The BBQ was a huge success and between Spike and myself we got all the food organised and I let him play with the homemade BBQ his dad built years ago – he made a happy whoop as it caught fire; since Wordy and Ed was the proclaimed 'Kings of the Grill', I let them do the cooking so I could chat to everyone else as they arrived. It was just after 6pm that Sam and Jules arrived with Parker and his son Dean; I headed over to greet them and got two massive hugs from them both.

"Hey boss, hey Dean – how you two doing?"

"Good thanks, are those ribs ready?" Dean asks looking at the hot plate.

I laughed and nodded as he ran across to the table and grabbed some food, Spike was fighting with him over grabbing the last ready burger, I walked with Greg over to the kitchen so he could get a couple of drinks and we went for a seat on the couch inside so we could talk.

"Did you get some sleep this morning; Spike said you have been having problems again?"

"Nearly didn't but I managed to drift off and got a few hours, I'm just fried boss; it's been a hellish 10 day rota and I'm a little sore!" I replied.

He looked at me and nodded.

After I had left the SIU interrogation ten days ago, the team took me out for a meal and a good chat once we knew that Greg was being kept in overnight for observation; we headed to see him afterwards and he explained that he had received a letter from me saying I was leaving the SRU; he had broken up about it as he was the one who supported everyone else through the times that I was sick and on stand-down with the military. He was the one who supported Spike with his decisions and grief I had put him through.

"Boss, I am not leaving you guys again, they played on your weakness and vulnerability – it's PsyOps to the letter! JTF2 have training in this field and some people are experts at creating self-doubt and stress in others so they fly of the handles – that's how they got to me."

"She's right, Toth was part of the military psychology programme with involves these types of operations, we all took part in one during K-Bar and it seriously screwed people up." Sam replied.

"The emailed videos I got are part of your lives, you told me yourself that you have all learned to live with them and accept the painful realities of what happened; but it is still a very raw weakness in your mind and that is what they play on. They attack your rational thinking, they attack your confidence so you are incapable of dealing with events safely – but now we know what they are doing, we can manage the process and deal with what happens in our environment." I replied.

We both headed out the back when we heard the others arrive with their families and the backyard was suddenly covered in confetti and streamers we had made up for Wordy's daughters – they loved it and were running around the place like crazy. I put Parker into his seat and grabbed a soda as Spike was trying to hostage negotiate Dean to release a pile of ribs – everyone was laughing as Dean took cues from Sam to start munching them. I watched as Jules did a sneaky little trick and Spike went in rugby style and covered Dean in sparkly stuff – the place was in hysterics.

I looked over at Spike and shook my head as I was laughing, he grinned back and was snuck up upon by Dean who loaded the full glitter tub over his head and then got chased about the place by all the kids.

"This was a great idea Mac – just what we all needed after this last month," Ed said standing beside me.

"It was wasn't it, they look so relaxed now and it's great to see!" I replied greeting him, Sophia and Clark.

I sent them around to the guys and went to collect the mail that had arrived from a courier, the marker came from Afghanistan and I ripped open the packet and found a single dog tag, COD and a file from Toronto Path lab. The tag belonged to Nathan Toth, it was the one I ripped from him before he supposedly died; the death certificate was a copy of the original form – what the hell was I doing receiving path reports?

I wished I had never opened it.

I clipped open the file and flipped over the first blank sheet to find autopsy pictures of a previous member of our team lying on the ground in various pieces. It was obvious that he had stepped on a landmine and been killed by the explosion due to the lower limb damage. I closed the file and swallowed the bile in my throat, so that's the carnage Spike and the team had witnessed as their friend died; I looked into the courier packet and found another piece of paper; it was from a member of SF in Kandahar.

'TangoHelo down, information found.'

I sat on the stairs and looked at the dog tag, it had been a couple of years since I had seen it as I put it away in my file for safe keeping, I clenched my fist around it and rode out the wave of emotions I was feeling over the news and mail I had been sent – there was no way in hell I was expecting this today!

One of Wordy's daughters ran down the stairs suddenly and I looked up to find Shelley looking down at me from the top of the stairs, her face was frozen as she clocked my reaction to the envelope on the stairs beside me.

