"When we stop, you stop." I say softly to Mole, and he nods slowly. I flick my eyes around the square, and see Biggs and Cece in a window south of us.

I feel Alec come to a stop, and do the same. After a few moments, a petite red-haired female and a tall latino male approach from the street east of us.

"What brings you above ground?" the male asks softly, and I flick my gaze around me once more to see many others filtering into the square.

"Escape and Evade got boring. It's time for us to show the government what it means to pick a fight with their elite special ops units." Alec responds.

"Females assemble here at 0530." I tell them calmly. "Until the other alphas come above, I'm going to need you all to think about a few minor guidelines." I feel a murmur of assent ripple through them, and glance around. "Primary SICs, we need a list of specialties and supplies in stock and needed by 0600 at the latest."

"Remember that we don't care if it's not your best area, just make sure you feel like performing the duty on a regular basis." Alec adds. "Males, when the females gather at 0530, I want you all at the football field. No stragglers at either end. Command will be operating out of the transhuman sector, section heads will be chosen by triad at the 0630 meeting."

"We need 511 to stay behind, the rest of you have work." I say, and they quickly disperse, leaving Biggs behind. I glance at Mole, and smile. "You okay?"

"We weren't that fast." He mutters.

Alec grins. "Yeah, well, we have our faults, but no one ever said we weren't quick."

"You wanted to talk to me?" Biggs asks.

I nod. "I need a favor." I bite my lip. "I know I'm not your CO, or even your pack alpha, but I need Mikey and Blaze."

His eyes widen. "You have someone you want us to grab?"

I glance at Alec. "They're the best at silent retrievals of AWOLS." He explains.

I nod. "Good to know." I look at Biggs. "You guys have no reasons to trust me."

"494 trusts you. That's all we need."

I nod. "Are you ever going to call him Alec?"

"I'm workin' on it." He shrugs.

"X5-599 is on a small farm not far from the Seattle border. The exact location is on Logan Cale's computer system. He thinks his name is Adam. I need you to bring him to me."

"You want to bring in a 'niner? Don't get me wrong, you're okay; but another one? Not really going to go over well."

I smile. "I'm going to let that slide because you're important to Alec." I say softly, and he nods carefully. "I need to tie up about a dozen loose ends in the next few days. The only way I can do that is by bringing Zack in."

Biggs sighs, and looks at Alec. "You're okay with this? Really? Because you know it won't be good."

"They're a tactical weakness." Alec says calmly. "If they're not here, you can sure as hell bet they'll be found and brought in out there. I know we can't use them for strategy, but we are going to need them for integration. They've been below ground for ten years. They know how to blend."

"So do we."

"No." I tell him carefully. "You know how to be invisible. There's a difference. Even I can't blend like they can. I could never get past my initial instincts to go to ground and stay there. But the others from my unit…they wouldn't have been able to stay down that long. They were too moody."

He sighs. "I'll send them. I don't like it, but I see your point. He'll be in by 0300."

I nod, and lead Alec and Mole away from the square. As we approach the transhuman command, I turn to Mole. "We have to go take care of lasering our barcodes. We'll be back in an hour."

"Would it be faster if I told you we have a laser here?"

I narrow my eyes. "Why do you have a laser here?"

He sighs. "Some of the guys, they don't like the reminder of Manticore. They like to get rid of their codes, and for us, it's easier if we do it here. We picked up a couple small ones to make our lives a little easier."

Alec nods. "Then let's get to work."