

"I said no talking." called the teacher again.

Sabina rolled her eyes and lowered her voice.

"Anyway, we have to get to Alex, I can't bear the thought of-" she cut herself off this time, she didn't want to say it out loud.

Brad didn't need her to finish. He nodded in agreement.

"So what do we do?" he asked again, "Could we get a message to him the same way he contacted us?"

Sabina heard the slap of the sports magazine on the wooden desk and the movement of the man's legs swinging off the table. The supply teacher was coming over to tell them off. Honestly, hadn't any of the teachers in this school been teenagers before?

"I don't think it would do much good." she said, not caring about the teacher coming towards them. "Even if we did, he'll still feel obliged to-"

The paper in her hand was plucked out of her fingers and she turned indignantly to the teacher. She caught sight of the man's face and her mouth fell open. She jerked backward in her chair, falling into Brad. He caught her before she hit the ground and she scrambled to her feet.

"Sabina? What-"

"Miss Pleasure," The supply teacher said smoothly, the southern accent gone, "how delightful it is to see you again."

Sabina's hands balled into fists by her side and she gritted her teeth. She wouldn't be a scared wreck like last time, even though she had no idea what was going on. She took a steading breath and looked up fiercely, meeting the steely blue gaze of Yassen Gregorovich.

Well folks, there you have it. Lots of K-Unit, maybe a bit too much. Is that possible?

I'm all tangled up with the plot at the moment and it needs sorting out, and yes I'm horribly aware that the timings don't exactly match up but also I have a confession,

I made up the name of Lincoln high, but then looking for a school near where Sabina lives..THERE'S A PLACE CALLED ABRAHAM LINCOLN HIGH AND ITS TOTALLY PLAUSiBLE ALEX WOULD SHORTEN IT TO LINCOLN HIGH. The Gods have really shined down upon me today.

There was a fair bit of planning in that chapter, so I tried to add some banter just to y'know spice things up a bit. Also I use the phrase '*blank* nodded' so goddamn much whoops

Also I forgot that Americans call their headteacher Principal instead of Mr/Ms so sorry for the mistake in the earlier chapter guys. And I have no idea how the detention system works, all I know is that when Tracy gets a detention slip in Hairspray she walks right out the classroom so I guessed. I had to google what grade Sabina is in too and I think Brad and B-Squadron should sound more American but lads, I ain't got a clue how to do that. I'm from Yorkshire and Yorkshire is all I know.

I'm also very sorry there's no Alex in this one. I thought the word count would be a bit too long and the wait too arduous if I wrote it in now. He'll be back in the next chapter I'm sure.

I really hope people appreciate this cause I have so much uni work to do, its not even funny anymore. I've not even started and there's so much to do before next Tuesday. If there's an update before then, I've probably written this instead of my essay and failed the module.

I also watched Anthony Horowitz's live stream from ages ago and what was that about his publishers saying no one wants to read a book about grown up Alex in his mid 20's being an absolute mess?

I direct this to his publishers: WHAT THE EVER-LOVING FUCK ARE YOU ON ABOUT? OF COURSE THAT'S WHAT I WANT TO READ. I will soon be starting a chant outside their offices which goes something like his "ANGST, ANGST, ANGST, ANGST, ANGST."

That or I'll start a petition and send it to Mr Horowitz, who's joining?

It's almost 3am here now, but that's not even late for me now. Lockdown is doing my head in. I went to sleep at half 6 in the morning and got up at half 3 in the afternoon the other day. I live off crips, chocolate and JD and coke. I need help (by coke I mean soda or Coca Cola or whatever in case y'all were worried)

Anyway, please comment, they make my days bearable and as you know basically chuck a full bucket load of motivation on my head so that's always handy. Thank you for all the people who have given me support and stuff, I really do love you.

Stay safe, Stay inside, Don't inject bleach or whatever into yourselves to stop Corona, don't be a screw up like me and have a wonderful time until I see you all next!