"Mackenzie, are you alright?" she asked sitting behind me.

I wiped my face quickly and nodded as I picked up the mail quickly and shoved it back into the courier packet before anyone else could see what it was; I smiled at her and showed her the tag in my hand.

"Yeah Shelley just some news from friends abroad, everything's fine. Are the boys behaving outside?" I replied changing the subject.

"Yeah everyone's having a great time, it was a great idea for tonight and it's good to get the families together after a rota like this. How are you holding up after everything?" she replied as we walked into the kitchen.

I passed her kids some juice boxes and her glass of wine and headed out onto the porch to watch the carnage of a mini food fight between the kids.

"I'm getting there because of these guys," I replied, looking over my family.

We stood there chatting for a while and posed as we got our photos taken by everyone to put in the album, we just wanted one afternoon full of fun and laughter before the start of work again and I was sure as hell going to give them it. I headed back to the fridge and pulled out the desert trays, I had found old recipes by Michalina, Spike's mom, and tried to copy them to make some cakes; I managed to make Cannoli's for the adults and decided on jelly and ice cream for the kids – and any adults who wanted it!

I was sorting everything out in the house for the kids to watch some TV or play games in the living room as the adults were on the porch having some quiet time to ourselves since the kids had run wild all day; I got out the coffee and hit the kettle to brew up.

"Shelley was saying she found you crying on the stairs?"

I turned round and leaned against the cabinet, Wordy was leaning against the door jamb holding the youngest of his daughters who was fast asleep, I led them to the living and switched on the baby monitor while put her in the travel cot to get some sleep.

"I got a package about half an hour ago," I replied.

He leaned up and faced me; the look on my face was enough for him to go get Spike who arrived seconds later with concern on his face.

"What's wrong?" he whispered as I pointed to the crib.

I held out my hand and showed him the dog tag, he took it and checked the ID scripted onto it. He looked up to me and frowned.

"I got a package about half an hour ago, it contained this and a COD for Nathan; there was also a message for Sam and me regarding Kandahar – one of our team mates was murdered while on leave." I replied.

"I'm sorry. Why did they send you the dog tag and COD though – that makes no sense?" he inquired gently.

"Those items were in my secure file in the MOD, I left them attached to my personnel file so I could deal with them at a better time, someone has accessed those files and our team mate was on leave to find out whom; I think he was discovered and murdered just after he sent the documents to me."

He just looked at me and I shrugged, there was nothing I could do right now about it and we had guests who were going to ask questions if their hosts went away to the barn. I headed back through to the kitchen and stuffed the parcel in my rucksack to conceal it for the time being; I took a deep breath in and out and headed out to the patio again to chill for the rest of the night.

I went to the barn the next day while Spike was away doing some guy stuff with his cousins, I had called Greg and asked him if he could meet me there in a couple of hours, he agreed and I secured the meeting room to do some research and make some calls to some contacts. Next thing I knew it was after 5pm and I had been at the barn since 9am pulling nearly every favour I could remember and getting information from my contacts about what the hell happened – the answer was not good.

I had gone through the details and info they had sent me via email and connected the dots as much as I could, the information was all there and it was following the chain I knew PsyOps followed; I had even gone through Young's Autopsy report that I was sent. I was fried again and had spent about an hour going for a swim to relax before I got the call that Parker had arrived. I headed back up to the room and stopped at the door as he followed my map I made on the computer connecting all the information to photos, locations and trying to tie down all the possible leaks we had.

"I was hoping a fresh pair of eyes on this might help me sort some things out, but considering you are a leak in the chain, it's almost a moot point." I said quietly.

He looked up and I saw his shoulders drop, he felt like he had betrayed me and I walked over to him and turned him around to face me.

"I don't blame you Greg and I sure as hell do not want you to blame yourself – these are military mind games being used against us – they work!"

"I thought that by giving him what he wanted he would tell me where you were and I could contact you, he had photos of you, video and audio – showed me his toolbox of what he could use on you." He replied.

