"Treading a Familiar Path"
	14th June 2008 09.30hrs He was instantly awake as the door opened and he turned his head to see Will equally aware of his surroundings. A new tray of coffee was brought in accompanied by Gray, "You will be leaving in the next hour. We have a training phase in progress, which you will be joining. It started at 00.00hrs last night and you are be taking the places of two candidates who are not proceeding." He paused, "All the gear you need will be at the camp, and you will be taken straight there. Please change into these clothes", he produced two black bags, "and leave all personal belongings behind including jewellery, it will be kept safe for your return. Any questions?" Sean simply absorbed the instructions, waiting, but Will spoke up, "What about a shower before we go?" Gray smiled, "Certainly, would Sir also like a full English breakfast as well?" Will got the message, home comforts were going to be forgotten until after they passed or failed. "Ok, forget it." He muttered, "worse than the bloody army." Sean just smiled; he could deal with bullshit, the trickery and the bullying. As long as they didn't lie to him, cheat him and trick him into flying a desk, he would deal with everything else that came his way. Sean took his bag and opened it, removed a set of black Lycra clothes and a Gore-Tex jacket as well as a pair of boots in his size. It even contained underwear as well, so he stripped down naked and redressed in layers. It felt so right, as though he had been born to this, like a monk putting on a habit he knew it was the right decision to make. He folded up his own clothes, and belongings and placed them in the bag. He had no jewellery and his personal items were nothing more than false ID and documents that he wouldn't need anymore. Then he sat down to wait for the transport, watching Will as he tried to act calm, but Sean could see how excited he was; he was like an overgrown schoolboy. 10.15hrs Sean had been expecting a car as their transport, but when Gray collected them, he walked them up to the roof where a dark unmarked helicopter was waiting on the H. The rotors were turning slowly but the pilot waived them on, and he and Will strode to the passenger seats were. Gray stayed behind, shouting something he didn't catch, but Sean could guess he was wishing them good luck. 12.45hrs The helicopter dropped them at a camp near a lake, he couldn't tell which one, but he could bet that it was one of the great lakes, perhaps Huron. An instructor, who shouted at them the moment they left the helicopter, and ran them ragged from lunchtime to dusk when they finally met the rest of the squad. There were four others, all men, who looked as though they were on their last tether. To be honest, on first sight, Sean wondered why they were there. They didn't look as though they were the right type of personnel that fitted into the SIA, but perhaps that was part of the test as well. What was it that Gray had said, `possibly as a team leader'; work with what material you have, but get everyone through it, well he was going to give it his best shot, the worst he could do was make enemies. Failure was not an option in his mind, he drove himself hard and he had no intentions of failing. He started to get to know them; Dave the youngest was cocky, but unfit. Steve was fit, but wanted his own way all the time and Tom and Pete were simply not interested in working as part of a team, instead they seemed to be competing against each other and took delight in provoking each other. The next few days were like hell revisited, the instructors were always on top of them, day and night. The problem between Tom and Pete came to a head, and despite the group having had a rough day they started to fight in the shower block. Sean stepped in-between the two of them and received a blow to the head for his interference. The noise generated by the fight alerted the instructors who broke it up and laid into all of them verbally before making them run another circuit in the dark. By the time they got back to their bunks, none of them had the strength to argue, Sean remembered little after his head hit the pillow and the following morning both Tom and Pete had gone; the team was now down to just four. It seemed to gel quickly after that, once Tom and Pete had gone, Dave seemed to lose his cockiness, and though his fitness levels left a lot to be desired he did try harder, Steve started work with him, giving him a hand, helping him achieve some of the tasks. Sean and Will were always there in the background, guiding without being overbearing, supporting without carrying and encouraging the team throughout the activities. By the end of the 4th day, they were starting to bond as a team, thinking as one, and acting as one. Sean was seen as the natural leader and Will was hard pushed to keep his position as second, because Steve wanted so badly to be a natural successor to Sean. Sean used all his diplomacy skills to achieve his aims, Will had the training to lead the team, but he had to secure the respect of the men. Sean ensured that Will demonstrated his abilities, not showing off to the others, but letting them see that he was a good second in command. The tasks started to become easier, they were working together, compensating for each other and achieving their targets; the instructors were having to invent things to test them on, including testing their language skills and communications. Under his leadership the team was turned around by the 7th day, everyone had accepted their roles, and the team was completely self- sustaining, the instructors were reduced to following rather than leading and the tests had all been completed. Sean had been hard put not to smile when he had seen the Chief instructor checking the results and trying to work something new to test them against into the schedule. Sean knew the team was good, no it was better than good, the team was damn near perfect. They practiced carrying wounded under live fire. The instructors started to change plans mid-way through a test, and they learnt to adapt quickly to new scenarios, but it was clear that the instructors were starting to respect them. With no second team to be tested against in the final test, the instructors set themselves up as a team, with the chief instructor setting an objective new to both groups; their mission to cross the lake, attack a target (ruin), recover a hostage and set charges before retreating and debriefing the hostage. The details were given to both groups together 40 minutes before the start time. Then both groups were flown by helicopter to their starting positions, weapons were fitted with blanks, but the building and hostage were fitted with cameras for the debriefing afterwards. 23rd June 2008 05.00hrs Afterwards Sean was dunked in the icy cold lake, his reward for leading the winning group. Then they slept in, both instructors and agents alike, the chief instructor having brought in alcohol for both groups. Sean left the others sleeping, and got on with his run, he was used to it, and despite the amount he had to drink he needed to run. When he got back, the others were waking up slowly; breakfast was not eaten by many, though Sean ate his with relish. After breakfast, they were called one by one to the instructors office, Sean had seen Gray arrive, but had said nothing to anyone else. Return