"Oh 's you." The lobster 'guarding' the motor pool commented, walking over from where he was leant lazily against the wall. "I'm guessing you want to reclaim your car. Sign these." He moved a clipboard with a few forms in Skipper's general direction, walking off towards the cars. "I heard about your trial." He scoffed, clearly displeased that events had turned out in Hans' favor.

"Hans would never stand for that." Doris whispered.

"What would he do?" Skipper whispered back.

"Probably kill him." Kowalski replied.

"No!" Doris protested, "At least, I don't think. I've only ever heard him threaten around me."

"Were those threats followed by a gunshot the moment you'd gone on ahead?" Kowalski asked, and then noticed he'd upset Doris, "Sorry."

"I'm still your superior," Skipper called sharply after the lobster, "regardless of what you think of the outcome of my trial." The lobster turned around, wincing, as if having realized the moment he'd made the comment it wasn't the smartest course of action, but was hoping he'd get away with it. "In fact, I should…"

"He's more personal than that." Doris corrected. "He'd have probably fired a warning shot at him by now."

"Yeah, well, I don't need the attention that would bring." Skipper countered. He moved for the empty holster as if it wasn't empty, then glanced at his watch (at least he'd been able to keep that following the uniform swap), "'S your lucky day, I'm in a hurry." Skipper spoke just as the lobster was starting to wonder if Hans had suddenly become soft or wasn't Hans, "Where's the car?" The lobster pointed it out, Skipper took the keys and they started to drive towards the front gates.

"Do you think this is right?" Doris asked after they'd been driving about a moment, "Just running off like this…"

"'S called escapin'. 'S our duty." Rico replied.

"No I mean, now I know he really does love me – I mean, what Marlene said about you being left to bleed out and all that just couldn't have been real…" She laughed nervously, as if she were trying to convince herself of it, "I mean…"

"It was real." Skipper interrupted, and there was something about his tone that made Doris fall silent immediately.

"Drive on, then." She whispered when she finally found her voice.

"I never asked for your permission." Skipper replied. Doris didn't speak again after that, just sitting there with a curious kind of expression.

As Skipper began to approach the gates, the lobsters on duty immediately moved to open them, glad to have Hans out of their camp. Skipper could practically taste freedom.

Then the gates shut again.

"Hey, somebody open those gates!" Skipper yelled, then noticed a familiar figure who was walking up to the car. He paused a few feet from the driver's side door, clearly gloating.

"And where do you think you're going?" Hans asked.

Private lay awake in his bunk. Though everyone else had been celebrating Skipper's release, Private still couldn't shake the fact that there was a decent portion of his life that he couldn't accurately recall, and that during that time he hadn't simply been unconscious or semi-conscious, but apparently quite active, and acting completely against his will. The uneasy feeling that he might not have liked some of the stuff he'd done after Skipper had said the words 'Red Squirrel' first began when Julian and Maurice had jokingly convinced him that he'd given away everyone's most guarded secrets to Hans whilst under the influence of whatever he'd been under. He'd asked Kowalski if that was possible, for him to have done something he'd ordinarily disagree with, but the answer he'd gotten in reply was a bit too technical for him. Skipper had said nothing had happened, he'd just answered a few questions, but Private had removed a fragment of glass from a shallow cut in his hand and had noticed a broken glass as he'd left. To have cut his hand he must have done more than simply knock the glass over.

"…You know, I just can't understand you!" Private heard Doris' voice speak faintly. Her voice was raised, but she was a decent distance away so Private could only barely make her out. He glanced at the watch Kowalski had built him during a day of boredom. It was the middle of the night. "I don't think I really even know you…"

"I don't think that's entirely true." Hans countered. "Look, Doris…"

"Why am I even asking you for the truth? You're probably just going to tell me another lie." She interrupted. Private slipped down from his bunk and walked over to the window that best overlooked the argument occurring out in the yard, "What you did to that kid…"

"I never hurt him, Doris." Hans cut her off angrily.

"Oh, so sweet little Private tried to kill my brother for the fun of it?!" Nothing had happened? Private was going to ask Skipper about that one.