It clocked to me that the men had really done a mental number on the boss, playing to his paternal instincts and showing him what they would do to members of his family; I caught the look in his expression and took his wrist before he left the room.

"Greg no secrets remember? Are you dealing with what they did so soon after you healed – are you still going to speak to Luria?" I inquired.

"Yeah I go every little while to catch up, work through some issues and stress,"

He suddenly looked up at me and frowned, he had clocked what I had used on him and he chuckled.

"You're using my own training on me?" he asked with mock anger.

"Of course, best training I have ever had – I was winding you up yesterday when it came to the psych stuff – I know my behaviourism, Stockholm and Social theories like the back of my hand – you forgot I worked in mental health for a year with the QAMC." I replied grinning.

He laughed and I gave him a strong one armed hug as I took him through the maze I had made on the computer, it looked like a spider web but was very basic and coded to branch off when new information was added; it was a good while later on that I stopped us as the display was seriously information heavy and I didn't want to keep him later than planned since he had plans with his son.

"Do you know who the next target was on their list?" he asked as he looked at the print out one last time.

"Yeah it was Spike. They didn't send a bomb or anything, but they were going for a more primal approach – they were going to send him Lewis' autopsy video – that's what my friend managed to send me before he was killed. Thankfully I opened the mail from the courier and not Spike." I replied.

Parker just looked at me and closed his eyes – I never knew Lewis but I knew he was like Spike's brother and it was a huge shock and tragedy to the whole of the SRU when he died, Spike took it the hardest and that is why he is so protective during bomb calls. He looked up at me and frowned as he noticed the file in my bag, he picked it up before I could reach him and I told him to stop and not to open it.

"Please don't put yourself through that, it won't serve any purpose and will just upset you – put it back down and remember Lewis as he was!"

Parker glared at me as he held the file in his hands, he has never even seen the file and he was directly involved with the SIU and retrieval squad – he looked at me horrified.

"You've seen this, you know what happened? You've read the file?" he demanded.

I nodded in response and snatched the file off him before he opened it, I put it back in my bag and sat on the table rubbing my face to wake myself up a bit; Parker was pacing and blowing off some steam, I was braced for the impact.

"You do realise that they are torturing you as well by showing you our worst moments? That they will go for your vulnerability double quick to lure us out!" he shouted back at me.

"Yeah I'm aware of that boss! But since they think I'm not telling you guys anything and keeping everything bottled up – you guys are my secret weapon! Trust me I have thought this through that is why you are getting this before I need to break it to the team." I replied calmly.

He looked at me, seeing the difference a few months had made to the person who was a wreck from PTS and ran after she had saved his life, after she thought she caused him harm. I was standing straight up, eyes looking straight at him and completely relaxed as he got his emotions out; he had a right to be angry, someone was going after his team for no reason, someone was going after me for a reason we hadn't discovered yet – I allowed him to get the stress out – the one thing I knew he needed.

"Feel better boss?" I whispered keeping Winnie out the room.

He sat down on the chair and blew out a hard breath, his shoulders slumped again and I passed him a bottle of water.

"Look this is all I can do for now and we start at 5am; we both need to get back to our families and rest up for tonight. Do not think about what they told you anymore than needed – it was a horrible trap for them to use and we will get justice but I need your enormous brain to be clear thinking and ready for what is promised to be a fun rota!" I chipped in.

He looked up at me and I grinned, he chuckled and nodded before standing up to check the computer rota; he stopped dead and looked over his shoulder at me – I grinned even bigger and laughed at his face.

"You're putting us through our diving tomorrow and Tuesday?"

"Yup, two days of swimming and diving skills, learning how to use gear and what you can do underwater in Canada." I replied laughing.

"What are we going to learn in a pool?" he asked.

"The basics tomorrow and on Tuesday we are meeting up at the Marina Point and going for a swim. You'll get more details tomorrow, training starts at 8am."

Spike was staying for a bachelor party tonight so I decided to stay at the barn and get things sorted out for tomorrow, I got everyone PADI documents and textbooks, sorted out the wet gear and the tanks that had arrived yesterday morning and even cleaned every single regulator and checked each BCD for flaws. It was solid work checking everything and I chatted to Team three who were on call as they pottered about the place on quiet moments or I was treating their injuries as required. It was just after 4am when they headed out to an armed robbery in the subs of the farmland and I was called to the desk by Keira who had someone waiting for me.

