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Alex stared up at Wolf and wondered briefly how he seemed to take up the whole room. Hawk sat next to Alex on his bed, his feet swinging and scraping the floor every now and again.

'So...', grunted Hawk. Wolf shot him a disapproving look as his heavy boots scraped loudly against the timber floor.

'So what?' Alex replied. He stood and walked around the room. For some reason, he felt particularly uncomfortable sitting when Wolf was standing. It was as if he had a compulsive need to feel equal with the big man, as if he needed to demand respect.

'Are you in or are you out?' Hawk asked simply. Alex thought he would have liked Hawk had they not met under such pressured circumstances. Hawk was to the point when it came to important things but wasn't as tight as the rest of k-unit. He had an easy air about him.

Alex bit his lip. 'Neither.'

Wolf turned around, his gaze following Alex as he paced. 'What does that mean?' He didn't look angry, he didn't look hopeful, just curious. There was something about that that helped Alex make up his mind.

'It means I'm not going to put myself in danger but I'm not going to sit on my backside and let whatever happens happen. I've been curious about this place for a while.' Alex stopped, licked his lips and sucked in the dry air.

'Go on,' prompted Wolf, thoughtful.

'The girl, Temperance, has been here before. She's mentioned a few times that it's different and I believe her. The beds, the chairs, the lights – they're all new. Now, I don't know much about this place, but I know that if I ran this joint and I got extra funding from somewhere, I wouldn't spend it on new taps. The kitchen is all new, the cook can't cook and we're eating off brand new plates.

'Our doors lock from the outside, there's a video camera on a building that hasn't even been used yet and Walter, the security man, carries a gun when he could probably overpower us. Don't even get me started on how weird Nick and Zack have been acting. This place is suspicious. No doubt about that.'

Hawk and Wolf were silent. 'Why haven't we picked up on most of that?' asked Hawk, mostly to himself, shocked.

Wolf shook his head. 'We've noticed most of that, just haven't put two and two together like Cub has. I'm gonna talk to the boys, tighten this operation. It's hardly going to plan.'

Hawk made to speak but the stairs creaked, causing him to spring to his feet.

'Alex?' called Heck. He came into the room as Wolf and Hawk quickly left. 'What was that about?' he asked in a lowered voice, looking after the two men.

'Never mind. What do they want us in the cafeteria for?' Alex hastily said.

Heck raised his eyebrows at the non-crafty change of topic but went along with it. 'Some sort of group activity. I think it's going to be trust exercises or something. I came to find you before I got paired with Bob. I would have gone with Temperance but she's in a bad mood.'

Alex rolled his eyes as he reached the door. 'Isn't she always?'

'Hey! I heard that.' Alex and Heck straightened up as Temperance peeled away from the shadows of the cafeteria wall. Heck moved back quickly, in shock. Alex just kept his head down and entered the cafeteria where there were witnesses.