"Private asked me to do that, it was the only way to free Skipper – to get our life back…"

"Our life? You do realize I've been seeing Kowalski this whole time?" The conversation went silent, "I'm sorry, that was… See, you're doing it again! You've never cared about that, but you were just trying to make me feel…! Ever consider that maybe I don't like being manipulated? You know, Marlene told me all about you, what you did to Skipper to get information out of her. I… I can't even imagine something like that. Then you frame Skipper, then kill two prisoners…"

"It was me or him, Doris, and I told you, I didn't kill Ted. I still have no idea who did. Starting tomorrow, we're going to South America, all of that's going to be behind us… Doris, I don't want to talk about this out here." Doris still didn't seem convinced, though all Private could see were dark silhouettes occasionally revealed by the light cast by the guard towers. "Did you want them to shoot me?"

"Actually, I wish they had now!" Doris snapped, "But even that would have been nothing to make up for the things you've done and dragged me into…"

The conversation drifted out of Private's hearing; possibly they'd gone into a building. Private climbed back into his bunk, feeling slightly ashamed at listening in on a personal conversation. He satisfied himself enough to go back to sleep by admitting it was very difficult not to overhear. But then he'd had to press his ear to the glass to hear most of it… By the time he'd gotten that far in his internal debate, the exhausted Private had fallen fast asleep.

Later that night Private woke to the sounds of shouting and a crackling, roaring sound like a gigantic bonfire. He jumped out of bed and stumbled outside, noticing that the room was illuminated bright red and orange almost as if it were day. He opened the door and stepped barefoot into the mud to be confronted with the heat from the blazing building before him.

Everyone else already seemed to be gathered outside, and those who weren't were stumbling dazed into the night like him were staring at the flames. Private had never seen a fire so big or so bright or so terrifying. For a moment he stood mesmerized by the horrible flames that flickered inside the structure and were eating their way through one of the walls. And that was when he saw it.

"K'walski!" He screamed, "There's someone in there!" Private pointed at the dark silhouette just visible through the cracking window of the storage building. Private stumbled forward towards the building, but Kowalski quickly ran forward to drag him back. But at that point they were close enough to hear the screaming.

"He's still alive in there!" Blowhole exclaimed. The voice was barely audible over the noise of the crowd, but Private could make out it screaming for help.

"Hey, that sounds like Julian!" Maurice exclaimed. The barracks intelligence officer raced towards the burning building. He kicked down the door, weakened by the flames, and was about to run in when the building creaked and Maurice was barely able to stumble out of harm's way as the building collapsed. There was nothing left to do but prevent the fire from spreading.

"That was being very brave of you." Julian complemented behind him, being somewhat serious for one of the few times in his life.

"King Julian!" Maurice exclaimed in joy.

"It's a terrible tragedy that one of the Red Ones decided to light a cigarette in a magazine." Blowhole spoke gravely, watching the wooden structure being consumed, "I wonder if I'd called that meeting about safety regulations being there for good reasons earlier if he might still be alive."

"That hut wasn't storing ammunition." Kowalski frowned. Something didn't seem right about the fire. He'd woken up almost the moment it had started. He remembered after that the flames had spread faster than he could even think to do much about them, "That fire burned too fast for damp wood and a few crates, it was like there was some kind of accelerant." He thought aloud. There was only one conclusion he could come to from this, "This was arson. And murder," Kowalski added, "because whoever set that fire purposely left whoever was in there to be burned alive."

"All guards present and accounted for, doc!" Kazoo reported breathlessly, running up to his superior. "Do we know who was in there yet?"

"Skipper, anyone missing?" Kowalski called.

"One second," Skipper answered, "Joey, you here?!"

"I'm here." The Australian replied.

"Mason?!"

"Here!"

"My ones are all here." Skipper shouted back, "Doris?"

"Everyone's here!" She replied.

"Well maybe it was just Private's imagination, maybe there was no one inside?" Ms Blue suggested. Kowalski shook his head. He knew what he'd seen and heard, "Anyone seen Hans? I think he'd be interested in this."