"Darren!" I called as I headed up the stairs.

He turned around and grinned as I came running up to meet him; giving him a massive hug I let him go and stepped back to take him in, it had been a few years since I had seen him while doing my training but I was delighted he could manage to help me with the accreditation while he was stationed back home; I took him to the meeting room and we managed to have an hours chat before the work began and we headed off to the pool to get things set up.

"Mackenzie Fraser Memorial Pool?" he asked looking at the sign.

I went red.

"Yeah, I got blown off the top diving board by a PC and took down a chunk of the wall and roof in the explosion." I replied.

He stared at me in horror.

"You were targeted with a prop charge and…wow…these guys are really after you huh!" he replied as we opened the door.

"Yup, too bad they aren't going to get me though!" I replied.

I showed him where he could go and get changed and said I would meet him back in the corridor so we could get all the gear moved to the pool side for a final check; ten minutes later I was suited up in my wet suit and zipped up my shoes and gloves. Darren came out in the same gear and we headed back up to the meeting room to wheel down the gear and get everything laid out for the activities.

"Thanks for doing this with me, I needed a second and I heard through the grapevine that you were back home, thought you may like to meet the guys and maybe even do the shoot house with us later in the week – teach us some new moves?" I grinned.

He looked down at me and chuckled, I still had that cheeky look about me he quickly discovered in Skapa and he knelt down beside me to help get the books off the trolley.

"I want to meet this boyfriend of yours, been hearing about him from Carrick – he says good things and I want to check my sister in arms is being pampered!" he replied ribbing me.

"Oh I am, Spike's great and so are the rest of the team, think I finally found somewhere to settle! Oh and just because you are SEAL doesn't mean our team can't beat you in simulation games!" I said pushing him back.

I had left a message for the team on the changing room doors to just come to the meeting room and not to bother getting changed, Parker was the first one to arrive and he clocked I hadn't gone home as planned.

"I'm good boss, just busy with the training prep!" I replied to his silent question.

He nodded and headed into the room where he grabbed a bottle of water and sat at the table to wait on the other slow coaches who hopefully were ready for a day of fun and games; by starting time everyone was ready and present in the room and I walked in with Darren, we had slipped on some track bottoms as it was a little close to wear skin tight clothes in the first level and a lot cooler than the heat of the pool. We had also gone for a good run around the building a couple of times to get our systems oxygenated for the dives we were doing today, I winked at Darren and pointed to Spike who was a little bleary eyed.

"Good morning campers – how are you this fine winter morning?" I called loudly on entry.

I got six groans and a laugh from Wordy who was watching something on his phone; he clocked me looking at him and put it away saying 'sorry.'

"Why aren't we getting changed and getting the week started?" called a very happy Jules.

"Oh don't worry, you'll be getting changed shortly!" I replied.

The guys were giving Darren a look up and down, he was over 6"5 and probably 180lbs of muscle, normally armed to the teeth and had numerous medals and awards under his belt – but that was just his SEAL work.

"Team One please meet my diving partner Commander Darren Webster USNS. Darren this is Sergeant Greg Parker, TL Officer Ed Lane and Officers Jules Callahan, Sam Braddock and Spike Scarlatti – the big kid in the corner watching SpongeBob is Officer Kevin Wordsworth – Wordy to everyone who loves him."

"Good morning everyone, nice to finally meet you all – JTF2 and a few others have told me about your ass kicking skills and insane idea to adopt this idiot here!" he replied to their greetings while pointing to me.

I smacked his arm and he mouthed 'Ow' to everyone as they chuckled at our play acting, most of them were now realising what I had just said about Darren and Sam was staring at me.

"Your diving partner is a SEAL?" Sam asked.

I nodded and smirked.

"Yup he trained me when he was in Scotland ten years ago, been best friends ever since and we meet up occasionally to go diving, Sam was SF and joined the SRU two years before I did and took the rookie spot!" I replied.

It then clicked in everyone. Diving partner, me not changed into my gear – they all groaned in unison and Darren and I just burst out laughing.

"Come on guys, down to the pool and let's get you organised!" I called.

Six chairs scuffled back and they all shuffled out of the room, I whispered to Spike and he nodded as he drank the water and sucked down the pills I passed him.

We got to the pool and I handed them the marked packs that contained their wet suits and accessories and told them to go get changed, Darren and me set up the white board and grabbed our books and started to laugh at the doors opening and closing quickly – bless them they were shy!

"Guys, come on!" I ordered.

One by one they all came out of the changing rooms, they were slightly pink around the ears as they weren't used to wearing skin tight clothes – well I didn't think they were anyway? Darren was quick as a flash and took a couple of photos for the scrap book, I was laughing at their faces and attempts to go back into the changing room.

"Alright guys, last person into the pool is a sissy and becomes Darren's partner tomorrow!" I yelled.

Team one had never moved so fast in their lives!

Throughout the morning we got them to do exercises to stretch their muscles and lungs, taught them about the equipment and how to assemble and maintain it properly; even got them to do drill assembly on the gear so they could do it under pressure if needed. I then shoved them back into the pool and took them for their first swim with their gear on and the BCD inflated once they hit water; they were pretty happy about the training so far and had relaxed enough to walk about freely and get ribbed. Darren was still sitting taking photos while he marked off training material and prepared anything we may need for the afternoon exercise and dives. It was 2pm and everyone was hungry so I got them out of the pool and to the other end of the gallery where there was food waiting on them – they were really starving as I had prepared a buffet during the night and it was demolished within minutes.

"Damn, hate to see what your shopping bill is like Mac, that man of yours can eat!" he whispered laughing.

"Thankfully he eats everything and loves the basics – as long as he gets his ice cream afterwards he won't complain!" I replied back.

The afternoon was where both Darren and I got into the pool ourselves, we had kept dry during the morning but to show them the manoeuvres we had to get in – suited us as we were part fish. I pulled off my track bottoms and shoes, tied up my hair in a bun and put my tank in the water to stabilize. Darren and me took a quick run and jumped into the pool and did a quick couple of lengths to get stretched off after lunch, or what we got of it! We swam back over to the guys and pulled on our BCD vests and treaded as we pulled on our flippers and regulated our gauges.

"Alright guys, first dive is happening now!"

We got a cheer that sounded like a deflating balloon; they were just nervous but had done me really proud and were having a blast watching Darren and me slag each other off; I signalled to Darren that I would go down the towline first and take charge at the bottom of the pool as he directed them to me from above. I told them slow and easy and they were perfectly fine in our hands,ten minutes later we were all sitting on the bottom of the pool and I was showing them how the sound of the bracelet I wore was a signal for danger and also how to change the regulator around, pass the secondary octopus to a rescue victim and the dread clean and change your mask underwater. Everyone failed at that at least five times, but they became more confident once they got the hang of it and stayed in control. I signalled to them and got them to stand in a line on the bottom of the pool and wrote their names across their chests in liquid chalk, I did the same for Darren and myself and we started to take photos of them – good as gold they started to pose!

'Thank you guys – I knew you would love today!'

After doing the daft photos and another two dives of shorter depth and time, we dropped our BCDs off and did a couple of lengths to break off the nitrogen building up in our systems and got them some water and salt to regulate, Darren and me got the gear out the pool and went to join them a few minutes later; they were all exhausted but laughing at each other.

"So, how did you enjoy day one?" I asked grinning.

They all started to talk at once and we were laughing like crazy at the change of mood since this morning's surprise training, I told them that it was a surprise tomorrow and that alcohol was forbidden tonight and they had to get a minimum of eight hours to be ready for tomorrow as we were going fishing.

Spike was falling asleep in the car on the way back home, he must have had a wild weekend and after the physical exercise of today on muscles he probably didn't even know existed, he was ready for bed. I pulled him into the house and sent him to bed as I sorted out the dive maps for an hour and then headed to bed myself.

"Had a great day, thanks!" came a quiet mumble from the bed.

I smiled and snuggled in.